If you’re anything like the rest of us, you still think 2003 was just a few years ago – no it wasn’t, it’s been 15 years. It gets even worse though: Kids born in the year 2000 can legally drink as of this year. There is a whole lot of ‘adults’ that don’t have 19 in their birth date any more – if that’s not enough to make you feel like a relic, allow us to make it even worse.
Here are some great games that came out a decade ago:
1. Fallout 3
The Fallout games have always been great, but 3 is definitely one of our favourites. Can you believe the game is already a decade old? The more recent Fallout 4 came out in 2015 – three years ago. We liked that one too, but number 3 was definitely one to remember – even if the original ending was rather dumb. The Broken Steel DLC fixed it, but we can still remember the needless deaths of those who went into that chamber to put in the code…you will be remembered forever, friends.
2. Grand Theft Auto IV
Although this game was markedly different from some of the other titles and thus made some fans unhappy, it’s definitely a solid game, and one that is very popular to boot. It received excellent comments from critics, and won too many awards for us to even list here.
The sequel, GTA V came out not too long after – in 2013. That’s right folks, that one came out five years ago. Time flies…
3. Left 4 Dead
This co-op zombie shooter really made an impact – it was incredibly well-received, pulled in tons of players, and won lots of awards. Owned by Valve, the game got several free DLC packs, and, eventually, a sequel. Said sequel was released in 2009 – funnily enough, on the exact same day as L4D, namely the 17th of November. While the first one didn’t feature this, the sequel actually supported cross-platform multiplayer between Windows and Mac. Very kind of Valve to throw the Apple-fanatics a bone!
4. Valkyria Chronicles
Usually, when games try to combine too many genres, it goes terribly wrong – not so with this one. A mix up of first-person shooter, real-time-strategy game, and round-based tactical play, the game turned out pretty epic. The unique art style wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but nothing ever is. Despite it’s release a decade ago, the port to PC took a little longer – it eventually became available on Steam.
The series is now in it’s fourth instalment, with another title being released sometime this year.
5. Persona 4
The Persona series is one of those lucky moments you don’t really think too much about – we nearly didn’t get the series in the west, because Square Enix didn’t think it would be well-received. Well, they were wrong. The game got great reviews and feedback, and eventually sequels.
Number 4 was released a decade ago – the next and fifth instalment came out only two years ago. Atlus took a little break from the series but came back strong as ever – Persona 5 is as much fun as the fourth one was.
6. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
The CC series was one of the more popular RTS series out there – developed by EA in a time when games developed by EA were still okay to play and not riddled with loot-boxes, Red Alert 3 was a stand-out title. It got epic reviews and praise for the factions, campaigns and surprisingly good AI – for the time anyway.
Sure, our units would occasionally fail to find their way through the terrain, but compared to what EA puts out now, that’s just a loveable quirk.
7. Fable 2
The Fable franchise was praised for it’s karma system – although the choices between good and evil were pretty obvious, we got to make them ourselves, and that was pretty unique back then. The third instalment, Fable 3, wasn’t released until 2011, so for a couple years, Fable 2 was the go-to title. After Fable 3 came out…yeah no, we liked Fable 2 better.
8. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
2008 was a good year. It brought us lots of games we love(d) and one of them is The Force Unleashed. A Star Wars game is always pretty risky – fans will either love or hate it, and in this case they loved it. It’s a really great moment for the Star Wars game franchise actually – if we remember the loot-box meltdown from last year, it’s all the more obvious that it’s games like these we have to remember fondly. Thanks for nothing, EA.