30 Greatest Games of 2005

[Evil Avatar]

In the spirit of the Holiday and from the online pages of Next Generation comes a happy article, 30 Greatest Games of 2005 (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1938&Itemid=2), for PC, Console and Handheld systems. In the FPS category they mention Monolith's F.E.A.R., Gearbox's Brothers in Arms: The Road to Hill 30 and DICE's Battlefield 2.

F.E.A.R. grabs a hold of gamers with its creep factor, and manages to sustain a relentless tension, keeping you oh-so-close to an anxiety attack. It's strange, violent and engrossing.

Other notable entries in the FPS genre this year are Halo 2 Multiplayer Pack, Half-Life 2 for Xbox and Call of Duty 2.I'm just dying for Brothers in Arms to show up on the Xbox 360 compatability list, since I haven't played the first title or the expansion yet.

[JudasGoat]

I have the first one for the PC. It's pretty good, but the AI leaves something to be desired. Both of your men and the axis. Supposedly this was cleaned up for the sequel. I should install whatever patches are available for it and give it another go. Unfortunately the PC version clearly lacks in the graphics dept as it was designed for consoles with very little PC polish.

[Morrolan]

Honestly, don't get your hopes too high for it. The script and voice acting are straight mediocre, never better, and the action stops being cool after about the tenth time you've done the exact same thing over and over (read: still in the first mission.)

Some cool conciets to the game, but its presentation ("Band of Brothers: Version Not Nearly As Good" would have been a better title,) and its repetetive gameplay keep it from being anything above a 7.0 on my ratings scale.

[Nerv]

Even with the awesome Civilisation 4, F.E.A.R is absolutly PC game of the year in my book, I haven't played a game that polished, confident, or downright perfect in a long time.

[DingBat]

Even with the awesome Civilisation 4, F.E.A.R is absolutly PC game of the year in my book, I haven't played a game that polished, confident, or downright perfect in a long time.

Boy, did we ever play different games. For me, Fear was one-trick-pony gameplay married to unimaginative and repetitive level design with an added touch of inarticulate and not-very-scary storyline. Not a bad game, I suppose, but if it's game of the year I fear for our hobby.

[YoungAlCapone]

Boy, did we ever play different games. For me, Fear was one-trick-pony gameplay married to unimaginative and repetitive level design with an added touch of inarticulate and not-very-scary storyline. Not a bad game, I suppose, but if it's game of the year I fear for our hobby.

I agree. It was a bunch of good ideas packed with terrible, repetitive level design, uninteresting scenarios, what I thought was a completely unscary story-line, and the ocassional inspired moment where the atmospere is done just right. Those are rare though. The firefights were interesting until you got a feel for the weapons, then they were just easy. However I must admit that I was impressed by the destructable environments, and I liked the violence.

[Deadend]

FEAR was decent, but I really had trouble getting a feel for the world of the game, or even the timeline of said game. Also having what amounts to 3 levels and an attempt at a 24 -style of game, where everything takes place over the course of a night could have been done better.

Maybe if there was some sense of urgency to the game, what with an army of soldiers running around, even though I never saw more than a few at a time. I just think the game should have been more like the first area, where you were trying to chase down Fettel, and he kept getting away. The script could also use more dialoge, as people seemed to take an army of super-soldiers invading their office fairly well, all things considered. The building also had the craziest layout for an office, EVER!

//back on topic

I agree with their choices for games for the most part. But I was hoping they would just give a list of the 30 best games, not the best 3 from each of 10 catagories.

[Rirath]

I couldn't even make it through the demo of FEAR without losing interest, way too generic. Battlefield 2, although loved by many, just isn't my type. And Brothers in Arms is one of way too many never-shoulda-been made war shooters. Even Call of Duty 2 bored me fairly quickly, with the whack-a-mole enemies. Haven't played Civ 4 yet, but need to. Quake 4 was fairly enjoyable, surprisingly.

PC Game of the year for me is easily Guild Wars. I may have gripes with it, I may have never even bothered to reach level 20 yet, nor played more than a few rounds of PvP... but the 90~ hours I spent feels like they flew. I just seriously hope the expansion can equal the openness and beauty of pre-searing, instead of more of the same questing.

They pick a lot of really good console games though. Dragon Quest VIII, Guitar Hero, God of War, Mario Kart DS, etc.

[The Iron Weasel]

Well I loved F.E.A.R. I've played it again and had more fun the second time.

[Stormwatcher]

CoD2 was a big let down to me. I eagerly played the first one and the expansion, and the new game is just CoD1 with more effects. It felt generic and uninspired, I hoped for gameplay innovations, and found none besides the (really cool) smoke effects, which do affect the gamplay a bit. F.E.A.R. is cool, but nothing to write home about. They should have made some different areas.

And the game is a lot better than the demo.

[VYPUR]

Well hell I loved BF2 myself ...still play it every day