Your game of this gen.....

[Valkyrie-Favor]

For me, it's Knights In The Nightmare. It's a really intense experience.

[Erik_Twice]

Without question Team Fortress 2. An incredible game and one of the best shooters I've ever played.

The Xbox360 was released in 2005 so I consider anything beyond that to belong to this generation.

[BurningDoom]

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for me.

As of this post, at least, it is the single greatest game I have ever played. My favorite of all-time.

And I do own Skyrim. Skyrim is a fantastic game, too, but I like Oblivion better.

It was so large and expansive with so much freedom and so much to do. Yet so minutely detailed at the same time. The game is simply amazing.

[Gamerforlife]

I dont see how the Batman games have better combat than Metal Gear Rising. Metal Gear Rising has some of the elements from the Batman games but are interrogated with way more depth and more rewarding execution (where in the Batman games you hardly need any reflexes or precision to parry guys).

How is Mass Effect the equivalent to a multi media franchise when it is only famous for its games (I don't even know what other products Mass Effect has).

Sorry for picking on you gamerforlife

I haven't played MG Rising actually, but the fact that it borrows from the Batman games shows how significant they are.

You certainly do need reflexes and precision in the Batman games if you are going for maximum combos or high scores in the combat challenge rooms. High level play does require some skill, particularly in Asylum. I think they made combat a bit easier in Arkham City

Mass Effect has comic books published filling the back story for Mass Effect 2. I own a few. I think they were published by Darkhorse. There is a Mass Effect movie in the works, and I think I saw something once about a Mass Effect anime. The point I was trying to make really was that Mass Effect has such a big universe that you can do so much with, much like a Star Trek or Star Wars

But those are just my opinions, there were a lot of notable games this gen, but I think Mass Effect and the Batman games were game changers, maybe not on the level of something like Grand Theft Auto III, but game changers nonetheless.

[Cronozilla]

I would argue that if you had to put PC games into the generational mold this generation started in 2004 and would be ending this year, 2013.

As for my answer ... I have no idea, do you have any idea how many good games have come out on PC, DS, PSP, Wii, PS3, and 360 since 2004!? This will take some thought.

Maybe I could narrow it down to 10. But a single game that I think was not only the best, but my favorite from that time span, and that is everything I think embodies this idea of "next gen" for that generation ... I'm not sure I can even give an answer.

[brunoafh]

For me, it's Knights In The Nightmare. It's a really intense experience.

To say the least! Definitely a gem this generation. Such a crazy game.

[Menegrothx]

Although there's a lot of highly enjoyable titles like Red Dead Redemption, Sonic Generations, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R-series (if you count PC), the Bioshock-series, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Super Meat Boy (if you count indie), The Walking Dead, Super Mario Galaxy 1&2, Fallout New Vegas and so on and so on, I can only think of two games that are really designed perfectly and above great: Portal and Rayman Origins. It says a lot that a tough critic like Yahtzee considers Portal to be one of the best games of all time.
I can understand people not mentioning Rayman Origins as there are a lot of great, superbly designed platformers made over the years (although RO still stands out from the crowd thanks to it's heavenly 2D art, 2-4 player co-op and beat em up&shmup elements), but I'm really surprised that no one else has mentioned Portal so far. It's such a cleverly designed game. It redefined what a puzzle game can be, had an amazing soundtrack&athmosphere and good writing, had a completely new and innovative gameplay mechanic, had excellent level design that first challenged the player on normal mode and then ramped up the difficulty on time/portal challenge which forced you to completely rethink the way you completed the levels and it was short and sweet, not overstaying it's welcome. And it came free with Team Fortress 2 (probably the best designed competitive FPS game released during the last.... 7 or 8 years or what?) and Half Life Episode 2, so what more could you want?

[Violent By Design]

TF2 the best designed competitive game? Not sure bout that one, it was a major down grade from TFC in terms of competitiveness.


I do agree that Portal is awesome, and certainly on the top of my list of best games I've played. I played Rayman Origins co op and it wasn't very good, haven't gotten a chance to play it single player but will in the future.

[Menegrothx]

TF2 the best designed competitive game? Not sure bout that one, it was a major down grade from TFC in terms of competitiveness.

Sure it's no Counter Strike/Quake, but the longevity and popularity of that game speaks volumes. How many people still play Modern Warfare 2 or Black Ops? Can you think of any other online focused FPS game released during this generation that would rival TF2? The new Tribes game or ARMA 2 perhaps, but both of those are considerably younger and less popular, so it's too early to tell.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

TF2 the best designed competitive game? Not sure bout that one, it was a major down grade from TFC in terms of competitiveness.

Sure it's no Counter Strike/Quake, but the longevity and popularity of that game speaks volumes. How many people still play Modern Warfare 2 or Black Ops? Can you think of any other online focused FPS game released during this generation that would rival TF2? The new Tribes game or ARMA 2 perhaps, but both of those are considerably younger and less popular, so it's too early to tell.

The thing about TF2 is it isn't a great competitive game, but it's a great online game. It's not particularly well balanced unless you play it vanilla and strictly 9v9 with a single person per class. It would be hard to argue against it being probably the most fun with an online shooter anybody could have though.

The reason you don't have people playing Modern Warfare 2 or Black Ops 1 is because they get new iterations very quickly. TF2 has been designed with a long term business model. If they churned out Team Fortress games like they did CoD you would probably see the same pattern.

I'm still trying to think of a game I can attribute to being my favorite single player game of this generation and I can't think of one. There's just too many. I could probably do it by one per year...