Games Released in October 2001

252 new games released in October 2001, with PC (Microsoft Windows) being the most active platform. October 1 was the busiest day, with 30 new releases.

Top Platform

PC (Microsoft Windows)

New Releases

252

Busiest Day

October 1

What was the most popular game of October 2001?

Grand Theft Auto III

Featuring a fully 3-D living city, a combination of narrative driven and non-linear gameplay and a completely open environment, Grand Theft Auto III represents a huge leap forward in interactive entertainment. For the first time, players are put at the heart of their very own gangster movie, and let loose in a fully-realised 3 dimensional city, in which anything can happen and probably will. With a cast of hundreds, 50 plus vehicles, ranging from sports cars to ice cream trucks and from boats to buses, 3 hours of music, including opera, reggae, house, drum and bass, pop and disco, a huge array of street ready weapons and some of the seediest characters in video game history, Grand Theft Auto 3 is a sprawling epic which will show you that sometimes, crime can pay and sometimes it can pay you back. Available now for PlayStation2, Xbox, PC and Macintosh.

Which days had the most releases?

October 1 saw the most activity with 30 releases.

30 releases

October 1

27 releases

October 25

25 releases

October 19

20 releases

October 5

How did each week compare?

The first week of October was the busiest with 85 releases.

Week 1 (October 1–7)

85 releases

Most popular release in Week 1

Time Crisis II

Time Crisis II is a light gun arcade game and the second installment in the Time Crisis series. It introduces co-operative multiplayer to the franchise. The game was first released in arcades in April 1998, with an enhanced port released on the PlayStation 2 in October 2001, bundled with the GunCon 2 controller.

Week 2 (October 8–14)

40 releases

Most popular release in Week 2

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 - Yuri's Revenge

The game begins with a presidential briefing in the White House concerning Yuri and how he has begun his take over of the world through mind control. Yuri interrupts the briefing to explain how he plans to take over the world, telling the American President Michael Dugan that he has a network of Psychic Dominators around the world, which he is now beginning to reveal. One of Yuri's Psychic Dominators is on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, which Yuri activates just before ending his transmission to the White House. The President immediately calls in an airstrike on the device, but all the attacking aircraft were shot down, although one crashes into the nuclear reactor on the island, causing the device to lose power and to not function. Despite this, Yuri activates his other Psychic Dominators around the world and the majority of the planet quickly succumbs to Yuri's mind-control.

Week 3 (October 15–21)

53 releases

Most popular release in Week 3

Stronghold

Stronghold is a historic real-time strategy game developed by Firefly Studios. While the game focuses primarily on conquest and expansion through military pursuits, Stronghold does provide space for economic strategy and development: there is both an economic and a military campaign to be played and both are discussed in the game manual. The game takes place in Medieval Britain around the time of AD 1066, though, since there is sometimes no time limit, scenarios can continue to hundreds of years beyond this date.

Week 4 (October 22–28)

61 releases

Most popular release in Week 5

Gothic

Gothic is a single-player action role-playing video game for Windows developed by the German company Piranha Bytes. It was first released in Germany on March 15, 2001, followed by the English North American release eight months later on November 23, 2001, and the Polish release on March 28, 2002. Gothic has been well received by critics, scoring an average of 80% and 81/100 on Game Rankings' and Metacritic's aggregates, respectively. Reviewers credited the game for its story, complex interaction with other in-game characters, and graphics, but criticized it for the difficult control scheme and high system requirements.

Which platforms saw the most releases?

PC (Microsoft Windows) received 121 new titles in October 2001. The runner up was PlayStation 2 with 37 new titles.

PC (Microsoft Windows)121 releases

PlayStation 237 releases

PlayStation35 releases

Game Boy Advance33 releases

Mac21 releases

Game Boy Color16 releases

Dreamcast7 releases

Linux3 releases

Nintendo 643 releases

WonderSwan Color3 releases

What genres were most popular?

Adventure was the dominant genre in October 2001 with 63 titles. Simulator followed closely with 41.

Adventure63

Simulator41

Sport37

Strategy36

Shooter32

Puzzle32

Role-playing27

Platform26

Racing23

Arcade21

2001 Review

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