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30 Greatest Games of 2005
Next Generation continues its end-of-year celebration with a treatise on the 30 finest games of the year. From the article: "Some may remember 2005 as a year of financial shortfalls, rising game production costs, depleted Xbox 360 stock, political soap-boxing, or over-exertion in Korean Internet cafes. Forget all that stuff for now. 2005 wasn't a year to be remembered for one great gaming breakthrough or innovation, but it did produce some remarkable products. It was a year marked with some of the best games of the fading generation. "
Christmas Lights for Celiac Disease
Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
2005 was not an especially good year for PC games, with most of the attention on sequels that you can play in your sleep they are so similar to what is already out there. Consoles and portables got some innovative titles, while PC gamers get left with sequels that play the same, but have a hard time running on modern hardware (I'm looking at you, Civ 4).
Rome: Total War, Diablo 2, UT2k4, and Ranarama (old game) took most of my attention this year, plus multiplayer Call of Duty. Nothing came out this year to take my attention away from games I was already playing.
So, here I am, a user of Civilization IV (the highly acclaimed game from Firaxis), and I can tell you that you do NOT want to buy this game right now. The game was clearly released before the holiday season to take advantage of gullible users (hmph, me.. =\) who needed to spend their hard earned cash on a game that was only half developed.
Civfanatics.com is an extremely good resource for people crazy about Civilization IV, and you can immediately see there are some serious problems with the game. There have already been two patches (25 megs and 45 megs a pop) in the first couple months of the release, and things are still terrible with the game. Basically, the memory usages generally runs in the territory of unbelievable (600-800 megs), with the game basically unplayable after a certain point. You don't actually experience some of the most interesting parts of the game because things are just that amazingly slow.
But don't take my word for it, read the posts on civfanatics.com.
This is just another reason why corporations bastardize the faith that users have in them. Firaxis, shame on you.
Best Game of The Year 2050.
I imagine this would have been a difficult task to list, as I can't even imagine 10 games in the last year that even impressed me. Plenty of clones, but very little real innovation. Overall it seems like the game industry is closely mimicking the movie industry; make sequels and avoid risk.
Microsoft Sucks, F/OSS Rocks. I get mod points now right?
Why not? RAM is cheap these days. Last I checked, it was like $80 for 1GB of quality, Corsair, lifetime warantee DDR2 RAM. It's not an expensive component. Also Civ 4 is hardly unique in needing lots of RAM. Most MMORPGs really need a gig to work well. World of Warcraft will technicly function with 256MB, but is near unplayable, with 512MB it works ok but lags, with 1GB it's nice and smooth. Starwars Galaxies is about the same.
I've played all the way through a few games on my system and it works great. It gets slow in the end but still easily playable and no slower than the other Civs. Hell, I remember waiting 5-10 minutes for my computer to finish calculating all the AI turns on Civ 2 per turn late in the game.
Here's text only version - very slow site:
30 Greatest Games of 2005
By Kris Graft
Let's end the year on a positive note. Next-Gen.Biz has picked through the year's best games, by genre, and come up with the 30 stand-outs. You know, these past 12 months really did host some very fine games.---
Make sure you start your working day with Next-Gen.Biz - the essential read for game industry professionals.
---
ImageSome may remember 2005 as a year of financial shortfalls, rising game production costs, depleted Xbox 360 stock, political soap-boxing, or over-exertion in Korean Internet cafes.
Forget all that stuff for now. 2005 wasn't a year to be remembered for one great gaming breakthrough or innovation, but it did produce some remarkable products. It was a year marked with some of the best games of the fading generation.
Here are 30 of the year's best games, sorted by their genre and release dates (there is no order of merit). Let the hatemail flow like the black blood of a colossus.
Note: This list is for mainstream console platforms, handhelds and commercial PC. We'll be looking at the best in mobile and 'casual' entertainment in a separate feature.
Action/Adventure
2005 was a banner year for the action adventure genre. It started out with a huge bloody bang, the spring season ushered in a tormented Greek soul, and fall introduced some truly colossal characters.
Resident Evil 4
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
GC: Jan 11, 05; PS2: Oct 25, 05
Resident Evil 4 revitalized the stagnant franchise with quicker enemies, more responsive controls and an improved over-the-shoulder camera. It took what we love about the franchise and improved on it, doing away with what we hate in the process.
