Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: I played this off and on in college, but never quite committed to it, so I was looking forward to giving it a real try this time around. Of the three GTA games I've played, this was the most polished and the most fun. Everything from the missions to the graphics to the voice-acting was top-notch. I can't believe Rockstar made a game world that big on the PS2. No wonder it's still the best-selling PS2 game of all time.
Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal: Not much to say about this one. It was more Ratchet & Clank, so it was a lot of fun. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Jak 3: I was really looking foward to this after finally beating Jak II after taking a significant break from it. While it wasn't nearly as difficult as its predecessor, it kept the same style of gameplay. I much preferred the style from the first game, so that was a bit disappointing. However, I did enjoy the Max Max tone of the game and some of the driving missions were really fun.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes: After loving the first game, I couldn't wait to get to its sequel. I have to say, I was really impressed. I think they managed to top themselves with the edition of the A Link to the Past-esque dark world and really long, fun boss battles. Sometimes too much of a good thing isn't actually good, but I'm glad they went all-out with this one. Can't wait to play the third.
Half-Life 2: I don't know why I didn't play this when it first came out. I was a huge fan of the first game and just about every person in my dorm played HL2 all day every day for months. Looking back, I'm not sure my computer could've handled it at the time. I was really worried that all the hype surrounding HL2 would result in a let-down, however minor, but nothing could've been further from the truth. To date, this is the best FPS I've played. I love me some Doom and the original Half-Life is one of the best, but this was something else. I was so bummed when I finsihed it a few days ago, but I'm looking forward to playing Episodes One and Two, as well as Alyx (in a few years
). Maybe by then Valve will have released Half-Life 3? A guy can dream.
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap: I've loved every hand-held Zelda game I've played since experiencing Link's Awakening as a kid and this game was no exception. Great gameplay (the shrinking mechanic was a surprisingly fun addition), beautiful graphics and animation, and interesting dungeons filled with puzzles. I wasn't a huge fan of the Kinstone system, but it wasn't the worst thing in the world. The game itself was a little short, but it was a lot of fun.
REmake: Resident Evil 4 was next on my list, but then I remembered I hadn't ever finished REmake. I remember feeling really anxious while playing it several years ago, but I didn't feel that way at all this time around. It might be because I'm actually getting good sleep these days (finally got my CPAP machine after years of suffering from terrible sleep apnea), but who knows? Regardless, I had a fantastic time playing it again (although I had to start over at one point because I'd saved way too often and was way too low on ammo) and I'm glad I finally finished it. One of the best remakes out there.