Game of the Year

[The_J]

Only played Fallout from that list, therefore Fallout.

But hey, there seem to be some games missing again, e.g.:
- GTA
- Blood
- Imperialism
- Lands of Lore
- NfS II
- Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
- The Curse Of Monkey Island
- Tomb Raider II

From these I've only played GTA, Blood and Oddworld, but nothing beats Fallout for me in that year.

 

[Akka]

GTA is one of the serie before the 3D (remember that the first famous GTA was the THIRD) - it was moderately fun, but nowhere near "game of the year" material.
The 1997 Lands of Lore was the third of the serie - actually pretty mediocre, and horribly dated with its early "digitalized real actors". The "good" Lands of Lore is the first, and only the first.
NFS2 and Tomb Raiders 2 are pretty average at best, not worthy of "game of the year" nomination either.

 

[Kyriakos]

Imperialism (both I and II) were very good games. Imperialism I had a number of bugs, though, and i did not play it in its own time.

 

[Red Key]

What the heck...

Vote= Goldeneye 007

Sadly I don't have much experience with the other ones but I remember good times playing 007 multiplayer with a few friends on the 64.

 

[KMRblue1027]

Man games from 97 have not aged well. I can't really think of any of them that I really enjoyed outside of 007.

 

[da dick]

GTA is one of the serie before the 3D (remember that the first famous GTA was the THIRD) - it was moderately fun, but nowhere near "game of the year" material.
The 1997 Lands of Lore was the third of the serie - actually pretty mediocre, and horribly dated with its early "digitalized real actors". The "good" Lands of Lore is the first, and only the first.
NFS2 and Tomb Raiders 2 are pretty average at best, not worthy of "game of the year" nomination either.

the first lands of lore's "puzzles" made me want to tear my hair out. though i heard other "goldbox"-like rpgs are far more annoying with their obscure tedious puzzles.

and i remember the 1st GTA gained quite a bit of infamy for it's graphic violence. especially the console PSX version because consoles are for kid's games or something... weird since most G or Teen-rated RPGs on consoles have you murdering hundreds if not thousands of innocent wildlife and people anyway.

 

[Kyriakos]

^Or sentient mushrooms

 

[sherbz]

GTA only became popular because it made a game out something that was violent and illegal. This made a load of idiots call for it to be banned, which almost guaranteed the game popularity. I dont know why people, who want something banned (or not be popular), call for something to be banned because it only ever has the opposite effect. Particularly in sub cultures that have an affinity with rebellion. Man hunt was another example. Calls were made to ban it - it hits the top of the charts the next day. The human centipede - calls were made to ban it, it sold far more copies than perhaps its very average production warranted. The Greek church called for lordi to be banned from the eurovision song contest because they promoted satanism - they won the eurovision song contest. Time and time again the opposite happens yet these people never learn.

I think GTA was probably a 7 or 8 out of 10 when it was released. It was good fun, but no way near GOTY material. You have to wait until GTA3 until it even starts to get a sniff.

 

[Kyriakos]

Lordi is a horrible band :/

 

[Akka]

Man games from 97 have not aged well. I can't really think of any of them that I really enjoyed outside of 007.

Actually, Fallout's design allowed it to age somewhat well, and FF7 only real problem is the cube-like super-deformed design. As for Total Annihilation, it barely aged at all. I don't agree with your point at all.

 

[KMRblue1027]

That's why this is an opinion thread. Unlike say Doom which still has unique feel nothing from 97 holds up to me. FF7 is blown away by IX, Fallout has always been meh to me as I've always been a gameplay > everything else, guy, and I've always disliked RTS games because of rushing being the center of multiplayer. Everyone is different though.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

Interstate!!!! Are you serious?

that game sucked!

You're thinking of Interstate '82. Interstate '76 didn't suck. It was a very good game, but I admit it's hardly a goty candidate. There are better choices from that year that I didn't play, so I'll leave the voting for you

 

[sherbz]

You're thinking of Interstate '82. Interstate '76 didn't suck. It was a very good game, but I admit it's hardly a goty candidate. There are better choices from that year that I didn't play, so I'll leave the voting for you

Oh yea, my bad. Haha. Well spotted sir!

