15 Best Months To Be A Gamer (Since 2000)

10. March 2005 €“ Awakenings, Chaos And Warring Gods...

The post-Christmas launch window can be just as exciting for gamers as the pre-holiday mayhem. Often its due to games being pushed back or delayed; resulting in anticipated early year releases. Whatever the reasons though, March in 2005 would prove to be a big month.

Devil May Cry's second outing was a slight disappointment after the strength of the first game but Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening would prove to be the strongest game of the bunch. With a younger Dante at the helm, it gave an interesting insight into the early years of the Devil Hunter (including a series of awesome clashes with his brother Vergil) whilst retaining and expanding the thrilling trademark gameplay of the series.

Another soon-to-be-classic PlayStation series was also launched in America this month; God Of War. The game's story, presentation and style was highly praised as it depicted the Spartan warrior Kratos on a quest to kill the God of War himself, Ares. The game was brutal and violent but it also managed to retain certain elements of the Greek 'epic' story - Kratos' quest is not one soon forgotten.

Sam Fisher had become a gaming icon thanks to Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series and - the third title in the series - Chaos Theory proved to be one of his most successful outings. As we've seen with Metal Gear Solid, stealth games are wildly popular and Splinter Cell has always upped the ante with unforgiving gameplay that makes stealth a key focus of every mission.

Other highlights for this month include Solid Snake's first outing on the PSP with Metal Gear Acid; the follow-up to TimeSplitters 2 with TimeSplitters: Future Perfect; and the tactical first-person shooter which maintains a cult following, Star Wars: Republic Commando.

Metacritic Roundup: God of War, 94. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, 94. Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, 84. Average: 90.67.