15 Years of Gaming, Part 8 (2002)

2002, despite it's lack of huge, Triple A titles, was an interesting year. It was a transitional year, a year in which the three new consoles tried to find themselves and began to carve out new identities. This will also mark the point in my countdown where we'll start to see a lot of sequels. After 2001, Gaming was starting to become a legitimate industry, and like most major industries, sequels are the name of the game.



Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Release Date: March 26, 2002.
Platform: PC/All Consoles
ESRB Rating: T
Developer/Publisher: Raven Software/LucasArts
GameRankings: 89%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 7.7/10 (Above Average)

Jedi Knight II is much like the first (we'll just pretend Dark Forces doesn't exist). It's a first person shooter with extensive puzzle elements (not all of which are welcome) and the occasional third person lightsaber sequence. And, much like the first one, it was the pinnacle of Star Wars in it's time. Even if the plot this time around isn't quite as...momentous as JKI, it defeats its predecessor in the characterization of it's protagonist. Kyle Katarn is more sarcastic and world-weary than he was before, and it gives the game a sense of humor often missing from Star Wars (here's looking at you, Prequel Trilogy).

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Release Date: June 6, 2002.
Platform: XBOX/PC
ESRB Rating: T
Developer/Publisher: Bethesda Game Studios
GameRankings: 89%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.5/10 (Very Good)

 Let's get this out of the way right now: I didn't play Morrowind nearly as much as a lot of you non-existent readers probably did. I didn't love it. Maybe it was just too big for 13 year old Brian to "get." I wasn't into it as much as I would be into Oblivion four years later. Or as I will be with Skyrim this November.

All that aside, it was still fantastic. One of the least linear games of it's time, one could conceivably play Morrowind for upwards of ten hours without advancing the plot in the slightest. I know more people who haven't beaten the game than those who have. 

Not only is the game huge, but it is detailed. You get the feeling that everything in the game world has a purpose, has a history. Most games give you a sense of history. The difference is that Morrowind (and the by extension, the other Elder Scrolls games) let's you find an abandoned building and come to your own conclusions as to what it was for. It's a true mark of craftsmanship, and a trademark of Bethesda, one of the best and most respected developers in the gaming industry.

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos/The Frozen Throne
Release Date: July 3, 2002.
Platform: PC
ESRB Rating: T
Developer/Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
GameRankings: 93.1%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.0/10 (Very Good)

The Warcrafn Blizzard's flagship. While Starcraft is more sci-fi and Diablo more horror, Warcraft is, first and foremost, a fantasy series, and has always seemed to be Blizzard's priority, even before World of Warcraft came about. There is no finer example of this than Warcraft IIII, an RTS so expansive that it requires a full length expansion just to contain it's own plot. Every plausible side character and faction in the back annals or Warcraft lore figures into the plot, a plot which ends as climatically as any RTS in history. Pretty much every major antagonist featured in WoW was introduced in WC3


As for the gameplay itself, there's a reason something like Defense of the Ancients 2 exists. WC3 was, and still is, one of the most balanced strategy games ever made. Truly a classic int he genre.

Super Mario Sunshine
Release Date: August 25, 2002.
Platform: Gamecube
ESRB Rating: E
Developer/Publisher: Nintendo
GameRankings: 92%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 7.4/10 (Solid)

The release of Super Mario Sunshine, for me, represents the beginning of the downfall of Mario. Don't misunderstand me, this is a very good game, but it starts to represent, for me, a rise of the gimmicky side of the Mario franchise. Not long after this, we get Mario baseball and Mario soccer and Mario tennis, each one more gimmicky than the last. This escalated to the point where a game like Mario Galaxy, which seemed very ingenious and enjoyable, was marred by the previous transgressions of everyone's favorite plumber.

That being said, I can't exactly blame SMS for what would happen in the years to come, and like I said, it was very good. The FLUDD mechanics are generally interesting and involve some thought to decipher, while the locale itself certainly lives up to the "Sunshine" title. This is a brighter, happier Mario game than it's predecessor, though perhaps something is missing without the castle itself there to anchor everything. Still, if you still have the ability to play Gamecube games, and haven't played SMS, it's certainly worth the effort.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Release Date: October 27, 2002.
Platform: PlayStation 2
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Rockstar North/Rockstar
GameRankings: 94.4%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.5/10 (Very Good)

GTA Vice City takes the Mafioso tone that so influenced its predecessor and turned it into Miami Vice. For some people, this is an improvement. Not for me. While I wouldn't go so far as to say that Vice City is overrated, I will declare it my least favorite "modern" GTA. Tommy Vercetti, the protagonist, was the first fully voiced protagonist in the series' history, and he was, more or less, a murderous psychopath (in a series full of murderous psychopaths, it takes quite a psychopathic murder to distinguish ones self). In fact, the entire game felt like one bad 80s joke at times.

Then again, this game made my lists for a reason, and that reasons is that it's still a Grand Theft Auto game. Unbridled freedom, caustic satire and gleeful carnage are the names of the game, and the game is a good one.

Metroid Prime
Release Date: November 17, 2002.
Platform: Gamecube
ESRB Rating: T
Developer/Publsiher: Retro Studios/Nintendo
GameRankings: 96%  
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.2/10 (Great)

 When Metroid Prime was first announced, hardcore Metroid fans (of which I am not one) were up in arms. What appeared at the time to be a modernized First Person Shooter was taken as an insult to one of the most respected and challenging series in gaming's history.

Thankfully, Metroid Prime was no such aberration. The same focus on exploration that is so prevalent in the older Metroid games was there, along with an added level of immersion. Truly, MP is a beautiful game, even now. One anecdote I always like to use is this: when I first played MP, I took notice at all the superfluous details in the design of the varied zones. What appeared on the mini-map to be a straight hallway would in actuality be a caved in tunnel. What appeared to be a small room would really be a flooded rotunda. Art design is more important than graphical integrity. Metroid Prime was, and still is, one of the finest examples of this.

Plus, it was bloody entertaining.