Gaming has been around for hundreds of years. Well not in the form we all know it today but ever since the world has started to exist as a functioning society, people have found ways to entertain themselves with little activities that later turned into sports, as well as other games. Historians believe that mancala is the oldest game in the world, basing their facts on archaeological evidence found in Jordan from 6000 BCE.
Luckily, gaming has evolved greatly since then, and mancala, which was the predecessor of chess, is now a mere passing of time activity for the older generation. Yet games that are good are never forgotten. Some of the best games ever made in modern times, although older than a decade, are still enjoying an elite base of fans that play the titles across the world even now, with the same passion and dedication as they were 10 years ago.
Why Classics Never Fade Away
There are many reasons why true classics never fade away, starting with the work gaming companies are putting into them. For example, it took Rockstar Games 3 years to develop the famous Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas. Yet the final product was one of the bestselling games ever made, with a great deal of success even today, being sold in more than 27 million copies. Being that the game cost $10 million to make, the profit is more than surreal.
Another classic is Counter-Strike. There aren’t many gamers who’ve never heard about this one particular shooter. It revolutionised the way people worked out their battles in the famous LAN setting. With the addition of online capabilities, Counter-Strike 1.6 has soon become one of the leading video games played on the web. Millions upon millions of gamers are still playing the 1.6 version of CS, even though the game came out in 2003. Other examples include Warcraft, Call of Duty, Sims and a few other titles.
Ten Classic Games You Have To Play Today
Now that we know what classic games are, how they came to be and what they are famous for, it’s time to look back into the past and see which are the top ten classics of the last decade. We’ve chosen these games with great care and understanding of the general likelihood of games and the preference of the public. Here are our top ten classic games of the last century you have to play today.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - A classic of the shooter genre, Call of Duty is a franchise like few others when it comes to action games. Released back in 2007, this particular game is still among our bestsellers, more than a decade and a half after launch. Infinity Ward released Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare after a generation of action-thriller games that took the world by storm. The action is now more intense and more cinematic than ever before. The new game offers players an impressive arsenal of weaponry and transport, taking them around the globe to the most important hotspots of hardcore armed battle.
BioShock 2 - Gamers say that the first BioShock was literally like a shock both to the industry and the gamers, as well as producers. It took a sequel for the game to really shine through. Introducing BioShock 2, released in 2010, one of the most beloved sequels of any video game ever released. The city of Rapture is an underwater monster-infested place, filled with dangerous creatures that are stealing little girls from the surface and bringing them to the depths of the sea. As Big Daddy, one of the iconic figures of Rapture, you travel below to find a foe and ask them about their own making and survival story.
Hotline Miami - Back when this game came out, controversy was a new term. Basically, this game introduced the norm of controversial games into the industry. Violence, bloodshed, mafia, chaos. Hotline Miami was the ultimate "forbidden" game you could ever play. Still one of the unique games out there, Hotline Miami is packed with pure brutality, extreme gun violence, hard-boiled close combat and a general sense of anarchy. The story of the game is set in Miami in 1989. You will play the antihero who’s on a murderous spree against an enemy of the underworld. You’re entirely controlled by your answering machine through the gameplay.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - With so many RPG and MMORPG titles coming out over the past decade, not to mention strong expansions to the existing ones, could you imagine telling someone in 2011 that a certain game would be this popular 10 years later? Probably, but most likely, not. Skyrim beats the odds. While some RPGs are lightly popular, and even some large MMOs are struggling to keep up, Skyrim is still a topic of discussion at local gaming cafes. Elder Scrolls is a new chapter in the saga that changed everything. Skyrim reinterprets the fantasy epic and its amazing open world, offering a complete world to be explored and tackled, with all its mysteries and magic.
Far Cry 3 - Out of all the RPG games out there, there are very few that can even compare to this shooter-based one. Far Cry has revolutionised the way we look at exploring a map in a game. Since its inception, the franchise has been on top of its game and still is one of the most sought-after games to be released. The third Far Cry came out in 2012, a decade ago. Yet it is still the bestselling title of the series on our site. Far Cry 3 is an open-world first-person shooter set on an island unlike any other. A place where heavily armed warlords traffic in slaves.
