Game of the Year
 

So... All the big sites are doing it, so why shouldn't we? This goes for any genre btw, I don't feel qualified enough to start a "Best Adventure Game" thread....

For me its a tough call... There's been a heap of good games this year! Games like Wario Ware, Max Payne 2, Zelda: Wind Waker, Soul Calibur 2, Viewtiful Joe, Tony Hawk Underground, Mario Kart: DD, Tron 2.0.... But after giving all those games (and other less noteworthy ones) a thought or two, I think my choice is clear:

Knights of the Old Republic

http://www.lucasarts.com/products/sw...screens/60.jpg

Which is the second best RPG I've ever played, and the first one I've actually FINISHED. (Planescape Torment bugged out on me the two times I tried. :( ) Its the perfect, PERFECT blend of Star Wars, RPGing, and FUN. An involving story, interesting NPCs, great sound, beautiful graphics, and real choices. My only complaint is the length, which is ONLY 45 hours!!!!! :shifty:

But because of the aforementioned choices, I'm going to play it through again, this time being a Dark Jedi. I can't wait! :9~



So, what's YOUR Game of the Year, 2003?

I have yet to obtain KOTOR, but I'll probably get it in 2004.

I have also yet to obtain Call of Duty (coming this Christmas) but I can easily say that that will be my best game of 2003 :D


Other than that, I've just been mulling over old games this past year (WarCraft III, Red Alert 2, Indy Fate of Atlantis, etc.)

I'd go with either Armed & Dangerous or Broken Sword 3 (despite its flaws). Silent Hill 3 was good too.

I've yet to try Deus Ex 2, Prince of Persia and Beyond Good & Evil which all look good, but I'm guessing they'd compete for the title if I had.

I think I have only played three games that have come out this year, BG&E, KotOR, and BS3. Of those three KotOR was probably the best, though the other two were very fun as well.

Hmm, I think SW:KotOR could be the best but I haven't had the chance to buy and play it this year, same goes to Deus Ex 2.

So my choice for the game of the year is Max Payne 2

I too would say Knights of the Old Republic was the best game this year. The game was simply brilliant, and in addition, there was significant replay value in it (which is hard to find these days in games), and the storyline was as gripping as it was entertaining! It was a fantastic rpg and has been sooooooo long overdue from Lucasarts. I'm so glad they finally bit the bullet and deviated away from YET ANOTHER star sim based around their most succesful trilogy. I believe it was also one of the best selling Star Wars games of all time, which should hopefully show Lucasarts where the real money lies! Needless to say, I cannot wait for the sequel! I'll even go on record to say that after playing KOTOR, I feel the genre of roleplaying fits the Star Wars franchise like a glove!!

However, I've yet to play Max Payne 2 (though I hear it is terribly short), I also hear XIII was a significant letdown, but that Beyond Good and Evil is supposed to be brilliant and Prince of Persia, which is supposed to be one of the grandest evolutions in the platform gaming genre since Mario 64!

I'm not including Deus Ex 2, seeing as how it doesn't come out in the UK until next year (hopefully bug free), but from what I've heard so far of it, I've a feeling I'm going to be very disappointed by the game! It was practically a cert to become game of the year 2003, being the sequel to one of the most succesful multi genred games of all time but somehow managed to squander it away!

(BTW - on a side note, if you've all yet to try Anachronox, try it!!! It's basically a third person rpg, set in a deus ex esque world. I'm a couple of hours in, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it already. That game is definately an underdog!!)

[B][SIZE=7][COLOR=DarkOrange]URU

No doupt about it.
One of the best adventure games ever created.
Comparable only with Riven...

*D

I should also note that for a close (and a VERY CLOSE) second, it would have to go to The Legend of Zelda - The Wind Waker!

That and Knights kept me glued to the screen until the bitter end!

I guess Star Wars got my vote in the end however, simply because I enjoyed the variety and the choice that it offered me over Zelda.

However, Zelda is quite frankly, one of the most beautiful and entertaining games I've played in a long, long time. It's worth buying a Gamecube just for that title alone!

I'd have to say Zelda: The Wind Waker was probably the best overal, but I did have a lot of fun with True Crime, which doesn't have the same kind of polish Zelda had, yet made it up with addictive gameplay.

Oh, I forgot about Anaxhronox, which I also completed. (Not a 2003 game though) My third favourite RPG.Imagine Anacronox with KOTORs interface and graphics.... :eek:

As for Wind Waker, I love love love the game, but I chose KOTOR above it for the same reasons you did. (And I don't consider games like that RPGS...)

The Best Game of the year is...
 

three games actually: TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL, TRON 2.0, and NO ONE LIVES FOREVER 2!. These are the best games I've played this year. I can't put a adventure game on the list because I haven't played any new adventure games yet. Hopefully that will change on Christmas Day.

Was Mafia from last year?

I can't really say which one I like the best, but these three were equally good IMHO:

GTA Vice City
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Beyond Good and Evil

With Max Payne 2 as runner up.

Mafia (and NOLF2) were from 2002. I played both this year, and They're both two of my most favourite games, but I wanted to be stupidly pedantic about this. :D

I haven't played many new games this year, not many games at all when I come to think of it. I guess the only game from this year I've played is Max Payne 2, so I would have to say that MP2 is the game of the year then.
I will play BS3 soon though, but I'm not sure if it's good enough to be able to be called game of the year.

And you're right Garyos, Mafia is a great game (and NOLF2 probably also, haven't played it yet though).

