I decided to go with some short and sweet games to get the ball rolling, just finished 3D Sonic the Hedgehog on 3DS. I'm going to try and get 2-3 '100+ hour' RPGs actually done this year as part of this but let's start small, eh?
Okay sure, Lets do it. 52 games, and These will be games I've never played before.
(Btw I'm English therefore dates will be DD/MM/YYYY
Game 1: Shadow of the Colossus - Complete (3/1/2014)
Always been a big Black spot on my gaming history. So Finally taking the time this new year to do it. And boy am I glad I did! Epic is truly the word. I have never played a game before with such fantastic sense of scale, and some of the battles were jaw dropping. The final fight was a bit lame, and some of them felt a bit under developed, but otherwise a fantastic experience, and a great way to kick off this challenge!
Game 2: Dead Space 3
Loved the first 2, but skipped this last year because the demo wasn't great and a lot of the pre-release info was very disheartening
This should be fun; here's my first batch of targets:
Game 1: DuckTales Remastered - COMPLETE
# A good game that dives into nostalgia and obviously a lot of care went into it with regards to the source material, but the remake exposes the game's weakness and it doesn't necessarily hold up to the high opinion I had of it when I was a kid. Wasn't a fan of the music arrangements.
Game 2: Metro: Last Light - 5 Hours, COMPLETE
# I thought the game was a little too restrictive for the first half, but around half-way the story and exploration open up a bit more and I was hooked until the end.
Game 3: BioShock Infinite Burial at Sea Episode 1 - COMPLETE
# This reminded me how much I liked the world of Rapture more than Columbia and the film noir treatment was icing on the cake. Since the game didn't seem as large, I also found myself exploring the world more and listening to every audio-log, which is something Infinite never inspired me to do.
Game 4: Aliens: Colonial Marines - 0 Hours, In Progress
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE
Game 5: The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing - COMPLETE
# Fun game, and thankfully a bit shorter than Torchlight/Diablo III. I enjoyed both of those games, but I always feel a bit burned out by the end, reducing any desire to start again in hardcore mode. Van Helsing does have some pretty nasty bugs though. The most notable one for me was a collection quest that couldn't be completed. I watched a video walkthrough and searched message boards, and the fifth item I'm supposed to collect is just not there, which left me with an incomplete quest until the end of the game.
These will more than likely be my games, some might be replaced over time. The games are not listed in order.
1.) Vanquish
2.) Dark Souls
3.) Dark Souls 2
4.) Megaman 9
5.) Megaman 10
6.) Ape Escape 2
7.) Shadow Tower Abyss
8.) Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded
9.) Resident Evil: Revelations
10.) Gunhound EX
11.) Volgarr the Viking
12.) Earth Defense Force 2025
13.) Devil May Cry 3 SE
14.) R-Type
15.) R-Type 2
16.) Mega Man Powered Up
17.) Mega Man Zero
18.) Mega Man Zero 2
19.) Mega Man Zero 3
20.) Mega Man Zero 4
21.) Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
22.) Gokumakaimura Kai
23.) Demon's Crest
24.) Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
25.) Castlevania: Bloodlines
26.) Gradius II
27.) Gradius Gaiden
28.) Strider
29.) Forgotten Worlds
30.) La-Mulana
31.) Gunstar Heroes
32.) Guardian Heroes
33.) Oniken
34.) Resident Evil 6
35.) Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
36.) Shinobi 3
37.) Shinobi 3D
38.) Assault Suits Valken
39.) Ninja Five-O
40.) Cyber-Lip
41.) Devastator
42.) Monster World IV
43.) Nikujin
44.) Ganbare Goemon 2
45.) BlaZeon
46.) Blazing Lazers
47.) Space Megaforce
48.) Ninja Gaiden 2 (NES)
49.) Ninja Gaiden 3 (NES)
50.) Megaman 2
51.) Osman
52.) Megaman 3
______________________
Game 1: Megaman 9 - Around 30 minutes played -- In Progress --
-- Galaxy Man beat
# I'm having a lot more fun with it than my first attempt at playing it.
Game 2: Vanquish - Around 1 hour played -- In Progress --
-- Beat first chapter
# Good game, I feel pretty terrible at it though.
Game 3: Resident Evil 6 - 2 hours 30 minutes played -- In Progress --
-- Beat first chapter of Leon
# So far I don't get the hate that this game gets. It has various aspects of modern gaming I dislike but still manages to make it fun.
Game 4: Gunhound EX - around 1 hour played -- In Progress --
-- Beat second mission
# The second boss was surprisingly hard, but I'm enjoying the game a lot.
1: Little Inferno - 2 hours
Saw Credits. Didn't get all of the stars. It was kinda fun and cute for the first hour, then I decided to "beat" it. I was very surprised by how it had an end point. Not bad for $1 on Humble bundle.
2: Lego Marvel Super Heroes - 5 Hours. 2/3 of the way through story missions.
This is a pretty fun game in small bursts but definitely gets very repetitive. I'm loving the amount of characters and it has had me go back to Marvel Heroes to race around and kill folks with Storm.