Diablo 3 - Blizzard is one of the most famous gaming developers in the world, right up there with EA and Ubisoft. Released in 2012, Diablo 3 is one of the top-selling games in the series. It puts gamers twenty years after the banishing of Prime Evils from the Sanctuary when a new set of powerful overlords are getting ready to throw the calm away. Tristam, the town where it all began, is the main place where the action is about to unfold. Your job is to investigate the rumours that a fallen star, which is the very first sign of the rebirth of bad, is becoming reality. Is it true that the treacherous End Times have begun?
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - We wouldn't even write a description for this title but we do have to fill 110 words here so... here it is! The 1990s are when Carl Johnson, or CJ as his friends call him, finds out he’s stranded away from home. After the murder of his mother, the entire family has lost it. Even his friends from childhood, the best of times, are heading toward despair. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, CJ makes a trip around San Andreas, saving the family he loves and taking control of all of the cities and streets as he goes for his ultimate goal, one house at a time.
Euro Truck Simulator 2 - While the first Truck Simulator was... meh, the second title, released in 2012, was a hit! Euro Truck Simulator 2 comes with a variety of new or improved cities for you to explore and drive to, all through countries like Belgium, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, and so many more. Endurance is one of the skills you will be tested for, as well as speed and precision. All these traits of yours will be pushed to their max, during your time-sensitive mission of delivering your cargos. The elite force of truck drivers is a pride group to be a part of. Do you have what it takes?
Need For Speed: Most Wanted - There are few gamers who've yet to try a Need For Speed game. The majority of NFS fans say that, regarding gameplay, story, and music, the Underground 2 was the top of the top game in the series. Yet we believe one of the more underrated games of the franchise is Most Wanted. The addition of police chases seriously impacted not just Need For Speed but the entire racing genre as a whole. Fight through the many cops that are on your tail, in a pursuit that never really ends. Using your skills and car equipped with the latest technologies, make a run for it and defeat your rivals, on your way to becoming the Most Wanted.
The Sims 4 - Here's a shocker: Sims 4 was released 8 years ago, in 2014. Yes, we will let that sink in for a bit. In Sims 4, it is up to you the way the Sims will look, dress, and act. You are the decider on what their days are going to be like. You can design some amazing homes for them, and then hook them up with some pristine decorations, furniture and other elements. If you want to make your characters into more social ones, go to other places in town and meet new Sims. As you do so, you will stumble upon locations of divine beauty, where you can pop into adventures of all sorts.
Beating A Decade-Long Classic
So how do you beat an old classic? Although different, most classics have a few things in common that will make them somewhat similar and therefore you can establish a common technique to defeat them. Sure, a shooter is very different from a racing game, yet if you play by one of the following rules when playing either, you will get the same result: victory.
Practice - There is no video gaming without trial and error. Practice makes perfect, especially for games that came out just as the internet started to become more and more popular. Back in the day, you couldn’t find a cheat sheet that easy, regardless of how popular the game was. It was very hard to even find information on a certain game, let alone tricks to pass a harder level. This is why the practice was the only “weapon” gamers had at the time.
Strategy - There is no way anyone could’ve beaten Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas without a proper strategy before the era of the internet. Or before reaching a cheat sheet for the game. The only way you could’ve done it is by setting a clear strategy beforehand. What to do, when to do it, and how to do it in order to maximize not just progress but also gain as much money as possible, from missions and side jobs. Strategy is one of the most important ways to beat any game, no matter how old or new. Set your priorities straight and go for it, bullet point by bullet point.
Patience - Classic games came out at a time when patience was still a thing as a virtue. Nowadays people are simply not patient anymore. They want everything now, even yesterday, if possible, and they are never okay with waiting for a gratifying experience. Back in the day, it was worth it waiting in line to grab the new World of Warcraft expansion with your own two hands. People were patiently waiting to grab the discs, go home, install the game and then play it. Now, everything’s online. This is not bad but people need to learn to be patient with these games in order to defeat them.
Simply failing a level and not being patient enough to learn from your mistakes will turn you away from the game. You will see it as awful when, in fact, your lack of patience ruined the perfectly good experience the game is actually offering.