In my personal opinion, 1999 was probably the best year for gaming. Why? Well, we had a bunch of interesting game releases including a few which have lived on as cult classics while others became revolutionary or well known for their gameplay features. Truthfully though, I never got to play any of these games until I was in my teens and onward but I enjoyed them none the less. Here are my top 10 favorite games of 1999:
10. Lego Rock Raiders. (PC)
This is the probably the one of the few notable PC game releases of that year for younger audiences and Lego Fans. Lego Rock Raiders is pretty much the equivilant of an RTS but instead of heavy amounts of combat like you would expect in games like Starcraft, you had to deal with managing your resources and your base. Of course it never would be interesting if it was easy, would it? You'd have to deal with constant landslides, your air supply running low, buildings losing power, constant landslides, rock monsters causing a ruckus, slimy slugs draining power from your buildings, did I mention constant landslides? Anyway, this game continues to be a cult classic to the point there is a community of fans who develop mods and addons for this game. However, while the PC version of the game flourished, the Playstation version unfortunately crashed and burned...
9. X: Beyond The Frontier
One of the more obscure games that came from a European Game Development Company named Egosoft, X: Beyond The Frontier is a space trading and combat simulator game that served as the first in a series of semi-popular sci-fi games with an interesting setting. It takes place in the year 2912, a couple of centuries after the human race recovered from a war caused by their own AI Terraformers and lost contact with all of their colonies beyond Sol. You play as a pilot whose craft carries an experimental jump drive which could function without the need for the Jump Gates that were destroyed a long time ago. When a test of your drive goes wrong you end up on a different end of the universe with multiple alien races, a war against the machines known as the Xenon, and a offshot of the human race that has long since forgotten about the planet Earth. Now you're stuck trying to find a way back home while building up your finances through trading wares, taking down enemy craft, and building up an economic juggernaut.
8. Half-Life: Opposing Force
An expansion to one of the first games by Valve, Half-Life: Opposing Force came out in 1999 after being published by another small game development company known as Gearbox Software. You play as a member of the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit (HECU) of the United States Marine Corps. Your original mission was to take down the protagonist of the original game, Gordon Freeman but after being stranded at Black Mesa you have to fight for your own survival while encountering new allies, new enemies, and using a new arsenal of weaponry. This game was also well known for the fact it had a Capture-The-Flag gamemode which didn't exist in the original game. Out of all of the expansions for the original Half-Life, this one is personally my favorite!
7. Counter-Strike 1.6
BOMB HAS BEEN DEFUSED! COUNTER-TERRORISTS WIN! What was originally a popular team-based multiplayer mod for Half-Life would later become the first of a series of games by its original creators alongside Valve. Counter-Strike is a team-based FPS where you play as Terrorists or Counter-Terrorists and try to complete certain objectives before the enemy team wins. For each win (or loss) you gain a certain amount of (fake) cash that you use to purchase various weapons such as an AK-47 assault rifle and equipment such as a bomb-defusal kit. It is still being played today despite the fact that many gamers are playing one of its later sequels: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
6. Jet Force Gemini
Ah, Rareware! The same company that was responsible for many titles for the N64 including Conker's Bad Fur Day and Goldeneye 007. Of course there were a couple of other more obscure games that they made for that console such as one of my personal favorites: Jet Force Gemini. This is a sci-fi-themed Third-Person Shooter where you played as one of three characters and try to save the numerous worlds and their inhabitants from an army of alien insectoids that look like army ants. I remember my brother playing this on the N64 but I never really got to play it until he leant it to me when I was in High School. Although I never finished the game, I do plan on eventually trying to get my own N64 and my own copy of the game...either that or I'll use an emulator!
5. Homeworld
Before Relic Software created the Company Of Heroes games or the W40K: Dawn Of War games, this was their first title and possibly one of the classic RTS games of the 90s. Using revolutionary gameplay, hand-drawn cinematic cutscenes, a beautiful and appropriate score for the soundtrack, Homeworld instantly became one of my favorites. You play as a race of humans who have for years been stuck on a desert planet, until they discovered the ruins of an ancient starship which not only revealed their origins but also their true homeworld. After building a massive mothership and having their planet bombed to hell and back, you have to help lead these exiles on a journey back home. You have to deal with space pirates, territorial religious zealots, and the very empire that tossed your race far away from home. As of two months ago, the high definition revamp of the original game and its sequel was released along with the classic games that started the series in the first place.
