Best Original Game Mechanic
Many genres use and reuse the same types of gameplay mechanics. Think about the golf swing. How many decades have most golf games relied on a two- or three-click system to set your shot power and determine how true your aim is? About two decades now, actually. But every year, a variety of interesting and new gameplay mechanics present themselves, which brings us to 2004's Best Original Game Mechanic. Here are the finalists:
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OK, we all know that driving games let you control your car in an attempt to avoid wrecks. But Burnout 3 takes a different approach to car crashes with its "aftertouch" system, which lets you move your car in midair in an attempt to cause the biggest pileup possible. It makes crashing just as much fun as driving.
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Stealth in games usually relies on a bunch of clunky onscreen information that tells you whether you really are hidden. Riddick innovates here by simply making the screen change color a bit when you're out of sight. Sounds simple, right? Well, in practice, it makes all those other stealth mechanics feel obsolete by comparison--and it also sets up some excellent first-person stealth kills.
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How could this have taken so long to implement? Two fists! Two analog sticks! It's so easy that it hurts to think about now, but Fight Night's winning control scheme feels so nice that it's hard to imagine there ever being a boxing game that doesn't operate in this fashion.
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2004 was a year of physics-influenced gameplay, but it was Midway's Psi-Ops that made physics make sense by offering some psychic-powered gameplay. The physics and the combinations of powers give the game a lot of variety, and being able to set things on fire with your mind just made it fun.
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Since its inception, Xbox Live has been all about providing a set number of features that don't change from game to game. Halo 2 broke off from the group, and with good reason: Halo 2's multiplayer matching does all that and much, much more. The game's party system lets you form groups of players on the fly and find games in a quick, easy fashion.
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And the Winner is...
