Video games in 1985 were almost exclusively 2D-based. Most consoles of the time could only process sprites, or very simple imitations of polygons. If we compare them to games from 1995, the progress made is simply gigantic. The Playstation had arrived, 3D games were making a splash, and the technology was improving by leaps and bounds. All of this happened in the span of ten years. On the other hand, games these days are fairly similar to what was being done ten, even fifteen years ago. Sure, the graphics are less blurry, the polygons more numerous, and the maps bigger, but the standards of gameplay established in the early 2000s still hold up to this day.

Since fifteen is a nice number, and the games from then can still hold their own against today’s blockbusters, why not rank them? There hasn’t been any significant milestone since 2003, but rankings are fun, so this is what you get:

The absolute best fifteen games of the past fifteen years, as well as the fifteen worst, in countdown form It’s that simple. If you don't experience the bad, how can you be really sure that something's good?

This time, the standings are not established by Metacritic. These are simply things that have been loved and hated — opinions, get used to them! It is a solid base from which to debate which games have influenced the gaming community, the entertainment industry, or you, personally. We certainly encourage you to share your own best and worst games of the last fifteen years in the comments.

30 WORST: No Man’s Sky (PS4, 2016)

via kotaku.com

No Man’s Sky had all the hype in the world behind it. Unfortunately, it failed to fulfill its promises. The game is certainly not as objectively bad as some of the other ones on the wrong side of this list, but it had to be one of the biggest disappointments in recent history.

The expansive world advertised proved to be extremely lonely.

Most of the features talked about during development were absent at first, then released through subsequent updates. It’s not that terrible taken on its own, but it’s a stinker when compared to the expectations built by Hello Games.

29 BEST: God Of War (PS4, 2018)

via usgamer.net

At a time when sandbox games and open worlds are all the rage, God of War gave back some credibility to well-made linear titles. The series has always represented a certain standard of quality, but the 2018 outing proved that the story could be even better, the fighting even more intense. Let’s not forget that this is one gorgeous game too. It’s one of the few cut-scenes heavy titles where I don’t feel like cringing for minutes at a time. It’s nothing short than a technical achievement, and it makes it hard to see where the series can even go from there.

28 WORST: Troll & I (Multi, 2017)

via thexboxhub.com

It’s crazy that a game which feels so rushed was developed for so many platforms concurrently. Troll & I is a terrible adventure game where you control both a young kid and a gigantic, hairy troll. The character design is atrocious, if not just plain ugly, but it’s the gameplay which “steals” the show. Two very different characters somehow control almost the same: they are slow, laggy, and unresponsive. It was to be released by Square Enix at one point; It’s quite telling that they dumped the game before it was finished.

27 BEST: Red Dead Redemption (Multi, 2010)

via usgamer.net

The Old West is not a setting which is often explored in video games. Rockstar did it right with Red Dead Redemption, a game with a story as ugly as its scenery is beautiful. Gameplay-wise, it’s notable for its gigantic map, and its perfect use of bullet time mechanics, but these points barely matter anyway.

This is one of those rare games where the story is more important than the rest.

It could honestly have completely broken controls, and I would have slogged through the pain just to see the conclusion of John Marston’s story. No wonder gamers are so excited for the recently announced sequel.

26 WORST: SimCity (PC, 2013)

via polygon.com

SimCity had some good ideas. The improved engine, which is so deep that it has become intimidating even to veterans of the series, simulated so many variables that even the tiniest change to your infrastructure felt like it could derail your entire city. The problem: all this goodwill went right out the window on release day, both with the always-online fiasco and the constant server crashes. When players discovered that the new GlassBox engine was not as complex as advertised, it was only the last nail in the coffin.

25 BEST: Batman: Arkham City (Multi, 2011)

via deconstructingvideogames.com

Out of all the releases in the Arkham series, Batman: Arkham City is the best. It’s the one with the most characters, the most things to do, and the best gameplay. It even has Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill portraying the definitive version of their respective characters. If you have ever wanted to know what being Batman truly feels like, then this is the game for you. Since pretty much everyone has dreamed of being the Dark Knight at one point or another, this game gets a good mark.

24 WORST: Star Trek (Multi, 2011)

via infinarium.com

Released as a companion piece to Star Trek Into Darkness, the video game version of Star Trek was a complete disaster. It is supposed to exemplify the teamwork and cooperative relationship between Mr. Spock and James T. Kirk. Instead, it ended up being a permanent escort mission (the worst kind of mission!), unless you share the pain with a friend. In that case, it just becomes a broken mess of frustrating level design and stupid AI. You are more likely to take out an enemy by getting it stuck into a wall than by shooting it with your phaser.

23 BEST: Uncharted 2 (PS3, 2009)

via imdb.com

If Arkham City shows you what it’s like to be Batman, Uncharted 2 shows you what it’s like to be Indiana Jones, if Indy was super into guns all of a sudden. It’s a delightful adventure game full of incredible set pieces and intriguing secondary characters.

The entire Uncharted series is worth playing, but Uncharted 2 is still the masterpiece.

It’s exciting, it’s immersive, and it feels like a movie. There’s zero downtime, and frankly, any complaint you may have heard is just nitpicking.

22 WORST: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 (Multi, 2015)

via segmentnext.com

LEAVE THE MEMORIES ALONE. After a bunch of Tony Hawk Underground and Downhill Jam titles, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 was supposed to bring the series back to its roots and focus on what made it a must-have in the first place. Somehow, they got absolutely everything wrong. It’s glitchy, stilted, and it has some of the worst levels ever seen in the series. The animations have somehow gotten worse over the years. At this point, one has to wonder if anything can save poor Tony Hawk’s skating games.

