A trip back to 1998 in gaming history (Part 1)

When thinking of 1998 you think of a year that in a large proportion shaped your online habits as this is the year when "google.com" was registered as a domain name. And while Auckland's residents in New Zealand were enjoying the 66-day blackout the rest of us were enjoying the awesome titles that released that year.
Before I carry on with this I'd like to note that it'd be really cool if you reading this would share your thoughts and opinions on the games I highlighted below as I (and probably most other people) am not well familiar with all of them and might have totally missed the awesomeness of some or even generally missed to mention some cool games released that year.
Some other years I already covered, be sure to open them up in a new tab while reading this one.
A trip back to 2000 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 2000 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1999 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1999 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1998 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1997 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1997 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1996 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1991 in gaming history

Having that out of the way, lets get it cracking.

• Worms 2

!

On the 13th of January Team17 released their new Worms game. Let's have a look at the several new featurres introduced there. Firstly - level editor, secondly - team editor. Although you probably know all that anyway. Throuhout the years this franchise managed to keep all their signature features and adapt them to modern systems.

• Resident Evil 2

The new installment of the "Resident Evil" game hit the streets on the 21st of Janueary. Similar to the first game, this one was also worked on by Shinji Mikami. The game was praised by critics as well as regular gamers and had colossal commercial success. Later it was put on the list of PS1 all-time best games.

• Xenogears

An RPG by SquareSoft (creators of Final Fantasy) based on the "Evangelion" anime. The game was highly rated and later joined the all-time best PS1 games list.

• Burning Rangers

On the 26th of February Sonic Team released a third-person shooter "Burning Rangers" for the Sega Saturn console. Critics had mixed feelings about the game, yet GameSpot and GamePro noted this game as the last "good one" for the console.

• Tekken 3

1998 was the year Playstation was hit by another "Iron Fist". I'll keep it nice and short - Tekken is considered one of the greatest fighting series in history. And the third part is actually my favorite, I'd be happy to know what is your favorite "Tekken" and why.

• Parasite Eve

Another title by SquareSoft (currently Square Enix). This time it's an RPG with survival-horror elements. The game is based on the novel "Parasite Eve" written by Hideaki Sena. It received generally positive reviews and later had 2 sequels.

• Commandos: Bthind Enemy Lines

An RTS with stealth-action elements made by the Spanish studio "Pyro Studios".

• Starcraft

Now here we go! On the 1st of April Blizzard releases Starcraft! A game that became an esports discipline and put a start to a world-wide Starcraft movement. What else can I say - legend!

• Warhammer: Dark Omen

On the 6th of May EA releases a sequel to "Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat".

• Guilty Gear

Released for the PS1, a colorful and an unusually stylized fighting game, developed by a team led by Daisuke Ishiwatari. Overall the game received positive feedback, although it did get some heat for being harshly unbalanced at times.

• Unreal

And what do we have here? Another legend! On the 22nd of May Epic MegaGames and Digital Extremes showed the world their creation - a 3D shooter called Unreal. This was a "Crysis" of its time - Unreal Engine set the mark extremely high for the whole gaming industry. As we can see "Unreal" is still alive (currently as Tournament) ant the Unreal Engine (an up to date one of course) still keeps a leading role in the game development industry.

• Banjo-Kazooie

The first "Banjo-Kazooie" game, which later developed into a whole series for the N64 console.

• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

Tom Clancy along with Red Storm Entertainment released the first "Rainbow Six" game on the 7th of August. And yes, back then Tom Clancy was making games without Ubisoft's supervision. Well, the "smart" shooter received tons of positive feedback and a sequel followed shortly, but this topic deserves a post of its own.

• Fallout 2

Another classic, Black Isle Studios did it again! They took all the best they could from the first installment and made it twice as good (in my opinion). Worth to mention that Fallout 2 was much mote commercially successful than the first game.

This is the last game I was planning to put on the first 1998 list. Honestly, when starting looking into games released that year, I did not expect (and did not remember either) so many awesome games being out back then. Do you have anything to add or say about the ones you looked at above? I bet you do! Please let us know what you think or even better post something yourself about one of them and I'm sure we all will be glad to read it!

A trip back to 2000 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 2000 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1999 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1999 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1998 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1997 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1997 in gaming history (Part 2)
A trip back to 1996 in gaming history (Part 1)
A trip back to 1991 in gaming history

Thanks for your time!