Top 100 Games of the Noughties: 100-91

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 first part of VideoGamer.com’s mammoth Top 100 Games of the Noughties list, we tell you, counting down from 100 to 91. 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.

100. The Sims – PC, 2001

Originality is a rare commodity in the world of gaming, but it’s even rarer to see an original game that sells well. The Sims is the best-selling PC game of all time, a roaring success people still buy and play (and indeed pirate) some ten years after its first appearance. Since then we’ve had two full sequels along with countless spin-offs and console versions, but the series’ main draw remains largely unchanged. The Sims is a living doll’s house, a unique gaming experience that allows us to play God while simultaneously engaging with our all-too-human hopes and fears. It’s a game about doing the dishes, paying the bills, and trying in vein to shag your hot single friends. It’s also the only game on this list that lets you trap a man in a room with no doors and no toilet – an activity that has to rank as one of the cruellest pleasures in the history of gaming.

99. Wii Sports – Wii, 2006

If every Wii game was as fun to play as Wii Sports and worked so well with the console’s motion controllers, chances are, far more Wii games would appear in this list than they do. Wii Sports defined the Wii and brought gaming to millions of people who had never held a controller in their hands before. Unlike a lot of Wii games, it manages to deliver fun not only to novices, but to experienced gamers, too. The novelty of playing games using motion has worn off slightly now, but a game of Wii Sports Tennis or Bowling is still sure to get everyone in the room off of the sofa and having a good time.

98. Viva Pi̱ata Trouble in Paradise РXbox 360, 2008

Critics of UK developer Rare claim the studio hasn’t made a great game for years. What they mean to say, although they might not realise it, is that Rare hasn’t made a hardcore-focused game for years. But that doesn’t mean its titles aren’t as high-quality and innovative as they once were. Take Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, the sequel to 2006’s Viva Piñata, for example. The quirky sandbox gardening game is packed to bursting point with colour, personality and charm, but it’s also one of the most addictive sims available on console. It betters its predecessor in every way, even if it is, fundamentally, a very similar game. But you’ll be hard pressed, even now, to find a more unique, accessible, Xbox 360 game.

97. Guitar Hero 5 – Multiplatform, 2009

Guitar Hero is undoubtedly one of the series that defined the Noughties, introducing video games to people who had until that point rarely touched a console, and Guitar Hero 5 is the culmination of years of refinement. Key to 5’s success is the improved party play, allowing anyone to jump in and play with whatever instrument they fancy. If you and your friends are up for it a quartet of drummers could take to the stage, while the less musically talented could belt out some out of tune numbers on a microphone. Guitar Hero 5 might not be the game that started it all, but it’s the one that delivered all the features we always wanted.

96. Rock Band 2 – Multiplatform, 2008

To be honest, it was pretty much a 50-50 call as to whether this or the first Rock Band should have made our Top 100. They’re both excellent, and there are only slender differences between the two, but RB2 just about takes the biscuit thanks to the inclusion of No Fail mode, a feature that has helped strum-em-ups to reach an even wider audience. On a similar note, the old “Rock Band versus Guitar Hero” debate could easily go on forever – but the truth is that there’s very little to separate the two franchises. While the Guitar Heroes tend to have more accessible tracklists, the Rock Bands get points for being a tad bolder with their musical selection, and for having a slightly more consistent approach to DLC. But never mind all that: together these two series have defined a whole era of peripheral-led gaming – and few other games can match the high that accompanies a perfect five star performance.

95. Final Fantasy X – PS2, 2002

Replaying Final Fantasy X nearly eight years after release, it’s easy to see why some reckon it’s the greatest Final Fantasy game ever made. It marked the series’ transition into full 3D, was superbly voice acted, and had graphics so stunning it puts more recent Square Enix role-playing games to shame. Sure, Tidus, the teenage angst-ridden spiky-haired main character was annoying as hell, but the world he inhabited was so huge, so engaging and so epic, that you happily put up with his whining. The puzzles were terrible, and the game made absolutely no sense, with an ending bonkers even by Final Fantasy standards, but who needs a clear narrative when you can summon giant monsters from the sky and a devastating demon samurai with a cool dog? Not us.

94. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory – Xbox and PC, 2005

Splinter Cell has been a bit hit and miss (although the misses only seem as such because the quality on the whole has been excellent), but the pick of the bunch is Chaos Theory. The Xbox and PC version is easily the best game in the series, featuring sublime visuals (even today on a beefy PC this stands up against current next-gen efforts), awesome stealth gameplay, a suitably espionage-filled plot and some of the most memorable levels Ubisoft has ever created. The follow-up, Double Agent, introduced some neat ideas and gameplay mechanics, but it isn’t a patch on the classic Sam Fisher gameplay on offer here. Snake who?

93. Battlefield 2 – PC, 2005

It’s not exactly easy to create a new flavour of FPS gaming, but with their enormous multiplayer playgrounds of death, Digital Illusions CE has done just that. As much as we love the downloadable delights of BF 1943, it’s 2005’s Battlefield 2 that remains the Swedes’ greatest achievements to date: six diverse classes, 15 huge maps to fight across, and support for up to 64 players at once. Few other shooters can compare to the scale of such combat, and when you’re in one of those matches where everything “just gels”, there are few that can match its fun factor, either.

92. Devil May Cry – PS2, 2001

Hideki Kamiya, now pulling Bayonetta’s gorgeous strings, invented a genre with this visceral action game. Kamiya’s “stylish combat” – performing unbroken attacks without receiving damage – proved hugely popular among PlayStation 2 fans, and laid the groundwork for countless copycats. Main character Dante’s acrobatic mid-air sword and gun attacks are as impressive today as they were in 2001, as are the gothic, silky smooth graphics. The puzzles, platforming and nonsensical story might not amount to much, but the combat is still hugely enjoyable. Wondering what all the fuss is about? Dig it out and have a play while you wait for Bayonetta to set her sexy stilettos down on mainland Europe. Then you’ll see why this series has shipped ten million copies around the world.

91. Colin McRae: Dirt 2 – Multiplatform, 2009

As a series, Colin McRae has had a pretty impressive history, with developer Codemasters rarely delivering anything other than a solid racer. Dirt 2 is the pinnacle of the series, combining jaw-dropping visuals, seat of your pants arcade-style racing and a sense of cool few games come close to achieving. Rallying is an exhilarating motorsport in real life, yet somehow Codemasters managed to go beyond that, turning the sport into a no holds barred festival of fun. Rally video games had certainly got stuck in a rut, and the inclusion of many off-road motorsports makes Dirt 2 one of the most diverse racing games ever released.

Check back to tomorrow as the Top 100 Games of the Noughties countdown continues with 90 to 81.