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All video games are usually categorized in different genres, like Real-time strategy, RPG, Stealth, First-person shooter, Third-person Shooter, Racing, Sandbox/ Open-world, Sports and much more. There are some remarkable games which sets a platform or acts as a reference for the games which are to be developed in their respective genres.Here the top 10 benchmark games that acts as a reference to other games in their respective genre :
#10 Tetris
The Benchmark game of the puzzle genre is Tetris, it is by far the best puzzle game till date and is available for every consoles, computer systems and mobile phones. This game holds a Guinness World Record for being the most ported game in the history of video gaming, appearing on in excess of 65 different platforms by 2011.
The main objective of the game is to manipulate the Tetriminos (the geometrical game pieces), by moving sideways and rotating it by 90 degree units, with the aim of creating a horizontal line of ten blocks without gaps. When such a line is created, it disappears, and any block above the deleted line will fall, and when a certain number of lines are cleared, the game enters a new level. Players lose a typical game of Tetris when the Tetriminos reaches the top of the playing field when they can no longer keep up with the increasing speed.
#9 Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness is a real time strategy video game released in 1995, which earned positive, enthusiastic reviews among the gaming world. WarCraft II won most of the major PC gaming awards in 1996, and sold millions of copies. The pattern of the game is "collect resources, build buildings and units, destroy opponents". The game was praised for its truly unique experience, a compelling single-player campaign, and an addictive multiplayer component. Many new games were added to the franchise, but still this game is considered the greatest of all time. This game is the benchmark for all the real time strategy games.
Another game which is unequivocally one of the best among this genre is Command & Conquer: Red Alert. The second game to bear the "C&C" title, Red Alert takes place in the alternate early history of Command & Conquer when Allied Forces battle an aggressive Soviet Union for control over the European mainland.
#8 The Need for Speed
Simply put, the best ever racing video game series to don the racing genre is Need For Speed (NFS). This series set as a reference for all the racing games which was released or yet to be released. All games in the series consists of racing cars on various tracks, with some including police pursuits in races. Players can even play both as a wild racer or as a cop who tries to stop the racer. Need for Speed is the most successful racing video game series in the world, and one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, selling over 140 million copies of games in the series worldwide.
Gran Turismo, released in 1998, gets an honourable mention and was a close choice for this genre in this list. To this day, this game remains the best selling video game for the PlayStation and the third highest-selling game in the Gran Turismo franchise.
#7 GTA III
GTA III was published by Rockstar games and released in 2001 for PS2, for PC in 2002, and for Xbox in 2003. The game offers an immersive 3D experience that helped redefine open-world/sandbox gaming for the newer generation.
GTA III combined elements from previous games, and fused them together to give a better exposure on the whole, for instance, the radio stations were used earlier in Sega's Out Run(1986), the ability to beat or kill non-player characters (NPC’s) were already in Portopia (1983), the way in which players run over pedestrians and get chased by police has been compared to Pac-Man (1980).
After the release of Grand Theft Auto III, many games which employed open world/sandbox were labeled, as ‘Grand Theft Auto clones’. This game sets as a reference for all the games in sandbox/open-world genre.
#6 Tomb Raider 2
Tomb Raider 2 is the best action adventure game which was released in 1997. The game was a huge commercial success and as of 2003, over 8 million copies of the games were sold, making it one of the best-selling games of all time. The players take the role of Lara Croft, who investigates about the 'Dagger of Xian' and tries to stop Marco Bartoli, a mafia head, from obtaining the dagger. This game set the benchamrk for action adventure genre and was eventually one of PlayStation's "Greatest Hits".
#5 Gears of War
Gears of War is a third person shooter video game released in 2006. The game was critically acclaimed and sold over three million copies in ten weeks and was the fastest-selling video game of 2006. This game set the trend for third person shooter genre. It is based on the use of cover and fire to progress through scenarios; a second player can play cooperatively through the main campaign to assist, and also features online multiplayer game modes.
Another honourable mention is Max Payne 2, a third person shooter game which was praised highly for its action, storyline and the use of bullet time feature, where the time slows down helping the player to focus the aim and shoot the enemies in real-time. The game won several awards including Outstanding Art Direction in 2004.
#4 Halo
The best first person shooter for consoles till date is Halo series, the series focusses on an interstellar war between humanity and aliens known as ‘Covenants’. The games in the series have been praised as the best first-person shooters for video game consoles and still considered as an killer app for Xbox. This led to the term "Halo killer" being used to describe games that are considered better than Halo. The games in the series was a mammoth commercial success and broke various sales records and have sold over 50 million copies worldwide, and grossing almost $3.4 billion.
For PC gamers, the best first person shooter till date is Half Life. The players take the role of Dr. Gordon Freeman, a physicist who must fight his way out of a secret underground research facility whose research and experiments into teleportation technology have gone wrong. The game was prasied for its seamlessly flowing narrative, presentation and realistic gameplay.
Its gameplay influenced the design of first-person shooters games for years after its release, and is still widely considered to be one of the greatest games of all time.
#3 Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is widely considered as the best stealth game to be released. The players take the role of Agent 47, an assassin who carry out contract killings as stealthy, untraceable assassinations. The game rewards the player for critical thinking and problem solving. The game is not a simple shooter, the players have to think about how to approach a target and eliminate him. The players have multiple ways to stealth kill the target like setting traps or poisoning drink, or silencing him from a long distance using snipers. Achieving Silent Assassin status seems hard at some missions but rewards the player with bonus weapons.
Another honourable mention in this genre is Splinter Cell series. The player has to move in shadows and remain stealthy throughout the game. But if spotted by enemies, they will trigger alarms, become more alert. The games in this series were a huge commericial success and praised for its dynamic lighting and real life graphics.
#2 Mass Effect
Mass Effect game series is by far the best role playing games to have ever released. All three games have received critical acclaim for their storyline, characters, romances, voice acting, choices, and the depth of the galaxy. In specific, the first game of the series, Mass Effect, was highly praised for its interactive storytelling, great characters and dialogue. This game was regarded as the "Best story ever told in gaming history".
The close runner for this list in this genre are, Fallout 3 and Final Fantasy VII, both role playing video games were praised for its open ended gameplay, character leveling system, graphics and storyline.
#1 FIFA
In sports genre, we have categories like Football ,Tennis, Golf, Basketball, Cricket and much more. There is a certain game in each of the categories which acts as a benchmark for other games in those respective series. For instance,
In Football, Fifa 06 was considered a major improvement from the previous games of EA Sports Fifa series, which made a complete overhaul of the game engine with dramatic increase in the control of play setting the platform for the next games to come in the series. This game was the first to introduce a Classic XI team consisting of great football legends and a World XI team consisting of current great superstars.
In tennis, Virtua Tennis, released in 1999, set the benchmark with its gameplay for the future tennis games. The game was praised for its wide variety of training exercises and the superstar rosters. The latest game to have released in this series is Virtua Tennis 4, released earlier in 2011.
In Cricket, EA Sports Cricket 07, is by far the best cricket game. It was highly praised for its improved player control, easy stroke play and this is the first game to introduce Ashes section separately that includes ashes scenarios. The latest mods are still available in many websites that includes IPL, CLT20 and much more.
There are many games available now which are realistic in graphics, gameplay, customization and many more , but these games listed here are still used as a reference for all the games being developed.
