I remember that game, I thought it was going to be awesome! Yeah, I played it maybe a couple of hours and packed it back into it's box and never touched it again (sadly, it was one of my games my younger brother found after I moved out for college and he ripped the box open, ruined the box contents and the game disc......lost so many games from back then because of him). I couldn't understand the hype for it. It was one of the games that lead me to becoming a cheap gamer.
I usually buy my games 12-18 months after they release, aside from a few situations (like the STLAKER games, I got all of them right around the times they released and paid the full retail price) so I'm only paying a fraction of the release price. I tend to miss out on the buggy and performance riddled issues in games, they're patched by the time I get around to getting a copy.