Since the last games guide hit the net we haven't seen any further bad RTS games appear, at least not that I've noticed, so I will instead use this opportunity to once more lay into two horrendously bad titles, albeit briefly this time. Force Commander is still and will always be a terrible game with terrible balance, terrible gameplay and terrible units. As for Dominion, well, let's just say that it's a tough choice between Dominion and Daikatana as the worst game from Ion Storm yet. Additionally, when they can't even find good screen shots for the box you know it's going to look even worse when you play the actual title, and Dominion did.
No One Lives Forever recently landed on the doorstep of the Sharky Extreme offices, and being the Games Editor I got first dibs on it, and I'm damn glad that I did. We'll have a full review for you in a few days, but after a fair few hours play I have to say that I'm rather impressed with it. The different missions are wonderfully varied and include numerous stealth missions, a diving mission spent entirely underwater, and of course the well-known mission where Agent Cate Archer, the character you control, must take a parachute from an enemy in midair having leapt from an aeroplane without one of her own. Of course, it has its fair share of standard run and gun missions too, but since the level design, weapons and enemy AI are all so well done these sections are just as fun as some of the more novel missions. The character models and levels are all SO 1960s, which makes a refreshing change from secret bases or alien motherships. It's easily one of the best FPS titles this year and when it finally hits shelves is certainly worth a purchase for anyone who loves FPS games or even those cheesy 1960s spy movies which this game takes great joy in spoofing, somehow without making you cringe.
However great as No One Lives Forever is, it is still just bested by one of the most original and enjoyable titles this year and indeed in recent years, Deus Ex. After the embarrassingly poor and incredibly overhyped Daikatana, Deus Ex arrived to save face for Ion Storm in grand style with its intricate story soaked in conspiracy theories and the sheer amount of choice that the player had in all scenarios, from deciding how to allocate skill points to finding a way into a building through any number of possible routes, each one catering to a different kind of player. You could also sneak and snipe, rampage with a rocket launcher or something in between after customising your skills and augmentations to perfectly complement your preferred style. Many months after its release it still remains a strong contender for game of the year despite strong competition from some of the other titles mentioned in this guide.