Game 1- Injustice: Ultimate Edition (PS4)- About 5ish Hours
I knew I'd want to have a fighting game with the new console, and there wasn't a whole lot of options on launch, so despite my dislike of NRS, I decided to give it a chance. Good decision on my part- it's still an awful looking game with garbage animations and I still don't care for a lot of the roster decisions, but it plays well and the alternate universe storyline ended up being surprising amounts of fun. My friend and I will probably be getting a lot of time out of this one for the next few months.
Game 2- DmC: Devil May Cry (PS3)- 7.5 Hours
First PS Plus freebie of the year- I enjoy character action games, but had always disliked the story and characters of the original series, so the rebooted DmC wasn't particularly offensive to me for their reimagining. That said, numerous audio glitches, 30 FPS, color-coded enemy bullshit and relatively boring bosses made this a less than stellar game on its own merits. It was solid enough, I'd play a sequel to, but I'm glad I didn't pay full price for it.
Game 3- Kingdom Hearts: Re;Chain of Memories (PS3, HD Remix)- 31 Hours, 47 Minutes
Played bulk of this in 2013, finished off the last two floors of Castle Oblivion in 2014. I still flip-flop on this game constantly- on one hand, I think the card battle system is a really unique and fun mechanic that sets it apart from the rest of the series, on the other, I don't think it translates to 3D nearly as well as it did on the GBA. Still, as one of the only members of the CoM defense force, I felt compelled to fight to the end.
"Game" 4- Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (PS3, HD Remix)- 2 Hours, 50 Minutes
I don't know if this should really count, since it's just 3 hours of cutscenes stripped from the game and made into a movie, but whatever. It wasn't a very good movie, either- a bunch of eating ice cream on top of a clock tower with only a small amount of actual plot.
Game 5- Lego Marvel Super Heroes (PS4)- 12 Hours
Lego Marvel is by far the most endearing game I've played in a very, very long time. The game was made with a clear and deep passion for the source material that shows in every aspect. Outside of the flying being a little wonky, I think the game nailed pretty much everything well enough, I just hope the sequel gives us an actually functional character creator.
Game 6- Marvel Heroes (PC)- 20 Hours
Cleared through the base game and the Asgard post-game content as Thor- I wasn't having a great time at launch with this game when I was using Daredevil, but this second go around has been such fun that it's easy to forget that. It really seems like Gazillion has gone above and beyond with improving the game post-release, not just with shit to buy, but with overall improvements to the game as a whole.
Game 7- Halo 3: ODST (360)- 4 Hours, 40 Minutes
Still my favorite single player Halo campaign- decided to replay through it on a whim one weekend, managed to clear it in a single sitting this time, still enjoy the moody, atmospheric cityscape, the disjointed and non-linear narrative and the Firefly cast mini-reunion.
Game 8- Assassin's Creed III (360)- About 10ish hours?
I didn't particularly enjoy this game at all at launch, but I thought that at least part of that was my compulsive need to 100% everything in the main missions, and it had been pretty heavily patched since I played it, so I figured I'd give it another run through before moving fully on to Assassin's Creed IV (...in hindsight, I guess I'm part of the problem here), and found myself enjoying it a bit more, but I still think it was kind of a bad game, and the story is hilariously awful on both fronts for the first time in the series. At this point, AssCreed might actually be so far up its own nonsensical ass that it could probably sit at the same table as Kingdom Hearts and Metal Gear.
Game 9- Persona 3: FES (PS3 via PS2 Classics)- 142 Hours
What a great goddamn video game. Loved Persona 4, so I went back to play through 3, and while the gameplay isn't as refined, the characters and story are so memorable and fantastic. Spent way more time than was necessary trying to get great Personas and max as many S-Links as possible, ended up only a few levels away from fusing Messiah for my first playthrough, and still managed to curb the final boss without much effort. I'll probably come back to this at a later date- but for now, I can play through my copy of Persona 4 Arena to the fullest no longer wanting to stop to avoid spoilers.
Game 10- Binary Domain (PS3)- 8 Hours
I didn't know what to expect from this game going in, but gave it a shot because it was free through Plus, and I actually think it was excellent. The gunplay felt really good, the enemy dismemberment was really fun, but above that, the story and characters were actually excellent. I don't find myself wanting to go out and purchase games I've finished on plus often, but this is an exception- great, great game.
Game 11- Persona 4: Arena (PS3) - 20 Hours
Played through everyone's story mode, Arena's a pretty good fighting game in and of itself, but the plot stuff is the real draw for me, and it was satisfactory. I think it was too repetitive with too many characters going through too many of the same basic motions, especially early on in their stories, but ultimately worth the playthrough, I look forward to Ultimax.
Game 12- Uncharted: Golden Abyss (PS Vita)- 6-7 Hours
Picked up a Vita after a year of accumulating Plus games for it, and don't regret it in the slightest. First game I finished was Golden Abyss, and it was solid. The platforming is weirdly awful, even for Uncharted- Drake gets stuck on shit all the time and just locks up and won't move, it's really weird. The shooting took a little bit to get used to- didn't feel as precise as the console games. Overall, it was still really entertaining, but it lacked that Naughty Dog polish.
