The 15 greatest video games of the 00s – ranked!

Four players take on waves of zombies in a post-apocalyptic landscape: it doesn't sound like the most innovative proposition, but Valve infused this enthralling co-op blaster with brilliant technical flourishes. The game's clever artificial intelligence system, named "Director", varied the numbers and ferocity of enemies as well as the lighting and music, depending on the skill and strategies of the players, making for a superbly choreographed experience that felt both spontaneous and cinematic. The industry laughed at the idea of the Wii, with its weird motion controller and comparatively dated hardware … until they saw people playing Wii Sports. Its collection of five perfectly tuned events made competitive multiplayer gaming accessible to everyone in the house, from toddlers to octogenarians, helping the machine shift more than 100m units and contributing to the idea that games can be a highly social bonding experience. There were arguably better games on Wii – Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros Brawl, for example – but Sports was the title that defined the machine and its ethos. The campaign was excellent too, drawing on Andy McNab-style heroics and pacy 1990s thriller movies and, with Captain John Price, providing one of the only truly memorable characters of this whole genre.