GameSpy's 25 Most Memorable Games

GameSpy is running a new feature in which they detail the top twenty-five most memorable games of the last five years. Although they haven't revealed the top five yet, their list so far contains titles such as Asheron's Call,
Deus Ex, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Here's a snip from the latter:
The passion for Star Wars around here goes well beyond anything reasonable right into the realm of Waco-style cultists.

That's what made Knights of the Old Republic such a revelation. Just six months earlier, the launch of Star Wars: Galaxies and Jedi Academy had swept through GameSpy. Everyone and their brother had tried the new games to finally experience the dream of living in the Star Wars universe. We talked about our characters and the game and what we were doing, all the while dancing around the central reality that both were badly flawed and failed to capture the essential Star Wars magic.

Then Knights of the Old Republic comes along and Bioware does what everybody thought was impossible - recapture the original spirit of Star Wars the way that even George Lucas seems to have forgotten how to do. Even better, the option to play as both a Light and Dark Side Jedi did the seemingly impossible - made an essentially linear RPG feel expansive and open. We talked about this game for weeks after its release, and it was immediately our front runner for Game of the Year status (which it eventually won).