4. Starcraft: Brood War
An expansion that continues the storyline of the original Starcraft and introduces new units that would eventually make it into its sequel, this is Starcraft: Brood War. Much like the original game, there are three campaigns to play in order with each of the three races, and the same hero characters from the original along with some newcomers. This is one of the games that would eventually bring us tons of matches on Battle.net, an improved version of the infamous Zerg Rush, and become the equivilant of a sport in South Korea (That is until Starcraft 2 was released. 8P)
3. Unreal Tournament (AKA UT99)
Unreal Tournament is one of the first games by Epic Studios and the one that would bring the first incarnation of the unreal engine to gamers everywhere. It makes up for its storyline with bits and pieces of lore, its impressive AI, and an interesting Sci-Fi FPS experience unlike any other. It had many of the gamemodes you'd see in FPS shooters today such as deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, domination, last man standing, and assault. You also had a variety of weapons from a pair of pistols, to a flechette launcher, to a rifle that shoots green sticky goop, and to the infamous one-shot mini-nuke launcher that is the redeemer. If you haven't played this game, play it. I gurantee it'll entertain you for hours!
2. System Shock 2
Before there was rapture, there was the FTL Starship Von Braun. Before plasmids, you had psionic powers. Before splicers, you had hybrids. Before Bioshock, you had System Shock 2 and it is still considered an awesome game! Taking place after the events of the first System Shock game, you start off as a recruit for one of the three branches of the UNN military, The Marine Corps (Guns, lots of guns!), The Navy (1337 H4XX1NG FTW!), and the OSA (I will now assault your mind with sublminal messages.). After several tours of duty, you end up transferring to the Von Braun where you find that not only have you been cybernetically augmented but you've also ended up in a starship where all hell has broken loose and your only ally is the same malevolant AI who caused this in the first place! This is the same game mind you, that is the spiritual predecessor to the BioShock games. Granted, the graphics of this game are a bit dated but you have a massive community of modders and followers to fix that, now don't you? If you liked BioShock, you'll love this game.
1. Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
You probably saw this one coming, right? Right? If you didn't then too bad...Anyway, this Legend Of Zelda title is tied with Majora's Mask for a very good reason. Its the one of the first of the Legend Of Zelda games to have full 3D graphics and animation along with having revolutionary technology that would be used in later titles. And much like Jet Force Gemini, I remember watching my brother play this game. Truthfully, I didn't play this on the N64 but rather when my family bought our gamecube we got the promotional game disc that had both Majora's Mask and Ocarina Of Time along with a 30-minute demo of Wind Waker. Despite that little fact, it felt like I was playing the original game on the N64 and I personally enjoyed every moment of this game.
Well that's it for now, I hope you enjoyed viewing this post. Feel free to post up your favorite games from 1999 below if you wish. Cheers!
10. Lego Rock Raiders. (PC)
This is the probably the one of the few notable PC game releases of that year for younger audiences and Lego Fans. Lego Rock Raiders is pretty much the equivilant of an RTS but instead of heavy amounts of combat like you would expect in games like Starcraft, you had to deal with managing your resources and your base. Of course it never would be interesting if it was easy, would it? You'd have to deal with constant landslides, your air supply running low, buildings losing power, constant landslides, rock monsters causing a ruckus, slimy slugs draining power from your buildings, did I mention constant landslides? Anyway, this game continues to be a cult classic to the point there is a community of fans who develop mods and addons for this game. However, while the PC version of the game flourished, the Playstation version unfortunately crashed and burned...
9. X: Beyond The Frontier
One of the more obscure games that came from a European Game Development Company named Egosoft, X: Beyond The Frontier is a space trading and combat simulator game that served as the first in a series of semi-popular sci-fi games with an interesting setting. It takes place in the year 2912, a couple of centuries after the human race recovered from a war caused by their own AI Terraformers and lost contact with all of their colonies beyond Sol. You play as a pilot whose craft carries an experimental jump drive which could function without the need for the Jump Gates that were destroyed a long time ago. When a test of your drive goes wrong you end up on a different end of the universe with multiple alien races, a war against the machines known as the Xenon, and a offshot of the human race that has long since forgotten about the planet Earth. Now you're stuck trying to find a way back home while building up your finances through trading wares, taking down enemy craft, and building up an economic juggernaut.
8. Half-Life: Opposing Force
An expansion to one of the first games by Valve, Half-Life: Opposing Force came out in 1999 after being published by another small game development company known as Gearbox Software. You play as a member of the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit (HECU) of the United States Marine Corps. Your original mission was to take down the protagonist of the original game, Gordon Freeman but after being stranded at Black Mesa you have to fight for your own survival while encountering new allies, new enemies, and using a new arsenal of weaponry. This game was also well known for the fact it had a Capture-The-Flag gamemode which didn't exist in the original game. Out of all of the expansions for the original Half-Life, this one is personally my favorite!
