Re: Year in Review: 2004

On 3/17/2024 7:23 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

 

2004 is probably most remembered for the release of both "Half Life 2"
and "Doom 3", so let's get those two out of the way first.
 

Sadly almost nothing stands out here.  Either I didn't play the games, or I did and they didn't grab me.  There's at least one though.

 The Games:
----------
* Half Life 2

/agree - while HL was awesome, and I hated the bit where you could fall off to your death, HL2 felt very underwhelming.  I didn't care for the other characters, and the levels felt far flatter, and I don't remember much about it other than the gravity gun was interesting, and kind of led the way toward Portal.

* Doom 3

FPSs were never really my favorite, there's some standouts like the original Doom, Redneck Rampage and Half Life and Counterstrike, but I never got into Quake or anything else other than those mentioned.

* Baldurs's Gate: Dark Alliance 2

I liked this better than the PC BG.  Or maybe that was the original? Good game, very 'console' and 'Diablo' but fun none-the-less.

* Viet Cong: Purple Rain
* Onimusha 3
* The Suffering
* Katamari Damacy
* Battlefield Vietnam

 > * Thief Deadly Shadows
 > * Full Spectrum Warrior
 > * Myst Uru
 > * Alpha Black Zero: Intrepid Protocol
 > * Call of Duty United Offensive
 > * Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
 > * Total War: Rome
 > * Kill Zone
 > * Halo 2
 > * Nexus: The Jupiter Incident
 > * Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
 > * Tribes: Vengeance
 > * Unreal Tournament 2004
Never played and weren't on my radar, and don't look to be anything I'm interested in.

* Farcry

I really should try this one.  The Farcry series has a better record with me than AC, of which I've only completed Black Flag.  Primal and Blood Dragon were both great and I did complete them (though it took a 2nd attempt at BD months or even years after I tried it initially.) Was it 3 or 4 that I found boring though?

* Red Dead Revolver

Better than 2 IMHO, while I didn't complete it, I did get much further.

* WH40K Dawn of War

I think this might actually be my favorite RTS. The units are so varied and there are so many of them, and the backgrounds of them were great. Sure TA & WC were great, but you only have 2 factions and the stories and backgrounds with them were pretty average.  SC had a good story and at least 3 factions, which is the only contender I can think of.
I feel like I need to replay this at some point and get all the DLCs and see if the sequel(s) are any good.

* Star Wars Battlefront

Never played it at the time, but B2 was pretty fun not long ago.

* Bards Tale

I liked this one better than DA, or really even the original on PC. Much more character.  I loved the trapfinder :) I wouldn't mind a sequel.

* Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Amazing CRPG *IF* you have Werner's patch.  Up there with other legendary ones like SWKotOR.  Too buggy and actually impossible to complete if a certain bug takes effect without patches. Like many games, it peters out by the end, feeling unfinished.

* Star Wars: Knights of Old Republic 2

Didn't get very far, while the original is legendary, what little I saw felt like a game from 20 years before.

* Second Sight
     Another overlooked classic, this third-person shooter
     from Free Radical Design featured a strong story,
     interesting level design, and some really fun psychic
     powers. Mechanically, it wasn't their best game, but
     it still ranks up there as one of the more memorable
     titles of 2004.

At least this one sounds like something I might like.  I've got too much to play still though so I just added it to my wishlist on steam.  It's on sale for $2.50 right now.

* X-Men Legends

I missed this one, sounds like fun, too bad it's console only.  If I do go back to PS+ sub I'll try to remember this one.

* Evil Genius

Dungeon Keeper for Bond villains.  Unlike DK which I love, this one just didn't grab me.
 >          * Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena
I'd always heard this and the first Riddick game were great.  I loved Pitch Black and always wanted to give them a a try (3rd movie was good, 2nd movie was tollerable.) Neither are available on Steam/Gog though, so I assume they're console exclusives.  Another to try to remember if I go back to PS+.  Really they're too old for me to bother just for those two though.
--
-Justisaur
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