God of War
Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Sony Santa Monica
PS2: Mar 22, 05
Incog's God of War sets the standard for action games, period. With an excellent story, fluid and brutal fighting system, lovely enemies and great visuals, God of War will be remembered many years after '05.
Image Shadow of the Colossus
Publisher: SCEA
Developer: SCEI
PS2: Oct 18, 05
Superb boss battles defined Shadow of the Colossus. Forget Bowser and Mother Brain, SotC's bosses are the most insanely huge and powerful enemies you'll encounter. Just stop with the comparisons to Ico. SotC is a stellar game on its own merit.
Other notable entries in action adventure this year are Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Ninja Gaiden Black and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.
Role-Playing Games
The year in RPGs was respectable. Bioware tried its hand at the martial arts with excellent results, a new quality MMORPG arrived with no subscription costs, and American gamers are reminded why traditional Japanese RPGs can still show the way.
Jade Empire
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Bioware
Xbox: Apr 12, 05
From a galaxy far, far away to mystical ancient China, Bioware has proven that its got major RPG chops. Jade Empire combines action and RPG elements and manages to give both aspects due respect. Bioware knows kung fu, and delivered the best RPG on Xbox this year.
Guild Wars
Publisher: NCsoft
Developer: ArenaNet
PC: Apr 26, 05
Guild Wars gives you much more than what you pay for, which is nothing. Outside of the initial retail cost of the game, there are no monthly fees for the MMORPG. Guild Wars boasts combat that's actually fun, great graphics and entertaining online play.
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Level-5
PS2: Nov 15, 05
Dragon Quest VIII is the latest title from the developers of the Dark Cloud series. The latest game got the full Level-5 treatment with an enamoring presentation, accessible and fun combat, a good story, and dozens of hours of gameplay.
Other notable entries in RPGs this year are X-Men Legends II, Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich and Digital Devil Saga II.
First-Pers
I played Civ4 for a bit and found it quite enjoyable, BUT merely because it got another step closer to the perfection of SMAC (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri) .
:(.
With each new Civilization game they add "new" features that were in 1999 in SMAC: Borders, technology quotes, complex diplomacy, UN.
Everything was done before and better and it is really a sad year when Civ4 gets picked by IGn as game of the year.
I just wish Brian Reynolds would do another SMAC2
I have 2GB in mine since I do work with modern samplers and, damn, talk about RAM hogs. But when you have single instruments that are 3GB in total (yes, really) what do you expect? At any rate I've found that many performance complaints I hear just don't apply on my system, and I have a sneaking suspicion having lots of RAM is a big part of it.
In fact I've ALWAYS liked to go overkill on the RAM on my computers. I generally seem to have about double what you'd find in a "high end" box, despite the rest of my components being older. Perhaps because of that, I find that I don't need to upgrade my CPU all that often.
I think the problem is that computer makers tend to skimp on RAM since it's not a stat most people think about. They are worried about CPU speed and maybe HD space, but to hell with RAM. Well, since modern OSes can deal with low RAM fine (though slowly) peoiple don't realise it could be better.
For comptuers these days I'd say 512MB minimum for office type work, 1GB minimum for games, and 2GB if you want to be nice n' safe. Given that 2GB is only like $180, less than most new graphics cards, I think it's hard to justify having a blazing dual core CPU, a new video card, and then starving your system RAM-wise.
Next Generation continues its end-of-year celebration with a treatise on the 30 finest games of the year.
Come on now. Treatise?
That is not a treatise, that is an article. These are treatises.
treatise a systematic exposition or argument in writing including a methodical discussion of the facts and principles involved and conclusions reached
I wouldn't call a list of video games a systematic exposition.
I agree, the RAM usage is insane, and if you play with a Huge map, you can forget about ever reaching the end of the game without a few gigs of RAM to play with....
However, it wouldn't be so upsetting if this game wasn't so well done in every other aspect.
Simply amazing. If they had put the extra months into it, this wouldn't be a 9.0, the game would be as close to 10 as I think we're capable of reaching as imperfect beings...
