A trip back to 2003 in gaming history (Part 2)

Do you know what is common between Half-Life 2 and the year 2003? On the 11th of September 2003 Half-Life 2's complete source code was leaked and potentially anyone could get their hands on it! Not that a lot of people cared though, yet if you have - it was a very special day for you. Anyway back to the subject - let's have a further look into what you guys (and me of course) were paying back in 2003.

Before I carry on with this I'd like to note that it'd be really cool if you reading this would share your thoughts and opinions on the games I highlighted below as I (and probably most other people) am not well familiar with all of them and might have totally missed the awesomeness of some or even generally missed to mention some cool games released that year.

Some other years I already covered, be sure to open them up in a new tab while reading this one.

Having that out of the way, let's get the ball rolling!

Postal 2

Now this game holds a very special place in my heart! Banned in several countries, the game does feature some really abhorrent content and as a kid (lol yeah, I don't think kids should play these kind of games) this game was loads of fun and enabled the kind of violent activities that you would not see in video games elsewhere at the time. But now I have sort of mixed feelings about it as my views on violence have changed since then. How do you think to what extend is violence needed in games? (And I'm not talking about genres where violence is a given, such as horrors)
P.S. Postal 3 is just a sad parody of the this game.

Star Trek: Elite Force II

A sequel to the 2000 "Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force", similar to the previous games - this one also makes use to id Software's engine, however this time it's a heavily modded Quake III engine.
I myself don't have a history with Star Trek games, how do you think - are they worth picking up now?

Colin McRae Rally 04

Fourth game in the series - I don't have much to say here, so please be my guest, what do you have to add here?

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

The sixth Lara Croft installment, a direct sequel to "Tomb Raider Chronicles". The first Tomb Raider game to be released for the PS2. The game's development began 3 years before its release and the release itself was delayed twice. I personally did not feel this game and by the looks of it - not only me as the potential trilogy was scraped and the franchise was transferred over to Crystal Dynamics. Do you have a favorite Tomb Raider game?

Midnight Club 2

A sequel to Midnight Club: Street Racing and the first game in the series to feature motorcycles. The game was commercially quite successful and sold around 1.28 million copies worldwide for the PS2.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Now Star Wars games are quite often a delicate subject, so I will just say this - upon the game's release it received extremely positive reviews from both critics and casual gamers praising it for its deep and immersive story, complex characters and overall gameplay. It was nominated for numerous awards and is often referred to as one of the best games ever made.
Now my favorite Star Wars game is surprisingly not this one, it's Jedi Academy - what's your favorite one?

Silent Hill 3

Finally! A direct sequel to the very first Silent Hill game. Now I find this game to be a decent survival horror in every sense. A more open question for you though - what is your favorite horror game/series?

TRON 2.0

An FPS based on the Tron franchise. However interesting to note that Tron's original creator Steven Lisberger and Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski state that Tron 2.0 is not a part of the "Tron" movie concept.

The Simpsons Hit & Run

The best Simpsons-themed game ever made - period. As said, a parody on the GTA III game, yet (at least to me) the game is a lot more fun than it's prototype. Coming back to my question asked in the "Postal" description - you can have violence in your game but presented in a mostly acceptable and fun way.

Chrome

An FPS from the Polish Techland, haven't got much to say here, so all hopes on you!

Homeworld 2

A sequel to the 1999 "Homeworld". The game took a significantly different approach compared to the original and did it quite well I must say. The scenery and various small gameplay elements work extremely well together.

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

My personal favorite Star Wars game and in my view criminally underrated. Please do give it a try it you haven't so far.

Freedom Fighters

A third-person shooter set in an alternate history where the USSR invaded the US and took control of New York.

Lineage II

Now if you know this game - you know what "grinding" really means. On the 1st of October 2003 South Korean gamers were able to go all in on this MMO. The game has become a true cult classic since then (I personally invested years into it) and to this day still has many players and hosted servers around the world. If you played it or by any chance still are - please share your thoughts and stories with all of us!

Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown

Not too much I can say about this one, I assume it's not only me?

Commandos 3: Destination Berlin

The third installment in the Commandos series, same as the earlier parts, this one is also developed by Pyro Studios. The first game in the series to use a true 3D engine and the last one to make use of a real-time tactics concept before going all FPS. To that point Commandos games were really delightful to play, don't you think so?

