Alright, here goes:

Complete list

Game 7 - Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins (3DS VC) ~2h

And on with playing classics from my childhood via 3DS VC. Good stuff. Mario Land 2 is a pretty cool game. It is much more expansive than the first game by including some aspects of SMB3 or SMW like a world map. It's actually more nonlinear than even those because you can freely move between areas. However, it still maintains the relative weirdness of the first game and is actually pretty inventive in terms of scenery. SML2's biggest problem is probably its difficulty curve. Since every area can theoretically be played first, there is no real difficulty progression, and 99% of the game is rather easy. Except... the last level. Wario's castle is an intense step up in difficulty. It's actually not too bad in the grand scheme of things, but the jump is kind of jarring.

Game 8 - The Legend of Zelda (NES) 8h

This was actually the very first time I have played this game. And it was pretty fun. Being thrown into the world without any sort of guidance can be a little intimidating at first, especially since everything seems to look the same, but after a while you really learn your way around. The difficulty is a little uneven at times (some normal enemys like the knights you can only hit from the back can be supremely annoying, while every boss including Ganon was pretty much a pushover) but yeah. Great game. Also interesting how many elements of the later games show up as early as here.

Game 9 - Kirby's Adventure 3D Classic (3DS) ~7h

Well fuck me. This game is absolutely amazing. First things first: it is absolutely beautiful. Like... stunning even. And not only because they somehow managed to do this on the NES (which blows my mind). The backgrounds are incredible, the sprites are beautiful and clean. A masterwork of pixel-art and there is nothing much else like it, because then came the SNES era which looks markedly different. Plays fantastic as well. Really inventive levels, great powers (much more interesting ones than in Dreamland 2 as well), and that little shout out to the first Dreamland at the end of the game warmed my heart. tl;dr: Had a blast!

Game 10 - Gone Home (PC) ~2-3h

Okay, first things first for the game police: give me any academically sustainable definition of "game" that Gone Home does not fit into and I might be willing to listen to you. If you tell me that Gone Home has "not enough gameplay", then you have to tell me what "gameplay" actually is. Is it quantifiable? If shooting qualifies as "gameplay," then is "gameplay" maybe spatial interaction? Because Gone Home has plenty of that. Bottom line is: I don't think this claim is sustainable. This is also not really the argument people are making, as it only very thinly masks "I don't want this stuff in my games culture." So whatever. Why am I even talking about this... So yeah, Gone Home. Exploring spaces and learning about their story by examining artifacts is something that has always deeply fascinated me, so I really had a lot of fun playing this. The story itself is a neat and well-told coming-of-age young adult tale that was just really pleasant. Made me kinda just... feel good. A feel-good game. That's it!

Game 11 - Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Soul Hackers (3DS) ~35h

Fact: I love first person tile based dungeon crawlers. I love mapping out floors, I love it when these floors feature teleport pads, trapdoors and other nasty things, I love expansive "are you f'n kidding me"-dungeons. In short: this was right up my alley. Few things: I really liked the cyberpunk aesthetics. Remember when the internet was just promising this really magical thing? CYBERSPACE and stuff. Yeah. However, I think the game does not really do anything really exciting with it. It lacks the world-ending gravitas of the originals, and replaces it with a more detective-mystery-like thing, but the actual mystery turns out to be not all that interesting. The characters are cool however, with Nemissa obviously leading the charge. Mechanically, I found the game to be a little too easy. You don't even really need Demons, since the Protagonist and Nemissa are extremely strong. You're also just swimming in currency really quickly and never have to worry about any resources. That actually made the Dungeons feel a little tedious sometimes. Dang, I sound like a real negative nancy here... all in all, it's mostly just niggles and I enjoyed the game very much.

tav7623 said:

48. Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (Finished 6/18/14 - total play time 23 hrs 27 mins)
Comment: As I mentioned in the comments for Oracle of Seasons I decided to restart this game in order to get the true ending and I'm kinda glad I did as the last two boss fights were really challenging (it didn't help that I didn't get the Master Sword) more so than I had expected. I for the most part enjoyed playing this game despite not liking the in game trading system or occassionally getting lost ofter and spending every few hours trying to figure out what I needed to do next before having to resort to a guide.

Down to the "final four" games, right now the early favorites for game #49 are Parasite Eve II, The Last Story, Tekken Tag Tournament and Pikmin 3.

Click to expand...

Save Pikmin 3 for #52!!!

OP

23) Infamous
I want to eventually get to Infamous:SS so I figure I need to start working through the first two games. I was never really interested in the Infamous series, but I enjoyed most of the time I played it. It ended a little differently than I thought. I mean the game was getting really good with the last boss fight, and then I realized it was the last boss fight. My biggest problem with the game I guess is an issue with a lot of open world games. Sometimes I feel the quests are placed to force you to travel as far as possible. Anyway I look forward to playing Infamous 2, but I think I am going to wait a bit to start it.

OP

24) Contrast
Short and Acts 2 and 3 were pretty sweet. I never really got into the puzzle genre, but between PS+ and steam bundles I am starting to accumulate a ton of them. Contrast didn't blow me away but it did keep my attention, and it convinced me to try more puzzle games.

I need to get a move on with this.

Game 11: Batman: Arkham Origins - 8 hours, Jun 21st
I loved Asylum, was disappointed by City but still liked it. This game however, I could not find it in myself to enjoy. It doesn't even attempt to do anything new, I'm tired of the decryptor thing and I'm tired of the stealth parts. Not only does it fail to innovate, it's straight up worse at everything. The writing is awful, the game is buggy, Batman constantly thinks to himself what you should do, the bossfights are probably worse than even the previous games and are constantly interrupted by pre-rendered cutscenes. After getting into the Souls games this glorified QTE combat is dull too, it was good in 2009 - that was a while ago.

49. Guacamelee! Gold Edition (Finished 6/21/14 - total play time 9 hrs 7 min)
Comment: This was another game that I originally didn't plan on playing (any time soon at least), but thanks to the generosity of a fellow gaffer ( thank you Clockworkinyou!) I got the chance to get this game on the PC. As for my thoughts on the game, well I enjoyed it for the most part, which isn't really surprising since I tend to like Metroidvania style 2D platformers and this game imo is one of the better ones. My only complaint with the game actually had nothing to do with the game and more to do with my decision to play this game using a keyboard instead of a controller. Playing the game on the keyboard became painful (for me at least) after extended periods of time and tempered some of my enjoyment of the game (made me want to speed run through it) so I highly recommend that if (or when) you play this game (at least if you play it on a PC) you do so with a gamepad/controller.

It's been a while since my last check-in. I still have a healthy buffer, with 38 games after 26 weeks (oh hey, it's the halfway mark!), but my pace has slowed dramatically. I've just managed to get in my four games for the month but lately I've been relying on a lot of games with campaign times under eight hours to get there. I've also abandoned (temporarily or otherwise) a number of JRPGs that represent tens of hours that won't be counted towards the milestone unless I pick them back up. Bravely Default and Valkyria Chronicles 3 are the most obvious ones to complete, but the former at least will probably take another 40 hours based on what I've heard.

Anyways, what did I finish this month? Super Time Force was a fun seven-hour romp, though it has a relatively steep learning curve as you figure out how to best use the time-reset mechanic and your limited number of lives. In some ways, bosses were actually the easiest levels because they're the easiest to exploit via brute force; the normal levels often apply a time limit, which is what ended up killing me far more often than running out of lives because of a particularly difficult set of enemies.

