DVDtalk forum's GAME OF THE YEAR!
 

So what's YOUR pick for game of the year? If you can, try to include a reason why. This is for games that came out in 2004, so no RE4 (that automatically wins '05).

My pick is for MGS 3. Action packed from start to finish, better gameplay than previous installments, graphics to die for, and an ending that left me and my wife slack-jawed and tearful.
Might have a few issues and it's not for everyone, but it's by far my favorite game of 2004.

I was blown away by Half Life 2.

Oops... guess I forgot to include PC games. Sorry about that. I'm pretty much a console gamer (my pc sucks for games... now that I think about it it's slowing down on the web too).

Anyhoo, go ahead and hit the "Other" button and write it in. We'll try to keep count of the votes.

And you forgot the GBA... my pick is Zelda The Minish Cap.

That's a 2005 game Deb, try again next year.

I'd have to go with Unreal Tourney 2004... since my buddies and I still play it twice a week... but then again, you're right, you left out PC games.

By far GTA: SA

GTASA fo sho

Halo 2 for multiplayer. Damn this game is addicting

I just finished Half Life 2, and I must say, that game was an amazing amount of fun, and had some sweet level design and graphics. What was up with the ending though? ;) Not sure about the performance. I have an Athlon 64 3000+ with a gig of ram and an XFX GeForce 6600GT AGP video card. Running at full detail, with no AA/AF, FPS ranged from 100+ in some simple outdoor areas to around 30 if a lot was going on. It seems that others are getting a bit more with similar configs.

Also playing World of Warcraft, and that's incredible amounts of fun too. Have a level 10 human warrior now, and haven't really left the starting forest area yet. FPS in that is around 60 in indoor areas (seems to peg itself at 60) and a solid 30 outdoors (doesn't vary much there either).

I'd vote for either of those so far, but I also have Far Cry I still need to play, and I'll pick up Doom 3 eventually (been playing the demo, I get 40-60 FPS at high detail), and those seem to be a lot of fun, in different ways, from the short amount of time I've played either of them.

Brian

What he said. Both games are fantastic (though I have trouble in Halo 2 playing as Covanant). R&C UYA would be third for me, Burnout 3 fourth.

Honorable mentions for the much praised sleeper, Katamari Damacy and the way-underrated Sly 2 : Band of Thieves that I'm just playing now and am really impressed with.

GTASA

World of Warcraft

Katamari Damacy.
A little short, but just the fact that they gave it a chance gets my vote.

Voted for Riddick. Halo 2 was great but other than the multi-player nothing groundbreaking. Riddick was original, graphicly amazing and brought a few new things to the table including a unique gameplay experience.

Burnout 3 was excellent as well. And I still have MP:Echoes sitting in the shrink wrap to get to.

Hmmm, having a tought time deciding, so many games that I have yet to play. Getting a new pc soon, and then I can try out all the FPS and WOW. Enjoyed MP2 a lot, but haven't played MGS 3 or some of the others that might beat it out.

HALO 2
Simple, because there is no other single game on this forum that has a pinned thread.

Unreal. Tournament. 2004.

I voted for Halo2 but thought about it hard due to no inclusion of Bots so that I could practice up by myself and learn maps, etc before getting my a$$ handed to me on Live...

Halo 2, since multiplayer just kicks ass

this poll's a joke, where's World of Warcraft?

Perhaps a better way to go about this would be to take nominations in one thread, and then start a new thread with the top 10 noms as a poll?

Well, Halo2 has a thread with well over 1000 posts. That being said, I think that Wow is probably pretty amazing as well.

It has to be one of those two.

Of those listed: Ratchet and Clank 3: UYA.

Write-ins: Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Growlanser Generations [one of a very few games that when I have to redo battles, I don't get pissed, but feel challenged.]

Metroid Prime 2.

World of Warcraft. No other game even comes close to it IMHO. And I own all 3 consoles and a GBA SP too.

Halo 2

No love for knight of the Old Republic 2?

:drool:

UT2004 kept me up many, many late nights with awesome Onslaught matches.

I've gotten incredibly sick of "cinematic" games, where you spend 30 hours playing through them once and then never play them again. My time is limited - if I dump 30 hours into a game, I want it to pay off. Halo (the original) did. Few other FPSes do - including Half-Life 2, from what I've seen so far.

The gameplay usually isn't even <i>fun</i> - the action is an annoying prerequisite to advancing the cinematic story. It's all about preserving health and ammo. :thmbsdwn: The worst part is this: <i>You can't easily revisit the memorable parts.</i> If you remember one really great setpiece in such a game, and want to revisit it, you have to spend 10 hours getting back there. (Unless you've saved your savegames, in which case you are an uber-d0rk.)

UT2004 gets it right where these others failed: it focuses on the instant-action aspect. You fire up the game, and you start playing. There's no work involved. And the game is <i>incredibly</i> fun - their play balance is exquisite.

- David Stein

A sequel must improve on the original to warrant consideration. General consensus is that KOTOR II did not.

It's silly to pick one game above all others, imo.

My favorite games of last year:

City of Heroes
Halo 2
Metroid Prime 2
GTA: SA
Kotor II
Chronicles of Riddick
Half Life II
WoW
Splinter Cell: PT

No doubt! HALO 2

My experience was limited to console games this year. And going by the one that I have played the most, and keep on playing, to the exclusion of all my other games languishing away, I pick Halo 2. Just can't stay away.

Though I spend a crapload of time playing City of Heroes, I would say Half Life 2 is the best game of the year.

Halo 2

While it didn't get as high of rating as the original, I felt it did improve in a few areas : the use of fighting\force forms, the ability to influence party members, being able to reach a level of 30, and the ability to choose an advanced class later in the game.
Personally I felt it was one of the best games I played last year.

I actually haven't picked it up yet, but I'm 100% sure I won't like it as well.

95% of the reason I liked the first one was for the story, and everything thing I've read said the story is no where near on par with the first.

I thought the gameplay in KOTOR was ok at best. I just much prefer japanese style, menu drive RPG battles to the more active auto-pause stuff in KOTOR and other american style RPGs.

Half Life 2. Unbelievable game, probably my pick for the best game I've ever played. As for consoles though, my pick goes to MGS3. And just in case anyone is keeping track, my most overrated game of the year would be Far Cry. Graphics are great, but the game was boring as hell.

The story is a continuation of the first. If you don't like the story in Kotor II, then you didn't like the first. I've read that some people don't care for the unresolved ending, but that's common in the second part of most trilogies.

Kotor 1 barely scratched the surface of Revan's true abilities. Kotor II builds on Revan's story with the path of another jedi. I'm guessing paths will collide in Kotor III and some crazy jedi shit will go down.

I hope you are right.:up: Iwonder if they will have a 3rd one in the fall?