Great games I never got?

[Not One Of Us]

Christmas is coming up, so a Christmas list is in order. While there are many excellent titles that just came out (and are coming out), there are of course many games in the past few years that either went under my radar or I simply did not get around to picking up.

List some great games of all systems from the past few years, and add why you think the titles are must haves.

[Jazar]

List some great games of all systems from the past few years, and add why you think the titles are must haves

Question. When is this due and can I get an extension?

[ducker]

might help to have a list of recent (great) games you have played.

[Not One Of Us]

List some great games of all systems from the past few years, and add why you think the titles are must haves

Question. When is this due and can I get an extension?
It's due by this Saturday with a possible week extension, but beyond that you'll receive a failing grade, young man.


might help to have a list of recent (great) games you have played.
I think this thread would benefit without that restriction. Sure, it wouldn't help my Christmas list for someone to mention a game I already have, but it will allow for others to also discover some great games they just didn't know about.

[extarbags]

PS2:

Phantom Brave
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
God of War

Xbox:

Panzer Dragoon Orta
Phantom Dust
Mercenaries
Jade Empire
Guilty Gear XX #Reload
Fable: The Lost Chapters

[Marcus]

Ninja Giaden Black
La Pucell

[Reed]

I'm sure I'll forget a batch, but here we go- prepare the wallet!

PS2:
God of War
Shadow of the Colossus
Disgaea / Phantom Brave
Katamari Damacy / We Love Katamari
GTA Trilogy (III, Vice City, San Andreas)

PC:
Half-Life 2
World of Warcraft
Warcraft III
Rise of Nations

Xbox:
Ninja Gaiden
Chronicles of Riddick
Knights of the Old Republic
Phantom Dust
Psychonauts
Burnout 3 (or Revenge)
Mercenaries
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
Prince of Persa: SoT

GameCube:
Resident Evil 4
Pikmin
Animal Crossing
Zelda Wind Waker
Cubivore

[Moggraider]

Countdown until Tom Chick comes in with his much-needed snarky comment... 10... 9... 8...

[Lorini]

For Xbox, Forza and Project Gotham Racing 2

For PS2, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

For PC: Dawn of War + XP, Rome:Total War+XP, Space Rangers 2, Children of the Nile, Command and Conquer:Generals +XP

Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Lorini

[Sidd_Budd]

Additional PC games, or PC versions of console games, not mentioned above:

Action
Battlefield 2
Call of Duty
Chronicles of Riddick
Far Cry
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City & San Andreas
Max Payne 2
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Splinter Cell & all expansions
Unreal Tournament 2004

Strategy
Korsun Pocket (Decisive Battles series)
Sid Meier's Pirates!
Sims 2

RPGs
Guild Wars
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Sims
Silent Hunter 3

Driving/Racing
F1 Challenge '99-'02


...and add why you think the titles are must haves.
Post-modernism has questioned the assumption that there is a single correct interpretation of any "text." Deciding why these games are great is left as an exercise for the player.

[Nick Walter]

For Xbox, Forza and Project Gotham Racing 2

For PS2, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

For PC: Dawn of War + XP, Rome:Total War+XP, Space Rangers 2, Children of the Nile, Command and Conquer:Generals +XP

Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Lorini

Good recommendations, but let me correct the PS2 section. Noncturne is okay but the Digital Devil Saga and Front Mission 4 both exceed it in the JRPG arena.

[Not One Of Us]

...and add why you think the titles are must haves.
Post-modernism has questioned the assumption that there is a single correct interpretation of any "text." Deciding why these games are great is left as an exercise for the player.
I agree, however you can use others' experiences as a sort of reference for looking further into the games. I could pull up a list of every single game that has come out over the past few years and rent every single one of them, but that would obviously be extremely time consuming (amongst other things).

A more 'accurate' selection is acquired through the word of mouth of people you think have good worth with their two cents, instead through reading why IGN/Gamespy/Fox News editor thinks the game deserves an 9.0 but constantly bitches about how much the game sucks.

[Sidd_Budd]

The post-modern quip was supposed to be a joke following up on the earlier quasi-academic posts (i.e., when is this due?). I agree about using the experience of other trustworthy folks; I just didn't have time to craft specific reasons for each of the games on the list I posted. I figured I could deflect attention from my intellectual laziness with a random "there is no truth -- all reality is subjective" comment.

[Andrew Mayer]

What do you mean by "get"?

[Not One Of Us]

What do you mean by "get"?
Game that has me interested + busy with other stuff at the time / have no money + time passes and I forget all about it = miss out on great game.

The good thing about this is, by the time I'm free of the other games I've been playing, the games are usually at bargin-bin price. Huzzah.

[RickH]

Heh, I usually buy the damn thing and *then* forget about it. It's more expensive my way.

[Not One Of Us]

Oh, I have several of those. Psychonauts is one of them. I'm just now getting around to La Pucelle Tactics, which I pre-ordered.