Slashdot Mirror
Best Original Games of 2003?
PapaZit writes "It seems like most of the games that I purchase these days are sequels: GTA3 and Vice City , Zelda: Wind Waker, even Knights of the Old Republic and Galaxies built on the Star Wars franchise. What are the best original (not a sequel or franchise) games that you've played this year?"
Viewtiful Joe and Beyond Good and Evil are both excellent.
Later,
Patrick
I haven't played a game more original (or bizarre) in a very long time.
STOP ROCK VIDEO
I know the poster goes on to say that he excludes franchises as well as sequels but GTA3 was a ground-breaking and original game - it seems a bit harsh to exclude it on the basis that it shares its name with a top-down 2d crime game....
;-)
But don't even get me started on Vice City
Happy New Year,
Stem
eom
Eye Toy: Play - it got my parents, my inlaws, and even my wife's aunt and uncle up out of their seats to "Wash some windows"
Awesome fun for the whole family.
is Neverwinter Nights. Not sure if it was *made* this year though. I think you could make an argument for it being a sequel to Baldur's Gate, but in my eyes it's a totally new game :-) Oh yeah, and fantastic to boot :-))))
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
Enemy territory kept my days busy...
I gave up with the idea of an useful sig...
By far the most original game I've played this year was Viewtiful Joe. 2d gameplay, best 3d cell shaded graphics since JSRF, slow down/speed up/zoom in effects, amazing puzzles, amazing bosses battles. Overall great mix of old school gameplay and cutting edge gameplay/graphical innovations. Totally original, totally great. My personal favorite game of the year.
Seems like a pretty silly game, but I ran my demo time out and am seriously considering buying the full version. Orbz 2 demo and screenshots can be found here. Seriously, don't knock until you try it out.
Without doubt, the best game I have played all year is Call of Duty. Great game on so many levels.
*ahem*
Xenogears had a book printed with it in Japan called "Perfect Works". This was a strategy guide but also detailed the story. The six episodes of Xenogears/Xenosaga are discussed in this book, and Xenosaga episode I follows the synopsis in the book fairly well.
They did say they were changing things for the Xenosaga series; I assume those will be better known when they get to Episode V (as that's the one that Xenogears is).
But even Fei and Elly's past forms pop up in Xenosaga, albeit briefly...
--Moo.
I am not sure there *is* an original game : there are strategy games, like Civ, Warcraft, there are Doom like (once again obviously unoriginal), there are multiplayer games...
Well, the last time I saw a NEW game and said "WOW" was when I saw people playing Dance Dance revolution...
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Xenogears is episode 5, Xenosaga is episode one (And soon two) of the tale, which literally spans thousands of years.
It's supposed to be close, but not the same, when they get to Xenosaga Episode 5.
"You've got an invalid haircut" -Warren Zevon - Life'll Kill Ya
Minesweeper
Owner of a Mensa membership card.
By far the best and most original game I purchased this year is Super Mario Sunshine. I'm really amazed that Nintendo hasn't followed up this genius Mario theme with at least 10 games by now.
Duke Nukem Forever. It's the first game to have been in development for 5 years with no apparent progress. It's like these guys invented slacking. Actually they stole the tactic from Ion Storm and John Romero, but 3D Realms has taken it to a whole new level.
How much more original can you get? I owe all of my failing grades to these gods of slothfulness.
This generic DNF-bashing comment has been made possible by too much free time during winter break.
True story.
Great game, killer AI, and massive support from the publishers. Never had this much fun with turn-based strategy games since Alpha Centauri.
Vincent J. Murphy
Spandex Justice
It's just like The Sims, except with adorable animals, and interior decorating is rewarded! The thing that sucks is I finally bought my own copy recently and now my mom keeps me up until 3:00 am playing it with her character in my town...
I'm on a road shaped like a figure eight; I'm going nowhere but I'm guaranteed to be late.
Quite a good game which i play on PS2. Action, strategy, adventure... it's got it all!
It's not brand new, but it's the most original game I've ever seen -- you move in a 3D world bouncing off platforms chasing a "spinner".
:)
What's really appealing is that the game is definitely a great stress reliever, very relaxed, with outstanding music (AI generated, which means it rarely repeats itself) based on your moves, and a highly, highly trigonometrical figures assembled on some of the most interesting mathematical curves you can think of...
Reminds me of the 3D Simpsons epizode, where Homer falls into a black hole into the real world
See it at tqworld.com.
NB: I'm not affiliated with the developers in any way, I don't make money off the game and in fact I've never purchased an account on their servers (though I did offer help with their Linux port at one point, but never did anything about it)...
