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[AniHawk]

hey guys. copy/pasting from timetokill because it's easy. anyway, this is going to be 2012 edition of voting for games from 2004. in order to make the two topics as similar as possible, no negative point this time. i will be counting the posts manually (and timetokill/cheesemeister will be using parser). anyway here are the rules:

KEY RULE: You MUST put a comment for one of the choices in your ballot, or your ballot will not be counted. Ideally you will put a comment for each game, but it is not necessary. But keep in mind that these are not meant to be list threads, but threads for discussion.

Let us know what you think, and vote away! If you need a rules refresher, the rules follow:

-----------

GAF Games o' the Year Awards 2004 (2012 edition) Rules

• List up to 10 games, in order from 1 to 10.
• Add your thoughts! Put a semicolon ( after each game and write what you thought. I’ll be using these in the results page like last year. It also results in a voting thread that is a great read for everyone.
• At least one of the games in your list must have a comment by you, or your entire ballot will be disqualified.
• You may list Honorable Mentions if you wish to. These must be indicated by a “x.” in your ballot.
• Non-consecutively numbered entries will not be counted.
• Multiple votes for the same title will disqualify your entire ballot.
• Each user may only vote once, but you may edit your ballot as often as you like until the deadline.
• Want to talk about another poster’s list? Quote it. Any unquoted ballots (those outside a quote block) will overwrite your own previous vote.
• Games must have been released in your region in 2004 for them to count. You may also include imported titles. Do not vote for a game that came out in another region if it came out in yours a year or more earlier.

Voting Ends May 11th at 11:59pm, PDT



Sample Ballot
You don’t have to follow this format strictly, but it will make the thread a lot easier and avoid any complications. Thanks!

1. Game A ; Your thoughts on Game A.
2. Game B ; Your thoughts on Game B.
3. Game C ; Your thoughts on Game C.
4. Game D ; Your thoughts on Game D.
5. Game E ; Your thoughts on Game E.
6. Game F ; Your thoughts on Game F.
7. Game G ; Your thoughts on Game G.
8. Game H ; Your thoughts on Game H.
9. Game I ; Your thoughts on Game I.
10. Game J ; Your thoughts on Game J.
x. Game K ; Your thoughts on Honorable Mention Game K.
x. Game L ; Your thoughts on Honorable Mention Game L.


Game Selection
Avoid ambiguous abbreviations if you want your votes to count. We can't read your mind, and the parser certainly can't. Some titles have the same abbreviations, so try and avoid them when you can.

• Cool: Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, Grim Fandango
• Not Cool: FF, LoZ, GF

Scoring

1. Game A ; 4 points
2. Game B ; 3 points
3. Game C ; 3 points
4. Game D ; 2 points
5. Game E ; 2 points
6. Game F ; 2 points
7. Game G ; 1 point
8. Game H ; 1 point
9. Game I ; 1 point
10. Game J ; 1 point
x. Game K ; 0 points
x. Game L ; 0 points

Honorable mentions will not receive points, but they will be tracked, assuming you list them appropriately.


What Games Count?

• New games released to your region in 2004 (can be retail only or downloadable)
• Arcade games released in this year ARE allowed!
• Voting for imported titles is allowed. If you list an import game, please mention which country you are from. Otherwise I will assume you didn’t read the rules and the vote will not count.
• Remakes and significant upgrades to games count too.
• Ports that amount to “ROM dumps”, i.e., ports with no additional content or significant changes, are not allowed.
• If you’re unsure about a game, just ask!
• Asked about games that are allowed:
• Asked about games that are not allowed:

here are a list of notable releases from 2004:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_in_video_gaming

and the final standings from the result of the original 2004 voting thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=774793&postcount=20

 

[Zabuza]

EDIT: Dear God I for got Tales of Symphonia. That is my number 1 game of all time. Don't know why.


Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater- Love Metal Gear, and this is my favorite in the series.

Half Life 2- Best single player FPS I've ever played.

GTA: San Andreas- Open world heaven! Spent tons of time with this one and it's my favorite GTA so far.

 

[storl026]

I thought the mods said there would be no more voting threads...?

 

[AniHawk]

I thought the mods said there would be no more voting threads...?

this series of retro goty threads was mod-approved. i'll be switching back and forth with timetokill/cheesemeister until the vote-again threads are done.

plus this time there's more emphasis on discussion.

 

[Seda]

.

 

[Derrick01]

1. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas; The best open world game of all time (non RPGs at least). A ridiculous amount of fun things to do and it had the best mission design of any GTA game by far. Breaking into Area 51 and escaping via jetpack, planning a casino heist that spanned several missions including a helicopter with a magnet on it, chasing some fake-ass rapper in a hoverboat and many more. Rockstar will probably never make a game as good as this again judging from their output this generation.

2. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II; Better than the original in every way which only makes sense since Obsidian has more talent in the RPG field.

3. Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal; My first Ratchet game but still my favorite. I look forward to playing it again in the HD collection.

4. Jak 3; Not as good as Jak 2 but still a great game with great mission variety.

5. Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater; I was disappointed at first because I hate prequels but gameplay wise it's the best. Also has the best ending sequence (last hour or two) of the series.

6. Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3; I'm not a fighting game fan but this game hooked me for months. By far the best DBZ game ever made.

7. Paper Mario Thousand Year Door; Still the best Paper Mario game.

8. Rome Total War; I think Shogun 2 is better as a whole but no TW game has hooked me like Rome did. I really hope they can do another one.

9. Thief Deadly Shadows; Not the best Thief game but still a good game.

10. Half Life 2; I didn't play this when it came out since I wasn't a big PC gamer but it was a really good shooter for its time.

Honorable Mention; World of Warcraft. This would be really high on my list but when WoW came out in 2004 it was fucking garbage that was borderline unplayable. It wasn't until 2005 where it really started coming together.

 

[daegan]

1. Katamari Damacy ; Iconic; a masterpiece of game design. Absolutely fresh, heartwarming, upbeat and fun, something games still struggle with.

2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater ; the best in the series and the best concluding action in a game to this day. Layers upon layers of insanity then the whole game is boiled back to its most basic in the closing moments.

3. Half-Life 2 ; Only eclipsed in importance by the service it launched with.

4. Halo 2 ; Still remarkably fun despite being the low point of the franchise. Had impossible expectations to live up to.

5. Guilty Gear X2 #Reload

 

[impact]

1. Final Fantasy XI; One of the greatest games of all time. With two characters I have over 200 days played. Shame about XIV
2. Ninja Gaiden; Best action game ever made
3. Metal Gear Solid 3
4. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2



Glad there's no negative point now, I couldn't choose between Half Life 2 and CS: Source

 

[rataplein]

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater ; jack and the boss. what else
2. Half Life 2 ; it blew my mind. way out of my expectations.
3. Silent Hill 4 ; hated by many, i still think it's in the same level of the first three games and it's leagues better than all the new sequels.
4. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas ; chris penn, s. l. jackson, james fucking woods, peter fonda, david crosss, fichtner... awesome

 

[olimpia84]

If this was done back in 2004 and we got results then why do it again? And whatever happened to that best games of the 80s thread? I remember voting in it but never saw the results and search is not finding it.

