1. Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Jedi Knight 2 might not be so recent that it deserves to be on this list. However, this game was one that utterly changed the way I thought about shooters forever. It pushed the limits of what could and should be done within the genre in ways that hadn't been done since Quake 2. Because of that, it's one that no gamer should ever go without playing, and that means if I have to put it on every damn list from now until the apocalypse, I won't. But, I will certainly threaten to do so right now. There. I threatened it. Moving on. The Jedi Knight series is actually an offshoot of the Dark Forces series, which is actually a Star Wars based knockoff of the Doom series. The original Dark Forces was little more than a shooter. Dark Forces 2 was mostly a shooter with a twist, allowing the player to use limited force powers. Then came Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, a game that redefined story telling in action games and made the use of third person cameras almost critical, as the game relied heavily on lightsaber combat. Then, finally, we were awarded Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, a game that I would say is totally unequaled in fun, challenge, replayability, and downright visual appeal. On top of having a very well thought out story and surprisingly well done voice acting, Jedi Knight II put more thought into how the player might want to play than any game before it. Players chose the force powers from the standard lot (lightning, heal, push, pull, etc), and had access to a standard arsenal of weapons. But, where things got interesting was the level design. Lucasarts went out of their way to ensure that players who wanted a standard run-n-gun shooter could have that for quite a bit of the game; using platforms, multi-level effects, and even gravity to create distanced combat. However, for the players who wanted to feel like an amazing jedi, the designers included enough cover and strong enough movement powers to allow a saber wielding Kyle Katarn to get right up in the face of those seven storm troopers and just tear them to pieces. Finally, the saber on saber combat. JK2 made a big deal about fighting the immense amount of Reborn, the evil test tube baby force users. Each battle, no matter how inconsequential, felt epic because of the saber mechanics, which forced the player to make contact with the enemy's skin while avoiding the enemy's saber. Sounds easy. It wasn't. The acrobatic nature of being a magic sword fighter lead to duels in which you might find yourself backflipping over one opponent while you stab him in the face WHILE you're still upside down, only to land in the lightsaber of a second opponent, who seeing what you were doing, used the force to throw his saber at your from 50 feet away. Oh, and each kill resulted in a slow motion cinematic camera view of the death, sending arms flying across the screen in half time. It was a thing of beauty, and a game I still play.