Gaming has had many great periods over its fifty-four years of history (Computer Space, the first commercial game, was developed in 1970 and released the following year), and fans often have hot debates about the best year for new game releases. Today, however, I wanted to place the spotlight on what I consider to be, without a shred of doubt, the best month ever for gaming: November 2004.
Twenty years ago, eight seminal games were released in twenty-eight days, breaking people’s wallets but also forever marking the spot (and, in some cases, outright changing it) in the history of this entertainment medium. In this article, I’ll explain why they were (and in many ways still are) so important while also remembering my feelings about them at the time. The list is strictly ordered based on their respective release dates.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – October 26, 2004
Rockstar’s fifth main entry in the GTA series technically launched a few days before November, but it still fits the twenty-eight-day timeframe between it and the final game on this list. Moreover, I could never leave it out over something so trivial. While the previous installments in the franchise were already highly popular, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas reached an entirely new dimension when it dropped into the gaming market. The game outsold Vice City by 45% in its first week, selling 4.5 million units.
It would become the best-selling game in a crowded year, thanks to universal critical acclaim (95/100 on Metacritic) and some good old-fashioned mainstream controversy due to the infamous Hot Coffee minigame. The acclaim and sales were well-earned, as San Andreas improved over Vice City in every area: gameplay, visuals, world size, features, etc., setting a new standard for open-world titles.
As for my take at the time, I wasn’t the biggest GTA fan back then, so it wasn’t my most anticipated title. Perhaps it’s because the previous title featured highly repetitive missions and merely passable plots, but San Andreas was the game that leveled up both areas, allowing Rockstar to sit on the open world games throne for a long time.
Counter-Strike: Source – November 1, 2004
The only remake on this list, Counter-Strike: Source brought the popular competitive first-person shooter game to modern technology. It was the first game to launch on the market with Valve’s new Source engine, and the studio (which was helped by Turtle Rock Studios on this project) used it as a sort of Trojan horse for Half-Life 2, bundling it with all copies of that game before it was eventually released as a standalone product.
The visual upgrade was massive and certainly enticed many new users to check out the series, not to mention the praise from reviewers, who awarded the game an 88/100 score on average. While some hardcore players maintained that the original Counter-Strike had deeper gameplay, CS:S eventually won over the wider community, as evidenced by the 96% positive user reviews on Steam. It helped Counter-Strike stay relevant for another eight years before the launch of Global Offensive in 2012.
Personally, I was always way more of a fan of Rainbow Six, but Counter-Strike’s tight-knit community impressed me even then. That they managed to not only maintain but even expand such a high level of commitment from fans after all these years is commendable.
Halo 2 – November 15, 2004
With Halo: Combat Evolved, Bungie forever changed the landscape for first-person shooters in console gaming. At that time, the consensus was that PC was the platform to go to when it came to FPS titles. Halo erased that stereotype and became the biggest Xbox exclusive, creating an enormous amount of hype for its sequel. Microsoft pushed for this to be more than just another game launch, treating it like the biggest blockbuster movies. Its trailer aired in theaters, and there was even an alternative reality game called I Love Bees that attracted a lot of attention to the release.
The goal was largely achieved, as the game grossed $125 million on its opening day, more than Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, cementing gaming’s new status as the biggest entertainment medium in the world. Overall, Halo 2 was tied with GTA: San Andreas regarding the 95/100 review score, while GTA ultimately outsold it thanks to its availability on PlayStation 2.
In this case, I was absolutely part of the large user base that followed this launch very closely. I loved the predecessor and thoroughly enjoyed the sequel despite the controversial campaign choices. When it comes to gameplay and multiplayer features, Halo 2 might just be the best the series has ever been to this day.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes – November 15, 2004
On the same day, Nintendo launched the sequel to 2002’s Metroid, a first-person adventure game with shooter elements. Developed like the original by Texas-based company Retro Studios, it garnered widespread praise for its visuals, level design, and longevity (the game required more than 20 hours to complete), averaging a 92/100 score on Metacritic. It was also the first installment in the series to add multiplayer support, although it wasn’t exactly its strongest feature.
Nintendo even tried to mimic Halo 2’s viral marketing with some fake websites. However, the game’s commercial success was nowhere near the likes of Halo 2 due to the underwhelming sales of Nintendo’s GameCube platform. It took many years for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes to become a million-seller, although that is no fault of the game itself, which to this day is considered to be one of the best entries in a revered franchise.
While I owned a GameCube, I had sold it already by that point. As such, I did not play Metroid Prime 2 at launch, though I wished I had after seeing all the glowing reviews and impressions online. Despite the not-so-strong sales, this sequel ensured the IP would continue to be one of the most anticipated by Nintendo fans.
