in Gaming, General, Reviews

2004 Favorites: Part IV – Video Games

2004 was a year of greatness in video games. Unfortunately, it all came crammed in right at the end of the year, and I have no time to play them all… Here’s my favs, classified for no apparent reason:

Action game of the year: Halo 2 – Duh. 🙂 Despite the cliffhanger ‘ending’ and a few other minor problems, Halo 2 is still the best game I’ve ever played. Think about that. Ever. Even handicapped, Halo 2 blows everything else out of the water. Granted, it merges in my head with the whole ILoveBees phenomenon. But still. Halo 2 actually lived up to 95% of the hype it had going, which is worth an award by itself.

RPG of the year: The Bard’s Tale – I’ve commented on this game before. I’m still playing through the quest, but the novel magic and party system are really well executed. And any game that gives you bonus points for being ‘snarky’ in the right situation is A-OK by me.

RPG I haven’t had time to fully play yet of the year: Star Wars – Knights of the Old Republic II – I’ve played the first couple hours and liked what I saw. After I finish The Bard’s Tale it’s next up for serious play time. I beat KOTOR 1 in about a week, and killed Brian’s Xbox in the process. Hoping to avoid that this time around.

Bizarre game of the year: Donkey Konga – Picture DDR. With BONGOS! You play along with Donkey Kong on screen and try to match the rhythms. There’s a decent selection of recognizable songs, and getting a group together to play it is an unparalled experience.

Game I really want to play of the year: Call of Duty: Finest Hour – What can I say? I’m a sucker for WWII first person shooters, and this looks like a great one. I’d almost buy it for Michael Giacchino‘s music alone.

Today Brandon informed me that Metal Gear Solid 3 has a mode that centers around hunting cartoonish monkeys. If i had a PS2 I’d check it out for that alone.

I’ve written way too much tonight. I may not post for the next couple days, as I’ve got many people coming into town for New Year’s. Gonna be a blast! But stay tuned, I’ve still got TV and tech wrapup entries in me yet.

And now – packing.