 

[storl026]

1. Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas ; It's still the best open-world game ever made.
2. Half-Life 2 ; I didn't play it until years later, but I love the world that Valve created.
3. Burnout 3 - Takedown ; I normally really don't like racing games, but I still have my PS2 hooked up for this one.
4. Prince of Persia - Warrior Within ; It gets a lot of hate for the forced "edginess", but the platforming is still sublime.
5. Paper Mario - The Thousand-Year Door ; It's a lengthy adventure that stayed fun throughout, with some fantastic writing/localization.
6. Sly 2 - Band of Thieves ; I still want a Sly-only straight up platformer again, but this one was still very, very good.

 

[AAK]

1. Jak 3 ; Absolute voodoo magic how ND managed to get it to work on PS2. This was back when ND also had ambition in their game design. You could go on a dune buggy that was capable of hopping from one island to another while shooting down larger than life dinosaur metalhead; I seamlessly walk into an enemy strong hold, throw out a mobile turret, and skateboard my way through the level by grinding on rails and speeding up with kick-flips/other acrobats with the same fidelity seen in the Tony Hawk games; enter into an alien race nest and reverse the gravity of the entire area making all your enemies float aimlessly; turn into an angelic being and levitate yourself anywhere in the open world while stopping time as well; among so many others. When Naughty Dog had the creative freedom to create worlds as imaginative as they wanted, they had avenues of gameplay the Uncharted series doesn't have a chance at matching.
2. Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal ; Best Humor, Best weapons, Best villains, Best Arena mode, best local 4 player multiplayer out of any of the Sony elite released in this calender year.
3. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater ; I was super pissed that they weren't going to continue the adventure of Otacon and Solid Snake after the crazy revelation at the end of MGS2. And even then I was kinda salty at the lack of modern weapons and such... but still this is a Hideo Kojima game, and that alone warrants it among GOTY status.
4. Ninja Gaiden ; The beginning of Team Ninja's years in their prime. After NG3 it's still hard to believe Hayashi was the project lead for this game.
5. Burnout 3: Takedown ; This is the first racing game I ever put time in. The only other racing game that gave me even a hint of enjoyment Burnout 3 did was Wipeout HD. Awesome tracks, absolutely felicitous presentation, and just plain fun you can jump into. Shame about the load times though.
6. Def Jam: Fight for New York ; This is the last wrestling game I've ever played. Thank you AKI for the gems that were Vendetta and FfNY.
7. Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves ; My first Sly Cooper game and a sandbox game that I could really get behind.
8. Half-Life 2 ; Thought it was overall boring... but it has moments of absolute brilliance that I have to give it props to.

 

[Seda]

If this was done back in 2004 and we got results then why do it again? And whatever happened to that best games of the 80s thread? I remember voting in it but never saw the results and search is not finding it.

First of all, GAF's 'population' has certainly increased. Second, its just a way to see how opinions may have changed (or not). It's been 8 years. More people have played games from that year which they can comment on. These types of 're-votes' really are more (should be) discussion threads rather than voting threads. For example, I only played Shadow Hearts Covenant last month and it's my #4 game for that year. I didn't even know what Shadow Hearts was a couple years ago.

 

[Conflict NZ]

1. Halo 2; Being in high school when this game came out was awesome. So much free time and so much multiplayer, probably still the multiplayer game I have sunk the most time into. Had some of the greatest multiplayer maps of all time. My friends and I would play after school for hours.
2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords;
3. Fable
4. Battlefield Vietnam
5. Rome Total War
6. Half Life 2
7. Pokemon Fire Red
8. Burnout 3
9. Far Cry
10. Tribes: Vengeance

 

[GhaleonEB]

1: Halo 2 ; The game that introduced me to competitive online play and into an online community I'm still a part of. The campaign gameplay was flawed, but the storytelling and music remain high points in the series.

2: Fable ; Liner, limited, a shadow of what was promised. But still very fun and charming, if short.

I know I bought more than these games in 2004, but I don't see any others that I played on the list, nor from the IMDB list; perhaps I picked up older games that year. My how time flies.

 

[Hobbestetrician]

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater; The greatest end sequence to a game puts this at the top of the list, to say nothing of the great characters, story, setting, and gameplay.
2. Half-Life 2; Amazing setting, great weapons, Ravenholm, Gravity Gun, Alyx.
3. Pikmin 2; Took the amazing first and made it better in every way, surprisingly fun multiplayer too.
4. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure; Wonderful blending of LTTP & Wind Waker, only played by myself but still great, actually liked the level-based structure.
5. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door; Wonderful characters and writing, a bit long towards the end but fun sidekicks and areas.
6. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes; Screw the haters. My first foray into Metal Gear, not the best but some great bosses and setting.
7. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes; A very difficult game but I liked the dark world aspect. All the Prime games are expertly designed.
8. Sly 2: Band of Thieves; Really liked each level being a setup to and, ultimately, a big heist. Didn't hate playing as other characters. 1-2 sections too long.
9. Silent Hill 4: The Room; The idea of the room was great but not everything fell into place. Ghosts were annoying but still had a lot of SH to it.
10. Halo 2; Got it almost entirely for multiplayer and even though I still prefer the first game, I had a lot of fun with my friends.

 

[Seda]

1. Halo 2
2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords
3. Fable
4. Battlefield Vietnam
5. Rome Total War
6. Half Life 2
7. Pokemon Fire Red
8. Burnout 3
9. Far Cry
10. Tribes: Vengeance

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
2. Half-Life 2
3. Pikmin 2
4. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
5. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
6. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
7. Sly 2: Band of Thieves
8. Silent Hill 4: The Room
9. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
10. Halo 2

"KEY RULE: You MUST put a comment for one of the choices in your ballot, or your ballot will not be counted." - AniHawk

 

[Shimesaba]

1. Katamari Damacy - really fantastic game. Excellent soundtrack and I'd never played anything like it before. One of only two games I've bought twice (JP and US), along with Persona 3.

2. Metal Gear Solid 3 - Subsistence was even better, but already a reeeeeally solid game. Still my favorite stealth gameplay. Aiming guns down a sight felt so much more legit than MGS2's laser pointers. So much variety in the areas too.

3. Tales of Symphonia - Objectively others on the list might be better games, but ToS pulled me in and kept me there for so long I feel obliged to put it here. I enjoyed the sidequests, the soundtrack, the New Game Plus options, and I'd never had so much fun with an RPG battle system before.

4. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

5. Metroid Prime 2

6. Warioware: Twisted!

7. Paper Mario 2

8. Metroid Zero Mission - I didn't care that much for the extra area at the end, but a solid portable Metroid game is always nice to have. Now if only they'd remake Super Metroid.

 

[AniHawk]

First of all, GAF's 'population' has certainly increased. Second, its just a way to see how opinions may have changed (or not). It's been 8 years. More people have played games from that year which they can comment on. These types of 're-votes' really are more (should be) discussion threads rather than voting threads. For example, I only played Shadow Hearts Covenant last month and it's my #4 game for that year. I didn't even know what Shadow Hearts was a couple years ago.

well said. thanks.

and the population thing is definitely a part of it. i think i only had the original voting thread open for three days back in 2004. more time all-around will help provide a better snapshot of that year.

 

[hatchx]

27. Donkey Konga - 49
28. Shadow Hearts: Covenant - 47
30. Rome: Total War - 46
30. Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow - 46
32. Sid Meier's Pirates! - 45
33. Far Cry - 42
34. Wario Ware Twisted - 41
35. Ace Combat V - 38
36. Rallisport Challenge 2 - 37
37. Psi-Ops - 36
38. Star Ocean: Till the End of Time - 33
39. Dead or Alive Ultimate - 32
39. Outrun 2 - 32
39. Street Fighter Anniversary Collection - 32
42. Pokemon Leaf Green/Fire Red - 31
43. Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 30
44. Onimusha 3 - 28
45. The Sims 2 - 27
46. Donkey Konga - 26

Something fishy happening here.

 

[AniHawk]

Something fishy happening here.

i think i made an accidental duplicate of konga at a lower number, or it's donkey konga 2 (jp release). the former is the most probable. i'll give it a look when i'm not so tired.

given the amount of votes, i think it's unlikely that the two numbers should have been combined.

 

[Para bailar La Bomba]

1. Half Life 2 -- Playing this game was an experience akin to receiving your first blowjob.
2. GTA San Andreas --Will never win a beauty contest, but broke some much new ground.
3. MGS3 -- The series peaked right here.
4. Thief Deadly Shadows - the Mona Lisa of Stealth.
5. Burnout 3: Takedown - crack in the form of an arcade racer.
6. Star Wars Battlefront -- Mindblowing experience. The best MP game of 2004 by a long, long way.
7. Painkiller -- best game nobody played in 2004.
8. Ninja Gaiden -- you never recreate what is simply un-re-cre-atable.
9. Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow -- 2004 was such a great year for stealth games.
10. FarCry -- The concept was still fresh, the scenery spectacular.

 

[Unicorn]

Fuck. I forgot this was my sophomore year of high school until I saw Halo 2 on there. That fucking lead up hype.

Will come back and edit my list in at a later date. Time to reflect back.

 

[Jaxter09]

1. Half Life 2- Amazingly crafted game with dozens of memorable set pieces. Every enemy encounter is perfectly placed, and the oppressive atmosphere shines through brilliantly; abandoned houses with suicide victims, bordered up windows, confusion, the unintelligible combine dialog, the brilliant first level where all you can do is run, the fact that enemies are introduced before you have a way to kill them, I could keep listing these things all day.

The citidel introduction is an example of the great design. Instead of just waltzing into the citidel, you have to physically place yourself in what looks like a coffin attatched to an assembly line. Choose the wrong coffin and you are slowly electrocuted to death. You are taken through a tour of submissive slave creatures being watched by guards, tall corridoors and empty hallways. At one point you are blinded as your photo is taken in rapid succession, this small moment conveys the violation and helplessness brilliantly. On the downside, the gunplay is dated to say the least, the vehicle sections go on for just a bit too long, and the look, physics! puzzles are a bit overused, but to me they are just minor blemishes on the experience.

2. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas- Still the sandbox king, Rockstar took the series to its peak with this one. Walking into a random bar and playing pool, doing horse bets and playing an arcade machine was mindblowing in 2004, as was taking the boat out only to find there is no invisible wall, it just. keeps. going.

GTA SA probably has the best set of cheat codes in any game; no wanted level, flying cars, jumping 200m on a pushbike (off that massive mountain!) The cheats really open up GTA SA and also work really well with the general aesthetic, making the game feel downright limitless. I also loved how it didn't take itself seriously and focused on being fun instead of being balanced and realistic. Abusing the casino with a simple save/reload? sure. Hell, the most fun I got out of GTA4 was the playground car-launcher glitch.

3. Burnout 3: Takedown - In my eyes, this is the best racing game ever. Purely streamlined through menus, there is no monotonous overworld. The slo-mo takedowns were (still are) epic, it has the best integration of risk/reward drift boost, and tight controls. Crash mode is the main attraction for me though, it is utterly brilliant. I have to mention the awful narrator and loading times however.

4. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal - Improving on the already brilliant R&C2, what more could you ask for in a sequel?

5. Need for Speed: Underground 2 - Ridiculous, over the top and addictive. Growing attached to your highly customized car through driving it in the open world, making it look good for magazine covers and descending mountains sideways was a highlight of this era for me.

6. Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen - Start playing, hours will pass.

7. Crash Twinsanity - Hilarious, fun and very challenging. Twinsanity sadly gets completely ignored by most people. A better game than it had any right to be.

8. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 - Hilariously bad 'story' integration and shameless Jackass promotion aside, this is a really solid Tony Hawks game with some great levels, and one of the best licensed soundtracks out there

9. Halo 2 - Didn't live up to its hype but what could?

10. Painkiller - Rare in that it is a 'modern' FPS which captures the spirit of the early 90's FPS era perfectly. Simple, great weapons, great gameplay. Still fun to play.

 

[JaseC]

Even today I still haven't played many games from 2004. In fact, the only two that come to mind are Half-Life 2 and MGS3. I haven't played either since ~2006 (I've since lost most of what interest I held in the MGS series and am waiting for Half-Life 3 to be around the corner before playing through the entire Half-Life series again), so excuse the lack of meaningful explanation -- I can't remember much at all.

1. Half-Life 2 ; City17 was a superbly-realised dystopian Eastern Europe setting, Ravenholm was fantastic for its palpable brooding atmosphere and offering saw blades with which to slice zombies in half, and using the gravity gun to play fetch with Dog never got old. My most vivid memory of the game, though? The nightmare-inducing sound and subsequent pouncing of those bloody toxic headcrabs.
2. Metal Gear Solid 3 ; Although I never did finish the game, I remember having a lot of fun with it. I adored the jungle setting and the micro-management aspects, but most of my enjoyement was born from approaching each situation from a non-lethal angle.

 

[Fjordson]

1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas ; one of the best open-world games ever. Not as good as Vice City or IV, but still had a spot on rendering of early 90's California, had some crazy memorable missions, and the scope having an entir state to explore was really impressive.