Half-Life 2 – November 16, 2004
The following day, Valve released Half-Life 2. It had been six years since the original game had reinvented the single player first-person shooter genre, and the hype was already at dangerously high levels. On top of that, as said before, Valve bundled Counter-Strike Source with the game, ensuring people would get Half-Life 2 despite the then-controversial requirement to install it through Steam, their new digital store.
That alone would probably be enough to make it worth remembering, given the huge impact Steam would have on the gaming landscape. But Half-Life 2 was far more than that. Like GTA: San Andreas for open world games, HL2 showed gaming that shooters could be much more immersive and story-driven without sacrificing any gameplay depth. Reviewers clearly agreed, rating it 96/100 on average, the highest score for a game released in 2004.
When I played it on my PC, I couldn’t believe its visuals. Back then, the newly released Source engine was the most advanced piece of technology available, and it also came with the built-in Havok physics engine to deliver far higher levels of interactivity with the environments than gamers were used to. The combination of the two left me in awe, to say the least, although I did have a personal issue while playing: motion sickness. I’ve never had a problem playing first-person games, but something in Half-Life 2 always left me vaguely nauseous after around twenty minutes. A pity, as it’s clearly one of the best shooters ever made. Now, I can’t wait to see the RTX Remix project be released and try once again to step in the shoes of Gordon Freeman.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines – November 16, 2004
Half-Life 2 wasn’t the only Source game to launch that day. Independent developer Troika Games, founded by some of the former creators of Fallout, also launched Vampire: The Masquerade -Bloodlines on November 16. However, being the first third-party developer to use Source came at a cost. The studio understandably had no experience with it and encountered several problems during development. As a result, the game was very buggy, which impacted its reception. Releasing in the middle of the busiest gaming month ever didn’t help sales, which were a mere 80K units at launch.
Troika was later forced to close down, but the game garnered a lot of well-deserved respect and admiration over time for its excellent writing and atmosphere. For a long time, Bloodlines was synonymous with great choices and writing among RPG fans, becoming a respected IP despite the lack of big sales. This explains why a sequel is currently in the final stages of production. Bloodlines 2 will be a different game by a different developer, but at least there’s another RTX Remix project for those who’d like to replay this classic RPG with modern graphics.
As an avid fan of roleplaying games, I absolutely loved Bloodlines and can still remember some of its most memorable moments, such as the creepy Ocean House Hotel mission. If you haven’t played it yet and you are into the World of Darkness setting, it’s still worth checking it out on the next Steam sale.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater – November 17, 2004
Another day, another masterpiece. While Xbox had Halo 2 and Nintendo had Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Sony could count on Konami’s latest game in the revered MGS series. Once again designed and written by legendary creator Hideo Kojima, Snake Eater serves as a prequel to the entire franchise, featuring Naked Snake (also known as Big Boss) on a peculiar mission in the jungle. The game featured extensive new features, such as closed-quarter combat (CQC), camouflage, an injury system, and even some protosurvival elements that required players to eat regularly lest they suffer penalties to the stamina meter. With a Metacritic score of 91/100 and solid sales (2.6 million units by December 2004), the success was guaranteed.
To understand how iconic Metal Gear Solid 3 really is, just take a look at Konami’s remake approach. They’ve picked Silent Hill 2 for their horror series and MGS3 for their action/adventure/stealth franchise because they are the most universally beloved installments in the respective franchises.
The great news is that if you haven’t played the original, Konami has almost finished remaking it. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater should launch early next year on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X, allowing an entirely new generation of fans to check out this masterpiece. This includes myself, as I did not own a PlayStation 2 anymore at that time.
World of Warcraft – November 23, 2004
Another hugely anticipated game was Blizzard’s MMORPG set in the Warcraft universe. Fans had come to love the fantasy IP through three strategy games, but it was with World of Warcraft that Blizzard’s franchise really exploded into critical mass. WoW was not the first MMORPG, but its innovations in accessibility (chiefly the reduced friction upon the player character’s death), its vast and gorgeously styled game world, not to mention the well-designed classes, ushered in a new era for the genre. Following a highly positive critical reception of 93/100, the game continued attracting players for several years. The previous record for active subscribers was EverQuest’s 500K accounts; World of Warcraft reached 12 million subscribers in 2010.
Rival companies spawned countless clones, but none ever came close to achieving the same level of success in the genre. World of Warcraft is, of course, the only game on the list that is still being updated, although the original gameplay style was so successful that Blizzard created the WoW Classic mode.
For me, World of Warcraft was simply a home for so many years. I started playing in December 2004 during the European Closed Beta Test and remember being absolutely mesmerized by this huge online world despite not even being a big fan of the RTS games. MMORPGs turned out to be my favorite genre after all, and I spent countless hours between 2004 and 2011 in Azeroth, enjoying World of Warcraft’s content and finding new friends in various guilds, too.
Which of these highly influential games released twenty years ago is your favorite? Vote in the poll below and write your thoughts in the comments!
