2000:
The Sims: This game has made more money and dragged more people into gaming than I can think of. It's not one of my favorites, but not mentioning it is a travesty.
Thief II: One of the darkest and most awesome games I've ever played, and scary in its own right.
Counter-Strike: Ugh. I say the name and list it here only because it's one of the most popular games ever, but.. UGH.
WINNER: Diablo II. Fuck yeah, D2 - this game is still one of the greatest games ever after 10 years.
And I liked Deus Ex, but I never saw what was so 'revolutionary' about it.
2001:
Devil May Cry: I never really got into DMC, but you can't deny the effect the game had on gaming culture.
Arcanum: The game, while a little clunky and not always fun to play, was dripping with steampunk style and class.
Conker's Bad Fur Day: Cussing, scat jokes, sexual innuendo, and over-the-top violence all packaged into one foul-mouth little squirrel and stuffed into a pretty fun platformer.
WINNER: Sonic Adventure 2. I know, I know, there's Max Payne, and GTA 3, and DW7.. but I loved Sonic Adventure 2. Everything else after it's been crap, sure, but I look back at SA2 and think 'there were the golden days.'
2002:
Medieval: Total War: God I lost so much time playing this game. I've still got a journal I was writing for it somewhere.
Ratchet & Clank: One of my favorite action series got its start this year, and hasn't stopped since.
Metroid Prime: I loved Metroid Prime. It was one of the few FPS I really liked on a console, and it was thick with Metroid-y atmosphere.
WINNER: Morrowind: FUCK YES YOU ARE THE GREATEST FIRST PERSON RPG EVER. I KNOW I HAVE MORE MODS FOR YOUR YOUNGER PRETTIER COUSIN OBLIVION BUT I STILL LOVE YOU MOST.
wind waker what? I'm.. sorry, but I don't.. um..
2003:
Amplitude: God damn do I wish I hadn't sold this game. I might've beaten it stupid, but it was fun to play every time.
Dynasty Warriors 4: This was the game that really got me into the Dynasty Warriors series, and damn do I resent not being able to keep up with it because mindless thrash-entire-army-as-one-man-god is fun.
Yeah there wasn't a lot this year.
WINNER: Viewtiful Joe: HENSHIN-A-GO-GO, BABY!
what is this.. wind waker thing you keep mentioning? Sorry, I.. um Anyway!
2004:
Unreal Tournament 2004: Fuck UT III, this is the only true successor to the Unreal Tournament throne.
Katamari Damacy: This game really came out of left field, but it was one of the best games of the year, easily.
WH40K: Dawn of War: This is the first RTS I've really really enjoyed playing. It's just damn fun, and the Imperial Guard are my boys. (Soulstorm sucks, though.)
Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War: Goddamn this game was good. I've never been much into flight simulators, or arcade flying combat games or what-have-you, but this game took the entire style of game and made it awesome.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines: The twins. The haunted house. The final fight at the warehouse. And all in the first chapter. Fuck, now I want to reinstall it. Must be strong...
WINNER: Half-Life 2: Yep.
2005:
Psychonauts: This game. This game. This game. This game.
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction: I think the thing I liked about this game so much was the complete randomness. You'd do something, or go to do something, and the game would react properly, and you'd counter it, and the game would ramp up the batshit insane meter, and eventually you were launching bunkerbusters at North Korean fortified skyscrapers and watching the screen lock up for two seconds when the impact rolled you on your ass.
Shadow of the Colossus: Oh, my goodness. Just, huge, wow, sad, augh. My heart.
Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: I'm still playing this game. Literally, I won't let myself play the rest without beating this one, and I'm only on the fourth case, second day so far. It's been a matter of getting distracted, but I always come back to it for a round or two when I think about it.
WINNER: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Holy crap I miss Bioware every time I beat one of their games. There's this moment of 'THAT WAS AWESOME!' and then 'fuck, it's gonna be a year or two before I get to feel that again.
2006:
Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords: This game, and the Twilight of the Arnor expansion, is simply the best 4X space game I've ever played. It's just perfect.
Titan Quest: Continuing the love felt for Diablo II, Titan Quest, while not nearly as procedurally generated, is still close to my heart.
Bully: Fuck yeah, why hasn't anyone else mentioned this game? It was great - it wasn't too long, it wasn't very in-depth, but it was pound-for-pound exactly what you expected to get and it was awesome.
WINNER: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: You knew this was gonna go here after the knob-slobbering I did for Morrowind. You KNEW it.
2007:
Rogue Galaxy: Y'know I never hear anyone else talk about this game, but I loved it - it was a great, traditional RPG on the PS2, and it really played with the heartstrings at the end.
Etrian Odyssey: Old school Wizardry/The Bard's Tale-style gaming with a built-in grid map I have to draw by hand? Fucking sold, sir!
Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl: I only played this game last year, but my God. I'm a sucker for really good really hard games, and this game is REALLY hard, but REALLY good, especially with a proper conversion mod in place. Please sir, may I have another anomaly? *WHACK* Thank you sir, may I have another? *BOOM*
WINNER: Team Fortress 2: How many hours/weeks/months have we sunk into this game already? If it wasn't Game of 2007, something's bad wrong.
2008:
note: I can really tell during this year and the next that my ability to play new games is cut back due to not having a Wii/360/PS3. It kinda feels.. empty.
Mass Effect: Oh, sure, I know there's a big thing going on about ME2 now, but when I finally got ahold of this game, I really enjoyed it. It was a great fun game.
Stalker: Clear Sky: An even better game than Stalker: SoC, but.. lacking, in some ways. Much shorter and less enthralling.
Bioshock: Sneaking around through an underwater city that's falling apart and trying not to have my blood sucked out of me by little girls or punched out by Big Daddies? I'm down with that.
I can't in good conscience, however, come up (off that list, at least) with a Winner for 2008. Sorry.
2009:
Street Fighter IV: I played SFA3 with my friends of Kaillera, so at the end of 2009, when SFIV was on sale for $7, I snatched it up and haven't regretted it at all - except when I'm playing it. Fucking game is infuriating.
Killing Floor: When I bought Left 4 Dead, I played it for a while and felt let down afterwards. When I bought Killing Floor, I played it for a while and felt like my dick had grown three inches.
Prototype: If you can ignore the story, Prototype becomes a very fun game in which you run around like a psychotic, kill everyone in Manhattan one bisected corpse at a time, and fight gigantic zombies.
Section 8: This game has not gotten ANY of the press it deserves. It is a tactical, in-depth shooter like we haven't seen since.. well, since Tribes II, only this runs all over Tribes II and plays better to boot. Such an awesome game.
Red Faction: Guerrilla: Y'know, I hate the story in this game? It's really predictable and generic. But the gameplay - oh, the gameplay. There's so many ways to break everything in the game, it's just delicious.
WINNER: Borderlands: Fuck yes, I can shoot things and level up and it's awesome and there's so many fucking guns and the story is a laugh but this game was made by the Rule of Cool and it's GREAT.
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That's my list, anyway.