Heileen and Tiny & Big: Grandpa's Leftovers were the two short games of the month. Heileen is a quick visual novel with romantic overtones; it's okay for what it is but nothing particularly special. Tiny & Big, on the other hand, feels like a more expensive game than it actually is--it's a small but very well-realized game with mechanics that make sense and offer challenge, a story that only says what it needs to, and a soundtrack that frankly beats the pants off games five times the price in both length and quality.

Watch Dogs is the big game for June, and it's hard to love. When it works, it works quite well--there's just the right mix of risk and reward, and you feel like you're just powerful enough to clean out an area with a minimum of fuss, but only if you're careful and thoughtful. But there are too many times when the game doesn't work, and the whole thing turns into a disaster. Anything actually utilizing the open world, like side missions and police chases, often feel like exercises in managing chaos rather than a sleekly executed plan, marked by a constant suspicion that you have far less power in this world than you think.

Next up: still playing through DanganRonpa, and just started Tales of Xillia, which already has been more enjoyable than most of the games I've played recently.

I just finished Tearaway and I should finish Terraria later today. The credits on Tearaway have to be the longest I've ever seen. My Vita has turned off twice already. I'm only at 11 games, but I joined the challenge pretty recently.

Game 25 : The Bridge - 3 hours - 06/22/14
I gave up on the Hard mode, but the normal mode is pretty enjoyable. Simple game with some really hard puzzles. I liked it. 3/5

OP

25) Stick it to the man
First off the main theme/menu music got stuck in my head too many times playing this game. Art style is nice, music is good, and my only real issue is with the controls. Specifically the hand growing out of Ray's head. Sometimes it was just a pain select the middle of three objects/people. Beyond that I enjoyed it, the humor was meh though there was a rare joke here or there that made me smile. It was an interesting adventure/puzzle game, and after it and Contrast I think it is safe to say I am going to venture out more in this genre of games.

It's so close I can almost taste it.

Game 45: Battlefield 2 - 6.3 Hours
Got it free on Origin so thought why not and had a bit of a FPS itch that needed to be scratched. Great looking game but generally just alright campaign. Nothing offensively bad, mixed up the missions not too bad but nothing that really stood out. But for free you can't complain too much.

Game 46: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - 4.3 Hours
I bought a game in a Steam Sale and actually completed it within a day or two. Nothing else to say.

Game 47: Rock of Ages - 3.7 Hours
Had this sitting around for a while so decided to give it ago, think I played the trial on XBLA ages ago. Really fun little game, pretty funny as well to boot. Didn't find the bosses anything special and a few levels were annoying but overall enjoyable.

Game 48: DLC Quest - 1.5 Hours
DLC Quest has DLC? Another I've had sitting about, some parts are funnier than others but for the length of it and how cheap it goes in sales it is worth it for those laughs.

Original Post

Game 12: The Chronicles of Riddick - Escape from Butcher Bay - 7½ hours, Jun 25th
Even though I'd heard a lot of great things about this game, it exceeded my expectations. Without question one of the best shooters I've played. There were a handful of things I didn't like, a few too many mechs, some occasional checkpointing woes etc. but nothing that ruined the game. Great shooting, atmosphere, acting, level design, pacing and on and on. Fantastic game.

50. Shank! (Finished 6/25/14 - total play time 4 hrs 3 min)
Comment: This is another game that I didn't originally plan on playing, but thanks to the generosity of another fellow gaffer (thanks lashman!) I got the chance to get this game on the PC. Now that I've played through it I can say that it's a solid 2D beat em up with (imo) beautiful art work/design that evokes the style of a Penny Arcade comic. If you like 2D beat em ups, don't mind fairly short games (4 hours) with very little in the way of unlockables (there are like a dozen costumes and just as many acheivements), and enjoy the Penny Arcade art style then you might want to check this game out.

2 games remain!

36: Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars (PC) - 12h (05/05/14 - 06/24/14)

Roland's campaign (good), finished in 235 turns (awful, I know - my best time for Archibald's campaign was in the 80s).

I recall preferring 2 to 3 back when 3 was still relatively new, but I've definitely reversed positions on that since. Outside of the mechanical stuff (far, far superior map triggers, heroes having specialties and not just being portrait swaps of each other, better AI, and a spell mastery system that kind of makes sense), the singleplayer campaigns in 3 have actual writing and plot, instead of being a series of one-off scenarios with 20 seconds of voiced exposition inbetween.

With that being said, it's certainly still a lot of fun.

Game 34: Noir Syndrome -1 Hour
(Started 6/25/14 / Finished 6/25/14)
It really is like acting out a Noir film, you have 14 days to stop the murders and you never know what will happen. You have essentially one shot to get it right and boy if its a mobster your shooting you better be packing heat as you fight your way out of a scene. I liked that sometimes the killer would only commit one murder, sometimes more, or sometimes bodies would drop every single day. Will play more for sure

OP

tav7623 said:

2 games remain!

Click to expand...

Nice!

Pikmin 3 - 16:17 hours

Updated OP

Game 35: Mario Kart 8 - 6 Hours
(Started: 5/30/14 / Finished 6/26/14)
All cups finally done! I really gave liked this Mario Kart a lot more than the last ....bunch but man the online drives me nuts. Can never connect to anything!

OP

Game 35: Secret of Mana - 25 hours

It was alright. The soundtrack and visual design were excellent, and it's cool to see Square's work in their heyday before they degenerated so much, but the gameplay was extremely rough around the edges, I was cornered and curbstomped way too often, and more often than not my attacks would just plain not connect.

OP

26) Crimson Shroud
Not a whole lot to say about this game. Very short (6ish hours), with a surprising amount of dialog to pad the game. The combat is fun, enemies are not very varied, no leveling grind (just gear if you so wish), and a kind of twist ending. I wish there was a little more fighting and I wish that Lippi didn't suck so much

OP

Game 45: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+ (PC) - 2 hrs 20 mins
Played through at least one mode on each board. Will definitely be spending more time with this one but I figured it was acceptable to mark this as complete for now.

Game 46: Bastion (PC) - 7 hrs 48 mins
Really mad at myself for not getting around to this one much sooner. I owned this originally on XBL as well but never tried it for some reason. This is not only one of the best games I've played this year so far but also somewhere among my most enjoyed games from last gen. Just a really charming game. I can't wait to go back and play through again.

Game 47: Broken Sword II - The Smoking Mirror: Remastered (PC) - 3 hrs 36 mins
Must have had this one from a bundle or something because I never really pick up a series with anything but the start outside of extreme cases. Nice little point and click adventure title. Really enjoyed the art style and humor here. George is one of the most charming protagonists I've played as in recent memory. Will definitely be trying the rest of the series now.

Making my push for 52 after a lousy June

Game 36: Goat Simulator - 3 Hours
(Started 6/26/14 / Finished 6/27/14)
Awesome. Stupid. Loved it. This is the kind of simulator I can get behind. I burst out laughing at some of the Tony Hawk-esque score rewards that'd pop up.

Game 37: Fallout 3 - 78 Hours
(Started 2008 / Finished 6/27/14)
Although I still have 11 quests left of dlc shenanigans I'm done the main original questline. Fallout 3 is a shallow game, that is easy to fall in love with and then the more you play the less happy you get. The quests are shallow with great setup, no punch, and barely any outcome. They don't have twists, turns, or even anything remotely interesting. The world itself? great. Its just kinda empty and as shallow as kiddy pool. Yeah I got wet but I'm envious that I don't have an adult sized pool to swim in.

