Most influential game of the 2000-2009 decade

[FuzzyAssassin]

Diablo II, but since that isn't on the list, WoW.

Halo's innovations would have happened, though Xbox probably wouldn't exist. CoD 4 brought endless progression to shooters, which has become standard in online games, but while CoD4's progression is everywhere I think WoW/Diablo's influence is stronger in modern games.

 

[ciddative]

It's GTA 3.

Fucking everything is open world now, but not as many things are TPS like Gears or FPS like COD

 

[MrNewVegas]

I'm going to throw out 2 other games for the sake of convo as GTA 3 is the obvious answer as the poll suggests.

Oblivion and Team Fortress 2.

They were the forefathers of the current state of gaming.

 

[LCGeek]

Diablo II, but since that isn't on the list, WoW.

Halo's innovations would have happened, though Xbox probably wouldn't exist. CoD 4 brought endless progression to shooters, which has become standard in online games, but while CoD4's progression is everywhere I think WoW/Diablo's influence is stronger in modern games.

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You could argue the same for a game that has been borrowing heavily from pc counter parts and mods. HL and Quake have plenty of mods with progression which COD functions come from especially if one were to mention a zombie mod or it's current BR phase it's not the originator of them despite being the one to popularize it.

 

[Kill3r7]

What I mean is, after MW, we sort of stopped getting Halo inspired games altogether. Like the biggest keepsake we have from them is the pistol/main weapon set up, and that's kinda it. I guess we got HAZE lol, but I honestly can't think of another game post 2007 that felt influenced by Halo, and hell, 343's Halo's felt influenced by the MW formula. I know they're games from the following decade, but the likes of GtA3 and RE4 are still influential to this day.Obviously Halo was influential before MW released, so I'd say it was more influential within that decade, but overall it's not in the long run.

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If you are playing a FPS game with a controller on a console today you can thank Halo for the way that feels. Regenerating health, two weapons, aim assist. I would say AI but no one bothered reproducing that kind of AI. COD build on what Halo did and redefined the genre to the point where Halo was forced to copy it. Hence why I voted for COD.

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

Another shout out for Resident Evil 4.

 

[BabyShams]

GTA3 started the open world

Halo 2 started online MP on console as we know it

 

[Dullahan]

It's RE4. This poll is a joke.

 

[SkoomaBlade]

GTA3 followed by COD4.

 

[oliverandm]

I don't think Gears of War should be undestimated. Its brown palette, edgy attitude, and cover system frankly became status quo for a while.

 

[Deleted member 79517]

I played RE4 last year and was frankly blown away by how many games were clearly inspired by it. The seventh generation as it existed would have been notably different without RE4 to blaze its trail.

 

[PspLikeANut]

Uncharted 2, Resident evil 4, Dark Souls.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

For better or worse, it's definitely GTA3.

 

[Fabtacular]

I feel like its COD4.

So much of the game design and themes from that game continue to impact games even today.

 

[Zachary_Games]

I voted COD4 since it's fingerprints are seen on every single FPS that released thereafter.

Personally, I don't think GTA3 was all that influential. Nor do I give GTA3 credit for influencing the majority of open world games. Saying GTA3 gave birth to ALL open world games that came afterwards is a silly claim.

Second most influential IMO is missing from this list. That game is Gears of War. Gears influenced every single 3rd person shooter with its cover mechanics. You can't even imagine a 3rd person shooter without taking cover.

 

[EloKa]

You should replace WoW with Warcraft 3 from 2002.

It spawned World of Warcraft, DOTA, League of Legends, (+all other mobas), Overwatch (+all other hero shooters), and many other strategy / tower defense games. Many current games can be traced back to WC3.

 

[LCGeek]

Second most influential IMO is missing from this list. That game is Gears of War. Gears influenced every single 3rd person shooter with its cover mechanics. You can't even imagine a 3rd person shooter without taking cover.

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Funny you mention GOW cause cliffy gives credit to RE4.

Minecraft and GTA3 added way more. Others have already mentioned GTA3 wasn't the first open world including myself still doesn't remove the fact it's one of the biggest open world games of age and biggest sellers of it's age. This isn't about being first it's about influence you can directly track.