Game 13- Halo 2 (Xbox)- 9.5 Hours
Decided to play some of the original Xbox collection over Spring Break, and ended up running through the whole Halo 2 in one sitting. It was one hell of a game, with lots of nostalgia mixed in it, but I had forgotten how much of a drag the last third of the campaign was. The Flood can fuck right off. Those first few Master Chief campaign missions are still pretty sweet though.
Game 14- Killzone: Shadow Fall (PS4)- 7-8 Hours
Having not really played a lot of the Killzone series before this point, I went into Shadow Fall mostly because it was a drop dead gorgeous looking game to show off the power of the new machines, and it wasn't too continuity heavy to enjoy. I see a lot of backlash towards the game on GAF, but I thought it was actually really good- most of the campaign levels were varied a lot and really interesting- most notably the creepy derelict ship early in the game, and I enjoyed the interactions of all the major characters. While the way the game ends was a pretty huge surprise, and I'm curious where the series will go from here (if it does, but based on those sales, I'd say we'll see Shadow Fall 2), I wouldn't mind seeing Guerrilla tackle a new IP or genre.
Game 15- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (PS4)- 30something Hours
After the disappointment of the last two main entries, I thought I could be done with this series, but Black Flag has done everything in its power to pull me back in. The story is so ludicrously far up its own ass that it doesn't even make much sense to someone who's played all the games so far, and I love that about it- the "real world" plot of the game really needs to be seen to be believed, even if there's no single moment on quite the same tier of stupid as getting high on Indian smoke in III where you hallucinate an ancient Roman Space God in the form of a majestic bird made of fire who turns you into an eagle and tasks you with seeking out the assassins because reasons. Edward is a huge, huge step up from Connor, the naval combat is excellent, and its easy to lose yourself out on the high seas and forget that this is even an Assassin's Creed title. All in all, it's probably the best installment in the series since AC2/Brotherhood, and hopefully Unity can keep the quality going.
Game 16- inFAMOUS: Second Son (PS4)- 18 Hours
Huge fan of the first two games, and always thought it was secretly the best Sony first party series of the generation, so I was going to be there day one for next-gen no matter what. Gorgeous game, likable characters, but I feel like everything except for the diversity of powers was weaker than the first two games. Still great. Did everything to 100% on a Good playthrough, then finished it a second time on Expert with Evil Karma. The two big disappointments with the game, at least for me personally, is that the side missions and collectibles are so meaninglessly plain and boring, and there's almost no change between the good and evil stories, outside the requisite endings. Remember in the first game,
When Trish died- her final words to a Good Karma Cole were about how proud she was of his actions, and how she loved him, while with an Evil Karma Cole she told him off with her dying breath for being a selfish, brutal monster?
Compare that to how Second Son's endgame handles
Reggie and how he reacts to Delsin's actions before the end. Apparently he's proud to be the brother of a cop-killing, mass murdering sociopath. Huh.
Just feels like they pulled a lot of punches with their karma stuff, and that they had to finish the game quicker to get it out near launch. Still, neither complaint goes as far as breaking the game for me- it's no inFAMOUS 2, but it's still a really enjoyable ride from start to finish.
Game 17- Batman: Arkham City (PS3)- 8 Hours
I had played through this one back at launch on the 360 about five times, and it coming out on PS+ provided another excuse to just plow through it yet again, except this time it was done in 2014, so it can count for this challenge. I still think Asylum is the better game, I think City tries to do too much and throw too many things in at once, and the overall quality suffers, but Rocksteady's games continue to basically be the top contender for definitive depiction of the Batman franchise alongside the DCAU.
Game 18- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (PS3)- 10 Hours
Clearly I've been on a real comic book game bender lately. I finally found a copy of Wolverine after years of hearing that it was one of the best movie games ever, and it didn't disappoint- everything about this game is what a Wolverine game should be, from the brutal but satisfying combat, the awesome healing factor effect, the extra comic book elements added to the story (
Days of Future Past outta nowhere
), and some really cool setpieces and boss fights. It's a shame Raven never got to expand on this with a sequel or comic Wolverine game, but hopefully one day, when Marvel is doing their own video game universe, they'll use Origins as the blueprint for a new Wolverine game.
Game 19- Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate (PS3)- 35 Hours
A friend and I played through the story mode of this together because we thought it was freaking hilarious. I bought it after trying the f2p game and enjoying it a surprising amount- I had always written the series off as a fanservicey shallow thing, and never thought it could be a legitimately good fighting game, and boy was I wrong. We've been playing an unreasonably large amount of the game since, and I even bought the first DLC character + costumes day one- something I never thought I'd be doing. Crazy, but it's lead to a lot of fun, and has become our go-to fighting game lately, replacing Mahvel and Divekick. Hope we see a DOA6 on next gen sooner rather than later, although I guess another up-port would be fine too.
Game 20- Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories HD- Another Side, Another Story (PS3)- 28 Hours
I was hemming and hawing about whether or not this should count as a game on its own, but I figured, it was a full game's length, and while it was using the same levels, they were remixed and featured a new story, gameplay elements and enemies- I figured it was fine. I didn't enjoy playing as Riku as much as Sora- I feel like by giving you a preset deck each level that varied it limited you too much, and I definitely fudged through some bosses by abusing the duel mechanic instead of proper card management. Still a pretty good time, I think I'm firmly a member of the Chain of Memories defense force, even if I still have reservations about it translated to 3D.
