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Games of the Year
markpapadakis writes "Gamespot and Gamespy have released their top games for 2002. Gamespot features worse game of the year as well as some additional categories."
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Spot the dupe on /.
But it's getting too easy now...
fp
fp fp fp fp fp fp fp first post! Yaaaaaaagh!!!!!!!!!
premire posting, but it just ain't the same on Christmas. Merry Christmas!
Why does Santa have three gardens? So he can ho, ho, ho!
Penny Arcade has some of the best games of the year as well ;)
We're Right part one
We're Right part two
Be sure to check out the Shacknews GOTY awards.
I like this list better because it was created via poll results and not just editor opinions.
Nah, I know a game that is more worser than that.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
...which is kind of odd, considering the console games market is consistantly larger than the PC one.
Anyway, the entire feature, with Top 10 lists for PS2, Xbox, GCN, GBA, PC, and 'multiplayer' can be found here.
Merry Christmas!
...was duke 4 ever. Wait a sec
Funny how gta 3 is in the action genre, isn't it more of an adventure type?
And what about strategy game WC3? I doubt many people bought Medieval even though it is a good game.. doesn't reach up to WC though in my oppinion.
Best RPG ? Definitely Morrowind, that game is huge, and quite fun for a long time. So many different quests, and the GFX are still excellent, in comparison with other RPGs it's size.
Everyone knows AC's cant have FP, so I claim this FP to fuck ekrout up the ass with!
Nero-burning ROM for Linux!
What about 'classics'!? Everyone in my precal class was hooked on ZTetris. I think I've spent more time on it (1.5 hours 5 days a week) than Quake 3; the games I'm writing shouldn't be included at 8 hours a day 7 days a week.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
I agree that the best music of any game has to be Mafia. GTA3 Shouldn't of been nomintated for that award, simply because the music in that game sucks. It IS funny, though. UT2003 Really did deserve the best graphics win, and they got it. I only wish my geforce 2 mx could handle it :/ And how about the budget game!! Horray for serious sam. Playing cooperative missions at lan parties made that game great, and I love the graphics. Gamespot made some great choices, although I think Half-Life should still win awards :D
Moonbase commander, Best Game No One Played on PC.
Anyone else look for the games that fall through the cracks of marketing and end up in the discount bin? I know there are other poor college kids out there that can't afford $40-50 a game.
Could you post a link? It must have truly been a work of art that should he shared with the rest of us. Thank you.
Mafia was considered for nearly every category it was eligable for in the Gamespot article. I haven't heard of this game, I'll have to check it out. I was glad to see Battlefield 1942 got recognized.
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
I thought their choices were quite poor. I'll leave it at that. If youve never played hitman 2, go download the 2 demos. The game is just unbelievable, with so much detail, but manages to run very smooth on my semi old 8500.
Most Improved Sequel on PC. They liked Hitman 2.
After I read the article before posting, I leave now in search of the demos.
Come on, 6 years later HL is STILL the best engine out there! Great mods such as NS and DOD. And good work on WC3 blizzard! And BF1942 was great.
All nomined strategy games are RTSes. Worst game is Civ3 multiplayer. I haven't played it (I like single player games), but to me Civ3 is one of best games in last year. Almost every other "strategy" game is RTS (arcade/strategy mixture) or HoMaM-like. Do you remember first Heroes of Might and Magic? It was succesfull only because graphics and simplicity. Today nobody say "HoMaM is for children". In world where RTSes are best strategy games and Civilization is "dissapoiting" (I know it's about mp-add-on, but last year everyone talk how bad Civ3 is) - HoMaM is no more childlish.
PS. Nobody noticed Moonbase Commander? It was the only strategy (except Civ3) I found fun last months.
EVEN dirty ACs can get the first post sometimes, you have to respect that. So by declaring an actual first post as YOU FAIL IT, it means that YOU FAIL 'YOU FAIL IT'. This is quite possible the worst thing anyone has ever failed, you are truly a loser.
YOU FAIL YOU FAIL IT!
Nuff said.
Ubuntu- Linux for human beings.