2. Metal Gear Solid 3 ; I remember being slightly disappointed when this was announced since it wasn't going to continue on from MGS2, but man I was so wrong for thinking like that. Sort of like what San Andreas did with early 90's California, this game perfectly captured the Cold War in the 60's/classic spy fiction. Really enjoyed the change of pace for the series with all of the outdoor sections and the ending was great.

3. Halo 2 ; Honestly thought the campaign was boring, but I absolutely loved the multiplayer. Going from laggy matches of Halo 1 over Xbox connect, to full blown Xbox Live support with H2 was a massive improvement. One of my favourite multiplayer games ever.

4. Rome: Total War

 

[Abylim]

1) Metal Gear Solid 3 : One of my favourite games of all time. Rebought the collection and still managed to beat it another 3 times. I love this game. The ending is awesome, the end song is surprisingly awesome too. I still love how you can deal with most of the boss fights. How some little things can actually help, like dropping rotten fod for the fear to it, and it actually affecting him.

2)SMT : Nocturne: Completely blown away by this game. I picked it up on A WHIM, with zero expectations. I played fora week or two straight. We just moved house, so I didnt have internet at home. I remember running out to a net cafe and downloading the solution for the goddamn puzzle game. I havent played it since, but I did everything that playthrough. I got so fucking mad at the difficulty in certain parts, but I loved it. I loved the branching story, and it how it changed depending on who you sided with. Fuck, this might be tied in first for me!

3)Tales of Symphonia : My favourite Tales game, beat it a total of 8 times. Even though Lloyd pisses me off, I loved this to death.

4) Star Ocean Til the End of Time: Forgot about this one! Lot of fans didnt like it, but I sunk a good few hundred hours into it. Played through it atleast twice, and took out most of the "supers", too. Loved it, the combat was awesome (yes even the mp death stuff)

5) World of Warcraft : I dont love it much anymore, but fuck. I have 400 days /played all up (roughly) and though im over it now, i still talk about the shit we did in WoW to this day with my friends. Probably helped to be in a guild with 10 or so people that you know in real life.

6)Paper Mario Thousand Year Door : I got this for christmas from my wife, and I remember falling asleep at 2am with this game on. I could not put it down, she woke me up and told me to turn it off. I kept playing till about 4 am, when I finally retired. The humour was awesome, the story is great, the whole package.

7)Ninja Gaiden : I loved this quite abit when it came out. I remember playing it on my birthday and loving the crap out of it. Frustrating game (Alma...dunno why , but she gave me trouble) but rewarding. I cant seem to get into NG2, and apparently 3 is shit, so thats a bummer.

8)Breath of Fire : Dragon Quarter: Another game that people didnt care too much for. It was different, and I enjoyed it a lot. Always wished for a sequel in the same vein, but refined.

9) Grand Theft Auto San Andreas : not quite blown away as most were, but I enjoyed my stay. Found the difficulty to be randomly harder in certain parts, but had a lot of fun regardless.

10) Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: Disappointing sequel (imo) I loved some of the changes, like making anyone a sith/jedi, but it seemed so less refined than KotOR.

 

[archnemesis]

1. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne; I haven't played it in a while and I don't know if I still have the patience for the buff system, but in my memory it's still the best MegaTen game.
2. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines; One of the best RPGs ever made and it still holds up fine today with the fan-made patches.
3. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War; I like this even more than its sequel. It's probably my favorite real-time strategy game since Dune: God Emperor.
4. EverQuest II; It's the only MMORPG I've spent a significant amount of time on.
5. Counter-Strike: Source; Better in some ways, worse in others. Still amazing regardless if you prefer the original.
6. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay; Almost as good as the movies!
7. Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter; I really like the idea of it, but after three attempts I'm still not that far into it.
8. Half-Life 2; It's an okay first-person shooter.
9. Shadow Hearts: Covenant; It's a mediocre JRPG. I actually prefer the first two games.
10. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II; I prefer the environments and the characters from the first game.

Note: I only played the improved version of MGS3. Otherwise it'd be close to the top.

 

[Radec]

In before another GotY 2012 edition thread popping out again.



Anyway, here's my vote:

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater ; Fucking epic game. From start to finish. Removing the radar is a nice touch. Same goes for the camo outfits/facemasks. Bosses are designed pretty good as well. Especially 'The End'. Fighting 'The Boss' is probably one of the best boss fight of all time. Then 'Snake Eater' music starts playing. Epic. Kojima really did outdone himself with Snake Eater. Deserves every GotY award it won.

2. GTA: San Andreas ; The scale of this game is unmatched until now. There's so much thing to do and you won't get bored. Story are sometimes meh-worthy, but some are pretty good.




Haven't played alot in 2004, maybe busy on studies or other shit. so..

 

[8bit]

1. Wario Ware: Twisted! ; Played this the most over the year IIRC. Portable and demented with delightful rotating takes on some Nintendo franchises.

2. Katamari Damacy ; A big ball of fun, let down by some frustrating level design (especially involving bears and cows).

3. Pikmin 2 ; One of the more bittersweet experiences in gaming, satisfying to progress towards Olimar's escape but sad to see the carnage of hundreds of Pikmin flattened by a huge caterpillar.

4. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas ; Probably the pinnacle of open world gaming, but bad bottlenecks in some sections (Flying School, the one with the train, the dirt track course which you had to do backwards)

5. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 ; A good Star Wars game, but the twist was a bit too choregraphed. Also it was missing content IIRC?

6. Ninja Gaiden ; Hard but fun. Sad to hear that the third one is comparitively trash.

7. Star Wars Battlefront ; One of the few online multiplayer games I've enjoyed, I'm sure being a Stormtrooper helped a great deal.

 

[Kabouter]

1. The Moment of Silence ; A near-future point & click adventure that revolves largely around the question of privacy and the flow of information. A fantastically realized game world, some tough puzzles and some good writing make this House of Tales' best adventure, and my favourite game of 2004.

2. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines ; A fascinating game world, very good writing and a well executed atmosphere would make this my number one, if it hadn't been for the fact that the game simply wasn't finished when it came out, it was full of bugs that took user created mods to fix.

3. Syberia II ; The conclusion to a wonderful and thrilling adventure. Fun puzzles, a great story, memorable characters, solid writing and a touching ending made this a fantastic experience. Great soundtrack and beautiful visuals as well.

4. Half-Life 2 ; I don't love this game as much as others. I didn't like the frequent 'loading' message nor most of the weapons. At the same time though, it's a lengthy, varied, innovative and memorable experience, making it absolutely deserving of a place on this list. I'm definitely hoping for a successor in the coming years.

5. Rise of Nations: Thrones & Patriots ; An excellent add-on to what in my eyes is the best traditional isometric RTS game ever made. The best thing about it was the major improvement in game balance. Plus, you know, it added the Dutch.