OP

Game #45: Kid Icarus: Uprising - 11 Hours
I can only play this game in short bursts. If I play for more than an hour, my left wrist starts to hurt like crazy. Anyways, the flying battles felt like one of those motion simulator attractions in amusement parks. Overall the game was enjoyable to play. The levels were always packed with action and whenever there was some dead air in the game, the somewhat charming humor helps keep things going along. The game has a good amount of replay value in form of alternate paths (When playing on higher difficulites), tons of collectibles, and multiplayer.

Updated Post

I should be wrapping up Yakuza 3 next week, and I might start Theatrhythm Final Fantasy or Shovel Knight next week as well

OP

27)Trine
Something about steam sales that makes me want to plow through my backlog. It might be the fact that I add too many games to it. All in all Trine was much better than I thought it was going to be going into it. Combat was Meh for the most part, just something to pad the game. Puzzles were pretty good, enough platforming challenges to keep me interested, but nothing crazy hard to make me look up a guide.

Three more games added to my list

Game 21: Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (PS3) - 3hs+
# Got this from PS+, very nice remake on the easy and short side. Very relaxing game with a great soundtrack.

Game 22: Beyond: Two Souls (PS3) - 9hs+
# Very enjoyable story, I prefer this over Heavy Rain personally although it still had some things that bothered me (story line related). I only got one of the endings but will definitely go back to watch some of the other ones.

Game 23: Killzone Mercenary (PS Vita) - 4hs+
# Best handheld FPS in the market. Graphics are amazing on the Vita screen, the gameplay is perfect for a portable FPS in the sense that the levels are not very long and they encourage the player to come back to get more money for weapons and upgrades. Story was good although on the short side. Multiplayer worked pretty well; no lag and it was actually fun from what I've played. A must have for all Vita owners.

51. Shovel Knight (Finished 6/29/14 - total play time 5 hrs 21 min)
Comment: This is another recent pick up and like most of them it's another 2D platformer (I do love me a 2D platformer) that's pretty good. Though unlike the more recent 2D platformers I've played this game imo wasn't really that hard especially when compared to 1001 Spikes (I died like 200 times in this game which is a massive drop from the 2500 I had in 1001 Spikes), but is for the most part just as good even though it (for the moment at least) imo doesn't have as much content as 1001 Spikes. One area where this game really out shines the other 2D platformers I've played recently is the music (the in game and arranged songs), which is imo just fantastic (My favorite ones so far have been La Danse Macabre, Fighting with All Our Might, The Science Wizard, and The Rival) and is definitely worth checking out especially if you like 8 & 16-bit music. As far as complaints go other than some minor control issues that would occasionally pop up and the lack of content (which will be fixed in future patches/updates) I don't really have any complaints, this game is another solid 2D platformer.

51 games down, 1 game left til I've completed the 52 game - 1 year challenge!!!!!!

Game #46: Yakuza 3 - 27 Hours
First time playing a Yakuza game. There is so much to do in this game, I got a bit overwhelmed in the beginning. The combat gets a bit repetitive at first, but there is a lot of stuff you can unlock later ( skills, moves and different kinds of weapons) that mixes things up nicely. Kiryu Kazuma is starting to become one of my favorite video game characters. Anyways, I should go back and try to finish all the substories on my next playthrough ( I felt like I missed a lot :/). Its a shame they cut out some content in the US release. I wouldn't mind taking the time to learn how to play Mahjong.

Updated Post

tav7623 said:

51 games down, 1 game left til I've completed the 52 game - 1 year challenge!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Almost, almost there!

Games 1 though 11

Games 12 through 13

14. Urban Trial Freestyle (Vita) - 12th May - approx. 8-10 hours
I haven't finished this but I don't see myself getting any further so I'll consider it done with. Not a bad game, but lacking in content and stylistically a bit ugly and charmless. I also find the bounce pads horribly glitchy and useless. 6/10

15. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (PS3) - 25th June - 130 hours
Got the Platinum trophy, I finished all of the main game content, although I have not finished all the Dark Arisen content yet. Absolutely adored this game in almost every regard, from the combat, the game world, the enemy encounters, the exploration and discovery, the customisation, the depth and even the surprisingly decent plot. Such a brilliant game, one of my favourites of the generation and I really hope there's a sequel. 9/10

16. Need for Speed: Most Wanted (Vita) - 29th June - approx. 10 hours
I'll paraphrase a lengthy post I made earlier today:
It's a really good game in most regards, but not as good as the Burnouts and a few minor annoyances kept it from greatness in my opinion. A big part of what I missed was the massive and detailed crashes from the Burnout games, and I wished they weren't using licensed vehicles as the cosmetic damage was really weak. 7/10

It's been half a year and I've so far only beaten 10 games. I tend to switch around and can't stick to just one game.


Game 01: Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD: Final Mix (PS3) - Duration: 8+ hours (incomplete)
#My speedy playthrough. I'm having a hard time dealing w enemies after the gargoyle boss.
Game 02: Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD: Chain of Memories (PS3) - Duration: (in progress)
#I've yet to start the game
Game 03: Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD: 358/2 days (PS3) - Duration: ~3 hours (complete)
#I never played the game but it was nice to see how the game ties in between CoM and KH2. I'm excited for KH 2.5 HD.
Game 04: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP) - Duration: ~3 hours (complete)
#Played through Terra's storyline and started Ventus.
Game 05: Remember Me (PS3) - Duration: ~1 months (Plat)
#Interesting concept. Wish they had done more with the 'remixing' but instead it was all for the story.
Game 06: DmC (PS3) - Duration: ~2 months (Plat)
#I like what Ninja Theory has done with the reboot. The story is pretty interesting and I like the way the ended the game. However, when it comes to the hack and slashing, the learning curve is a bit steep trying to master. It was tedious/annoying trying to platinum, but the gameplay kept me addicted.
Game 07: Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z (PS3) - Duration: 25 hours+ (Plat)
#I love the game. Watched the show as a kid. Gameplay is fun, but repetitive. You spend most of your hours grinding for PP or in-battle hours than you do with the story.
Game 08: ICO HD (PS3) - Duration: 4 hours 20min (complete)
#I love how they throw you into the game w little to no introduction and background knowledge. The only trophy I have left is beating the game in under two hours.
Game 09: Drakengard 3 (PS3) - Duration: 1 month (Plat)
#First time into the series, while the game has mixed reviews based on fans, I loved the game. The game can be repetitive and challenging, but the character interactions are amusing.
Game 10: Saint Seiya: Brave Soliders (PS3) - Duration: 1 month (Plat)
#I never heard of this series until the Golden Week sale. I love anime, so this game is definitely for those who enjoy anime.

Currently

Game 11: Dead Space 3 (PS3) - Duration: (in progress)
#The infamous sequel of a great title. I finally decided to give it a try. Less horror, more action which means more tiny annoyances.
Game 11: Wolf Among Us (PS3) - Duration: (in progress)
#Just started but so far fun. Interesting concept with the fairy tail characters.
Game 11: Dragon Age: Origins (PS3) - Duration: (in progress)
#Was hyped for the DA: Inquisition trailer. I love the game so far.. can't believe I put off the game this long.
Game 11: Beyond: Two Souls (PS3) - Duration: (in progress)
#Plays a lot like Heavy Rain, with less running around. Interesting, but not enough to want to constantly play.

there are more other games I've started but stopped..

