GameSpy's PC Game of the Year 2005[图]

State of the PC
So, another year of PC games is behind us, and it's been a pretty good year. Or has it?

There's no doubt that there were some outstanding PC games released in 2005. F.E.A.R. pushed boundaries in first-person shooter combat with non-linear levels, enemies smart enough to navigate those environments, and an interesting mystery that brought new meaning to seemingly random visions upon a second playthrough. The Brothers in Arms games (as well as Battlefield 2) attempted a melding of the FPS and RTS genres with the ability to view the battlefield from above and issue orders to soldiers. Guild Wars experimented with the idea of an MMO with no monthly fee, to the delight of many players.

And yet, despite all this, it's hard not to see 2005 as a down year for PC games, one in which PC gaming arguably found itself heading in the wrong direction.

First, there's the technical end of things. A year ago, we saw a huge leap forward in graphics with the release of games like Far Cry, DOOM 3, and Half-Life 2. Whether it was dark tunnels with dynamic lighting or tropical islands with astounding water effects or a grim future populated with advanced physics and ultra-detailed character modeling, the games of 2004 pushed the graphical bar way up. In comparison, the games of 2005 are still playing catch-up. F.E.A.R. was one of the few games that could compete with the class of '04, but required a significant hardware bump to enjoy. Call of Duty 2 used an all-new engine, but still rated about a 7 on the graphics scale. At the shallow end of the pool, you have games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which looked three years old the day it hit the PC. Civilization IV required a good deal of hardware for a game that didn't look all that spectacular. And Indigo Prophecy, despite its great story and interesting twist on the adventure game, often looked like a game built to run under Windows 98.

Then there's the state of gameplay. I'd love to think of the PC as a place where developers could experiment and innovate, but it seemed most games were preoccupied with rehashing old formulas than breaking new ground. No game was a better poster child of this than Quake 4. Personally, I loved the game's throwback multiplayer and I'm still playing it regularly, but the single-player campaign was mind-numbingly stale. Had it been completed in a normal 18-month development cycle and released in 2002, it might have seemed a lot more exciting, but the decision to extend development to use the new DOOM 3 tech basically sealed Quake 4's fate as a game that would be outdated long before it was finished.

But the most discouraging thing about the state of PC games in 2005 was the feeling that the big publishers just don't seem to care that much about growing the PC platform and its audience. Games are routinely shoved out the door prematurely, with the assumption that a "Day Zero" patch can be released to clean up final bugs. Many publishers are still gun-shy about releasing games in the DVD-ROM format, even though they're releasing cutting-edge graphical games with virtually no hope of running acceptably on "average" hardware. Multiplatform games are dumped on the PC with little care shown to improving the visuals. Even some of the best games of 2005 -- Civilization IV, Battlefield 2, etc -- have had significant technical issues. It's just accepted now that PC gamers will deal with it. It's enough to make you wait 8 hours in line or spend $800 for an Xbox 360.

Will things turn around any time soon? It's really a Catch-22: developers and publishers can't justify catering to the PC because the sales figures aren't there ... but those sales numbers will never go up as long as PC games continue to be released in a half-assed fashion. The best bet is that the status quo will continue for the foreseeable future: games will still be rushed out the door, require patches, and often demand more hardware than seemingly necessary. In many ways, the PC is treated as an unwanted stepson by many publishers; sure, they give it a home and feed it, but it often seems more out of obligation than love.

Despite the mounting odds stacked against them, there are still plenty of developers doing what they can to create the best PC games possible. Over the next 20-or-so pages, we'll be listing our can't-miss games of 2005, as well as handing out a few well-deserved special awards. It should come as no coincidence that the developers of these games -- companies like Blizzard, Ensemble, Firaxis, Irrational, Monolith -- have a long legacy of building PC games and understand what makes them tick. Companies like these help keep the PC as a cutting-edge gaming platform, something we expect to remain true for a long time.

Enjoy the awards, and see you in 2006!

(Hopefully, playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars)

- Sluggo

Honorable Mention: World of Warcraft

You might be wondering what World of Warcraft is doing in our 2005 Top Ten, since, having been released in 2004, it was also in last year's list. Simple. Although there were plenty of great PC games released in 2005, no game dominated PC gaming this year like the MMORPG behemoth known as World of Warcraft. In one way or another, it was THE game that everyone was competing with for playing time this year; had it been released in January instead of November 2004, it would easily have taken top honors in this list.

