7. Dead to Rights: Retribution
The third-person shooter genre, although not as bloated as that of first-person, is still one that rigidly sticks to whatever mechanics are put on display by the biggest flagship franchises. Ever since Resident Evil 4 its been Gears of War doing the influencing, yet Dead to Rights took this idea of stop n pop cover systems and twinned it with a fun melee combat system that was half cartoonish-animations highlighting huge arching kicks and flying punches, and half visceral connections with great sound effects. The result was an immediately playable game that although it comfortably stayed within its boundaries, innovated with the inclusion of your dog, Shadow. Besides a few levels where you took control of him and set about clearing out a warehouse of goons by way of ripping throats and gnashing on gonads, he could also run around the battlefield and scoop up ammo for you, or fetch a new gun should you be completely pinned down. The whole game was rough around the edges, but with an overall attitude of fun and accessibility, this is something akin to a brainless action-flick starring some musclebound, ass-kicking, one-liner-delivering hero, which if thats the kind of thing you can check your pretensions in at the door for, youre in a truckload of luck.