Game 21- Resogun (PS4)- 2 Hours
I'm terrible at games like this, and was trying to force myself to play on normal until I saw all my friends decided to just play it on easy, and I couldn't get past the second level. After saying screw it and switching to easy, I found a groove and really had a good time with the game- its absolutely gorgeous, and while I still have a problem keeping track of everything on screen that's happening, I have a better understanding of the scoring systems and how to play it, and feel like I'll come back to tackle it on non-babby difficulties soon.
Game 22- Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (PS3)- 38:27:54
Was playing through this alongside my roommate over the semester, and decided to go ahead and see it to the end before going back to school. I'm a pretty huge sucker for WRPGs, even the ones that most people consider bad, so I was pretty hooked from the get-go. I really enjoyed the combat feeling more akin to an action game than an RPG, and I really love the way the game just dumps a bunch of lore and doesn't really slow down to let you catch up. Say what you will about the team- it's clear they had a defined and fully explored universe full of stories they wanted to tell, more than just some cynical attempt to play around with some Lord of the Rings tropes, and I appreciate that. That said, the game had some major problems- the sidequests tended toward repetition and empty fetch quests and some of the enemies were just a boring slog to fight (Threshes and those Trolls at the end of the game are probably the worst), and there are spots where it was clear the team had been working on an MMO and that this was a lead-in to that moreso than its own stand-alone product, but on the whole? I thought KoA:R was an excellent gem of a game, wrapped up in a really unfortunate situation, but absolutely worth someone's time.
Game 23- Guacamelee! (PS3)- 6:32:53
I bought Guacamelee during one of the PSN Christmas sales near the end of last year, but it wasn't until recently I went back and finished it. People talk a lot about the difficulty curve ramping up too ridiculously near the end of the game, but I didn't really notice personally. The combat felt okay, and the platforming was tight enough, but I think the game was probably just a bit too repetitive for its own good. I also didn't really care for the humor, but outside of that, the art style, world and music all made for a really unique atmosphere, which was probably my main reason to keep going. I enjoyed the playthrough well enough, but I'd probably skip any potential sequels.
Game 24- Strider (PS4)- 5:23:31
Pretty much every aspect of Strider really ended up working for me. I wanted to play it after really liking the character in the Capcom Vs. series, but didn't get around to buying it before it went free on Plus. Everything about playing Strider just felt really good to me- from running, jumping, fighting and other basic controls just looking and feeling really cool, learning the patterns of your enemies and flawlessly dodging and weaving through their every attack to tear them apart with the Cypher was a deeply rewarding process. If I had to complain about something, I wish there wasn't a point of no return at the end of the game to let me look for collectibles to my heart's content without starting over, and that the voice acting was pretty terrible. Those two things aside, though, and Strider is one of the best games I've played this year.
Game 25- Dead Space 3 (PS3)- 20ish Hours?
As much as I loved Dead Space 1, I was never even remotely interested in the sequels. Dead Space 2 seemed too action for what I wanted from the series based on the demo and marketing, so I safely ignored it, and three actively grossed me out ahead of time, with human enemies and extended shooter sequences, microtransactions, online pass co-op and more of EA's awful homogenization of all their games. It was free on PS Plus, so I figured I'd at least trod through it and see if it was as bad as I thought it would be. I ended up hating it about as much as I thought I would- every single character is an unlikable piece of shit, the Necromorphs no longer feel like a threat, the gun crafting trivialized combat for the whole game and I never once had to worry about fighting anything or scrounging for ammo, the new Necromorph designs were super boring, and it seemed to trudge on forever. The big ending twist
about fucking infected zombie moons
is stupid enough to be hilarious though, so I'll give it that.
Game 26- Dragon Age: Origins (360)- 73:03:12
I'm excited to get burned by another modern Bioware game with Inquisition near the end of the year, so I'm playing through the rest of the series beforehand like I did pre-ME3. Because that ended so well. I like Dragon Age way more though, so surely this is going to go great. Anyway, I read through The Stolen Prince before this (which was also actually my 20th playthrough of the game), and once again enjoyed it immensely. It's pretty easily my game of the last generation, despite its faults and some of the console port problems.
Choices I Made for the import:
Mage Human Warden, recruited and maxed approval of all companions, romanced Leliana, sided with the mages in the tower, saved the people of Redcliffe, used the First Enchanter and Jowan to save Conner, sided with Caradin at the Anvil, put Bhelen on the throne, cured the Werewolves, "killed" Flemeth, recovered Sten's sword, executed Loghain, had Alistair marry Anora and become King, had Alistair perform the ritual with Morrigan, killed the Archidemon and make Alistair promise to free the mages from Chantry governance- then left with Leliana to get into hijinks.
Game 27- Dragon Age Origins: Awakening (360)- 40ish hours?
