12 Most Influential Video Games Of The 2000s

4. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

call of duty 4 modern warfare
Activision

After years spent firing rickety old WWII rifles and machine guns, and lobbing those potato masher grenades back at untold numbers of Nazis, relocating the series to today's war stage was an inspired move. Modern Warfare was a well-deserved success, offering one of the most cinematic game experiences ever seen, and... perks - piles upon piles of accursed multiplayer perks that became the norm for all multiplayer shooters.

Modern Warfare was such a hit that it essentially killed of all competition (except for Battlefield) in the traditional online shooter genre on consoles. It made 'cod' the buzzword for online shooters; if you met someone who you wanted to befriend as an online gaming buddy, you could bet that one of the first questions you'd be asked would not be 'what games do you have?' but 'got COD?', later to be replaced by, 'got BLOPS?'

While the game became the game you had to own if you wanted to fit in with the online community of your given console, its perk system - whereby as you gained XP you could imbue yourself with various combat bonuses tailored to your play style - spread to online shooters across the board, and you can still see it in today's new generation of massively online shooters like Destiny and The Division.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Gamer, Researcher of strange things. I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.