Ah, Y2K. The year that computers were supposed to crash, airplanes were to fall from the sky, and everything was to generally fall to shit. Depending on your political ideology, maybe everything DID fall to shit, who knows. But 2000 was the year in which the long fabled “dot com†boom saw it’s absolute peak, with AOL buying Time Warner for $162 Billion, and the Millennium Dome opened, and closed, in the span of a year.
And Windows 2000, but we don’t talk about that…. what do you want? 2000 was an incredibly depressing year! USS Cole, Florida, Yankees over the Mets… yeesh. You all got me trying to spin gold from straw here.
In the world of Gaming, 2000 was actually a pretty kick ass year. We were all able to get our hands on the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo sold it’s 100,000,000th Game Boy system.
Looking Glass Studios (System Shock 2, Thief series) went out of business. Bungie was bought by Microsoft (to the eternal embarrassment of Apple’s Steve Jobs, to be sure), and Red Storm Entertainment became the new property of Ubisoft. Volition, the development house behind FreeSpace 2 and Summoner (and later Saint’s Row and Red Faction) was picked up by THQ.
A few of the games that were released in 2000 but did not make this list (probably because I just couldn’t fit them) included Chrono Cross, Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Banjo-Tooie, MechWarrior 4 and Tekken Tag Tournament. Counter-Strike was also released at retail, but we talked about that one already.
As always, if you are new to the list, be sure to check out the previous entries in the series. Be sure to tell JW why the omission of Homeworld proves once and for all that he is neither a hardcore gamer, or deserving to be breathing our precious oxygen.
Top Ten Games of 1998
Top Ten Games of 1997
Top Ten Games of 1996
Top Ten Games of 1995
Top Ten Games of 1994
Top Ten Games of 1993
Top Ten Games of 1992
Top Ten Games of 1991
Top Ten Games of 1990
*Note: You guys seemed to like the videos last week. JW hereby decries that all future lists will feature funny, awesome and/or original videos. Good day.
Fan video set to “Renegades of Funk” by Rage Against the Machine
Remember when cel-shading was a new and original way to animate games? Remember how everybody got excited, and people started to say things along the lines of “I can’t wait to see what the next Simpsons game is going to look likeâ€? Yeah, all of that started with Jet Grind Radio for the Sega Dreamcast.
The original Japanese release featured three maps, each of which was a drastic departure from the other two. You have a brightly lit shopping district (Shibuya), the neon glow of the bright night lights in the entertainment capital of Benton, and the residential district of Kogane, which is always at sunset… or rise… whichever. Either way, once you were into the game you were tasked with tagging designated areas of the city, recruiting new members to join your gang. As you progressed you would be chased by police, starting with your typical beat officer and his nightstick, and then ending up dodging tear gas being launched by S.W.A.T. Team members.
The influence of Jet Grind Radio cannot be denied. Hell, the revolutionary art style has even reached “legendary†franchises like Zelda. The art style wound up winning Jet Grind Radio a slew of awards, and even got the game nominated for GDC Game of the Year.
TimeSplitters will always be remembered by me (J.W.) for being the game that ruined my birthday. You see, in 2000 my mom bought me a PlayStation 2, but couldn’t pick it up until it was actually released on the 26th. My grandmother knew my mom had bought this, so she picked up the only game she could find (TimeSplitters), and gave it to my birthday. October 24th.
Yes, TimeSplitters is one of those ultra-rare games that was actually released before the console that it was meant to be played on.
TimeSplitters is remembered more for its multiplayer than its single-player. The game’s single-player campaign had almost zero story and simply had players blast their way through a series of stages to collect a particular item. The multiplayer, however, was widely praised by reviewers and gamers alike, with particular praise being showered on the Bot AI, which always kept the players on their toes through several different game modes, including Capture the Bag, Knockout, and Escort.
TimeSplitters also included a map maker (a first for console FPS titles) that allowed players to create their own maps that they could play through, and share with friends via their memory card. By todays standards it was bare bones to the extreme, but for the time it was a revolutionary step for the genre. At least, it was for consoles. Us PC elite have had SDK other map-making tools for ages.
