summer's over

Now that summer has come to a close, I look back and wonder where the hell it went. But the answer should be pretty clear as you read on. Over the course of the past year, new games have been announced, release dates have slipped and the hype just keeps on coming. Some long-awaited sequels and new games alike will be gracing the shelves in the next few months. The Temple of Elemental Evil, BF1942: Secret Weapons of WWII, Medal of Honor: Breakthrough, Call of Duty, Halo PC, Half Life 2, Knights of the Old Republic... the list goes on. Before this new onslaught of new titles arrives on store shelves, I'd like to recap the year so far in PC games for 2003, listing some of my personal favorites (and disappointments). If you've missed any of these, now is a good chance to go get them. It will be hard to keep up with the releases for this Fall and Winter.

Hits

• Rise of Nations: By far at the top of my list for Best Game of 2003. If you've played Civilization and enjoy RTS, this game is definitely one to check out. In fact, what the fuck am I doing explaining? Go out and buy this game right now.

• Splinter Cell: I was completely impressed by this game. Although a bit difficult in parts, it provided an excellent cinematic-style adventure. The lighting engine was great and really showed off my GF4. The only real complaint I have is that it was too short. A welcome addition to the Tom Clancy lineage of games.

• Galactic Civilizations: Where the hell did this one come from? The only reason I gave it a second look was because of Tycho. It picked up the slack for disappointed MOO3 fans, I think, as the game mechanics are similar. A very well done game, even though you can only play it as one civilization. There is a free expansion available but I never got around to trying it.

• Sim City 4: The reason I tossed this one into the mix was that it provided an enourmous improvement over its predecessor. The visuals are great, and the interface is a lot cleaner. The graphics scale nicely, although it can be a bit taxing on your system. The best feature is the World Map, where you can link cities together and watch them live off of each other. A well designed and rewarding game.

• Freelancer: Diablo in space? Maybe, but a great surprise regardless. It was "in development" since 1999, and when it was finally released early this year the persistent world that was promised was not there, but the seat-of-your-pants action was definitely present. The visuals and ship-tweaking were impressive enough to make me ignore the sameness of the missions, and the story wasn't half bad, either.

• Tron 2.0: I've only started playing this one recently, but I can say with confidence that this is a standout title for 2003. Although some missions are a bit too close to the garden variety FPS switch/key hunting business, the visuals are outstanding and evoke the style of the Tron universe that was shown to us back in '82.
  

Misses

• Master of Orion 3: I don't think I'm alone on this one. After waiting almost 8 years for a sequel, we get this. I'll be completely honest and say I was bored stiff playing it. The clickfest of an interface and low-res graphics were shit, not to mention the horrid AI.

• X2: Wolverine's Revenge: Not worth discussing. It's a piece of shit with a Movie license and crappy controls. Mark Hamill was the voice of Logan/Wolverine. Need I say more?

• The Hulk: Another movie license. And Vivendi Universal wonders why it's in trouble. It probably seems unfair that I pick on these games, but when they're so obviously half-assed it's unavoidable. The quasi-cell-shaded graphics give a nice feel to the game, but the gameplay is incredibly unbalanced.

• Lionheart: This wound is still fresh. Note to Black Isle: What the fuck were you thinking? Avoid this one if you can. There will be better CRPGs this year, I can guarantee you that.
  

Some Expansions of Note

• Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Spearhead: A terrific set of missions, but way too short. I had just come off of seeing the entire Band of Brothers Miniseries for the first time and felt that this game complimented it very well. This should come as no surprise as Spielberg himself produced the games. Worth getting if you're a fan of the series and for the new Multiplayer maps.

• Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome: The thought was there, dice, and it's appreciated. But I'm going to have to call this one a miss, if only because the fan support just wasn't there. Nobody wanted to play it! In fact a lot of fans of the original game called it a blatant cash grab, since only a few new maps and vehicles were included. If you haven't played BF1942 yet, you're missing out on a lot of fun. The new maps and vehicles included in this expansion were great considering the price. Hopefully Secret Weapons will do better.
  

Oh yeah, those games...

• Rainbow Six: Raven Shield: What is with the industry's obsession with Neo-Nazis? They're like the safe bet for bad guys. After the events of the last few years everyone's all scared to offend any ethnic groups by casting terrorists realistically. Anyway, the story was lame. Nice graphics upgrade though; the Unreal Warfare engine works wonders and adds a great layer of detail. A good choice for multiplayer gaming.

• Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb: Console ports with shitty controls and save points make me want to kill. But dammit, I couldn't stop playing. It successfully captured the the feel of the movies, and the story was decent enough that it kept me interested. The frustrations ran high playing this one, but I finished it anyway. Maybe out of spite. Play at your own risk. Nothing will ever compare to The Fate of Atlantis; I don't know why I keep hoping.
  

Now some of you may be thinking, "Hey, assclown! Where the fuck is Vice City?". And you're right to react this way, since it was only one of the most anticipated games to be released for the PC this year. But as I look back, as fun as it was, the game is just a retrofit of GTA III (pun intended, suckas). I suppose if you like that sort of thing, go out and get it - this is by no means a bad game. But as I played through it got extremely tedious, while some of the missions were just downright hard. Nothing good ever came of the 80s, and we should keep it that way.

I hope this list was useful to some of you, while we sit here in the proverbial calm before the storm.