Best Games of 2005

Following the impressive trio of WoW, Half-Life 2, and GTA: San Andreas comes another solid three games in 2005. Resident Evil 4 and God of War were both excellent third-person action games that defined the genre for the decade. Similarly, Civ 4 was the apex of simulation and strategy gaming, improving in nearly every way on the excellent Civ 3.

Following those three is NCAA Football 06, which, along with its follow-up, 07, was the last great sports game with its mix of team and individual career modes and respect for both past teams and moments.

Finally, there was the first of the massive plastic instrument games, Guitar Hero, which fully allowed gamers and non-gamers alike to see their escapism to become a rock star fulfilled. This was a time where random local garage bands were being invited to play in local clubs, theaters, churches, and warehouses - with seemingly everyone willing to pick up and practice with an instrument given a shot at public performance. This world was dramatically impacted by Apple's GarageBand app, MySpace pages playing music, American Idol, and the rise of Harmonix's games. In short, there was a sense that anyone could become a superstar and the Internet represented an opportunity to become known and seen. Guitar Hero came out at the perfect time for this and made everyone feel like they could realize their dreams of being a secret found and become famous. While these trends and feelings of "almost famous" would ultimately be killed by auto-tune and the use of digital instrumentation within less than a decade, Guitar Hero and its later descendants represented the last great time of American grassroots music culture. Now, musical talent is created, not found.