American McGee’s Alice Opening Cinematic
American McGee is a twisted son of a bitch. Anyone who has ever plopped American McGee’s Alice into their PCs know this only too well.
In American McGee’s Alice, you play as Alice. But not the young, innocent Alice from her stories, oh no. This Alice is scarred. After seeing her parents and sister burned to death in a house fire, Alice tries to kill herself by slashing her own wrists and winds up being locked in a mental institution. While she is locked away, she’s summoned by the White Rabbit to come and save Wonderland, which is now under the control of the maniacal Queen of Hearts.
The writing in American McGee’s Alice is second-to-none. (Spoiler Alert!)As you progress through the game, you realize more and more that the corruption of Wonderland, which is a figment of Alice’s imagination, is all due to her losing her sanity and that the Queen of Hearts represents all of Alice’s rage, grief and general madness. Of course, by defeating the Queen of Hearts, Alice regains her sanity.
American McGee’s Alice has been slated to be turned into a feature film, however as of now that doesn’t really look like it’s going to happen. At least, not any time soon. In addition to the ill-fated movie, the game was also meant to have a PlayStation 2 port. However, EA ultimately canceled the game – a side-effect of the cancellation being the closure of the game’s development studio, Rogue Entertainment.
Detroit FTW!
You know, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 is widely considered to be the “greatest skateboarding game everâ€. It received perfect or near-perfect scores from GameSpot, IGN, 1UP and Game Informer, and there is no denying that being able to ollie over a homeless man as Spider-Man is pretty damn awesome. However, while the praise is definitely deserved, it is done so at the expense of another skateboarding game: Grind Session.
We’ve talked about Grind Session before, but it cannot be stated enough: This is the ultimate PlayStation skateboarding game. It keeps everything that made THPS (and THPS2) good, cuts out the few bad parts and adds enough ingenuity to keep things from ever getting boring.
This came in the form of technical lines. While many of them are simple “grind-from-point-a-to-point-b†lines, there are many (especially in the later levels) that will make you scratch your head and try every trick in the book to get them complete. However, even as you fail (and you WILL fail), you never feel like you’re overly frustrated with the game, and when you do figure each one out you feel a sense of accomplishment.
Grind Session goes to prove once more that while you may have all the money and a brand name (Activision, Tony Hawk), it doesn’t guarantee the better game – even if yours IS awesome.
Yes, that is Iceman. Yes, he is fighting Peter Griffin. Yes, it’s a ROM.
Okay, let’s get something out of the way right now: Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is the fourth game in the series, following (in reverse chronological order) Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and X-Men vs. Street Fighter. If this entry does wind up being the final entry in the series (and loose talk says it isn’t), this series surely went out on top.
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 easily has the largest roster of any of the games in the series, featuring a total of 56 characters: 28 from Capcom, 28 from Marvel. While you have obvious characters like Guile, Ryu, Spider-Man and Wolverine, you also have more “out of place†characters like Jill Valentine (Resident Evil), Strider Hiryu (Strider) and Mega Man (Dead Rising) making return (or in Jill’s case, only) appearance(s). Also making their first appearance in the series were original characters Amingo and Ruby Heart, both of which were playable although neither was any good.
Capcom did skimp on the production values a bit in MvC2. A lot of the stages were either rehashes or minor alterations of existing levels, and there was only one ending for every chatacter – as opposed to the specific endings in other games in the series that were based on which character you played as.
If you have either the Xbox or PlayStation version, consider yourself lucky. Because Capcom had lost the rights to the Marvel name, they were only able to release MvC2 in limited numbers. However, if you have the Dreamcast version (or, God help you, an Arcade machine), you’re not nearly as special.
Remember, kids — this is what trailers looked like back in 2000
If I could go back in time, I would find a place on the 1998 list for Final Fantasy Tactics. It was supposed to be on the 1997 list (in place of Final Fantasy VII), but we go by North American release dates and I had just forgotten. Now I don’t feel so bad for omitting Tactics, since that very same team would go on to develop the incredible Vagrant Story.
Vagrant Story was a definite departure for Squaresoft. Instead of these large worlds with many different cities, Vagrant Story was set entirely within the ruined city of Lea Monde. Also, instead of having to save the world from some great evil, you merely are looking to solve the mystery of who framed you for a murder that you clearly did not commit. Sure, it gets more grandiose as the story goes on but, ya know, play it if you want to find out.