I just got it today, and finally had to stop playing it since my wrists were hurting, wife was getting cranky and the kid wanted to watch his new movies.
;-)
Moving from the PS2 to the computer will definitly help.
My next Slashdot post will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
These lists would be a lot more useful if the editors made some effort to link to the games' official pages and especially to playable demos. I don't know what the game industry expects from consumers, but if I can't test it out I sure as hell am not going to blow $30-50 on word of mouth.
I did find the Syberia demo, but I think its being slashdotted.
While I'm at it, may web designers who embed music into html die horrible deaths.
With your penchant for ALL CAPS, it is indeed a mystery why your stories get shot down.
Damn those grammatical asses.
Wishing you a merry little xmas...
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
seriously, who likes nwn as single player game? maybe somebody who thinks diablo2 is rpg too. ok, nwn can evolve into something good in multiplayer, but the single player is just plain stupid key fetchingm, not even rpg'ish, character interaction is WEAK and the story is more linear than a straight line, breaking rpg into chapters isn't really that smart. not to mention that the engine is essentially very very very very very much like vampire: the masquerades engine from few years back, even the mplayer capabilities(and yes, the stupid engine was vampires weakest point too, with bad pathfinding and ridiculous fighting, which filled the singleplayer game, much like in nwn).
morrowind on the other hand is easily the best single player game that can be said to be rpg instead of 'action game with rgp elements' in many years.
if you didnt rtfa, they chose nwn.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Fairly recent is the 802.11b rig we are planning for AP Calculus next year.
Unfortunatly, I have no math next semester. Nothing left to take but Calculus which I'll have to wait till my Junior year to take.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Hey, I was scrolling quickly through the main page, and I think I saw LSD!
Ive played it, its nice but I wouldnt rate it the best RPG of 2002, Neverwinter Nights is more like it, but I still have my issues with action-RPGs. I grew with Final Fantasy, Ive played them all, Im used to them.
One thing I find VERY annoying about action-RPGs is its miss-rate, for an instance... in morrowind, you have good agility, good weapon level... you have a big monster in front of you... you strike.. and miss, strike again... and miss... and so on. Its even more anoying with non mastered weapons, you are not an expert using a long sword, you swing your sword and no matter what, youll never hit... I mean, come on! if you can lift the sword, you can definitevely hit, ok, it might be a lame strike, but you have to do at least a little damage, minimum but you CAN touch the enemy unless it is very nimble, SLOW and BIG monsters can be hit easily. The same applies to long range weapons, in morrowind you throw things, and they just go through the targets... the least they could have done is change the direction of the thrown object, so it is visually obvious it was a clear miss.
Another thing that really brings me down is when you are attacked from a blind spot, or when you hear some enemy might be coming, you have to search all around while it is coming and when you are attacked you dont even know where from. Its really anoying having an archer attacking you from some higher location and your character is so dumb he doesnt recognize the location... instead of the whole screen flashing red, it could have a hint about where you have been hit and an arrow giving you a little more hints.
Besides all that, having to be clicking like crazy is no fun. Besides if you are playing a role, your character levels up and gets smarter... I dont want the whole thing to depend upon my reflexes and stuff, the character is smart/strong/quick enough to turn around when it hears some enemy, attack automatically at its possible rate and stuff like that.
Ill still be waiting for a good RPG.
Is there any of you who knows the kind of RPG Im looking for?
Notice how every game requires a CD-check? It's easy to get around, but illogical and annoying. The first game to just skip the CD-check should win game of the yaer. And it should be free information!
Hearts of Iron, ww2 strategic game. if you ever played risk, you should try this. paradox, strategy first.
If I was voting, I'd still write in Zork. Few adventure games have ever bettered this Infocom classic.
C - A language that combines the speed of assembly with the ease of use of assembly.
My favorite game is penis wrestling with all my body building friends.
No.
Hey, guess what? What you said there, about "this illogical concept of 'intellectual property?'" It's covered by intellectual property laws. Congratulations. You're the proud owner of intellectual property.
Bet that one really baked your noodle.
Everyone in my precal class was hooked on ZTetris.
