This week in video game history

This week in video game history brought back memories of space horror, superhero teamwork, and lots and lots of guns.

I hope you’re ready to feel old, because I’m about to take a look at some of the more memorable video games released this week over the past 20 years in video game history. 

Batman: Arkham City 2011

Batman: Arkham City took everything that Batman: Arkham Asylum did and made it better. With an entire city for you to explore and virtually the whole cast of usual villains to hunt down, Arkham City was the Batman game I was waiting for. The soundtrack helped put me in a dark, brooding mood as I prowled the streets looking for Riddler trophies or informants to handicap. And I loved the few side quests throughout the city for you to discover.

It opened up the Batman universe to more than just the Joker vs. Batman, which is what I was hoping for. Finding Azreal on rooftops and hunting down Deadshot were awesome scenarios to play through. Do I even need to mention the incredible voice acting? Mark Hamill delivers creepy and haunting like never before, and no one, I mean no one, can replace Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman. 

Borderlands 2009

Ah, Borderlands. The high-action fps we’ve all come to know and love. This game is such a hallmark now that I don’t feel I need to say much about it. The most memorable thing to me about the game was the comedy; it had some of the funniest jokes I’ve ever heard while trying to shoot someone.

The characters were top notch, making lasting impressions with great dialogue, and I’m glad that they’ve been around in the other games. Borderlands made me experience so many things for the first time, like shooting mutated little people, which will always hold a special place in my heart.

Dead Space 2008

This was one heck of a game. The creatures, the story line, and the gameplay all came together to deliver one heck of a sci-fi horror punch to my system. I can distinctly remember playing the game at night, nestled in my gaming chair with the controller up to my chin, fending off mutated alien-humanoid things the best I could.

The game did such a grand job of putting you in the mind of Issac Clarke as he tries to make sense of what happened on the U.S.G. Ishimura, that playing it over again after you beat it is a must. And the ending! Who could have seen that coming? 

X-Men Legends 2002

When X-Men Legends first came out, I was not a big fan of the Marvel universe. But I became one quickly after just one afternoon tearing through this game with a friend. I completely lost track of time as we rampaged through this dungeon crawler.

The boss fights were memorable, the storyline was unique, the voice acting was pretty impressive, and it provided no small amount of hack-and-slash fun as dozens of different X-Men characters. I didn’t even know half the people I was playing as, but hey, if I can shoot psychic beams from my hands to blow up enemies I won’t complain.

These are just some of the games released this week in video game history, but there are HUNDREDS more. Here’s a list of some others that stuck out to me:

• Skylanders 2012
• Dungeon Defenders 2011
• Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One 2011
• Fallout: New Vegas 2010
• Bioshock 2009
• Fable 2 2008
• Far Cry 2 2008
• Guitar Hero: Aerosmith 2008
• Eternal Sonata 2008
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2006
• Star Wars: Empire At War 2006
• The Sims 2 2005
• Quake 4 2005
• FIFA Soccer 2004
• The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers 2002
• Virtua Fighter 1995

For even more games and news from video game history, check out the database at Mobygames and see what you remember!