HF Retro Game of the Year - 1998 - Ocarina of Time

[crowi]

I would definitely vote for Curse of Monkey Island. The first 3 games of that series are some of my all time favorites.

Curse of Monkey Island was only just recently released as a digital version. Before it was almost impossible to get without piracy. So anyone who loved the first two, but were unable to get it, should check out Steam or GOG. It's not a remastered version (doesn't need to be either).

I highly recommend trying that game, if adventure games are something you like spending time with. Adventure games are a bit of niche genre, so I could see it not having that many fans over here.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Turok was a really fun game. It'd be a stretch to call it a good game. Hell, it'd be a stretch to call it a competent game. But if you're like me, there's ample joy to be had in killing dinosaurs with a shotgun.

I'm going off on a bit of a tangent, but did anyone play the PC series Carnivores from the early 2000s? It was like an open world dinosaur hunting game, but a lot of the time you felt like you were the one being hunted. It was a lot of fun, your post just reminded me of it.

 

[Osprey]

Turok was a really fun game. It'd be a stretch to call it a good game. Hell, it'd be a stretch to call it a competent game. But if you're like me, there's ample joy to be had in killing dinosaurs with a shotgun.

There was another "kill dinosaurs with shotguns" game that came out the same year (1998), called Jurassic Park: Trespasser (or Trespasser, for short), that was a lot better, IMO. It was quite ahead of its time because it was more like today's first-person survival games than the shooters at the time and had some stealth and physics puzzles. It really captured the feeling of being in the movie, trapped in a malfunctioning dinosaur park. It was a terrifying game because the dinosaurs (especially the big ones) were sparse enough that you could be lulled into a feeling of not being in danger while you were completing your objectives (like turning on power), but were tough to take down, so you really dreaded encountering them. Most people probably have never heard of it, though, because it was exclusively for Windows and never got a sequel, so Turok is the only dinosaur hunter game that they know. It's too bad because Trespasser was a much better game and more worthy of legacy, IMO, yet has been almost entirely forgotten.

I'm going off on a bit of a tangent, but did anyone play the PC series Carnivores from the early 2000s? It was like an open world dinosaur hunting game, but a lot of the time you felt like you were the one being hunted. It was a lot of fun, your post just reminded me of it.

I forgot about the Carnivores series, probably because I never played it. The way that you describe it, though, makes it sound like it was trying to be a spiritual sequel to Trespasser (which would make sense, since getting the Jurassic Park license wouldn't have come cheap). Trespasser definitely made you feel like the hunted, not the hunter.

 

[Osprey]

Easily my favorite star wars video game ever. I still play it relatively regularly.

Dark Forces (its predecessor) would be my favorite Star Wars game, but Jedi Knight is easily my second favorite.

I would definitely vote for Curse of Monkey Island. The first 3 games of that series are some of my all time favorites.

Whenever I order hot chicken, I think of El Pollo Diablo.

 

[RandV]

I forgot about the Carnivores series, probably because I never played it. The way that you describe it, though, makes it sound like it was trying to be a spiritual sequel to Trespasser (which would make sense, since getting the Jurassic Park license wouldn't have come cheap). Trespasser definitely made you feel like the hunted, not the hunter.

I never played it but if it's what I'm thinking of I think the game was plagued with a lot of bugs, or at least at launch.

 

[Osprey]

I never played it but if it's what I'm thinking of I think the game was plagued with a lot of bugs, or at least at launch.

If you mean Trespasser, yes, it was a game riddled with bugs and performance problems. It was the first game with a true physics engine that I'd seen and that and its design really pushed the CPUs and video cards of the day, so the issues weren't entirely unexpected or inexcusable. If you endured them until patches and better video drivers were released, though, it turned into a pretty good game. That was too late for most professional reviews, though, and, back then, sales were still highly dependent on them, so lukewarm reviews could've definitely been a big reason why it wasn't more successful, if that's what you were getting at.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Let's just get '97 out of that way so that we can move on

 

[NyQuil]

Dark Forces (its predecessor) would be my favorite Star Wars game, but Jedi Knight is easily my second favorite.

The plot and visuals of Dark Forces were top notch. Plus - no Jedi powers which was kind of innovative.

They went to 3D for Jedi Knight and the blockiness of it due to the technology being new was a bit disappointing. I enjoyed beating it but in some ways I felt that Dark Forces was better.

However, they got a handle on it for Jedi Knight II : Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy which offer the best control system and light sabre battles for any game on any platform IMO.

 

[Osprey]

The plot and visuals of Dark Forces were top notch. Plus - no Jedi powers which was kind of innovative.

They went to 3D for Jedi Knight and the blockiness of it due to the technology being new was a bit disappointing. I enjoyed beating it but in some ways I felt that Dark Forces was better.

However, they got a handle on it for Jedi Knight II : Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy which offer the best control system and light sabre battles for any game on any platform IMO.

Yes, what I love about Dark Forces is that its plot and visuals evoked Star Wars to me more than anything outside of the original trilogy, itself. It's similarly why I like Rogue One the most out of the films since the original trilogy. Perhaps not entirely coincidentally, they both revolve around the acquisition of the Death Star plans. That's another thing that I loved about Dark Forces: it felt like I was actually helping the cause of the movies.

