27-01-2005 08:37									#1
	2004 in review Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

Gaming highlights from 2004. can be best games, but also anything else memorable - what genres were successful, sequels vs new games, hardware, publishers, whatever trends interest you.

	27-01-2005 09:07									#2
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Halo 2
World of Warcraft
Half-Life 2
Doom III

I think FPSs did well this year, but RPGs will well in 2005, with TES IV, Jade Empire, and World of Warcaft.

	27-01-2005 18:29									#3
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2004 was a year for fps games, so not my favorite year for gaming...

Of the games from 2004 I have on my computer now is:

NFSU2 - Not that great. I'm not a fan of arcade style racing games, and the game was designed so you had to spend more than 50% of the time playing the boring missions (street X, URL, etc) before you could play the fun missions. Also the MP code for drafting failed too much

RCT3 - After the release of the first patch the game becomes playable. It's not that great compared to the first RCT game, but better than expected

UT2k4 - More fun than the other fps games released, because when playing fps games I prefer to have a huge fight with lots of bots (or human players if possible), and not just the campaigns (I kinda hate campaigns unless they have something to offer, which Doom3 nor HL2 had)

	27-01-2005 19:10									#4
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Rome Total War and Silent Storm: Sentinels are the only gems that I can think of right at the moment.

And Hearts of Iron 2, if you don't mind it being released a week into 2005.

	27-01-2005 21:07									#5
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Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 . Two excellent FPS games each in their own style, and Half-Life 2 showing the most beautiful environments/sights and continuing the great story, and Doom 3 being the most graphically amazing thing up to date together with being the best classic-style SP shooter....

	27-01-2005 21:30									#6
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Not being a FPS player it was not a great year, but
Rome: Total War,
Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines,
City of Heroes,
Everquest II
and others I've forgotten all helped to pass the time.

	27-01-2005 23:17									#7
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I bought a Gamecube this year.

Metroid Prime: Nice, different FPS incorporating classic metroid features.

Eternal Darkness: An excellent, grown-up, RPG-type thing.

Viewtiful Joe: Utterly beguiling 2D platform beat-em-up.

Ikaragu: Ultra-retro shooter. Entertaining, but limited.

Beyond Good and Evil: Easy, but polished Zelda-esque RPG.

Skies of Arcadia Legends: I fancied a console-style RPG, and got this. Lots to do, and the ship battles are really quite cool. Gets a bit easy towards the end though.

On the PC front, I got Dominions 2, a fantastically complex fantasy war game. And loads of DVDs.

	28-01-2005 00:27									#8
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City of Heroes
Half life 2

Couple possibles yet to play yet.

	28-01-2005 00:40									#9
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When was city of heroes released? For some reason, it seems like it's been out longer than a year to me.

	28-01-2005 00:42									#10
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Since my sense of time is so off, vanilla silent storm would probably do. And there's probably tons of other games that I don't even think of as being a 2004 game.

	28-01-2005 00:44									#11
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From memory it was around March '04.

	28-01-2005 00:55									#12
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I was unimpressed.

Bought Doom 3. got bored of it in a few days (never even finished). I still have it on my hard drive. I may finish one of these days...

Everquest 2. I got bored of this one in a couple of weeks. Never got my character past level 12. I found the newbie island to be the most fun part of the game.

Silent Storm. Not sure if this is 2004. I got a copy from my brother. I really still haven't played it. I tried loading it up, and couldn't figure it out. Maybe I'll try reading the instructions. But it didn't seem to interest me enough to get me to read the instructions.

I played mostly older games such as NWN and Civ3. And Morrowind. Maybe you could include the premium modules of NWN in the 2004 list. they were pretty good, but nothing groundbreaking.

	28-01-2005 03:27									#13
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Heh, the German release of Hordes of the Underdark was 2004. Rome Total War, Warhammer 40K : Dawn of War, Thief 3

Umm... What else came out last year that I played more than 2 minutes of?

-Jam

	28-01-2005 05:43									#14
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Having decided to concentrate mainly on budget and/or fully patched games i'm now probably approaching 2003. Current highlight is Gothic2.

	28-01-2005 06:16									#15
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So the consensus is that 2004 was the year of FPS and MMORPGS, with a steady flow of console titles.

	28-01-2005 07:11									#16
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I just bought the Morrowind expansions, did any of those come out in 2004? I think they may have been 2003. I haven't played them yet though, for some reason I'm posting here. I know I shouldn't buy a game when I'm not working, but the games were real cheap. I'll stick to buying games that have been out a couple of years until I get a job and can afford the new stuff.

