What do the games Duke Nukem 3D, Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Twisted Metal have in common? These three amazing games were all reviewed back in 1996, but they were NOT that year's best games. At least, not according to NEXT Generation magazine, who gave all three of these all-time classics four stars out of five. As crazy as it sounds, NEXT Generation gave 26 different games a higher score than Magic Carpet 2. I'm talking about the perfect five-star rating, and today we're going to go through all of these reviews to see what makes them worthy of this coveted prize. This is NEXT Generation's Five-Star Reviews, and these are the 26 best games of 1996.
AH-64D Longbow (PC)
#1
“Given that flying a chopper is unlike piloting any other type of craft, it's difficult to make an entertaining, engaging and realistic helicopter simulation, but Jane's Combat Simulations has done it. The Longbow disk includes everything from McDonnell-Douglas PR film that spells out all the specifications of this latest version of the Apache chopper, to the most intense and detailed tutorial a fledgling pilot could ever hope to have for reference. Rest assured, there's enough here to draw in even the most skittish newcomer.”
Battlesport (3DO)
#2
“The hits just keep coming. Put simply, we love this game. A cross between Cyber Sled and ... football? Hockey? Definitely a contact sport of some kind – Battlesport is just what the name implies. For a 3DO title, it's especially impressive. True, the textures on each modeled object are simple, but every polygon is rock-solid. The frame rate, and in turn, gameplay, are as fast-paced as you could ask for. Best of all, it stays that way, even during the two-player split-screen mode, and this is where the game really kicks into gear. As with any split-screen, having your view so vertically limited is distracting, but the sheer fun and excitement of competing in this game against another human player is incredible.”
Civilization II (PC)
#3
“After waiting five years, any follow-up to one of the classic and best strategy games in the history of PC had better be pretty damn good. Incredible as it may seem, Civilization II lives up to the pedigree – in fact, this may be one of the most balanced and playable games ever released. Civ II is so well designed that it's easy to overlook one nagging thing: It's not really a sequel. From what we gather, the designers initially wanted to call this Civilization 2.0, since it's really a refinement and expansion to Civ 1, rather than a true sequel. However, if somewhat misleading semantics in the title is the only bad thing you can point to, that hardly detracts from what the designers have accomplished: Taking one of PC gaming's finest titles and bettering it.”
Crusader: No Remorse (PC)
#4
“A mix between a graphic adventure and a shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later action game, Crusader: No Remorse has all the elements it takes to be an outstanding title: An original interface, killer graphics, spectacular sound, and, wait-for-them video cut scenes. With the breath of fresh air Crusaders gives the action/adventure genre, it's easy to forgive the cheesy acting that seems to be a trademark of full-motion video. Despite this minor failing though, this game has far more going for it than against it.”
Fighting Vipers (Saturn)
#5
“Considering the success Sega achieved with Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers has the unenviable challenge of being the follow-up to what many consider to be the greatest fighting game of all time. In fact, initial impressions of those who have played Fighting Vipers often is “it's VF2 with weirder characters.” But the cookie-cutter is one tool that the AM2 development team has little familiarity with, and despite the similarities to VF2, Fighting Vipers boasts a plethora of added gameplay elements and strategic possibilities that gives the game a character all its own. Fighting Fighters is a game that adds to an already impressive gameplay foundation. The ultimate crime would be for this title to be overshadowed by the reputation of its predecessor. Mark our words, VF2 is one of the best games of all time, but Fighting Vipers nearly eclipses it.”
Formula 1 (PlayStation)
#6
“Despite the plethora of racing games available on next-gen systems, there has yet to be a title that truly satisfies the hardcore race fan on all levels. With its exquisite graphics, wide range of challenges, and startling amount of depth, Formula 1 is the game that changes everything. The graphics in Formula 1 practically jump out at you. Few titles have made the leap expected from the second generation of PlayStation games, but F1 proves that there is plenty of potential in the machines to be exploited.”
Infocom Masterpieces (Mac)
#7
“Once again, Activision has re-released a “complete” collection of Infocom text adventures. Technically, it isn't complete: Activision replaced the colorful manuals with e-documents right on the CD. Also, Shogun is still missing, although since it's universally regarded as having sucked, that's no great loss. However, with Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur and Journey finally making the leap onto CD-ROM, this collection can be considered functionally comprehensive. It has 32 games, promising 1,200 hours of gameplay (minimum) – not bad. And neither are the six additional bonus titles – original games that were winners of an annual interactive fiction contest held on the net. Very cool, and a gamers' must-have.”
Manx TT Super Bike (Arcade)
#8
“With the release of Manx TT Super Bike, one of the fastest and most dazzling bike coin-ops in the arcades, the world has just received the next evolutionary step in bike racing sims. Offering six-gear manual or automatic transmission, just two viewpoints and only two courses, any other game would receive a lower rating, but Manx TT is a technical advanced tour de force in realistic simulation and easily earns our highest rating.”