Game 38: The Stanley Parable - 90 minutes
(Started 6/30/14 / Finished 6/30/14)
I don't know what I just played. I seriously think the Game Grumps demo was LONGER than this game. I know there are tons of endings and I got a bunch, and the ending I thought was another side one was actually one of the longer ones you can get aside from the wait 4 hours one. What a weird experience.

OP

Up to 43 games now as I actively aim for shorter titles in a futile backlog-killing effort. I have been taking off a ton of time at work to watch the World Cup, so my handheld gaming time has shot up as I play on the couch before/after matches. I should get through another 6-8 games in July, setting me up for hitting the 52 goal early August. Have Trine, Heileen: Sail Away, Metal Slug 5 and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror all just about done and ready to be added to the list.

Games finished in June:
Stacking
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Faery: Legends of Avalon
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
CSI: Fatal Conspiracy
Limbo

Original Post updated

Game 13: Crysis 2 - 7 hours, Jun 30th
I'm conflicted about this game. It's tight, it plays better than the first game for sure (runs better too), but then there's the level design which just consists of a set of wide corridors. It's nothing like the first Crysis, or even Far Cry. They still haven't figured out how to make fighting aliens fun, though they've gotten slightly better at it. The worst part of the game has to be the writing and the constant interruptions in the form of 1st person cutscenes, or forced walk sequences. The writing in this game is so fucking bad, while taking itself so seriously, that it's absurd they spend so much time on the story. Some of the cutscenes go on forever. One in particular has you getting shot at by snipers, you can zoom in on them with your own weapons but you're not allowed to fire, instead you have to exit through a back door and trigger another cutscene. Any game that pulls that crap (or has a default FoV of 55) can go fuck itself. Some people working on this game clearly knew what they were doing, but who ever was in charge for the overall direction of it shit the bed.

Game 36 - Devil May Cry 4 - 16 hours

At the end of the road of DMC, I can't help but feel disappointed. The gameplay was, as always, phenomenal, but the game has way too many cutscenes that interfere in gameplay, and having to backtrack through the entire game as Dante and refighting all the bosses was a terrible decision that's just plain unforgivable.

I ended up liking the story of the game a fair bit, and I liked how it elaborated on the game's verse, that demons are accepted as a part of the real world and there's a religious order devoted to worshiping Sparda. Nero was alright and his brooding, serious behaviour played off of Dante well. The "Uncle Dante" persona is probably the way I like Dante the most. He knows he's invincible, so he's going to enjoy himself as much as he can, and I think having a more traditional, serious character in Nero made the jocular Dante stand out more, like Raiden and Snake's relationship in MGS2.

It's unfortunately not as good as DMC1 and 3, but it's still alright.

So so close.

Game 49: BattleBlock Theater! - 8.4 Hours
Got it cheap in the sale so just got stuck into it. Great game, can get pretty challenging on the later levels. Loads of charm about it to boot!

Game 50: FTL - 8.9 Hours
Finally. Has been eluding me for a while, finally got that good run. Won't be the last time I play it, but I got the boss beat.

Game 51: Stacking - 2.1 Hours
Had this on the 360 and got a couple of levels done so when starting again on the PC I could batter through them. Like BattleBlock, loads of charm and a really decent game.

Original Post

| MY COMPLETE LIST |

Completion #13 : Game #29 : God Of War (Vita | ~13hrs | Trophies - 100%)
Some of the cut scenes are a bit rough, but the core gameplay holds up well still on the Vita. Amazing game is still amazing after all this time, even if Ares can be a cheating arsehole at times!

Completion #14 : Game #30 : God Of War II (Vita | ~15hrs | Trophies - 100%)
Completion #17 : Game #31 : God Of War II (PS3 | ~17hrs | Trophies - 100%)
Same as above, but with the time slow down power mapped to the screen, the controls were at times better than then console brother. At the same time I have been playing the PS3 version also and I can honestly say that the Vita version difficulty is toned down massively than the PS3 version, the window for QTE on the PS3 seems to be much shorter. Loved playing this again and really noticed the step up in boss battles from the original, these boss battles were so much fun, especially the first Sister of Fate & the Karken. Currently on a GoW binge and once I have finished the PS3 version, will be moving onto GoWIII again.

Completion #15 : Game #23 : MotoGP 13 (Vita | ~25hrs | Trophies - 100%)
Not a huge bike fan, but I can tell there is quite alot for the enthusiast that does, the core gameplay is quite nice, but ultimately the game is better suited to a console with proper triggers with varying pressure points, the R Button doesn't do the game justice. The physics all seem to be there and I still did have some fun with the game. Loading started to become a chore towards the end of the game. I've had my fix of the genre though, having seen some broadcast of the MotoGP14 version on PS4, whilst there are some differences, there does seem to be alot of copy and paste from the previous version, not alot of incentive to buy the new one.

Completion #16 - Game #07 : Jetpack Joyride (Vita | ~204hrs | Trophies - 100%)
Time waster is right... the hours above are from the ingame clock, but I don't believe that I put that much time into this, perhaps it counts idle time also? Anyway, it was a hell of a grind through unlocking everything, simple game is simple and it is something that I won't go back to anytime soon. As I'd much prefer a Match-3 type game over this.

Game 26 : Mario Kart 8 - 07/01/14
Done the whole game in 150cc. Pretty fun and impressive. I suck at it though. Probably the best Mario Kart so far easily
4/5

Game 27 : Shovel Knight - 7:23:59 at 76% - 07/01/14
Excellent game that remove some of the problems I have with NES games (Insta Death with no check points) and make the game a giant homage of Megaman and the whole NES Era. Would recommend without hesitation if you like Megaman. Hoping for a Shovel Knight 2 as a Metroidvania like Megaman ZX where all the castles are interconnected.
4.5/5

Game 19: Valiant Hearts - 5 hours - Completed 7/2/14
Whew...that game. I didn't expect it to pack such an emotional impact by the end, but it sure did. Great mix of historical events and a fictional narrative on how the Great War would have affected the lives of those caught in the middle.

Updated Post Here

DONE! Hopefully I can keep a similar pace and get 100 for the year.

Game 52: Little Inferno - 2.7 Hours
Not the best game to round it off but I just wanted something short, and burning everything is always a bonus. Pretty fun at times, and nice little twist of sorts at the end.

Full List

Game 35: Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4) 28/6/14

Well this was a big, balls-out surprise. I don't much care for shooters and only picked this as it was the bundled game I was offered with my PS4 that had the highest resale value but I stuck it on for a wee go and fell for it completely. Just dumb fun from beginning to end with some really spectacular moments, I will hang on to this as I fancy going for the platinum at a later date.

Game 36: Valiant Hearts: The Great War (PS4) 2/7/14

I thought this was OK, didn't love it as much as a lot of others. I thought it overstayed its welcome by at least an hour and some of the action bits were poor and at odds with the rest of it. The ending was nicely done though and they handled the potentially weird mix of cartoony presentation and serious subject matter very well.

Original post.

We have another winner to the list!

GazzaScotland: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpos...m/forum/showpost.php?p=97786265&postcount=488

congrats!

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Game 14: Noitu Love 2 - 2 hours, Jul 2nd
Simple game that doesn't overstay its welcome. The pixel art is fantastic, there are some quite neat boss designs but the basic combat gets a bit repetitive since it doesn't demand much of you. Maybe it's more about getting a high score than just getting through the game.

