The Greatest Games of the Decade: The Year 2003

The list for 2003 is a short one for me. In fact, out of all the years of this decade, this one has the fewest games to make the list. I'm sure there were other good games that came from this year, but looking over a few different lists of major releases from this year, there were only two games that caught my eye as ones that I played and thought were great games. The greatest game of this year is one that I only played for about a week (in which time I beat it and played through all of the optional content), but it completely enthralled me while I was playing. I would play all day and into the wee hours of the morning (I was home for break from college and didn't have a job at the time). So even though I only played this game for a week, I put a lot of hours into it. It was a short, but very hot, fling.





Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Quick Facts:

Platform: Xbox, PC
Genre: RPG
Developer: Bioware
Publisher: LucasArts
Release Date (North America): July 15, 2003 (Xbox)
Rating: T


Another great Bioware title (noticing a trend in my favorite games here?) with a great story and cast of characters. I wont give away too much here (though anyone who hasn't played this by now probably isn't going too), but this game has one of the greatest plot twists ever, and I'm not just talking about in video games. I'm talking about any form of media, including movies, TV, books, plays, etc. That's how shocking it is. And of course, a plot twist cant be great unless it has a great plot to twist, so like I said the game has an amazing story. The game takes place a few thousand years before the movies do, during the reign of the fabled "Old Republic" (hence the game's name) and their conflicts with the Sith Lords and other various factions. While fantasy RPGs (Baldur's Gate, NWN) are great, there's something about the world of Star Wars that seems to make things even cooler. That may not be true for everyone, but for someone who fell in love with Star Wars as a little kid from the first time they saw it on VHS (thanks, Mom!), having a game take place in that universe and being able to use things like the Force and lightsabers is even cooler than a game that takes place in some fantasy world (no disrespect to Faerun of course).

The character customization in the game was also great, with lots of different classes and jedi classes to suite your play style however you like it. And, like Baldur's Gate II before it, this game was notorious for your decisions affecting the world around you and even the characters that traveled with you in your party. Of course, being a jedi, you could eventually choose to follow the Light side or the Dark side, and whichever path you picked would greatly effect the outcome of the game. And certain characters in your party liked you better depending on whether you were good or evil. If you were evil enough, you could even permanently kill people in your party to intimidate the others and set an example. Stuff like that is still deeper than a lot of the games that come out today.


Honorable Mention:

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (PC, Xbox)- The only other game that I truly loved from this year also happens to be a Star Wars game, though a far different one. While Kotor (Knights of the Old Republic) was an RPG, this game was an action game (I believe you could switch between a first person mode and a third person mode). Also unlike Kotor, this game is part of the Jedi Knight series of games (that started with Dark Forces and Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight), and this series takes place a few years after the Return of the Jedi. Jedi Academy was a lot of fun, with lots of cool weapons and force powers, great levels, and a decent story.


So 2003 was short but sweet. That's the way it goes sometimes. Comments are always welcome, and stayed tuned for 2004!