CNN - The top 25 game downloads of 1998
January 4, 1999
Web posted at: 10:30 AM EST
by Games.net staff
From...
(IDG) -- 1998 has been a great year for the computer-game industry and for gamers. Publishers have seen the light by producing a bevy of "A" titles and demos alike. Games.Net assembled our top 25 PC game demos of 1998. You might disagree with our picks, so e-mail the Games.Net editors your top 10 and we'll post the readers' choices too.
25: CyberStrike 2 CyberStrike 2 blends sophisticated 3D combat with simple, easy-to-learn functionality. The essence of the gameplay relies on squad tactics. Whether playing solo or engaging in online multiplay, you'll have download video games to work together with your teammates, AI or human.
Download CyberStrike 2 Demo 24: Populous: The Beginning Populous cast players as a god, ruling the world from above, manipulating nature and persuading the people of the land to worship and follow them.
Download Populous: The Beginning 23: Heretic II Still wondering whether the first-person Quake II engine can translate into a third-person animal. Now's your chance to find out. It includes both single player and multiplayer levels, plus a tutorial to figure out how to maneuver Corvus around before trying to frag with him.
Download Heretic II 22: Delta Force As a member of Delta Force -- The Army's top secret elite Special Forces unit, you will conduct missions swiftly and silently, in every possible terrain, under every imaginable condition and through any means necessary.
Download Delta Force 21: Railroad Tycoon II This is a real railroad game, not just a strategy game that happens to involve railroads. If you want to hop on a plane, car or ship, hop on another game. This game is about trains for people who love trains. Everything about the game is centered around an authentic look and feeling of the railways.
Download Railroad Tycoon II 20: Carmageddon II Carmageddon 2: Carpocalypse Now maintains the same formula of fun, freedom, and pedestrian splattering action that caused so much attention in 1997's smash release.
Download Carmageddon 2 19: Heavy Gear II Heavy Gear 2 will use a completely new, 3D hardware-only engine to propel sci-fi combat gaming even further into the future. The new engine, which takes full advantage of emerging 3D technologies, will enable you to experience a new level of lightning-fast combat action, as well as indoor battles, realistic physics and photo-realistic terrain and graphical effects.
Download Heavy Gear II Demo 18: Blood II: The Chosen More than a year ago Blood was one of the first games to hit the streets using Duke Nukem 3D's Build Engine. Blood drew a lot of controversy for its ad campaign back then, as well as some of its macabre sensibilities. But while not everyone liked the game, a dedicated group of gamers took a liking to setting their friends on fire with a flare gun, not to mention one of the few games to feature a Thompson sub-machine gun.
Download Blood II: The Chosen 17: NFL Blitz This is like no football game you've ever seen before. It features bone-crunching tackles, spectacular catches, and secret plays. All in game-breaking 3D action.
Download NFL Blitz 16: Thief: The Dark Project Thief:The Dark Project is the latest first-person gaming event from Looking Glass Studios, creators of the adventure role-playing classics Ultima Underworld and System Shock. Join us again as we transport you to a world of stealth, subterfuge, and mystery.
Download Thief: The Dark Project 15: FIFA 99 FIFA 99 offers more club teams, more cup competitions, more leagues and a brand new set of options to enable you to customise your own leagues and cups. Brand new in-game features include instant player response for more fluid football, semi-automatic goalies, dramatically improved ball control for faster and more accurate passing, dribbling and shooting, faster frame-rate and new animations.
Download FIFA 99 14: Tomb Raider III Tomb Raider III unfolds in a much more non-linear fashion than Lara's previous adventures. Lara will once again span the globe from the arctic pole to the islands of the South Pacific. But this time gamers will be able to choose their own destiny by selecting the order in which they play each of the 4 main levels. The levels are also more open, with multiple routes to the same end-so choose wisely. Or replay each level, or you might miss part of the adventure.
Download Tomb Raider III Demo 13: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron In Rogue Squadron, your missions will take place during the time period between Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Your superior officer, General Rieekan, will brief you on your mission objectives and advise you on tactics that will help you defeat your Imperial opposition.