World of Warcraft's instant popularity created some rough moments in its early months. At points, login servers would crash, making it near-impossible to log on, and entire servers would buckle under the pressure and go down for hours at a time. Blizzard occasionally awarded players with extra days of playing time as a make-good on the downtime, as well as rest bonuses to make up for outages. A few months into 2005, Blizzard started to get a handle on things -- new realms were launched to handle the weight, and mid-day server reboots became more of an oddity than a common occurrence.


Although there wasn't a retail expansion released for World of Warcraft in 2005 (The Burning Crusade was only formally announced at Blizzcon this past October), Blizzard continued to add significant new content throughout the year. Early on, Molten Core was added as a 40-man raid dungeon, which quickly became the dungeon for guilds to focus on. Later, the 40-man Blackwing Lair and the 20-man Zul'Gurub were both opened during the year, as well as the extremely popular 5-man Dire Maul instance. At the other end of the spectrum, new quests were added to fill out the run from level 1 to level 60, as well as special events like the Darkmoon Faire. Finally, there was the long-awaited addition of PvP combat, including the honor system and the Battlegrounds, which now consume many players day and night.

World of Warcraft continued to grow and improve throughout 2005, keeping millions of players hooked while attracting new players. We can only speculate how many hours of lost sleep, sick days, and missed classes WoW has already caused; for a lot of PC gamers, World of Warcraft was the only PC game that mattered in 2005.

10.Silent Hunter III

Back in "The Day," the PC was the platform of choice for hardcore simulation gaming. Store shelves were full of flight sims, tank sims, helicopter sims, mech sims ... you name it. But the relatively small size of the simulation market and the high cost of creating modern PC games has really put a crimp on the genre. Nowadays, only a handful of great sim titles brave the odds. We are thankful that Silent Hunter III is among them.

Silent Hunter III is the Citizen Kane of serious simulation titles. The game packaging might tell you that it's a simulation of a World War II submarine, but what it doesn't tell you is that it'll put you right in a submarine. But for the spray of the sea, you're there.

Of course, Silent Hunter III is not for the timid. If you just jumped into your sub and started ordering your young impressionable German soldiers around, you'd run into disasterous consequences. No, this game has to be approached with a healthy respect for the material. Like the movie classic Das Boot, Silent Hunter III is as much about the people as the hardware. If your engines are going to run at full efficiency, they're going to run that well because you've kept your engineers Otto and Klaus well fed and rested during the long, treacherous nights clawing through the English Channel.


A game of Silent Hunter III isn't spent staring at a bunch of dials or simulation readouts. Instead, you actually get a captain's-eye view of the submarine, complete with your haggard crew standing around and fidgeting with authentic controls. Sausages hang from the ceiling and sway with the ship. When you fire off your torpedoes, you pull out a lovingly modeled German stopwatch to time the impact. It's incredibly engrossing, especially when your ship is racked by a depth charge right off the port bow and the entire interior swivels some 90 degrees in either direction like you're standing inside a child's toy.

A dynamic campaign mode allows you to experience the whole scope of submarine warfare during World War II, from the early days where U-Boats were the terrible invisible masters of the sea to the bitter end of the war, when allies had perfected sub-hunting and every convoy was armed to the teeth. Do well and your crew will gain more experience as you unlock more and more goodies for your sub. Do poorly and, well, the Atlantic is a cold, cold place. Not everyone will get into a hardcore simulation like Silent Hunter III, but we're happy to number it among the best for the PC this year.

9.SWAT 4

After many years -- and a number of developers -- the SWAT franchise made a triumphant return to the PC in 2005 with the release of SWAT 4, created by Irrational Games (who had a pretty good year, as you'll see on the next page). Although it maintained the spirit of the series, it provided a great change of pace from the types of shooters we've become accustomed to in recent years.

First, SWAT 4 isn't about shooting bad guys -- it's more about NOT shooting them. The basic gameplay thrusts you into high-intensity, close-quarters situations where you sweep from room to room trying to keep everyone alive -- hostages and criminals alike. You can never be quite sure if a suspect will comply with your orders, so you need to keep your finger on the trigger, but only shoot when absolutely necessary.

