15 Best Months To Be A Gamer (Since 2000)
8. November 2007 Creeds, Effects And Modern Warfare...
When looking back through the annals of video game history, one month in particular stands out. November 2007 saw the arrival of three video game franchises which would forever shape the video game world, beginning with Infinity Ward's FPS masterpiece Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
While Call of Duty had been around for a while now (and was moderately popular), Modern Warfare took it to whole new levels. With a new engine and a storyline that pulled the series out of its World War 2 slump, Call of Duty looked better and played better than it ever had before. The multiplayer was truly revolutionary, introducing many gameplay ideas that we now take for granted in the FPS genre (levelling, experience, custom classes etc.). If you had to pinpoint one game which forever changed gaming for the better, Modern Warfare should be your first choice.
Next up was Assassin's Creed, a game which combined the best elements of the action and stealth genres. Set during the Crusades, you play as the assassin Altair as he bids to stop the Templars from forever changing the face of the world. The busy, bustling cities of the game proved a great playground for Altair with his free-running abilities. Climbing up buildings and leaping through the air has never felt so satisfying.
Finally, Bioware cemented its position as King of the RPG Makers with the arrival of Mass Effect. Set in the distant future, Mass Effect sees you play as Commander Shephard, roaming the galaxy while defeating all manner of alien evil. The universe created by Bioware is amazingly dense, filled with life and planets to explore, with the gameplay of the series providing a great hybrid between classic RPG stat-crunching and third-person cover shooters. Mass Effect would go onto become one of gaming's biggest trilogies and Bioware would go onto build a giant throne made of money. Probably.
There were other major arrivals this month too (how did we find the time to play all of them?) with Uncharted making its debut, Rock Band arriving to become the first full-band music game, Super Mario Galaxy becoming the Wii's first major 'hardcore' game; ultra-beautiful shooter Crysis arrived on the PC... seriously November, how many good games did you want to have?
Metacritic Roundup: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, 94. Mass Effect, 91. Super Mario Galaxy, 97. Average: 94.