Download Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 12: S.W.A.T. 2 SWAT 2 has been completely redesigned to use the isometric strategic view, giving you a large view of the crime scenes as you initially place your units. For those who crave believable maps, these large urban layouts are modeled after real Los Angeles neighborhoods.
Download S.W.A.T. 2 11: Madden NFL 99 John Madden and the Madden NFL 99 production team have been working overtime to develop the best-looking and best-playing football game ever created. Madden NFL 99's super hi-res polygon graphics and new motion captured animations deliver real NFL action on all platforms. See, hear, and feel the impact as you perform authentic NFL jukes, pump fakes, sideline grabs, and monster hits.
Download Madden NFL 99 10: Shogo: Mobile Armor Division In SHOGO you play Sanjuro Makabe, an MCA (mobile combat armor) pilot and commander in the UCASF (the main military force in the Shogo universe). As Sanjuro, your main goal is to locate and assassinate Gabriel, the leader of a rebellion on Cronus (the planet where the action takes place). Character development is a big part of the storyline, and you'll constantly be introduced to new characters who may help or hinder your progress through levels and missions.
Download Shogo: Mobile Armor Division 9: World War II Fighters The skies above World War II Europe come alive with Jane's WWII Fighters. Fly the seven best fighters of the war in the most graphically intense flight simulation developed to date, with unprecedented special effects, terrain, and aircraft detail.
Download World War II Fighters Demo 8: Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome The Age of Empires Expansion: The Rise of Rome is the highly anticipated add-on to the award-winning, best-selling real-time strategy game Age of Empires. Focusing on the legendary Roman Empire, the Rise of Rome will challenge veterans and novices alike to wage war on an epic scale with four additional civilizations, several unique units, new technologies, and new campaigns, including the showcase campaign that focuses on the Rise of Rome itself.
Download Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome 7: Battlezone The original Battlezone of the 1980's was the first 3-D computer game ever. Now Activision presents the next revolutionary Battlezone - the first truly immersive first-person, action-strategy game where you command your troops from the battlefield.
Download Battlezone 6: Motocross Madness Motocross Madness is the first motorcycle racing game that features separate driver/bike physics models. This allows for superior gameplay (because it gives gamers more control over their racing and stunts) and the most fun you can have on two wheels!
Download Motocross Madness 5: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six is a classic Clancy-style story where you lead an elite multinational task force battling international terrorism in highly realistic settings. Game play is organized around a series of missions in which you must plan and execute precise assaults on terrorist installations. As your mission advances, you will uncover a larger and more sinister conspiracy, where the fate of the world hangs in the balance. And unlike other games, if you make a mistake, you're gone - because in the real world, one shot counts.
Download Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 4: Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit Darn! Not again! All that jockeying for position, adrenaline pumping, side swiping, tail-gating action, top off with various creative uses of words I'm not able to mention here during the last straight-away of the last lap. Need For Speed II: SE, took up precious work time here at the PC Games office for a very long time, but at last, we finally got over it. But, lo-and-behold, here it comes again! Need For Speed III!
Download Need for Speed III 3: SiN Sin was designed with one purpose in mind, draw you in and grab you by the jugular. The environments were designed around real world or near future designs. SiN wants you to know where you are at all download video games times. Venture through abandoned buildings, the construction site, a dam, a power station, and a dozen other areas that are so real that you'll swear you've been there before.
Download SiN 2: Grim Fandango Something's rotten in the Land of Dead and you're being played for a sucker. Meet Manny Calavera, travel agent at the Department of Death. He sells luxury packages to souls on their four-year journey to eternal rest. But there's trouble in paradise. Help Manny untangle himself from a conspiracy that threatens his very salvation.
Download Grim Fandango 1: NHL 99 EA Sports NHL series is back with NHL 99 and as always, it comes fully licensed by the NHL and the NHLPA. All new rosters, combined with hot new play, incredible graphics, and a fantastic audio package make NHL 99 the ultimate in NHL Hockey experience.
Download NHL 99
E-mail your choices for the top games of 1998 to marcale_wallace@pcworld.com
