The technology curve in the game industry is such that every new year seems to put the previous one to shame. 2003 was a good year for online games, but 2004 was a truly spectacular year for video games in general. You know what I'm talking about: Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Halo 2, World of Warcraft, The Sims 2, Rome: Total War, Metroid Prime 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, GTA: San Andreas, City of Heroes... the list goes on and on.
Summary of the 2004 Award Winners
GameSpy
Best Overall - Halo 2
Best Multiplayer - Unreal Tournament 2004
Best MMORPG - World of Warcraft
GameSpot
Best Overall - World of Warcraft
Best Shooter - Half-Life 2
Best Massively Multiplayer - World of Warcraft
IGN
Best Overall - Half-Life 2
Best Multiplayer - Halo 2
Best Persistent World - World of Warcraft
SpikeTV
Best Overall - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Best Massively Multiplayer - City of Heroes
As you can see, there weren't really any surprises coming from the major game publications. SpikeTV offered an array of relatively ridiculous categories (Most Addictive Game Fueled by Dew, anyone?) much like they did in 2003. Perhaps the most noticeable absence from the awards lists was Doom 3, which didn't do as well as some might have expected. Nevertheless, I think a lot gamers could have predicted the outcome of the award specials even before the games were released.
Another Year of Half-Life 2
Considering all the commotion that surrounded this title and the introduction of Steam in 2003, I was prepared to dismiss Half-Life 2 simply for being, literally, a year late and a dollar short. Nevertheless, after countless setbacks, the game still somehow managed to exceed expectations. No doubt, it is one of most engaging single-player FPS games we've seen yet, thanks to tremendous physics and a rich storyline. Even Doom 3 and Halo 2 couldn't quite live up to the Half-Life 2 experience.
And that experience requires Steam, which is Valve's content delivery system AKA pirate buster software that authenticates your game after installation. There was considerable grumbling about the fact that the policy applied to single-player and multiplayer alike, meaning that the game was not playable in any mode without an Internet connection. It caused a stir, but it didn't appear to hurt sales much at the end of the day.
Of course, Half-Life 2 didn't have all that much to offer multiplayer fans, since the multiplayer component of the game consisted of little more than an updated version of Counter-Strike, with deathmatch tacked on after release. If competition with other humans is your thing, it's more likely that you were preoccupied with Unreal Tournament 2004, which put UT back at the top of the genre, or Halo 2, which managed to single-handedly quadruple usage of the Xbox Live service.
Curiously, Joint Operations didn't receive much praise in year-end award specials. I consider it one of the best games I played in 2004, providing smoother action with 100+ players in the game than most shooters can muster in a 32 player match. NovaLogic deserves credit for developing great network code and giving us massive battles rivaled only by those of PlanetSide.
MMORPGs Make a Comeback
In the persistent world department, World of Warcraft completely dominated the scene despite the release of EverQuest 2, the sequel to the game that put MMORPGs on the map. Blizzard did this without rewriting the book on MMORPGs, which is quite a accomplishment considering that many people swore that they would never grind again after their last experience with the genre.
An interesting twist in the accolades heaped on WoW is that Penny Arcade dubbed it game of the year, and then withdrew the award! WoW has been wildly popular, and Blizzard has had some problems getting their servers up to capacity, resulting in downtime and queues to log on to certain shards. I'm not sure how much sense it makes, but I've always been wary of MMORPG reviews written only days after a game's release for precisely these reasons.
Were it not for World of Warcraft, City of Heroes would clearly have won a lot more awards. Although, once again, they didn't really break new ground, NCSoft managed to distill their superhero MMORPG down to the essential elements that make a game like this fun.
Internet Game of the Year
Although I still haven't gotten around to playing all of the big releases of 2004, my vote, like so many others, would have to go to World of Warcraft. More than any other MMORPG, it brings the most compelling features of the genre into a single, artistically exceptional package. Unlike its predecessors, which appealed mainly to hardcore gamers with plenty of time on their hands, World of Warcraft stands to make MMORPGs mainstream by attracting, and captivating, casual players and dedicated RPGers alike. Naturally, as good as the games of 2004 are, I still find myself being drawn back into titles of earlier years. Go figure.
