My God... What is happening to this world?
Silent Hill 2, Bioshock, Portal, Morrowind, Fallout New Vegas, Shadow of the Colossus, STALKER, those are some of the greatest games of the last years. Even Oblivion is good, but I can see how it can be considered underwhelming.
There's a reason why Yahtzee loves SH 2, it's a game unlike any other. Problem is, it's not the gameplay that makes it special. It's the characters, the story and the way it plays out. I dare to say it's as close to a piece of art as any game has ever come (Planescape: Torment comes close too).
Every game can be ruined by it's hype, so try not to expect too much when you're playing. It's rarely as good as you've been told.
My underwhelming experience would be Halo. It's a decent game, but, as a PC gamer, I found it to be nothing special. There isn't any aspect of Halo that hadn't been done better in a different FPS before it.