But ZTetris is ILLEGAL! Were it named something more generic that didn't resemble "TETRIS" (a trademark licensed exclusively to The Tetris Company LLC), it would be OK.
On the other hand, notice that "Konami Arcade Advanced", a collection of ports (NOT emulations) of classic arcade games did make it into one of the top GBA game lists of the article.
Will I retire or break 10K?
But the worst games of all time are all listed here.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Here are the winners:
Gamespot:
Best budget game: Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
Most Improved Sequel: Hitman 2: Silent Assassin:
Biggest Surprise: Battlefield 1942
Best Game No One Played: Moonbase Commander
Best single-player action: No-One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way
Best Multiplay action: Battlefield 1942
Best Adventure: Syberia
Best Driving: Rally Trophy
Best RPG: Neverwinter Nights
Best Sci-Fi Simulation: Star Trek: Bridge Commander
Best Simulation: Flanker 2.5
Best Sports: Madden 2003
Best Single Player Strategy: Medieval: Total War
Best Multiplayer Strategy: Warcraft III
Game of the Year: Warcraft III
Most Dissapointing: Civ III: Play the World
Worst Game: Demonworld: Darl Armor
Gamespy:
Action Game of the Year: Grandtheft Auto III
Adventure Game: Syberia
RPG: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Strategy: Medieval: Total War
Sports Game: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003
Racing: NASCAR Racing 2002
Game of the Year: No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way
I've played Hitman 1, and it sucked greatly. Among the sucky bits were these:
- Missions became impossible to complete by doing two interchangeable tasks in the wrong order.
- Bullet-proof enemies (the big guard in the long restaurant mission can only be killed by poison. His forehead is bulletproof.)
- No way to save. Missions that easily take an hour, yet trivial mistakes will make them impossible to complete. Great, play all of that again...
- Enemies have eyes in the back of their heads ("Weapon! Weapon!" when you sneak up behind them with a garotte).
- Getting stuck in doors. Especially annoying when trying to drag a body from view.
Did they fix any of this in part 2? If so I may give it a shot (hehe).
These lists would be a lot more useful if the editors made some effort to link to the games' official pages and especially to playable demos.
"Downloadable playable demos" applies only to PC platforms such as Windows (vast majority), Mac (very few), and Linux (fewer still). It does not apply to console platforms such as GBA, GCN, PS2, and Hbox. It may apply to the GP32 handheld system from Gamepark because Gamepark encourages homebrewing (and thus redistributable games) on the GP32 system.
I did find the Syberia demo, but I think its being slashdotted.
Cyberia (which may not be Syberia) was published by Interplay several years ago. Check the bargain bin or an online auction venue if you want to play Cyberia (which may not be Syberia).
Will I retire or break 10K?
In short, XBL is nothing short of a revolution in console gaming. Say what you will about MS software, few question the quality and innovation of MS hardware and the Xbox and XBox Live are shining examples of that.
I've rarely had so much fun playing video games. I know I'm not alone becuase I can hear the shrieks and groans, the yells and crys and curses, the outright bawling laughter of other gamers from across the country and the world coming right through my XBL communicator.
I'll start with a quick overview of why I chose the Xbox as my gaming console and then to a review of the XBox Live (XBL) service.
After wearing out my N64 I was ready for my next gen console. The decision was fairly simple. Yes the PS2 had more games, but a great majority of those games were throwaways. Not only that but I wasnt planning on buying a bookshelf worth of games anyway. I usually just buy the best games of a genre and play them through and through. The Xbox seemed like the best choice. It had the better graphics (by far), the HDTV, the 5.1 sound, the hard drive, ethernet, CD burning to HD all built in! The other two did not even come close. I buy a console because of the CONSOLE, not the games.
So I buy a Xbox and Halo. On a side note, Halo might be just be the best video game ever and definatly the best FPS ever. But don't take my word for it, just read the reviews.
When Xbox Live was released I was first in line. Setup was super easy and painless. Drop a line from my hub to the Xbox, insert setup CD, verify that I'm a adult with my credit card, pick a gamertag and presto! I'm online.
