In the 2000s, gaming had one of its most prosperous times of growth. The “Bit Wars” between Sega and Nintendo, which ruled the ’90s, were over. In their place came the three-way battle between Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, which is still going on today.
And as for games, we had everything from story-driven epics to sports simulations to sandboxes with an open world. Here are some of the games we think were the best of the 2000s.
The Sims
The Sims is a series of life simulation video games made by Maxis and sold by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold almost 200 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most popular video game series ever.
RuneScape
RuneScape is a fantasy-themed, massively multiplayer online role-playing game that came out in January 2001. It was made by Jagex and published by Electronic Arts. RuneScape was originally a browser game made with the programming language Java. In 2016, a standalone C++ client took over most of the work.
Fallout 3
Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks collaborated on the 2008 action role-playing game Fallout 3. The third major instalment in the Fallout series is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring the rights to the franchise from Interplay Entertainment.
Max Payne
Neo-noir video game series Remedy Entertainment and Rockstar Studios are the creators of Max Payne, a third-person shooter. The series is named after the main character, Max Payne, who is a New York City police detective whose family was killed by drug addicts and who now fights back.
Crazy Taxi
The Crazy Taxi video game series is a set of racing games made by Hitmaker and released by Sega. The first game came out in arcades in 1999 and was very popular. In 2000, Sega put the game’s arcade version on their Dreamcast console.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 is a video game about skateboarding and the third in the Tony Hawk’s series. Activision released it in 2001 for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Colour, and GameCube under the Activision O2 label.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Rayman 2: The Great Escape is a platform game that came out in 1999 for the Nintendo 64, Microsoft Windows, Sega Dreamcast, and Sony PlayStation. Ubi Pictures and Ubi Soft published it. Ubi Soft Annecy made a version of Rayman for the PlayStation 2 that is better and is called Rayman Revolution.
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X is the tenth main game in the Final Fantasy series. It is a role-playing video game that Square produces and sells.
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike is a series of tactical first-person shooter games where teams of terrorists fight to do a terrorist act while teams of counter-terrorists try to stop them. The first game in the series, Counter-Strike, came out for Windows in 1999.
Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed is a series of open-world, action-adventure, and stealth games made by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The games use the game engine Anvil and more advanced versions of it.
Dead Rising
Keiji Inafune made the Dead Rising games, which are action-adventure games. Capcom first made it, but then Capcom Vancouver took over the franchise. As of March 31, 2022, 15 million copies of the game series had been sold worldwide, making it Capcom’s sixth most successful intellectual property.
Resident Evil Zero
Capcom made and put out Resident Evil Zero for the GameCube in 2002. It is a survival horror game. It comes before Resident Evil and is about what the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team, a special police unit, went through in the Arklay Mountains.
Civilization Revolution
In 2008, Sid Meier and Firaxis Games released Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution, a 4X turn-based strategy game. It is a different game in the Civilization series. The video game came out for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Windows, and iOS.
Fable II
Fable II is an action role-playing open world video game that came out in 2008 for Xbox 360. Microsoft Game Studios and Lionhead Studios jointly produced it. The game is the second in the Fable series. It comes after Fable, which came out in 2004.
Virtua Tennis: Sega Professional Tennis
Virtua Tennis 3 is the second arcade game in Sega’s Virtua Tennis series of tennis games. The PC-based Sega Lindbergh arcade system board makes the version of Virtua Tennis 3 work.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
The tactical shooter game Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter came out in 2006 for the Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows. As in previous Ghost Recon games, players take charge of their team as they fight off enemies and complete different mission goals.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is an action-adventure game for the GameCube that came out in 2002. Nintendo produced and sold it. It was released in Japan in December 2002, North America in March 2003, and Europe in May 2003. It was part of the Legend of Zelda series.
Populus
Bullfrog Productions and Electronic Arts released a line of video games titled “Populous.” Populous was the first game in the series. It came out in 1989. At the time, it was seen as groundbreaking, and the term “god game” came from it.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is an action-adventure video game that came out in 2007. Sony Computer Entertainment and Naughty Dog were the manufacturers. It is the first game in the Uncharted series. It came out for PlayStation 3 in November 2007.
Mario Kart Wii
Nintendo created and sold Mario Kart Wii, a kart racing game for the Wii. It came out in April 2008 and is the sixth game in the Mario Kart series.
Skate 2
Skate 2 is a skateboarding video game that Electronic Arts and EA Black Box created. The game came out for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 worldwide in January 2009. It was a spin-off of the game Skate It. It is the sequel to Skate, which came out in 2007, and the third game in the Skate series.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
The action-adventure game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City came out in 2002. It was made by Rockstar North and sold by Rockstar Games. It is the fourth main game in the Grand Theft Auto series, after Grand Theft Auto III in 2001. It is the sixth game in the series overall.
FIFA 09
FIFA 09 is a football simulation video game made by EA Canada and released by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It came out for Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360, and Zeebo in October 2008.
Baldur’s Gate
In the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign, Baldur’s Gate is a series of role-playing video games. Both the Bhaalspawn Saga and the Dark Alliance are based on the game. Both take place mostly in the Western Heartlands, but the Bhaalspawn Saga also goes to Amn and Tethyr.
