2002 in video games: More arcade gimmicks, Pokémon, Warcraft, and GTA

 

The pattern of arcades in the early 2000s trying to draw in gamers by offering what they can't duplicate on a home system continues, as the top-earning game is the monster apparatus you see above, Sega's World Club Champion Football. Like some other previous top games, it has a big screen, a shared experience with multiple inputs, and offers a hybrid gaming/collecting experience with players using trading cards to create teams to then play on the game.

I'd really love to find one of these big systems to play somewhere down the line.

Being only a recently indoctrinated fan of Pokémon games, I'm experiencing all of these original games for the first time. The thing is, because I only give myself an introductory sample of gameplay for each of these, it's a little repetitive. Start off in my house, go talk to a Professor with a tree for a last name, choose my Pokémon (this time I made the choice my daughter would have), go win a couple of battles, and call it a day.

I will say that the introduction to this year's best-selling handheld game, Ruby/Sapphire, did have a funny, but oddly though-provoking bit in the beginning as my avatar was moving to a new home, and my mom hits me with this:

I mean, it's always an intriguing part of the Pokémon world that has you collecting creatures to fight one another for sport, but they can also be slave labourers? Huh.

Next up, I'm just watching some gameplay of Warcraft III, the top-selling PC game for the year because, alas, I didn't find a site to give it a play. At least I can recognize the mechanics from Starcraft and similar games that have ruled the PC roost in previous years, though with such advancements that the connection might be hard to recognize. 

From reading some contemporary reviews and commentary about the pre-orders and hype around the release, I can see that missed a big deal at the time, but I just wasn't playing these types of games at the time. 

Speaking of which, here we go: my first time playing any iteration of Grand Theft Auto. In 2002, it was Vice City for the PS2 as the top-selling game of the year.

I knew from the outset that this was going to necessarily be one of the games that I barely crack, just to get the flavour of it. I also knew, just from what I'd heard about the games, that it would afford me the opportunity to play an open world game the way I like to play it: ostensibly, not playing it. I like to wander, I like to explore, and I like to avoid the main storyline for long stretches at a time. 

So, that's me up there, learning that I could stand on the hood of a taxi and let it drive me around for a bit. After that, there was a terrible misunderstanding where I came upon two cops in a fistfight with a suspect and, since I happened to walk by one of the officers who'd fallen and dropped his gun, I picked it up without intending to and all of a sudden - I'm the suspect. That's not fair. I managed to out-run them and ended up on a beach where I wanted to see if I could swim. I couldn't. 

After re-spawning, I gave cops a wide berth and ended up in a nightclub where, I swear, I just wanted to chat with a guy who looked like a bouncer standing by the bar and the bartender shot me with a shotgun?! Was this Tech Noir?

That was enough for me to get a taste of GTA. I know I'll be returning to the franchise again anyway, so I'll see if I can find a less dangerous path the next time around.