2004 was a great year for gaming, so instead of only awarding one overall honor for Game of the Year, this year we've decided to give credit to those titles that we thought were the best of the best across all platforms in a variety of categories. This year you'll be able to find out what the IGN editors thought was the best first-person shooter, showed the most innovative design and what was the biggest surprise of 2004, among other categories.

For our choices, all of the IGN game editors submitted a ranked list of their top three picks of 2004 across 20 categories. Points were assigned to the nominees based on rank, and the winner was chosen based on the highest point total.