CCIV: Game of the Year 2003 - Round 10

[Neon Ignition]

We're closing in on wrapping up another year in our journey through the ocean of games released across the history of the industry, another step closer to choosing the definitive greatest title of all time.

Which of the above games from 2003 are among the best of the year and why?

[Asura]

Great year for Star Wars games.

Also, one to call out - Stake: Fortune Fighters has the distinction of being the absolutely worst game I have ever played.

[fuse]

Suspect if I'd have found the time to play it that Tales of Symphonia would be my choice here, as it's meant to be one of the better entries in that series. I avoid Star Wars stuff generally but understand KOTOR is meant to be decent, too.

I played a lot of that Star Ocean game but stopped, and then a short while afterward a friend told me about the ending and it made me quite glad that I stopped when I did.

Ended up picking Sword of Mana, but even that is not exactly a glowing recommendation. Tony Hawk's Underground was a consideration too but it too clearly marked the start of a downhill trajectory for that series.

[QualityChimp]

I never played the Macross game (JP-only), but I remember it looking brilliant:

->Open Spoiler<-

The Tenchu game is the 3rd in the series and on PS2, but never played it.
Not sure why I didn't play any of the series after the original because I loved it.

->Open Spoiler<-

There are a bunch of others I should've played and I definitely owned Tron 2.0 but can't remember it at all!

However, my votes are going to Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.
Wow, what a brilliant game. It told its own story but by using loads of Star Wars assets, it just felt so authentic.
The soundtrack and SFX are all Williams stuff, so it's really engaging.

The gameplay is also brilliant, with a combination of blaster and Jedi action, and as your character progresses, you can choose which path you follow with lightning powers if you're a bad 'un.
Throwing your lightsabre and force pulling it back was deadly!

My fave was the Jedi grip, that let you choke the stormtroopers and as your power improved, you ended up able to move them, particularly good when you're on a high-up ledge...
I remember opening the command screen after completion and cranking the powers right up and just decimating the enemies on the Death Star, just flinging the stormtroopers across the room with a flick of the mouse.
I have this on Steam and have started replaying it - so good!



My other choice is Starsky and Hutch, which was a pretty unique console experience with only games like Lucky & Wild coming close, because one play was the driver and the other fired a lightgun.

I also really liked the cel-shaded style (similar to Robotech: Battlecry) and light-hearted cartoony tone, rather than ultragore.
They got the original voice of Huggy Bear, Antonio Fargas, to do the presentation.

[Neon Ignition]

Rogue Squadron III, it may have been incremental but the core remained great

And controversial choice.... Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness
Played it on PS2 and didn't experience a single bug or glitch, enjoyed it more than several of the entries before it

[egparadigm]

KotOR is awesome. Personally I don’t much enjoy RPGs, but this had me gripped. The story is really good and includes a typical Star Wars twist that works really well with feeling the connection to your character and your lightside/darkside choices.