As soon as Origins was over again, went back for a new game of Awakening. I still really like the game, but think that there's really not enough time to develop the cast. The Origins party is probably my favorite ensemble of characters in any game, but Oghren was probably the least interesting of them, and having him back in this game was meh- the rest are all over the place. Anders and Justice are fantastic, Sigrun and Nathaniel were pretty cool and Velanna was terrible. Overall it was really good, and I just wish it was a few quests longer.
Choices imported into the next game:
Recruited everyone and made them into Wardens, maxed approval with everyone except Sigrun because of time constraints, made Vigil's Keep and her soldiers as upgraded as possible, completed all sidequests, chose to save Amaranthine instead of the Keep, and spared the Architect. Final party was Nathaniel, Oghren and Justice- so Sigrun and Velanna are flagged as dead in my save importer.
Game 28- Persona 4: Golden (Vita)- 80 something hours?
Spent all year needling away at this game slowly chipping it. I played through Persona 4 already, but Golden's new additions were too good to ignore- the new shuffle time, the upgraded fuse system, the new powers and S-Link rewards, the new dungeon, I thought Marie was fantastic, and overall, it just seemed like the definitive version of one of the best games I've had the pleasure of experiencing in the genre.
Game 1: Bioshock Infinite (PC) - 15 hours
# I enjoyed it. I wouldn't say that it's my GOTY, but I'm definitely looking forward to playing the two DLC chapters.
Game 2: Shadow Warrior (PC) - 15 hours
# It was pretty fun for about half of the game, then it started to drag on for too long. It gets really repetitive and the enemies aren't all that much fun to face after a while. At least it has good sword combat, but that's not really enough to make it fun all the way through. I could have finished it a lot faster if I hadn't looked around for secrets and money.
Game 3: Renegade Ops (PC) - 5.7 hours
# A fun game that I really recommend to anyone who's looking for a local co-op game.
Game 4: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC) - 3 hours
# Not quite as good as some make it out to be, but it's well worth playing through once.
Game 5: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (PC) - 5 hours
# Silly and over-the-top with plenty of references to movies from the 80s. If you like that, then you'll love this.
Game 6: The Banner Saga (PC) - 12 hours
# Great graphics and an awesome soundtrack by Austin Wintory. The gameplay gets quite repetitive, but the characters, story, atmosphere and music kept me going. I'm definitely looking forward to the next part in the trilogy.
Game 7: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PC) - 15 hours
# I think that this game is overrated. Some nice locales, but the level and game design range from mediocre to outright bad at times. I seriously doubt I'll ever bother with the sequel.
Game 8: Witch and Hero (3DS) - 5 hours
# I picked it up during the sale a couple of weeks back. It's very repetitive and half the time was spent on grinding, but for the price I paid it was decent. I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone unless you have played all the other much better games on eShop already.
Game 9: SteamWorld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt (3DS) - 5 hours
# A solid Metroidvania with nice graphics and a pretty good soundtrack. 5 hours might sound short, but I felt that it was perfect. It would have overstayed its welcome if it had been longer.
Game 10: Fortix 2 (PC) - 3 hours
# It's QIX with a fantasy setting. Can't go wrong with that.
Game 11: Electronic Super Joy (PC) - 2.4 hours
# A pretty hard, but fair, platformer with electronic music and moaning.
Game 12: Shelter (PC) - 1 hour
# This is a neat idea, but it's poorly executed imo. It didn't help that I had a subpar experience with shoddy performance and glitches.
Game 13: How to Survive (PC) - 8 hours
# Mediocre game with couch co-op, which was the only reason I bothered with it.
Game 14: Super Mario Kart (WiiU) - ~2 hours
# Got gold trophies on all cups in 100cc and 150cc. It has been quite some time since I played this the last time, but it's still fun even if the AI is cheating all the time.
Game 15: Dark Souls II (PC) - 50 hours
# I guess I'm starting to get some series fatigue with this one. It was a lot of fun for about 75% of the game, or so, but I really wanted it to just be over towards the end. Hopefully their next game will be a major improvement.
Game 16: Wind Waker HD (WiiU) - ?? hours
# Looks great in 1080p, and it's nice that they've added the Hero Quest feature from the start.
Game 17: Bioshock Infinite - Burial at Sea Episode 1 & 2 (PC) - ~8 hours
# I'm counting the two episodes as one game. Ties together the Bioshock universe nicely, and a good ending to the series. Even if there will be more Bioshock games from another studio in the future...
Game 18: Gone Home (PC) - 2 hours
# Not much of a game really, but more of an interactive story. I thought it was pretty good, but I wouldn't recommend it unless it's on sale.
Game 19: The Plan (PC) - 6 minutes
# Uh, well I guess I have to pad this list out with anything I can if I'm going to reach 52 games this year... It's a free game about a fly, and it takes 6 minutes to finish. Try it out!
Game 20: Wolfenstein: The New Order (PC) - 16 hours
Pretty fun, but I found it to be a bit too long. They could have definitely removed 3-4 chapters and it wouldn't have hurt the game.
Game 21: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS) - 17 hours
Amazing game. Definitely my 2013 GOTY and I'd say that it might end up in my top 5 Zelda games.
Game 22: Dead Space 3 (Xbox 360) - 20 hours
It started out pretty good, but about halfway through it became shootbang through the same corridors over and over again.