Vagrant Story is set in the universe of Ivalice. If that sounds familiar to you, it may be because you are a fan of Final Fantasy XII or Final Fantasy Tactics. In fact, all three games take place “quite close†to each other in the world of Ivalice. The world is the brainchild of Vagrant Story director Yasumi Matsuno, and has been compared by some to be the “Star Wars†of fantasy role-playing due to the incredible back story and vibrancy to be found inside.
I think this is borderline racist.
Warren Spector has one of the most established resumes of any one developer in the industry. Thief, Wing Commander and the Ultima series, just to name a few. But the big game, the one that he is most remembered for is the original Deus Ex.
Deus Ex was not the first game to infuse RPG elements into a FPS, but the way in which it did combine these elements helped the game to rise far above the rest. Instead of a standard leveling system, the player was awarded skill points based on completing objectives. These points could then be spent to increase your accuracy with a pistol, your ability to hack computers or your proficiency with a lock pick.
Unlike other first-person shooters, Deus Ex gave player immense choice in how to handle a situation. In fact, it has been noted more than a few times that you can complete the whole game without ever firing a single shot or otherwise killing anybody. On the other hand, if you have a bloodlust you could put all your skill points into better handling heavy weapons and grenades and lay waste to all who would dare to oppose you. For the first time you were limited only by your imagination.
The game was widely praised for its engaging, multi-branch story and original gameplay. However, there were some who complained that the game was graphically ancient, and even more took issue with the atrocious voice acting. Even with those glaring issues, Deus Ex still stands as one of the first – and best hybrid FPS/RPG games out there.
Yeah, these aren’t creepy ads at all.
The wide assumption is that The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask started off as a 64DD game. This assumption is often made because in order to play MM you must have the 4MB RAM add-on. However, because Nintendo realized that the 64DD was a colossal waste of plastic, the game was instead ported straight to the Nintendo 64.
That’s the assumption. There is another rumor that Nintendo at one point considered holding onto MM for another year and releasing it as a launch title for the Nintendo GameCube, but that obviously did not happen.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is often regarded as the darkest of all Zelda games. Depending on your personal tastes, you either loved it or you loathed it. It also saw some refinements to the gameplay that made its debut in Ocarina of Time, the most obvious of which being that the game was timed. You only have three days (game time) to finish the game. However, by playing the “Song of Time†on your Ocarina, you travel back to 6am on Day One, with the game saving all your progress. This mechanic allowed for unlimited saves, although some found it quite irritating to essentially be forced to save their game every hour for fear of having the moon crash on them.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was re-released alongside The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as part of The Legend of Zelda: Collector’s Edition. This promotional disc was never available for purchase, instead being part of several bundles and other promotions from Nintendo. It featured improved resolution from the Nintendo 64 version, although the trade off was with the sound and framerate. Instead of properly porting the game to the GameCube, Nintendo simply ran it on an emulator. This led to some framerate issues, and at times could even freeze on the player.
Suffice to say, we’re praising the N64 original.
Diablo II Opening Cinematic
Here it is, the game that made Blizzard North famous. It took everything that made the original Diablo a huge hit, and cranked it up a knotch. It increased the number of classes from three to five (later seven with the Lords of Destruction expansion), greatly improved the visuals, and introduced an online element that was simply perfect. Using the Battle.net service players could enter into either public or private games, depending on whether or not the player wanted to play with close friends or just hook up with a party in need of a Paladin. If you didn’t want to kill monsters, you could always challenge somebody to a duel where, upon winning, you would be awarded with the ear of your fallen foe. Gather enough of these ears, and you could make a fancy belt.