This multiplayer only, class based WWII FPS has me playing till deep in the night. You might say I'm a bit addicted to the game...

The gameplay is loads of fun, and it doesn't rely on aiming skills alone. It requires you to think a bit. 'Do I blow up that wall or will I try to sneak tru that well over there?' that is what Enemy Territory is about.

Oh and the best thing about this game? It's Free! :)


get it here

Hmmm... Zelda: Wind Waker gets my vote :D
I haven't enjoyed a game like that in a long time.... :P

http://www.microsoft.com/games/freel..._ss_ss_001.jpg

Freelancer
Digital Anvil
Microsoft
2003

Dream Forever.

For me, can't be kotor as you cant use the directional keys - therefore discriminating people like me who struggle to use WASD

I'd have to go for Max Payne 2 (PC) or Viewtiful Joe (GC) or Zelda (GC) or .. OK will stop there

I am also about four hours into it right now, and I think it's one of the finest games I've played in years. The story is really, really interesting, and I just think the world they've created is phenomenal. The combat is in-depth enough to make you feel like you're actually playing an RPG, but it's not so built on arcane statistics and formulas and tactics that it slows down the story. It's a game I really look forward to booting up every time I get a chance to play it, and certainly a good deal more pure fun than Broken Sword 3 (which I finished immediately before starting Anachronox). Another one of those games that you buy for $15 on a whim, sits next to the computer desk for more than a year, and then makes you say "I can't believe I waited a year to play this!"

- Evan

That's exactly my story with Anachronox! IMHO it's ION Storm's best game so far, better than Deus Ex.

I'm pretty sure you could reconfigure the controls... And you could control everything by mouse anyway....

I enjoyed Mario Kart, Viewtiful Joe, F-Zero GX and Broken Sword 3 a lot, but Wind Waker wins. It's prize can be some kind of golden wristwatch, that has an extra dial to tell you what year it is, and the watch is frozen at 2003 and the dials can't be moved around my mischevious types who would be all "Wind Waker won the 1982 award at 6:27am?"

I bought my brother KotOR for christmas, so I'll have to steal that from him when he's finished. I would have bought Prince of Persia too, but the European release for the Gamecube (or the X-box) isn't until the end of January.

I'm glad I'm not alone on the Anachronox front, I can see a lot of potential in this game as I am slowly making my way through it. I'm going to finish it over these next two weeks I have away from work I think (as well as continuing my manuscript), especially since I'm getting no games this Christmas and am waiting for the January sales.

It's just a shame the game didn't sell very well, as it is a fine accomplishment by a very talented group of developers. The World of Anachronox is very immersive, and reminds me of a cross between Deus Ex and Blade Runner. There is a lot to take in as well, so you're still learning things about the game as you go along, which has got to be a plus!

Highly recomended to all who have yet to purchase it. I got hold of my copy from Gameplay in a 2 for £12 deal I think it was (along with the Black and White expansion pack I hadn't bought).

FREELANCER!, it got only all good rating by mags like APC, blah blah blah..does any one know if theres gonna be a FREELANCER 2 or somfin????

DAmmit posted this a few weeks too late!

I didn't play enough games to label one the best. Like, I haven't played KOTOR yet or, most games. I did really enjoy PoP, BG&E, and SSX3 a lot, a ton actually.

Its nice how many good games came out this year.

I love how this is an adventure game forum, and of all the people who have posted in this thread, only two have mentioned an adventure game as possibly being their top game of the year. Don't get me wrong, none of my favorite games of the year were adventures either, with the possible exception of BS3. Poor, poor genre...

Anyway, Beyond Good and Evil probably takes the cake for me. What a beautiful and well-crafted game. I give major, major congrats to the developers for this game. The dedication and love that went into BG&E is almost tangible. If you haven't played this game, do so. It's dirt cheap (my friend got it brand new in the shop for $9.99) and as far as I know it's available on PC and all three major consoles.
Prince of Persia is definitely up there for me, though it's worth saying that I'm only 70% through the game according to its progress meter. It's not a very difficult game, and it sort of does everything for you, but I appreciate its execution and style very, very much.
I'd like to add Tony Hawk's Underground as well, but it's hard for me to do that. I mean, it was, to me, one of the best games released this year, but it really wasn't that much different than Tony 4, so its strengths are more just that it's a Tony game rather than that Underground really, ah, broke new ground (aha).
This may sound silly, but Bomberman Generations was one of my tops. I wouldn't call it one of the most brilliant games of the year in terms of craftsmanship (like THUG, most of its strengths are inherent to the series) but I'll be damned if it wasn't a hell of a lot of fun, and a great party game.
I've only played a 20-minute demo of Zelda: Windwaker (the demo came with the excellent Zelda disc that came with my Gamecube) and so I can't judge anything but its visuals, but holy crap are those visuals beautiful. I'd probably put that game at the top of my graphics list this year, if I had a graphics list.
And finally, Broken Sword 3 gets a place in this list for giving me a nice warm adventury feeling that I haven't gotten from a new adventure game in years.

I can't pick a game of the year. Yes, I suck.

For me it was Beyond Good and Evil - I just had SO much fun playing it. I just started KOTOR over the weekend and that would have to be the best RPG of the year - I am already hooked and wish I had more time to play.

I played Anachronox last summer and it's one of my favourites. Really funny too. In what other game

Spoiler:

do you get to play as a planet?

I'd say Gothic 2. Haven't finished it yet, but so far it's really good. I think at least the English version was released in 2003? The German one was probably from 2002?