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This feature was created a full month after the end of 1997 in order to
allow me time to thoroughly play the heck out of all the year's contenders.
Having run each game through its paces, I know know what games were the
best of the best in 1997, which ones got old over time, and which ones
didn't. Of course, this is all just my opinion. You may disagree with
some of my choices. Feel free to e-mail me at ivan@mastergamer.com with
your thoughts on any categories you strongly agree or disagree with.
Note: Only games released in 1997 were considered to win these awards.
While there are some from both 1996 (Command & Conquer: Red Alert) and 1998
(Resident Evil 2) that I would certainly like to give awards to right now,
only games released in 1997 were eligible to win this year's Awards.
GAME OF THE YEAR
First Place: Final Fantasy 7 for PlayStation. The game that revolutionized
RPG's forever was far and away the best game released in 1997. The
unparalleled polygonal graphics, coupled with a dark and sophisticated plot,
are like nothing else ever seen before. FF7 is one of those standard-
setting games where every future game will be judged in comparison to it
(and yes, that include's Nintendo's over-hyped Zelda 64, even if Zelda is
an action/RPG and not a true RPG with turn-based combat). FF7 is not only
the best game released in 1997, but is one of the greatest games of all
time, and a game that no true gamer should go without.
Second Place: NFL GameDay '98 for PlayStation. Sony once again set the
standard for football games in 1997, with NFL GameDay '98, the first
football game ever to feature fully-3D polygonal graphics. GameDay '98 has
smooth and detailed graphics, and more importantly than that, it's just fun
to play. Once you're used to the GameDay control model, it's 10 times
better than any other football series. It gives you more control over what
is happening on the screen and it makes for some extremely exciting
gameplay, too.
Third Place: Wild Arms for PlayStation. This little gem is a game most
people don't even know about. Wild Arms was released in the US in spring
of last year, and while it was quickly overshadowed by the huge release of
FF7, Wild Arms is still a wonderful RPG in its own right. It may not be a
graphical spectacle like FF7, but the game still looks very good for a
standard sprite-based RPG. And in terms of the entertainment offered, Wild
Arms is almost as good as RPG classics such as Chrono Trigger and Final
Fantasy 7. Trust me, if you don't bother to give this game a chance, you
don't know what you're missing.
PLAYSTATION GAME OF THE YEAR
First Place: Final Fantasy 7 for PlayStation
Second Place: NFL GameDay '98 for PlayStation
Third Place: Wild Arms for PlayStation
(Obviously, since the top three games of the year are all PlayStation
games, the Game of the Year category and the PlayStation Game of the Year
category have the same winners.)
NINTENDO 64 GAME OF THE YEAR
First Place: Goldeneye 007
Second Place: Mario Kart 64
SATURN GAME OF THE YEAR
First Place: Resident Evil for Saturn. Resident Evil is a great game on
any system.
Second Place: Fighters Megamix
Third Place: Duke Nukem 3D. The Saturn version of the PC hit was
surprisingly much better than its Nintendo 64 and PlayStation counterparts.
PC GAME OF THE YEAR
First Place: Theme Hospital. It may not be as flashy as Quake 2 or some
other games that I considered for this award, but I enjoyed Theme Hospital
more than any other PC game released in 1997. It's an extremely fun
hospital simulation with some of the coolest video game music ever.
Second Place: Creatures. This game changed everything on the PC with its
revolutionary Artificial Life technology. That's not pre-programmed AI
making the Norns live, walk, eat, mate, and die, that's real Artificial
Life. I don't know how it works, but none of it is pre-programmed and the
Norns truly do evolve on their own.
Third Place: Carmageddon. It's Twisted Metal 2 for the PC, only not quite
as good. But if you're tired of TM2, Carmageddon is a new, fresh, and
gore-filled alternative that will not disappoint.
ACTION/PLATFORM GAME OF THE YEAR: Crash Bandicoot 2. With no sequel to
Super Mario 64 coming for another year or two, Crash 2 blows away all of
its competition in this category.
STRATEGY GAME OF THE YEAR: Command & Conquer: Red Alert for PlayStation.
Of all the glitzy real-time strategy games released in 1997, none of them
matched the gameplay of good old Command & Conquer: Red Alert. And since
the original PC game is ineligible for this award since it was released in
1996, I feel this award should go to the PlayStation version of Red Alert,
which was released in 1997 and is a great game in its own right.
RACING GAME OF THE YEAR: Mario Kart 64. Mario Kart has one thing that San
Francisco Rush, Diddy Kong Racing, Jet Moto 2, and others don't: good,
solid entertainment. Mario Kart is simply more fun than all the other
racing games released in 1997.
ADVENTURE GAME OF THE YEAR: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. A game that actually
makes you think. Simply running blindly from screen to screen is
guaranteed to lead to your death within ten seconds. This is no mindless
action game; on the contrary, Abe's Oddysee will intrigue you with its
fascinating character design and game environment, amuse and delight you
with its creative story line, and just plain entertain you with its
thought-based gameplay. It really offers a different kind of challenge
than most games, a challenge you can't afford to miss.
FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER OF THE YEAR: Goldeneye 007. This game's innovative
and violent gameplay proved that Rareware is not just about making cheap
imitations and "cutesy" titles, but that the company is capable of creating
a more mature and sohpisticated game.
FIGHTING GAME OF THE YEAR: Soul Blade. From the same company who brought
you the Tekken series (Namco), Soul Blade is a weapon-based fighting game
that is much more entertaining than Sega's Fighting Vipers. The in-depth
Edge Master mode is like an extremely long fighting game with some meaning
and a decent story line, and it is what ultimately makes the game still
enjoyable after newer games are already collecting dust.
RPG OF THE YEAR: Final Fantasy 7. Not only the best RPG of 1997, Final
Fantasy 7 is also my second-favorite RPG of all time (behind only Chrono
Trigger, which I don't think any game will ever surpass, except maybe
Chrono Trigger 2...).
BEST NEW VIDEO GAME CHARACTER: Abe from Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
BEST VIDEO GAME VILLAIN: Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7
BEST GRAPHICS: Final Fantasy 7
BEST MUSIC: Theme Hospital for PC (with Wild Arms and FF7 close behind)
SPORTS GAME OF THE YEAR: NFL GameDay '98 (second place: NBA Live '97 for
PlayStation)
BEST VIDEO GAME COMPANY: Square Soft. They gave us Final Fantasy 7. Need
I say more? Now all they need to do is drop all these silly fighting and
shooting games and concentrate all their resources on Chrono Trigger 2
(I want that game SO bad!) and Final Fantasy 8.
BEST NEW CONCEPT IN A VIDEO GAME: PaRappa the Rapper and Monster Rancher
(tie).
© 2001 ivan@mastergamer.com