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Metacritics top 10 critically acclaimed (90+) games of 1998. Do you agree? Which is your favorite?

Your favorite from Metacritics top 10 of 1998?

  • Baldurs Gate

    Votes: 23 6.0%
  • Half-Life

    Votes: 56 14.5%
  • Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped

    Votes: 6 1.6%
  • Metal Gear Solid

    Votes: 106 27.5%
  • Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time

    Votes: 127 33.0%
  • Grim Fandango

    Votes: 12 3.1%
  • Banjo-Kazooie

    Votes: 11 2.9%
  • Tekken 3

    Votes: 11 2.9%
  • Thief the dark project

    Votes: 10 2.6%
  • Gran Turismo

    Votes: 23 6.0%

  • Total voters
    385
So some might laugh at how late I am on this but apparently Metacritic had tracked games as far back as the mid90's which surprised me. So I took a look at the top rated games that were dangerously critically acclaimed (MC score 90 or above) and wanted to know which of Metacritics top 10 1998 games were your favorite.

1998 is an important time in gaming. PC 3D cards were starting to consolidate, and consoles were finally figuring out 3D gameplay and we're about to transition to a new set of consoles with finished 3D game design. For the most part.

Here is Metacritics top 90+ critically acclaimed games of 1998 in order, which stood out to you?

Ocarina of Time
Tekken 3
Half-Life
Gran Turismo
Metal Gear Solid
Grim Fandango
Banjo-Kazooie
Theif project
Baldurs Gate
Crash 3 Warped

Also it's the only 90s year with 10 games scoring over 90 which also surprised me.
 

elliot5

Member
Of that list maybe Crash or Gran Turismo for me. I only recently played Grim Fandango and liked it though. The rest I haven't really played.
 

SinDelta

Member
I'm familiar with some of those games by reputation. I know pretty much all of them are masterpieces by which all games are judged.

This is the game I judge all others on.

iu
 
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MisterHero

Super Member
Ooh that's a tough choice between Banjo and OoT, but OoT is my 2nd favorite game of all time behind Mario 64.

What a great year.

I should give Half-Life a try if I can ever get my home internet working again.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
OoT was insanely innovative. Z targeting still widely used to this day in 3rd person games. Gets my vote but Id probably rather play MGS now.
 

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
I have a soft spot for Zelda, but MGS was also off the chain
 
I'm surprised that Baldur's Gate has more recognition than Half-Life (I prefer Half-Life... and it seemed like the more popular among these two at the time).
 

Mozzarella

Member
Sadly there's no Fallout 2 or Resident Evil 2 and i heard Xenogears was good too. Also Starcraft.

From that list i voted for Metal Gear Solid, its the first one that i think was the best. Thief 1 comes close and then Ocarina of Time. If it was Thief 2 instead of 1 i would have voted for it.
 

Ezquimacore

Banned
this year was amazing, considering this list and other games like Resident Evil 2, Pokemon Stadium, F Zero X, Mario Party, Xenogears, Spyro, Marvel VS Capcom, Parasite Eve
 

GametimeUK

Member
MGS is without a doubt the single greatest game on the PS1. It's cinematic style with its unforgettable cast of characters just absolutely captivated me back then. The sentimental value I have for this game and the fact it was a gateway for me to play things a little bit more "grown up" make it have a special place in my heart. The sound design was top notch and I have the soundtrack burned into my brain. The codec for Meryl being on the back of the box just blew my mind as did the boss fight with Psycho Mantis. It was one of those games that helped define the PS1 era.

How many of us have fond memories of searching for Easter Eggs and finding secrets? There were always quirky little things you could do in game and it just made revisiting it so much fun. It was definitely one of those games we discussed on the playground in great detail.

I really miss it when games like this were not scared to do something against the norm and raise the bar of what's possible in the world of video games. There was no playing it safe with MGS and we all absolutely loved it.

It's an honour for this game to be my 2nd favourite on the list. My vote goes to Ocarina of Time.
 
OoT was insanely innovative. Z targeting still widely used to this day in 3rd person games. Gets my vote but Id probably rather play MGS now.
Z targeting wasn't new. That's a carry over myth from the 90s. But it does help in oot.

I'm surprised that Baldur's Gate has more recognition than Half-Life (I prefer Half-Life... and it seemed like the more popular among these two at the time).

I mean considering how long the series went without a sequel people may have forgotten about half life lol.
 

Ezquimacore

Banned
Z targeting wasn't new. That's a carry over myth from the 90s. But it does help in oot.



I mean considering how long the series went without a sequel people may have forgotten about half life lol.
z targeting was really new, other games tried before ocarina like Megaman Legends but the way they did it was not that great. Zelda did the "cinematic z targeting first" the one we still use.

fbsOFQU.jpg
 

01011001

Banned
Metal Gear Solid is my favorite of those, but Half Life is the one I would say would objectively be the best game on the list

highly overrated among them are Banjo an Crash 3
 
z targeting was really new, other games tried before ocarina like Megaman Legends but the way they did it was not that great. Zelda did the "cinematic z targeting first" the one we still use.

fbsOFQU.jpg
It's just lock on tracking movement computers had this for awhile and iirc so did some arcade games.