Game 23: Guacamelee (PC) - 4.5 hours
Decent Metroidvania with co-op. I'm glad it wasn't longer, it felt just about right.
Game 24: The Wolf Among Us (PC) - 8 hours
I enjoyed it, just like I've done with all Telltale games, even if they've completely ditched all traces of old adventure games nowadays and instead focused on making an interactive comic.
Game 25: Magicka (PC) - 8 hours
Pretty fun and clever game, but we played it with controllers so we had some troubles during hectic parts. It's definitely playable with a controller, but I would recommend kb+m instead.
Game 26: Sacred Citadel (PC) - 5 hours
An ok brawler that got a bit tiring towards the end. I wouldn't recommend it to play alone, but if you can get it cheap it's worth playing through in co-op once. Don't bother with the DLC unless you get it with the game.
Game 27: Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team (PC) - 3 hours
Extremely repetitive and only five levels. The game has some puzzling game design and the level design is sub par. Even in co-op it was a complete bore. Sad that there aren't more couch co-op games on PC so we had to resort to garbage like this just to play something.
Game 28: Divinity: Original Sin (PC) - 77 hours
A great cRPG that I really recommend to anyone even slightly interested in RPGs, especially the old classics such as Fallout and Baldur's Gate. It had its ups and downs, but overall it was a really good game and hopefully the cRPGs that are coming soon will be at least as good. This is definitely my GOTY so far.
Game 29: Ittle Dew (PC) - 2 hours
Pretty fun Zelda clone with more emphasis on puzzles than adventuring. Saying that it's closer to Goof Troop than Zelda is probably more accurate.
Game 30: Mega Man 3 (Wii U)
I purchased MM3-6 during the MM sale on eShop. I haven't played MM3-6 in many years, so I decided to go through them again. Even though I've never been a big fan of 3-6, 3 is still fairly good imo.
Game 31: Mega Man 4 (Wii U)
The levels are really short and you can tell that they are already starting to run out of ideas for the series here.
Game 32: Mega Man 5 (Wii U)
I feel that this might be the weakest in the series. You can easily beat all bosses with only your Mega Buster.
Game 33: Baldur's Gate - The Original Saga (PC)
A great classic cRPG that I've never gotten around to play before. I got it on GOG and added some mods and it was still really enjoyable, even if some parts are dated.
Game 34: Shadowgate (PC) - 12 hours
A great remake of a classic game. It's one of the best remakes I've ever played. It captures the old feeling while still bringing new content and puzzles into the mix. Kind of like how Resident Evil on Gamecube did.
Game 35: Picross e3 (3DS) - 21 hours
Yet another Picross game. It was better than the second game since this one didn't have those way too easy mega puzzles or whatever they were called.
Game 36: Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale (3DS) - 2.5 hours
A very charming Ghibli-esque game. Very short, but enjoyable.
I'm usually bad at finishing games ("only" 15 last year), maybe that will keep me motivated
Game 1: Killzone: Shadow Fall - 9 Hours
# Campaign was good for the most part, could've done without a couple of the later missions though. And boy did it look nice
Game 2: Evoland - 3 Hours
# Cute little adventure,
wish the unlocking wasn't so frontloaded
Game 3: Alan Wake - 11 Hours
# Fantastic Game, really got me pumped for Quantum Break
Game 4: Metal Gear Solid: Revengeance - 5 Hours
# Really enjoyed it, great bosses and an amazing OST.
Game 5: Broken Age Act 1 - 3,5 Hours
# Going to count both Acts as one, finished the first one and can't WAIT for the second.
Game 6: Assassin's Creed Liberation HD - 6 Hours
# For a smaller Assassin's Creed which originated as a handheld game, it was actually quite good. Aveline was a great protagonist
Game 7: The Banner Saga - 10 Hours
# My first strategy game outside of Civilization, quite enjoyed it. May look into a couple others now
Game 8: Ryse: Son of Rome - 6 Hours
# The combat system, while pretty simple, was actually quite fun. Enemy variety could've been better but overall I quite enjoyed my time with it. There's potential there I think.
Game 9: Thief (Reboot) - 17 Hours
# Enjoyed that one aswell, by now it should be clear that I can find enjoyment in almost any game
Game 10: South Park: The Stick of Truth - 13 Hours
# Haven't really followed South Park the last few years besides the Black Friday episodes, the game was still very enjoyable. Pretty amazing how Obisidan captured the look and animations of the show
Game 11: Infamous: Second Son - 10 Hours
# Always liked the Infamous Series, this one is no exception, great Game.
Game 12: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - 3 Hours
# Main mission + 1 Side Mission so far, definately going back to the other ones.
Game 13: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - 8 Hours
# First time playing the third one, some astonishing setpieces. Not as good as 2 but still pretty awesome.
Game 14: Child of Light - 10 Hours
# What a beauty of a game, liked the battle system too, really enjoyed my time with it.
Game 15: Tearaway - 7 Hours
# Really cute game, some neat mechanics in there.
Game 16: Contrast - 3 Hours
# A bit short, sadly. Liked what I played though, could've been a bit harder but still enjoyable.
Game 17: Walking Dead: Season 2 (3/5) -
# Like this one better than the first one, pretty good so far
Game 18: Hotline Miami - 6 Hours
# One of my favourite OSTs in recent years, finally played the game too Was pretty sweet, the camera and lock-on controls on the Vita caused me a lot of trouble though.