6. Evil Genius ; It's rare to see a truly funny video game, but with Evil Genius Elixir definitely pulled it off. While the gameplay tends to show some weaknesses towards the end of the game, and the difficulty ramps up a little too far, the game still definitely deserves a place on this list. Building your compound and defending it with traps is a lot of fun, and I just love the general theme, which is further enhanced by a wonderful art style and amazing soundtrack.

7. Sid Meier's Pirates! ; A fairly well executed remake of the classic Sid Meier game. The addictive nature is certainly well preserved, and the new art style is quite charming. The only thing I didn't really care for was the dancing, which could be quite tricky.

8. Port Royale 2 ; While perhaps similar to Pirates! at first glance, this is actually quite a different title. Largely focused on trade and building up a business empire, Port Royale 2 actually has a focus that is generally more my sort of thing. However, PR2 is definitely a step back compared to PR1, given certain changes for the worse. Rather than commanding up to about ten ships in naval combat, you could only control one a la Pirates!. It's still a very good game, but it would've been better had the developers had the balls to fully take their own course.

9. Rome: Total War ; A definite step back from Medieval: Total War, but still a rather excellent strategy title, with probably the best setting of all the Total War games. I definitely expect Creative Assembly to revisit the Roman setting in the near future.

10. Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow ; Excellent stealth title, I miss Splinter Cell being good .

x. Far Cry ; This game absolutely blew me away the first time I played the demo. Not just the fact that it looked fantastic, but also the size of the game world. Some excellent early levels too. It's a shame later levels suffered from some poor enemies and some horrendous difficulty spikes.

Note: GTA:SA and Knights of the Old Republic II are 2005 releases to me (PC versions).

5. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 ; A good Star Wars game, but the twist was a bit too choregraphed. Also it was missing content IIRC?
l.

Yes, there are some mods that restore some of the content, though I haven't played any of them fully.

 

[Gambit]

I'll update this post once I've thought about my list some more, but for now I am only certain of my number 1.

1) Metroid Prime: Echoes;
With Metroid Prime Retro transitioned the series into glorious 3D and created a masterpiece. That success under their belt allowed them to let loose creatively. Echoes is the result. For me, it's the ultimate Metroid Prime experience.

2) Shadow Hearts Covenant

3) Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

4) Zelda: Minish Cap

5) Metroid: Zero Mission

 

[Meatvillain]

1. Half Life 2
2. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
3. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door ; One of the games I remember most fondly from 2004.
4. Halo 2 ; The campaign was a bit of a disappointment, but the multiplayer was outstanding and really forged the way for console online multiplayer.
5. Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay ; Probably the best movie tie-in of all time? Its predatory stealth was a lot of fun and to date has some of the best first person melee combat.
6. Jak 3 ; Love the Jak series and Jak 3 was a significantly more likeable game than Jak 2
7. Sly 2 ; The best of the Sly series.
8. Burnout 3 Takedown ; Still my favourite Burnout.
9. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines ; Great, great dialogue.
10. Fable ; A charming game, always loved the way your character changes appearance in the series.

 

[WhyMe6]

1. Tales of Symphonia (GCN); Other than this - which, evidently, I absolutely loved to bits - no other Tales game has been able to draw me in similarly. Neither Phantasia (though it was the first I played and I played quite a bit of it), Eternia (released locally and overstocked on PSP!), Abyss nor Vesperia. What makes Symphonia so special, especially considering the similarities between the Tales of series? I can't quite put my finger on it. I guess it was the combination of beautiful visuals, Sakuraba in a good year, wonderful, charming characters, addictive battle systems and the pacing of the storyline. Still, they're all fairly similar in that regard... Who knows!
2. Paper Mario 2: The Thousand-Year Door (GCN); What else needs to be said?
3. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2); I remember while playing this, I stopped and took a breather during a particularly tense moment and thought to myself - goddamn, this game is really, really excellent. I believe it was towards the end in some trenches. I'm not sure why it didn't cross my mind earlier - I guess I was so absorbed. MGS3 really took the jungle setting and integrated it so perfectly into the gameplay.
4. Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA); This fabulous, massively differentiated remake of a classic game surprisingly drew me in more than Fusion did. The ending was killer, too.
5. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GCN); Creative, complex and cleverly designed, but ultimately left me disconnected and unmoved. I still loved the game - any Metroid Prime is still fantastic - but it doesn't touch the first game.
6. Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (GCN); A beautiful, unique, memorable RPG with one hell of a twist. The OST is absolutely wonderful, too. I have to start up my copy of the sequel someday...
7. Dead or Alive: Ultimate (XBX); Such an addictive, satisfying game, packed to the absolute brim with content.
8. Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors (XBX); After the excellent Lost Kingdoms, I was really keen to play this after seeing From Software made it. I wasn't disappointed - creative art, tight level design and incredibly satisfying combat awaited me. Really, Demon's Souls' greatness should not have been such a big surprise to me.
9. World of Warcraft (PC); While I didn't play this for very long as I felt it was taking time away from other games I wanted to play, I found my first dip into MMOs to be very special, addictive and memorable.
10. Ninja Gaiden (XBX)
x. Feel the Magic: XY/XX (DS)
x. Shadow Hearts: Covenant (PS2)

 

[Cartman86]

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater; Favorite ending to a game
2. Half-Life 2; There hasn't been a game since that amazed me with every video, tech demo leading up to release.
3. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay; Surprisingly great. Just a smart combination of adventure, fps and stealth.
4. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
5. Burnout 3: Takedown
6. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
7. WarioWare Inc.: Mega Party Game$
8. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
9. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
10. Unreal Tournament 2004
x. Far Cry
x. Jak 3

 

[Violet_0]

1. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - best game in the Paper Mario series and one of the best Nintendo games of all time.
2. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - perhaps my favorite RTS ever. Many, many hours were spent in multiplayer 4v4 matches.
3. Tales of Symphonia - one of the preciously few JRPGs that I've absolutely enjoyed playing from start to finish. Simply A must-play.
4. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - not quite as good as the first Metroid Prime game, but nonetheless a worthy successor.
5. Fable - not the game I expected, but absolutely charming in it's own right. Still by far the best entry in the Fable series. (funny how everyone uses the word 'charming' to describe Fable)
6. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap - the second-best handheld Zelda game, fact
7. Beyond Good & Evil - loved this little gem for it's world and characters
8. Thief: Deadly Shadows - the atmosphere in this game completely absorbed me for a while. I have hight hopes for Thief 4.
9. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords - bug-ridden and unfinished as it was, I still had a good time with Kotor 2, in large parts thanks to the famed Obsidian Writing™
10. World of Warcraft - I quite enjoyed those few Summer months that I've spent in Azeroth.

x. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - heaps of fun in multiplayer (the next best thing to Secret to Mana), but I didn't finish it



e: added a couple more games to the list

 

[Coxy]

1. La Pucelle: Tactics: I've played nearly everything N1 have ever made and this one was my favourite. The battle mechanics and stuff might not be the best and I didnt really get much into the level 9999ing stuff but I felt this one had a really good cast of characters and hell even a really enjoyable story.

