I’ve completed my months-long task of painstakingly recreating all of my lost GOTY lists over the course of my professional career as a writer. The links to that are at the bottom of the article.
But what I have yet to ever do (quite the impossible task to people nostalgic for a certain era of games) is make a game of the year top ten list for when I was in high school, and work my way backwards. The goal is writing my GOTY lists now for years when I wasn’t a professional in the field. The field of wordsmithing. I good at the words.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll go past the year of my birth! But I will be limiting myself to only one sentence per game, as both a challenge to myself and a relief to my editor. He needs a vacation very badly.
2005
Honorable Mentions: Both “Warioware” games that came out this year, both “Mortal Kombat” games that came out, “Spider-Man 2,” “Psychonauts,” “Pokemon Emerald,” “Meteos,” “Advance Wars: Dual Strike,” “Ratchet Deadlocked,” “007 From Russia with Love,” “Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved,” “Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time,” and “Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones”
10. “Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory” — The best Splinter Cell game, and it has a sneaky underrated multiplayer mode too.
9. “Jade Empire” — I like this more than all of the other Bioware games except the “Mass Effect” trilogy.
8. “Mario Superstar Baseball” — The best Mario sports game, and it NEEDS to return to the Gamecube NSO.
7. “Mario Kart DS” — One of the best Mario spin-off games, and a go-to handheld crutch for many a car ride back in my day.
6. “Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow” — If this isn’t a top three “Castlevania,” then I don’t know what is.
5. “Burnout Revenge” — Maybe the second-greatest racing game of all time behind “Burnout 3: Takedown?” It even has a better soundtrack than its predecessor!
4. “We Love Katamari” — It’s a better game than the original with a worse soundtrack.
3. “Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves” — Not quite as good as the previous two but man, is this game funny as hell and razor sharp.
2. “God of War” — One of the all-time great action games with a sense of scale that is unmatched.
- “Resident Evil 4” — The GOAT. Hasn’t been topped since. Unparalleled and unrivaled. No one has come close to the pacing, the economy, the locations, the bosses, the intensity, or the campy cheese.
2004 IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER I could not choose it was too hard
Honorable Mentions: “Maximo vs. the Army of Zin,” “James Bond 007 Everything or Nothing,” “Unreal Tournament 2004,” “Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy,” “Tales of Symphonia,” “Doom 3,” “Pikmin 2,” “Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green,” “THUG 2,” “Bejeweled 2,” “Metroid Prime 2: Echoes,” “Need for Speed: Underground 2,” “Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater,” “Prince of Persia: Warrior Within,” “Viewtiful Joe 2,” and “NFL Street 2”
10. “Burnout 3: Takedown” — The greatest racing game ever made.
9. “Counter-Strike: Source” — The greatest competitive game ever made.
8. “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” — The greatest open world game ever made.
7. “Half-Life 2” — The greatest single player FPS ever made.
6. “Halo 2” — The greatest multiplayer FPS ever made.
5. “Katamari Damacy” — The weirdest best Japanese game ever made.
4. “Metroid: Zero Mission” — …listen it’s a very good “Metroid” that I quite appreciate. It was either this or “Pikmin 2.”
3. “Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door” — The greatest JRPG ever made? Certainly the best in the franchise. And it’s probably the second-best Gamecube game.
2. “Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal” — The best “Ratchet & Clank” game ever made.
- “Sly 2: Band of Thieves” — The best stealth platformer ever made.
Image Credit: “Half-Life 2,” Valve
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