2004 Sleepers.

[EvilBoris]

Galleon was great

"I've got to get to calvery before jabez does"

*falls to death*

"I've got to get to calvery before jabez does"

*falls to death*

"I've got to get to calvery before jabez does"

*falls to death*

"I've got to get to calvery before jabez does"

*falls to death*


ETC.

[Zapp$ter]

I know it's fairly recent but Chokkan Hitofude is a sleeper hit IMO. I had heard next to nothing about this game apart from a couple of murmurs about it on some forums. I wasn't even really interested in it but I picked it up in the play-asia weekly special and it is fast becoming my favourite DS game at the moment. I was sat it bed yesterday night and couldn't stop playing it. Finally managed to turn the DS off at 3am and I had to be in work today at 7am

Also I'd say Disgaea

[superkully]

Fire Emblem on the GBA:SP. I played this for about five hours and then gave up because I just couldn't be bothered with the cheesyness and 'forever death' of your characters.

Started playing it again this week and I'm hooked, that cheesyness has formed an unbreakable bond between myself and my merry little party/small army and I've realised that my little people only die if _I_ make a mistake, there's nothing unfair about the game (except perhaps about meeting special conditions to get other characters to join my band).

If you can find this, I can sincerely recommend it. Not as back tingling-ly astounding as the first Advance Wars, but nothing ever will be.

[Prine]

Rallisport Challenge 2 - Best arcade racer i've played.

[Harmony]

Codename: Panzers on the PC.

[Fat_Bob]

Flatout on the PC is def one of my top 3 games this year. It can be incredibly annonying at times but stick with it and a gem of a racing game is there to be had. The graphics and physics are up the with Half Life 2 and 8 player multiplayer rates alongside arcade Daytona imho.

FB

[Uli]

One of the most underhyped games and maybe the best RPG of the last year is SHADOW HEARTS: COVENANT.

[rd365dav]

kingdom under fire,i lost so many hours playing this excellent game that no one has ever played.one of my favorites of the year

[2097]

Metroid Prime Echoes.

I wasnt looking forward to this and wasnt going to buy it as I didnt get very far, enjoy or think much of the first game (or the rest of the series for that matter).

I think I lot of people are in the same boat and were burned from buying the last one off the back of hype and didnt buy this. But it is really good. It starts quite slow not feeling that polished, it eventually reveals itself getting better, more compelling, more outstanding until I was totally hooked

Also its not full of insane random difficaulty spikes as much as metroid prime was ..

Im now im love with the whole concept of exploration, scanning, mild platforming, puzzles, shooting, having to know the environment and I still hate the first game lol. This deserved so much better than one week at the bottom end of the charts

Tales of Symphonia, Zelda:The minish cap, Sudeki, Locomotion, Second Sight, Perimeter and Fire Emblem deserved so much better too ..

[Magnakai]

Wait, is the general consensus on Metroid Prime that it was a bit lame?
I thought everyone thought it was amazing (like me!)
Much gaspu!

[dave heats]

Bujingai - Jpn ps2

Was an utterly mental game. Superb graphics, a gorgeous soundtrack and possibly the best combat system in any game ever. Coming from someone who thinks DMC is overhyped pish, thats praise indeed for Bujingai. No game of its kind can match the adrenaline rush of managing a 400+ chain on the first beautiful level.

[lem]

Just ordered Second Sight after reading some positive remarks about it in this thread. Keep 'em coming lads!

[chopemon]

Ghost Recon 2 is surprisingly good

due to when it was released it seems a lot of people may have not noticed it in the christmas rush of releases but it's keeping me really entertained

the presentation on the xbox version is really well done

[112]

Def Jam - Fight for New York really suprised me and i was hooked till id completed it. They really spent a lot of time on the details and i became more obsessed with thugging my player out with pimped out chain and thugged out ghetto ware than fighting, but the truly great thing about this is the real life counter parts and typically ghetto story line.

The game is more accomplished than the first, but its jus missin a lil bit more umph to make this a totally great game, still a worthy suprise in my book.

Fight Night 2K4 was another grippin game, i think it was released this year? could be wrong, but damn EA have really shined with such an intuative fighting system! Roll on the next up date as it a worthy contender!

112

[fuse]

Bujingai - Jpn ps2

Was an utterly mental game. Superb graphics, a gorgeous soundtrack and possibly the best combat system in any game ever. Coming from someone who thinks DMC is overhyped pish, thats praise indeed for Bujingai. No game of its kind can match the adrenaline rush of managing a 400+ chain on the first beautiful level.

I'm not quite so head-over-heels for it, but Bujingai was a pleasant surprise for me too. I bought it on Play-Asia's deal of the week on the basis that it was obscenely cheap, and featured Gackt (I'm quite into the whole j-rock thing), and it actually turned out to be really fun to play through. It has it's faults but it's still a lot of fun, and considering how cheap you can pick it up, well worth it.

Also agreeing with Disgaea. I've made many attempts in the past to get into strat-type RPGs and they've all fell flat on their face, but this completely captivated me from the outset, and between great characters, amusing plot, and some really nice gameplay elements, managed to keep me entertained all the way through. If you're willing to go the distance, there is an absolute shedload of extras to plough through after finishing the main game, also. Highly, highly recommended.