1: THE SIMS 2
Millions of people fell in love with the customizable suburbanites of The Sims, which became the best-selling PC game of all time. How could veteran designer Will Wright top that? Answer: by showing just how adorably complex these creatures can be.
In Sims 2 (for PC; $49.99), your characters grow older, pass on their genes to their kids, even die. They have life goals (like raising a family or raking in cash) and short-term aspirations (like making a new friend or buying a new refrigerator).
You can make your characters look like just about anyone (one gamer got 15 minutes of Internet fame by creating Sim Bush and Sim Kerry housemates). With the click of a button, you can even record the important moments of their lives as a movie file.
2 : ROME TOTAL WAR
Do you know what it's like to line up thousands of Roman troops from the legionnaires to the attack dogs and bring them thundering down on your enemies? If you've had the chance to play Rome: Total War (for PC; $49.99), the best real-time strategy game yet made, the answer is yes.
The level of battlefield detail is amazing, going far beyond previous Total War titles, set in medieval Europe and imperial Japan. You can direct the entire bloody battle from a distance or zoom in and see the reflection in a single soldier's helmet.
3 : HALF LIFE 2
This game (for PC; $54.99) was five years in the making, and every minute appears to have been well spent. The graphics and physics of how objects move in Half-Life 2's world are by far the most realistic ever to grace a computer screen.
As you wander the streets of City 17, the alien-controlled police state your character Gordon Freeman is attempting to subvert, you have to rub your eyes to realize you're not actually visiting an East European capital. And check out the mayhem you can cause with Gordon's gravity gun, which sucks in any metal object, then fires it out at will.
The only catch: you will need a pretty powerful PC (one with a 2-GHz processor) to enjoy Half-Life 2's full experience.
4 : KATAMARI DAMACY
From the moment you see the Monty Pythonesque title sequence all flying pandas and singing geese set against the annoyingly catchy title music you know you're dealing with the most unusual and original game to hit the PlayStation2.
You play a pint-size cosmic prince frantically rolling his Katamari (a sticky ball) around a landscape filled with household objects. At first, the Katamari can pick up only thumbtacks and other small items. But the larger it gets, the more it can pick up, until eventually you've got a ridiculous giant ball of junk that can successfully spear skyscrapers.
5 : GRAND THEFT AUTO: SAN ANDREAS
Yes, it's violent, amoral and laced with profanity just like the Boyz N the Hood–era gangsta films to which it pays homage. But what really draws players back to this latest installment (for PlayStation2; $49.99) in the controversial Grand Theft Auto series is just how open-ended it is.
Sure, you can take your homies on that drive-by shooting raid on a rival gang, or you can grab a car at random and simply explore the state of San Andreas. The designers at Rockstar have packed the cities of Los Santos and San Fiero (a.k.a. Los Angeles and San Francisco) with hundreds of Easter egg–like surprises for many happy days of hunting.
6 : BATTLEFIELD VIETNAM
Multiplayer games—in which participants compete via the Internet continue to grow in popularity. The most dramatic entrant this year was Battlefield: Vietnam (for PC; $39.99), a surprisingly likable simulation of America's least-liked conflict.
Choose one of a dozen maps (from the Mekong Delta to the fall of Saigon) and log on to a server with 30 or so like-minded players. The server automatically divides you into Americans and Viet Cong. Then all you have to do is capture as many enemy flags as you can and try to get killed as few times as possible (death merely means a 10-sec. time out).
7 : HALO 2
Halo: Combat Evolved was the best reason to own an Xbox. It was a fast-paced, seamless sci-fi action adventure set in awe-inspiring alien landscapes. Its sequel (also for Xbox; $44.99) is wait for it a fast-paced, seamless sci-fi action adventure set in awe-inspiring alien landscapes. The new plot is relatively thin and ends with a cliff hanger you will either love or hate (and may have to wait another three years for Halo 3 to resolve).
8 :BURN OUT 3
Most driving games tend to reward you for steering clear of other drivers. Not the Burnout franchise. You can still race around a track if you want, but where Burnout 3 (for PlayStation2 and Xbox; $49.88) really excels is in Crash Mode.
9 : FABLE
What if there were a game in which every choice you made even the seemingly insignificant ones nudged you slightly toward good or evil? That's the moral question that has haunted legendary designer Peter Molyneux for many years, and Fable (for Xbox; $44.95) is his latest attempt to grapple with it.
Early on, the scene is set in the village of your character's childhood, where you have the freedom to choose whether or not to take the side of a bully, rat out a cheating husband or dutifully watch a valuable set of crates. The consequences stretch into your adulthood, by which time you will be either a noble hero for hire or a terrifying rogue.
10 : PIRATES
Back in 1987, the best way to waste time on a Commodore 64 computer was to play the part of a grog-swilling buccaneer in the 17th century Caribbean: getting rich on plunder or trading among British, Spanish and French ports and trying to marry one of the governors' daughters before you retired.
Now Sid Meier's classic has been given a 21st century makeover. Meier has added lush new 3-D graphics and a host of minigames within the game. You can try your hand at sword fighting or sneaking into a hostile town at night. Wooing the governor's daughter now involves dancing the right steps at a society ball.