Eloka also threw down and quite frankly cod and shooters weren't crap to dota or lol let alone combined. ARPGs are fundamentally different since it as well borrowing UI and movement from that vs the old horrible style of movement seen in D2 or earlier games.

 

[SteviaRelievingYa]

So many of my non gaming friends played and loved Halo like I never saw again until COD 4, but since Halo had that effect first I give it to Halo.

 

[balohna]

GTA III's legacy is still being felt. But this poll should have Minecraft, RE4 and Demon's Souls as options. None of them beat GTA III for me on this question, but they're close and an argument could be made for each of them.

 

[Zeal543]

GTA3 is one of the most influential games of all time, I would argue it's gotta be in the top 3

 

[Dolce]

I voted COD4 since it's fingerprints are seen on every single FPS that released thereafter.

Personally, I don't think GTA3 was all that influential. Nor do I give GTA3 credit for influencing the majority of open world games. Saying GTA3 gave birth to ALL open world games that came afterwards is a silly claim.

Second most influential IMO is missing from this list. That game is Gears of War. Gears influenced every single 3rd person shooter with its cover mechanics. You can't even imagine a 3rd person shooter without taking cover.

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Open world games begin to blow up after GTAIII and every publisher was looking for a "GTA killer." They were a pretty niche genre beforehand but after GTAIII more and more developers began trying to make them. It was VERY noticeable.

Also in the case of COD I'd argue COD1 and COD2 were just as influential, after COD2 many games had begun adopting the ironsights type combat.

 

[Zachary_Games]

Funny you mention GOW cause cliffy gives credit to RE4.

Minecraft and GTA3 added way more. Others have already mentioned GTA3 wasn't the first open world including myself still doesn't remove the fact it's one of the biggest open world games of age and biggest sellers of it's age. This isn't about being first it's about influence you can directly track.

Eloka also threw down and quite frankly cod and shooters weren't crap to dota or lol let alone combined. ARPGs are fundamentally different since it as well borrowing UI and movement from that vs the old horrible style of movement seen in D2 or earlier games.

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To your first point, all games point to some other game as an influence. Not taking anything away from RE4, ofc. That is deserving on the list as well. However, I believe the cover shooting mechanic Gears pioneered as a genre standard speaks to its influence.

As for the bolded, I don't consider popularity nor being one of the biggest or most feature rich games as the epitome of influential. I would say GTA inspired a bunch of copy cats like Mafia and Sleeping Dogs to name a few. It also became the de facto blueprint for every other Rockstar game that came after. Maybe GTA3 has been the best at inspiring envy amongst the game development community since not many have tried to replicate the Rockstar formula.

 

[Obi Wan Jabroni]

I voted COD4 since it's fingerprints are seen on every single FPS that released thereafter.

Personally, I don't think GTA3 was all that influential. Nor do I give GTA3 credit for influencing the majority of open world games. Saying GTA3 gave birth to ALL open world games that came afterwards is a silly claim.

Second most influential IMO is missing from this list. That game is Gears of War. Gears influenced every single 3rd person shooter with its cover mechanics. You can't even imagine a 3rd person shooter without taking cover.

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GTAIII largely created the open world as we know it. Denying that is the equivalent denying the influence of something like DOOM, Street Fighter 2, or Super Mario Bros.

It's that significant of a game and while there were open worlds before GTAIII, there was nothing even remotely like it when it was first released and it created a groundswell of imitators and influenced game design in ways few other titles can claim.

 

[Ra]

Saying GTA3 gave birth to ALL open world games that came afterwards is a silly claim.

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Can't believe people could say such a thing when The Elder Scrolls series already existed.

 

[LCGeek]

To your first point, all games point to some other game as an influence. Not taking anything away from RE4, ofc. That is deserving on the list as well. However, I believe the cover shooting mechanic Gears pioneered as a genre standard speaks to its influence.

