The year 2000AD may be all but a distant memory for many of us, but there’s no doubt about it that it gave us some of the best video games associated with that era.
Kicking off with the release of the PlayStation 2, 2000 saw many excellent titles release across a variety of different systems, with PC and Sony’s platforms reaping the most benefits.
From chaotic action shooters to huge RPGs, the year 2000 and onwards was proof that video games had evolved from mere platformers and arcade games, but the advancing technology was able to accommodate different kinds of experiences for a larger variety of gamers.
We’ve collected 12 of the very best video games from the year 2000 as proof that this was an excellent twelve months for gaming, kicking off a decade that would end up becoming one of the most important eras for the hobby.
Deus Ex
Release Date: 23 June, 2000
Advert
Set in a futuristic dystopia, you play as the cybernetically enhanced JC Denton, who becomes involved in a struggle between multiple factions for control of the world.
Combining elements of role-playing, first-person shooter, and stealth, Deus Ex is an early (and easily one of the most iconic) examples of the immersive sim genre. It emphasises player freedom, with strong level design and customisation features, and quickly became one of the best PC games of the 2000s.
The Sims
Release Date: 4 February, 2000
Arguably the most famous game on this list, The Sims was a cultural phenomenon when it was released back in 2000, doing something that no game had ever really tried before. A truly simulated world featuring characters with their own wants, needs, and desires? Outstanding.
What The Sims really excelled at was its open-ended storytelling. There were no “traditional” narrative devices on display here, instead we were given the tools to tell our own stories, and the game just let us go nuts with it. Even 26 years later, we all have stories from this series that we remember experiencing.
Jet Set Radio
Release Date: 29 June, 2000
Jet Set Radio is an action platformer where you play as a member of a skater gang who skate around Tokyo spraying graffiti, challenging rival gangs, and evading cops. There are boss fights, timers, and all sorts of “gamey” elements which give it a unique personality.
What particularly makes it an interesting game is the combination of anti-establishment media with Japanese pop culture of the 1990s, with a unique visual style that really helped set it apart from other games in 2000.
Thief II: The Metal Age
Release Date: 23 March, 2000
Building on the formula that made Thief: The Dark Project such a smash hit, Thief II: The Metal Age puts you back into the shoes of Garrett, a master thief who unravels a conspiracy related to a new religious order operating in a steampunk metropolis known simply as the City.
For those who enjoy stealth games, Thief II is arguably the series’ peak, ironing out some of the kinks that the first game had while also offering unprecedented freedom that further sequels would start to rein back in. And hey, there are far fewer zombie levels in this game, which is a plus.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Release Date: 27 April, 2000
How do you follow up on something like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a game that is still cited to this day as one of the greatest inventions of all time? Well, as Nintendo understands it, you completely change up the formula of what made that game so great, and go bonkers with a brand new idea.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask introduces players to a perpetually cycling three-day cycle in which series’ hero Link has to find a way to prevent the moon from crashing into the parallel world known as Termina. Its innovative timer system was praised by many at the time, adding a sense of urgency to the game’s main questline, while it also embodies a kind of vibe that simply hasn’t been seen elsewhere in the series since.
Perfect Dark
Release Date: 22 May, 2000
A spiritual successor to GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark tells the story of operative Joanna Dark as she attempts to stop a conspiracy surrounding an interstellar war between two alien factions.
Perfect Dark was iconic at the time for expanding on the intuitive first-person gameplay that Rare’s GoldenEye 007 was famous for. While it had a fun campaign mode, the game’s multiplayer mode which allowed you to tweak a load of deathmatch settings—including the ability to add bots—made it a favourite to play for many Nintendo 64 households.
TimeSplitters
Release Date: 26 October, 2000
Similar to Perfect Dark, TimeSplitters was the ultimate multiplayer experience if you had a few mates over to play with. It really proved that the best way to design a game like this is to go as simple as possible.
TimeSplitters’ simplicity is in how it tells you absolutely nothing, leaving you to peel back its layers at your own pace. Its multiplayer mode is especially chaotic fun, something that the series would continue to innovate on in its second and third entries. It’s very difficult to get bored when playing this series.
Final Fantasy IX
Release Date: 7 July, 2000
Even after eight successful entries, Square was able to capture its audience again with Final Fantasy IX closing out the series’ presence on the original PlayStation. Set in the fantasy world of Gaia, you play as a thief named Zidane who becomes embroiled in a quest to stop a war threatening the land.
Final Fantasy IX has an excellent cast of characters and the story is terrific, but it’s also arguably the best looking game in the series up to that point. Square was constantly evolving the series’ graphics with each new entry, and it’s wild to see how much the games were transformed between Final Fantasy VII (released only three years prior) to what it was doing with the ninth game.
Hitman: Codename 47
Release Date: 19 November, 2000
Kickstarting a legendary social stealth franchise that is arguably one of the best games you can play today, it’s cool to see how much of the Hitman series’ most famous elements originate from its first entry.
Featuring disguises, semi-open world environments, and objectives that support player agency, the game created a solid foundation for IO Interactive to build upon in later entries. Even though a little rough around the edges, the game is still fun to revisit nowadays, and deserves a mention alongside some of the other great titles on this list.
Resident Evil – Code: Veronica
Release Date: 3 February, 2000
Despite its title implying the game might be more of a spin-off, Resident Evil – Code: Veronica is an important sequel in the franchise’s early legacy, featuring the return of popular characters Chris and Claire Redfield, as well as legendary villain Albert Wesker.
While you may be tempted to skip straight to Resident Evil 4 after beating the third game, Code: Veronica bids a nice farewell to the series’ fixed-camera angles, which would soon be retired following the release of this game, and it’s important to check out if you’re doing a full runthrough of the series.
The Operative: No One Lives Forever
Release Date: 10 November, 2000
The Operative: No One Lives Forever is a spy thriller inspired by 1960s spy films and television series like Our Man Flint or Get Smart (and of course, the James Bond series). You play as Cate Archer, a spy for a secret organisation who goes on missions in the name of keeping world peace.
While your initial assumption may be to compare it to something like GoldenEye 007 or TimeSplitters, in reality the game was more of a mix of Half-Life and Deus Ex. The levels emphasised player agency and freedom, where you can fight enemies head-on or utilise a stealthy approach, with a load of gadgets and environmental tools at your disposal to complete your mission.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Release Date: 19 September, 2000
We couldn’t talk about the best games of 2000 without ever mentioning Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. Building on what we found so fascinating about the first Tony Hawk’s game, the sequel was just pure adrenaline fun, with bigger levels, expanded moves, and a kickass soundtrack to boot.
The game’s controls were incredibly intuitive, especially for a game that was pulling off this many complicated moves at the time, and it really went above and beyond what the current-gen consoles of 2000 were capable of. It’s easy to see why it’s often called one of the best games of the PlayStation.
Topics: List, PC, PlayStation, Tony Hawks Pro Skater, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, The Legend Of Zelda, The Sims