Been a few months since I updated this, and there is no way I will be able to get to 52 games now, but here's what I completed since last time:


Game 14: Nazo no Murasame-jō
# I was pretty excited for this game finally getting a western release, but unfortunately, it didnt at all live up to the hype. The difficulty is high and feels really unfair thanks to your very slow movement compared to alot of enemies, and the lack of a block-move is really hurting it. Also, the enemies doesnt really have a pattern, making the Dark Souls-comparison inadequate imo. Lastly, the game is really, really repetive. There is no variation here, its all going from screen to screen fighting more or less the same enemies.Definitely not a classic, not deserving of the modern mythos surrounding it, and not really worth being compared to its sibling The Legend of Zelda. And sadly also not worth playing for people who are not really into Nintendo-history like myself. 2/10

Game 13: Kid Icarus: Of Myth and Monsters
# As a semi-remake to the original Kid Icarus, this game is actually both somewhat better but also feels much less interesting. Released when the action-plattform genre was already well established with such greats as the Dragon Slayer-games, Wonderboy, Zelda 2 and more, this game doesnt really do anything better than any of those games - and while the inverted difficulty of the original Kid Icarus has kinda been fixed here, and the controls feels better, the game itself feels like a chore to play when the stages are all more or less taken out of the original and done easier. The one exception is the final level which is now actually a pretty decent challenge, and the way the three treasures are handled there - letting you use them only if you have done well enough during the game (or you have to get enough money on the final stage to rebuy them) is pretty well done - and the final boss is both fun, challenging and epic in a way Medusa never was in the original. Still, this game goes into the history with so many other Game Boy-games as the poor off shoot that there really isnt any point playing if you own the home system. 3/10

Game 12: NES Remix 2
# Like NES Remix 1, this game is brilliant. And while the source material in this game is even better, I actually feel the game itself is a bit poorer. Maybe it comes from the fact that I know so many awesome situations in these games they could have implemented? Or maybe its because the source material is so good, that this only makes me want to play them the real way. At least thats how I felt with Zelda 2 where all the boss encounteres in Remix 2 was crazy easy compared to the original game. No matter what, it is still a very worthwhile game for any retro gamer, and the inclusion of a more advanced Golf-game and Warios Woods - games most people would probably never have played - makes this one definitely worthwhile even for those who prefers the original encounter with Warf in SMB2. 8/10

Game 11: Kid Icarus
# When NES Remix 2 and its games was announced, I knew I had to FINALLY get back to one of the most important Nes-games Ive never beaten and finally complete it before the remix spoiled all the bosses for me. I always hated the very non-transparent leveling up system in the game, the stupid guy that steals your items in the bonus game, the empty rooms, and the crazy difficulty of the first world, and while I didnt really change my view on any of that, it was refreshing to see just how easy the game became from world 2 onwards - even making the final level a complete pushover of a shmup-level. So as for the game itself, I would say it is a fun piece of Nintendo-history, but definitely not a classic or even worth playing if you are not a crazy Nintendo-historian like myself. The controls and especially the jumping feels terrible, the inverted difficulty-curve is a very strange design choice, a lot of the mechanics are not at all explained, and the levels are really repetitive. Its still a decently fun game though, with the dungeons being the high-points in my opinion, and its worth a try if you always wondered how this distant relative of Metroid got its start. 4/10

Game 10: Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze
# The level design in tropical freeze is once again superb, the presentation retains that Retro-quality, the music is sublime with David Wise returning, and the new characters are fun to use, however, the game also has some wierd control-issues, is very short, and way to easy to complete, while the boss fights all feel really badly designed. Still, the core game and its level design is so good, that this is a contender for plattformer of the gen - just so sad they couldnt get it all perfect. 8/10

Game 9: Mario Kart 8
# Pretty great racing game for sure, with probably the best tracks in the series, and definitely the best presentation. I really like the anti-gravity parts and the tracks that change between rounds, and the multiplayer in all its forms is amazing, however, the game is very light on single-player content, and after the amazing level design and campaign in Sonic Racing Transformed which seriously raised the bar for the genre, I feel this game falls a bit short. 8/10

Game 8: Rayman Legends
# Pretty good plattformer with amazing graphics and sound design. A few very memorable levels, but all in all, a bit forgetable compared to all the other great plattformers out there. Also short and easy if you already played Origins. 6/10.

Game 7: New Super Luigi U
# Technically not a new game since this was dlc for the 2012 game New Super Mario U, but with almost 100 completely new levels, it felt good enough for me to include it here. In general, the game is of course very much alike both that particular Mario-game, and the New-series in general, however there are two major changes, one for better, and one for worse. The change for the worse is of course Luigis slippery physics that make him very annoying to control, and that is not made up for by his admitedly useful fluttering. The change for the better is in my opinion how all levels are distilled to their essence - there is quite simply no fat here -.which made it possible for Nintendo to both raise difficulty and make the game much more interesting. I personally feel most games have way to much filler stuff, and while Nintendo in general is good at avoiding this, NSLU is probably the best plattformer I have played in this regard. No boring levels, no easy levels, almost no unimaginative levels. Too bad the Luigi-physics suck. Completed with 5 stars. 8/10

Game 6: Final Fantasy III
# I played the DS-version of this NES classic, and while I feel the remake adds quite a few useless things (like the backstory to the four main characters), the game does indeed hold up very well, and is both fun to play, have lots of interesting systems and nice secrets to explore. It is also quite challenging (although not nearly as much as the NES original), which makes it much more fun than most jrpg's that way to often become a snooze-fest outside of some bosses. The famous job-system that is popularized in games like FFV and the recent Bravely Default got its start here, and I think it works very well, even though the balance seemed a bit off with physical attacks being almost always better than magical and quite a few jobs turning out to be useless. Anyways, a very good game all in all, the best Final Fantasy for the 8-bit wonder and still a very worthwhile experience for fans of Final Fantasy, the genre and just people interested in video game history in general. 8/10

Game 5: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
# The first Castlevania on the gba was also the last Igavania i hadnt completed untill now. For its time it was probably pretty great, but seen in the light of its far superior sequels, this one feels pretty poor now unfortunately. The music is great, but the level design feels very random, and the DSS-system is very poorly thought out. On the plus side, the game is much more challenging than later games, thanks to it being pretty hard to stock up on potions and such, making the game really satisfying to conquer. 6/10

Game 4: Sonic Advance
# I always loved the 2D Sonic games on the Mega Drive, and have for a long time been thinking about trying out the games available for the GBA. I think the game was pretty fun, although, most zones were way to easy. I remember back in Sonic 1, you was somewhat challenged already on the second zone (Marble Zone), but here, only the sixth and final zone was difficult enough to kill you - and then mostly from cheap speeding to your death-kills. Anyways, the zones themselves were large and well made, with opportunity for both exploration and speeding through, which is just how I like my sonic-games. Looking forward to check out the sequel later this year! 5/10

Game 3: Wario Land 4
# I never liked the original Wario Land, and was therefore not very interested in its sequels. However, thanks to a recent episode of retronauts, I decided to pick up a few of them. I found Wario Land 2 to be well crafted, but a bit boring, but Wario Land 3 and 4 seriously blew my mind with their awesomness. Where WL3 played a bit like a metroidvania-game, earning new abilities, and having you really think and explore, WL4 was more of a regular plattformer. While a bit on the easy side, the level design was just so masterful that it was hard not to love it. Definitely recommended for everybody! 9/10

Game 2: NES Remix
# Completed everything with three stars. Very, very cool game to play in small sessions. Hope they make a sequel with second generation Nes-games! 8/10

Game 1: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
# Got to the credits in the World Tour mode, and even continued a bit beyond that. Amazing game that is probably one of my favorite racers of all time. 10/10

I'm really late for joining this but I'm going to list the games I've already completed so far in 2014 and try and catch up and make it to 52.

