Game of the Year

[sherbz]

I just had a sneaky look at 1998. If 1997 was a slightly poor year for videogames, then it is more than made up in 1998:

Half life
Unreal
Zelda Orcania of time
Grim Fandango
Baldurs gate
Fallout 2
Caesar III
Metal Gear solid
Starcraft
Commandos

 

[Loppan Torkel]

I'd like to add Battlezone and Myth II to that list. Both excellent games.

Battlezone:

Spoiler :

Link to video.

Myth II:

Spoiler :

Link to video.

Vote: Myth II: Soulblighter

 

[civvver]

Yes 1998 is just a sick year for gaming. I saw this one coming when I started the thread.

Anyway, 1997 nominations are compiled, I'll try to finalize the votes this weekend.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Yes, 1998 was glorious. The best year of all them. There are so many choices that it is impossible to choose one, so I will concentrate on simulators only: Racing simulators and flight simulators. All among the best of all time. All still played today, heavily modded by the community. Particularly Grand Prix Legends and Falcon 4.0, which with the BMS mod is possibly the best combat flight simulator right there still today.

1998 Nominations:

Colin McRae Rally
Grand Prix Legends
Falcon 4.0
F-22 Total Air War

And i vote for Falcon 4.0

 

[KMRblue1027]

I got to vote for MGS, that was my childhood.

 

[Red Key]

Pokemon Red and Blue were released in NA in 1998, but my vote goes to Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

 

[Kyriakos]

Will have to look at more lists, but it seems 1998 is also the year of the original (?) Starcraft. I haven't played that game, but it obviously has a huge following.

 

[coanda]

1998 for Year of the Game award!

 

[The_J]

After which dates do we go now? Because Anno 1602 was originally released in EU in 1998, but in NA in 2000.

Not sure if it was good, but I've heard also a bit about "Return to Krondor".
Apparently also Railroad Tycoon 2 and Thief were released in 1998.

I just had a sneaky look at 1998. If 1997 was a slightly poor year for videogames, then it is more than made up in 1998:

Half life
Unreal
Zelda Orcania of time
Grim Fandango
Baldurs gate
Fallout 2
Caesar III
Metal Gear solid
Starcraft
Commandos

Okay, I probably belong to the few persons who haven't played more than half of that list, but I still feel qualified to say something .
Starcraft was great at the beginning...but I soon lost motivation with it. More into building up than destroying.
Therefore Caesar III was much more my thing. My first game of the Impression series. I loved it. Could never play through it though. Some of the mechanics were just not understandable for me.
For Anno 1602 this was not the case, but some of the later missions were just too difficult for me . But loved it too.
Unreal was nice, but I only remember that I played it way later, when the graphics were already damn outdated (I think that applies to every game, I nearly all got them later).
But then....Fallout 2. My first real RPG, after Diablo. A friend, who didn't like fantasy, introduced me to that game. Oh, what did I love it. In that time nobody had a CD burner, so I always asked if I could borrow his CD. Til I later got it myself. That was sooooo good. And what I've wasted time on that game. Just going around with the carravans, getting money, buying more stuff, killing more stuff. There's that one area in New Reno, which my computer at that time couldn't take at all. Took my 15 minutes just to walk through it (and it was the center, you had to enter it once).
I think I spent 3 months on my first walkthrough.
Good times.

 

[Kyriakos]

I played CaesarIII very little, and in my view Pharaoh was better although both still are very good games

Zeus/Poseidon was too cartoony, sadly :/ Haven't played Emperor.

 

[Kyriakos]

Nominate: Sanitarium

Vote: Sanitarium

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitarium_(video_game)

Sanitarium is a game worth playing even if you are not into horror, or adventure games

 

[sherbz]

1998 for Year of the Game award!

I agree with this. Even up until the present day, I dont think there has been a year that saw such a leap in quality of computer games. So i think it deserves a longer post

Half life
One of the most definitive shooters of all time. It transformed first person gaming in many senses, which before were more like games rather than interactive and immersive action movies. Its staged sequences had never been seen before and it has won numerous games of the year, and best game of all time awards.

