“In order for a game/piece of hardware to get an 'Extreme Game/Hardware Award', it'll have to be bloody spiffy, saucy, spicy and as close to perfect as possible. Let's face it - that isn't easy.”
– Sharky (in the Sharky Extreme Rating Guide)
It sure as hell isn't easy! But this year, things have been good for us gamers. Whereas I can literally count the truly excellent titles of last year on one hand, this year we were presented with so many quality titles that if I decided to keep counting using my available digits, I'd have to take my shoes and socks off. Only the crème de la crème of games get an Extreme Game award from us, so it's pretty encouraging that an impressive 10 titles picked up that award this year. Just for fun, here's a look at those titles that received an Extreme Game award, along with a few that we decided to belatedly give an Extreme Game Award also, simply because, in retrospect, they were excellent enough to deserve it.
After the phenomenal success of Baldur's Gate, a sequel (Baldur's Gate II) was inevitable. Bioware weren't content to churn out a similar experience to the first game though and instead improved on the already excellent Baldur's Gate in countless areas to create one of the best computer RPG experiences yet.
I still can't praise this title highly enough, and the news that a sequel is in the works was one of the best pieces of gaming news for me this year. Deus Ex offers the player a fantastic story that's firmly rooted in real world conspiracy theories. What's more, the multiple ways to complete most situations proved cooler than I could have imagined before playing it – in most games if you can't find a key to a door, your only alternative is to beat your head against said door and give up. In Deus Ex, you can pick the lock, find a service chute to use instead or just blow a big hole in the door. As I've said before though, that's just a simple example. Really, if you haven't even tried Deus Ex yet you truly ought to. It's an instant classic that I'm unlikely to stop raving about until the sequel arrives.
In May 1999, Julie Strain promised "I'm going to KICK Lara Croft's ASS!" And sure enough she did. While Lara Croft continued to battle the same old jumping puzzles and switch-finding conundrums, Ritual released FAKK 2 with the main character, Julie, based on Julie Strain herself. The levels were truly gorgeous, the mix of combat and shooting just right and overall it was just seriously good fun. What else matters?