7. Counter-Strike 1.6
BOMB HAS BEEN DEFUSED! COUNTER-TERRORISTS WIN! What was originally a popular team-based multiplayer mod for Half-Life would later become the first of a series of games by its original creators alongside Valve. Counter-Strike is a team-based FPS where you play as Terrorists or Counter-Terrorists and try to complete certain objectives before the enemy team wins. For each win (or loss) you gain a certain amount of (fake) cash that you use to purchase various weapons such as an AK-47 assault rifle and equipment such as a bomb-defusal kit. It is still being played today despite the fact that many gamers are playing one of its later sequels: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
6. Jet Force Gemini
Ah, Rareware! The same company that was responsible for many titles for the N64 including Conker's Bad Fur Day and Goldeneye 007. Of course there were a couple of other more obscure games that they made for that console such as one of my personal favorites: Jet Force Gemini. This is a sci-fi-themed Third-Person Shooter where you played as one of three characters and try to save the numerous worlds and their inhabitants from an army of alien insectoids that look like army ants. I remember my brother playing this on the N64 but I never really got to play it until he leant it to me when I was in High School. Although I never finished the game, I do plan on eventually trying to get my own N64 and my own copy of the game...either that or I'll use an emulator!
5. Homeworld
Before Relic Software created the Company Of Heroes games or the W40K: Dawn Of War games, this was their first title and possibly one of the classic RTS games of the 90s. Using revolutionary gameplay, hand-drawn cinematic cutscenes, a beautiful and appropriate score for the soundtrack, Homeworld instantly became one of my favorites. You play as a race of humans who have for years been stuck on a desert planet, until they discovered the ruins of an ancient starship which not only revealed their origins but also their true homeworld. After building a massive mothership and having their planet bombed to hell and back, you have to help lead these exiles on a journey back home. You have to deal with space pirates, territorial religious zealots, and the very empire that tossed your race far away from home. As of two months ago, the high definition revamp of the original game and its sequel was released along with the classic games that started the series in the first place.
4. Starcraft: Brood War
An expansion that continues the storyline of the original Starcraft and introduces new units that would eventually make it into its sequel, this is Starcraft: Brood War. Much like the original game, there are three campaigns to play in order with each of the three races, and the same hero characters from the original along with some newcomers. This is one of the games that would eventually bring us tons of matches on Battle.net, an improved version of the infamous Zerg Rush, and become the equivilant of a sport in South Korea (That is until Starcraft 2 was released. 8P)
3. Unreal Tournament (AKA UT99)
Unreal Tournament is one of the first games by Epic Studios and the one that would bring the first incarnation of the unreal engine to gamers everywhere. It makes up for its storyline with bits and pieces of lore, its impressive AI, and an interesting Sci-Fi FPS experience unlike any other. It had many of the gamemodes you'd see in FPS shooters today such as deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, domination, last man standing, and assault. You also had a variety of weapons from a pair of pistols, to a flechette launcher, to a rifle that shoots green sticky goop, and to the infamous one-shot mini-nuke launcher that is the redeemer. If you haven't played this game, play it. I gurantee it'll entertain you for hours!
2. System Shock 2
Before there was rapture, there was the FTL Starship Von Braun. Before plasmids, you had psionic powers. Before splicers, you had hybrids. Before Bioshock, you had System Shock 2 and it is still considered an awesome game! Taking place after the events of the first System Shock game, you start off as a recruit for one of the three branches of the UNN military, The Marine Corps (Guns, lots of guns!), The Navy (1337 H4XX1NG FTW!), and the OSA (I will now assault your mind with sublminal messages.). After several tours of duty, you end up transferring to the Von Braun where you find that not only have you been cybernetically augmented but you've also ended up in a starship where all hell has broken loose and your only ally is the same malevolant AI who caused this in the first place! This is the same game mind you, that is the spiritual predecessor to the BioShock games. Granted, the graphics of this game are a bit dated but you have a massive community of modders and followers to fix that, now don't you? If you liked BioShock, you'll love this game.
1. Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
You probably saw this one coming, right? Right? If you didn't then too bad...Anyway, this Legend Of Zelda title is tied with Majora's Mask for a very good reason. Its the one of the first of the Legend Of Zelda games to have full 3D graphics and animation along with having revolutionary technology that would be used in later titles. And much like Jet Force Gemini, I remember watching my brother play this game. Truthfully, I didn't play this on the N64 but rather when my family bought our gamecube we got the promotional game disc that had both Majora's Mask and Ocarina Of Time along with a 30-minute demo of Wind Waker. Despite that little fact, it felt like I was playing the original game on the N64 and I personally enjoyed every moment of this game.
Well that's it for now, I hope you enjoyed viewing this post. Feel free to post up your favorite games from 1999 below if you wish. Cheers!