As for the bolded, I don't consider popularity nor being one of the biggest or most feature rich games as the epitome of influential. I would say GTA inspired a bunch of copy cats like Mafia and Sleeping Dogs to name a few. It also became the de facto blueprint for every other Rockstar game that came after. Maybe GTA3 has been the best at inspiring envy amongst the game development community since not many have tried to replicate the Rockstar formula.

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Except we had winback on n64 as giving GOW it's other direct inspiration besides RE4. I just didn't mention it cause it wasn't in the decade that RE4 or GOW was. That's the problem with COD or GOW there's way to much that came before and built the mountain well before they decided to climb it. Can't pioneer something you didn't make you can evolve don't you say you pioneered it. I give anyone in the halo community crap for mentioning shields when it wasn't the first be it mods or commercial games, that would be tribes.

Rockstar influence be it design or soundtrack is undeniable besides mechanics and offering a ton of genres blended at once, not ogs just someone to do it well and give a blueprint.

I'd argue most copy cats get no where in this industry versus those forging their own path.

Can't believe people could say such a thing when The Elder Scrolls series already existed.

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This is a console centric forum most here don't really care for early or mid 90s pc. not excusing it.

 

[Sargerus]

When you have long time companies like CAPCOM stating they wanted the CoD audience, resulting in games like Operation Raccoon City and RE6. It's undeniable how everyone wants that CoD money.

 

[jotun?]

Warcraft 3, if you consider the custom maps that have spawned entire massive genres

 

[JDHarbs]

Every single game involving shooting with a controller via some kind of aim assist has it because of Halo. Doesn't matter what genre you're in.

It's like 90% of all games released since then.

Nothing else on this list had any feature that influential.

 

[JahIthBer]

WoW made the industry hungry for games as a service, GTA3 spawned a ton of clones, it's hard to say.

 

[Vidpixel]

100% GTA3 and it's not even close tbh.

 

[Jessie.Bristol]

Should have listed Halo 2. That game single handedly paved the way for online console multiplayer games. Even Xbox Live would eventually roll it's features into it with the Xbox 360.

 

[Deleted member 35987]

I think a case could be made for Minecraft, CoD4, or GTA3. Each were catalysts for huge industry changes.

My personal choice is Halo CE, though.

 

[LCGeek]

Every single game involving shooting with a controller via some kind of aim assist has it because of Halo. Doesn't matter what genre you're in.

It's like 90% of all games released since then.

Nothing else on this list had any feature that influential.

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Every single multiplayer fps netcode worth its salt uses lag compensation, thank valve and cs for that.

It's the first form of rollback technology in a mp game. next to the tick it's a huge influence that isn't seen but you definitely shouldn't be taken it for granted. Nobody in to shooters multiplayer wise wants to go back to engines that favor those with highest fps and best latency deciding shots.

 

[cardboardboxer]

As someone who really doesn't like open world games or Grand Theft Auto games it's easily GTA 3. We now live in an era where almost every older AAA franchise feels it has to go open world to be a big success in the marketplace.

It's reminds me of how WOW killed the AAA turn based JRPG, it's a demarcation line. Production values are now defined by how big/good the sandbox the game has, and GTA 3 got us there.

I really really hope Half Life Alyx is the answer to this question 10 years from now. I would love it if one day high VR production values define the AAA experience instead of how big and stuffed a flat screened open world is on a PS6.

 

[Obi Wan Jabroni]

Can't believe people could say such a thing when The Elder Scrolls series already existed.

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I don't think anyone is making that claim.

Obviously there were open world games long before GTAIII but the argument of its importance is predicated on what happened when GTAIII was released and the subsequent influence it had on the medium afterwards, which was massive. I think you can make a compelling argument that GTAIII is in the top five most influential games of all time.

 

[cardboardboxer]

As for the bolded, I don't consider popularity nor being one of the biggest or most feature rich games as the epitome of influential. I would say GTA inspired a bunch of copy cats like Mafia and Sleeping Dogs to name a few. It also became the de facto blueprint for every other Rockstar game that came after. Maybe GTA3 has been the best at inspiring envy amongst the game development community since not many have tried to replicate the Rockstar formula.