21 BEST: Mass Effect 2 (Multi, 2011)

giantbomb.com

Though the gameplay is exceptional, my appreciation of Mass Effect 2 is mainly twofold. First, I absolutely love the world it inhabits, which is one of the most interesting sci-fi universes in recent history. Second, the game sports characters which are both diverse and memorable. These two items combine to create a game where you feel like your choices matter, where what happens to your crew intimately affects the way you play, and where consequences feel all too real. It’s one of the most original role-playing games I have played.

20 WORST: Duke Nukem Forever (Multi, 2011)

via geforce.com

Duke Nukem Forever was in development for fifteen years, and went through changes in both engines and development teams to make it to store shelves.

In the end, it absolutely wasn’t worth it.

The Duke felt edgy in the 90s, but now he just feels like he doesn’t belong. The shooting is dull, the levels frustrating. It has a fun tutorial stage, but it runs out of ideas immediately after. Something that was once on the pulse of pop culture is now irrelevant and boring.

19 BEST: Portal 2 (PC, 2011)

via half-life.wikia.com

The first Portal felt like a revolution, one of the few games to introduce something which has truly never been seen before in the gaming world. Portal 2 could have sailed on the back of the first one’s unforgettable theme song and meme-spawning voice acting, but it perfected a formula and added just enough features to feel distinctive. It’s a game where action and puzzles come together like peanut butter and chocolate. It’s also one of the most fun multiplayer experiences of the past fifteen years.

18 WORST: Sonic Boom: Rise Of Lyric (Wii U, 2014)

via giantbomb.com

You might ask yourself, just how low can Sonic go? Hopefully, Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric has shown us the bottom of the barrel, because any lower would probably end the franchise for good. It’s saying something that in a sea of average to mediocre 3D Sonic titles, Rise of Lyric is one of the worst Sonic games ever made. Everything feels like a chore: the fights, the puzzles, even running. Even. Running. Running is the absolute essence of the blue hedgehog. If you can’t even get that right, what hope does the rest of the game has?

17 BEST: The Last Of Us (PS3, 2013)

via stimulatedboredom.com

The Last of Us did what few games were ever able to do: It made you actually, sincerely care for its characters and their fate. The story is so intense; it showed that the survival horror genre was not as stale as we thought. It achieved all of this by establishing riveting backstories for its protagonists, and then by putting them in vulnerable scenarios.

Even when you are winning a fight, the game makes you feel helpless.

The superb soundtrack and the beautiful scenery are an eerie contrast to the violence permeating the game. I don’t know. It’s just nearly perfect.

16 WORST: Ride To [...]: Retribution (Multi, 2013)

via amazon.com

I think that this was aiming to be Grand Theft Auto for motorcycle enthusiasts, but instead, Ride To [...]: Retribution ended up feeling like a big joke. You play a biker who’s trying to right some wrongs (despite having done a lot wrong yourself) by driving down empty roads and performing boring missions to interact with dull characters. The story is just plain bad, and it’s peppered with some of the worst cutscenes in modern gaming, including a totally unnecessary and completely laughable adult scene where both protagonists are still fully clothed. It just might be the cringiest game on this entire list.

15 BEST: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Multi, 2011)

via digitaltrends.com

Did anyone actually ever finish Skyrim? This game has a humongous map which feels like it might stretch to infinity, and so many things to do that you could have played every port and re-release without ever having seen everything that the game has to offer. It was released as a speech-only Amazon Echo game recently, and people still played it. It’s one of those games that have an amazing story, but which is so open-ended that you can make anything you want out of the tools it gives you. It’s infinitely replayable.

14 WORST: Fighter Within (XB1, 2013)

via ign.com

If you want to know why the Kinect is no more, look no further than Fighter Within. It’s one of those games which was a good idea in theory, but which was terrible in its execution. Acting out a fighting game should be fun, as long as what’s happening on the screen matches what you are trying to do with your body. Fighter Within cannot do that. You flail around trying to make something happen, but it feels like the characters have a mind of their own. It’s closer to Just Dance than it is to Street Fighter.

13 BEST: Super Mario Odyssey (Switch, 2017)

via gonintendo.com

It’s supposed to be a game which goes back to the days of Super Mario 64, but Super Mario Odyssey is so much more than that. Yes, it is similarly exploration-heavy, but it feels like a revelation. You are dropped into a bunch of worlds, each of them as crazy as the next one, and then let loose to find moons as you please. Every corner of every level is packed with things to do, and you will often be rewarded just for trying stuff which might otherwise look like simple fooling around. It’s like extreme parkour as a video game.

12 WORST: Cruis’n (Wii, 2007)

via reviewanygame.com

When Midway Games could not secure the licence to create a Wii game based on a Fast and Furious title that they themselves produced for the arcade, they decided to go for the next best thing: They stripped the game of its movie tie-in, ported it anyway, and slapped on the name of a once glorious racing franchise which is now nothing more than shambling corpse. Cruis’n might evoke nostalgia from the mid-90s, but don’t be fooled. It’s broken, nearly unplayable, and incredibly dull. It just doesn’t work.

11 BEST: Grand Theft Auto V (Multi, 2013)

via youtube.com (AlphaWhiskeySix)

Out of all the remarkable games from the GTA series, Grand Theft Auto V still stands as my favorite. It has the biggest world, the best missions, and an original gameplay twist. The ability to switch between the three protagonists at the drop of the hat completely reinvents what could have been the same game as the previous one, but on a different map. More importantly, it does not have a cousin to ask you out to bowling every ten minutes. Sign me up.