4. Gears of War
Gears of War was another franchise- one of the three, along with Wii Sports and co- this generation, that defined an entire console. While Nintendo’s Wii games gave their motion sensing based console its identity, with Gears of War, the Xbox 360 found footing in the shooter heavy market that it more or less spawned. Gears of War, with its irreverent violence, thrilling combat, and revolutionary yet not completely unprecedented cover based mechanics, shocked one and all, and went on to become the flagship franchise of the 360, like Halo was of the original Xbox. It may not have the best storytelling or the deepest character development, but dammit if it isn’t one of the greatest franchises to have come out of the last generation.
