HF Retro Game of the Year - 1999 - Age of Empires II Wins!

Game of the year back in 1999?


  • Total voters
    95
  • Poll closed .

Osprey

Registered User
Feb 18, 2005
27,090
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I've been waiting since at least the 2005 poll to vote for System Shock 2 for 1999. I'm a little sad that it has only 3 votes and might lose to an arcade game. SS2 helped revolutionize FPSes. It integrated many RPG elements (classes, stats, skills, implants) seamlessly with shooter mechanics, had a strong narrative with a twist ending, allowed for multiple ways to solve situations (ex. bypass security or use firepower) and included hacking minigames. Today, that's the template for a lot of shooters and even many games that aren't exactly shooters have some of those features. You may have never played SS2, but chances are that you've played quite a few games that were inspired by it or borrowed ideas without realizing it. Unlike a lot of other 19-year-old games, it's relatively easy to go back and play it today, because so much of it is still familiar to modern gamers. The graphics are dated, but, other than that, it plays largely like a modern game.

Has anyone on here even played Planescape?

I played it for the first time just last month and really enjoyed it. It's easily 1999's RPG of the Year, though I, personally, would put a few games (SS2 and RCT) ahead of it for Game of the Year.
 

Warden of the North

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Apr 28, 2006
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I didnt spend significant time with any of these (I was probably solidly entrenched in Starcraft at the time).

Voted AoE2.

Aside, I never understood the love of skateboarding games.
 

SniperHF

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I'm a little sad that it has only 3 votes

It's a year with a lot of landmark games in various generes.

The System Shock 2 type of gameplay (which to a pretty significant degree was also present in Thief) influenced a lot games but was never really all that popular by itself. Look at something like Prey which recently came out and more or less flopped. DX MD kinda flopped as well.
 

Osprey

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Feb 18, 2005
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It's a year with a lot of landmark games in various generes.

It's also a strange year in that most of the options are PC games. I imagine that more would've voted for SS2 if another game hadn't also been on the list. I know that I would've voted for RCT if SS2 hadn't been an option.

The System Shock 2 type of gameplay (which to a pretty significant degree was also present in Thief) influenced a lot games but was never really all that popular by itself. Look at something like Prey which recently came out and more or less flopped. DX MD kinda flopped as well.

Well, the BioShock series was very popular. I think that Prey sort of flopped because it was a new IP and wasn't marketed much, and Mankind Divided had enough hype to be popular and was disappointing because it was too short. I can't deny your point about SS2 influencing more games than actually tried to copy it, though.
 

Surrounded By Ahos

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May 24, 2008
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If X-Wing Alliance made the list I would have voted for that.

As is I voted for Roller Coaster Tycoon. Yesterday I probably would have voted for Age of Empires II. Tomorrow I might have voted for Super Smash Bros. What a fantastic year for video games.
 

SniperHF

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Well, the BioShock series was very popular.

They are, but I think their main appeal has very little to do with the games' SystemShock 2 like qualities gameplay wise. It's more the big production values and storytelling. The Bioshock games lack for almost all the systemic elements that characterize SS2, DX, Thief, and even the more modern takes like DXHR, Dishonored, and Prey and such. They are also substantially more linear. Especially Infinite which drops these elements completely. Though supposedly the DLCs are better in this area, I haven't played them.

When I say MD bombed I mean sales wise. Expectations were WAY higher than what came in. They thought because of DXHR's long tail that it was the next big franchise waiting in the wings.
 

Mount Suribachi

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Nov 15, 2013
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Has anyone on here even played Planescape?

Yep, and it's one of my all time favourites. As WarriorOfGhandi says, the learning curve is mad steep. I came to PST as a veteran of Baldur's Gate, so I was familiar with both AD+D rules and the Infinity engine. The problem is that PST puts such a twist on it, that its unrecognisable as D&D. The first time I played it, I gave up after a few hours as I just couldn't get into it.

About a year later I went back and tried it again, and I'm so glad I did. PST is unique, being so dialog heavy and story driven with so little combat (I believe it was possible to finish the game with only one fight).

As I have said on here before, what made PST so great was the way it made you care about the characters like no other game I have played. You feel about these characters the way a Game of Thrones book fan feels about Ned Stark or Roose Bolton. Your character, The Nameless One has done some truly evil things in his many lives, not just the usual panto villain fare. Early on you encounter a mad pyromancer who has burnt down an orphanage with all the children inside - later you learn that the pyromancer was a student of yours as a young man. Every time he got a question wrong, you would thrust his hand into the fire as a punishment. Your loyal sworn sword? It turns out that in a previous life you destroyed his planet and genocided his people.

It is a brilliantly written, unique game.
 

Mount Suribachi

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Nov 15, 2013
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I've been waiting since at least the 2005 poll to vote for System Shock 2 for 1999. .

Well, I didn't get more than 30 minutes in, before I exited the game in abject terror, unistalled it, and put the disk in my drawer never to play again. By **far** the scariest game I have ever played.

But my vote for 1999 goes to Alpha Centauri - nearly 20 years later and still my favourite Civ game.

There was so much that was great about that game that its hard to know where to begin. The diplomacy, the unit designer, the secret projects (wonders), the secret project videos, the social engineering options. The tech quotes, oh my goodness the tech quotes - a mix of real life and fiction, they were by turns funny, lore-building and thought provoking, and crucially delivered in character by the voice actors for the faction leaders.

