Very good list Sparkster. I agree besides Mortal Kombat anyway. =p

Clearly to be even considered to be a classic, there has to be significant cries for future titles/sequels whether or not they even need one.

Bioshock - No doubt. I honestly don't even think there was a flaw. It actually did live up to being a spiritual successor to the brilliant System Shock 2. The second Bioshock was also one hell of a game, even having a slightly above average, fun multiplayer.

Mass Effect (series) - Sci-fi at its best. No game matches it in terms of science fiction. They developed a universe, races, story that was even superior to Star Wars. E P I C

Halo (series) - Obvious. Threw the prior Goldeneye out as the pinnacle console FPS. Graphics, gameplay, multiplayer blew everyone away with CE. Maintained its greatness for the most part. Who the hell knows about 4.

If you are going all the way back to the Dreamcast era, then the only one on that system without a doubt is Shenmue. It was really the first game I ever played that I felt like I was literally in another breathing world and I could do anything I wanted too. There was nothing like it in terms of its open-world setting, cinematic plot, music and graphics all coming together at its time. I was even shocked that everything was voice acted. I believe most other people would agree on Shenmue.

Personally, I would put Skies of Arcadia also as a modern classic, but its lack of popularity compared to other modern classics goes against it. As it is probably my favorite RPG of all time.

Chrono Cross is right there with SoA. The time travel, music, characters, art floored me. Will be forever ingrained in my mind. I actually like it better than Chrono Trigger. Whether that is because I played it before Chrono Trigger...well that is for you to decide I guess. So sad that there hasnt been other titles in that franchise instead of the average games SquareEnix has been putting out lately.

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - I barely even explored 10% of the world, and i have enough balls to put it on this list. If there was anyone who never even heard of this series before and just happened to pick this game up on a whim, or through a rental had their mind blown when starting up and playing the game. I was flabberglasted by the vastness and the scope of the game on a damn Xbox disc. Open world even took on more of meaning for me after Shenmue. Graphics blew everyone away at the time. Was even better on PC and it had the biggest modding community ever. May even have the most mods still. For those reasons it is a modern classic. Its sequel probably not so much (seen everything there is in that game). Still eventually going to play through Skyrim.

FFX

Deus Ex: HR - Dare I say it will be regarded in the same vein as the original with some time. I think it may.

Here are my choices for modern classics:

One game I really have to throw out is Burnout 3. Just classic, twitch driving arcadey gameplay with all the bells and whistles of then-current graphics and the novelty of car crashes. I haven't played the rest of the games in the series for comparison, but I spent a lot of time not only having fun with Burnout 3, but also thinking about how well designed it was.

Also, before the franchise died in a mess of sequels, Dynasty Warriors 4 was unlike anything I had played before. Part Final Fight, part RTS, part Chinese history lesson, part heavy metal concert...I really enjoyed my time with this game before I got burnt out on its sequels.

Slightly surprised no one has mentioned Ace Combat. Not a lot of good console flying games. Ace Combat 4 was one of my favorite PS2 experiences. Some of those missions were crazy.

And as far as RPG's go, Suikoden V managed to build on the first 2 games in the series nicely. After 3/4/Tactics, I consider this game nothing short of a gaming miracle. Load times were annoying and the early part of the game is slow to get going (I didn't mind, I thought the storytelling was good), but once it kicks into character-collecting mode, it's killer stuff. Shame it pretty much seems to be the last console Suikoden.

I'd say Burnout Revenge is better than Takedown but you're right, they're both pretty much classics. It's a shame they ruined it by making Paradise al that open-world crap and in the process getting rid of the racing.

There are rumours of a Suikoden VI but each time I hear one it's on a different console so I doubt any are concrete.

Thats a damn good choice. I should break that one out again. Crazy fun and I normally don't much like racing games aside from Wipeout.

Left 4 Dead, which someone already cited. The game its self is good - but with the right people, its amazing. I use to play that every night with Daravon and kyndig and Tails and we'd just laugh and laugh and laugh from griefing the other teams. We need to get back up on that.

Half-Life 2, though I wasn't as over the moon about it as the rest of the world, is definitely a benchmark in gaming for a number of reasons. I really, really liked the graphics engine and the look of it though.

I'd be in error not to mention Sins of a Solar Empire as probably the game I always wanted as a little kid. Gigantic fucking scale: fleets, ships, planets, systems. Its like Homeworld except writ much larger.

YouTube Video

Hell yes, son.

Another RTS I really enjoyed was Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War. Its been a while since I've played it but it was pretty amazing to build mech units that smashed people and screamed DIE DIE DIE while blood gushed everywhere. The trick is that it may not have done anything new per se but it a lot of old things very, very right. Thats sort of damning it with faint praise but...