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This year's awards were not picked exclusively by Master Gamer Editor in Chief Ivan Trembow. This year, Contributing Writers Peter Jimmy Payne and Rob Pecknold also voted for their picks for the best games of 1998. Game of the Year: Zelda 64 runner-up: Metal Gear Solid second runner-up: Madden NFL '99 Zelda 64 is simply a revolutionary game that won't be forgotten anytime soon. Completely different from anything else before it, Zelda is a perfect example of how to make an outstanding video game. Innovative, well-designed, challenging, and above all, fun. PlayStation Game of the Year: Metal Gear Solid runner-up: Madden NFL '99 second runner-up: NHL '99 Of course, Ivan thought that Madden should be the PlayStation Game of the Year, but all of his Contributing Writers disagreed. While Ivan still doesn't like Metal Gear Solid, his Contributing Writers can't get enough of it. They say it breaks new ground in terms of cinema and plot in video games and still manages to be a fun and enjoyable experience throughout. They say it is leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. They say that it's not so much a game as it is a work of art. When Ivan says he still doesn't like it, they say maybe he was dropped in his head one too many times as a baby... Nintendo 64 Game of the Year: Zelda 64 runner-up: WCW/NWO Revenge second runner-up: Turok 2 Well... if Zelda is the Game of the Year, why shouldn't it be the Nintendo 64 Game of the Year? Zelda is as close to perfection as any video game has ever come. PC Game of the Year: StarCraft runner-up: Half-Life second runner-up: Unreal Everyone on Master Gamer's staff seemed to believe that StarCraft either deserved to be the PC Game of the Year or at least the first runner-up, and collectively it was played by the Master Gamer staff more than any other PC game this year, including Half-Life. Action/Platform Game of the Year: Crash Bandicoot: Warped This one wasn't too hard to figure out. In a sea of medicore, free- roaming 3D platform games, good old 2D Crash is still more fun than all the competition and was the clear choice for Platform Game of the Year. It may be a lot like the first two Crash games, but it's still extremely well- designed and a blast to play. Racing Game of the Year: Gran Turismo Here again, Gran Turismo had no real competition for this award. Gran Turismo was more realistic and better looking than any racing game that came before it, and it will only get better with the upcoming sequel. First-Person Shooter of the Year: Half-Life While there were plenty of other notable first-person shooters released in 1998 (including Turok 2), Half-Life made them all look weak in comparison. The combination of clean graphics, an outstanding plot (in a first-person shooter!), and some of the best gameplay this genre has ever seen made Half-Life tough to beat. Fighting Game of the Year: Tekken 3 It's far from the most innovative fighting game ever released, but it is still a lot better than any other fighting game released in 1998 (and there were a lot of them). Namco shocked the world yet again with a nearly perfect arcade-to-PlayStation conversion of the game, proving once more that they know how to squeeze more out of the four-year-old PlayStation hardware than almost any other developer out there. Role-Play-Game of the Year: Xenogears This was a pretty weak year for RPGs. There were no AAA blockbuster RPGs like Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 7 this year, but many RPGs were still very good in their own right, including Xenogears. With the perfect mixture of story, music, and gameplay, Xenogears will quench the thirst of most hardcore role-play-gamers. Best Sports Game of the Year: Madden NFL '99 The in-game play was a radical jump over Madden '98, and even more revolutionary was the brilliant Franchise Mode, which is the most entertaining, addicting, and realistic outside-the-game feature I have ever seen, not just in sports games, but in any kind of time. It's really a game in itself, and catapulted Madden over GameDay in the eyes of many consumers. Best Vehicular Combat Game: Rogue Trip Sony may have released a game called "Twisted Metal 3," but Rogue Trip feels a lot more like Twisted Metal than TM3, even without any of the series' characters. They may not have the Twisted Metal license anymore, but SingleTrac is still the king of vehicular combat games. Adventure Game of the Year: Zelda 64 What else is there to say about Zelda 64? If you still haven't played it, go out and buy it right now and you'll quickly realize what all the fuss is about. Best Graphics in a Video Game: Zelda 64 Just look at it. Enough said. Best Music in a Video Game: Zelda 64 Just listen to it. Enough said. Video Game Company of the Year: EA Sports While Nintendo certainly deserves an honorable mention for Zelda 64, EA Sports had the best year overall, not just in terms of sales, but in terms of improving two key sports franchises that had been struggling in recent years. Madden skyrocketed right past GameDay in the football game wars with incredibly realistic gameplay, drastically improved graphics, and the almighty Franchise Mode; while NHL regained that wonderful, classic NHL feeling that had not been felt for years. Now if only EA could make the same kinds of improvements to Triple Play Baseball... Most-Wanted Game: Chrono Trigger 2 Chrono Trigger 2 won this award easily. It doesn't hurt that the original Chrono Trigger is the majority of the staff's favorite game of all time, and recent rumors that the game is in development have only increased our anticipation. It may still be an unconfirmed rumor, but when he read that Chrono Trigger 2 was in development, Master Gamer's Editor in Chief Ivan Trembow immediately fell to the ground twitching and had to be revived...
© 2001 ivan@mastergamer.com