Xbox live comes with two games. Whacked! and MotoGP. Whacked is some whacked platformer that girls seem to line. MotoGP is one great motorcycle racing game. Needless to say, the graphics and gameplay are outstanding. But the no doubt..the best part is the online play.
So far I'm playing Unreal Championship, MotoGP and Mech Assault. All games are great. Online play is smooth. Lag is almost non-existant. The voice-communicator works great. The sound is clear and clean, and has the quality of a cell phone.
To sit on my soft, legs on the coffee table, 27" TV in front of me (soon to be HDTV), hooked up to the world and kicking peoples ass on Unreal is a amazing thing. It really really is.
There is sense, when talking to other people on XBL, that were part of a something new. And indeed we are. Ok, ok, I know all this is possible on a PC. But we're talking console here. Since my XBL, my PC is exclusivly for work and making money and my console is for games. I play in my den, I work in my office.
I'm sure the PS2 and GameCube have some fun and great games, but if I cant
Play online with one login across all games
Listen to my music playing from the HD of the console as I play
Listen the games in 5.1 and see it in hi-res HDTV
Hear you curse as I blow your ass-up in Mech-Assault
And much much more
Then I'm not intereted.
You don't think the Xbox and Xbox live are revolutionary? See if the next gen Nintendo and the PlayStation3 don't have everything the Xbox has today.
See you online!
Hitman and Hitman 2
Daggerfall and Morrowind
HOW DOES HITMAN WIN?
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Hitman 2 uses the exact same engine as MAFIA. If you look at them, they are identical, and the clencher for me was this little screenshot of mafia.
0 51326.jpg
http://www.ebgames.com/gmspImages/21/210746/eb/01
Thats exactly the pissing stance that you see so often in hitman when you sneak up behind someone.
All that being said, I'll have to try mafia, although I doubt it carries the whole assasin type genre that hitman2 does.
Other than the stuck in doors bit, they did fix all of that.
Lee
What's more, Konami Arcade Advanced did make it into GameSpy's GBA Game of the Year awards list. It's right here.
Whoever submitted this article only linked to the PC section, but they should have linked to the main page, which has awards for PS2, Xbox, GCN, GBA, PC, and 'Multiplayer'.
Finish all the quests and eventually you have to -- guess what -- finish the main story. Just like every other game.
Now we're getting into semantics. Your problems seem to arise from the fact that the game's documentation designates one of the game's many quests as "main".
Will I retire or break 10K?
Disciples 2 also ended up winning that reward, looks like the turn based strategy games are overrepresented. I like them, but I guess that for many it's too exact to plan and execute, rather than just point-and-click away in RTS (not saying there isn't strategy in RTS, only there you implement it continously while playing).
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Wizardry 8
If you haven't played it yet this is the game you want to get. It might be slightly difficult to find now, but it's well worth it. In almost every way this game is what an RPG IS.
I tried playing Daggerfall but didn't like it, and I passed on it's sequel as well. I thought I might try Morrwind to see if it got any better but I'm waiting for the price to drop a bit before buying. I don't like 'pausable' realtime-rpg's like Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate or Dungeon Siege (Single Player) so I avoid those. And if you have any sense of playability I suggest avoiding the Might and Magic series after #5. I haven't played Neverwinter Nights yet, so I can't ye or nay on that one yet.
If you want I think you can still get the Demo, just look for a link on the http://www.wizardry8.com site or another file mirror...
has been up for near 30 minutes now and no one has modded him up yet? Where have all the cool people gone? This post is interesting, probably insightful. I'm glad he at least has his own +1 bonus, so I can be sure to read him.
-T
I have read the sites, the nominees and the winners, but what I find confusing, with regards to the strategy games, is that none of these sites makes it clear whether a strategy game is turn.based or real-time. For me that's hugely important, because I stopped liking real-time strategy games a few years ago. I got slow (eh.. the age) and more impatient with RTS games. And I know at least one more guy like me in my town ;o) so there is at least some segment of the market that would really like a clear information about the kind of strategy game at hand. Note that most of the time not even the box/cover of the game spells it out clearly whether it's RTS or turn-based.
