Top 100 Games of the Noughties: 90-81

VideoGamer.com's countdown to the greatest game of the decade.

What a decade it's been for gaming. The Noughties saw the release of no less than six new consoles, the rise of Microsoft as a serious industry player and the re-emergence of Nintendo as the dominant force. Yeah, it's been an incredible ten years of gaming goodness. But what lights have shined the brightest? What video games are destined to join the pantheon of the immortals? Here, in the second part of VideoGamer.com's mammoth Top 100 Games of the Noughties list, we tell you, counting down from 90 to 81. Like the best rollercoasters, there are peaks and troughs, nerve-shredding twists and turns, and a bit where you're really high up and wish you'd never got on the bloody thing in the first place. But hold on tight, weary video gamer, because by the time this ride ends, you'll know just how good the Noughties have been.

Games 100-91

90. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars - Nintendo DS, PSP, 2009

Is Chinatown Wars the greatest handheld game of all time? Certainly it's the most technically impressive. Developer Rockstar Leeds somehow managed to recreate the spirit, scope and satire of the 3D Grand Theft Auto experience on the DS and, later, the PSP, without sacrifice. The top-down, 2.5D art style is a perfect fit for the violent, open world gameplay, and the car handling is surprisingly realistic. For some, Chinatown Wars is an even better GTA than GTA4, and there can be no higher praise, really. You can deal drugs and everything. It's mature, funny, vast and deserving of its place among the greatest games of the decade - a bloody marvel.

89. Grand Theft Auto 3 - PS2, 2001

It's no understatement to say that the arrival of GTA III was one of the most important gaming events of the past ten years. Rockstar may not have invented the concept of open world gaming (Elite, anyone?), but it certainly created a template that has influenced every sandbox since - we don't have the term "GTA clone" for nothing. GTA III tends to be overshadowed by its other PS2-era cousins, so its easy to forget the game's many fine moments: the sniping and boat destruction of "Bomb Da Base"; the missions where you help a madman to turn his wife into dogfood; the utter chaos that unfolds whenever you try to fly a Dodo - and the feeling of achievement you get when you manage to keep it airborne for longer than 30 seconds. Yes, it was eclipsed by its two successors, but given the quality of both those games, this is nothing to be ashamed of. GTA III still rocks, and how.