	28-01-2005 19:00									#17
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If you think 2004 was a year for MMORPGs, just wait and see the deluge of them slated for 2005. Unless a bunch more get cut fast, there are at least 6 due for Feb/Mar alone.

I forgot Thief 3 last time. Great game, but not one that I feel inspired to replay to max out the score. Since the plot is completely linear, done once is done forever in my book.

	29-01-2005 09:55									#18
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I am sorry to say, the only game released in 2004 that is still on my harddrive is Sims 2. OK, Doom 3 is there as well, but I haven't played that for quite a few months now.

	29-01-2005 10:02									#19
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Do you still play Sims 2?

	29-01-2005 10:37									#20
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Indeed.

	29-01-2005 14:47									#21
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quote: Originally posted by Skanky Burns I am sorry to say, the only game released in 2004 that is still on my harddrive is Sims 2.

	29-01-2005 21:16									#22
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quote: Originally posted by Skanky Burns I am sorry to say, the only game released in 2004 that is still on my harddrive is Sims 2. OK, Doom 3 is there as well, but I haven't played that for quite a few months now.

if the original sims is any guide, Sims2 will be an important part of PC games sales for some time to come.

	30-01-2005 00:06									#23
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ahh, I forgot about Sims 2. That is still on my hard drive, but I doubt I'll play it again. It was just a time filler before I could play some real games. . It was decent. I got a couple of weeks out of it. Still wish I hadn't paid full price for it though.

Many games get discounted after only a year or two in release. But sometimes I can't wait that long .

	30-01-2005 00:30									#24
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quote: Originally posted by Dissident It was just a time filler before I could play some real games.

	30-01-2005 01:30									#25
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quote: Originally posted by Dissident Many games get discounted after only a year or two in release. But sometimes I can't wait that long .

Here it seems like there's only two types of games to buy in the stores:

1) "New" games (less than 5 years old)... these are always sold for full price

2) Unknown games more than 5 years old. They're cheaper than the "new" games, but often still very expensive. These games are mostly unknown games with names like "Soccer Moms birthday massacre" or "Milk Maniac"

	30-01-2005 01:50									#26
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soccer mom's birthday massacre sounds interesting. where can I get it?

	30-01-2005 01:54									#27
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Crusader Kings - Fantastic epic with hundreds of sides, a great dynasty model, and realistic gameplay of conquest, kings, dukes, and counts. Verges on a sort of a grand-strategic simulator.

Kohan II: Kings of War - One of the best RTS ever in terms of interface and gameplay, even if the campaign feels cheesy and hackneyed.

Chris Sawyer's Locomotion - Great follow-up to Transport Tycoon Deluxe that adds many great elements. Building streetcar systems is plain awesome.

	30-01-2005 02:50									#28
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quote: Originally posted by Dissident ahh, I forgot about Sims 2. That is still on my hard drive, but I doubt I'll play it again. It was just a time filler before I could play some real games. . It was decent. I got a couple of weeks out of it. Still wish I hadn't paid full price for it though.

A couple of weeks for a game is actually a lot. I find it that many games that get released aren't good for that long. Not even my favorites from this year like Doom 3 or HL2. Complete them, complete them again, and then gotta wait for some good maps or whatever... Rome:Total War lasted me for a great total of one hour, and RTS games generally last about 3 weeks for me, till they become a recurring, now-and-then game. So how can anyone get a couple weeks out of a Sims game is really beyond me. I remember playing Sims for a bit, understanding that there's a ton of stuff in that game, a ton of items, etc., but then after two hours of playing realising that the game is just basically all the same and tedious, and then getting bored ouf of my mind.

	30-01-2005 03:08									#29
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Oh yeah, I forgot I've still got Sims 2 on my computer

quote: Originally posted by Dissident soccer mom's birthday massacre sounds interesting. where can I get it?

Ok, maybe I don't exactly remember the titles found in the "cheap" section, but one thing you shouldn't do is google: "soccer moms" "birthday massacre" (with the "s) and open the second page it finds... DO NOT DO THAT!

	30-01-2005 03:44									#30
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Btw I'll stir up a bit of controversy by stating that despite nice graphics and sound Doom3 was a very mediocre FPS that without the Doom name would have been panned by all and would have sunk like a stone.

Discuss.