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How things can change in a decade. 10 years ago, GTA was a top down game, a Red Ring of Doom was a result of a dodgy curry, and you'd do a whole lot of jiggling and waving about before you had a Wii. It certainly can't be denied that the gaming industry has come on strong this past decade, as the "Playstation Generation" evolved and demanded more from its interactive entertainment. Now, as we arrive at 2010, the time has come to take a look back at the last 10 years of gaming, and determine what title stands out amongst the many we've seen.

Of course, it would be foolish to just grab one title from out of the air, so together our team sat down and discussed several of the most popular gaming genres, selecting stand-out games from amongst them, before finally making that all important decision as to what was the Game of the Decade.

Action / Adventure

Choosing our favourite action game of the decade was no easy task. After all it's the genre that covers so many games, top quality games at that. So what actions and adventures has the last decade taken us on? Well, when it comes to adventure we can always rely on Lara Croft to deliver, well sort of. Lara began the year with Tomb Raider Chronicles (2000), a game that was severely lacking in originality. By the time Angel of Darkness (2003) was released it seemed Lara really had died a poor unfortunate death. Of course a change of developer and some fresh ideas was all she needed. Tomb Raider re-discovered its form with Legend (2006) and the stand out best Tomb Raider of the decade Anniversary (2007), a excellent remake of Lara's original adventure. We're hoping for bigger and better things for Lara's next decade, but we don't expect her to age much, and rightly so.

The decade also the saw the 3D return of the 1989 Amiga classic the Prince of Persia, with his adventures with time manipulation. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003) was a fine mix of platform, action and adventure and even though it spawned two sequels, the first one was by far the best in the series and one of the best action / adventure games of the decade. We look forward to the next chapter in the Sands series in 2010 with Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, we certainly haven't forgotten about them.

There's no point in talking about action / adventure if we're not going to talk Zelda. Not too many people were happy to hear that Link will be taking his adventure to the high seas, until they played it of course. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (2003) turned out to be an outstanding adventure. The best high seas adventure of the decade on any console. Link returned again at the very end of the Gamecube's life (and the beginning of the Wii) for another mesmerising adventure in Twilight Princess (2006), but I don't think anyone can deny the sheer quality of Wind Waker, whether you're a Zelda fan or not.

While it's worth mentioning that Assassin's Creed 2 (2009), God of War (2005), Gears of War (2006) and BioShock (2007) were all also excellent action / adventure titles, one game stands out as being the best of the decade.

Winner: Shadow of the Colossus (2006)

The spiritual successor to the equally as excellent Ico (2002) may not have taken the sales charts by storm, but this enchanting game deserves every piece of credit given to it. Fumito Ueda and his Team Ico colleagues managed to create a game that was so atmospheric and so beautiful that it can almost be considered an 'experience' and not a game at all. The objective is simple: There are 16 colossi inhabiting the world, slay them all and your girlfriend will be brought back to life. Each giant was different and taking them on caused tension that no other game managed to deliver. Ico was a bit of a tear jerker and Colossus bettered that. Even if you have a heart of stone, you'll be getting the tissues out at the end of this one. The best action / adventure game of the decade, or perhaps the best game ever made! If you haven't played it yet, find it, play it and see why it's the worthy winner.

Platform

What a decade it has been for the platform genre. We've lost count of how many times the bar has been raised in terms of quality and you only have to look at what we were treated to in the year 2000 and compare it to what we have in 2009 for this to become apparent. One of the most recognisable characters to come from the genre has to be Crash Bandicoot. In all we have seen him in seven titles during the last decade, including his current gen leap with the release of Crash Of The Titans (2007). Whilst on the subject of lovable critters we can't help but mention Spyro who has kept up with the times, most recently with Dawn Of The Dragon. Ratchet And Clank also deserve a mention with no fewer than nine adventures featuring the two being released this decade.

2005 saw the introduction of a new platformer with Psychonauts, a game that went on to win various awards, including the Best Original game Award at the 2006 E3 convention. Kameo (2005) was also a hit and followed later in the year. Whenever the subject of platform games is raised, one name is the first to come out of many a mouth. That's correct, Mario, the gaming icon kicked off his decade of console releases with Super Mario Sunshine (2002) for the Gamecube, and later made a triumphant return to 2D with New Super Mario Bros (2006-09) on DS and Wii. Bettering this title however was our Platform Game Of The Decade.

Winner: Super Mario Galaxy (2007)

After a five year absence from our consoles, Mario came back with an intergalactic bang in Super Mario Galaxy, the little Italian's first venture on the Wii. It incorporated all the classical aspects we have come to expect from the legendary series but with a graphical and controlling upgrade. Set in outer space and with a familiar focus on star collecting, Galaxy utilised the Wii Remote and Nunchuck controls excellently providing a new, innovative and even more enjoyable Mario experience than any other we have experienced in recent times. Super Mario Galaxy stands head and shoulders above this decade's competition in the Platform genre in almost every department.

Sandbox

When the year 2000 rolled around, the sandbox, or open world, genre was largely unheard of, but nowadays you can't move for the damn things. Of course, there's one clearly dominant franchise amongst the many games, which was Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto. It was GTA 3 (2001) that truly got the ball rolling, followed later on by Vice City (2002) and San Andreas (2004). Several other pretenders to the throne emerged - the likes of Saints Row (2006), Mercenaries (2005), Just Cause (2006) and True Crime: Streets of LA/New York (2003/05) all spring to mind (not all of them good, mind you).

Superheroes like Spider-Man (2004-08) and Superman (2006) finally had the freedom to move around big cities instead of playing disjointed levels, and even the Holy Land and Renaissance Italy could be explored, courtesy of the Assassin's Creed games. Closer to home, Sony's GTA rival, The Getaway had us roaming the streets of London. Sadly, the attempts to move the Driver series into open-world play were often met with derision.

Winner: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)

The biggest selling video game of all time, San Andreas took what GTA 3 and Vice City did, and stuck a great big magnifying glass over the top. 4 may have been the better looking title, but it lacked exciting things to do when the story was over (aside from the two DLC pieces, but those were technically separate games). When a save file clocks in with over 70 hours of play, and the 100% mark is nowhere near being reached, you've got an epic on your hands. Our recent "5 Years Later" review showed that while many other games in the genre have come and gone, San Andreas remains on top.