Game 1: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - DURATION PLAYED (24 hours 48 minutes)
Was a bit late to the party with this game as I am with many of the games I'm completing at the minute but its easily became one of my top 10 games of all time. Well worth playing.

Game 2: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD - DURATION PLAYED (26 hours 50 minutes)
After completing OoT I wanted more Zelda so I bought a Wii U and instantly jumped into WWHD. Pretty good decision IMO, another great game and has made me want to complete every game in the Zelda series although I haven't gotten any further yet.

Game 3: Infamous: Second Son
I'm not really sure how I feel about this game, the story wasn't that great except for the ending which was okay and the gameplay was a bit dull after a while but even saying that I completed the main story twice and got a platinum on it so.

Game 4: Watch Dogs
I actually really enjoyed this game, was a lot of fun and I got a lot of playtime out of it. Got 100% on it.

Game 5: Mario Kart 8 - DURATION PLAYED (53 hours and 55 minutes)
This isn't a game I think you stop playing but I have gotten 3 stars on every single cup and beaten all the time trials. I consider myself having completed it although I'm still going to be playing it a lot.

Game 6: Journey
This game was okay I guess, it was worth playing but I don't really think its a game I'm going to remember well but it did have some pretty cool parts.

Game 7: Metal Gear Solid 1
The graphics on this game haven't aged well, neither had the controls but it blew me away with the story. Amazing, just amazing. By the end of it the graphics and controls had also grown on me. Loved every second of it.

Game 8: Motorstorm RC
Fun little game I had been playing on Vita while bored. Worth a pickup, was enjoyable.

Game 9: Pokemon X - DURATION PLAYED (34 hours 8 minutes)
The first Pokemon game I've actually played and finished. Enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would and found it very addicting. I haven't tried any of the others yet but I might have to soon.

Game 10: Gravity Rush
It must have took me around a year from when I started playing this game till when I completed it, I could never really stick at it for long before getting bored but I did in enjoy it as a whole I think. I even ended up getting the platinum.

Game 11: Dark Souls - DURATION PLAYED (78 hours)
A friend on mine forced me to keep trying this game and it eventually clicked after I didn't really get along with it for a long time and once I got into it I was hooked.

Game 12: Dark Souls 2 - DURATION PLAYED (60 hours)
I completed Dark Souls 1 the week before this was released and just moved straight onto it. Good timing I guess but I never had time to see all the content Dark Souls 1 had to offer.

Game 13: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - DURATION PLAYED (13 hours 2 minutes)
I didn't really enjoy this as much as Metal Gear Solid 1 for a lot of the time but I think that was because I didn't really like Raiden. But the story picked up and got really interesting quickly and I was blown away by it by the end. Great game.

Game 14: Trials Fusion
Been playing this through slowly since release, finally beat it though.

Game 15: New Super Mario Bros. U - DURATION PLAYED (11 hours 58 minutes)
I enjoy playing through these games at a slow pace. I did about one world every week and just got around to finishing it. Enjoyable game although not one of my favourites.

Game 16: Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars
That title doe. Fun game I played the newer version on PC a lot with friends(Rocket League) and decided to try the original on PS3. Completed all the challenges and tournament mode.

Game 17: Injustice: Gods Among Us
Played this a lot in multiplayer but decided to play through the story mode a while ago and finally finished it.

Game 18: Resogun
Completed this at launch but I recently played through and completed it again. Not a long game but still very enjoyable.

Game 19: Fire Emblem: Awakening - DURATION PLAYED (21 hours 50 minutes)
I started playing this game two days ago and wow was it addictive I loved everything about this game. The gameplay, the story, the soundtrack, the artstyle. I could go on. I only finished the main story for now but I'm definitely going to go back and play through all the side quests. Also going to consider looking into the other games in this series.


Games in progress
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Demon Souls
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask
Metal Gear Solid 3
Borderlands 2
Transistor




I highly doubt I'll manage to get to 52 before the end of the year due to multiplayer games taking up a lot of my time but I'll give it a good shot.

I too am very late to the party, but in the spirit of forcing myself to get through my backlog, here's my pathetic work so far:

Game 1: Persona 4: Golden - January 1st, 2014

Hands down the greatest RPG I've played. Nothing compares to the sheer enjoyment I got out of this game. The lovable cast, the relatable setting (having just finished high school), the amazing soundtrack and the fantastic freedoms were all just so overwhelmingly wonderful. I actually dragged myself through the last dungeon over like two weeks because I just could not bring myself to finish it. It also has the unique distinction of being one of few games to make me tear up. I'll admit that really, I mostly enjoyed the social aspect of the game. The battle system isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. And there were certain dungeons that I absolutely loved. It really just came down to the fact that the social stuff is so good. I'd have to stick this game on my (personal) GOAT list. Probably in the top 3 in fact.

Game 2: Tearaway - January 3rd, 2014

I don't know what I think about this game still. It was charming, but it also left me feeling so very empty. And not in a, "Oh man that game was so good, and now that it's done I feel empty." No, I was left at the end thinking, "That's it?" I'm not a fan of filler-filled plots, but the shortness of the game, and the lack of any real replayability just left me a bit...sour. The incorporation of the Vita functions was fantastic. The "arts and crafts" things were fun. The music was lovely. The game itself looked stupendous. But overall? Eh. I'm just glad I got it on Black Friday.

Game 3: Killzone: Shadow Fall - January 5th, 2014

I honestly did not enjoy the multiplayer. Maybe I shouldn't have sold it off and kept it for the new DLC and stuff coming, but eh, oh well. The story however, while very uninventive did manage to keep me enthralled. I powered through this baby in a weekend. Although it really ends up being a glorified tech demo for the PS4, I thoroughly, and surprisingly, enjoyed my time in KZ, even with all its stupid flaws (horrible navigation and markers).

Game 4: Toukiden - ???

It got me into the monster hunting genre. I had tried Monster Hunter itself on the PSP and hated it. Tried the demo of Toukiden, loved it. Bought the game, loved it more. The story is crap, and the characters are mediocre at best, but the gameplay was solid, the customization was good enough and the overall experience was worthwhile.

Game 5: Infamous: Second Son - ???

Ugh. Another game I'm not sure about. Games like I:SS are what turn me off from the whole "open-world" trend. Sure, the game has an open Seattle. It's also fairly lifeless and full of a dozen variations of the same five or six "quests." I played through on "good" and really, I was also thoroughly unimpressed with my moral choices. Either A) Be a complete goodie-two-shoes, or B) Be a complete and utter soulless person. No middle ground, no nuance, no subtly. It's a shame because most of the powers were fun, the characters themselves were actually pretty fun and the gameplay (if you ignore that much of it occurs in repeated tasks) is very fun. Solid, but honestly, a little sad I paid full price. Still have yet to go back and finish that Paper Trail nonsense.

Someday.

Game 6: Battlefield 4 - 10 hours 35 minutes MP played - ???

