Here they are: the best games of the last ten years, as decided by Snackbar staff.  Each day this week, we’ll be revealing the next ten games in the list.

#50-41 – #40-31 – #30-21 – #20-11 – #10-1

Graham Russell: There are few great PSP titles, and Lumines managed to escape the system’s shackles with a downloadable console edition.  Music and puzzles work well together, and the visual effects showed off what the PSP could do that the DS couldn’t.

Andrew Passafiume: An excellent puzzle game that had me addicted from the first moment I started playing it. From the fantastic music to the amazing visuals, this is a puzzle game that will always remain as one of my favorites.

 

Andrew Passafiume:  This is one of the first examples of an RPG/Shooter hybrid that managed to take the best of both genres and combine it into one excellent final product. And with a great story to boot, Deus Ex will be remembered as one of the best of the last ten years.

 

Andrew Passafiume: This sequel takes everything that was great about the original and improves on it. The open world is a lot more interesting, there are plenty of new things to do, and the game’s story manages to clear up a few questions left from the first game. 

 

Andrew Passafiume: This is the free roaming action game that changed the industry forever. While a lot of people may remember it for the controversy it caused, many will remember it for being the first truly amazing free roaming action game. 

Graham Russell: GTA and GTA 2 were fun games, but they were nothing like the critical and commercial success of the third installment.  It was full of controversy and needless crime, but it was also pretty fun.

 

Andrew Passafiume: This game is quite the rare beauty. Although some may argue this is simply a Zelda clone with a nicer art style, the game definitely has a lot more depth than any Zelda game ever has. 

Eric Schabel: Okami easily shines as one of the best action-adventure titles ever made. The game as we know it was originally supposed to be three games, and you can really tell when you defeat a certain major eight-headed antagonist and the game continues right along. It is true that some people think Okami drags a bit, but I’m not in that camp. Okami is a great game with brilliant stylized graphics, and if you know anything about Japanese mythology you are sure to get even more out of playing it. I really cannot say enough good things about Okami.

 

Chris Ingersoll: One of the few RPGs that the GameCube could call its own, ToS was also one of the few multi-disc titles for the system. While the multiplayer aspects may have been a bit rough, the story was excellent and the characters memorable. 

Graham Russell: The other Tales games were great, but Symphonia boiled it down to the essentials.  For a 40+ hour game, it’s great that someone finally paid attention to the battle system. 

 

Graham Russell: Talk about flying under the radar.  Sega’s 2008 strategy game went largely unnoticed on the PS3, and the 2010 sequel is on the PSP, so it won’t fare any better.  Those who found it, though, loved it, and that’s pretty much the definition of greatness.

Shawn Vermette: The art style of Valkyria Chronicles is beautiful and unique. Combine that with an addictive and challenging battle system, and you’ll get one of the best games on the PS3, and one of the top games of this decade.

 

Graham Russell: Sonic Team’s last great title was both a frantic party game and a brain-bending puzzler.  Designed to showcase the Dreamcast’s online capabilities, ChuChu Rocket! would be an absolutely wonderful game to port to XBLA, PSN or WiiWare.

 

Shawn Vermette: Oblivion is almost everything I would want in an action RPG- an large open world, a great story, great combat, and a plethora of quests.

Andrew Passafiume:  Taking everything that was great about the last three Elder Scrolls games and improving on all of the problems the series is known for, Oblivion is a truly excellent and engrossing RPG. Its massive world and huge amount of quests and side quests will keep the average gamer playing for quite some time.

 

Andrew Passafiume:  Rockstar came to the current generation of consoles with a game that exceeded all expectations, at least my own expectations. Returning to GTA III’s Liberty City, GTA IV improves upon the previous titles tenfold. 

Justin Last: Sometimes you just need to hop in a helicopter, land it on a tall building, and fire rockets at pedestrians. GTA IV let me do that. 

 

#50-41 – #40-31 – #30-21 – #20-11 – #10-1