When people talk about landmark years for music, 1991 tends to crop up - but it's up for debate which are the best for gaming. Was it 1997 that saw the release of Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy VII within a few months of each other? Maybe 2004 when GTA: San Andreas, Halo 2 and Half-Life 2 all landed with enough weight to generate waves we're still recovering from? Either way we think 1995 deserves a shot at the title too, as it's pretty easy when looking around at the current crop of games to forget where their roots lie. Chances are without a great many of the entries on this list - and a few in particular - the gaming landscape of today wouldn't be as densely packed with fans of all genres as it is. It's pretty funny how cyclical we've become with animation techniques too. Thanks to a great many indie titles releasing throughout 2014 with far more primitive graphics, if a handful of these classics came out today, chances are they'd be just as warmly received. Sure the same can't be said about some of the earliest works of 3D - nobody's trying to imitate Final Fantasy VII's 'look', let alone anything before it - but chances are if you're a regular gamer in their twenties, it's because you cut your teeth on nearly every single one of these back in the day.
