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Runners-Up: Gran Turismo 3 (PS2), Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2) There were so many directions to go at in this one. On the one hand, I could have picked Gran Turismo for being the closest game ever to being mistaken for reality (Sorry, but anti-aliasing or no, it still looks more realistic than Gotham Racing). I could have picked MGS2 for the great amount of detail, cinematic prowess, and incredibly good character movement. I could've picked Dead or Alive 3 or Star Wars: Rogue Leader for their breathtaking environments. But, in the end, Ico managed to have a great balance of all of the above. Ico's environments hid their low-res nature very well with all the very best of the PS2's filtering and lighting effects, and the game's characters moved with such an amazing amount of realism that they told a story in and of themselves. Add to that an incredible degree of subtle artistic beauty, and every bit of this game's graphic quality pushes the game to a surreal, almost ethereal look that perfectly accents the fairy-tale setting. |
Runners-Up: Final Fantasy X (PS2), Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2) With the advent of the Gamecube and the XBox, the quality of videogame graphics is being pushed to its limit... Yet the best looking games appeared on the Playstation 2! And the bestest purdy lookin' game is Ico. The PS2's hardware allowed the developers of Ico to create a piece of art, with graphics that not only shine but assist in telling the game's subtle story. From the character's movements to the leaves on the trees, everything about the game exhibits FLAWLESS VICTORY... or, um, beauty. Meanwhile, FFX and MGS2 get honorable mention for cinematic prowess and awesome character design, and two lead heroes with womany hair. |
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Runners-Up: Silent Hill 2 (PS2), Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2) There were lots of games with great sound effects this year, prettymuch across the board. The PC had Aliens vs. Predator 2, the Gamecube had Star Wars: Rogue Leader, and the PS2 had three that were very exceptional. This was a very close call between Ico, Silent Hill 2, and Metal Gear Solid 2. All had tremendous detail in all the slightest sounds, all three had very good voice acting (Although in Ico's case, that voice acting happened to be in fictional tongues), but Ico's realistic nature sounds, echoes, and overall hushed nature gave the impression that you really were in a toweringly large castle, and once again, perfectly accentuated the game. |
Runners-Up: Silent Hill 2 (PS2), Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2) The castle in Ico is a huge, towering behemoth of a structure, inhabited by shadow spirits and a whole lot of obstacles. Ico's and Yorda's escape from the fortress is mostly a silent affair, but its hushed nature makes the game even more... dare I say it? (The word begins with 'beaut' and ends with 'iful.') To make Ico even more immersive all dialogue is spoken in a mysterious, fabricated language, also adding more to Ico's ethereal, dreamlike quality. |
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Runners-Up: Final Fantasy X (PS2), Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA) You just couldn't lose with this one. Perfect remixes of all the classic Nintendo themes, capturing the majestic beauty of the Fountain of Dreams, the lonely depths of Zebes' caverns, or the sheer awesomeness of the F-Zero racetracks. Now if only we didn't have to put up with that damn DK Rap... |
Runners-Up: Onimusha (PS2), Super Smash Bros. Melee (Gamecube) This was a tough call for me. While Onimusha boasts a unique, cinematic score by the New Japan Philharmonic, Final Fantasy X won me over with its catchy, memorable, relaxing tunes. This time, series composer Nobuo Uematsu is joined by Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano (Threads of Fate), to give the soundtrack a little more variety. Tracks like "Sprouting", "Besaid", "To Zanarkand", and Tidus' theme won't be leaving my playlist anytime soon. Smash Bros. Melee deserves mention for perfecting the nostaligic Nintendo tunes by orchestrating all of them. Bravo! |
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Runners-Up: Final Fantasy X (PS2), Grand Theft Auto 3 (PS2) Although many think of a good storyline to be a plot with tons of plot twists and surprises (Ha! MGS2 had plenty of those and look where that got it!), I think that more importantly is how that story was told. Ico's story is the purest example of that, as the storyline can be told in all of a few sentences, but those sentences were told in such a way as to be revolutionary. The storyline isn't told through narration or conversation, but through the actions of the characters- how they move and respond to each other. Even the level design- the design of the castle itself, tells a part of the story. Ico may have kept players always wanting more in terms of storyline, but in my mind, that's a good thing. |
