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Gamecube
Not too many games came out for the Gamecube, so going over the great ones shouldn’t take too long.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Probaby the best game on the Cube for the year, and it came out right before the end of the year. The gameplay is the same as the first Prime, except for a few changes like adding the screw attack and new weapons and visors. Samus lands on a new planet where you battle dark creatures that come from a dark dimension of the planet. You go back and forth between the light and dark world destroying monsters and collecting stuff. What stands out most about Prime 2 is the art direction, unique puzzles, and amazing boss battles.

Tales of Symphonia. I didn’t actually play this game. I watched my brother play through it. It has a really good story and probably one of the best of the few RPGs on the cube.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. Mario RPG. I played this for a few hours. It’s well designed and has a lot of quirkiness. I just couldn’t get connected with it. The battle system involves alot of pressing the button at the right time. Mario never talks. But it seems like a very good light hearted RPG.

Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes. This is a remake of Metal Gear Solid that original appeared on the PS1. The story spawned a large fan base for the series. The Gamecube gets an upgraded version that is designed to be more like MGS2. New cutscenes and extras give this a good experience for people that have never played it or like to play it again under a new light. The graphics are still not near the quality of what we find on the PS2.

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. A different type of Final Fantasy game. It requires the use of Gameboy Advances to play. You and up to 3 other friends get together to battle and collect stuff. It’s fun when you have all 4 players going, but by yourself it’s kind of boring. I didn’t get far in this game.

Wario Ware, Inc. Probably the worst graphics ever. But ridiculously fun. You and your friends take part in mini mini simplistic games that require quick thinking of what you’re supposed to do. It’s really fun, and anyone can play.

Other stuff I’m sure are great but I didn’t play: Zelda Four Swords, Viewtiful Joe 2, Pikmin 2 (I actually have this, but haven’t started it yet), Baten Kaitos.

Playstation 2
Unlike the Gamecube, the PS2 has a ton of great games. It would be impossible for me to play them all so I’m sure I missed out on a lot of great games. Some of those games I wish I got a chance to play: Jak 3, Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Sly 2, Onimusha 3, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Ace Combat 5.

Probably my most favorite game of the year on PS2 was Metal Gear Solid 3. Although the whole “Snake Eater” aspect of getting food to survive, seemed pretty pointless through out the game. The rest of the game was just a joy to play through. There are a ton of secrets and easter eggs in the game. And the story isn’t totally overblown and ridiculous like it was in 2. The boss battles are among the best I have ever played, especially my epic battle with The End, the old uber sniper master. I literally battled him for 45 minutes. Mostly because I suck, and didn’t figure out how to really beat him.

The other great PS2 game I really enjoyed was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I have played all of the GTA games, but this is the first one that I was able to finish. I don’t know if it was the story line or just my mood, but I was never able to get myself to finish the other games. This one I just kept going and wanted to finish it. This was one of the 40+ hours games I have actually completed in a real long time. I guess that just proves how fun it was.

Another surprisingly pleasant game is Katamari Damacy. While it’s technically not impressive at all, and it’s “story” is quite weird, the gameplay is just awesome. It’s really fun and somewhat addicting. A very original game idea, and highly recommended. You basically have a ball that you roll over smaller things and it sticks to the ball. As your ball gets bigger, you can roll over and stick larger things. Main idea is to get it as big as possible in the time limit.

I’m sure there are more games, but I’m tired of this…