As 2004 comes crawling to its close, every person who has some sort of Internet outlet and who played at least five games this year puts about ten seconds of thought into a GOTYOMG list and craps it into the twisting bowels of cyberspace.

I am a person. I have an Internet outlet. I have played more than five games this year. Here:

5. (Super Great Games I Didn’t Actually Play Hyper Award) TIE: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Halo 2

Each of these three games are titles which would certainly hold a stronger place in my list had I actually played them. They each come from a series whose previous game(s) I’ve greatly enjoyed. I think we’ll just leave it at that and minimize the pretentious rambling for this slot.

4. Half-Life 2

It’s better than Half-Life! No, really. Featuring roughly one billion less environmentally-caused instant deaths, enemy A.I. which approaches being insanely entertaining to compete against (but doesn’t hold a candle to Halo’s), and a physics system which ultimately has zero effect on gameplay, Half-Life 2 is a fantastic, if fantastically flawed, first person shooter that just barely shies away from brilliance. However, I think that’s part of its charm. Despite the fact that the vehicular levels are nothing if not boring, that many sections of the game stretch on far past their welcome, that the ending is completely unsatisfying, and that Gordon Freeman is incredibly gifted at getting caught on doorways, paint cans, and other people, Half-Life 2 is still a really, really good game. The final two chapters alone make up for nearly all of the title’s previous flaws, and the possibilities which the Source Engine holds, just waiting to be unlocked, make for a bright future indeed. And the game has some of the best sound design I’ve ever seen heard, to boot. The wide range of great sound effects, the superb musical score, and the surprisingly spiffy voice acting prove just how much of an impact sound can have in a video game. ProTip: it’s hella, as the kids say.

3. Katamari Damacy

If Half-Life 2’s soundtrack is excellent, then Katamari Damacy’s is one of the best in video game history. And the game’s really fun too. In fact, it’s one of the simplest, most addictive, universally appealing games since Tetris (now if only it can get sell numbers to match), and is hands down the best console game to come out in 2004, even if the developer isn’t completely satisfied with the finished product.

2. World of Warcraft

I’ve invested a little over ten days, that’s over 240 hours, playing this game so far, and I’m still having just as much fun as I did when I first double clicked that icon a little over a month ago. To say that I’m obsessed with this game is an extreme understatement. I am addicted, and with good reason. There are moments in World of Warcraft which directly exemplify exactly why I play video games. There’s the trill of chasing down a pack of enemy players or escaping just one player ten levels higher than yourself. There’s the excitement that comes just before you launch your first volley against a boss creature and the reward that comes with each skill point gained, each ability learned, and each level up. The world itself is unbelievably massive, and yet every square inch is filled with a life and charm that games an eighth as large only dream of possessing. This is a game about playing video games for the people who play them. It is a celebration of everything the MMORPG genre always should have been and never was. It is a game retreading ground which has already been covered ten times over, but doing it with such subtle changes and innovations so as to come off as something completely fresh and new. It is better than Starcraft. I can’t think of a higher complement to give a PC game.

1. I Love Bees

Though hardly the first of its kind, I Love Bees is certainly the best that this strange new genre of the alternate reality game has birthed. Unlike previous ARGs, I Love Bees extended well beyond a website and a piece of e-mail and invaded the very reality in which we live, claiming it for its own. Though I missed the actual game entirely, looking back on what was and reading first hand experiences from those who were hunting through HTML in search of hidden clues, tracking pay phones by GPS coordinates to activate axons, or participating in an extremely lame Halo multiplayer event leaves me extremely impressed, not only with I Love Bees, but with the possibilities this largely untapped new medium holds. And besides, that radio drama sure was rockin.

Interestingly, every one of the four games chosen above was picked, in part, because of its excellent use of sound. Half-Life 2’s sound design was fantastic on all fronts, while Katamari Damacy’s soundtrack is nearly unmatched. Blizzard games have always been known for their massive assortment of excellent, high quality sound effects and charming voice acting, but they’ve all featured musical scores which range from passable to ear-bleedingly bad. Word of Warcraft’s music is actually really, really good, if often a little too epic for its own good. All that remains of I Love Bees, save for the website and the records of those who participated, is the archived radio drama which, surprise surprise, consists only of sound.

In fact, if I were to label 2004 anything, which is exactly what I’m about to do, I’d call it the Year of Sound. For the medium of video games, never before has sound had such a tremendous impact on a year of titles. Halo 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, Escape From Butcher Bay (featuring Vin Diesel!) and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas all featured amazing soundtracks, proving that a AAA title isn’t AAA if it doesn’t have the sound design to match. Even Neo Contra, under rated little jewel that it was, featured a surprisingly awesome soundtrack, including one of the best introduction songs ever.

However, games weren’t only praised for their sound. Many games which were expected to be great were often criticized for their sound. Metroid Prime 2’s largely recycled MIDI soundtrack failed to impress while DOOM 3 was reamed for its poor sound design. Tales of Symphonia’s laughable voice acting and boring music didn’t win it any more fans, but also didn’t prevent it from selling well past Namco’s expectations. Twin Snakes was also highly criticized for its multiple minor sound changes which were largely pointless, but still worked to impact the net product. Most notably, Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within’s soundtrack was the last straw for many gamers (myself included), as its generic metal sound only further stripped away the charm from one of gaming’s most beloved series.

In May, Square-Enix held the first concert of video game music in the United States. Every single one of its tickets were sold extremely quickly, let’s say in a matter of hours because I’m too lazy to fact check, proving that not only is there a hunger for this sort of thing in the states, but that video game music is important and does leave lasting impressions on people (which should really come as no surprise to nearly every person reading this). 2004 also saw the U.S. release of both Donkey Konga and Taiko Drum Master, two Namco-developed, peripheral-based music games, as well as Karaoke Revolution, an equally peripheral-based, Konami-developed music game. And while the PSP didn’t make it to our shores in 2004, both Nintendo’s D.S. and Sony’s new portable hit Japan before year’s end, and both finally feature hand held sound systems capable of producing something truly decent. And then there was that rerelease of Rez that never came, but we won’t discuss that. We don’t need any more reasons than usual to despise Sega around here.

So, in a closing which should have come 500 words ago, 2004 was a year filled with sound. Good sound, bad sound, music, sound effects, and voice acting, it was all present, accounted for, and abundant. But then again, it is every year. However, in 2004 the sound mattered. It made excellent games brilliant and good games excellent. It turned what should have been AAA titles into merely AA. However, it also proved to many people outside the gaming community, which is really a lot smaller than most of you probably think, that video game sound has evolved greatly beyond the simple beeps and boops of years past. The popularity of titles like Katamari Damacy, a U.S. video game music concert, and a trio of interesting music games with universal appeal helped see to that. There’s little doubt that 2004 was video gaming’s year of sound. Now let’s all look forward to 2005: year of another cramped fall release schedule.