2. Growlanser Generations: Two games, two amazingly different experiences. Actually, I tell a lie, it's more like 8 or so. Growlanser 2 doesnt have many traditional RPG nicities, it plays out much more like a SRPG and has multiple branching story paths, you can miss amazingly huge chunks of the story, even play through the game without ever really getting to the meat of the story, as I did first time through, so going back and unfolding the extra layers of story was pretty great. The third game is much more traditional but still pretty fun too.

3. Drakengard: I bought this kinda hoping for a bit of the Panzer Dragoon magic I hadnt seen since saturn but didnt get what I was after. However I did get one of the most insane games I ever played, Caim's love of murdering the shit out of everyone he sees is reflected both in gameplay and story as he teams up with various psychopaths to stab 12 foot tall babies with teeth wth giant swords. It was a pretty memorable experience.

4. Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon: I assume this counts even though it's barely a remake with a tiny bit of additional content? Still, it was the last real shining force thing we ever got and the ever increasing difficulty from multiple playthroughs to keep me replaying one of my favourite games ever earns it a place on my list

5. .hack//Quarantine: I dunno if this counts as it was the 4th part of a game that spanned 4 releases but it was the finale of a pretty great series for me, the one that pushed me to finally buy a PS2 to begin with. The gameplay was pretty rough but it was one of the most original stories I ever experienced with some special characters and pretty thoughtful scenes. Everything to do with Mi was really something to think about.

6. Shadow Hearts: Covenant: Fun RPG with a nice setting and cast, would be higher but I thought the endings were pretty bad.

7. Front Mission 4: I might bitch about this game in other threads, I do feel it's the worst of the real Front Mission games, but in the end it is still Front Mission and it's pretty good, I'd take it a thousand times before I'd take tripe like evolved, things like that really make you look back more fondly on disappointing games.

8. Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution: Kind of an oddity, it's a fun game but should have been, and still should be, integrated into the actual Phantasy Star Online games as something else to do besides play pinata with monsters

 

[Allan Holdsworth]

You can search at GameFAQs for games released in a specific year.
For eg, 2004 DS games in North America
http://www.gamefaqs.com/search/inde...her=&dist=0&sort=0&link=0&res=0&title=0&adv=1

Anyway,

1. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door ; the best RPG I've ever played. Probably the best writing out of any game too.
2. Metroid: Zero Mission ; 2D Metroid death saddens me greatly, as I can't stand Prime (or Other M)
3. Kirby & the Amazing Mirror ; love the Metroid structure
4. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
5. Astro Boy: Omega Factor
6. Mario vs. Donkey Kong ; level design is better than DK 94. Ugly graphics though.
7. Mario Power Tennis ; Power Shots were a negative addition overall, but at least they could be turned off
8. Super Mario 64 DS ; don't like to include ports, but this had a reasonable amount of new content so I'll make an exception
9. Tales of Symphonia ; I've played this an unhealthy amount of time, beating it about 5 times to get 100%. But I had way more tolerance of RPGs back then.
10. Viewtiful Joe 2 ; not as good as the first, but still enjoyed it

x. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$! ; the first WW I played
x. Donkey Kong Country 2 [GBA]
x. Mega Man Zero 3 ; barely played it, so I couldn't include in the list
x. Sabre Wulf ; cool puzzle platformer

 

[Lumine]

1. Half-Life 2
Somehow managed to actually live up to its huge expectations. Full of atmosphere and excellent pacing that combines action, puzzling and exploration. A blast from start to finish.
2. World of Warcraft
I didn't actually get into this game in 2004, it released in 2005 in Europe and even then I was taking a break from MMO's in general after FFXI. This game probably tops my most played of all time and I enjoyed many, many hours of it. It's easy to get into, but there is tons to learn and master. It has a huge world to explore with lots to do in it, alone or with friends.
3. Ninja Gaiden
Still one of my favourite action games. It's lengthy, fast, brutal and awesome.
4. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
An excellent entry into the series. Dropped some of the convoluted story telling from MGS2 and provided more gameplay than any other entry in the series.
5. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Though I found this one harder to get into than the previous 2, eventually it clicked and it was still GTA. Just that much bigger.
6. Final Fantasy XI
Despite it's many wonky (and extremely slow) mechanics, I loved losing myself into its world. Though I was sick of MMO's for a while after it.
7. Vampire The Masqurade: Bloodlines
I still have to finish this, but it deserves its spot for the excellent writing it has. The combat is terrible, but the dialogues are actually almost always fun to read.
8. Doom 3
I had absolutely no expectation for this game which is why I'm probably a little more lenient towards it, but what a ride it turned out to be. Very atmospheric.
9. Metroid Prime 2
Didn't quite grab me like the first one did. Mainly got sick of the dark world mechanic, but it's still a great game on its own with a lot of great moments.
10. Halo 2
Pretty much the same story as my previous entry, MP2, I suppose.

 

[Neon_Icarus]

1. Metroid: Zero Mission
2. Pikmin 2
3. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
4. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
5. Silent Hill 4

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

I actually haven't played many games from 2004. Most notable being Halo 2 and San Andreas.

From what I have played, though, my list would go:

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater ; A fantastic game in every regard. My favorite in the series.
2. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes ; A masterclass in level and puzzle design, if I do say so myself (along with the rest of the Prime series). Tough game but so rewarding.
3. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes ; My first MGS title, so I have cherished memories of it. I really do think it's a better game than people give it credit for.
4. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines ; So many memorable moments thanks to the exquisite atmosphere; if the combat was better I might have ranked it higher.
5. Tales of Symphonia ; Played this one several years ago, so my memory of it is a bit iffy, but I remember it really feeling like this one long adventure, something very few games actually accomplish.
6. Half-Life 2 ; Good game marred by terrible pacing issues. The highs are really high, but it's annoying getting to them. I prefer the first game as well as Episode 2.
7. Counter-Strike: Source ; Fun game, but I never really got into it like I wish I had.

 

[Violet_0]

huh, is it just a coincidence, or do posters get banned here for not commenting on their list (presumably because they didn't read the OP)?

 

[Minion101]

1. Half-Life 2 - Came out with in two weeks of Halo 2. While others where playing that, I was playing this and CS:Source. Felt a lot of Xbox players were eating up a lot of hype.

2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Probably my favorite in the series. Lacks characters I hate like Otacon.