NFL GameDay (PlayStation)
#9
“NFL Gameday has all the essentials for a good sports game: All the players, teams, stadiums, season play, stats, injuries and trades, and the graphics are exactly what you'd expect from a 32-bit football game. The players are well-animated with relatively detailed uniforms, and the field and stadium are done perfectly. The sounds of crunching tackles, chanting crowds, and whistles are all CD-quality and expertly complement the entire football experience. NFL Gameday isn't the perfect football game, but it is the best football game ever made, so far.”
NHL Face Off (PlayStation)
#10
“NHL Face Off takes all the qualities that made EA sports' NHL series so good on Genesis and adds everything that makes 32-bit games so special. The 3D arena is made to perfection, complete with reflections on the ice and rotating advertisements along the boards. Each team's uniform is done with unequaled detail. The inclusion of one-timers, four different types of checks, slap shots, drop passes, every NHL player and team, statistical tracking, and great AI give NHL Face Off all the great gameplay elements that make NHL '96 so good. Throw in CD quality sound, three different camera angles and some unbelievable graphics, and you have a new challenger for the Lord Stanley's Cup.”
NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn)
#11
“It hardly seems possible that only five years ago, Sega Genesis found itself face-to-face with the more powerful Super NES. Suddenly, just as the battle seemed to be slipping away from Sega, a little, blue hedgehog came along and pumped new life into the 16-bit machine. The man that supercharged Genesis and, indeed, the entire 16-bit generation was Yuji Naka, and he's set to do it again with his latest masterpiece – NiGHTS. In a year when Super Mario 64 for Nintendo 64 is undeniably the grandest thing any of us have ever seen, Sega has dared to give gamers something a little different to gnaw on. – and it will certainly be appreciated by many. NiGHTS simply soars – a grand, groundbreaking game that deserves huge success and the widest possible audience.”
Pilotwings 64 (Nintendo 64)
#12
“Pilotwings 64 is classic Nintendo: a simple, addictive game embellished with extraordinary detail and graphic finesse. Silicon Graphics' promises of delivering a game console with the power of an Onyx workstation may have been met with skepticism, but this game looks like it's running on a low resolution Onyx, and it isn't science fiction. This is easily the most impressive 3D ever seen on a console, and it's been pressed into the service of a totally charming, diverse, and enjoyable game. It may be that there is no other video game developer in the world that could visualize and execute a game like this. Sega, Sony, you can start worrying now.”
Quake (PC)
#13
“Everybody's heard of it. Everybody wants it. If you haven't, why are you reading this magazine? The newest first-person shooter from the makers of Doom dumps you in a universe of crossed dimensions, bloodthirsty monsters, and some of the most frightening ambient sound effects ever produced for a PC game. The best thing about Quake, however, is the play control. Realistic 3D physics cause players to slide down hills and bounce into the air from nearby explosions. Although the graphics aren't quite as astounding as hoped, the overall atmosphere of the textures conveys a sense of dark foreboding. Rarely does a game so completely reach its goal of being the best of its genre.”
Resident Evil (PlayStation)
#14
“Put simply, this is one of the best games we've seen yet for a next-gen system. A jaw-dropping graphic adventure with plenty of action thrown in, Resident Evil takes the basic play mechanics or the Alone in the Dark series and runs with them, combining 3D polygon-modeled characters with prerendered backgrounds. Resident Evil is one of those rare horror games that manages to e as genuinely scary as a good horror film – no small achievement. With liberal amounts of action, challenging game play, smooth control and plenty of genuine scares, this is one game nobody should be without.”
Sega Rally Championship (Saturn)
#15
“In what is quickly becoming the rule for all of Sega's arcade conversions, Sega Rally Championship is a phenomenally good arcade translation and an impressive game for Saturn. From the gorgeous graphics to the unrivaled handling properties and awesome two-player mode (an amazing demonstration of how to balance reduced graphic display with no loss of gameplay), Sega Rally is a symbol of all the reasons to be excited over 32-bit gaming and, more specifically, Sega's arcade translations to Saturn.”
Soul Edge (Arcade)
#16
“Finally, a clear sign has convincingly arrived, proving the fighting genre in the arcade really is improving. Just months after releasing Tekken 2, on the tail of Sega's newest release, Fighting Vipers, comes Soul Edge. Artfully conceived, smooth-moving, beautifully lighted, and deep with four-button combination moves, this new weapon-style combat game is sure to grab gamers and pull them in. All in all, this game adds that new element, just slightly different from the pack, filling in all the blanks with great gameplay, superb characters, and unique graphics and combines them into one solid package.”
Stonekeep (PC)
#17
“It's been a long time coming, but the promised role-playing game Stonekeep has finally been released, and it's been well worth the wait. The graphics are stunning, the music is eerie, and the interface is a pleasure to use. The monsters are refreshingly original: They're either digitized actors with fantastic makeup, or painstakingly computer-generated animation. If you've been waiting for this one to come out (like we have for the last two and a half years), your patience has been well rewarded.”
Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)
#18
“When Nintendo decided that the first Nintendo 64 title would be the next game in the most legendary series of video games in history, it set itself a truly Herculean task. Mario's lineage is two-dimensional, and not ideal material upon which to base the most intensely scrutinized 3D video game of all time. It doesn't help that it comes at a time when gaming is increasingly getting its punch from guns and gore, a la Quake. However, it's also clear that Super Mario 64 isn't purely for kids. True, the presentation doesn't match the edginess of new-breed games like wipEout XL, but when it comes down to it, video games exist to entertain, whether through grim cyberpunk imagery or gaudy toytown colors, and entertainment is Super Mario 64's watchword. In fact, Mario has so many possible actions, and the environment is so intensely interactive, that it's possible to spend hours on the first level without achieving anything in particular.”
Tekken 2 (PlayStation)
#19
“The original Tekken was a definite high-water mark in PlayStation's early days. It was a top-notch 3D brawler in its own right, and the PlayStation version was more than just another straight arcade conversion. Tekken 2 goes even farther. The graphics have undergone improvements. The characters look like broken puppets, but they move smoother than the original, and the animation is nothing short of excellent. And boy does it come with extras. Tekken 2 isn't perfect, but it's damn close, and chock full of interesting characters, humor, and way-cool moves. It's the best 3D fighting game yet available for PlayStation.”
The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall (PC)
#20
“Once you get to a city, the graphics don't look nearly so primitive. Buildings are everywhere. Hundreds of people, with their own names and professions, wander the landscape. They all have a purpose in this world and will speak to you in their own personal way. As you explore Daggerfall, you'll discover thw world is whole, complete, self-contained, and fully detailed. Rumor has it that development finally ended only because the designer reached the limited of game data that could be stored on a single CD-ROM disk – this is a BIG world. The beta testers must have bought No-Doz by the case.”
Time Crisis (Arcade)
#21
“Just like an obsessed A-type engineer, Namco has followed the course of its competitor, copying the “model,” improving on it, and adding new qualities along the way. In the case of Time Crisis, however, Namco's technical precociousness has brought the game to a new technical and gameplaying level above any of its current competitors, namely Sega's Virtua Cop 2. Time Crisis employs a unique foot pedal to move you through the game and to simultaneously reload. By creating this innovative maneuvering technique, in addition to time-based predetermined path running, providing story or attack mode and challenging end-level bosses, Time Crisis thrusts the light-gun genre into brand-new territory – and develops a whole new way of looking at, and playing, the classic light-gun game.”
Virtua Fighter 2 (Saturn)
#22
“Quite simply, Virtua Fighter 2 for Saturn is the best console fighting game ever. The reason for its position at the top of the heap include just about everything that has ever been done right in a fighting game, including blazing 30 frames per second action, several different play modes, remarkable AI, and a general attention to detail that sets a new mark for quality game design. The most important reason for the success of this 3D, polygonal brawler, however, is its unrivaled depth of gameplay. Virtua Fighter 2 is an absolute must for all Saturn owners and a great reason to own a Saturn.”
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (PC)
#23
“Blizzard took every comment, complaint, and pointer gamers made about Warcraft and acted on them. The result of Blizzard's hard work is immediately apparent in its new Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness. Graphics are better, the play control is smoother and the network setup is easier. In short, this is the game that fans have been waiting for. Blizzard would be hard-pressed to make this game any better. Even if you've never played the original Warcraft, pick this one up – it may be the best strategy game of all time.”
World Series Baseball II (Saturn)
#24
“This follow-up to last year's groundbreaking World Series Baseball could have been either a major disappointment or simply the game with new stats. Thankfully, it's neither. There's no baseball game that looks, plays or feels as good as World Series Baseball II. The graphics are so crisp and clean that it makes that competitors look like 16-bit games. The two-player game is incredible and the speed of play enables you to get through a season without becoming bored. A must for any baseball fan, World Series Baseball II is at the top of this year's baseball line-up.”
X-COM: UFO Defense (PlayStation)
#25
“One of the most thoroughly enjoyable PC titles of the last few years has made its way to a home console and it's everything you could have hoped for. Based loosely (very loosely) on the Gerry Anderson UFO TV show of the early 1970s, X-COM pits humanity against a particularly nasty batch of invading aliens, but also researching recovered alien artifacts, and handling the finances of building new bases and buying new equipment. X-COM is compatible with the PlayStation mouse, which works well and we heartily recommend – this was designed with a mouse in mind, and using a PS controller is a poor substitute.”
Yoshi's Island: Super Mario World II (Super NES)
#26
“The long-awaited follow-up to Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, does a good jo of picking up where the original left off. Although it would be nearly impossible to capture the magic of a Mario game without Mario as the main character, it's encouraging to see that Nintendo can still produce a mammoth side-scrolling adventure with enough charm and sophistication to capture the hearts of Mario fans from long ago. The most impressive features of Yoshi's Island are its size and playability. You'll find yourself baffled at the task of completing this gargantuan game, but you'll definitely enjoy trying.”
