2000: not exactly a great year for console games. The Dreamcast was alive and kicking but most kids preferred to play their PC shooters. Its really a shame that Final Fantasy 8 and the Dreamcast port of Soul Calibur weren't released a few months later, then I'd really have something to talk about for this year.
Shenmue: This is definately the game of this year that I'll remember most. While of course it seems dated now, when Sega dropped Shenmue on us in 2000 not many gamers had seen anything quite like it. Shenmue didn't really fit into any particular gaming genre and it was one of the first games that would shape the development of real-time fully explorable worlds. Sure in this game you only explored the confines of a Japanese city and a day in the game was an hour in real time but it was still a pretty innovative idea to a gamer like me. Sega paid painstaking detail to what went on in the game's environment as well. You could literally follow around a civilian and watch them go about their daily routine which would change depending on factors like weather and holidays. The gameplay itself? Well some may find it boring to play a game in which you spend alot of time asking people questions and working at your forklift-driving job, but I thought that it was an amazing experience nonetheless. The story had to do with a young Japanese man named Ryo discovering the details of his father's murder, which if I remember correctly leads him to getting him into some trouble with a Chinese crime organization of some kind. The fighting was damn fun, and the button response action sequences kept you on your toes. Overall the game certainly had enough to keep you busy, even if you weren't focusing on the main story, keep in mind that this was also before GTA San Andreas and GTA 4. And don't forget those gorgeous graphics, there wasn't a gamer out there at the time that didn't think the game looked beautiful. This game is definately one of the main reasons I'll always have fond memories of the Dreamcast.
Perfect Dark: I was a bit iffy on selecting this game as one of my favorites of 2000 since I, like everyone else, realize that Perfect Dark was a sheerly blatant re-hash of N64 shooter Goldeneye: 007. Not that I'm complaining, Rare were smart enough to milk the aspects of Goldeneye that everyone loved and update them just enough to keep things interesting. Ok so the single player missions weren't as fun as Goldeneye and the story was ridiculous, but you know you had a blast doing those four person deathmatches for hours on end. The innovative weapons made for some pretty classic multiplayer stuff, the graphics were good for the time (even though things did get really choppy and pixelated if there was too much going on on the screen), and the solidity of the gameplay itself still makes it one of my favorite shooters ever. Its not Goldeneye but I'll take it.
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