3. World of Warcraft - Didn't start playing till 2006 but still.

4. Counter-Strike: Source - I do not prefer original CS over source. People are crazy.

5. Burnout 3 - Takedown - Had a euphoric feeling first time playing this.

6. Metroid Prime: Echoes - No as good as the first but still one of the cooliest well designed games that year.

7. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay - About 10 times better then the movie. Loved this world way better in a game.

 

[Nocturnowl]

1. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
It’s funny seeing the different directions Prime’s sequels would take, while MP3 would be more of a Metroid aimed to ensnare the non Metroid fan offering more guidance, adding dialogue and segmenting the maps MP2 was basically a special delivery for the fans with greater difficulty, more getting lost and I love the game for it. MP2 pulls no punches, progress halting bosses, environments that start killing you for simply walking through them and far more complex map layouts that span two planes. As such people can easily be deterred, I know a few people who loved Prime 1 but couldn’t even breach the halfway point of this game, for those of us who carried on you were rewarded with quite possibly Retro’s most detailed creation yet and one of the best games on the Cube. Now let us not speak of that multiplayer mode.

2. Pokemon Fire Red/ Leaf Green
The GBA was no stranger to ports and remakes but for me this was the top of that pile and to do so it really had to do very little, the original pokemon games are etched into my very being, simply bringing them up to speed so they didn’t feel quite so cumbersome was all I needed. But they went above that, they put Mankey in one of the early routes like Pokemon Yellow before it, truly the greatest gift of all. Oh and there was some other stuff like new islands and so on but I was already on board.

3. Metroid: Zero Mission
The GBA was no stranger to ports and remakes but hang on I already said this, well damn here’s another remake, Zero Mission brings the very outdated original Metroid into more advanced times, Game boy advanced that is (that was horrible, I’m sorry). With the bells and whistles of Super and Fusion the original trip to planet Zebes takes a huge step up and really it’s just great fun for its short duration.

4. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
A big step up from the original paper outing, Mario heads off to a land of scum and villainy which is a nice contrast to the usual Mushroom Kingdom setting, why Peach would choose to go on holiday there I haven’t the foggiest clue but her inevitable kidnapping leads us on a fun journey so who cares? A journey that involves Mario becoming a fighter/wrestler, suffering identity theft, involved in a train mystery, A supercomputer falling for the princess and run ins with the Pianta mafia. It’s so brilliantly mad by comparison to the original game, also helped by a better combat system complete with a unique audience gimmick. The only downsides here at that the opening chapters feel so slow and pedestrian once you’ve experienced the rest.
Also Luigi’s sidestory in the waffle kingdom is the greatest of all Luigi jokes.

5. Ninja Gaiden
This game is pure nails, nails I tell you! A flimsy plot is strung together for the purpose of slicing the hell out of dudes, or alternatively dudes slicing the hell out of you. As brutal as the game can be it always manages to be fun in an almost twisted way, I would learn to both fear and anticipate each enemy encounter, there’s a fine line between you kicking ass and getting your ass kicked and that’s what makes it so thrilling. The games platforming may be ass the most of times, the bosses overly brutal (I hate you spirit Doku) but the combat is king.

6. Tales Of Symphonia
How well it holds up today is something I’m not so sure of but what I do know is that I loved this game to bits back in the day, traditionally I steered clear of more traditional rpg games because turn based combat was not something I was much of a fan of but upon hearing that this game allowed for real time combat I gave it a shot. And what a shot it was, a very well put together game, while it doesn’t really excel in all areas it is pretty solid in each, the real mystery here is why this tales game has a pretty good soundtrack but the others I’ve played sound lousy by comparison. Also manages to be a really fun multiplayer game, I must have played through the game multiple times in quick succession with friends, probably why I have trouble heading back now, that and remembering that damn fish puzzle and the many block pushing situations.

7. Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
No doubt that I’ve chosen the wrong MGS here for many, I’ve still yet to fully play Snake Eater, I’ll get on it at some point I swear! For me Twin Snakes was the first proper foray into the series, oh sure I’d played the tanker demo for MGS2 many times and had played a fair bit of the original which this remake comes from but by all accounts this was my introduction to the series. “The voices are changed! Why is Snake doing crazy matrix moves in the cutscenes? The MGS2 mechanics make it too easy now!” I’m sure these points are all very valid coming off the original but they really mean zilch to me, this game was short but sweet and those over the top cutscenes are hilarious.

8. LoZ: Minish Cap
Not exactly a Zelda game that would blow your mind but it had enough tricks up its sleeve to differentiate itself from the rest, shrinking shenanigans, a villain that isn’t Ganon, The Gust Jar and Mole Mitts, Minish Cap delivers a solid outing and that’s all I’ve really got to say here.

9. GTA San Andreas
First of all I need to say this games mission difficulty is all over the place and goes on too long, when I put SA in this spot know it is for the fantastic madness available to you through a greater selection of crazy cheat codes and the local co-op craziness. This game tells the story of one Carl Johnson who is like in some gang and there’s this corrupt cop I think and….I actually don’t know, this is all irrelevant to me in the grand scheme of things, I’m just going to spawn a jet and parachute out of it with a six star wanted level and love it.

10. Pikmin 2
Taking steps both forward and back from the original depending on how you view the time limit, it’s removal to me dilutes any sense of urgency and the greater length becomes a bit long in the tooth. The real deal is co-op challenge rooms which work like the caves but less random and with teamwork. On paper Pikmin 2 is a game that rights all of the wrongs of its predecessor and adds much more on top of that so it’s praise is well earned, it will be interesting to see how Pikmin 3 will expand upon this if it ever shows up.

x. WWE Day of Reckoning
The multiplayer man, it’s all about the multiplayer. I don’t think there’s much else to say here, it builds off the AKI style gameplay which is always good but the main draw lies in the multiplayer.

x. Kirby: The Amazing Mirror
Plays like a metroidvania, though its take on the design leads to a bit too much backtracking and repetition, still a solid outing that got me playing the rest of the games.

 

[diffusionx]

1. Ninja Gaiden - a high point for 3D action gaming.
2. Astro Boy: Omega Factor
3. Metal Gear Solid 3 - I am cheating here because the original release was downright unplayable. The camera just did not work with the maps. So, really, this is more the later release with the over-the-shoulder camera.
4. Rome: Total War
5. Burnout 3
6. Pikmin 2
7. World of Warcraft - I put my time in like everyone else, fun game while it lasted.
8. Pikmin 2
9. Bloodlines - It could have been brilliant. As it is, it's a Troika game, for all good and bad that entails.
10. Far Cry

 

[UnluckyKate]

1. Metal Gear Solid 3 : Snake Eater. The ultimate masterpiece in the saga and one mindblowing game on so many levels.

2. GTA San Andreas : the best game in the series to date

3. Half Life 2 : best fps ever created

4. Burnout 3 : Takedown : best arcade racer of last gen

5. Killzone : maybe not Halo's killer but still a fantastic game and design

6. FarCry : much better than killzone for sure, but I had the chance to play it only later, and the shock was less sever. Still a ground breaking game

7. Shin Megami Tensei : Nocturne. A hard as hell, deep role playing game. It was unforgiving but amazing

 

[Seda]

.

