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We're listing the top 10 games on the floor THAT WERE PLAYABLE. This
is a huge difference between us and everyone else that does this
stuff, because they'll give stuff Best of Show to games that were
only playable to select members of the media. This is stupid. This
also leads to games getting "Best of E3" 2 years before the game
actually hits shelves. This is entirely pointless. If we're telling
you something is in the top 10 of show, it's either going to be out
before next E3, or they missed their deadline. There's no sense in
gushing about a game that's at 5% completion and that you'll never
see until 2-3 years from now.
Clayton's #10: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
4 players, 1 coherent game, AND it has a single player campaign?
Sign me up. FF:CC is probably going to be the Square Enix
role-playing game people will be talking about, much as SE would
like it to be FF XI.
Rick's #10: Viewtiful Joe
Clay can bite me. The gameplay is rather smooth, and its combination
of Klonoa-style 2D wraparound and cel shading is finally something
that works with that graphics style. That, and for someone like
myself that forever looks to show off in video games, a game that is
built around showing off rocks.
Clay's Response:
Erm...biting other males would appear to be indicative of the target
audience of Viewtiful Joe to me. Don't know if I can appropriately
respond....
Clayton's #9: Gran Turismo 4
New tracks, sharper graphics and the same great gameplay as before.
I wasn't expecting to see anything on GT4 until the PS3 came out,
but I guess they couldn't wait for the PS3 for the next iteration of
this game. You know it, you love it, and now you'll know it and love
it more. The city street tracks are much more impressive this time.
Rick's #9: Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
The game is the first 3D Castlevania title that is actually worth
playing, so that alone is worth mention. The control is smooth, and
the graphics finally look sharp. However, it still has some ways to
go (mapping could be much better), but this looks promising so far.
Clayton's #8: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Tactics is probably my favorite strategy RPG of all time. The fact
that they're making another, finally is awesome, and the fact that
it comes at a time when nobody else is showcasing their RPGs means
that they look all the better for it. The "Judge" system of battle
is a bit weird, but for the most part, it's all the great Tactics
action that you've come to know and love.
Rick's #8: Halo for PC
I'm just about tired of everyone citing Halo as the reason for the
XBox's existence. That, and Halo always should have been on the PC,
because that's where FPS games play the best. Halo finally gets the
treatment it deserves, and it naturally gets shafted in presentation
because Microsoft doesn't want to admit it's the superior version.
Especially with the absence of a playable version of Halo 2, this
was Microsoft's chance to shine.
Clayton's #7: Gradius V
Hell yeah! It looks better, plays better and is a sharp 3D upgrade
to one of our favorite shooters of yesteryear. Has a good chance of
being the best PS2 shooter so far. Apparently, 2003 was the year to
draw from the past, and Gradius V did it better than anyone else at
show did.
Rick's #7: Nintendo Puzzle Collection
Everyone loves Dr. Mario and Yoshi's Cookie. Panel de Pon (remade as
Pokemon Puzzle League) and Tetris Attack are pretty awesome too.
Nintendo deciding to place all four onto a single Gamecube game is
just manna from heaven. Sadly, there is no four-player option, but
overall, the definitive console puzzle game. In a year with few
puzzle options, giving four in one package gets Puzzle Game of the
Year as well as Package of the Year.
Clayton's #6: Final Fantasy X-2
This didn't really surprise me, as I am playing the import now. But
seeing as how very little at the show actually did impress me, Final
Fantasy X-2 kind of takes occupancy of this "vacant" spot. If you
can get past the first 30 minutes of the game without dropping the
controller due to embarrassment you're going to be enjoying a pretty
excellent game.
Rick's #6: .hack vol. 3: Outbreak and .hack vol. 4: Quarantine
I have to admit, I thought it strange that Bandai would release
.hack, vol. 2: Mutation a week before E3, but that's because I
didn't realize they would be showing both of the sequels to the game
at the show. Both play as cleanly as the first two, and make sure to
add on to parts present in earlier games. Fans already addicted to
the series will not be disappointed, and anyone jumping in the
middle of the series will not be left behind. The series was a bit
of a gamble, really, but Bandai pulled it off.
Clayton's #5: Drakengard
Straight outta left field. Part Raystorm, part Panzer Dragoon Orta,
and part Dynasty Warriors adds up to an incredible game. You fly
around as a dragon shooting everything to hell with your fire
breath, and at other stages of the game you'll enter a skirmish mode
where you're hacking and slashing groups of infantry. Dive bombing
the groups of people with a dragon is one of the most exhilarating
things I saw at the show. This game really impressed the hell out of
me. It looks like Square Enix's lineup for 2003-4 is probably the
strongest in the field.