Unreal
Deserves to be on this list because of the graphics. 3d technology was well canvassed in the quake 2 engine, but unreal blew the door off its hinges. The graphics, quite simply, were astonishing and well ahead of their time. It was a thing of beauty. Established the unreal engine technology which is still in use today in a slightly different form (Xcom enemy unknown uses unreal technology). So its reach is far beyond it just being a mere computer game.

Zelda Orcania of time
Probably the best console RPG of all time. What more can you say. I never really liked consoles when i was younger. I was a die hard PC fan boy (and still am in many respects). But even i could appreciate that Zelda was something different. Zelda was special.

Grim Fandango
The last and greatest adventure game. Grim fandango was funny, intelligent and quirky. It basically capped a brilliant franchise of Lucasarts which started off with Monkey Island, and finished with Grim Fandango. Personally i enjoyed day of the tentacle more, but Grim Fandango was a superb iteration of the format.

Baldurs gate
Arguably the game that began the best RPG series of all time (certainly on the PC). It enabled all those people of the 80s who played D&D in wooden sheds to finally have that experience on their computers. The world was enormous, and i had never come across a game that had to be played across 5 different CDs (6 including the expansion). For me though, its successor was superior in every way.

Fallout 2
If Baldurs gate is the one of the best classic rpgs of all time, fallout is undoubtedly one of the best futuristic ones. The compelling story and immersive play was again second to none. It also had an intelligent levelling system which has been copied by many games since.

Caesar III
IMO Caesar was not as good as Pharo or settlers. Although i recognise it has a hardcore following of fans and certainly deserves to be on the list for teh year.

Metal Gear solid
Again, MGS was not really my cup of tea (being a console game). But again, it is widely regarded by many to be one of the best games ever.

Starcraft
One of the best RTS franchises to date. Starcraft spawned a huge legacy and is worth of its place.

Commandos
The thing i like about commandos is that it was low budget. There was no fanfare when it was released, no hype, and most reviewers gave it 7 or 8 out of 10. However, when people got their hands on it, it really took off in a way that many never expected. It was a highly intelligent and incredibly difficult computer game. Ill never forget that dam mission. You would literally spend about a week on one level figuring out the best way to achieve your objective. I think it is one of the most rewarding games ever. When you completed a mission you had spent days or even weeks planning for, the feeling is really quite hard to describe.

And my vote is.........HALF LIFE

 

[ls612]

Nowadays I'd look at as horribly oversimplified and uncomplicated, but back when I was quite young there was nothing really like Starcraft for me. It (combined with Civ 2) got me hooked on gaming in the early 2000s (yeah, I was behind the curve, whatever). So Starcraft gets my vote for 1998.

 

[Akka]

A bit surprised by the "1998 da big year". It doesn't have that many good games. What it has is, like 1997, a few big legendary ones.

So, nominations :

Baldur's Gate. To be honest, this game is actually pretty mediocre. The first part, up to Baldur, is frankly bad (terrible writing, boring and contrived story), and the second part is barely okay. It's one of the most overrated game of all time, and that's from someone whose favourite genre is RPG.
Regardless, it's still a game that was pivotal to RPG history, and probably saved the genre. So despite it being boring, I still give it a nomination.

Fallout 2 : THAT is an actual fantasitc RPG, huge and allowing a crapload of possibilities, with deep plot and believable worldbuilding.
Only weaknesses (that will be the plague of all Black Isle and Obsidian games up to today) : quite buggy and very unequal (some parts, like Reno, are pure, unadultered bliss ; other, like SanFran or Broken Hills, are horribly written and simplistif).

Starcraft : the most legendary RTS, ever. Much more traditionnal and less groundbreaking than TA, but polished to the core and offering the most (and best) asymetrical gameplay. Still unmatched today.

Metal Gear Solid : the most famous story-driven infiltration game, which basically created the genre (even if it wasn't the first).

