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

Game of the year back in 1999?


  • Total voters
    95
  • Poll closed .

The Nuge

Some say…
Jan 26, 2011
27,334
7,241
British Columbia
I almost guarantee most people on these forums didn't play any of the pre-3D GTAs. They weren't that well-received at the time, and it's not like people look back at them with nostalgia. GTA 1 has a Metacritic of only 78, and really the story/gameplay is quite bland.

I did. I didn’t own it, but a friend did, and we played it all the time when I was over.

My order is probably

MediEvil
GTA
OoT

And I’m sure I’m the only one who loved MediEvil so much, so I’m not offended if it doesn’t make it. I would vote GTA, but again, it won’t win, so it’s not the end of the world if I end up voting Zelda
 

MetalheadPenguinsFan

Registered User
Sep 17, 2009
63,702
16,749
Canada
GTA 2 was reasonably popular. Don't remember 1 having much impact.

Heh. I still remember most of the the missions in GTA 2. Especially the one that you do for the Russians where you have to pick up a bunch of Hare Krishna thugs, drive them to a meat processing plant (where they are killed and turned into hotdog meat), then you drive a hotdog van with the "meat" to the Hare Krishna diner.
 

NyQuil

Big F$&*in Q
Jan 5, 2005
95,348
59,259
Ottawa, ON
I think Thief and Rainbow Six deserve to make the list. I don't know if R6 was the *first* squad based tactical shooter, but its the first one I remember.

Rainbow Six was fun but a bit wonky in the execution.

Still, it was fun when things came together.

I actually preferred SWAT to Rainbow Six because the objective was to arrest and not kill the perpetrators if possible. Just a bit more tricky.
 

NyQuil

Big F$&*in Q
Jan 5, 2005
95,348
59,259
Ottawa, ON
I almost guarantee most people on these forums didn't play any of the pre-3D GTAs. They weren't that well-received at the time, and it's not like people look back at them with nostalgia. GTA 1 has a Metacritic of only 78, and really the story/gameplay is quite bland.

I think that's a bit simplistic.

They were widely played at the time, and the multiplayer component was entertaining.

It was definitely a key game in terms of the adoption of more adult humour and mature themes in gaming.

It was also fairly "open world" in that you could pretty much go wherever you wanted and do whatever you wanted without having to follow the missions.

GTA2 didn't add much in terms of the gaming experience but had more "gangs" to deal with and faction alignment levels.

I get that they may not be HoF type games, but they were definitely heavily played, led to some innovation, and If they hadn't been successful, where would Rockstar be today?
 
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Osprey

Registered User
Feb 18, 2005
27,092
9,353
I hadn't played any of the GTA games until five years ago. Since it's a principle of mine to always play or watch a series from the beginning, I started with the first one (GTA). I liked it, though I'm not sure that it deserves being on a game of the year list, especially against those other games. I didn't like GTA2 nearly as much, because it was futuristic and dark (lighting-wise), and am pretty sure that I gave up on it early. I wasn't going to push through its unforgiving nature (mainly because of the lack of mid-mission saves), like I did with GTA, and I was eager to see what all of the fuss was about with GTA3.

I think Thief and Rainbow Six deserve to make the list. I don't know if R6 was the *first* squad based tactical shooter, but its the first one I remember.

I agree. Both revolutionized shooters. Thief did it by emphasizing stealth and R6 did it by introducing strategy, instant mission failure and headshots. Add in Half-Life and shooters just weren't the same after 1998 as they were before. I'll especially be disappointed if Thief isn't on the list. As I indicated before, I'd likely vote for that.
 
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