Rick's #5: Gran Turismo 4
I was really disappointed in the third game, because I felt that
nothing of note was added. However, GT4 easily makes up for that
with much expanded gameplay, and let's face it - the city racing
rocks. If you could add non-racing traffic at will, it would be the
perfect racing game. Sorry Mario, the Best Racer of E3.
Clayton's #4: XIII
I never got to play this on the PC version, because fate conspired
against me, together with Ubi Soft. The first 2 times I went by the
booth, a Ubi Soft employee was playing it, and the final time I went
by the crowd thinned out, and the guy directly in front of me went
for the game. Oh well. From what I saw, XIII looks innovative,
adding cel shading to the FPS genre, and putting together probably
the best hybrid of comic books and an FPS that I've seen.
Rick's #4: SoulCalibur II
I'm really picky about my fighters, but Namco managed to pull this
off excellently. All three versions had excellent controls, and you
cannot tell the difference between the versions unless someone is
using one of the exclusive characters. The Gamecube version is
probably the best, because the controls practically dance and Link
has a ranged attack, but all of the versions are worth owning.
Everyone owning multiple systems is going to have a hard time
deciding on which version to get. To no surprise, Best Fighter of
E3.
Clayton's #3: Rise of Nations
I was expecting this to be much more like Civilization and much less
exactly like Age of Empires. That being said, it was the best RTS at
the show, and I was enjoying playing it. Instead of building
facilities to do your research, it'l all be handled at your
libraries. In addition, you can build other cities and initiate
trade with them, making this just a little more complex than any
other RTS out there. I hope they add a few more Civilizations
though.
Rick's #3: Gradius V
You might think this wins Best Shooter of E3 by default, but
honestly, this would have won in many previous years. The challenge
has been ratcheted up, but the controls are like silk on the skin
after a hot shower. The action is intense but manageable. The only
problem is the restricted power-up choices compared to previous
Gradius games, but they have time to change that.
Clayton's #2: Crimson Skies
So nobody accuses me of just totally hating the XBox. I generally
hate FPS and Flight Sim games on a console, because the controller
just doesn't do it for me. However, Crimson Skies works really well.
I really liked the first game on the PC (When it wasn't living up to
Microsoft's incredibly crappy reputation for making games that
didn't work on the PC.) and Crimson Skies for the XBox looked good
and played very good.
Rick's #2: Beyond Good and Evil
They had an early alpha of this game, nee Project Eden, at E3 2002,
and it was one of the better games shown then. Since then, this
game, a combination of cooperative 3rd person action, boat racing,
and Pokemon Snap has been cleaned up tremendously, given a plot
thicker than I could fathom at E3, and manages to pull off each
aspect of the game play better than most games can do by focusing on
one. I'm psyched about this game finally being ready to be released.
Clayton's #1: Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
I'm not a big Castlevania fan. Don't get me wrong, I like the game
and all, it's just that working for a game review website makes me
realize that there are far more rabid fans about this series out
there than I will ever be. With that clarification out of the way, I
was impressed with the the game in 3D, because the controls are
nice, and with the exception of not having the slide/dash available
(unsure whether or not it's in the final game.) the game looks like
it's what every fan of Castlevania's been looking for. This kind of
stumbled into the #1 spot by not default, and my top 10 list is
likely be shuffled around on any given day, but today, that's what I
feel was best of show.
Rick's #1: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
For a long time, the first Final Fantasy Tactics was the best game
for the Playstation (and the game that finally convinced me to get
one). The return of the sinful children of Ivalice is easily the
best of the show for me. With different races that have different
class trees, more abilities added to the game, and the Law system
making each battle even more complex (Do you risk getting jailed? Do
you attempt to assassinate the judge for this battle?), FFTA easily
has more gameplay in one GBA cart than most games ever bother with.
Clayton's Honorable Mention:
Spawn (Working Title):
I was checking out the XBox version of the game, and the guy next to
me was really, REALLY stoked about the game. The best fan reaction
I'd seen all show. The guy must have yelled out, "Someone finally
got it right!" and "this one's for all the Spawn fans out there!"
like 4 times. I think the guys at Point of View should find that guy
and get him to do box quotes for them. The game itself actually
wasn't bad, but it felt a bit like "Spawn May Cry".
Rick's Honorable Mention:
Drakengard:
The best way for me to describe this is to tell a brief story. After
the show, the Netjak contingent went to see The Matrix Reloaded. The
whole time, I sat there thinking, "Man, this movie wishes it was
Drakengard." That this game impressed me this much shows how
underwhelming the effects of the movie were mostly, but overall, I
think that this game will be the sleeper hit the PS2 would have had
in Jak and Daxter if Sony didn't overexpose it.
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