One thing that I'd like to know is why does nobody create any 2D games anymore? 2D is a great format for many types of games - scrolling shooters, platform games, shoot 'em-ups. Why does nobody make these any more?
3D is fine for many types of games, but personally I'm a bit bored of 1000 variations of the DOOM format, and long for some 2D games. It's a good format for the screen, and it's a good format for games - afterall, most of the classic games of all time (Go, Chess, playing cards) are essentially 2D games in a 3D environment, which suggests to me that there is something intrinsically right about 2D for game formats.
With the capabilities of modern consoles some fantastic 2D games should be possible, but I've looked everywhere for good 2D games for the Playstation 2 and can't find any. Very frustrating.
Just squeaking in under the wire, the recent Star Chamber, a 4X/board/card game for the PC, is one of the more unique releases this year. Furthermore, it's a free, and has free online play with ladder rankings. (The card booster packs are what costs you).
So go to their web site and check it out. There is no excuse not to. Or at least read this glowing review from Gamespot.
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
on the original game, but part of the simpsons franchise : The Simpson Hit&Run is by far the best simpson game ever and is a GTA kind of game with more cartoon fun (cant kill, cant realy steal car, no gun) so far i've played this new game with a big smile on my face... on the FPS genre, Call Of Duty strikes in my opinion, everybody with think that BF1942 is the best sim of the WWII, but they never played COD on single player mode... best FREE game... yes... SplashDamage have releave the follow up multiplayer mod of RTCW and give it for FREE ... Enemy Territory is not original, and its part of the Wolfenstein franchise... but... ITS FREE DAWMMIT! and its a great fun game...
Other games to seek out for :
Ratchet and Clank
Mario Kart : Double Dash
Zelda:Windwaker...
and more... my prediction for 2004 : a lot of society games with minigames (kind of Mario Party or Warioware) ... its already beginning, but i think it'll it the PC Market in 2004
SURE IT IS!
...
oh, wait, you're probably not a Mac-user...
This year I'd say the best original games were;
... these are the ones I liked the most!
-Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, brought a whole new idea into the Console RPG genre by making the two characters in the party controlled on seperate buttons.
-XIII, WOW.
-Ultimate Baseball Online, first MMOSports game.
-Wario Ware, the best way to waste hours on end.
-Battlefield 1942, took FPS's to a new level by adding planes, tanks and automobiles.
-Wolfenstein Enemy Territory, is kinda a sequel but goes to show how popular and great a free game can truly be!
-GBA eCard Reader, the games were mostly rehashed NES titles, but the idea is unique, plus the add-on levels for SMB3 and the deck of cards that forms Mario Party GBA were really unique idea.
And finally,
-Temple of Elemental Evil, yes it could be argued that since this absolutely wonderful game has its roots in an old D&D module it's not as original as above. But this game fixed all the problems I had with Neverwinter Nights! NWN takes a turn based game (D&D) and tries to make it realtime. Temple decided to make a true D&D game and then use that engine to recreate one of the kewlest, deadliest, and interesting "Dungeon-Hack" adventures ever printed for D&D. Anyone who likes D&D will love Temple. And anyone who's never played D&D but who likes NWN will probably bitch because they won't understand how much better the translation in Temple is.
These are just my opinions obviously, but if you're looking for original
Kleedrac
Sure we wang, can.
Either I play it down, or I look like an egotistical overlord
Do you, for one, expect to be welcomed?
Believe it or not, one of the most original/unique games I've played this year is on the Apple Mac platform!
It's called "Enigmo", and it's sort of a "real-time puzzle game", in the tradition of something like Lemmings. You have falling drops of water, oil and lava which must be captured in the proper containers at the bottom of the screen. You're given a set of objects you can place anyplace on the screen to attempt to achieve this goal. (Of course, there are lots of interesting little catches. If a stream of drops of lava intersect a stream of water drops, the water drops evaporate, for example.) As you complete levels, you get more interesting challenges and new tools in your arsenal of objects to direct the flow of the droplets.
It's a very well done little game, and can be quite addictive.
Funniest game that was never released in 2003. A shockingly original concept where the game would be in not actually releasing a game. And the franchise can continue on in that mode, literally forever. Brilliant concept and execution all around.
That game is just a glorified (mostly)single player mario party (currently mario party has 5 versions out)
so this is definatly not a new concept, just a wonderful variation on an N64 game.
that said, it is not original, just very good.