Runners-Up: Ico (PS2), Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2) The Final Fantasy series also always succeeded in telling immersive, imaginative stories and the latest in the series is no different. Playing it, watching the elaborate, tragic plot unfold, I was forced once again to ask "How do these people think of this stuff?!" Final Fantasy X proves Square is still at the top of its game. Ico gets mention for the way its story is told, while MGS2 (love it or hate it) goes above and beyond the meaning of 'convoluted.' |
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I doubt we'll ever see another game quite like Ico. Maybe sometime we'll see a sequel or something resembling this, but it'll never be as refreshingly different and beautiful. NEVER. Something like this isn't so much a game as an experience, an art. Few games can make such a claim. |
It's Ico again! This time, Ico gets nods for its awesome game design. No lives, no continues, no interface, or menus, or guns, or decent box art. In this age of polygon-pushing power and high-tech hoopla, Ico favors simplicity above all else. Just pick up and play it, if you're ready for an experience like this. |
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Runners-Up: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (PS2), Super Smash Bros. Melee (Gamecube) This game would have faded away into the far reaches of memory, had I not played it with a friend recently. Monkey Ball makes a good one-player game, but it makes a frickin' AWESOME two-player game. Lots of variety, simple gameplay, and... uhhh... lots more variety... make this a game to last for hours of fun. |
Runners-Up: None If it's one thing siblings are good for it's tactical multiplayer action. MGS reference aside, Smash Bros. Melee isn't tactical so much as it's FRIGGIN' INSANE. Tons of awesome levels, a great character selection, and simple-yet-deep gameplay make Smash Bros. the ideal multiplayer game out there. |
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Runners-Up: Super Monkey Ball (Gamecube) Yet another Gamecube game shows that if nothing else, Nintendo does multiplayer gaming systems better than anyone. Smash Bros., it's "Killer App", is a game designed specifically for it's multiplayer experience. While the game is maybe not for everyone, if you gather a group of friends capable of providing a challenge (Although that's mighty difficult for me. Huh huh huh), few games have the party potential as Smash Bros. |
Runners-Up: None Okay, Smash Bros. is just the best multiplayer game ever. There's really no getting around it. Two, three, four-player, heck you can even play alone against the AI. Get some friends over, microwave the popcorn, and let the tournament begin. Or something, I dunno. |
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Now, granted, I haven't played Everquest or Dark Age of Camelot, but I'm not too keen on the idea of forking over $10 a month for a game I won't have time to play anyways (The reason why PSOv2 seemed like a pointless waste of Sega's time). Although not the "Massively-Multiplayer" experience many claimed, PSO finally gave console users a small inkling of what PC users had been spending whole paychecks on- and it did it without a stupid monthly charge. In what was ultimately a dungeon hack (Which in the end, was what made it stop being fun to play), PSO was nothing short of a full-force demonstration of what online-capable consoles could do. |
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Runners-Up: Wakka (Final Fantasy X, PS2), Ico (Ico, PS2) Two words: Bad ass. Everything Dante did was cool and stylish. Just his regular attacks are so frickin' cool, it fills me with glee to watch them. Bad ass. |
Runners-Up: Yorda (Ico, PS2), Dante (Devil May Cry, PS2), Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid 2, PS2) Another very tough call. Torn between Yorda's ghostly charm, Dante's wicked 'tude, and Solid Snake's sagely badassness, I went for Yuna and her devotion to save the world from destruction. Oh yeah, she's pretty cute too. But I digress! Sweet and kind, Yuna is totally selfless, devoted to her friends and to her cause as a summoer. She would put her own happiness aside as long those around her are content. But is that really what she wants? |
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Runners-Up: The Great Mighty Poo (Conker's Bad Fur Day, N64), Shadow cat-demons (Devil May Cry, PS2) These guys could be menacing without so much as a snarl or roar. Such an interesting idea, a creature made of thick smoke... They are, in themselves, a one of the puzzles and mysteries of Ico. |
Runners-Up: Revolver Ocelot/Liquid Snake (Metal Gear Solid 2, PS2), Dracula (Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, GBA) This has been a pretty good year for villains. We've seen the resurrection of Dracula, the return of Liquid Snake's arm, a dark queen, a guy named Seymour, ninja demons, the Imperial Empire... but there is one baddie that rises above the rest... One miscreant so evil and so foul, all other villains are sent running home to mama... only PYRAMID HEAD can strike that kind of fear and it does so so efficiently... it's... efficient!! Oh God... the nightmares... And what about that final confrontation? That must be the strangest last boss encounter EVER. Revolver Ocelot gets kudos for being a backstabbing little bastard, and for adding a new dimension to the whole split personality shtick. As for Dracula, he was a major pain the ass... until I found the summoning card. |
