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Best Games of 2003

Here it is, the moment all three of you have been waiting for, the best games of 2003.

I’m not going to give any specific category awards, there are multiple games in a few categories that deserve mention, while other categories are notably lacking. I do have a pick for best overall though.

SimCity 4 / Sim City: Rush Hour
I’ve never been a huge fan of the Sims. It’s just not a kind of gameplay that really appeals to me, but SimCity was one of the first games I ever played, and I was hooked from the start. The Rush Hour traffic managment add-on makes SimCity 4 the best sandbox game ever. Powergamers can build multi-city regions, with millions of residents in urban centers, tiny agricultural communities to feed all those people, and all kinds of transportation to get people and freight from town to town. The first time I had a minor natural disaster (think Vesuvius) and my residents listed “Lava” as one of the negatives to living in my town, I was hooked.

Midnight Club II
Mad props to Rockstar for combining the mission-based gameplay of the GTA series with an excellent street racer. Unlike GTA, Midnight Club II automatically adjusts its own difficulty, so you’ll never enounter a race that takes you fifteen tries to finish successfully. With giant-sized maps set in Los Angeles, Paris, and Toyko, you’ll have plenty to explore, and loads of vehicles to unlock and try. We especially dug the motorcycles, which are perfectly balanced for multiplayer duels versus other cycles or cars.

Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Wind Waker represents everything that’s great about the Zelda series. Explore a massive world, meet and defeat a wide variety of enemies, and finish a load of mini-quests. The Wind Waker takes advantage of cel-shading and the third person perspectvie to make the characters more expressive. You can tell not only what a character is feeling from his facial expression, but also where he’s looking. The overall effect is superb. Also, the reward for finishing the first major quest is incredible, and unlike anything I’ve seen in a game, ever.

SSX3
Start with a giant mountain. Add a snowboarding game that starts you out on the bunny slopes, but eventually takes you to the double black diamond backcountry peaks at the summit. The more you play, the more of the mountain you unlock, culminating in a massive 30 minute ride down the mountain. Two strong gametypes, racing and freestyle, let you play the game any way you want.

Deus Ex: Invisible War
Combine a solid first person shooter with an action RPG and place the entire game in a dynamic world where your actions change everything. Complete the many missions any way you want, with stealth, gunpower, or trickery - or, don’t complete them at all. It’s up to you.

Knights of the Old Republic
Like Deus Ex: Invisible War, Knights of the Old Republic puts the player in a world where his actions can completely change the outcome of the game. During the game you’re presented with frequent ethical challenges, do you protect the old man who is being mugged, or mug him yourself? Do you Encourage your companion to stay away from the Dark side of the Force, or push her toward it faster? You’re given a wide variety of weapons, force powers, and basic RPG skills to use on your quest to save the galaxy. The thing that impressed me most of all is that Bioware created the most compelling story we’ve experienced in a Star Wars product since we first saw The Empire Strikes Back.

Call of Duty
There have been dozens of WW2 themed first person shooters in the last two years, but this one really stands out. Instead of completely scripting AI behavior and paths, Call of Duty spawns German soldiers in certain places, then lets them choose the paths to their goals based on outside stimuli. If you play a level differently, the enemies will come at you from a different direction. Combine awesome AI with some of the best first person shooter set pieces, and you have the equivalent of a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster that’s a blast to play.

Planetside
This one’s easy. Imagine 300 person battles on foot, in armored vehicles, and in the air. Add support vehicles, like troop transports, artillery, bombers, AA buggies, and mobile vehicle repair/rearm stations. In Planetside, three factions battle endlessly for control of Auraxis. Each faction has a few unique infantry weapons and vehicles, all balanced well against each other. Constant battles for territory, and access to new technology, give players something worth fighting for. Despite it’s status as a massively multiplayer game, Planetside doesn’t require much of a time commitment, or extended gaming sessions. It’s easy (and fun) to play for 30 or 40 minutes, but two or three hours will let you experience a continent-wide campaign. There’s no other game out there that implements a real war as well as Planetside.

Max Payne 2
Max Payne 2 is a strong dose of mindless fun. Despite it’s many flaws, Max remains fun. I think this is mainly due to its over the top run and gun gameplay. We would have liked to see an option to crank up the difficulty level from the get-go, instead you had to finish the game before you could play it on a higher difficulty level, but it’s still quite entertaining, and the Dead Man Walking bonus mode, where you’re presented with an infinite string of bad guys, with no greater goal than to survive as long as you can.

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
Its fast, fun, easy single player game isn’t enough to get Crimson Skies on this list, but the multiplayer on Xbox Live is. Arial deathmatch on varied and challenging maps with up to 16 people means that I’m still playing Crimson Skies months after I finished the single player campaign.

Links 2004
This is another game that’s improved by Xbox Live support. Gina’s been playing Links 2004 nightly since I brought it home. It’s as simple as golf gets, pick a club, aim your shot, and swing, but stick-based swing control and awesome Live support give it new legs. Customize your golfer, get new equipment, and unlock new courses in the single player game, then take your show on the road to Live opponents and see how you stand up on the XSN Sports tourney ladder.

Mario Kart: Double Dash
On the surface, Double Dash is the same as Mario Kart 64, but with improved graphics and a weird two-rider scheme. What makes the game brilliant is that in multiplayer modes, one person controls the driver, while the other is in charge of weaponry. Timely seat changes and good communication between team members can make the difference between a close race and a blowout.