1999, (Runoff) Game of the Year

[SvennoJ]

One game in 1999 changed my life completely, a turning point and imo the best game of all time.

But first other great releases in 1999:

Starting with some amazing racing titles that came out in 1999, first Crazy Taxi (Arcade, DreamCast 2000 release)

A game I played to death on DreamCast. This was simply amazing to play on my projector back then, better than in the Arcade lol. However for some reason my projector didn't like the input signal levels of DC so I had to connect the DreamCast to my PC which upscaled the game to 800x600 then send it back out as S-VHS signal to my projector. The added lag wasn't even notice-able and the result was amazing. Crazy Taxi on a 72" screen was very addictive.

Re-Volt came out in 1999 on DreamCast

A super fun micro racer with a great track selection and 4 player split-screen. Perfect to play on the wall but also a hit at work. I took the DreamCast so we could have 4 player battles at lunch break in the break room. 4 people crowding around a little TV, too much fun. (We stretched the lunch hours a bit lol)

Yet Driver on Playstation was revolutionary and a wish come through. Realistic or rather weighty feeling driving through open world city with lots of car chases. So smooth, tough but great handling, perfect risk vs reward balance.

We also played the survival mode hot seat style, trying to avoid the cops for as long as possible. Doing donuts in the park was the best solution, turning it into a ballet of cars sliding around trying to out manoever the cops for as long as possible.
What a game, ahead of its time as GTA3 didn't release until 2001.

1999 is also part of the golden years of RTS which lasted on until the mid 2000s with Age of Empires 2 of course

The height of the series and still amazing to play today. This might be the prettiest isometric view game I have played.

Homeworld was a great surprise in 1999, RTS in 3D space, brilliant


It was awesome to watch the space battles p0lay out, all the little ships buzzing around the bigger ships doing attack runs and dodging returning fire.

A classic that still holds up today as well.

Command & Conquer kept going strong as well with Tiberian Sun


Yet the best RTS on 1999 was something completely different, Rollercoaster Tycoon

It got me super addicted to making the best park ever with intertwining rides and synchronized roller coasters. It's also the first game I uploaded save games from to share and downloaded other people's creations. I wish I could find that site again (likely gone) as I lost my save games in a HDD failure. I miss my perfect park lol, only lives on in my memories now. Just like Transport Tycoon you could adjust the terrain to fit to your park to make it all look even better.

Btw, cleaning up vomit, that was Theme Park. Rollercoaster Tycoon gave you all the feedback needed not to have people throw up on your rides, and also feedback how to build the most popular rides. Working to get that excitement score up and the thrill score as close to but under the vomit limit meant a lot of rewarding tinkering. And intertwining rides was the best way to bring that excitement score up.
 
Simply amazing what you could build with it and it all kept working brilliantly.

1999 also arguably had the best 4X game in Space with Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

Great tech tree, great factions, all the addictive game play of Civilization in basically a direct sequel as setting out for Alpha Centauri is one of the victory conditions of Civilization. This needs a sequel or remake. It sort of did get one in Beyond Earth but imo Alpha Centauri is still better.

For multiplayer FPS Unreal Tournament set the bar so high, it's still my favorite multiplayer fps.

If this doesn't look familiar, you have missed out! Another title we played to death at work in LAN setting, alternating with HL Death match as our 6 to 7 o'clock fun before heading home. The included maps were awesome, the controls were perfect, great weapon selection and power ups. Just pure fun.
Then there was a treasure trove of extra maps to be found online. Plus it had some neat balancing options like making your character bigger (easier to hit) when you were dominating (great announcer as well!) or thinner into a stick figure when struggling.
I've played this at home in LAN setting a lot as well, later with UT2004 when I had multiple PCs at home for work. Actual playing online worked great but was never as much fun as at home or at work. I held up pretty well online but playing with random people is just not very fun imo.

Adventure games were in rapid decline but there were still some gems like The Longest Journey:

Reminds me, I still have Dreamfall Chapters installed and ready to play, on the back log. Another Kickstarter project that actually came through, however the laptop I had at the time couldn't run it very well. Should be fine now, just need to make time for it. (Games are too long nowadays)

Another one that sits shamefully on my backlog, I still have the PC box and all, Planescape Torment

It slipped through the cracks as I had started with the GOAT already which soaked up most of my time.
I will get to Planescape someday, along with Fallout 1 and 2.

I'll buy it again from GoG as I don't have a CD slot anymore to install my box copy lol.

Looks great on modern hardware as well.