Adding to the tension was the fact that each of SWAT 4's scenarios were randomized every time through. You never know who was on the other side of the door -- a room could be empty or it could be crawling with bad guys. Key personnel crucial to the success of each mission could be in any number of hiding spots, giving SWAT 4 a unique replayability most shooters lack.


Tying all this together was a simple interface that made controlling your fellow SWAT officers and associated gadgets a breeze. With a few simple clicks, you could snake a camera under a door to see if anyone was waiting there, pick a lock, and send your team in with a smoke grenade. You could break your squad up into fireteams, get alternate views of the level via helmet-mounted cameras, give orders remotely, and even jump from team to team if needed.

Finally, SWAT 4 offered a number of fun multiplayer modes, from defuse-the-bomb and VIP capture scenarios to extremely challenging co-op play (the computer A.I. is pretty smart about charging a room properly, while it's pretty easy for a team of humans to clog a doorway and get shot in the process). In a year that didn't see any new Rainbow Six or Counter-Strike titles, SWAT 4 was a welcome return for the series that any fan of close-quarters combat titles should have in their collection.

8.Freedom Force vs. the 3rd Reich

Good writing, art design, and presentation will never be a substitute for solid gameplay fundamentals. When you have the core of a great game, though, and add all those things on top of it, you have a game that easily shines through the clutter. That's exactly what happened with Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich, a stellar superhero strategy game that manages to dazzle and delight the senses even as it challenges the player's strategic abilities.

Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich is basically a squad-based strategy game in which the player takes control of a team of up to four superheroes and guides them against a crew of bizarre enemies in missions that range from stopping Cuban missiles from being launched at Florida to sneaking into Adolf Hitler's Berlin. Taken purely as a strategy game, Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich would be enjoyable enough. It's a solid title with plenty of challenges to overcome and strategic options to play around with. The difference, though, is the candy-coated package that the great gameplay comes wrapped in.

Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich is an affectionate send-up of the "Silver Age" comics of the 1960's. The game begins in 1963, when some dastardly supervillains alter the flow of time, causing the Nazis to win World War II and forcing the Freedom Force to travel back to World War II to fight against Uncle Adolf's bully boys. What really sells the presentation, though, is the note-perfect aping of the over-the-top Jack Kirby/Stan Lee style of the era. Everything in the game, from the comic book fonts to the heavily outlined art to the clichéd nature of the game's storyline will be instantly familiar to anyone who grew up reading classic Marvel comics like the original X-Men or The Avengers.


More than a mere parody, the game's writing, art, and character design, also manage to work on their own terms. The game's heroes and villains, ranging from mutated gorillas to lightning-shooting Nazi brains in floating, are treated with just enough seriousness that they can be credible enemies for the equally wild heroes even while the player is laughing at the exaggerated silliness. No overworked comic book plot point is missed as the player has to deal with heroes dying and coming back from the dead as villains, time traveling Nazis, and the endless love triangle. Every element of the game oozes with the naive charm and cheesy glory of the era.

In the end, Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich is the quintessential example of the wisdom of letting a creative team follow their own muse. Imagine the pitch meeting for a superhero game that doesn't wallow in the post-modern irony and "dark and edgy" angst of modern comics. "You mean you want to make superheroes that are fun, silly, and upbeat? It'll never work." Well, Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich does work, and it works brilliantly. Whether you're a strategy gamer, a comic book fan, or just want to play a game that'll bring a smile to your face from the moment the program starts, this is your game.

7.F.E.A.R.

It was one of our Most Wanted games for 2005, and didn't let us down: Monolith's latest FPS took your standard modern military shooter, gave it an anime-horror spin, and produced one of the smartest and most gripping shooters of the year.

On the surface, it's easy to be swayed by F.E.A.R.'s good looks. Using an all-new graphics engine, F.E.A.R. was easily one of the most amazing-looking games of 2005. Not only did it use dynamic lighting and shadows to build an ultra-creepy atmosphere, but every firefight became a set piece in itself, especially when using your character's special slo-mo ability: enemies would blur, sparks would fly, debris would kick up, and explosions would light up the screen in a way few shooters have before.