As much as I've enjoyed Jedi Knight, nonetheless, I've always been disappointed that it feels so different from Dark Forces and even from Star Wars. Too many of the levels are in sewers, cargo holds and the like, and there are hardly any in locations that resemble any of the movies. I guess that they copied the look of the movies in Dark Forces and wanted to change it up and go with the "expanded universe" trend that was popular in the 90s. That's fine to a degree, but they went too far and didn't have enough that was familiar to balance out the new locations, IMO. As you said, though, the next two games (especially JK2) dialed it a back a little by including locations that looked a little more familiar.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Damn Syphony of the Night was 1997 as well?!?

Dear Lord, this might be harder than 98!!

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Let's just get a poll going

 

[The Macho King]

Dark Forces (its predecessor) would be my favorite Star Wars game, but Jedi Knight is easily my second favorite.



Whenever I order hot chicken, I think of El Pollo Diablo.

Star Wars: Rebellion.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Star Wars: Rebellion.

TIE Fighter!

 

[NyQuil]

Star Wars: Rebellion.

I still play Rebellion from time to time.

It wasn't user friendly, but once you got the hang of it, it was a lot of fun.

I don't use the tactical mode anymore, too clunky.

Han Solo was OP though.

 

[NyQuil]

TIE Fighter!

I loved Tie Fighter.

Do you stick around in the mission to try and hit the secondary and tertiary targets? What does the Emperor's representative want you to do?

The campaign was a joy, the missions made sense in a logical progression kind of way and the music/sounds and control were awesome.

 

[Osprey]

Star Wars: Rebellion.

Rebellion was good, but it was such a Master of Orion II clone. Then again, Dark Forces was a DOOM clone, but it did add several innovative features, like multiple floors, an actual story, jumping and looking up and down. It's been so long that I don't remember Rebellion's features, though my memory is that it was mostly MOO2 in the Star Wars universe, but not quite as good.

 

[The Macho King]

Rebellion was good, but it was such a Master of Orion II clone. Then again, Dark Forces was a DOOM clone, but it did add several innovative features, like multiple floors, jumping and looking up and down. It's been so long that I don't remember Rebellion's features, though my memory is that it was mostly MOO2 in the Star Wars universe, but not quite as polished.

How is that a bad thing. We haven't had a decent MOO2 clone/like game since... well, Rebellion. 4x games are stuck in a f***ing neverending loop of mediocrity.

Anyway - I haven't played it in probably 15 years, so I don't exactly recall myself. The tactical combat portion was shit if I remember correctly.

 

[NyQuil]

Rebellion was good, but it was such a Master of Orion II clone. Then again, Dark Forces was a DOOM clone, but it did add several innovative features, like multiple floors, jumping and looking up and down. It's been so long that I don't remember Rebellion's features, though my memory is that it was mostly MOO2 in the Star Wars universe, but not quite as polished.

It was sort of like MOO2 but different enough. To call it a clone I think is to miss a lot of the subtleties of the game.

There was a greater emphasis on Espionage / Sabotage / Abduction / Assassination / Diplomacy and other missions because they were cheaper and easier than military operations. You could take over an entire sector through revolts and targeted sabotage missions.

It was closer to a war simulator IMO than MOO2 in that there were always 2 opponents, who were always at war, and the map was always the same. It was Axis and Allies in space. Playing MP was kind of like playing chess.

Although I've beat opponents as the Imperials, it's easier to do as the Rebels. The Rebel base can be moved but Coruscant can't. And to gain the +100 leadership bonus for all of the Empire characters, you have to keep the Emperor on it, losing you a diplomat for the entire game and putting two of your three victory conditions in the same place.

With the Empire, you pretty much have to squash as much of the Rebel infrastructure as possible early, or they will inevitably catch up and pass you with their diplomatic abilities and Han's ability to take anyone with him at twice the speed of the fastest ship in the game. You just pile up 10-12 characters with Han and you can send them halfway across the galaxy to cause trouble in a different sector. Or park a ship around a neutral planet and launch missions from there.

It lacked a lot of the 4E features that games like MOO/MOO2/MOO3, Galactic Civilizations I and II, Master of Magic, Civilization featured, such as multiple races, random maps, exploration (limited to the Outer Rim in Rebellion), colonization and expansion.

At this age I actually prefer Rebellion to MOO2, even though I still play them both.

 

[Osprey]

How is that a bad thing. We haven't had a decent MOO2 clone/like game since... well, Rebellion. 4x games are stuck in a ****ing neverending loop of mediocrity.

It's not a bad thing. I was just explaining why I think that Dark Forces was the better game, because it was superior (as a single player game) to what it was cloning, while Rebellion (though still a good game) wasn't, IMHO. It's been 15 years since I played it, too, though, so it's possible that I'm not giving it enough credit, but that's my memory. You're right, though, that it was a lot closer to MOO2 than most other games that have tried to be.

It was sort of like MOO2 but different enough. To call it a clone I think is to miss a lot of the subtleties of the game.

There was a greater emphasis on Espionage / Sabotage / Abduction / Assassination / Diplomacy and other missions because they were cheaper and easier than military operations. You could take over an entire sector through revolts and targeted sabotage missions.

It was closer to a war simulator IMO than MOO2 in that there were always 2 opponents, who were always at war, and the map was always the same. It was Axis and Allies in space. Playing MP was kind of like playing chess.

Changing things just enough so that it's familiar, but subtly different, is what every good clone does. A bad clone shamelessly copies without trying to be different or innovative. Rebellion is still a clone, IMO, just one of the good ones.