1998: Gaming's Greatest Year from 1UP.com

As the nineties slowly rolled to a stop, something magical happened; in just twelve months, a handful of developers completely changed the industry with five fantastic games that redefined genres and inspired constant imitation for years to come. And, strangely enough, these bursts of innovation weren't limited to the release of some overpriced, bleeding edge piece of hardware; they happened across a variety of platforms that came into being years prior.

For some developers, 1998 marked the first year gaming had finally overcome its polygonal growing pains, allowing designers to fill their worlds with interesting ideas, now that they no longer had to concentrate on preventing their works from breaking apart at the seams. For others, graphical prowess didn't change matters much; some world-changing productions amounted to a collection of time-tested concepts presented in a highly polished and appealing package. Though each of the following games took their own approach to legendary status, they all saw release in 1998, making it the most memorable year in gaming history.

Half-Life

Valve didn't stand alone in trying to add something more substantial to the typically testosterone-driven first-person shooter; years earlier, both Ultima Underworld and System Shock added RPG elements to the traditional FPS framework, but didn't quite set the world on fire. Half-Life didn't deviate too far from the demon-blasting action of Quake and Doom, at least in play style, but its setting presented an environment and atmosphere that genre vets had never seen before. Unlike its competitors, Half-Life didn't open with blistering guitar solos and explosions en masse, but rather, a quiet and ominous tram ride meant to introduce players to the enormity of their new playground. And the first living beings the protagonist meets can't be killed (not that Hal-Life gives you anything to kill them with); in fact, the nebbish scientists of the prologue spout brief bits of dialogue when prompted -- a startling idea for a genre where players most often shoot first and ask questions later.

The Black Mesa Research Facility still offered a variety of weaponry for dispatching its many threats, though the run-and-gun tactics of previous FPSes wouldn't always work here; the leather-clad assassins in particular gave gamers a far greater challenge than the brain-dead imps and pig cops of the past. Above all, Half-Life's setting felt like one big, interconnected world -- even with occasional breaks for loading -- a far cry from the distinct maps that acted as the FPS standard for quite some time. By the the Gordon Freeman reached the last leg of his journey, the path carved through Black Mesa's dangerous corridors definitely made his surroundings seem far more grounded than game environments of the past. Today, most FPSes can't help but borrow from Half-Life -- just try and find a modern example that doesn't contain at least trace amounts of this game's DNA.

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