See, here's the thing. I don't think that just because a game is built around a franchise necessarily makes it "unoriginal". I think that the gameplay and concept behind the game are really what give it originality. For instance, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic really tries to do new things in RPGs, like allowing the player to choose which side of the force he'll align himself with. If the game didn't have the Star Wars license, that sort of "choose your destiny" idea might not have been respected at all. Was NBA Street an unoriginal game? Of course not, but it did use the NBA license to help sell itself.
Later,
Patrick
Disgaea is the best game I've played on the PS2 this year, it's not a sequel AND a 2003 release to boot, so it fills all the requirements
It has a wildly hyperactive, original storyline, hundreds of classes, incredible levelling, and lots of elements I've never seen in any other game (such as the Item World, Dark Assembly and the Geo Panels) - as far as small-scale strategy games go, it's quite possibly the best title I've played since X-Com.
Karma: Could be worse (could be raining)
Count one vote for Karaoke Revolution! I know that karaoke is nothing new, but this game could drag it out of the bars and into the mainstream living room.
I was never going to buy a karaoke machine, but I picked this up the day it came out based on previews. I've been singing/screaming my guts out with my kids ever since! The game is easy to pick up and play. The computer avatars are pretty cool and the special effects are decent, which makes it a fun game even solo. The song selection is pretty good with the promise of expansion discs in the future. So if you want some fun even with your nongamer friends, this is the ultimate party game. If it came with a handheld usb mike rather than the headset, it'd be perfect!
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
Another game I've played is Bejeweled by Popcap Games. Definately the most addicitve puzzle game I've ever played. Between those two I've wasted enough time to limit my capability to produce the cure for cancer this year.
"It's here, but no one wants it." - The Sugar Speaker
Best non-sequel game: Final Fantasy.
Can I just say that I'm sick and tired of people equating sequels with a lack of creativity in games? No? I'll go ahead and do it anyway.
I'm sick and tired of people equating a sequels with a lack of creativity in games.
We need to get over the mistaken notion that sequel == uncreative or even easy. It may be true (but not 100% true) that sequels are indicative of recycled creative ideas in the world of film and books (though note that we have no problem with good dramatic television shows that run for many episodes). But games are different from these things. One of the important ways that games are different from movies is that games are software. I don't think that any of us would complain that Adobe keeps releasing sequel after sequel to Photoshop. Photoshop 7.0 is a dramatically better product than Photoshop 1.0. Linux kernel current.number is a more robust OS kernel than Linux kernel 1.0. Likewise, it is reasonable to expect that (game title) 2.0 could be a better title than (game title) 1.0.
To pick a recent example - by all accounts, Project Gotham Racing 2 is a dramatically better product than Project Gotham Racing 1. They tweaked the interface, they made it prettier, they added new gameplay functionality and they generally made it a BETTER GAME. It is uncreative? I would argue that the cool new things that they added were very creative indeed.
I have a lot of opinions about Cyborgs and Architects
There was that Viewtiful Joe game.
And that Megaman Network Transmission game.
And that Guilty Gear XX game.
And that Half-Life 2D game.
And Galactic Civilizations.
And Mobile Light Force 1 and 2 (aka Gunbird 1 and Shikigama no Shiro 2, finally ported to North America!).
And Ikaruga.
And Risk.
And Dance Dance Revolution.
Or Disgaea, that game was isometric top-down.
Or even Contra: Shattered Soldier!
Well, gee, it sure seems like the 3D consoles and PC still get a lot of 2D games! This is ignoring the huge amount of 2D games that come out on the GBA, naturally.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Viewtiful Joe for the Nintendo Gamecube. it may be the best game I've played since something like Super Mario World. It's just a perfect gamer's game, with so much attention to detail, and it's now the new benchmark that I judge games against.
CB
free ipod and free gmail!
GTA 3 is such a huge departure from GTA 2, I happen to think it's much more original than most non-franchise games. Yes, its the same gangland/pedestrian-killing/jacking game, but vastly further developed.
Compare to Call of Duty which is just more WWII-themed-FPS. Very fun, not original.
At a certain point, who cares about originality? I'd rather go see Return of the King than some other lame movie.
Hit the wrong button, so I'm replying to my own post.
Call of Duty is the best game this year in my opinion. The engine is spectacular, and being able to shoulder the weapon is a new idea. I hope more games in the future take advantage of this innovation. Single Player is a little short, but I would imagine there will be add-on packs...
As for RTS type games, Empires: Dawn of the New World is the best of this year because it is historically accurate in its campaigns (far as I can tell), and has an excellent story line filled with curve balls.
First Person Shooter meets Real Time Strategy.
To top this off, the two sides (Aliens and Marines) play completely differently; the Marines require a commander (who plays from an overhead view) to build structures and acquire weapons, each Alien chooses their own role: builder or fighter. The depth of this game is simply stunning, the maps are amazing (and this is on a 5 year old game engine) and there are lots of servers to play on.
