10 Video Games So Good They Ruined Genres

GTA 5 makes everything else look rubbish.

By Jack Pooley /

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There's nothing quite like playing a video game and having a moment of reflective clarity, where you appreciate you're not only playing something truly special, you might be playing one of the greatest games of all time.

It's a rare occurrence, of course, and may ultimately lead to a bizarre feeling of melancholy when you finally finish the game and move onto something else, well aware that it hasn't got a hope in hell of matching the 10/10 brilliance you just played.

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That's certainly the case with these 10 spectacular titles, which dominated, reinvented and deconstructed their genres with such thorough creativity that they made every subsequent effort feel a bit underwhelming.

That's not to ignore the achievements of the many great games that followed these titles, but when a genre reaches a peak this absurdly high, there's only one way to go, and it sure ain't up.

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These games all represent the mechanical epitome of their respective genres, holding onto first place no matter the glut of glossy AAA outings that might try to dethrone them...