Top 10 Games of the Past Decade
Matt 'Boonski' Taylor
2000 Chrono Cross
The story of Chrono Cross focuses on a teenage boy named Serge and a theme of parallel worlds. Faced with an alternate reality in which he died as a child, Serge endeavors to discover the truth of the two worlds' divergence. The flashy thief Kid and many other characters assist him in his travels around the tropical archipelago El Nido. Struggling to uncover his past and find the mysterious Frozen Flame, Serge is chiefly challenged by Lynx, a shadowy antagonist working to apprehend him.
2001 Final Fantasy X
Set in the fantasy world of Spira, the game's story centers around a group of adventurers and their quest to defeat a rampaging monster known as "Sin". The player character is Tidus, a blitzball star who finds himself in Spira after his home city of Zanarkand is destroyed by Sin. During the game, Tidus, along with several others, aids the summoner Yuna on her pilgrimage to destroy Sin.
2002 Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime is the first of the three part Prime storyline, which takes place between the original Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus. Like previous games in the series, Metroid Prime has a science fiction setting, in which players control the bounty hunter Samus Aran. The story follows Samus as she battles the Space Pirates and their biological experiments on the planet Tallon IV.
2003 Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
The game is set on a group of islands in a vast sea—a first for the series. The player controls Link, the protagonist of the Zelda series. He struggles against his nemesis, Ganondorf, for control of a sacred relic known as the Triforce. Link spends a significant portion of the game sailing, traveling between islands, and traversing through dungeons and temples to gain the power necessary to defeat Ganondorf. He also spends time trying to find his little sister.
2004 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The game is set in the fictional state of San Andreas, comprising three metropolitan cities. Set in late 1992, San Andreas revolves around the gang member Carl "CJ" Johnson returning home from Liberty City to Los Santos after learning of his mother's murder. CJ finds his old friends and family in disarray. Over the course of the game, CJ gradually unravels the plot behind his mother's murder while exploring his own business ventures. Like other games in the series, San Andreas is composed of elements from driving games and third-person shooters, and features "open-world" gameplay that gives the player more control over their playing experience. The game adds several features, such as car customization, and character personalization.
2005 Resident Evil 4
The player controls Leon S. Kennedy from a third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective during a mission to rescue the daughter of the President of the United States, Ashley Graham.
2006 Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The story focuses on series protagonist Link, who tries to prevent Hyrule from being engulfed by a corrupted parallel dimension known as the Twilight Realm. To do so, he takes the forms of both a human and a wolf, and is assisted by a mysterious creature named Midna. The game takes place approximately 100 years after Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.
2007 Super Mario Galaxy
The game follows the protagonist, Mario, on a quest to rescue Princess Peach from the game's primary antagonist, Bowser. Levels are galaxies filled with minor planets and worlds, while gameplay is updated with gravity effects and new power-ups.
2008 Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The number of playable characters that players can control in Brawl has grown from that in Super Smash Bros. Melee; Brawl is the first game in the series to expand past Nintendo characters and allow players to control third-party characters. Like its predecessors, the object of Brawl is to knock an opponent off the screen. It is a departure from traditional fighting games, notably in its simplified move commands and emphasis on ring outs over knockouts. It includes a more extensive single-player mode than its predecessors, known as The Subspace Emissary (SSE). This mode is a plot-driven, side-scrolling beat 'em up featuring computer-generated cut scenes and playable characters from the game.
2009 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The game takes place five years after the previous installment. The campaign mode is divided between the multinational counter-terrorist group, Task Force 141, which is tasked with eliminating ultranationist Vladimir Makarov, and the U.S. Army Rangers, who are tasked with defending the United States from a Russian invasion. Settings for the game include Afghanistan, Rio de Janeiro, Siberia, and Washington D.C.