 

[civvver]

Lords of Magic is also 1997. I have it, but have only got past the loading screen. It appears really cool. I won't vote for a game I haven't thoroughly played but throwing it out there.

Does anyone know Wing Commander Prophecy? Is it good?

 

[Akka]

Lords of Magic is also 1997. I have it, but have only got past the loading screen. It appears really cool. I won't vote for a game I haven't thoroughly played but throwing it out there.

Does anyone know Wing Commander Prophecy? Is it good?

=>

Let's go with my nominations :
- Quake II : one of the major multi-player and FPS title.
- Wing Commander Prophecy : the last of the line, and one of the last story-based space simulator.
[...]

And yeah, it's pretty good (hence the nomination).

 

[coanda]

Lords of Magic is also 1997. I have it, but have only got past the loading screen. It appears really cool. I won't vote for a game I haven't thoroughly played but throwing it out there.

Lords of Magic was a great game. One of my favorite Impressions / Sierra games. Probably not quite GotY quality; it wasn't terribly deep strategically or tactically. Mostly carried on the strength of visuals and audio, plus a certain charm to the game mechanics that made preserving your armies and gathering experience for them really fun.

 

[de Maistre]

I concur with coanda: Lords of Magic was fun, but not GOTY material. I played it quite a bit when I was young. I bought it along with MOO2—I knew nothing about them, but I thought they looked cool I kind of miss the randomness of buying a game based on the box art.. nowadays I won't buy a game without reading reviews and watching gameplay videos.

Spoiler :

Link to video.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

We are approaching to the great years of simulation but in 1997 there were some nice precursors too. i am speaking about DID´s F22 Air Dominance Fighter and the space simulator I-War, both and particularly the sequels are still today considered as fine games and have a large community still playing and developing them.
EDIT: OMG i forgot about Redneck Rampage! Even if the sprites looked a bit primitive after having seen Quake, it was damn funny.

So, more nominations for 1997:
F22 Air Dominance Fighter
I-War
Redneck Rampage

 

[Loppan Torkel]

You mean something like Dungeon Keeper 2?

Because Dungeon Keeper 2 is one of the all time greats, and my personal favorite out of all the amazing Bullfrog games released in the 90s. I still go back and play it again every few years; it is simply brilliant. And yes, it exists; I think GOG actually has it now (not sure).

Bullfrog was working on a Dungeon Keeper 3, but EA yanked the team from the project so they could work on video games off their recently purchased Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings IP rights and DK3 died in development. Of all the mistakes, blunders, and bone-headed decisions EA made in their lengthy history, that is the one I despise them most for.

Of course, DK2 was released in '99 so we haven't gotten there yet.

DK2 did get lower grades and I skipped it. Now, I'm too picky to be bothered by old games. I was thinking of a new game to the franchise. I know they made some attempts, but the concept still seems untapped. The same goes for Majesty.

 

[sherbz]

Lords of Magic was a great game. One of my favorite Impressions / Sierra games. Probably not quite GotY quality; it wasn't terribly deep strategically or tactically. Mostly carried on the strength of visuals and audio, plus a certain charm to the game mechanics that made preserving your armies and gathering experience for them really fun.

I too was a big fan of lords of magic. It was one of those games where it never really began to show its true potential until after a few patches, and thus never really reached the heights it perhaps deserved. I had never even heard of it, but then bought half life when brand new and it was thrown in as a free gift from the mailing order catalogue. I would actually like to see a remake. Although I think it would benefit if the combat reverted to the main game mechanics of turn based. Its sound track was incredible and the storyline, although a little clichéd, was actually pretty good. It was also one of the few strategy/role playing games that offered an appreciable difference between the various factions. I always used to think order were totally beastly, whereas air were terrible in terms of troops, but also had some of the best champions, and certainly the best mages, in the game. It was certainly one of those games that had the nucleus of greatness, but fell short of its true potential.