Video games are a relatively new medium. Unlike other mediums, such as movies, books, or music, video games tend to age a little worse. A lot of titles from ten or fifteen years ago just don’t feel as good to play as they did when they first came out. As one looks further and further into the past, the situation only gets worse. However, a few games do stand the test of time.
To celebrate the medium’s past, this list will take a look at ten older games that were way ahead of their time. To have made they list, they don’t just have to be good; they have to feature mechanics that no other game was using at the time. Not all of the games on this list have aged supremely well, but they all brought something new to the table.
10 Deus Ex
Warren Spector is a well known name within the industry. In addition to Deus Ex, he has worked on Epic Mickey, System Shock, and Thief. The latter two are both considered to have innovated the first-person genre, but his 2000 sci-fi shooter surpasses even those in quality and originality. Deus Ex was the first game in the genre to prioritize player choice in both game play and progression.
Missions were giant sandboxes players could approach in a variety of ways. It would be many years before other first-person shooters adopted RPG elements into their stories. While the series was rebooted in 2011 and carries the spirit of the original, many fans still prefer the original.
9 Metal Gear Solid 2
Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece was as venerated for its graphics and game play as it was for its story. Metal Gear Solid 2 upset a lot of fans with its surprise protagonist switch, but the move served to enhance the game and its themes. It came out in 2001 and deals with implications of the then burgeoning internet, digital information, and the dangers presented by the new technologies.
The game play also introduced new features like shooting from cover, hiding bodies, and hanging over ledges to avoid detection. The level of interactivity with the world was also unprecedented. Famed writer Thomas Pynchon referred to Hideo Kojima as God in his 2015 novel Bleeding Edge; what more proof does one need of the game designer’s genius?
8 Silent Hill 2
Other survival horror games of the late nineties and early aughts dealt in jump scares and gross monster design. Silent Hill 2 haunted players with its engrossing atmosphere and ambiguous story. No other games at the time, especially AAA titles, were dealing with themes such as marital infidelity childhood trauma. The enemy designs are still terrifying, but not in the same way that zombies and monsters are. These creatures are representative of guilt and lust.
7 Max Payne 2
Max Payne was a brutal narrative following Max Payne through New York City’s seedy underbelly on his quest for justice and revenge. Max Payne 2 has an equally oppressive plot, but with heavily expanded upon game play. The shooting is tight, enemies realistically drop to the ground and react to the environment with rag doll physics.
Gun fights are filled with explosions that send objects flying in every direction. This new level of interactivity and new physics system made every firefight feel different and begged for multiple playthroughs.
6 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines flopped upon release, contributing to the studio’s closure just a year later. One could chock it up to the game being too far ahead of its time for audiences to appreciate it, but it was also filled with bugs and glitches. Still, players who looked past all that were able to experience something special. This role playing experience went beyond the likes of Elder Scrolls. The created character had a huge impact on the things players could do and the path the story would follow. After years of cult status, the game is finally getting a sequel.
5 Half-Life 2
Released in 2004, Half-Life 2 is often seen as ushering in the next generation of gaming. It was a PC exclusive at first, before being severely downgraded for the original XBOX. Console gamers finally got their hands on a good version in 2007. It perfectly combined story telling with game play, and had a robust physics engine the players could take full advantage of with the Gravity Gun. Half-Life 3 may never see the light of day, but the 2004 game and its expansions are still great today.
4 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Knights of the Old Republic introduced western RPG conventions to a mass audience with the Star Wars property. Most gamers never had the choice to be unrepentantly evil or a beacon of justice. These days, such options are commonplace, but this wasn’t the case in 2003.
3 Animal Crossing
Believe it or not, Animal Crossing was originally developed and released for Nintendo 64 in Japan. This game only had one goal that could tackled at the player’s leisure - paying off the debt to Tom Nook.
If players never did so, that was fine too. The game was all about living a separate life in this virtual town, interacting with the population, and participating in various activities. The town also observed holidays and special events according to the GameCube’s internal clock.
2 Mega Man Legends 2
The Mega Man Legends games provided a fantastic, colorful world filled with side quests, dungeons, and plenty of bad guys all on the PS1. A subtle karma system that darkened Mega Man’s armor if he committed bad deeds, and NPCs sometimes reacted to the player’s actions.
1 Shenmue
Shenmue released in Japan in December, 1999, but in 2000 for all other territories. Yu Suzuki crafted a then unbelievably lifelike world for gamers to interact with and in. Complaints are often directed towards the lack of action and necessity to wait for certain times of day to progress the story, but it is this attention to realism that garnered the game its cult following.
