A trip back to 2000 in gaming history (Part 1)

Now you might think "this is not history" or "Y2K is just around the corner", but admit it - you're just old and the millennium is already old enough to drink. Y2K is the year when Nintendo sells their 100 000 000th Gameboy and PlayStation 2 hits the streets. Looking back at it - it becomes apparent that we had some mighty awesome games to play while waiting for the apocalypse.
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 2001 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 1)
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 2)
A trip back to 1991 in gaming history

Having that out of the way, let's roll!

• The Sims

Created by Will Wright, "Maxis" and published by EA, The Sims hit the streets in February selling over 6.3 million copies since then. Now I have to mention that where I live "The Sims" was really hard to obtain back in the day and there were just a few kids in the whole school who had the luxury of paying it. All in all, an awesome game and if you get bored of torturing your sims, you should definitely try actually playing it and you will discover the game from a totally new perspective!

• Nox

Nox is set to take place in a medieval fantasy world that lives by its own harsh rules. The game's protagonist - Jack is not from this world and ended up here by accident, although now he is on the path to become a great hero.

• Dead or Alive 2

Created by Tecmo's Team Ninja led by Tomonobu Itagaki, the second (first one premiered in 1996) installment of a popular fighting game series. The game's engine had a signature feature that was responsible for female character's breast bouncing.

• Resident Evil Code: Veronica

Resident Evil - Code Veronica was first out for the Dreamcast and made a stunning effect on the whole Resident Evil community, also became one of the main reasons for many gamers to buy Sega's 128-bit console.

• Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer

The first M&M game I ever played. The biggest new thing introduced in the 8th installment is that now there is only one protagonist, however you can still recruit up to four allies. After trying previous games from the series you can note that M&M 8 has a serious balancing issue (from what I can tell) - the new dragon race, who can deal colossal damage with their fire breathing. (Big love to 3DO for all their games though!)

• WWF SmackDown!

WWF SmackDown! or "Exciting Pro Wrestling" as you may have seen it in Japan was developed by Yuke’s Future Media and had a great deal of new features and game modes. I will not list all of them, but will just say that as a kid i played the hell out of the new "Create a wrestler" mode, where you could create green hulk-like creatures.

• Need for Speed: Porshe Unleashed

• Thief II: The Metal Age

The first "Theif" game was one of the founder of the "stealth-action" genre as we know it. The second one - "Thief II: The Metal Age" set the mark for every other stealth-based game out there.

• Soldier of Fortune

I remember this game having a really cool multiplayer mode (and of course the gore!). Do you have any other fun things to note about it? Please let everyone know in the comments below!

• Messiah

A pretty rare an unknown game for most people, I think. With a very cool idea behind it. You play as a cupid, who can take over people's minds to achieve his goal. The game's release was postponed several times and imho the game got released too late for it to be competitive with others around it. However all in all - you can have some good fun with it!

• The Longest Journey

Developed by a Norwegian studio "Funcom", the game takes place in two parallel universes - magic-centric Arcadia and technology-centric Stark. Really too much to go into detail about, apart from saying that the game displays a wonderfully written and involving story. A genre that I miss so much these days - a "point-and-click adventure".

• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Another installment of the legendary "Legend of Zelda" series released for the N64 and Gamecube. Not going to say much more here as it would be best to have true "Zelda people" share their thought with us in the comments.

• UEFA Euro 2000

Just another one from EA.

• Martian Gothic: Unification

A survival-horror developed by Creative Reality released for Windows and the PS1 near to the end of it's lifespan. The game has a strong resemblance to the Resident Evil series, which in my opinion isn't really a bad thing, since RE sets the mark really high gameplay-wise. Yet the combat system adopted here significantly differs from the one in RE.

• Vagrant Story

An action RPG developed by Square (now Square Enix) and released for the PS1. Interesting thing to note is that the gameplay doesn't include any interaction with shops or any other NPC interaction.

• SimCity 3000 Unlimited

My favorite SimCity part to this day! One of the reasons I used to love Maxis so much.
Cannot really pinpont why exactly this one stands out for me among other SimCities, perhaps there is no "one single thing" - the music, atmosphere, graphics and overall gameplay style gives an exciting and somewhat realistic experience.

• Daikatana

Or John Romero's Daikatana as you might have known it (yes, the John Romero from id software). It was planned to be out in 1997, however due to multiple delays was released 3 years later, in 2000. Causing the game to be technologically outdated compared to other titles released at the same time from the FPS genre. The game is sadly known as one of the biggest commercial failures in the gaming industry.

• Ground Control

• Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption

An RPG based on the White Wolf's tabletop role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade.

I think I am going to wrap up this part for the Y2K post, and honestly, the number of awesome games released that year is too damn high! Looks like it was a truly great year for gamers all around the world, as no matter what you were in to - you would have probably gotten and awesome title to spend that hard earned money of yours (or your mom's) on.

A trip back to 2001 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 1)
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 2)
A trip back to 1991 in gaming history

Thanks for your time and see you soon!