The ten greatest years in videogame history

We calculated the best 120 months in gaming - you won't believe the results

Words: GamesRadar_ US on July 27, 2006

2005

2005 was a mere eleven days old when the GameCube's Resident Evil 4 reinvented the entire survival horror genre. Two months later, God of War and its brutal, blade-swinging anti-hero Kratos did the same for gory action games on PS2.

Creativity kept coming. Action adventure Psychonauts had us alternating between laughter and wonder, thanks to comical dialogue and brilliant level designs, and the atmospheric, melancholy beauty of Godzilla-slayer Shadow of the Colossus captivated our hearts. Guitar Hero simply rocked us, and LEGO Star Wars made us silly with fan-boy nostalgia.

RPGs, you say? Xbox rocked the mystic kung-fu of Jade Empire, and PS2 countered with the timeless, lushly-animated charm of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King? In the real world, as gas prices soared, gearheads stomped the pedal on Gran Turismo 4 and upstart Forza Motorsport, while Burnout Revenge and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition became the dynamic duo in arcade racing.

What about PC? Sims 2… lotta folks liked that one, and we hear that Sid Meier's Civilization IV, and Battlefield 2 weren't too bad. And if you had an urge to game on the go, Kirby: Canvas Curse gave you reason to buy a DS, and Trauma Center: Under The Knife, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Meteos and Mario Kart DS kept it off eBay. PSP arrived too, revving up Ridge Racer and Wipeout Pure, as well as puzzler Lumines and crime actioner Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.

Even before 360 touched down, with its Geometry Wars: Evolved and Condemned: Criminal Origins and also-on-PC Call of Duty 2, 2005 was just sick with awesomeness. Its second-tier stuff would have been top-shelf any other year: We Love Katamari, Tekken 5, Star Wars Battlefront 2, Incredible Hulk: Maximum Destruction, Indigo Prophecy, Soul Calibur III, Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Age of Empires III, Black & White 2, Brothers in Arms (both Earned in Blood and Road to Hill 30), Champions: Return to Arms, Destroy All Humans!, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Donkey Kong, Jungle Beat, Project: Snowblind, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, X-Men Legends 2, WarioWare: Touched!, and more.

Is 2005 the best videogame year ever? Even if it isn't - and if researching/fighting over this feature has taught us anything, it's that every year was a contender - it's a undeniable proof that there will always be great, new - and sometimes old - stuff out there for us to play. And that's all the business knowledge most of us gamers need.

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Platforms:

Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PC, Wii, DS, PSP, GameCube, Xbox

11 comments

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aar2697 - January 1, 2013 4 a.m.

1996 should have included Crash Bandicoot.
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Dadyo238 - March 19, 2012 6:09 p.m.

1998 was THE year. OoT,MGS,Fallout 2, Half Life, Diablo, and, last but not least, me. Yup, I was born in 1998.
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Solid_Gabriel - October 19, 2010 2:49 p.m.

How could you guys not mention Fallout 2 on the entry about 1998!
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D0CCON - August 25, 2010 12:02 a.m.

2007 ftw. Halo 3, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, COD4, The Orange Box, Bioshock, Rock Band, Super Mario Galaxy, God of War 2 (for those who like it), Forza 2, Uncharted, Crysis, Metroid Prime 3, and Ratchet and Clank Future Tools of Destruction helped make that year incredible (among other smaller games that I still love, like Peggle, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, and Puzzle Quest).
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Wolf007 - December 29, 2008 11:24 p.m.

How about you just put the greatest year of gaming. 1997! You talked about FFVII, is has there ever been a greater game. I think not! By the way, why doesn't it get ported to PS3 and the 360. It would sell like 300 million copies!
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CoD_22 - December 28, 2008 5:33 p.m.

i realise i may have contradicted myself slightly. its easy because you can run up to people to kill them without losing any health or you can get in tanks and become invincible. and they have no snipers because they have all given up trying as well. and that makes it really boring.
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rbrent - July 20, 2009 5:16 p.m.

This would be perfect for a timeline of the history of video games that I've been putting together at http://timelines.com/topics/video-games. It's on a website called http://timelines.com. Anyone is free to contribute to it and enhance it with images, videos, or commentary. Our idea is to create an interactive historical record of anything and everything, based on specific events that combine to form timelines. We're trying to achieve a sort of user-created multimedia encyclopedia, in which no event is too big and no event is too small, and where each event can contain various types of resources, such as video, images, maps, etc. It's also a good way to direct traffic to your blog because your events will pop up along with anything else that's thematically related. We're also planning on creating an embeddable version of our timelines in the near future.
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mjmont92 - January 17, 2009 11:11 p.m.

woo for 1997! dark forces II is one of my all time favorite shooters. (much better than Halo 3 imo)
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CoD_22 - December 28, 2008 5:27 p.m.

How can they like star wars battlefront? touch the right analog stick and your crosshair thingy will shoot off a metre or so. its impossible to snipe and its just too easy. the only thing that makes it hard is your teammates because they die and you lose your reinforcements. if it was just you on your own you would own them!
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Wazoox2 - December 26, 2008 10:36 p.m.

2nd last paragraph, it says Incredible Hulk: Maximum Destruction.. is it not Ultimate Destruction?
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babo_u_da - December 26, 2008 6:12 p.m.

im gonna be gay and just do this FIRST! (sry people who hate playing first)
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