Game 19: Wolfenstein: The New Order - 15 Hours
# Surprisingly fun plot, and mowing down Nazis never gets old
Are we allowed to count games we started before the new year and finished in the past two days? I just finished one and want to know if I should count it.
Game 1: Limbo (PC) - 3 hours completed (A) I loved everything about this game, from the atmosphere to the platforming and the ambiguous ending/story. Great presentation, great gameplay and perfect length. The puzzles always felt fresh and nothing felt recycled in order to pad out the pength. It is rare that a game like this will keep me interested long enough to finish it, so I was appreciative of the comparatively short length.
Are we allowed to count games we started before the new year and finished in the past two days? I just finished one and want to know if I should count it.
Game 1: Jet Force Gemini - 24 Hours
# In the beginning it was super awkward to play, but as it went on the run n' gun gameplay got really fun, and there's a huge sense of satisfaction out of blasting drones with the tri-rocket and watching them burst into pieces with their guts spraying everywhere. The latter half of the game wasn't as annoying as I thought it would be, but it still frigging sucks hunting all the tribals and the ship parts. Overall, it feels like a proto-Ratchet & Clank, and it sucks that the series was never able to continue. I would love to see an HD remake ala Perfect Dark that smooths out the controls issues.
BraXzy here. I am never gonna finish one game a week but here goes nothing.. I'll try to keep this up to date. A problem I have with play duration is the fact I often leave games ticking on when I'm AFK so I can't really use Steam duration's to calculate it.
Game 1: Braid - 6.5 HOURS
A brilliant puzzle game that makes you think, and has an awesome unique game mechanic that progresses and changes throughout the games worlds keeping it fresh and fun. I loved the ending and the way it was done, and the length was pretty good all things considered. The art style is a bit unusual which puts some people off but don't let it. The art is designed with as much thought as the mechanics, it was interesting watching the info from Jonathon Blow explain the thought process behind some of the development.
Game 2: Gone Home - 2 HOURS
An enjoyable, different experience to my normal gaming catalog. It was nice taking the game at my own pace, wandering around the house finding different clues and slowly putting the pieces together to form various possible scenarios. I personally was on edge for most of it just because of the atmosphere and I wasn't sure if anything was going to jump out. In the end it was quite a satisfying ending. It's quite short however, and the gameplay is very basic, an interesting method of storytelling in games however.
Game 3: Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons - 4 HOURS
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE
Game 4: Mark of the Ninja - In Progress
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE
Game 5: Outlast - In Progress
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE
Game 6: Pokemon Y - In Progress
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE
Game 7: Dark Souls - UP next
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE
Game 8: Witcher 2 - UP next
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE
Game 9: Fez - UP next
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE
Sure, why the hell not? I only beat 19 games last year, which is way down from the year before (32), which is way down from all previous years (anywhere from 50-80 most years). I already use Backloggery religiously, I'll try to remember to keep this post updated when I update that.
Game 1: Torchlight II - ~30 hours to beat (Started on Veteran, bumped it down to Normal about 2/3rds of the way through as it was just grindy and unnecessarily annoying)
# Honestly kind of disappointing. Finally got around to this after really liking the first game, but it just felt like the whole thing was going through the motions. Also shocked to see how completely dead that community is after all the talk about the game pre-launch, I had a really hard time even on the official boards trying to find up to date info on certain classes after a patch over a year ago. Still good and I appreciate that they have mod support, but I quite frankly doubt I'll ever touch it again.
Game 2: Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons ~2-3 hours to beat
# I don't know man. I get why people like it, but I just found the controls kind of annoying. Also wish it had been a bit longer; certainly not an 8 hour game or anything, but I felt like you were moving through stuff a bit TOO quickly. Also saw the outcome coming from a mile away.
Game 3: Vanquish ~5 hours to beat (on Normal)
# All over the place on this one. Love Mikami and Bayonetta. Played this when it first came out and it didn't click; specifically remembered that I hated the camera (too close) and I just couldn't get into the combat. Wound up going back to it recently and looking at videos online, turns out the game just does a pretty shitty job of actually teaching you the combat mechanics. I'm still not quite as crazy about the game as a lot of people, but I did come around on it. It's also suitably ridiculous, but it ends on waaaay too much of a cliffhanger. I got to Act 5 about 2-3 months ago and got sidetracked. Came back to it today, died a bunch as I got re-used to the controls and everything, then it was over. Where it was at with the plot and cutscenes I was positive there was one more act.
Game 4: Dark Souls ~55 hours to beat
# LTTP on this one, but pretty much everyone was right. Game is amazing. My only major complaints are the annoyance of them preventing you from being in a Party Chat on 360 to play in online mode, and some of the parts with infuriating falls that will instantly kill you (
the archers, Bed of Chaos, Crystal Cave
). All in all a fantastic game though, probably not my GOTG but it's close.
