2. The Metal Gear Solid series (PSone, PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360)

Solid Snake may have looked vastly in need of an eczema treatment by the time the series wrapped on PS3 with Metal Gear Solid 4, but Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece was one of the highlights of the past decade for me as a gamer.

While the first Metal Gear Solid on PSone doesn’t count since it released in 1998, the remaining three installments – two on PS2 and the final on PS3 – are some of the best gaming experiences one can hope to have on any platform this series has appeared on.

Although some criticized Kojima for the game’s political agenda, as well as its heavy focus on story segments over gameplay, few could argue that there are many games out there that have pushed the boundaries of platform limits as hard, or implemented storytelling with gameplay quite as creatively.

The series virtually invented a whole new genre: stealth action. And for those who had complained about the game’s overemphasis on storytelling over gameplay, one need only point to Metal Gear Solid 3′s riveting showdown between Solid Snake and The End to establish that Kojima was still a master of gameplay within the series. Any boss battle that literally takes over an hour of real-world time to complete is plenty hardcore in my book.