A surprisingly lackluster year in the middle of the generation would ultimately pave the way for a monster change in gaming (see: 2004).
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time leaned heavily on its unique and interesting time rewinding mechanic which proved to be enough to stand out from most new games. However, it would be the story of Arthus in Warcraft 3 that was most memorable, even above the predictable twist and empty worlds of KOTOR, or the solid sequels for Max Payne, NBA Street, Advance Wars, and Final Fantasy X. Fire Emblem was a nice surprise port as was Viewtiful Joe for its style and EVE Online for its sheer audacity from an indie developer that was out of money by the time of release.
It should also be noted that, although most publications cite to Madden 05, NFL 2K5, NCAA Football 06, and MVP Baseball as the best in the sports genre, and Mario Golf/Tennis/Strikers, NFL Blitz and NBA Street/SSX Tricky did a lot for quirky stylized sports games, NCAA Football 04 was the best simulation sports game of its time. NCAA 04 had more balanced, smart, and challenging AI gameplay compared to the gimmicky versions of Madden that would come out for the next 3 years, dynasty modes that allowed you to play your team in your team's stadium which MVP Baseball would fail to do, new animations and solid presentation and commentary that were not too outlandish or distracting, create-a-school provided an outlet for the creative, school rankings updated as years progressed and included custom Sports Illustrated covers that helped with immersion like current sports games have failed to do, crowd reactions to user and computer plays happening on the screen were ahead of its time, greatest games provided historical context sorely missing in all current sports games after the mid-2000s, and recruiting finally felt complete and manageable. In short, it was the most complete sports game to that point and outdid its later professional brethren, only to be outdone by a later entrant in the series which added a legend/player career mode.
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