In terms of storytelling its a massive leap indeed and it has nearly flawless gameplay. But I can't think of a single way it changed anything in its genre. Yeah this may be Oscar level stuff for some but that wouldn't be due to it being revolutinary.

I know it was cited that RE4 inspired using 3rd person perspective, but they have little in common other than both are 3rd person.  Gears of War's key mechanics are cover based shooting, and moving from cover to cover.  Those are features that are inspired by other games (Kill Switch) but mixed in an evolutionary way in Gears of War.

Many of the list have evolved their genres and inspired others.  Personally I went with Gears of War overall, for evolving cover based shooting, co-op play, and several interesting multiplayer modes.

I've never played a game that so seemlessly melded Stealth, melee and gunplay ... ever. At any given point you could decide which way you wanted to play and there was absolutely no problem at all. Nothing felt out of place and nothing felt weaker. Stealth, gunplay and melee were given equal billing and not one of them was compromised by the other. Layer on top of that the realism of the characters and the emotions attached to them and you have 'genuine' connections to the gameplay through empathy. It is something I've been waiting for since I first picked up a controller. For the first time ever we had an enemy that made sense from a biological perspective: The infected. Not even films have done that very well except perhaps 28 days later or recently Planet of the Apes. It's about presenting an alternate reality that 'could theoretically be possible'.  What ND have created here is another monster along the lines of werewolves or vampires; something that could seep into culture and become part of cutural myth. It's not easy to do that. Clive Barker had a good stab at it with the Cenobites but never quite made it.

Not taking anything away from TLoU, you should play Hitman: Absolution.  I think you'll enjoy it!

In terms of storytelling its a massive leap indeed and it has nearly flawless gameplay. But I can't think of a single way it changed anything in its genre. Yeah this may be Oscar level stuff for some but that wouldn't be due to it being revolutinary.

I've played that game. It's an insult to even talk about it in the same breath to be honest. Not having a dig at you. Subtlety is the hardest thing to explain.