The heck is "cinematic" Z targeting lol? Why are we pretending it's anything more than movement lockon. I mean it was probably the best implementation on consoles but most games are now using that poor version of better lock on systems perfected by PC.

N64 had good games but the system created so many myths it's nauseating. Like Mario 64 was the first with camera control. Wut?
 

Ezquimacore

Banned
It's just lock on tracking movement computers had this for awhile and iirc so did some arcade games.

The heck is "cinematic" Z targeting lol? Why are we pretending it's anything more than movement lockon. I mean it was probably the best implementation on consoles but most games are now using that poor version of better lock on systems perfected by PC.

N64 had good games but the system created so many myths it's nauseating. Like Mario 64 was the first with camera control. Wut?
you're saying so much without saying anything, typical gaf dork. cinematic z targeting is not just the lock on, is when the character movement does what link does.

 

Dream-Knife

Banned
I love OoT and view it as the greatest game of all time, but having recently replayed Half Life (Black Mesa), I really have to give it to HL. No game was like it.
 
you're saying so much without saying anything, typical gaf dork. cinematic z targeting is not just the lock on, is when the character movement does what link does.


I said movement lockon twice, you aren't actually reading my posts you're looking for a fight instead. Sorry but it's not new and almost all games use the lock on from PC. It's impressive fo the type of game Zelda is but come on, it's not new. That's it.

Still a good game.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
Z targeting wasn't new. That's a carry over myth from the 90s. But it does help in oot.



I mean considering how long the series went without a sequel people may have forgotten about half life lol.

If youre talking about mega man legends, it is so bad in that game that i doubt it inspired oot
 

Ezquimacore

Banned
I said movement lockon twice, you aren't actually reading my posts you're looking for a fight instead. Sorry but it's not new and almost all games use the lock on from PC. It's impressive fo the type of game Zelda is but come on, it's not new. That's it.

Still a good game.
of course is not new, I never said it was, I even mentioned Megaman Legends doing it a year before ocarina. But It was still very new at the time, and zelda did it best at that time when it was new because they added the movement with the lockon. Just like the mario 64 thing you mentioned, yeah there were games that tried the free camera before but mario did it best. Nintendo doesn't invent most of the things they do, but they innovate the thing they do. Same with the wii mote which right know is basically the standard for VR and same with the 3d without glasses.
 

01011001

Banned
I said movement lockon twice, you aren't actually reading my posts you're looking for a fight instead. Sorry but it's not new and almost all games use the lock on from PC. It's impressive fo the type of game Zelda is but come on, it's not new. That's it.

Still a good game.

Z targeting is different from a camera lock-on. as soon as you use it Link's whole movement changes, his attack abilities change and the camera angle also changes all in order to enhance your fighting abilities. it's basically like activating combat mode
in games like MM Legends all it does is lock you onto your enemy while actually limiting you abilities, which is why if you're actually good in the game you will never use it... it makes the game play worse and you less agile.
 
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jigglet

Banned
Ocarina introduced Z lock-on / camera centering, possibly one of the most important mechanics in 3D gaming.

It also doubled as a side step button, and a backflip modifier. It was genius game design. So much functionality packed into one button.

For no other reason than Z centering it has to be TOOT. Miyamoto in his prime was a thing to behold.
 
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Z targeting is different from a camera lock-on. as soon as you use it Link's whole movement changes, his attack abilities change and the camera angle also changes all in order to enhance your fighting abilities. it's basically like activating combat mode
in games like MM Legends all it does is lock you onto your enemy while actually limiting you abilities, which is why if you're actually good in the game you will never use it... it makes the game play worse and you less agile.
I said movement lockon multiple times don't dissect my post. Also people mention MML without considering where MML got it's implementation from. My only argument is that Z targeting wasn't new. Not that it wasn't used well in OoT. Which needed it to function.

I also find it strange people think that's the system most modern games use. It's not. But OoT is still fun.

of course is not new, I never said it was, I even mentioned Megaman Legends doing it a year before ocarina. But It was still very new at the time, and zelda did it best at that time when it was new because they added the movement with the lockon. Just like the mario 64 thing you mentioned, yeah there were games that tried the free camera before but mario did it best. Nintendo doesn't invent most of the things they do, but they innovate the thing they do. Same with the wii mote which right know is basically the standard for VR and same with the 3d without glasses.

Maybe on consoles Mario did it best.

Also VR is using similar controls as it did in the 90s. None of this is new. Like people saying the Wii is why we have Gyroscope in phones when older smartphones and pocket pcs had them.
 

Porcile

Member
Ocarina of Time easily. There are very few games that do so many things right: story, characters, art, music, level design, world design, world building, combat, exploration, puzzles, atmosphere, replayability etc It's not the best at doing one particular thing but it's the best at doing all those things in one game.
 
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then what game invented z targeting?
That's a branded term, it's called lock on with movement. Lock on in all variants is old.

But Zelda needed it when it came out. So did similar games on N64 due to subpar cameras in early console 3D, that's why the game is associated with it despite it not being new.
 
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