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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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Penny Arcade has some of the best games of the year as well ;)
We're Right part one
We're Right part two
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.
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.
Nuff said.
Ubuntu- Linux for human beings.
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!
And what about strategy game WC3?
There's not that much strategy involved in WarCraft 3. It's fun and all, but it's definitely not a game of strategy.
I write in my journal
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
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?
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
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'.
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
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'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.
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
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.
...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
Obviously, you haven't played WC3 enough to make that judgement
I used to think the same thing when I first started plaing it, but then, after a week of plaing it, I realized that this game has a TON of strategy! I used to be a big Age of Empires buff, and thought that this game paled in comparison to WC3 when it came to stratgey, but I found out that I was very mistaken
In fact, the strategy in WC3 is unbelievible! You have to micro-manage EVERYTHING! Loosing just a couple more units in one battle can turn the tide of a game. Healing units is VERY important, as is managing the limited gold on the map. I have won MANY games where I had less resources, produced feweer units, and had less technology than my enemies
Try playing the game for a month or so against some better players, and you will see what I mean. It took me to see it to believe it myself. WC3 is one of the BEST strategy games out right now. In fact, I quit playing Age of Mythology and went back to WarCraftIII just because I am sick of the shitty stratgey in the Age of xxxxx series (I thought I'd never say that!!!)
Just my 2 cents
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