Gamespot's Best & Worst of 2002 (1 Viewer)

[Dan B]

Click here for the feature.
Discuss.

 

[Jean-Michel]

Best RPG: Neverwinter Nights

*gag choke die*

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Nintendo seemed to take home most of the awards there, including Most Disappointing GameCube game.

I'll check out all of the list later.

 

[Derrik Draven]

Nintendo seemed to take home most of the awards there, including Most Disappointing GameCube game

You didn't really think that Microsoft would take home the most disappointing Gamecube game, did you?

 

[Jeffrey D Smith]

Metroid Prime def. deserved game of the year, glad it got it.

 

[Dave F]

I didn't play Arx Fatalis, but from the nominees listed, Neverwinter Nights is far and away the best PC RPG.
The choices for Game of the Year are disapponting though. To not even nominate Splinter Cell means that the editors should be punished severly by making them play New Legends for 3 months straight.
-Dave

 

[Dave F]

Funny to see that so many of the "worst games" are in the "action sports" category. Definitely games borne of the twisted minds of the marketing departments. You can just envision the meetings where they were brought up - "We need something that will sell in Q4. Can you make something Tommy Hawk-ish? (sic) Just put some bikes in it and we'll license some of that extreme music that the kids love so much."

I like the "best game no one played" categories. They're a great way to find games that you may have missed. Buffy (Xbox) definitely fits the bill there.

-Dave

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Derrik-

Touche, but my point was that a first-party GameCube game was awarded the same award as Platformer Game of the Year (GCN) and Most Disappointing (GCN).

 

[JoshF]

Wow. I knew Ratchet & Clank was a great game, but I'm glad to see that the press is giving it some love.

 

[Joel Mack]

The choices for Game of the Year are disapponting though. To not even nominate Splinter Cell means that the editors should be punished severly by making them play New Legends for 3 months straight.

Splinter Cell was not a PC game in 2002.

 

[Jean-Michel]

Splinter Cell was not a PC game in 2002.

He's referring to the console awards.
My major beef with the awards (other than the best RPG award for NWN) is their critique of Super Mario Sunshine"
It seems almost ludicrous that a game could score a great score of 8.0 on GameSpot's admittedly tough rating scale and still be considered a disappointment, and yet the standard that past Mario games have set is so high that anything less than a revolutionary step for the series can be considered a letdown. Consider the history of Mario: Super Mario Bros. defined what it meant to be a 2D platformer, Super Mario World expanded and redefined the 2D platformer, then Super Mario 64 made the most profound leap, flawlessly translating the 2D platformer into a 3D world.
IMO calling Super Mario World a "revolutionary step for the series" is a bit much. Really, Super Mario Bros. 3 was far more revolutionary -- the main innovation in SMW, as far as I'm concerned, was the addition of Yoshi. SMB3 introduced the overworld map, the element of flight, and the inventory system; all SMW really did was build on these, elaborating on the overworld map to include things like hidden levels and simplifying the inventory (and, of course, giving it all a nice SNES sheen). Frankly I don't see how SMW was any more "redefining" or "revolutionary" than SMS, and I think it's a bit unfair to hold a game to standards that never really existed.

 

[Jeff_Standley]

Thank god they finally said something about stuntman and its G.D. load times. Thats great.

 

[Tony-B]

I disagree with RCT2 being nominated for disappointing game of the year. I disagree with the best PS2 driving game, it should have gone to NFS:HP2. That game is a load of fun to play.

 

[Jeff_Standley]

I'll second the nomination for buffy. This was a great game that no one played. I never played it untill my friend made me, and it is really good. The fighting style in it makes it worth the money. If you have not played this game check it out. Plus its only $30 or less now.

 

[Joel Mack]

He's referring to the console awards.

I stand corrected.

 

[GlenHaag]

I still think Buffy should have won the best game from a TV series, but that's neither here nor there.

I'm very glad that they gave Metroid Prime their Console game of the year.

I just finished playing it last week and haven't played a game that good or that complete in a very long time.

[rant]
As far as PC Sports games are concerned, if anyone cares... the fact that they left off Out of the Park Baseball 4, is just plain silly. The game got an 8.4 according to their ratings and is, in my opinion, the best sports game I have played in a very, very long time. To not even have it as a nominee is just plain wrong.
[/rant]

Glen

 

[Romier S]

I didn't play Arx Fatalis, but from the nominees listed, Neverwinter Nights is far and away the best PC RPG.

That honor is deserved by the Elder Scrolls series this year Dave. Sorry.
Of course we are only talking opinions here after all but I found Neverwinter Nights core game (its single player campaign) to be slightly disappointing. I personally found even Arx Fatalis to have a more varied and interesting single player experience than Neverwinter Nights.
I can however see the reasons why Gamespot gave the top honors to Neverwinter. Its far more accessible than Morrowind or Arx Fatalis (both of which have difficult learning curves) and the Aurora Toolset is an amazing tool to give to the gaming public. Nothing wrong with the choice at all (I just don't happen to agree with it).
For me, this year was all about Morrowind (Xbox and PC versions). Its huge open ended world just kept me coming back for more and more. The included TES construction set, though much more difficult to use than Neverwinters equivalant has also spawned some nice user made mods. (Though admittedly no where near the community thats developed for Neverwinter)
EDIT: As an aside Dave and everyone interested, I highly recommend downloading the Arx Fatalis Demo when you get a chance. I fear the game has suffered from the same "sleeper" status as Gothic last year and will go unnoticed but it is an extremeley well done RPG in the vien of Wizardry and moreso Ultima Underworld. Give it a shot!

 

[JamesH]

I thought they botched the awards pretty badly.....I knew they were going to be worthless the second I saw Vice City nominated for "most artistic graphics".

I agree with Sunshine being the most dissapointing GC game, but overall, GTAVC dissapointed me more.

Kinda pathetic to see Dead to Rights get "Best Story" over Deus Ex and Suikoden 3.

Altogether, they missed out on a ton of games that deserved nominations(Enclave for best graphics anyone?), picked some great, non-dissapointing games for "most dissapointing"(Shinobi, Rygar, Steel Battalion, Gunvalkyrie), and made some odd choices for the final picks.

If it's any consolation, they were dead on with Dynasty Tactics being the "best game no-one played".

 

[Mike__D]

MechAssualt as the Xbox Game of the Year??? What kind of crack were they smoking? I haven't played that since the week after I got my LIVE kit. It didn't live up to it's hype at all, or the reviews it got on Gamespot and IGN. Not enough maps, and the existing ones are mostly boring, and not enough game modes. Then there's the crap lobby and the the bug were it drops off the last person that joined the game. I'm hoping the downloadable content can save this.
But Xbox game of the year???
Mike D.

 

[Jeff_Standley]

Splinter cell should have gotten XBOX game of the year.