Remember that pesky “Cow Level†rumor? The rumor that Blizzard denied over and over again, going so far as to include the insta-win cheat in StarCraft “There is no cow levelâ€? Yeah, Blizzard North finally gave in and, if you know how to do it and have the patience to do so, you too can open a portal to the Secret Cow Level. In that secret level there is an item set called “The Cow King’s Leathersâ€, which carry some awesome stats – according to Diablo Wiki:
Cow King’s Leathers
Partial Set Bonus:
Poison Resist +25% (2 items)
Complete Set Bonus:
Poison Resist +25%
25% Chance To Cast Level 5 Static Field When Struck
+100 Maximum Stamina
+20 To Strength
+30% Increased Attack Speed
100% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items
100% Extra Gold From Monsters
As you could probably imagine, Diablo II was widely praised by the gaming press. At the time, it was the fastest selling PC game ever, breaking the one million mark inside of two weeks. In a year’s time, it had surpassed four million. When you include the Diablo II Battle Chest, that number has to be well over 10 million. We’ll let you know when we can find some sales figures.
Oh, and that chat gem? It’s just a gem. Let it go.
UPDATE: Blizzard got back to us, and the number is roughly 18.5 million units. Good Lord.
You search for “The Sims“, and you just find “The Sims 2“.
I wanted to make Diablo II #1. I really, truly did and spent most of the week trying to convince myself that it should. But damn it all, numbers don’t lie and The Sims is unquestionably the most popular PC game ever released.
The Sims truly is the ultimate game for the micromanager in your life. Much like Sim City did before with constructing, expanding and maintaining cities, The Sims had you more or less doing the same, but on a much more personal level. You created a Sim, customized his attributes and plopped him into one of a few homes in a single neighborhood. From there you could meet new people (game characters), grow friendships and even fall in love. However, there is no way to beat the game. It will just go on and on and on until you eventually tire of it.
Unless you kill your Sim. After all, who hasn’t waited for their little Sim to walk into a bathroom, only to delete the doors and watch them starve at least once?
The Sims popularity is undeniable. By 2005 the game had already shipped 16 million units, and many estimates now have the game (along with the seven expansion packs) well over the 20 million mark.
The Sims has since evolved from a single game, into an entire division over at Electronic Arts that specializes in these kind of casual, laid back games. There have been several console and handheld spin-offs, a proper sequel (and a second sequel in development), and even an MMORPG called The Sims Online which lasted from December 17th, 2002 until August 1st, 2008. Hell, 20th Century Fox has even picked up the movie rights.
…yeah, I don’t know why, either. But they have, and the film, at last check, is currently in pre-production.
The Sims is one of those games that transcends the “hardcore†or “casual†labels, and reaches further. This is one of those games that grandmothers are still playing today (possibly because they don’t realize there is a sequel. Silly old folk.), right along with the rest of us. As much as it may shame us all to admit it, the game is addictive as hell and is the culmination of Will Wright’s ultimate dream:
To be God. (I keed, I keed)
Worst Game of 2000:
Mortal Kombat: Special Forces
For all the grief it gets from the core MK fanbase, Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero isn’t a terrible game. In fact, for being MK’s first venture into a new genre, it was pretty damn good.
The same cannot be said for Mortal Kombat: Special Forces. In MK:SF, you play as the All-American Major Jackson Briggs, a.k.a. Jax! As Jax, you were tasked with hunting down members of the Black Dragon, including series mainstay Kano. However, while it is billed as filling in those gaps between Jax and Kano, Mortal Kombat: Special Forces wound up suffering from The Scorpion King syndrome: Where a property designed to answer questions about a character instead only raises more.
What makes it even more unbearable is the fact that the controls are damn near broken. Sure, some of the combos from MK3 are brought over, but at the same time you can get through at least 80% of the game by simply placing the controller under your ass and bouncing on the buttons repeatedly.
Also, and this is the only time this has ever happened to me in any game, but there were points where I couldn’t distinguish the character models from the environments. That’s how nasty everything looked.
In the end, nothing is right with this game. The gameplay sucks. The audio sucks. The writing sucks. The acting sucks. And that intro movie (which is the actual movie, I’m not joking) is the worst thing to ever happen to Mortal Kombat.
And that includes Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.
Now to end 2000 on a high note, I present to you the single greatest Easter Egg ever.
See y’all in 2001.
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Awwww,…..
I miss The Summoner.
By the way, the Marvel Vs Capcom 2 video is actually M.U.G.E.N.
Yeah, the Majora’s Mask commercial was creepy XD