My question, finally, is: is there a gamer's site that lists strategy games and has an appropriate designation whether a game is RTS or turn-based? It seems that perhaps there's a lot of fine strategy games out there, except for the Civiliation and HOMM series - the ones to which I'm sticking, for now...
Sigged!
Not that anyone gives a rip what a schmoe thinks, but I played a right decent number of games this year and wrote up a summary of what I thought were my games of the year. The catch is that I'm playing games not just for the PS2, but also for platforms that are no longer supported and games that have been out for years, but are new to me. So my games of the year included GTA3 and Vice City, but also Monster Rancher 2 for the PSX and Donkey Kong for the GameBoy and Necronomicon Pinball (import) for the Saturn.
I'd love to hear from gamers that keep similar websites about their gaming habits.
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
And their gamecube games choices, well they were smoking crack or something in their pipes. About the only thing they got right was giving metroid prime GOTY on GC.
Hold up, wait a minute, let me put some pimpin in it
How about copy protection on a game like 'Battlefield 1942'? Just what is the point of putting copy protection on a game like this where the only point to it is the online aspect.
No one plays single player in BF - NO ONE. And even if you could deal with the lame computer AI, you gotta figure that this would only whet a pirate's appetite enough to get them to get a key for themselves.
Hey EA, why do you keep pissing off your PAYING customers with this crap?
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
Too bad this list didn't come out, say, BEFORE Christmas. Oh well, all the more reason to celebrate it on the 28th...
Or do those guys in the GameSpot video have issues with making eye contact? I think they all stared at the surface of the table when talking.
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
When I has in college I would just stay about a year behind the release schedule. That way the games would be half price.
This strategy also had the benifit of allowing me to play games with my mac friends at about the same time they came out for that platform.
the story makes up YOU
Gamespot FUCKS OVER the adventure category. There were at least 20 adventures published in 2002. Why only two nominees?
Simple. In order to make the adventure game category seem thin and irrelevant so Gamespot's smartass "editors" can continue to claim the adventure game category is thin and irrelevant.
Game of The Year is...
Gnutella2: bridge to troubled porn-finding
BOTH games of the year were... ...wait for it...
SEQUELS!!!
Thank you.
Way to go game industry! So innovative! So daring! Such risk-takers!
Such pussies.
This game STINKS. With a capital S. It totally throws out any and all semblance of realism in an effort to make it more playable. The vehicles and weapons are all essentially identical for all nations, and where else can you run a jeep into a tank and kill it?
And the morons at Gamespot cant stop slobbering all over it, in spite of its craptastic nature. Sheesh. But what can you expect from a crew that refers to propeller driven aircraft as 'fighter jets'. Did I miss something?? They dont have an Me 252 in there! Fah!
There are lotsa cool games that were left out.. COMPLETELY. There was no mention of Jedi Outcast (Jedi Knight II), which has been a blast to play. There were no bike racing games. I guess, there are way too many games out there, and way too many genres.
Next year will be more interesting. The games to watchout for:
Doom III (2003 I hope)
Counterstrike Condition Zero
Unreal II
Enter the Matrix
Breed
Freelancer
Halo2
Duke Nukem Forever ?(now i know y its called so, tho)
Stalker
ahh... bliss
|/________
|\A|ALYS|
I bought bf1942 when it first came out sometime in September. I think I picked it up on the second day of its release. Come to find out, they released a patch for the game at the same time they shipped the game. Even with 1.1 it was nearly impossible to kill people. You had to aim an unrealistic 1 inch in front of the player, and had to calculate your lag in order to figure out how far to shoot in front of your opponent.
Yes, it's really neat that you can play with a wide assortment of WWII vehicles and on 64 player servers, but the gameplay still needs improvements IMO.
The ground infantry interface is clumsy; Day of Defeat (half life mod) does it much better.
Yes, I do realize that one can't classify this as a first person game per se--strategy is required for enjoyable play--but I found the game more frustrating than fun. I often felt that there were often too many elements out of my control.
I did play in a clan for a few months and then decided it would be a better use of my time to carve a 1880 Victorian city out of a large soapblock I found by a local prison while joyriding.