Just. Ick. I guess I should preface this by saying that I started the BF series with the first Bad Company. I then got BC2 (also its Vietnam expansion), Battlefield 1943 and of course Battlefield 3. I spent something around 142 hours on BC2 and 62 hours on B3. It's fair to say that while I didn't love B3 as much as BC2, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. B4 however? Nope. Not even close. I never had a problem with lag or stability. I really never experienced a single problem in that regard. I just honestly did not enjoy the gunplay. The levels felt sloppy, the gunplay felt too COD-ish, and overall, I felt no compulsion to stick around. I didn't even touch the single player for one moment. With Battlefield Hardline looming around the corner and crappy over-priced DLC on the horizon, all I could say was: No thanks. Sold it back to Target. I will not be purchasing another Battlefield for quite some time at this rate.

Game 7: Virtue's Last Reward - June 19th, 2014

Oh. My. God. What an absolute headscratcher of a game. I kind of dropped this for months, and then ended up powering through it in a day a few weeks ago. It's so, so, so good. The puzzles are fairly devious, but honestly, I didn't care for them that much. What intrigued me was the absolute headscratcher of a story, with all kinds of nutty and neat time-jumps and timelines and just WOW. Really, really, really enjoyed it. Because the game has a decent length to it, the characters actually feel fairly fleshed out and really...tangible. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to get around to 999 some day. To this point, my first and only Platinum trophy as well.

Game 8: Thomas Was Alone - July 3rd, 2014

I went into this thinking the game had been overhyped. A stupid indie and some colored shapes? Pshh. Then I played it on my PSV. I was pleasantly surprised that the hype was indeed real. It is a heck of a game. The narration is superb, and the soundtrack is sublime. I never thought I would become so attached to a bunch of rectangles.

Game 9: XCOM: Enemy Unknown - July 3rd 2014

I actually had been meaning to finish this for months. I had gotten to the last level and just lost the drive to finish after basically marathoning the campaign. A few in game statistics:

• Victory in 256 days
• 37 battles won
• 363 aliens killed
• 15 soldiers lost
• 2 countries lost

The squad that got it all done?

Col. Yoko "Demon" Hasimoto, Col. Ruben "Mack" Valdez, Col. Sally "Cargo" Patterson, Col. Rachid "Hazard" Nur, Maj. Ana "Black Widow" Guzman and Col. Lorenzo "Tank De Luca who as my top Psi soldier paid the ultimate price to save Earth.

Now, a testament to the greatness that is XCOM is that I cared enough about my soldiers that I bothered to type their names out. By the end of the game, these six soldiers in particular had become quite dear to my heart. I know XCOM has its problems. Glitchy animation. Weird gameplay at times. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But still, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the game. However, even with how much I enjoyed the game, as much as I would love to play Enemy Within, I can't see myself going back and doing it over. I'm ready to move on.

Game 10: Pokemon X - July 6th, 2014

Finally. Finally. FINALLY. I'm done. It took me forever to play this to its finale. I got halfway through the game and just dropped it. Then last week I picked it up and managed to storm my way to the Elite 4. I'll say, the new Pokemon were pretty great. The Elite 4 and Champion sucked in terms of difficulty. Too, too easy. Honestly, the whole game suffered from a lot of handholding and just overall easiness. Eh. I'm glad I got to experience the next evolution (huehue) of Pokemon into 3D space, but I'm also glad I'm done with it. Very ready for Omega Ruby.

Game 11: The Wolf Among Us - July 9th, 2014

I guess I should preface this by saying that I am a huge, huge, huge Fables fan. So when I saw that the series was getting an adaption, I was hugely excited. And while I found the final episode to be a little underwhelming, and perhaps typically Telltale-ish in that my choices didn't really seem to matter, on the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed playing this. If we're making comparisons to other Telltale games, I don't think it was better than TWD1, but I do think it was better than TWD2. The engine still suffers from some clunkiness, the sound at times isn't mixed great, the "boss battle" kind of sucked, and there's still a need to flesh out the "choice" system. All those "complaints" aside, I do think the game looked quite attractive, the story was at least mostly faithful to the Fables name, and overall, I think there was a good deal of emotional impact behind creating "my" Bigby Wolf.

If there's a second season, I will gladly support the game, but I will not be playing it episodically like I did this season. I'll just wait for it to finish. No more of this 1-2 month long wait. Really ruins the flow.

Game 12: Binary Domain - July 11th, 2014

Wow. This is quite an interesting game really. I'll be honest, some people seem to think the "Trust" system in this game is stupid, but I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. Just to touch the tip of the iceberg, I love that there are penalties for friendly fire. Sure, the AI can actually muck up and get in your ways at time, but it was still a nice addition to the usual bullet-sponges your teammates are. Speaking of bullet-sponges, I loved that your teammates can die. Really made the battles carry some weight. Going back to the trust system, I found myself reflecting on how much more real it made the game seem. Since you're rewarded with trust when you do cool things in battle, I found myself risking more and more to show off, something you don't need to do in a usual single-player FPS. Who cares what your AI teammates "think" in those games?

The story was kind of meh. It was compelling enough to keep me engaged, and probably one of the best "Terminator-esque" games we'll see. It wasn't that unique though, and I have a gripe that the main character Dan was too much of a "dude-bro" character. I found that quite disappointing since Faye, Charlie, Bo and even Cain were fairly fun characters.

The game also did suffer from some of the usual nonsense in shooters, like a jet-ski corridor scene. Yuck. Some of the dialogue, especially from dude-bro Danny came off as a bit stilted and cliche at times. I didn't even bother touching the MP. Overall though, very pleased with the game.

Game 13: Brothers: a Tale of Two Sons - July 11th, 2014

Man oh man. What a heartwrencher. At one point last week, I got frustrated by a puzzle and dropped the game to start something else. I'm glad I sat down today and powered through it. Without spoiling the ending, it's powerful as heck. Especially deserving of note here is the music. The OST just draws out the emotion and stabs you in the heart repeatedly. For perhaps the first half of the game, I was playing through wondering what exactly was so emotionally poignant about this game. Everyone had been raving about it! Then I I don't think I've ever been left feeling this sad at the end of a game. Touched, but just so sad.

Game 14: Tomodachi Life

I'm still playing, and I'm not totally done with the game, but I've put a considerable amount of time into this. I played this every day a few times a day for the first week, but now the game's gotten to the point where I just boot it up maybe once a day, just to check on my peeps. The game is great. I truly do hope they release a sequel, but with more content and more to do. I'm a bit sick of seeing the same dreams and same dopey requests to look in my mii's belly. Definitely could use more content to keep me coming back. I think, for example, ACNL is much better in that regard.

Game 15: MLB: The Show 14

Like in my last post with Tomodachi, I'm still playing MLB. I don't foresee putting it down anytime soon either. It's a great port of the title. It is far from perfect, unsurprisingly. But still, a very solid port. I've really enjoyed my time messing around with RTTS. I will say some of the flaws of the port really just seem to be a function of fitting a full sports sim onto a Vita's screen. For example, when pitching in RTTS, moving the cursor to aim your pitch can be very, very difficult due to the precision required. Another complaint is the crowds. The crowds behind home-plate are an absolute joke. They look atrocious. Sometimes they'll even clip through the stadium. That is the single-most immersion breaking problem with the game for me. Still, it retains most of the features from the console, so having a true "pocket sports sim" is fantastic. It absolutely lends itself to "play on the go."