 

[Owensboro]

1. Half-Life-2 ; I built my very first PC, from scratch, for the release of this game and Doom 3 (also released in 2004). Doom 3, while being merely a good game, made me question my decision to dump a lot of money into top of the line parts. HL2 completely made it all worth it. Even thought it started with 2 major disappointments (Steam having authentication problems, the boxed copy not coming with anything other then a "Keyboard Controls" slip [I WANTED A MANUAL!]) It still ended up being amazing.

It's filled with moments that I still remember playing 8 years later: Checking into City 17 and then just running for your life from the combine; hearing the Flying Buzz Saw coming for the first time; driving like mad in a hovercraft to escape a helicopter; playing with the Gravity Gun the first time; "We Don't go to Ravenholm..."; the Lighthouse rocket battle with the Combine gunship (and the sounds that machine makes... is it alive?); Running from, then finally controlling the Ant Lions; the screech that poison head crabs make and the terror it filled me with; Fighting multiple Walkers when assaulting City 17; and finally, getting the powered up Gravity Gun.

2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater ; When this game came out, I completely avoided it. Metal Gear Solid 2 left such a bad taste in my mouth that I completely swore off the series. Then, around 4 months before MGS4 came out I decided I needed to play this game. In retrospect, that was a horrible decision, because this game is so damn good it tainted my opinion of MGS4. Aside from it taking way to long to get used to the camera (I played an original copy) I loved every single minute of it. It is tied with MGS1 as my favorite in the series (and may just beat it out.... stupid nostalgia glasses!)

3. Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter ; While I liked the older BoF games, this game dug it's claws into me and wouldn't let go. I didn't play it until much later (3 or so years ago?) but I refuse to sell it now that I own it. Even with it's weird systems that don't make much sense at first (limited saves, restarting your game to see new cut scenes and use short cuts, the D-Meter) once you figure them out they make the game amazingly fun. I've always been a fan of more tactical combat and BoFQ's combat system which involved "Action Points" (AP) was perfect. Having to manage how many points moving your character took, to positioning for specific attacks and traps, to purposely skipping turns to built up more and more AP so you could chain together your Lvl 1, 2, or 3 attacks (with button prompts) was great. The Risk reward of using your Dragon Form to save your ass from a battle was also nerve wracking. I ended up beating the last boss with around .05% of the meter left until game over, and it was thrilling as hell.

4. Evil Genius ; The best Bond Villain simulator ever. I still love the random humor of this game, and the strange 1960's 1970's vibe from it's (assumed) setting. Building your underground lair and then having to manage space, build traps, and hire minions to take care of secret agents that infiltrate it was way more fun then it had any right to be. I still remember my favorite "Act of Infamy" involving you sending agents to blow up Nashville, TN. Your scientists needed a big target to test their new weapon, so you "decide to do the world a favor and target Nashville, TN: the home of country music."

5. Beyond Good & Evil ; Every time I see the name of this game I get a little bit angry. How did a game that had great characters, setting, gameplay, and photography (of all things) sell so poorly. It's one of those games that looks so stupid on first glance, but once you get in is so great you are going think about playing it when you are away from your gaming machine.

6. Katamari Damacy ; I'm going to completely agree with daegan here.

Iconic; a masterpiece of game design. Absolutely fresh, heartwarming, upbeat and fun, something games still struggle with.

I would only add that it has an amazing soundtrack that I still listen to random songs from, a really baffling sense of humor that is, well, hysterical, and gives you the most random rush of joy when you can roll up your first child, then car, then elephant, house, tree, smoke stack, landmass, rainbow...

7. Burnout 3: Takedown ; Easily the best of the Burnout series. Streamlined menus, a wonderful risk/reward system to get boost, great "zoom in on crashing cars" camera, and a wonderful Crash Mode sub game. I bought this game even though I didn't own an XBox, just so I could play it on my roommate's system.

8. Ninja Gaiden ; What this game lacks in plot, it more then makes up for alternately kicking your ass, and making you feel like a complete badass. I love games that have a hard, defined combat system and expect you to learn how it works and play by it's rules. Ninja Gaiden expects you to learn and afterwords you feel like such an awesome ninja that it's all worth it. If only those boss fights weren't as infuriating.

9. Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay ; In a word: Surprising. This game was so good that it caused me to actually go see "The Chronicles of Riddick" shortly after playing the game. This game has so many great things about it: a great stealth mechanic, NPCs that are wonderfully voiced, the lack of a HUD and how that is integrated into a lot of the game (laser sights for guns, pop ups on items to show what they are, etc...), and enemies that are constantly taunting you making you want to beat them to death. The PC version also had an awesome feature that more games need: Commentary in game after you beat it.

10. Metroid: Zero Mission ; Even thought it was short, it was great to get an actual Metroid game on the GBA (and one that was better then Fusion). All of the gameplay mechanics that were added from Super and Fusion made the game more fun to play (and much less brutal then the NES version) and the part tacked on the end was fun even if it wasn't the greatest addition.


X. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles ; This would be on my list if it wasn't for the horrible amount of shit you actually needed to play it. I actually convinced my roommate at the time to buy a GameBoy SP and the connection cable so we could play, and we never ended up beating the game because we got stuck at some random point. I still feel bad for convincing him to do that.

X. Halo 2 ; Disclaimer: I did not own an XBox when I played it, which meant my only real experience with this game was the single player. I loved, loved, loved the single player and setting of the original Halo, so I was really pumped to play Halo 2 and see where the story went. Space religions, playing as a random alien, and a big bag of "FEED ME SEYMORE" slime was what I got, including a horrendous blue balls ending of "To be continued!". The game was still fun as heck to play, and I'm sure if I had been a multiplayer junkie it would make the list, but the story really dragged the thing down.

X. World of Warcraft ; My opinion is tainted mostly by what this game became more then what it was at launch. I played a lot for the first 2 or so months, but didn't really get into WoW until the next summer when I ended up finally rolling on another server with friends and playing with them. In 2004, WoW was plagued by multiple, horrible problems including such things as the item database causing crashes, horrible queues, and 22 servers being known for going down any time they wanted. 2005 was when this game truly started to shine.

 

[shinobi602]

1)Half-Life 2: One of the most immersive FPS games I've played. Blew me away in 2004.

2)Halo 2: Come on, it's Halo 2. Multiplayer kept me hooked for years.

3)GTA: San Andreas : Still the best GTA yet.

 

[Danny 117]

1.Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
2. Halo 2
3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas