11 video games that rewrote the gaming rulebook

Brought to you by Microsoft. 

A look at the games that became game changers.

It's impossible to pay tribute to the evolution of video games without doffing our cap to pioneering arcade games like Pong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. Still, gaming culture really took off when people started to bring home early consoles like the Atari. Narrowing any list of groundbreaking or seminal games down to 11 game changers is the stuff of pub arguments. Not everyone is going to agree but we've tried to pick games that brought something innovative to the table or turned out to be important stepping stones along the way. So let the debate begin!

11. Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

When the Sega Megadrive came on the scene with a whopping 16bit of power, Sega wanted a Mario-killer to go with it. Sonic the Hedgehog was an explosive combination of speed, sound and colour that reimagined the potential of platform gaming. Perhaps Sonic's greatest trick was the new levels of characterisation and personality it brought to gaming, right down to sardonic expressions and snotty foot tap.

10. The Sims (2000)

This voyeuristic take on the god game concept sounds utterly boring on paper but The Sims was always strangely compelling. It was a novel twist on victory-driven approach of so many games. The Sims also gave you a chance to be good or evil and, as this famous Reddit thread shows, some people showed some disturbing levels of creativity!

9. Street Fighter II (1991)

Street Fighter was so good that most fighting games have simply added a few bells and whistles to the bones of the game. Great characters, intuitive gameplay commands and a bagful of special moves helped friends batter each other in a non-violent way for years. Anyone who loves fighting games has used Ryu’s fireball command at some stage, even if they’re unfamiliar with the original game.

8. Pokemon Go (2016)

Pokemon Go built on the “Gotta catch them all!” mentality by getting gamers to interact with the real world. AR turned the real world into a gaming arena in an unprecedented way. Although it also unleashed a wave of zombies onto the streets who were oblivious to anything but their phone and the Charizard they were hunting.

7. FIFA International Soccer (1993)

Before FIFA, football games were limited to fun but zany titles like Sensible Soccer or utterly hideous takes on the beautiful game. FIFA International Soccer laid the blueprint for future football games with its believable action, gameplay options, tactics and the viewpoint it adopted. Sure, it was riddled with flaws but future iterations would keep evolving and bringing the player ever closer to that perfect game of football.

6. Minecraft (2011)

Anyone who has, or even knows, a child will tell you just how big Minecraft is. It’s not just for kids though. This is a game without boundaries, and limited only by your imagination. Like a digital form of Lego, it defies definition as its biggest merit is that it is what the player wants it to be.

5. Tetris (1984)

Anyone who has ever played Tetris for hours on end knows the feeling of seeing a ghostly version of the game as you lie in bed and try to sleep. It’s a brain worm of a game, burrowing into your consciousness with each falling block. It’s a deceptively simple mechanic but few experiences can induce the kind of panic you feel as a game of Tetris goes pear-shaped and the blocks of doom keep falling.

4. World of Warcraft (2004)

WOW was a seminal force in online gaming and a subculture in its own right. Many a WOW player has experienced the disorientating feeling of stepping out into the daylight after a few days of self-imposed exile from the real world. Immersive gameplay, MMO action, incredible world-building and sheer scale make it an essential part of gaming history. It also gave us Leeroy Jenkins, which gets it serious brownie points.

3. Super Mario Bros (1985)

Shigeru Miyamoto took his plumber character from Donkey Kong and created an iconic platform game that would give CPR to a dying video games industry. It set the benchmark, took gaming out of the hands of programmers and introduced a whole new level of creativity to the industry. Super Mario Bros may seem basic to modern gamers but it was the spark that started a global fire.

2. Doom (1993)

Doom was the granddaddy of modern 3D first person shooters. It was also an important stepping stone towards an adult gaming market, with contemporary critics losing their minds over its gory action. Doom’s speed of movement, simple shooting mechanic and tense gameplay has also helped it to remain surprisingly relevant despite its age. Although Halo went on to reinvent the FPS, it was able to do this by standing on Doom’s shoulders.

1. Grand Theft Auto III (2001)

GTA III was Scarface for the gaming community and it established the franchise as gaming royalty. This was the open-ended paradise that gamers had been waiting for, albeit one that was heavily criticised for its violence and revenge-fuelled amorality. “Sandbox” gameplay had truly arrived and we wanted more. Innovative touches like an interactive soundtrack and celebrity cameos were just the icing on the cake. The game didn’t lead to the end of civilisation, as many predicted, but it did help us unleash our inner gangster and have a hell of a lot of fun. Gaming is better with Xbox and Windows 10. Not only do games work great, but on Windows 10 gamers can take advantage of the breathtaking graphic fidelity to unlock the full capabilities of a gamers PC’s video hardware to deliver incredible visuals and improved performance. Brought to you by Microsoft.