True, not the earliest gen. But it's a 2001 console (not 2004) despite this being a 2004 title.

It's a 2005 game. Yeah it's running on 2001 tech but it still has all the lessons learned from the previous years both in terms of 3D game design and getting the most out of the hardware. Would you call Doom 3 an early 3D game? It can run on 2001 hardware too. Or Half-Life 2?