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I absolutely love the DOA series. No, not just for the jubblies- the fighting system happens to be the best of all the 3D fighting games, IMHO. On the other hand, the female fighters of the game certainly are a nice draw, and one of their newest fighters, Hitomi, is absolutely gorgeous in a girl-next-door-that-can-kick-your-ass kinda' way. And I love that. Ohhhhh yeah.... |
There's no denying it. Lulu's a standup babe. Or maybe even a hot babe. Or babelicious. Any way you put it, Lulu's nice to look at. And she can shoot fire magic out of her hands. |
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I've heard very very good things about it, but at the moment, I have no time for a 100 hour+ game. |
This is a two-way tie. If I had played Paper Mario, the only RPG to hit the Nintendo 64, it probably would've been a favorite of mine. I heard many a great thing about it and my brothers liked it a lot. And although there is nothing more embarrassing than a lanky, white guy playing a dance game I would've liked to try DDR by now. I'm curious to see how it compares to the scourge of Korea, Pump. |
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Yeah, it rocks. It's an incredibly good game. And... the storyline blows the big one. It's all so good... soooooo good... until you get the Nikita. After that, the storyline gets too ambitious for it's own good. Kojima knew he'd have to go to great lengths to surprise fans of the original. Problem is, he went too far. |
Here's a fun weekend activity: Go out and find someone who actually had fun playing The Bouncer. Then KILL him. It really is sad The Bouncer ended up sucking. What's sadder is this game could've kicked so much ass had Square just PLAYTESTED it before it was released. Even THEN, this game would still wind up being mediocre. Anyone else remember the first previews of The Bouncer? If Square pulled through with their initial plans we could've been fighting across a multitude of levels, picking up chairs and knocking them over opponents' heads, doing Matrix-style moves... AND do all that in a multiplayer mode. Too much to ask for? Maybe. But instead we got Tobal meets Final Fight. Anything's better than that. |
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It's a game with wierd languages and a windmill and no marketable mascots and... it's being made by Sony? What are the odds of that becoming one of the best, most inventive, beautiful games released this year? Huh? HUH!? |
Who knew a gaming experience like Ico would come from the guy that starded Whoopee Camp, known for its Tomba! games? |
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It's a good game. But it's no system-seller, as much as everyone tries to tell me. Someone tell me what they do in this game that hasn't been done in a FPS before. Anyone? Anyone? Ah, no, Tribes 2 had those. Oh, and the graphics are not all that great, either. This, to me, looked like something I'd expect from the Dreamcast. And my GOD, does the game get repetitive and boring in single-player mode. Personally, if I wanted a good one-player game, I'd perfer games like Half-Life and Medal of Honor. And if I wanted a good multiplayer game, I'd perfer games like Unreal Tournament and Goldeneye. If you want your killer app for the X-Box, go with DOA3, but don't try to tell me that Halo is anything more than just a good game. |
I anticipated Mario Kart Advance as it would be one of the first new games I'd get to play for Game Boy Advance. ...Alas, it was not, thanks to those damned delays. Finally, I found out I burned out on kart racing games when I stopped playing... |
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Being a low-profile game on a dying system doesn't help sales numbers. But when you're a fighting game made by a company known for making zillions of fighting games... Well... Project Justice is a sequel to an old favorite of mine, Rival Schools. And it basically does everything the original did, but better. Fine by me. Ain't broke, don't fix it. |
...this game, which is actually superior with its better course design, its single player mode, the option to race as the Ninja from Metal Gear Solid, and its catchy theme song. C'mon. Sing it with me! Wai wai wai wai wai wai RACING!! Awww riiiight! But the main reason it's better than Mario Kart is because it was released first... that, and Mario Kart's emphasis on coin collecting was giant pain in the ass. |
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Runners-Up: Gamecube controller (Nintendo, Gamecube), Dance Dance Revolution game mat (Konami, PSX) Finally, someone has crafted a better way to play FPSes than a keyboard and mouse. And all they had to do all along was streamline the keyboard, make it specifically designed for games, make it ergonomic, programmable, and easy to set up. A kick-ass gamepad from BELKIN!? Yeah, truth is stranger than fiction. |
Runners-Up: None The thing I loved most about MiniDisc was the rechargable battery. You could just... reCHARGE it... FOREVER!! And thanks to Mad Catz and companies like those I can keep my GBA powered up for those portable playing sessions. Screw you, Duracell! |
