The games industry is extremely competitive--sometimes it's not enough for a game to be good in order for it to be a commercial success. In spite of their great qualities--and in spite of critical acclaim--each year, certain games fail to draw the kind of public attention they seem to deserve. The cause of this can be bad marketing, bad timing, an overly ambitious design, or something else. Here is the winner of the 2001 Best Game No One Played Award:
Victorious Boxers
Publisher: Empire Interactive
Developer: New
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This is a category that saddens the hearts of the GameSpot editors. With the multitude of bad games that are released each year, we hate to see a truly outstanding game slip through the cracks. There are a number of reasons why truly excellent games get passed by. Sometimes a game doesn't get an appropriate amount of advertising, and people never know it even exists. Sometimes the timing is off, and a slew of higher-profile games steal all the attention. Sometimes the game is so unique that it's difficult to categorize, and it never finds its audience. Our choice for this year's Best Game No One Played Award unfortunately fell prey to several of these factors. During the month it was released, several big-name PlayStation 2 games simply stole the attention that this terrific game might have garnered otherwise.
While Victorious Boxers certainly did well in Japan as one of the early PlayStation 2 games for the system there, a release here in the States almost a year later without licensed boxers or much fanfare simply put the game at a great disadvantage. Needless to say, many of the GameSpot editors picked this game up and found it to be a terrific interpretation of the sport of boxing. Victorious Boxers' excellent control scheme and wonderful balance between realism and intuitive arcade-style gameplay will hopefully be an influence on many boxing games to come.
Other Nominees:
Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves
Frequency
Metal Slug X
Saiyuki (Xbox)
