25 Best Video Games Of The 2000s

16. Resident Evil 4

With one foppy-haired character, a shotgun and a seemingly abandoned Spanish village, Capcom rewrote the rulebook on survival horror all over again. Design was led by the genius mind of Shinji Mikami, who chose to get you right down in amongst the action, ramping up the gunplay aspect of the series that was - up to this point - quite literally hit n' miss at the best of times.

This seemingly simple switch in perspective was all it took to breathe immortal life into the franchise, and that led to the aforementioned exploration of a dilapidated living space all the more enjoyable. The game went off the rails in the best way possible in the second half, combining sprinting 'zombies' (infected citizens) with all manner of weapons, a plot that was more atypical action fare than beforehand, and a good smattering of hulking creatures to take down along the way.

And the first time you feel that shotgun kick? It's enough to be a defining moment of the decade in itself.