But F.E.A.R. was a lot more than a pretty face, with an interesting mystery that shrouded the game at every corner. Who is this weird Fettel guy psychically commanding the clone army? Who's the creepy little girl you keep seeing around the Armacham office complex? What are these strange voices and visions you keep experiencing? At times, you'll wonder if it's all a wild goose chase, but in fact the game continually gives you pieces of the overall puzzle, and when it all wraps up, scenes and visions that originally made little sense suddenly take on much deeper resonance -- something rarely seen in an FPS.


Finally, even if you didn't care about the story, F.E.A.R.'s combat upped the bar as well. Instead of the usual linear level design used in most shooters, many of F.E.A.R.'s levels branched down multiple corridors and connecting offices -- and enemies understood how to navigate them. Firefights would play out differently each time, depending on how you'd approach a situation -- at times, enemies would surprise you from alternate pathways you didn't know existed, adding an extra level of tension to a game that worked extra hard to keep players on the edge of their seats.

F.E.A.R. also boasted some fun multiplayer modes, from standard deathmatch and CTF to last-man standing and modes using the slo-mo abilities. But F.E.A.R.'s lasting impression is made in its final few levels, where all the strange occurrences of the previous 10 hours are tied together in a way that will make you want to play through it all again. Monolith has produced some of the best first-person shooters of the recent generation, and F.E.A.R. stands among the best of them.

6.Guild Wars

When a mammoth game like World of Warcraft is unleashed upon the world, it's hard to take in the long view of the MMO market. But its four-million-odd subscriber base be damned, there is a game out there that's pushing the boundaries in more meaningful -- and, very likely, more far-reaching -- ways. That's Guild Wars, which gets the nod here for a multitude of reasons. Primarily, it provides a gameplay experience that's packed with topnotch content, well-designed underlying systems, and amazing visuals. And it provides all this without a monthly subion. It's a bold move for an MMO, and when you consider that the quality of Guild Wars' experience is on par with the best pay-for-play MMOs out there, well, it's bound to make splashes. And we'll be feeling their effects soon.

What lends Guild Wars some much-needed distinction in the genre apart from this is its focus on PvP gameplay. True to its title, the focus of Guild Wars is to pit evenly-matched teams of players against each other in organized battles, and every aspect of the game seems designed to facilitate this. Leveling is a means to an end; the game's design takes into account the fact that players will only level so that they can do the fun stuff -- in this case, take part in battles -- and as such, the process is comparatively painless, and abbreviated. In fact, players can create an end-game character from the get-go, and hop into PvP straightaway. Granted, these characters aren't going to be able to compete against ones that were actually leveled there (skill disparities, anyone?), but if you just want to mess around, or try out other classes in high-end situations, it's a wonderful feature.


That said, Guild Wars' PvE game is no slouch. The core of the cooperative experience is a series of exciting, challenging missions that more often than not require the help of other players to complete. Think of them as Diablo but with some more, err, narrative substance. Through completing these missions, you'll unlock key abilities for your characters, open up new areas of the world, and get to enjoy some genuinely great PvE content. And in many cases, you don't have to do the LFG dance for hours -- if you're short a player for a spot, you can always recruit one of the NPC hirelings. They're always eager to serve, if not incredibly bright.

The short of it is that Guild Wars represents the form that MMOs will take in an ideal world. Great content, no monthly fees, and oodles of opportunities to interact (eviscerate?) your fellow man. It's contributed to 2005 being a great year for MMOs, even in the shadow of World of Warcraft.


5.Age of Empires III

The real-time strategy genre has been relatively stagnant the last couple of years, but 2005 had some heavy-hitters step up to the plate. Dragonshard had some fantastically innovative ideas and a lot of new features, although it didn't always execute on the gameplay front. At the other end of the spectrum you have Age of Empires III, which was light on innovation but outstanding when it comes to execution.

Graphically, Age III was one of the best of the year for PC and undeniably the most beautiful real-time strategy game to date. The way that the light plays off of the water is astounding: from the pale orange of the Great Lakes at sunset to the shimmering tranquil blue of the Caribbean, the effects were often hypnotic. Trees sway in the breeze, casting dappled shadows on the ground while leaves flutter to the earth. You can see squirrels skitter along trees, or the intricate rigging of ships as they set sail across the ocean.

