The Twenty Best-Rated Games Of The Decade

Lost slightly amidst all this “end of year” review business is the fact this is also the end of the decade. Which means it’s time to take a look back and what the best games of 2000-2009 were.

According to review aggregation site Metacritic, the top twenty games of the past ten years are…well, pretty damn surprising. Games like GTAIV, Halo and Super Mario Galaxy are up there, as you’d expect. But some of the others, including the top-rated game of the decade, are coming straight out of left field.

Here they are, courtesy of MCV, with only the highest-ranking score of a multiplatform game included.

1. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 – 98 (Activision)

2. Grand Theft Auto IV – 98 (Rockstar)

3. Perfect Dark – 97 (Nintendo)

4. NFL 2K1 – 97 (Sega)

5. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 – 97 (Activision)

6. Halo – 97 (Microsoft)

7. Metroid Prime – 97 (Nintendo)

8. Grand Theft Auto III – 97 (Rockstar)

9. Super Mario Galaxy – 97 (Nintendo)

10. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – 96 (Konami)

11. Half-Life 2 – 96 (Valve)

12. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – 96 (Nintendo)

13. Resident Evil 4 – 96 (Capcom)

14. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – 96 (Nintendo)

15. BioShock – 96 (2K Games)

16. The Orange Box – 96 (Valve)

17. Out of the Park Baseball 2007 – 96 (Sports Interactive)

18. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – 96 (Sony)

19. Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn – 95 (Interplay)

20. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [GBA] – 95 (Nintendo)

Wow. I mean, I liked the second Tony Hawk game. It was a blast. But better than Half-Life 2? Better than Halo? That’s questionable.

Same for NFL2K1. Yeah, it was a pioneering sports title, but an aggregate score of 97? I think some review outlets were being a little generous around the turn of the millennium.

Top 20 Games of the Decade [MCV]