Generation games

Nine years ago, the most notable Xbox 360 exclusives that arrived with the console’s launch were Kameo: Elements Of Power, Perfect Dark Zero and Condemned: Criminal Origins. A year later, the equivalents on PlayStation 3 were Resistance: Fall Of Man, Ridge Racer 7 and Genji: Days Of The Blade. Today, we can still recall the grimaces on early adopters’ faces as they tried to come to terms with what this new generation of videogames was supposed to represent. But we’ve become better at accepting that launch games aren’t what they used to be, and we simply no longer expect to be gifted a Super Mario World or a Ridge Racer on day one. And we wait. And then, years later, it becomes quite difficult to believe that we once had anything other than dismal expectations of a game whose headline features included giant enemy crabs and weapons that could be changed in realtime. The riches we’ve enjoyed since do a pretty good job of helping us to forget.

This month, we’re celebrating those riches by picking the ten best games of the generation, along with a handful of moments from other titles that will stay with us long after our 360s and PS3s have been powered down for the final time. We want you to take part, too. Let us know your own personal moments ( edge@futurenet.com) and we’ll include a selection within these pages in our annual awards issue later in the year.

Creating the kind of action that sticks in the mind is a driving force for the people behind Far Cry 4, and in the future, perhaps whistling past a snowy mountainside in a wingsuit will be a moment that deserves a place in a feature looking back on the PS4/Wii U/Xbox One generation. In this issue’s cover story, the team at Ubisoft Montreal explains what lies beyond the game’s co-op support, its mountaineering, and the small matter of being able to pilot a rampaging elephant into battle.

Finally, if you haven’t yet tried the digital edition of Edge, now may be the best time to start – see p107 for details of how to download it for free.