Once the combat starts, the eye candy really kicks in, with cannons tearing off chunks of buildings or scattering ranks of troops like so many toy soldiers, their hats and muskets whirling away in all directions. From the snowy wastes of the Yukon to the steamy jungles of South America, Age of Empires III captures the majesty of a spectacular era.


Not that the game is bereft of innovation. New to the genre is the concept of a "Home City," which is almost like a persistent online character that represents your faction. As you gain experience on the battlefield, your Home City can send shipments to your town center. Over time, from one game to the next, you can upgrade your Home City with new abilities, and even customize its appearance. It's a great incentive to keep you playing "just one more game," and a new twist on the gameplay. Two high-level German players might play the game completely differently, based on the abilities they've picked for their Home Cities. There's also some strategic tension with regards to which shipments you send to your colonies and when you ship them.

Online play is a blast, and one of the things that helps cement Age III's position on our list this year is the stellar online environment. The ES-Online service is the model of how an in-game multiplayer service should be organized. From a very slick interface you can create a persona and a player icon, manage all your Home Cities, add friends to your buddy list, send instant messages, participate in chat rooms, see everyone's stats, play in different ladders, and (of course) search for and play online pick-up games. Age of Empires III may not have re-invented the real-time strategy genre, but it certainly set new standards for years to come.


4.Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

It's become a tradition here at GameSpy: a new Grand Theft Auto game gets released for consoles before the holidays, and the following May or June, we set aside a few weeks to get lost in the subsequent PC version. This year was no different, as San Andreas produced the greatest experience of all the GTA games to date -- it was another memorable epic that deserves better than the silly "Hot Coffee" controversy that's dogged it throughout the year.

For this go-round, the series shifted to the 1990's and the fictional state of San Andreas, which includes three different cities that spoof Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. If Vice City was a play on Scarface, then San Andreas is the series' Boyz in the Hood, which centers on Carl "CJ" Johnson, who's just returned to his home in the L.A.-like "Los Santos" after a stint on the East Coast. The early portions of the game focus on Carl getting sucked back into the gangsta lifestyle, but the game eventually changes locales a few times and morphs into a far more memorable (and often goofy) crime saga.

San Andreas succeeds for many of the same reasons its successors did: it turns you loose and frees you to discover your own adventures. You're often able to choose from multiple missions within the main story, or take on side missions like firefighting, burglaries, or simple races. The cities are loaded with cars to gank as your own, plenty of routes to get where you're going, and multiple ways to win missions. Far from a rehash of the previous GTAs, new additions to San Andreas include a new RPG-lite system allows you to build Carl's stats without requiring a lot of busy work. Carl's look is further customizable with tattoos and outfits bought from various stores, and easy for players to end up with completely different versions of the story's hero.


The PC version doesn't tamper with this in any way, offering solid controls (the mouse/keyboard combo arguably makes the game easier than using a gamepad), and although the graphics are a bit behind the curve for PC games, they were still an improvement over the console versions. The production values also remain as topnotch as ever, with actors like Samuel L. Jackson and James Woods providing memorable performances, and an amazing soundtrack of over one hundred songs from the '90s that we're still not sure how Rockstar managed to pull off. And if that's not good enough for you, the PC version once again allows you to import your own MP3's and create your own dream station.

For all the controversy they've generated (and they are, certainly, games meant for adults) all of the recent GTA games have been brilliant in the way they've created playgrounds for players to explore. San Andreas is every bit the classic as its predecessors -- long after you've completed the turf wars and casino heists of the main story, you'll still find yourself exploring and looking for new ways to get into trouble. It's not to be missed.

3.Call of Duty 2

You'd think we'd be tired of these WWII games by now, and you'd certainly think Call of Duty 2 would be hard-pressed to top the performance of its predecessor, which took top honors as GameSpy's 2003 PC Game of the Year. Well, you'd be wrong. Call of Duty 2, despite treading familiar ground, manages to be an absolute blast from start to finish and leaves you wanting more, making it the best single-player FPS of 2005.

Like the original Call of Duty, CoD2 is split up into three separate Russian, British, and American campaigns. And although parts of the campaigns explore new ground, like the British missions in Africa, the objectives haven't changed much, either -- you're always fighting as part of a bigger squad running from one battle to the next, whether it's driving Jerries out of a town or blowing up anti-air guns or holding down a position until reinforcements can arrive.