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Runner-Up: Gameboy Advance 7 of my top 10 games of the year selections are on the PS2 this year, 6 of them exclusives (If we want to get technical, one or two of those is due to be ported sometime this next year). Despite having a very slow six months at the beginning of this year, the latter half of the year more than made up for it, and right now the PS2 is on FIRE. Despite a slew of great games on the GBA, and some extremely good ones on the other systems, the PS2 has gotten hit after hit after hit in the latter half of the year. And the fact that you could technically count in all the great PSOne games of this year (Since the PS2 plays them, and all) doesn't hurt either. |
Runners-Up: None Sure, the year started out slowly with titles like Zone of the Enders and Klonoa 2... but by the latter half of the year, the PS2 was on FIRE!! Game after game after game, the Playstation 2's onslaught of fantastic titles just wouldn't slow down! It STILL isn't, and I still don't have any time to play all of them. Now if Sony would just learn how to build sturdier consoles. Assholes. |
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Take one look at Star Wars: Rogue Leader and you'll see why. And with that being a speciality of the Gamecube, X-Box, and the newest PC video cards, any developer worth it's spit will be using it to jazz up their games to look all bumped and grooved and overall... uhhh... less flat... |
Bumps are cool. There. |
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Nintendo has had some really high ups and some really low downs lately. Every time they run into news that shows the possibility of Nintendo coming up on top again, they get even more new equally as bad- Two steps forward, one step back. In the end, for good or bad, Nintendo will leave it's mark, for certain. Square, on the ther hand, has been strangely silent. Sure, there's Final Fantasy X, and the upcoming Final Fantasy XI and Kingdom Hearts, as well as the recent (But somewhat vague) Nintendo announcement, but I think it's not too far a stretch to think we'll be hearing a lot more from Square very soon, and an announced sequel to any number of their game series would be huge, as well as a potentially good new project. Meantime, how they handle FFXI could make or break the future of online gameplay on consoles, and a failure could be disastrous, as they've already lost far too much money from the Final Fantasy movie. Finally, now that Sega has decided to spread their interests into different games on different platforms, they've become something of a wild card. They have a whole backlog of games they must be itching to port over from the unprofitable days of the Dreamcast, and those that never got one will suddenly have a renewed chance to play Sega's very best, as well as, again, the potential for new developments. Sega could be up to any number of things, and there's absolutely no way to tell what might happen next. |
Square, I love you. I always will. I will forever be your bitch. Your bitch of justice, as I glady receive each game you thrust upon me. My God, I hate myself. Aha ha ha, but seriously folks, Square is taking leaps and bounds all over the place. Despite their dazzling failure in the film industry, Square will kick it with a tasty groove with Final Fantas XI: Online. Risky venture? You betcha. It'll be interesting to see how Square and its PlayOnline service hurdles over the shittiness most online games have to offer. How much will the game cost to subscribe? Will there be a monthly fee of doom? How will cheaters be handled? How will cooperative gameplay and coherent storyline coexist peacefully? Time will tell... And Sega. Good 'ol Sega. At the time of this writing, several games have already been released on its former competitors, including Virtua Fighter 4 on Playstation 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on Gamecube. Quite a weird turn of events, eh? Soon maybe, we'll see Mario and Sonic share the spotlight in some BIZARRE coupling of two of videogamedom's most BELOVED MASCOTS. Or not. Meanwhile, it'll be cool to see what other tasty gems Sega release, what'll happen with the Phantasy Star Online series, and how that new F-Zero arcade game will shape up. Nintendo's probably taking the most chances of all, with the uncertain future of Gamecube, and the 2-D portable wonder that is Game Boy Advance. When are the Gamecube/GBA link capabilities gonna come to fruition? What about the company's unfortunate, but ever-stalwart "kiddie" image? Will Resident Evil and Eternal Darkness do anything for it? What about Nintendo's future with Sega and Square? Will the rumored Final Fantasy: Unlimited games share the success of the Playstation games? Yada yada yada yada. |
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1. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (GBA) 2. Kingdom Hearts (PS2) 3. Zelda (Gamecube) 4. Medal of Honor: Frontline (PS2) 5. Mario Sunshine (Gamecube) 6. Xenosaga Episode 1: Zer Wille Dur Macht (PS2) 7. Resident Evil (Gamecube) 8. Metroid Prime (Gamecube) 9. Finat Fantasy Tactics (GBA) 10. Final Fantasy XI: Online (PS2) |
1. Xenosaga (PS2) 2. Metroid Prime (Gamecube) 3. The New Legend of Zelda (Gamecube) 4. Mario Sunshine (Gamecube) 5. Final Fantasy XI: Online (PS2) 6. Metroid IV (GBA) 7. Kingdom Hearts (PS2) 8. Resident Evil 0 (Gamecube) 9. Onimusha 2 (PS2) 10. Lunar Legend (GBA) |
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