[ctdonath2]

Halo is often lauded for complex gameplay, great graphics, and a vast story arc.
Portal amounts to a very engaging short story.
Half-Life 1 & 2 are amazingly enduring, still selling for "list price" after several years.
Silent Hill and others are noted as very effective horror.

I recently finished Daxter - not exactly high art, but reasonably engaging with little to object about.

In contrast, those "great games of the past" (care to name some? does anyone play them now?) were accompanied by such non-masterpieces as Liesure Suit Larry (moral corruption with a grin), Zero Wing ("All your base..."), and lots of really really truly forgettable (please, please forget) stuff.

[agere_contra]

Elite!

No, you’re right. About the earliest games I can remember really enjoying were the Wing-Commander series (with cut -scenes starring Mark Hamill!), Resident Evil and others from that period.

[processing please hold]

Halo is often lauded for complex gameplay, great graphics, and a vast story arc.

bttt

'Reaper'

[Fire_on_High]

A lot of the old console games still have fanatical followings and far more interesting stories. Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy 4, 5, 6...