what was the best PC game of 2003?

[MattH]

Originally posted by Guynemer
KOTOR
RON
GTA:VC
C3C

All outstanding, haven't finished KOTOR yet... I'm leaning in that direction over GTA:VC in the action/adventure/RPG category, with RON edging out C3C (if only because I'm less inclined to name a xp GOTY) in the strategy category. Call it a push.

Still haven't tried RON in MP... any recommendations for a newbie?

RON MP is only slightly different from single player. You might have gotten in the bad habit of adjusting to the computer AI, stringing it along to draw the game out. You've gotta slam-slam-slam much faster in MP. You don't have time to find the perfect position for that wood camp. And watch the pause key- in my first games I kept hitting it and forgetting that I was in MP.

[vee4473]

well, the games from '03 that i have bought are (that I remember off hand):

c&c gen. /zero hour x pak

C3C

Chaser

Galciv


I enjoyed them all. If I had to pick one out these, it would be galciv, simply because it was the one of few (that I know of) for the space tbs genre.

And because it seems to have pioneered a new level of support from developers. (that alone may earn it the award).


and Chaser was just all around fun (in a new , fresh and unexplainable way) in a genre that has been bloated lately. (except for that underwater sub level)



Of course, seeing as these were the only games I bought that were released in 2003, I may indeed be missing some gem games.

[Dis]

games I got in 2003.

KOTOR, NWN SOU, NWN HOTO, Civ3: conquests, - I think that's it. I may have got Planescape: torment- but that's actually a 1999 game.

While I believe Knights of the Old Republic is overrated, it was a weak year for games, so I'll have to vote for this one.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I just got Prince of Persia (released in 2003). WHAT a game! Really good .

[Nostromo]

KOTOR and GTA 3: double pack on the Xbox. Freedom Force was nice too. I'm surprised someone said Victoria. I didn't read a single good review, just bad reviews. Even on the Paradox boards, there's a lot of criticism.

[Zopperoni]

Madden NFL 2004

The only game I bought in 2003.

[okblacke]

See, the beauty of GameRankings.com is that you don't actually have to form your own opinion. This is their top 20 for 2003, filtered by games with at least five articles from the major game review sources:

1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City PC Rockstar Games 48 8.7 94.5% 94.8%
2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic PC LucasArts 35 8.8 93.5% 93.7%
3. Call of Duty PC Activision 59 8.8 90.7% 91.7%
4. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time PC Ubisoft 20 8.7 90.6% 90.5%
5. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell PC Ubisoft 43 8.5 90.1% 90.2%
6. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne PC Blizzard Entertainment 47 8.6 89.3% 89.3%
7. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 PC EA Sports 13 7.2 86.8% 88.8%
8. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne PC Rockstar Games 69 8.6 88.0% 88.8%
9. Rise of Nations PC Microsoft 59 8.2 88.7% 88.8%
10. Madden NFL 2004 PC EA Sports 15 7.8 89.4% 88.6%
11. NASCAR Racing 2003 Season PC Sierra Entertainment 21 7.3 87.7% 88.5%
12. Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory PC Activision 11 8.1 87.3% 87.1%
13. Out of the Park Baseball 5 PC .400 Software Studios 7 5.4 89.2% 86.9%
14. Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight PC Microsoft 28 7.3 86.9% 86.8%
15. EverQuest: Evolution PC Sony Online Entertainment 5 6.5 83.3% 86.6%
16. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 PC Aspyr 10 7.3 86.5% 86.6%
17. Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin PC Battlefront.com 20 6.7 86.0% 86.4%
18. Final Fantasy XI PC Square Enix 27 7.7 86.3% 86.1%
19. Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark PC Atari 20 7.2 86.5% 85.9%
20. IL-2 Sturmovik: The Forgotten Battles PC Ubisoft 19 7.1 85.3% 85.9%

I've played none of these. I'm definitely one of the bargain bin guys, having just now picked up GalCiv (which came in at 43), 1503 AD (#115) and Tropico: Mucho Macho Edition.

Conquests came in at #24. Bloodmoon at #44. Port Royale came in at #69. Temple of Elemental Evil at #113--probably unfairly higher than Trevor Chan's Restaurant Higher (#114). Disciples was all over the map at #69, #96 and #144. MOO3 came in at a dismal #185! Way close to the bottom (GameRankings records about 220 games released and reviewed at least five times.)

Worst game of the year? Airport Tycoon 2. Worst "big name" game would have to be "Contract J.A.C.K.", "Tomb Raider" and the RC2 "Wacky Worlds" expansion.

I do read reviews and such, not so much for the scores as for reading between the lines to see if I'll like it. I'm going to like "Restaurant Empire" more than "Unreal II", even if the latter is a "better game".

What was striking this year (to me) was the huge disparity between the reviews. For example, CGW gave a whopping 4.5 stars to "Dominions II" (and called it the deepest, most amazing strategy game ever, or something) but it averages out to 68%. (It's apparently "old school".)

On the other hand, CGW trashed "Homeworld 2" while IGN and GameSpot gave it high marks.

"Port Royale" scored everything from a 55% to a 93%!

There was a lot of that this year.

[Dis]

interesting. yeah I get a subscription to CGW. I like the mag for the most part. They also print some of the game rankings. com figures for recent games.

Never saw the list for the entire year though. No big surprises about the top 5.