I'd much rather see an award go to a well polished, well designed, well tested game that works like a champ on one platform, than look at a game which is ok-looking, fairly well designed, and somewhat tested on all platforms.
Working with one set platform has a way of allowing designers to be more expressive. I mean, if it's a problem for you, go buy that console. You obviously really don't want to play those games if you haven't bought the consoles that will play those games. And a PS2, Xbox, and GameCube all together still costs less than a Radeon 9700 and new mobo/Athlon CPU to run UT2K3.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
These guys are saying that if two games are "equal" they'll prefer the one which is more restricted in terms of availability. What cretinously ridiculous bollocks. These things cost money.
Personally I ended up buying an Xbox for myself a few weeks ago, it was a reasonably good deal, came with Halo which I've heard is excellent (as well as a couple of other games) and seems to be a bit more "state of the art" than the PS2. And of course I can play Buffy on it (which I'd previously played on a demo box in a store and liked). I still want to play GTA Vice City, but there's no way I can justify buying a PS2 just for that.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Don't know why the fuck this guy modded up(are you guys drinking a lot? Don't drink and mod:))
Here's their quote you fucking idiot parent:
Notably, during this process we tended to give deference to games that were developed to take advantage of a given gaming platform's unique properties--all other things being equal, we preferred to honor those games that were released exclusively for a particular platform, rather than those that were ported to most or every gaming system[emphasis mine]. However, in many cases we did not rule out multiplatform ports, and for one award, we honor the game that made the best showing on the most platforms.
You didn't even read the fucking article, and just took the big block quotes and attempted to form a stupid opinion.
Jerk.
I picked up 2 copies on a whim monday for $10 ea at Best Buy. Just now I finished my first evening of online play (the gamespy service is decent) - and I'm totally hooked. Our final game was a 4-player (2 teams) 4 hour marathon, with some seriously surprising twists. It eventually ended due to Internet disconnects. I can't really compare MBC to anything else, it has a very unique feel. Easy to pick up, hard to put down, and really tough to master. Turn based but fast paced, and very intense.
There's a downloadable demo, but I'd even recommend just buying it outright. If you like strategy games, you won't regret it.
and 2000, and 1999....
The fuller quote you posted doesn't change anything. They are still rewarding exclusivity, all other thing being equal.
All things being equal, I'd prefer them to reward people for making games available to more people (which means more platforms. I prefer choice to restriction, what's stupid about that?
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
I know there are other poor college kids out there that can't afford $40-50 a game.
;-)
Duh...what did you think they need gigabit-internet-access in their dorm rooms for?
"make menuconfig"
continues being the best one
------- The last Sig. got fired.
...but i'm still waiting for Half Life 2 .. (i think that even with it's old engine it would kick all the others butt ). The Last game that caught my attencion was Diablo 2 (and its expansion), and i felt like playing it till the end .. (before that one, it was HL). Both diferent types of games .. but had one thing in common .. A FREAKING GOOD STORY .. that's it .. I tried all the recent ones .. and they are dull .. dull intros ... dull stories .. even WC3 .. excessive and very detailed violence against human beings (vice city)
I fuse with Mercer every single day...
VividU, you have posted a pro-Microsoft comment on Slashdot. This behaviour is against the Slashdot acceptable use policy and cannot be tolerated.
As well as a barrage of replies from run-with-the-heard slashbots, You shall be fined 10 karma points. If this happens again, your account will be deleted
Please consider the effect your actions have on others next time you think of supporting a Microsoft product.
Thank you for your time,
The Slashdot community.
I find it appropriate that in the PS2 category (fuck PC's... I don't have time to dink around with installers, expensive video cards, etc), Gamespot nominated GTA: VC in every category that it didn't win in. I noticed that the other one seemed to exclude GTA:VC altogether. Kinda' say something about the websites... Gamespot is straight up with their reviews. I expect the guys at Gamespy are the kind of guys who sit around and say, "We can't say that GTA:VC was the best. It's so October. It's for the masses. Let's pick really, really obscure stuff, cause then we'll be l337. Sorry guys. GTA: VC wins hands down, whether or not it was popular. I've been playing video games for more than 20 years, and GTA: VC is the best ever. PC or console. Action or adventure. Hands down.
