10 Video Games That Influenced EVERYTHING You Play

Gaming has come a long way from the days of running left to right, collecting items of monetary value and saving allegedly kidnapped members of royalty.

Nowadays we take the following mechanics that were groundbreaking then as a given now. In fact, there's a few in here that we're all guilty of mocking at some point too... but then, that is down to being mercilessly copied in their wake.

Yet there was a time when innovation, and the games that bore them, were the absolute talk of the town. There's a reason they were copied, after all.

Locking on to enemies in 3D adventure games, being able to progress from cover to cover, even just flipping the camera from fixed perspective to one of more freedom were absolute game changers.

As was the use of in-game engine cutscene and narration to create a more cinematic feel than bookended FMV usage, or something as simple as walking to deliver a story over action.

Whatever the innovation, there's a reason the games on this are heralded as some of the best. Not just for gameplay, but because that gameplay was so radical at the time.

With that in mind, let's look at ten examples that changed the way you play games today.

You can deride the Gears of War series for its macho bro-fest and hyper violence until the cows come home, but you can't deny the innovation it launched into the mainstream for 3rd person shooters.

And yes, I know Operation: Winback and Kill.switch did the cover shooting mechanic prior, but those didn't explode like Gears did. I expect the chainsaw guns helped, though.

It seems weird now to think that before this, 3rd person games had you strafing back and forth out of cover like a hesitant duck in a carnival shooting gallery. Or doing a Lara Croft and somersaulting all over the shop "evading" bullets.

Yet when Gears of War burst onto the scene back in late 2006, the cover mechanic made the action feel more alive. Instead of relying on popping up and shooting, the introduction to "Roadie run" to the next obstacle amid gunfire added a new level of intensity.

And sure, we all know it's been done to death, even in games that didn't need it (looking at you, Hunted: The Demon's Forge). But there's no denying the impact it's had on 3rd person action since.