The Year's Best-Selling Games (cont'd)

Number 6. Unreal Tournament

Units sold: 234,451
Gross income: $8,946,548

If we had to pick a best first person shooter, it would be tough, but it would probably come down to this one. In our opinion, among the Top Ten sellers, Unreal Tournament and Roller Coaster Tycoon are the games that most deserve to be here. Epic has done a remarkable job with a beautiful engine thrown wide open to third party mods. But unlike a certain other beautiful engine thrown wide open to third party mods, Unreal Tournament is stuffed with good stuff: lots of gameplay modes, clever varied weapons, different map styles, believable and challenging bots, and a million and one options to let you play the game the way you want to play it.

Number 5. Age of Empires II

Units sold: 442,318
Gross income: $19,569,892

2000 was a phenomenal year for RTS games and Age of Empires II was a textbook example of what got better in the genre. You don't have to babysit your units because there was a strong tactical AI. The different sides are varied and yet balanced. The graphics are detailed and sharp, without being too busy or cluttered. And there are so many different ways to play that it appeals to a spread of players from casual gamers who just want to diddle with the single player story-driven campaign to hard-core multiplayer gamers who want to compete in online ladders. The Conquerors add-on is also one of the year's better expansion packs and also another success story, selling 221,000 copies for another $6 million in the franchise’s coffers. Go, Ensemble, go!

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