...does exist, and is alive and well for its size.
Since it's not really represented on either review page (for obvious reasons of market size), I'll throw in my $0.02 on selected games I've seen or played that were ported to Mac OS X this year. No real ranking except for overall value, out of 5 stars. (YMMV)
Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. (***-1/2) Nothing is more fun than the powers of a Jedi Knight with a lightsaber in a very realistic (for Star Wars) environment. AI isn't bad. Humor is prevalent. Single-player game is great--once. Not as strong a replay value, any mods out on the 'net notwithstanding. Needs very powerful hardware since this Q3A-derived game apparently had some hooks in its PC version that aren't available for Mac OS, despite the point that I had a more powerful G4 and video card than on a PC I used for playing that version. As a result, the game can lag in some maps. Multiplayer is good, especially since MP supports multiple processors. Combine with high-speed connection, and you're the Emperor.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein: (*****) Artful, authentic, realistic single-player. Great replay value since the diversity of how to accomplish a mission can be modified. Its multiplayer game shines brightest, with great maps and strong diversity in four soldier classes.
Medal of Honor II: Allied Assault: (*****). Just play the Omaha Beach at Normandy level to know the art that this game represents. Very good AI, ultra-realistic.
Other notables:
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (If you bought one for your PC, you have the Mac version, too)
No One Lives Forever
Soldier of Fortune II
The Sims: Hot Date
The Sims: Vacation
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
I've been very disappointed with the releases in 2002.
;-)
2001 had Wolfenstein, which provided a lot of multiplayer fun, and while GTA3 provided many wonderful hours, I can't help but feel 2002 has been an extremely crap year for games.
2003 promises us SimCity 4 in January, along with Vietcong, the AI team-based action game, Doom 3 will be out, Half-Life 2 is on the cards, Halo for PC will be out, Vice City for PC will be out. 2003 is going to be a BUMPER YEAR for PC games! I think the studios have been focusing on PS2 and XBox this year.. so next year it will be our turn.
I have been enjoying Half-Life this Christmas. I have found nothing that beats the FPS gameplay of Half-Life (or its add-on packs). Max Payne was good, but way too short.
I found Half-Life BlueShift for $5 in a bargain bin a few months ago, I completed it within a few days, but for $5 that was great value! And it still looks like a great game.
Unreal Tournament 2003 disappointed me a lot. It's SO SLOW! I have 1Ghz and a GeForce 4 Ti4200, yet I still can't run it at 1280x1024 over 20fps. I think my system upgrade for Doom 3 might solve that
So.. I still think a 4 year old game engine is providing the best entertainment out there right now. Let's hope 2003 gets the PC gaming industry innovating again, instead of throwing out rehashes of other games (MOH:AA comes to mind)
mogorific carpentry experiments
"A good game deserves to win over a worse one, no question about that."
True, but Tony Hawk doesn't deserve to win 8 awards (2 per console it's released on). If it's the best game that is also multiplatform, give it a separate category, or only award it the award on the platform it's best on (the Xbox, naturally).
I know consoles cost money. But unless you really, really want to play Vice City, you won't buy one. If you won't buy one, there's no use complaining about it -- is there? You merely waste electrons and time.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Do you write your own games for the console then?
:)
Would you buy a console if it didn't have any games released for it?
*I* bought a console (gamecube) that had games I wanted to play. I guess you use yours for some kind of technological art piece?
"For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
was because the poster probably games on his/her PC. For less than the cost of keeping that one PC up to date, that person could have every console on the market. I haven't upgraded my computers in a year. In the mean time, I own every console on the market (and several more older systems), have respectable collections of games and peripherals, and have a more varied experience in terms of types of games.
The PC platform's great -- provided you like only strategy games or FPS games.
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
i played both of these games and NWN may have been nice for its multiplayer, it was nowhere near the game that morrowind was. I have never in my life before played a single player role playing game with as much depth as morrowind. Not just storyline depth either, but subtle things like the changing of the moons. NWN was just a rehash of older game ideas.
