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TheSilentGod

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My Top Ten Games of 2002

2002 is a very under-rated year for game releases, often overshadowed by the likes of 1998 and 2010. A litany of delayed games of exceptional quality released this year in Europe, as well as some groundbreaking releases on the PS2 and PC. I also got an Xbox just to play Halo based on word of mouth, and I was not disappointed.

It is also worth mentioning that I never got the Gamecube despite it releasing this year. I was 12 and had to choose between the Xbox and Gamecube for Christmas. My friends got the Xbox and were raving about Halo, and so the decision was made. The PS2 also continued to dominate my gaming time.

Here are my top games of 2002.

List items

  • Just as Timesplitters had set a new standard for multiplayer, Halo did the same for singleplayer. The N64 Turok games were still my favourite singleplayer shooters at this stage, but the scale and production values of Halo trumped them. Nuanced and satisfying firefights against genuinely intelligent enemies and dynamic combat scenarios that you could take on as you saw fit made me love this game. It was the best example of a science fiction game I had played at the time as well, and the soundtrack was just chilling. A game worth buying a console for.

  • 2002 was a phenomenal year for games, but none could beat the monumental achievement of Bethesda in the release of Morrowind. I considered myself a big RPG fan at the time, but I had never played anything quite like The Elder Scrolls before. Scorning the typical fantasy tropes of a green land with knights and an evil wizard needing destruction, Morrowing instead provided an exotic island setting with Elves who were slavers and quite shaded characters, beast races, a human empire not unlike ancient Rome and a wasting disease that threatened to consume the world if not stopped, unless the Daedra got to it first. Religious prophesy, a vast interactive world where the player could do whatever they wanted and a level of immersion that had not been matched at the time made this an unforgettable experience. Even now I wish they would remake Morrowind with the Skyrim tech, because as much as I love the land of the Nords, it is not Morrowind.

  • Up till this year the best shooter I had yet played was probably Goldeneye from all the way back in 1997. Timesplitters 2 changed that by providing the most frantic and fun multiplayer shooter experience I had ever had. Loads of maps, scores of characters and a great weapon selection all helped, but it also boasted a full story campaign with cutscenes, bosses, unusual scenarios, beautifully stylised graphics and memorable music. And it was all possible to play in co-op with difficulties that actually resulted in different mission objectives and areas that lower difficulties would never let the player see. Incredible game.

  • I had never played the previous Warcraft games, but as a rabid Starcraft fan I had to try Blizzards new fantasy release, and I was not disappointed. While it lacked the speed and involvement of Starcraft or Empire Earth, Warcraft III was the largest and most ambitions game of its type I had played. Containing 4 full campaigns (each would be their own game today) with a vast and rather beautiful storyline containing incredible cutscenes, it was an unforgettable experience. I also get huge satisfaction from playing on maps where you can slowly build up you base and resources and fight against other factions that hare very different from your own, and Warcraft III provided that masterfully.

  • The first game in the renowned FF series to feature voice acting did not disappoint. Final Fantasy X had wonderful music, possible the best graphics I had ever seen up till that point (especially the cutscenes), an involving combat system with real options in terms of how to develop your characters and party, and a story that, while told absurdly at times, had some real emotional pulls and powerful moments. This was the last game in the series that stayed to the traditional love story core and powerful world-ending villain formula, and it was also the last entry in the series that I loved.

  • Resident Evil 2 and 3 easily surpassed the first game in the series thanks to their greatly improved mechanics and design, but Capcom breathed new unlife into the first game with this astonishing remake. I only played it many years later as I never owned a Gamecube, but REmake still has visuals that put far more recent games to shame. Massively improved progression, less hamfisted dialogue and story and genuinely frightening surprises with a claustrophobic atmosphere cement this games place as a horror masterpiece. Incredible example of a single core location being the centre of a game experience.

  • Delayed releasing in Europe, MGS 2 was worth the wait when I finally got to play it. It was visually stunning and had a powerful soundtrack that could send chills up my spine at times, but it also had a story that had some massive twists (bait and switch of the main character being a real headliner) and massively evolved gameplay from the first MGS game. It allowed players to be stealthy or take foes head on, included a range of iconic boss fights locations.

  • Taking the Shogun formula and expanding it from merely an internal Japanese period of civil war and strike to encompass centuries of Europe's Medieval history was a dream come true for me, and I completely fell in love with Medieval at its release. It had a good selection of countries to play as, fantastic music and huge battles with a real strategic depth to them. Its visuals were only marginally improved from Shogun and it did struggle with its own scale at times, but what an ambitious game.

  • So yes, it is the exact same story and world as its predecessor. However, the easy to play and massively enjoyable experience of Dynasty Warriors was only improved here. Everything was better, from the way the story is told to the level design, gameplay to the character roster. Dynasty Warriors 3 was a complete triumph and I loved it, despite its repetitive nature and status as not truly innovative.

  • I always felt that Insomniac were a top tier developer after playing the first Spyro game, and their debut with a fresh series on the PS2 finally got them the attention they always deserved. A charming setting with great humour and characters and gameplay that was absolutely at the top of 3D platform adventure games all made this a wonderful early PS2 game. It was also substantially more interesting than Naughty Dog's Jake and Daxter thanks to the range of weapons and upgrades.
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