Game of the Month: January 2004

With all the videogames that come out each and every month, it can be quite a difficult task to decide which title to spend your hard-earned money on. Granted you could go by our review scores alone and weed through the long list of games in search of something that scored high or low, but what if you had somewhere else to turn to?

Rather than wait until the end of the year like we normally do, your incredibly masculine friends at IGN.com have decided to employ a monthly tribute to the weeks that were. We're resolved to illustrate to our readers what we thought was the very best game for each system over the past month, and tell you exactly the reason why.

While some of us often chime in with our comments at the end of reviews, for the most part, the reviews on IGN are primarily written by one editor; in this feature we get all of the editors on a particular channel to vote for our Game of the Month. What better way to represent your channel than to speak your mind all at once?

How does it work? Simple. Any game released in the past month is eligible for the award and is taken through a battery of tests by every editor on that particular channel. After we've finished evaluating each game that comes down the pipeline, we put our heads together and decide on a single "best of" winner that's worthy of the title "IGN Game of the Month". Pretty simple, don't you think?

Now that we have the guidelines out of the way, let's move on and congratulate this month's winner...

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IGNcube's Game of the MonthSonic Heroes
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Released: January 6, 2004

Buy it at the IGN Gamestore

Why We Picked It:: Sonic Heroes is not only the first completely original Hedgehog sequel to appear on GameCube, but it's also the one that comes closest to re-capturing the classic feel and look of the series. The game, complete with multiple teams and several different recognizable mascot characters, uses GameCube's more powerful hardware to spit out huge 3D environments without sacrificing on play speed. Some levels perfectly realize the unpredictable pace and architecture -- looping track designs, blazing speed -- of the original Sonic efforts and it's here that the title really succeeds.

That noted, Heroes is tarnished by some of the same mechanical drawbacks that have dented previous Sonic offerings. The entertainment factor seems to slow down every time that Sonic does and the game experience can be frustrated further by camera failings.

Still, Sonic fans will no doubt be able to look past these issues in search of the thrill rides and Heroes is absolutely best on Nintendo's GameCube console.

Runner-Up: Conflict: Desert Storm II Back to Baghdad
Developer: Pivotal Games/SCi
Publisher: Gotham Games
Released: January 6, 2004

Buy it at the IGN Gamestore

Why We Picked It:: It's a very competent sequel to the Gulf War-themed action-shooter Conflict: Desert Storm. The update features more great missions filled with war-simulated action, squad-based strategy, a wide variety of control functions for different weapons and gadgets and more. The title employs a mix of stealthy teamwork as players command the other members of their squad and all-out-guns-blazing battles.

Gamers can even play cooperatively in split-screen mode for extra fun. Only some mechanical drawbacks -- unrefined control in particular -- keep the title from higher placement. GameCube owners will be happy to learn that Back to Baghdad shines on Nintendo's console.

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