Won't you be my my neighbor?
Do yourself a favor and go to your local EB and pick up the Pack 5 Action Games which includes Serious Sam TFE, Heavy Metal 2 FAAK, Myth II, Oni and Rune for the grand total of $4.99! (Forget what the price says on the box, it will ring up less than 5 bucks). Serious Sam is a GREAT mindless shooter!
Also, Compusa had Max Payne for $4.99 right after Thanksgiving, so for less than $10 I bought the Top 2 PC games of last year and a whole lot more!
It pays to be a year behind the curve...
Chris
Is it me, or am i the only one that EVER plays halo? I know it's not meant to be played online... but i see an average of 400 people playing it on GameSpy, every time i logon. Although that number is not high at all, it's good considering the very high possibility that the game will lag to hell and disconnect if you have more than 3 boxes playing together in a game. Halo wasn't mentioned once though. I think it should get best shooter, best graphics, and best game of the year... if it didn't lag, best online multiplayer game too. Maybe it was counted last year or something, anyone know? O well. I must be getting old, i haven't heard of ANY of these games... well.. some anyway. BTW: how does Super Mario SunShine get "Best platformer" and "Biggest disapointment" at the same time? weird...
I'm not drunk, I'm just in touch with pi.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means, what you think it means.
(from Webster's via Google) Strategy
\Strat"e*gy\, n. [Gr. ?: cf. F. strat['e]gie. See Stratagem.] 1. The science of military command, or the science of projecting campaigns and directing great military movements; generalship....
Although I enjoy such 'RTS' games as both *Craft X and Ao*, these games are neither 'real-time' nor 'strategy'. See both the definition above and the previous poster's comment for why it is not strategy, but what I find funnier is the idea that taking an hour to develop from the first to fourth age and building a 'Wonder', then defending it for another 15 minutes (representing a millenium) can ever be called real-time.
True real-time strategy games will take months or years to play, presumably with AI avatars there to help.
That game is. like, 5 years old. It's no more qualified to be Game of the Year than Starcraft or Half-Life, both of which were far more entertaining.
How do you spell the opposite of "tight"?
How many o's in the opposite of "winner"?
The review failed to mention that the multiplayer aspect of this game took a HUGE step backwards from NOLF 1 by releasing a multiplayer component against an AI enemy instead of other human players. When people posted their complaints about this, Sierra's view was 'Then buy a game that has onpline players against online players.' After a while Sierra changed their stance by releasing DM maps with their first SP.
Also, this game is nothing special. there's no improvements over the first release of this game.
I'll never recommend this game to anyone.
It seems that this poll is the best of the worst of 2002.
Save the World! Use a Quote!
I bought a PS (one) and only really played Metal Gear Solid on it and eventually gave it away. I'd have been better off renting it from a video store for a weekend. On the other hand I don't think that GTA VC is likely to be the sort of game you can knock over in a weekend, so perhaps it wouldn't work in the same way.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Gamespot does not get it, they choose a game port as the GOTY on PC! Come on, it is suposed that the GOTY be a new and original game released in 2002. :-(
:-)
Gamespy choosed a sequel and its a good sequel too. Also, they really make a point for the GOTY choice.
It seems that Gamespot are only console fanatics because they choose a console game ported to the PC for their GOTY for PC. This is a sad, sad decision. But, at least we still have smart reviews on Gamespy!
Get my e-mail after a captcha test in: http://tinymailt
'The Getaway' on PS2 is fantastic, but not a mention anywhere...it was released on the 11th December - surely early enough to get considered!
;-)
It's cracking, especially for people like me who live in London (for those that don't know, they have recreated over 40sq miles of London as the backdrop to carrying out the required gangster missions).
It's probably because those two sites are US-based, so they probably don't appreciate the violence and cockney accents
Either that or it hasn't been released in the US yet.
Anyway check it out!
Science is built up of facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection
of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.
-- Jules Henri Poincar'e
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About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt
ax. It is equally vain to try to do it with ten blunt axes instead.
-- Edsger Dijkstra
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