Okami was released the year after high definition gaming was introduced on Xbox 360 and it still managed to steal the hearts of gamers with its beautiful artwork. Its original and whimsical approach to the adventure genre was refreshing not only for the way gamers would paint their attacks, but also the way actions brought the world back to life.

2. Wii Sports
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Platform: Wii

Loathe Wii Sports for spawning a tidal wave of wretched mini-game copycats on Wii, but this early pack-in single-handedly started the mainstream casual game movement for one simple reason: it’s a hugely accessible, massively entertaining social-orientated experience. Practically doing away with awkward gaming interfaces entirely, it shows motion controls done absolutely right. It’s a stunning lesson in uncomplicated, approachable fun – and the fact that third-party developers still haven’t figured out what makes it works is testament to Wii Sports deceptively sophisticated design.

3. Company of Heroes
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Relic
Platform: PC

By 2006, it had to take something special to breathe new life into a WW2 game, a subset that was being worn to the very bone. Relic Entertainment’s Company of Heroes was that something special, and four years on it still stands as one of the finest RTS games of the past decade.

4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Platform: PC , Xbox 360

With Oblivion, Bethesda made a major change to its long-running, open-world role-playing franchise: it made it accessible. Quest locations and NPCs were easily identifiable and traveling around the world was quick and painless, making what was previously a hardcore experience more digestible and convenient — without losing the immersive qualities and organic character progression that made the franchise popular to begin with.

5. Gears of War
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Epic Games
Platform: Xbox 360

The original Xbox had Halo and the Xbox 360 had Gears of War, without which our industry would almost assuredly have a different landscape. Epic Games’ action romp pitted players against a world full of foes with little but a chainsaw and a friend named Dominic at your side. What unfolded was enough to make the Xbox 360 a mainstay in our industry.

6. New Super Mario Bros
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Platform: DS

What better way to bring your number one mascot to the masses than by taking him back to his roots? That’s exactly what Nintendo did with Mario, stripping out a decade’s worth of increasingly convoluted series innovations to deliver the plumber’s purest 2D platform outing since 1985. Needless to say, it was an absolute retro delight – oh, and it sold like hotcakes too.

7. Guitar Hero II
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Harmonix
Platform: PS2

Bigger set list, more variety, new modes and enhanced visuals – yes, Guitar Hero II was the evolutionary sequel that not only helped fuel the meteoric rise of the music game genre, but also managed to get plastic guitars into the hands of your neighbor’s hot sister and your grandma that Christmas where you got drunk and fell asleep under the tree with your pants down.

8. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Platform: GameCube , Wii

It was a legendary wait for Nintendo to deliver on its promise of a realistically styled Link since the famous Space World 2000 demo, which was followed up by the subsequent style swap with Wind Waker — but it was worth it. Twilight Princess hit all the notes Zelda fans wanted, featuring a gigantic game world, loads of cleverly designed puzzles, tons of items to discover, and some interesting new twists on the classic gameplay formula.

9. Dead Rising
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Platform: Xbox 360

For years, horror fans had been demanding it – a game that dropped you into a zombie outbreak ripped from the movies and let you try and survive. Capcom delivered it with Dead Rising. As photojournalist Frank West, players were left to survive in mall overflowing with the undead. You could save people and investigate what was going on or just chill out until the rescue helicopter came back for you. Swords, guns, and more had your back, but the army of freaks and monsters would put up quite the fight.

10. LocoRoco
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: SCE Studios Japan
Platform: PSP

LocoRoco was created to make us smile, and it succeeded with flying colors. The perfect portable game, this platformer is one of the PSP’s best exclusives. When it was released it didn’t look like anything else out there and while other games have been influenced by its art direction LocoRoco remains a unique, charming adventure.

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