And yet, thanks to the deft touch of developer Infinity Ward, these battles never feel boring or repetitive. One Russian mission has you restoring communications by repairing a telephone wire snaking through treacherous territory. An epic American mission has you making a last stand at Hill 400 against a German counterattack. Many of the missions take place in larger areas or offer multiple routes from place to place, creating battles that feel more dynamic and unpredictable than its predecessor.


Of course, it wouldn't be a Call of Duty game without giant, Hollywood-like set pieces. The very first mission has you turning a three-story building into complete rubble, and CoD2's obligatory D-Day mission features hundreds of soldiers making an unforgettable assault on a cliffside. Another mission puts you in the driver's seat of a tank and sets you loose in the desert against an army of enemy steel. No matter how free-form the combat occasionally becomes, you always feel like you're at the center of a thrilling WWII adventure flick.

All the action is brought to life with a new graphics engine, featuring smoke effects that add to the game's tactical angle and soldiers with fantastic animations. Multiplayer echoes the offerings of the original game, with a "Search & Destroy" mode that's essentially WWII Counter-Strike, and even a few remakes of popular CoD maps. (Sadly, cheating has marred online play as of late.) All in all, it's every bit as thrilling as the original Call of Duty, and a game every self-respecting action gamer should have.


2.Battlefield 2

It's been a part of our gaming lifestyle for so long that it's hard to believe that Battlefield 2 only came out this year. Although it's had its share of rough spots, it has rapidly become the de-facto team-based multiplayer experience of the year, and with good reason.

Based off of the brilliant infantry + vehicle combat engine of the original Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 2 brings large-scale multiplayer combat to the modern era. Jets roar overhead while high-tech tanks rumble across dusty roads or shallow streams. Helicopter gunships circle command points while rocket-wielding infantry creeps along through the underbrush to rip off that one ... perfect ... shot. Battlefield 2 brings players together in an enormous, gripping, shared combat experience.

The map variety lends itself to a variety of gameplay. Various Chinese and Middle-Eastern environments provide the backdrop, with each map available in three sizes for different groups of players. Some wide-open maps favor fast vehicles and aircraft. Others depict tight urban environments, where infantry has to escort tanks through winding streets or else they're rocket bait. Adjusting to the different terrains makes Battlefield 2 feel like several different games in one.


Some innovations help keep this title on top. One player on each team can step up into the "Commander" position, giving him or her a bird's-eye view of the battle map and icons representing friendly forces and enemy forces in visible range. Players can easily join squads, with built-in voice chat available within each squad. Commanders, meanwhile, can voice-chat with squad leaders and give them orders on the big map. Artillery strikes and airdrops are also possible to support the action. All of a sudden, communication is easy; even 32 random players on the Internet can suddenly form up into a pretty formidable force, so long as you have a good commander and a handful of good squad leaders. Although we'd seen many of these features in Tribes 2 some years before, Battlefield 2 integrated them seamlessly into gameplay.

As if the action wasn't addictive enough, Battlefield 2 provides a deep stats tracking system integrated right into the game. Every player has a rank, and you can move up the ranks by helping out your team online. By providing ammo, repairing vehicles, healing teammates, or simply blowing up the enemy, you accrue points that you can later spend on better gear for your soldier. Or, at the very least, bragging rights. It's awesome to show off your collection of medals for being the ultimate battlefield engineer or medic.

Battlefield 2 has given the crew at GameSpy hours and hours of entertainment throughout the year. Although we were somewhat disappointed in the quality of the recent Special Forces expansion pack, the core game is still an awesome experience. Just don't steal my tank while I'm repairing it, please.


1.Civilization IV

Get this: Civilization IV has a built-in alarm clock feature, which will ding when you've spent X number of hours playing. It's there to remind you that you should sleep, eat, or perhaps go to work. The fact that you would forsake all of the above -- to such an extent that you might need a reminder or you wouldn't even notice -- is a testament to just how addictive and engrossing this game is.