Flaws aside, I still play it.
MoM++ - A Classic Expanded - [Master of Magic 1.5]
http://mompp.sourceforge.net/
Checking on gamerankings.com, Gun received an average of 80% or so in reviews across all platforms (the shoddy XBox 360 port being about 5 percentage points below that). Nintendogs received an average of 85%.
Just because you don't like a game (and I personally have no intention of buying Nintendogs) doesn't mean it's not good.
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
I've been playing games since the old 8bit Nintendos. I was that college kid in the early 90's pulling all-nighters on a MUD. However today I don't consider myself a "gamer" but I do spend multiple hours a week playing some sort of game on the Windows compy or PS2. I find it interesting that of all the games I've played this year and have enjoyed very much.. none of them are on that list. That isn't to say I didn't play any of those or that they aren't any good to begin with. I just find it interesting when I'm that far out of sync with a popular culture market. It warms my heart in a certain south of market way. :)
Happy War on Christmas everyone!
Speak truth to power.
Man, what a disappointment. I only see one game in the "list", and I've never even heard "Server 500 error".
Apparently, kids who post on Slashdot these days know *nothing* about looking around and purchasing a $50 FX5200 card with 128MB, which runs it just fine.
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
And, in the case of a good review, why they thought it. And that's why numerical scores will always be the bane of good videogame journalism.
But there's no such thing as a 'definitive' review - you see games getting a wide range of scores because of the personal preference of the reviewer. As always, the best thing you can do is find a reviewer whose personal tastes match yours.
That's moving away from the point I was making, though. There are games that get a lot of acclaim (critically and popularly) that you may not rate as highly. I know there are for me - Halo and Panzer Dragoon Saga probably being the biggest names among them. That doesn't mean that those games don't belong in a list of good games. Nor does it mean that games I prefer to them should be ranked more highly. I'll bow to popular opinion and accept that these are good games that I did not like personally.
In this case, a game which had better reviews than one that the original poster enjoyed made it into the top-30 list. That doesn't invalidate the list in any way. Even if the 'worse' game according to the average review score had made it in it wouldn't invalidate it - it's all a matter of personal preference anyway.
And like it or not, Nintendogs was almost certainly a more important game than Gun this year. It spurred huge hardware sales because it appealed to a different demographic than more traditional games.
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
128MB should be enough? Who says? I upgraded from 128 to 256 two years ago, for less than $100, and my Asus GeForce FX 5700 runs Civ4 just fine. The thing about progress is that it depends upon things progressing. Among other things this means that at some point your video card is going to need to be replaced with something newer. Civ4 is just the first of many games that you won't be able to play. You just gotta accept that your video card is Old News. An FX5700 is like fifty bucks on ebay. Suck it up and upgrade like a man.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
Nintendo DS's are flying off the shelves. It's damn hard to find any right now. but everyone has a Pile of PSP's and are not moving.
Why? Granted The screen and overall look of the PSP is damn sexy. But when I can buy 2 DS's for the price of 1 PSP and the games seem to be going at the same rate.... (I can buy 2 DS games for the price of 1 PSP game) Guess which one the parents are grabbing for the kiddies. And yes, the chat function is highly desireable to kids... something that the PSP should have had in some fashon.
MarioKart DS is flat out super fun. (yes I am playing my kids toy before christmas... so shoot me!) and the fact that someone else can play me on the same game cart without them having it is absolutely killer and makes the PSP look like crap right there. (Sony would have NEVER allowed such abilities in the PSP.)
I do believe that nintendogs will make people dumber, but it's cute for kids and that is what sells usually. I personally cant wait for Super Monkeyball DS.
To heck with the top games, let's talk top gaming platforms.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
But something happened for the first time this year: A Linux game impressed me. Because I downloaded the http://wolvix.org/ Wolvix Gaming Edition CD, and then later installed the http://www.pygame.org/news.html pygame library on Mandriva so I could run some of the games I'd been introduced to. While Linux gaming *still* isn't where it should be, these two elements this year show a strong sprint to bring up the rear, at least. I am especially impressed with how smooth the pygame apps run, and how incredibly easy it is to program in given the alternative of running up your own in C++. Be interresting to see where it is in five years.