"HL2 is undeserving but San Andreas and Doom 3 are? "
San Andreas, yes. Doom 3, maybe not, but I prefer it over those other games. Painkiller was my overall favorite.
"Doom 3 had tons of atmosphere, but no variation in gameplay. It was like having soup for every meal."
True, but the combat, enemy designs, artwork, and overall gameplay were oustanding.
"San Andreas had a TON of variation, but none of it was done well. They threw in everything but the kitchen sink, but most of it was broken. The combat interface was heavily flawed and left you often firing at walls. Simple processes like changing your clothing took forever. Girlfriends were somewhat amusing but a total waste of time. So was the gym. Honestly, should we reward a game that tries to make you spend two hours watching a guy on an exercise bike while hitting "X?" "
I wasn't too impressed with San Andreas in the early stages, but once I got out of the gangsta section of the game it got really interesting. And seriously, what other game out there has all that stuff in it? But yes aiming was seriously fucked.
"A great concept, a terrible plot, too many broken, useless time-wasters, terrible interface, and the damn problem of finishing a third then being told everything you'd done so far was useless and it was all taken away.
It was a fraction of the greatness of Vice City. They just spread themselves too thin."
It's not as good as Vice City, but it's still the biggest and the best overall game of 2004 in my opinion. And normally I dislike console games.
---
"We dance like marionettes, swaying to the Symphony of Destruction." -Megadeth