S.Peelman said:
It's funny how that works. I would say the opposite. After a little under a decade, this is the start of a rather uninteresting period. A 'dark age', if you will. |
It is really very dependent on what genres were your favourite.
I was still playing lot of FPS games and 2004 had some really good - beside the obvious Half-Life 2, which I liked a lot, but not as much as HL1, I really enjoyed Far Cry 1, linear-wide FPS that relied quite a bit on scouting and stealth (though you could go guns blazing), that felt very fresh to me in 2004 - I played this one a lot, since it has very good AI that reacted to everything you do, especially on hardest level were they will shoot in your general direction to flush you out, once they've learned of general area where you are.
Being fan of Pitch Black and (to a degree) Chronicles of Riddick, Escape from Butcher Bay was a must play, and it really surprised me immensely, being actually terrific game, and translating perfectly that combo of sneaking in the dark and inevitable fighting from the movies into the game.
Then there was Doom 3, which was fine experience, but it changed from run and gun FPS to almost horror game, so I didn't like it as much as its predecessors. Painkiller from the same year was actually much more Doom/Quake, then actual DOOM 3 was.
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault was also fine game. And of course CoD: United Offensive, which for a long time was is shinning example of what expansion should look like.
And last, but not least, HALO 2.
And then plethora of multiplayer FPS games - Unreal Tournament 2004, CS:Source, Battlefield Vietnam, Star Wars: Battlefront.
Also, it was pretty good year if you were C/W/RPG fan - beside KOTOR II, which lot of folks actually like more than original due to better writing (which was always Black Isle/Obsidian's forte), there was Fable, which was really very enjoyable experience (though, to be honest, I played Fable: The Lost Chapters which is better version of the game).
And then there was Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines. Brilliant game that, like KOTOR II, had lot of issues due to being rushed out the door, but despite that to this date remains one the most unique RPGs ever made and is considered cult classic. Of course, being PC exclusive, mired with technical issues at launch, and being slotted for release at the same time as HL2 really did the number on its sales.
But yeah, I can see your point - some genres were slowly going the way of the dodo and it will pass many years before Indie/Kickstarter Renaissance kicks in to bring them in the spotlight again.