We didn't think it was possible for Civilization to make such a powerful comeback. No doubt, all the games in the franchise (minus a couple notable multiplayer flops) were solid. But games like Civ III showed signs of age: they were clunky-looking, with an awkward interface and gameplay that tended to chug along at a frustrating pace. Civ IV brings the series back to center stage. It's elegant, it's fast, and the interface is vastly improved. Plus, like the cherry on top of a delicious sundae, it actually has functional (and enjoyable!) multiplayer play.

In case you've been living under a rock, Civilization is a turn-based strategy game where you pick a culture and shepherd it from a single stone-age settlement to a sprawling modern-day empire spanning many cities and capable of building spaceships. Along the way you'll compete with your neighbors, opting for diplomatic arrangements (such as open borders or technology sharing) or outright hostilities ("let's see your catapults stop my tanks, Ghengis!") There are multiple victory conditions, allowing you to go for peaceful or not-so-peaceful victories.


The flexibility of the game really stands out. Want a fast game with a lot of cutthroat fighting right from the stone age? Pick a tiny landlocked map and crowd it with a half-dozen civilizations. Perhaps you'd prefer an epic struggle, stretched out over thousands of years? Pick a large map, with separate continents, so that civilizations have to discover advanced sailing technologies before they come in contact with one another. Either type of game is fun, and each one will play out completely differently.

Although Civilization IV is a deep and rich game, it's very simple to play. Without any understanding of the underlying game systems, you can easily make fun decisions and enjoy yourself. ("I'll build some war elephants and research ... The Alphabet! Who's gonna stop me?") But as you learn more and more about how the game works and how to maximize your civilization's impact, you can really drill down, wrack your brains, and play out a long-term strategy. ("If I build this wonder, I'll be more likely to generate a great artist, who I can use to spread culture in this frontier city next to the Russians...") With a dozen skill levels to choose from, the game works on either level, and grows with you as you discover more about it.

The single-player game alone would rank high on GameSpy's list this year, but the multiplayer really kicks it over the top. It's still a little rough around the edges, but it's very playable. What really helps multiplayer along is that an online game is a "rolling" game -- players can pop in and out over the course of the game, with the A.I. filling in for missing players until new ones arrive. Over the course of a few hours you can have an epic battle across a map, with different rulers jumping in and out changing up the diplomatic or military environment. Because it's a turn-based game, playing online requires some patience, but it's a real blast for players willing to invest the time.

For depth, variety, replayability, multiplayer, and sheer fun, Civilization IV is our clear choice for this year's PC Game of the Year.

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PC Game of the Year
Civilization IV

PC Top 10 Games of the Year
1. Civilization IV
2. Battlefield 2
3. Call of Duty 2
4. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
5. Age of Empires III
6. Guild Wars
7. F.E.A.R.
8. Freedom Force vs. the 3rd Reich
9. SWAT 4
10. Silent Hunter III
HM. World of Warcraft


PC First-Person Shooter
Call of Duty 2

PC Action/Adventure
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

PC RPG
Dungeon Siege 2

PC MMORPG
Guild Wars

PC RTS
Age of Empires III

PC Turn-Based Strategy
Civilization IV

PC Sports
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06

PC Racing
Need for Speed Most Wanted

PC Adventure
Indigo Prophecy

PC Simulation
Silent Hunter III

PC Expansion
The Sims 2: Nightlife

PC Mod
Garry's Mod for Half-Life 2

PC Multiplayer
Battlefield 2

Best Graphics
Age of Empires III

Special Achievement in Art Direction
Psychonauts

The 5th Annual Lens Flare™ Award
Real-Time Dynamic Lighting

Best Sound
Call of Duty 2

Best Music
The Movies

Level of the Year
"Titan of the Emperor" from Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War -- Winter Assault

Best Story
F.E.A.R.

Best Character
Kreia from KotOR II

Best Use of License
Ultimate Spider-Man

Most Underrated Game
LEGO Star Wars

Best Value
Guild Wars

Trends We Like
Experimentation in the FPS

Trends We Hate
Slow Year for Some Genres, Again

Continued Technical Baggage

Dumbest Controversy
"Hot Coffee" in GTA: San Andreas

The 4th Annual "When It's Done?" Award
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Green Banana Award
Star Wars: Galaxies

Biggest Disappointment
The Matrix Online

Coaster of the Year
Diplomacy