Lastly, if you own Half-Life (and who doesn't these days) you can get it for free.
http://www.natural-selection.org
_f
LOCK-ON is imo the best game of 2003. It's just awesome..
Easily the most original game I've seen this year (or for quite a while for that matter) has been the MMORPG A Tale in the Desert. Cooperative play, no combat, a player-created society... this game departs from the norm in so many ways that it's crazy - no wonder they independantly released the thing, no publisher would ever support such a complete departure from what MMORPGs really are.
Ikaruga is essentially an unofficial sequel to Radiant Silvergun on the Sega Saturn, also by Treasure, and takes its polarity system from their own Saturn platform/shooter Silhouette Mirage.
Bít, zabít, jen proto, ze su liska!
The only game i've been playing for more than two years now is world war 2 online (www.wwiionline.com). The game is constanly updated and has really come into its own this year. It is a massively multiplayer online war simulation, with thousands of players fighting it out on a single, continuous map spanning hundreds of miles. It has everything - tanks, planes, infantry, naval vessels, you name it; and all in a world with the most detailed physics model yet attempted. If you're tired of the gaminess of BF42, MOH:AA etc and you want a war game done properly, check out wwiiol. The game is AWESOME.
Wario Ware is a fast paced collection of super simple games for the GBA (and soon GC). It's not only original, it can be played for a few minutes at a time, great for a portable system like the GBA. It should also be noted that it contains the wonderful new Pyoro games as unlockables. These are some of the best homages to classic arcade games I've seen recently.
Wario World is a less than steller platform game for the GC. It's the one made by Treasure but that doesn't mean that it's good; it's actually quite mediocre. I love Treasure for games like "Mischief Makers", "Radiant Silvergun", and "Gaurdian Heroes" but this was a letdown.
Gee, you can choose an alignment (i.e., "Light" or "Dark" force). I can't tell you how many games I've played with an alignment attribute since the 80s.
That's not a new thing in an RPG. A new thing in an RPG would be abolishing ridiculous "experience levels" and finding new ways to simulate skill improvements that don't require textbooks of rules and numbers to understand.
"Sufferin' succotash."
I thought Savage was one of the best, blending both RTS/FPS together. While you might say that it copied Natural Selection, development for Savage started way before NS. Not only was it a good game, it came with a Linux port right on the CD.
I think Silent Storm can be considered original, even if there's an X-Com easter egg in one of the levels. Hopefully there will be more turnbased tactics games following the fair bit of success this game has had.
Ikaruga was great also, possibly the best technical shooter I've ever played, and also produced by Treasure. ( Who I remember more for Bangai-O ).
To be frank, pretty much everything they touch turns to gold. I'd love to see some releases from them in 2004.
YLFIP.S. This thing about 'non sequel games' is total bunk. Most original games are only 'original' in the sense that they're the first step in a franchise, not that they innovate in any way shape or form. My two favourite games at the moment ( Crimson Skies and MarioKart Doubledash ) both have ancedents on other systems, but they're still fantastic games.
One god, one market, one truth, one consumer.
R E Z
That was classic intercourse!
uh, yeah, a three word blanket dismissal of one of the best rated games of the year gets modded "insightful."
Viewtiful Joe is among the best games I've played this year, for any system, from any year. And just for perspective, I also beat games like Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, and Gunstar Heroes this year.
The controls are tight and intuitive, the challenge is incredible, the story is entertaining and very amusing. The graphic design is consistent and unique. There are great extras that extend the replay value.
It also manages to bridge the gap between classic old school gaming and the tricks availible to current developers.
Overall, it's a very solid game worthy of your time.
Now, was that insightful?
.
You can have side-view gameplay with real-time polygon graphics. Try Viewtiful Joe for GameCube and be amazed.
Super Mario Bros. 3 was a groundbreaking platformer with incredible gameplay, but it was still a sequel to Super Mario Bros. 2.
Clever signature text goes here.
Definitly this game rulez: Soldat :)
:)
It's a 2d platform alike multiplayer game that clearly had some inspiration from worms - but is is oh so cool and fun to play in lan with 4 persons, the gameplay is just fantastic
Truck dismount already had a prequal otherwise it would be my choice
The other games I saw really were sequals or non-original things, so I guess there won't be any other...
I just - like 5 min ago - finished the Hordes of the Underdark expansion (on Linux, thank you very much)
This is, by far, the best one yet. The quality of NWN doubles with every expansion pack. It's so far ahead of the original NWN single player campaign that it might as well be a new game.