I think perhaps the factions were what really made SMAC. Each of them unique, each of them a *character* in their own right, and with their own unique gameplay style. Yang spamming heavily fortified cities everywhere, Deidre roflstomping you with her mind worms, Morgan rolling and cash whilst raping the planet and driving you mad with his probe team attacks. The gameplay of SMAC was already great, the factions, combined with the backstory, took SMAC to another level and is why it is still so beloved amongst Civ vets to this day.
 
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NyQuil

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Jan 5, 2005
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Morgan rolling and cash whilst raping the planet and driving you mad with his probe team attacks.

Morgan building 4 cities and then sitting there until getting destroyed. ;)

For the record, I don't really care about the votes - gaming is so subjective and very dependent on your age at the time and the technology that you owned.

A few of mine have won, and a few have mine have had 1 or 2 votes.

Bear in mind, a lot of these years have multiple Hall of Fame quality games in them.

I'm just enjoying the nostalgic journey.
 

PepperKeenan

Registered User
Sep 22, 2012
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Sweden
Getting this for christmas was the bomb, one of my most anticipated games growing up. Loved it.

Age_of_Empires_II_-_The_Age_of_Kings_Coverart.png
 

RandV

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For the record, I don't really care about the votes - gaming is so subjective and very dependent on your age at the time and the technology that you owned.

A few of mine have won, and a few have mine have had 1 or 2 votes.

Bear in mind, a lot of these years have multiple Hall of Fame quality games in them.

I'm just enjoying the nostalgic journey.

Yes the only thing that slightly annoys me was the three iterations of GTA3 each winning a year.
 

Teemu

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Dec 3, 2002
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Getting this for christmas was the bomb, one of my most anticipated games growing up. Loved it.

Age_of_Empires_II_-_The_Age_of_Kings_Coverart.png

Yea, I still distinctly remember getting my copy as well. It was "from my grandpa"... who still had a rotary phone and a piece-of-furniture-television. Knew nothing about it until I played it, though. Won't break my heart if it wins.
 
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SniperHF

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For the record, I don't really care about the votes - gaming is so subjective and very dependent on your age at the time and the technology that you owned.

You should care, there are lots of wrong people here :sarcasm:

Yes the only thing that slightly annoys me was the three iterations of GTA3 each winning a year.

Of the 3 frontrunners for this year, AoE would be my pick and I'll switch my vote if it's close enough. Followed by Smash and then RCT.

I liked RCT but I remember liking 2 more and didn't play the first one a ton. Haven't played either in like 15 years though :laugh:

Where as I have played AoE somewhat recently and I always have a copy of UT installed.
 
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Osprey

Registered User
Feb 18, 2005
27,090
9,352
As I have said on here before, what made PST so great was the way it made you care about the characters like no other game I have played. You feel about these characters the way a Game of Thrones book fan feels about Ned Stark or Roose Bolton. Your character, The Nameless One has done some truly evil things in his many lives, not just the usual panto villain fare. Early on you encounter a mad pyromancer who has burnt down an orphanage with all the children inside - later you learn that the pyromancer was a student of yours as a young man. Every time he got a question wrong, you would thrust his hand into the fire as a punishment. Your loyal sworn sword? It turns out that in a previous life you destroyed his planet and genocided his people.

I don't remember any of that, and I played PST just last month. Of course, I skimmed or, sometimes, skipped a lot of dialogue because there was so much of it. I thought that I did a decent job of reading the important stuff, but maybe not.

Well, I didn't get more than 30 minutes in, before I exited the game in abject terror, unistalled it, and put the disk in my drawer never to play again. By **far** the scariest game I have ever played.

That's one of the things that's brilliant about SS2. It's very scary without using jump scares, hyper-fast enemies or even darkness. The vast majority of the time, the corridors are well lit and you hear the enemies long before you see them... but that's the thing: you hear them when you can't see them, and it's terrifying. It's a like a lesson on how to do horror without cheap tricks.

BTW, for anyone new to SS2 or who hasn't touched it in years, one of the original developers released a free unofficial patch a few years ago that updates the rendering engine to Direct3D 9 (making moving and looking around smoother) and lets you play in widescreen HD resolutions, with scaled UI. The version of the game that GoG sells comes with that patch already applied, but you can patch any installation by googling "SS2Tool" (a little utility that will download and install the latest NewDark patch and any prerequisites).
 
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The Macho King

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Greatest game of all time came out in 1999 and it's not even on this list.

Where is Jagged Alliance 2?
 

PK Cronin

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AOE2 and Smash are the two best there, went with AOE2 . Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was a great game as well, but just didn't have the impact the other two had. All three hold up pretty well today.
 

Osprey

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Feb 18, 2005
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I'm pretty sure the gigantic box the game came with (as well as the Conquerors expansion) are still somewhere in my parent's house.

That was a big box... and it was mostly empty. I always liked big boxes, but I remember thinking that that was a little much. It's almost like the industry decided shortly afterward that they'd gone too far, because boxes (even those from Microsoft) started getting slimmer and smaller after that, until they all became DVD cases by 2004 (and the days of having substantial printed materials disappeared :().

I know for certain that I have the box in my parents' house because I collapsed all of my game boxes down and stored them in the attic. They take up so much less room that way (one storage box instead of half a dozen) and I can un-collapse them if I ever have the space and inclination to re-display them.
 
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