6. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Before Call of Duty 4 hit, war shooters were quite literally in no-mans land. Stuck during WWII, the genre had become stale and unimaginative. Medal of Honor was the trail blazer but even then, the games best iteration Frontline seemed so long ago. Call of Duty 4 changed everything. Bringing warfare shooters out of the dark ages and into a modern setting proved to be one of the most influential moves this generation. Consistently the best selling game year in year out, there is no way I couldn't mention it. When talking about console gaming, there really is few other defining titles. Modern Warfare told a great story, had intuitive gameplay and made the online matchmaking one of the most important factors to console gaming. However, it is important that the game has started some unsavoury trends. Producing many clones, the market is now awash with modern war games trying to get a slice of the pie that Modern Warfare intially baked. Along with that, the forceful push away from single player in favour of multiplayer, underdeveloped yearly releases and a reliance on franchising have all followed. I actually think the Call of Duty franchise is occasionally great and I always approach it with an open mind, but it is hard to deny some of the negative impacts the game has had on the industry. But defining of this generation? Certainly.