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The following mega game franchises released an open world sequel the last generation or two when the first games weren't open world:

Legend of Zelda
Metal Gear Solid
Final Fantasy
Dynasty Warriors
Witcher
God of War (kinda I count it)
Batman
Forza
Tony Hawk
Heck even Pokémon added an "open" piece though not large enough to be open world

Why did these franchises do this when they were all established and successful? Why does Ubisoft keep creating new franchises in old video game genres and make them open world?

The answer is simple: GTA 3 was such a success it redefined what AAA means and these franchises and genres were forced to keep up.

We can name so many examples of games post GTA3 that were decent AAA games but got raked over the coals because they were linear (FF13 is my favorite example). Hell the word "linear" now has bad connotation in gaming, as if well crafted staged experiences cannot ever match up to well crafted sandboxes in the single player AAA space (indies, prestige AAA and AA still get pass).

GTA3 caused that shift in consumer perspectives.

 

[Zachary_Games]

Open world games begin to blow up after GTAIII and every publisher was looking for a "GTA killer." They were a pretty niche genre beforehand but after GTAIII more and more developers began trying to make them. It was VERY noticeable.

Also in the case of COD I'd argue COD1 and COD2 were just as influential, after COD2 many games had begun adopting the ironsights type combat.

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There were a few GTA clones that appeared, but it wasn't that common.

Good points about COD1/2. You can make a case there, but IMO, once COD4 released, the entire FPS genre adopted its mechanics as the industry standard, which remains until this day.

GTAIII largely created the open world as we know it. Denying that is the equivalent denying the influence of something like DOOM, Street Fighter 2, or Super Mario Bros.

It's that significant of a game and while there were open worlds before GTAIII, there was nothing even remotely like it when it was first released and it created a groundswell of imitators and influenced game design in ways few other titles can claim.

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GTA3 did not create the open world as we know it. I strongly disagree there. Hardly any open world game from gen 6 attempts to copy what Rockstar does. I would argue Assassin's Creed 2007 has had a bigger influence on open world game design than GTA3.

Except we had winback on n64 as giving GOW it's other direct inspiration besides RE4. I just didn't mention it cause it wasn't in the decade that RE4 or GOW was. That's the problem with COD or GOW there's way to much that came before and built the mountain well before they decided to climb it. Can't pioneer something you didn't make you can evolve don't you say you pioneered it. I give anyone in the halo community crap for mentioning shields when it wasn't the first be it mods or commercial games, that would be tribes.

Rockstar influence be it design or soundtrack is undeniable besides mechanics and offering a ton of genres blended at once, not ogs just someone to do it well and give a blueprint.

I'd argue most copy cats get no where in this industry versus those forging their own path.

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I don't see heavy Rockstar influence in the majority of games outside of other Rockstar games, or direct copy cats.

Can't believe people could say such a thing when The Elder Scrolls series already existed.

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Shiiiiiiet, Shenmue came out 2 years earlier.

 

[HebrewHammer]

GTA3 by a mile and then some.

Perhaps CoD4 comes second.

EDIT: Oh wow, I wrote this before checking out the poll results. I agree with you all (as of this writing)!

 

[NewDayMarch]

The window of it's influence was shorter then many of the games in the poll, but there was a period where Gears Of War's cover shooter design was the leading gameplay element of a vast amount of AAA games.

 

[LilScooby77]

Halo.

 

[LCGeek]

I don't see heavy Rockstar influence in the majority of games outside of other Rockstar games, or direct copy cats.

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Cause the radio feature and how most games make it work like GTA3 now says you're lyin.

You ain't as blind as Mr.Magoo.

 

[Zachary_Games]

The following mega game franchises released an open world sequel the last generation or two when the first games weren't open world:

Legend of Zelda
Metal Gear Solid
Final Fantasy
Dynasty Warriors
Witcher
God of War (kinda I count it)
Batman
Forza
Tony Hawk
Heck even Pokémon added an "open" piece though not large enough to be open world

GTA3 caused that shift in consumer perspectives.