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

A worthy successor to the original title - a captivating story tied together with an awesome action gameplay. The game received great reviews from critics and gamers, yet despite all that sold poorly.

Hidden & Dangerous 2

A stealth-based tactical shooter. Development of this game was announced in April 2001 - two years after the release of the original title.

Warlords IV: Heroes of Ethernia

A turn based strategy game, the fourth installment in the series. To me this looked like a HOMM wannabe, am I wrong?

Worms 3D

We all know what Worms is, don't we? And this is the first worms title to expand into the 3rd dimension. At first sight I thought that this is a betrayal of the original concept, however after giving it a try I found it to be a really delightful thing to play, what do you think?

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

A reboot of the series, and a mighty splendid one, I have to admit. Previous attempt took place in 1999 with Prince of Persia 3D, but we all know how that went. The game used Ubisoft's Jade engine, originally designed for Beyond Good & Evil.

Beyond Good & Evil

An action-adventure by Ubisoft. The game has a quite complex story, yet gives you a significant deal of freedom in what you do (at least compared to games of that time).

Need for Speed: Underground

The seventh installment in the series and my very favorite one to this day. The first game in the series to use THX technology. Can be considered as a reboot - the first NFS title to offer a storyline career mode. Do you have a favorite NFS game and please let it be not Most Wanted :)

XIII

A stylish FPS which is loosely based on the 1984 Belgian graphic novel series "XIII".

Deus Ex: Invisible War

The second installment in the series and a direct sequel to the original game. Quite uniquely to its time the game successfully combines FPS, RPG and stealth gameplay elements. Although the first Deus Ex game that I played was "Deus Ex: Human Revolution" - what was your first one?

Call of Duty

Inspired by MOH's success Infinity Ward releases their COD - the first installment in the series which uses a modified version of the id Tech 3 engine. Much of Infinity Ward's development team consisted of members who helped develop Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. I am not a COD person at all but I would like to ask a provocative question just for the sake of it - what's so good about the COD series?

Comparing to my previous post actually - 2003 seems to have slightly less noteworthy games to mention. Although no doubt about some of them being monumental landmarks in gaming history, as usual I would greatly appreciate if we all could have some discussions about the above to hopefully leave this page with some good ideas on what games we should give a try.

Thanks again for your time, peace out!

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darth-azrael (70) 6 years ago

My favorite Star Wars games are still the X-Wing series.

$0.02

2 votes

orkin420 (60) 6 years ago

When CoD was good!

XIII was revolutionary artistically

Homeworld 2 was epic

Max payne was still telling awesome stories

Those are my thoughts on this list

oh and Need for speed was still good too

$0.00

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1 vote

gametestplay (48) 6 years ago

I had so much fun with Simpsons Hit n Run. I liked to go over to Ralph's house and repeatedly kick him over and over again until my roommate had to pull me away from the GameCube.

bobbit6k (43) 6 years ago (edited)

Freedom Fighters is a true gem: great storyboard, intense action.
XIII was like "much wow!" when i saw the cellshading technique in a fps. Ubisoft used it again in Red Steel 2. With (in my opnion) greater results.
Beyond Good & Evil .... wow, little tear here. Awesome. I have some memories with me playn' at that game close to another person :-). Nostalgia Apart, MASTERPIECE!!!!

I played and finished those three games on my purple GameCube :-)
This Will answer to your question:

What is your favorite horror game/series?

Resident EVIL 4 has set the standard for that in my opinion. At Launch it was an exclusive production for GC. :-)

Great Round Up Buddy keep it up :-)

emtecks (50) 6 years ago

Thanks for the response! I haven't actually played Red Steel, but remember picking up XIII with quite high expectations but still ending up super impressed by it

brainpod (57) 6 years ago

Postal 2 was such a riot. OMG... the offense!!! :-p

swapnilgopal (34) 6 years ago

Woah! That's probably 10 times more the no. of games I've played in my lifetime. Well done for researching and writing about it buddy.

bengy (78) 6 years ago

XIII I never tried, I always meant to... and Homeworld 2 (the remake) is sitting in backlog ready to play!

KOTOR and Max Payne 2! I can't believe it's been so many years! I really loved those two!

hasenmann (58) 6 years ago

Great stuff there!

I need to get Commandos3.
Loved the game and got mad in some missions!

Thank you!

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