Very, very highly recommended. And did I mention works on Linux?
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
Notrium is a very good freeware game that is (to me) quite original.
You have crash landed on an alien world, and must survive. You have to monitor your food, as you can starve. You also must watch your body temp...the nights are freezing, so move to keep warm or stand near a fire. The days get very hot, so seek the shade of a tree. Also various weather problems will have you looking for trees to hide under (acid rain).
If that werent enough, you aren't alone. Hostile aliens and robots roam different parts of the planet, and all you have is a tazer to stun them while you run away. You'll probably want to get something better to fight them off, which comes from the other really cool part of the game.
Parts from your craft are spread all over because of the crash. You can collect them and put them together to build new items and weapons. Having trouble finding food? Build a food replicator. How about a defensive turret to guard your "camp" while you rest? Build weapons to kill aliens (then grill thier bodies on a fire for portable food!). The eventual goal is to build an object that will either allow you to leave the planet, or allow you to live there for the rest of your life. Part of the fun is finding out how to do any of them.
Anyway, a terrific game. Well worth the download.
Bah, the lack of love I see for it hurts me. It's by far my favorite system ever to be released.
While not a totally new idea in the handheld industry, it IS the first large and successful step towards the "correct" way to handle handheld gaming. Backlight, rechargable battery, flip screen since Nintendo's creation of the Gameboy Light. It has even cause quite a revolution for future handheld systems of other brands (PSP, Zodiac, N-Gage).
Oh and we musn't forget Wario Ware, I do believe someone did mention it earlier and I am quite glad about it. I think it was the only game to be released this year that actually could NOT be fit in any genre. I think "puzzle" may be the closest you can find, it had far to great a mix of other genres to be one.
Also, I don't think many remember Four Swords that came with Zelda: Link to the Past (Not a new game, but Four Swords was quite new) was quite an interesting creation of fun cooperative, yet competitive multiplayer in 2D system.
There are a whole slew of other titles on the GBA, that I'd rather not explain and just let others venture through them themselves, such as Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Mario and Luigi, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, and Golden Sun: The Lost Age (A "continuation" of the first Golden Sun, while not necessairly innovative it stills shows that the 2D system is NOT dead and can still impress).
Call this a fanboy rant if you please, but I must say that I am not that. I just favor the system. I do agree with many other suggestions from the various other consoles that are noteworthy, but I would just like the system of my choice to not go unmentioned. It was quite the right step towards the way portable gaming should be, and makes me all the more hopeful for the industry. Wireless multiplayer is next on the horizon, consoles are getting smaller... there maybe a time when they're just portable system able to plug into TVs.
Trogdor!
beautiful 2d graphics and a fresh viewpoint to knights vs dragons
Well, poster, all the stuff you listed is major publishing mainstream content. It is widely known that usually, and even more so in times of low sales, slow economy, etc., mainstream publishers will shun any and all risk and put out nothing but surefire titles, i.e. either sequels or stuff with a movie license.
...) without adding anything new.
So if you look for originality, you're simply looking in the wrong place.
Some of the original games I've bought and/or played (some are free) this year:
(note: I'm Linux-only, so these games are as well, you might find even more in the windos or console world)
Marble Blast
3D roll-marble-around and complete puzzles game.
Originality factor: Combining marble games with FPS and turning it into a fast-paced, thrilling action game.
Bridge Construction Set (only played the demo on this one)
Build a bridge game. Simple, fun, addictive. It is a sequel to an older game of the same kind, by the same guy.
Originality factor: I don't know any other games of this kind, the idea is brilliant.
Orbz
Shoot-yourself-around-the-track game. Somewhat tricky to describe what exactly it is about.
Originality factor: No other game of this kind exists, AFAIK.
Scorched 3D
3D Clone of Scorched Earth.
Originality factor: While the idea is old, this is one of the few games really benefiting from the 3rd dimension, and it was done greatly. It is one of the few "clone" games that are actually more original than most of the "original" games you find which just rehash a basic idea (FPS, RTS,
Savage
A blend between RTS and FPS.
Originality factor: Combining two genres in a unique blend. No, it wasn't done this way before. It's not an RTS with first-person perspective for the commander, it actually is a full-blown FPS for all the non-commander players.
BattleMaster
Ok, shameless plug, this is my own game. I do, however, honestly think that it's quite original.
(it's a turn-based, multiplayer strategy game)
You will note all of these games come from small or independent developers.
Games are really like music in that regard: If you are looking for originality, look to the small and unknown. If you are looking for polished, perfectly produced, know-what-you-get stuff, shop in the mainstream.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org