2nd best game of the year?

[Sizzlorr]

Alright, not sure if this is the best place to post this but:
Time Magazine lists RTW as the second best game of the year (http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/...eogames/2.html). The Sims2 came in 1st. In any case, RTW beats out HL2, Halo 2, GTA:SA and others. The Sim2s though? Whatever.

I know Time Magazine is hardly the best place for game reviews, but it has alot more eyeballs looking at it than any game magazine or website. This may give it a good holiday sales boost by parents who don't know what game to buy for little Junior.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

If you want good gaming reviews/awards go to PCGamer, many companies come out with game of the year edition games because PCG gives their game an award and they want to boost sales based on the award. PCG is the top selling PC gaming magazine and for good reason they have fair reviews and have a large awards issue that gives awards for specific genres and little things like graphical achievement or best mod of the year. Check it out and enjoy the wonderful demo disc.


P.S I am not a member of the staff or company I am just a loyal reader of several years.

[Ashen]

Rediculous. Never Rome Total War nor The Sims 2 should have been anywhere in the top 10. Halflife 2 for its graphics and gripping storyline, Doom3 for its quite frankly scary atmosphere (although the game sucks, pity). GTA: San Andreas Most definately! Halo 2 is rubbish aswell - poor story, bad levels, reptitive gameplay. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 and Burnout 3 are also brilliant games.

Ah well, perhaps im just too harsh on games. But The sims 2 really does suck something shocking.

[Colovion]

RTW should not beat out HL2. Apart from a few minor glitches the game is thoroughly polished and very groundbreaking in that genre. I've halted my play on RTW because of the massive amounts of problems with it and in need of an urgent, yet to be released, uber-patch. Sure sure, I played through 3.5 campaigns and I had fun doing that - but it didn't overwhelm me with perfection like HL2 did - it frustrated me into buying other games.

Perhaps once the MP issues and other bugs and grouping flaws are fixed to me the game is way to frusterating to put much effort into just trying to control my troops with ease.

here's hoping...

[Jace11]

Can't wiat for PC Pro Evo 4. Already played a fully patched version on PS2 and it was really improved over version 3. RTW needs a another patch to bring it up to Game of the Year standard imho. Brothers in Arms and Silent Hunter 3 look good for new year..

[Bhruic]

Are you kidding? HL2 is one of the crappiest FPS to come out this year. Good graphics and nice physics, sure. But an idiotic storyline, and none of what made HL1 so good. RTW, even with the bugs and poor AI should kick its butt. On the other hand, Far Cry should beat RTW. But, then, it's always hard to compare games among different genres.

Bh

[Colovion]

Are you kidding? HL2 is one of the crappiest FPS to come out this year. Good graphics and nice physics, sure. But an idiotic storyline, and none of what made HL1 so good. RTW, even with the bugs and poor AI should kick its butt. On the other hand, Far Cry should beat RTW. But, then, it's always hard to compare games among different genres.

Bh

I never played HL1 so I went into that game with no bias or anything.

Totally.Fresh.

I loved it (still am) to death.

Far Cry was kind of boring, but looked really nice.

Either way, both of those games have MP that far outstrips the current RTW MP.

I went into RTW with bias and didn't really like it because of my expectations. HL2 blew me away.

I guess it depends on what you expect - when you don't know what to expect the game is that much better.

[GodsPetMonkey]

Are you kidding? HL2 is one of the crappiest FPS to come out this year. Good graphics and nice physics, sure. But an idiotic storyline, and none of what made HL1 so good. RTW, even with the bugs and poor AI should kick its butt. On the other hand, Far Cry should beat RTW. But, then, it's always hard to compare games among different genres.

Bh

What made HL1 so great was not just the story, but how it was told.
Nothing happened with out an explanation. Things didn't just happen cause that’s the way it is, even the interesting weapons had expositions when you got them, like the scientists playing with the Tau Cannon, or the crossbow's being used for the nasty fish.

They seemed to have lost this for many of the things in HL2, like the Antlions, suddenly they just happen to appear, no explanation, apart from it being their breeding season. At least in HL1 we knew how the Xen aliens got to earth.
HL2 also missed many of the elements which made it seem more real, like the personalised graffiti or the radio broadcasts from the marines, although something similar does happen, it seems like a weak attempt to repeat it.
The cliché plot devices don’t help either, but I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't played it yet, so I won’t go into detail.

Many of the 'super' features were a little flat too, the graphics were nice, but didn't make me look in awe (as opposed to say, Far Cry, but if HL2 was out a year ago, it would be a different story). I found the geometry design particularly cheap, you'd be hard pressed to find a round object that didn’t look like an octagon, and the environments were very square. Models were brilliant though!
The 'brilliant' physics were also like the 'brilliant' graphics, a case of its been done before, I have enjoyed being able to pick up objects and throw them at people since Thief 1, but their 'heavily modified' modified Havoc engine acted surprisingly similar to Havoc implementations in many other games, only you could pick up really big items with the gravity gun..... well, maybe not that big, but I did enjoy using it to launch various objects at enemies, fear the barrel of death!
The AI was shocking (not that RTWs is any better) particularly when you get a squad of team mates, there’s nothing impressive about an AI which makes a friendly stand in front of a hostile Stryder and attempt to take it down with a plain old SMG. Every time I encounted one of the Biomechanical enemies, they would get wiped out by refusing to take cover, so much for an AI which 'reacts to its surroundings and intelligently uses the battle field'.

I did enjoy it though, some very good moments, and the gravity gun is the coolest weapon I have seen for some time, even if there is a sad lack of ways to use it after Ravenholm. It wasn't worth the hype it got though, you think I would learn after things like Deus Ex 2 (A perfect guide on how to screw up a sequel).


In a more on topic note, I don’t think RTW deserved #2, but I can understand The Sims2 getting #1 (just ask my sister). But its all in the eye of the beholder, perhaps the people who compiled the list were looking at long time enjoyment over short term thrills, something that games like RTW and The Sims has and many FPS sorely lack.