Blog:Grust's Top 10 Favorite Games of the 2000s

The 2000s as far as I'm concerned is the last truly great decade for gaming. While the 2010s had good games, that decade was horribly plagued with SJW pandering, micro-transactions, lootboxes, and companies just becoming more and more greedy. The 2000s was just about having fun with our favorite consoles and games. Not going to lie, this was a damn hard list to make because we had a ton of really good games in this decade. But only 10 can make it. As you can guess, this covers games that appeared from 2000 to 2009. So onto the countdown.

10. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: While I'm not as big a fan of this one despite its now cult following, I still love this game a lot even beating it again this year. I admit, whenever I think of the central hub, the game doesn't feel that old despite being 20 years old. While there are only 5 main dungeons in the game, the game pads itself well with a ton of sidequests, 20 of which are covered in the Bomber's notebook. And these sidequests offer a lot of character development to the NPCs the most famous is Kafei and Anju whose sidequest needs to be completed twice for several notebooks quests. Also while there are only magic arrows in the dungeons, the main secondary items you want in the game are masks which offer unique abilities and are necessary for several heart pieces.

9. God of War 2: This really puts what makes Kratos badass in full force. While he shows some reluctance and even remorse for what he does in the first game, he is full blown brutal in this game and becomes such an unstoppable force that even the Fates can't control him. As you progress you have the ability to deflect attacks and aim them back like dead man's volley. This game also has a whopping 14 bosses, more than any other game in the series and even some JRPGs are in shock.

8. Doom 3: If you asked me what my favorite FPS of all time is, it's Doom 3 along with its expansion, Resurrection of Evil. While Doom 2016 and the original are still good, Doom 3 and its expansion offer much more of a survival horror setting with limited resources, a need to find PDAs to unlock storage lockers and solve puzzles and dark areas forcing you to use your flashlight leaving you vulnerable. Plus Doom 3 has one of gaming's most evil villains, Malcom Betruger, a man who actually willingly sided with the demons and sought to bring Hell on Earth for power which he got by becoming the demon god, the Maledict. Killing him in Resurrection of Evil was very satisfying.

7. Banjo-Tooie: I haven't played this in a long time but I want to revisit it after I play Ocarina of Time in November (I must play OoC every November), but what I remember of the game is still very good. Taking place two years after the first game, Gruntilda is back but now an undead skeleton, she seeks to suck the life out the very land itself to revive. To defeat her, Banjo and Kazooie must learn new abilities, travel to new lands and separate to find the Jiggies to reach Gruntilda and stop her once again. Several new areas even link to other places to find more Jiggies.

6. Lost Odyssey: This was made at a time when traditional JRPGs were dying out so this was a breath of fresh air to the genre. You play as an immortal, Kaim, who has lost a thousand years of his memories. Undergoing a quest to overlook why Grand Staff is malfunctioning, he is soon reunited with several other immortals who also lost their memories and begin a quest to find out why. Along the game Kaim unlocks some memories in the form of the Thousand Years of Dreams, which doesn't sugarcoat how painful immortality can really be. Also the soundtrack was provided by Nobuo Uematsu with Howl of the Departed being a great Final Boss song.

5. Fable 2: Taking place 500 years after the first game, Fable 2 lets you become the Hero of Bowerstone and save the world from the evil, yet tragic, Lord Lucien who aims to rebuild the Spire and become a god. Making gold is much easier in the game by allowing you to perform jobs like blacksmithing, woodcutting or bartending, and you can also invest your money in real estate and business. By buying homes and businesses, you can earn gold every 5 minutes even when the 360 is turned off. Morality returns allowing you to be good or evil, but you can also be pure or corrupt which is determined by diet and how much you charge for homes and businesses. Strength Skill and Will also return to customize your hero.

4. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Taking place 100 years after Ocarina of Time, the descendant of OoC Link also named Link, begins a quest to free the land of Hyrule under the grip of the Realm of Twilight. To do this he must restore 4 light spirits and empower a dark imp girl to defeat a false king that has usurped the Queen of Twilight. However it makes you wonder how someone could easily usurp a magical queen unless they had some kind of help. Could an ancient evil be back?

3. Super Mario Sunshine: Some are divided over this game, some hate it, others love it. I personally love it. Armed with the new FLUDD Mario must clear several areas around a tropical island of some weird goop and find out the identity of a shadow Mario that framed him. The mission system from 64 is back allowing you to obtain more and more Sun Sprites to brighten the island and even unlock new abilities for FLUDD. I will admit some areas are very tough including the Pachinko level.

2. Kingdom Hearts: When this was first announced, a lot of people were either skeptical or laughing their asses off. I myself pissed my pants in excitement but I get why there was skepticism. The happy world of Disney meets the dark and serious Final Fantasy series in what was the weirdest idea at the time. It was also the first game I ever bought with my own money in the 2000s (well found lost money all around the house got scolded by my mom for it but worth it) and I own it to this day. Due to its popularity, I won't bother with the plot but I find it enjoyable to work with various Disney Heroes to take on the Heartless and the Disney Villains controlling them.

The Only Honorable Mention
Let's be honest there were so many great games this decade I can't hope to fit them all in so for honorable mentions I can only say, "Every game I couldn't add to this list." This was a phenomenal time to be a gamer. Whatever I didn't add was either because I didn't think of them when I made this list, something kept them from being on this list, or because I gushed about them so much already like Fatal Frame 2 I wanted something else to add. But now number onto number 1.

And the Number 1 Game of the 2000s is....

1. Final Fantasy X: To this day my favorite 3D Final Fantasy game is X. While I won't deny Tidus is annoying until character development kicks in, what I love is the story and the battle system. Unlike other JRPGs with a ton of party memebers to choose from, now you can switch characters in and out of battle which is useful for certain enemies weak to that character. Tidus is good against nimble enemies, Auron is good for armored enemies, Lulu is good against elemental enemies, etc. I also love the story where you begin to realize how corrupt Yevon is (is this even a spoiler anymore?). Considering my love for JRPGs and how good this game is I consider it my favorite game of the 2000s.

Ordinarily I'd ask if you had a favorite game this decade, but considering how good this decade was for gamers, I already know you have one. So let me know what it is in the comment section.

Grust: So what's next?

Top 20 games of the 90s.

Grust's hears an angelic choir and squeals with delight.