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This is preposterous. I would argue most games are shifting to open worlds due to hardware capabilities, evolving development tools, and an inherent desire to develop games in digital spaces that are relatable to the real world.

Even linear games are adopting wide linear design since it is inherently more immersive. I guess GTA3 gets credit for linear games widening their levels as well?

Cause the radio feature and how most games make it work like GTA3 now says you're lyin.

You ain't as blind as Mr.Magoo.

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Lol, oh right, the radio feature. You got me there 😂

 

[LCGeek]

Lol, oh right, the radio feature. You got me there 😂

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No different than people in to COD telling me that cause it has progression, something other genres were doing for quite sometime before including even sport games is pioneering things.

Bang Bang.

 

[Obi Wan Jabroni]

GTA3 did not create the open world as we know it. I strongly disagree there. Hardly any open world game from gen 6 attempts to copy what Rockstar does. I would argue Assassin's Creed 2007 has had a bigger influence on open world game design than GTA3.

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You're being far too literal in the way developers were influenced by the game. Just because a game doesn't feature a direct emulation of the aesthetics, theme or mechanics of GTAIII doesn't mean developers weren't inspired and influenced by the vastness of the open-world design it offered within a 3D construct. There was nothing like GTAIII at the time it was released and the aftershocks of that release are still felt to this day.

And that's even before you tally all the actual copycats.

And frankly, the notion that the original AC had a larger influence on open-world gaming is bizarre. It's certainly an important title and franchise in the evolution of open world design but claiming it is more important or influential than GTAIII is the equivalent of claiming Virtual Fighter was more influential to the fighting genre than SFII.

It's also ironic given that games such as Watchdogs by Ubisoft crib heavily from GTA.

 

[J75]

GTA III and RE4 essentially shaped the look, feel and gameplay format of a wide variety of AAA games for years to come, and one that can still be felt even to this day.

 

[Artdayne]

The answer is Warcraft 3.

Can't believe people could say such a thing when The Elder Scrolls series already existed.

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It did, and Gothic 1, a better game, came out earlier that year.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

GTA 3 set a 20 year benchmark and what was set into motion is still being felt.

 

[Dr. Feel Good]

It's halo.

 

[RedSwirl]

There were a few GTA clones that appeared, but it wasn't that common.

Good points about COD1/2. You can make a case there, but IMO, once COD4 released, the entire FPS genre adopted its mechanics as the industry standard, which remains until this day.

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GTA3 did not create the open world as we know it. I strongly disagree there. Hardly any open world game from gen 6 attempts to copy what Rockstar does. I would argue Assassin's Creed 2007 has had a bigger influence on open world game design than GTA3.

Click to shrink...

It was more than just a few man.

Spider-Man 2
Ultimate Spider-Man
Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction
Simpsons Hit and Run
Mercenaries
Mercenaries 2
That Scarface game
Just Cause 1
That Godfather game
Mafia 1
True Crime LA
True Crime NY
Midnight Club 3
One of the Driver games I think
Gun
More I probably missed

You can argue Assassin's Creed 1 and 2 had more influence in codifying the current open-world formula as something distinct from Rockstar's style, but I don't think you get AC1 without GTA3, just like you probably don't get Gears influencing all later third person shooters without RE4.

 

[JDHarbs]

Every single multiplayer fps netcode worth its salt uses lag compensation, thank valve and cs for that.

It's the first form of rollback technology in a mp game. next to the tick it's a huge influence that isn't seen but you definitely shouldn't be taken it for granted. Nobody in to shooters multiplayer wise wants to go back to engines that favor those with highest fps and best latency deciding shots.

Click to shrink...

While I can 100% agree that is influential, I'd argue it isn't nearly as much. Aim assist is a feature used across both single and multiplayer games, as well as across genres not just FPS either. If we're talking about the game that pioneered the ideas that influenced more games than any other on this list, then I don't see how it can be anything other than Halo and that's even without counting it's additional influential features as well like the 2 weapon limit and standardized control scheme. If we add Halo 2 into the mix then we can add behavior tree AI systems and playlist-based matchmaking onto that list as well.