Game 16: Dragon's Crown - August 8th, 2014

I had bought this from Gamestop last month, but kind of forgot to play it. Well, really what happened was I went through the first dungeon and stunk it up (playing as an elf). With its release on PS+, I was motivated to get back into it to play with a friend. I actually enjoyed myself so much, I finished it in four days. It's a fantastic beat-em-up. Once I got a true handle on the game though, it was way, way, way too easy for me. Because I was doing all the sidequests (love dat art), I was almost always overleveled for each dungeon's boss. Only a few bosses were actually a challenge. The combat did require some skill though, and it certainly wasn't just a button-masher (at least for the ranged classes). Another small complaint is that when a lot of enemies were on the screen, fighting a fully party, the frame-rate could drop hard. I'm not frame-rate aficionado, but even I noticed.

Anyways, although I've finished the elf character, I can see myself going back to play the post-game stuff. I can even see myself going back and trying some of the other characters. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Game 17: LEGO Lord of the Rings - August 9th, 2014

Probably the best LEGO game I've played so far (although I haven't played Marvel yet). One of the best things about the game, shallow as it may be, is that it's voice acted. I have the first of the Lego Harry Potter games, and it's really kinda annoying to listen to/watch these LEGO grunts and mime gestures. LOTR was kind of like playing the movie. Looks excellent on the PS3 as well. The game isn't too hard, although some puzzles are just kind of stupidly ambiguous. I will say though, it took me forever to complete this game (like over a year and a half). Playing a LEGO game by yourself is really...dull. The AI can be idiotic, and doing puzzles while trying to fight off enemies that your AI partners aren't fighting can be aggravating. If I ever get around to playing the Marvel game, I'll probably recruit a friend or family member. I can't imagine slogging through another one of these alone. Overall though, very enjoyable, especially once I just sat down and finished it.

Game 18: Final Fantasy X HD - August 11th, 2014 - 43 hours

Good God. What. A. Game. Just so absolutely phenomenal. It's amazing how well this game holds up in terms of gameplay. Many JRPGs just feel so dated when you return to them. FF X does not, but perhaps that's due to it really being one of the first modern JRPGs. The battle system is phenomenal, the sphere grid is very intriguing and the cutscenes still wow me as much in 2014 as did back when I first played the game almost a decade ago. I wouldn't call the definitive GOAT, but it's certainly in the running for me. I plan on play X-2 now, but I will absolutely be returning to play FF X again to experience some of the things I missed, notably some of the "optional" summons and the celestial weapons which I missed for the most part. It's a deep game, with lots of content, and I'm so, so, so glad it made it to the PSV.

Game 19: Muramasa Rebirth - August 24th, 2014, 12ish hours

I was actually given this game at Christmas last year. I tried it, but it didn't really hit me right. It looked gorgeous, but felt pretty dull mechanically. After finishing Dragon's Crown a few weeks ago, I picked Muramasa up again last week and restarted the game. Once I got about an hour or so in, I really started to enjoy myself. I'm definitely not a fan of the incessant backtracking that is necessary in the game, but as the game wore on, I got pretty used to it. I finished both story arcs, but I still feel like I'm going to go back and get the other endings, as well as finish the DLC (I own two of them). It's a pretty great game, although I feel like Kisuke's story was much more satisfying (I'm a helpless romantic). I hope there's a sequel at some point.

YOU'RE READING PART ONE
PART TWO HERE
PART THREE HERE

I won a kiss on the cheek playing darts with a hostess o.o

That's right, Yazuka 4's been beaten! Typo? What typo? Not in a game where a line like "Yes. I always get the nerves when I go with people close to my age or younger." exists!


Games Beaten: 30 / 52
Total Playtime: 444 hours, 06 minutes

link!

Well I finally did it, I just finished my 52nd game of the year!!!!

52. Pikmin 3 (Finished 7/3/14 - total play time 10 hrs 9 mins)
Comment: I got this game as my free game through the Mario Kart 8 promotion and the reason I chose this game over Wind Waker HD (my other choice) was because I had never played a Pikmin game before (unless you count the Pikmin Adventures mini game found in NintendoLand) where as I had previously play Wind Waker on the Gamecube. So I was kinda curious to see if this game would be any good and overall I'm glad that I picked it as I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. The areas I really enjoyed were the challenging boss fights that span multiple "days", the new patched in touch controls, and trying to figure/plan what kinds of Pikmin I'd need each day to accomplish that day's goal. The one area I did not like in this game was the characterization of one of the captain characters as they really came across as very unsympathetic (almost down right greedy) and most of their "dialogue" for some reason just flat out annoyed me every time I read it.

Games 1 - 26

Games 27 - 52

System Breakdown
PS3 - 22
Wii U - 15
3DS - 9
DS - 1
Wii - 1
GBA - 1
PC - 3

Estimated Total Playtime - 589 hrs

MRORANGE said:

We have another winner to the list!

GazzaScotland: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpos...m/forum/showpost.php?p=97786265&postcount=488

congrats!

Click to expand...

Congratulations, GazzaScotland!

tav7623 said:

Well I finally did it, I just finished my 52nd game of the year!!!!

Click to expand...

Yeah! Congratulations to you, too, tav7623!

Looks like July seems a greath month for some people:

tav7623: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=119413730&postcount=1309

Huge congrats to tav7623

Gaffers who have met this challenge will be displayed in full glory here.
Please send a PM with a link to your post of 52 games with comments when completed.

donny2112: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=95492179&postcount=203

RavenValor95: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=104524566&postcount=866

Knurek: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=95470189&postcount=179

The Illiterati: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=100878086&postcount=681

GazzaScotland: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpos...m/forum/showpost.php?p=97786265&postcount=488

tav7623: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=119413730&postcount=1309

Click to expand...

Please send a PM with a link to your post of 52 games with comments when completed.

Game 9: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

I actually had been meaning to finish this for months. I had gotten to the last level and just lost the drive to finish after basically marathoning the campaign. A few in game statistics:

• Victory in 256 days
• 37 battles won
• 363 aliens killed
• 15 soldiers lost
• 2 countries lost

The squad that got it all done?

Col. Yoko "Demon" Hasimoto, Col. Ruben "Mack" Valdez, Col. Sally "Cargo" Patterson, Col. Rachid "Hazard" Nur, Maj. Ana "Black Widow" Guzman and Col. Lorenzo "Tank De Luca who as my top Psi soldier paid the ultimate price to save Earth.

Now, a testament to the greatness that is XCOM is that I cared enough about my soldiers that I bothered to type their names out. By the end of the game, these six soldiers in particular had become quite dear to my heart. I know XCOM has its problems. Glitchy animation. Weird gameplay at times. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But still, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the game. However, even with how much I enjoyed the game, as much as I would love to play Enemy Within, I can't see myself going back and doing it over. I'm ready to move on.

link

Game 10: Pokemon X

Finally. Finally. FINALLY. I'm done. It took me forever to play this to its finale. I got halfway through the game and just dropped it. Then last week I picked it up and managed to storm my way to the Elite 4. I'll say, the new Pokemon were pretty great. The Elite 4 and Champion sucked in terms of difficulty. Too, too easy. Honestly, the whole game suffered from a lot of handholding and just overall easiness. Eh. I'm glad I got to experience the next evolution (huehue) of Pokemon into 3D space, but I'm also glad I'm done with it. Very ready for Omega Ruby.