Thief : ironically released the same year than MGS, the same infiltration kind of game, but more based on sandbox and gameplay than story. Also a creator of the genre.

Unreal : Fantastic sceneries and ambiance for a most immersive game. Nothing groundbreaking, but a joy to plunge into.

Half-Life : The biggest turning point in FPS since Doom, which revolutionized the genre just as much (too bad it ended up driving FPS into "linear and predictable corridor", but that's the fault of the plagiarist, not the leader).


And the vote is for...
Starcraft, by a hair before Half-Life. Fallout 2 is betrayed here by the two flaws listed above, but still hang on pretty close.

 

[Rub'Rum]

1998
Nomination: Might and Magic VI Mandate of Heaven

1998
Vote=Might and Magic VI Mandate of Heaven

I had to decide between it and Baldur's Gate. MM6 is my favorite Might and Magic game and I spent like half of a year playing it back in the late 90s. It was the first "truly 3D" Might and Magic game, as in you can freely roam around. The world was stunning back then. But it's a bit obscure, so, it's a personal choice, what can I say. I even beat it again a couple of years ago.

 

[coanda]

Without even getting into the merits of the games...

Ocarina of Time is arguably the best-reviewed game of all time (Metacritic puts it on top; Gamerankings puts it second to Super Mario Galaxy but only by a negligibly small margin).

Grim Fandango is the "critic's darling" game that got average reception on release but reviewers love to rave about what a hidden gem it was.

Starcraft is the eSport against which all others are measured. At least one match (a 2005 championship) drew an attendance of over 100 thousand fans in-person.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

A bit surprised by the "1998 da big year". It doesn't have that many good games. What it has is, like 1997, a few big legendary ones.

Given how many votes there have been for different titles, besides the obvious, legendary ones, I'd say 1998 was an excellent year. It was viewed as such at that time too, iirc.

 

[Nintz]

Finally reaching the point where I recognize some of these games. Time to stop eternally lurking on this thread. I can't really argue for or against many of these to be honest, but I will put in a Vote: Half-Life simply because of the legacy it had on video games in general for years to come.

 

[KMRblue1027]

I think 1998 is so huge is that although they existed before it basically has the codifiers for many different genres. It's a year with such a diverse lineup that it's gonna be nearly impossible to come to a consensus.

 

[civvver]

1998 might not get 25+ nominations like '97 did (I think we went a bit overboard. Not insulting anyone's preferences but I seriously doubt more than 1 or 2 people in this thread even played outlaws or blade runner), but the nominations it does get could've won every year from the 90s easily. I'll bet that the 2nd, 3rd and even 4th titles this year would beat out every other winning in this thread so far except maybe civ2 just cus this is a civ forum.

@The_J - I just don't think enough people have played anno 1602 for it to matter, nor krondor. I have a friend who absolutely raves about betrayal at krondor and return, but they aren't that well known.

I think every title I love from '98 has been listed. For me it's going to be a very hard choice between starcraft and ocarina of time.

While red alert was really the first rts that I fell in love with and total annihilation redefined the "strategy" part of that acronym for me, starcraft was and probably still is my favorite rts. I didn't even like the multiplayer, I just loved the solo play, it had depth, it had an amazing plot, it had zerlings and protoss! It was awesome. If red alert was like a high school crush, TA would be a serious college girlfriend, and starcraft would be the woman I marry (with warcraft 3 being an illicit affair and supreme commander being a trophy second wife!).

But zelda ocarina of time holds a special place in my gamer heart. At the time the graphics were amazing and finally having a super open 3d zelda world was a break through. Link to the past was close, but this was so much bigger. The story was awesome, the gameplay might seem simplistic today but at the time was pretty amazing. It's probably the one game I made sure to complete 100%, get every golden skulltula, every heart piece, every equipment upgrade. It was sooo good. I think for voting purposes we should all vote with our gamer hearts, for our favorite games, but it doesn't hurt that nintendo has re-released ocarina of time twice on wii virtual store and 3ds, and like others said it's the highest rated game ever. So I'm not alone it adoring it.