Game 5: Dungeon Siege III ~9:30 to beat on Normal
# Game is the definition of clunky in all respects, from menus to combat to the story. Also it is shockingly short at under 10 hours; I got this for ~$6 and it's okay at that price, but just barely.
Game 6: VVVVVV 2:01 to beat, 9/20 trinkets
# I can't believe this game has a goddamn escort mission. Like a third of my total gametime was on that, really soured me on the game. Music is amazing though.
Game 7: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance 5:32 to beat on Hard
# NANOMACHINES SON. Seriously, the game is amazing. My only gripes are the camera (mostly getting screwed by offscreen RPGs + lockon camera is a little wonky at times) and it's reallllly short. Breezed through it (excluding 2 parts) on Hard really fast.
Game 8: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds ~20 hours (fuck you Octoball)
# Awesome game that is horribly blemished by the worst minigames of all time (namely octoball) that tie heart containers behind them. Also the game is reallllllly easy, like shockingly so. Not saying I want a balls-bustingly hard game, but come on.
Game 9: Spelunky ~5 hours
# Was having a BLAST with the game until I hit the Temple; went from ~50 total deaths at that point to 242 to finally beat it. There was a tiny bit of this in the previous level, but the Temple genuinely feels unfair a lot of the time, where you can get spawns that are borderline if not literally impossible. If the Anubis was removed and one or two other things were toned down it would have been fine. I really loved the Mines and the Jungle because I felt like there was still exploration and you could opt to look around for treasure, whereas with the Ice Caves and the Temple there was none of that, it was you desperately trying to just get out. Very disappointing note to end the game on.
Game 10: Fire Emblem: Awakening ~31 hours to beat on Hard (Casual)
# Aside from me apparently being terrible at the game (which I don't hold against it), my only real complaints were that the plot pacing seemed off; the game seemed to be over very quickly with a lot of time spent on some parts but not on others story-wise in kind of a weird way. With how it was unfolding I was expecting it to be much longer. Gameplay-wise I wasn't fond of how the entire goddamn map of enemies would usually start all moving in on you at the same time. Also still not a big fan of the staple FE trope of multiple waves of reinforcements that can easily fuck you if you don't already know where and when they're going to spawn. It's much worse in this game than I remember in the previous games. That said everything else is pretty stellar, and the characters and their interaction makes it for the most part.
Game 11: Shin Megami Tensei IV - 75 hours to beat on Normal
# Fantastic game; I enjoyed SMT3 and Persona 3 but always felt like I had to be looking at fusion charts and that I was playing the game wrong. I'm guessing some people were probably upset at some of the changes/additions, but a lot of the quality of life changes (demon analysis, the entire fusion system, your character skills, auto-mapping, etc) made this the first SMT game that I was largely able to just play normally. That said, by far my biggest complaint is the horrible, horrible overworld map. You frequently get quests or are told to go somewhere that you will often have no idea how to remember to get back to or even where it is at all; the game seems to rely a lot on you actually knowing Japanese geography and locations. Along the same lines, you'll frequently have quests that will require you to go back to locations where at the time nothing was going on but now there is because the quest is active, etc. By far my biggest annoyance of the game, reminded me heavily of trying to transverse the DC overground/underground part of the map in Fallout 3. My only other notable but minor gripes are the way the game handles enemy reinforcements (aka they're random, and then will also sometimes get the first attack and wreck you as a result) and the very end of the did mark a return to some of the old SMT stuff where even though I was way overleveled not having very specific skills/demons made some of the endgame stuff really difficult. Also while I was glad that I wound up getting the Neutral path, the amount of extra shit you have to do on that path is ridiculous. Still a phenomenal game overall though.
Game 12: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+ (PC version)
# This one almost feels like cheating since it's so "short" and I already had it on 360 (this was the Steam version), but marking it as beaten since I got all of the achievements and cleared all of the courses. I need something to help make up for spending 3 entire weeks on SMT4!
Game 13: Spelunky (PC version)
# Already beat this on 360 earlier in the year, and actually wound up beating this on a Daily Challenge on PC haha.
Game 14: Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom
# Man, I have fond memories of these but it holds up pretty poorly, mostly due to how stilted and rough the controls are. Also inventory "management" is ridiculous. Still good for nostalgia though.
Game 15: Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara
# Take what I said about Tower of Doom, improve the gameplay a bit but add ridiculously more convoluted inventory management. Like, holy shit.
Game 16: Toy Soldiers: Cold War (~3 hours to beat on normal)
# Surprisingly fun little game. Got it for free with the Games on Gold thing, had a good time with it but also glad I didn't pay for it either.
Game 17: Divekick (beaten with 3 characters)
# Fighting games seem kinda shitty to count for this, but I saw three different endings and credit rolls so I guess I'll count it? Anyway, after playing this with friends as well as the Arcade mode I still completely stand by my initial opinion that they made the game overcomplicated from the original concept. And I can't stand going through with any more characters to see endings since I have to fight a last boss that can repeatedly teleport and parry my attacks, which sort of goes back to my complaint there. Hugely disappointing from the initial reveal to it's final form.
Game 18: Lego The Hobbit
# Continuing the trend of the Lego games getting (generally) better and better. Although I'm a fan of the source material I found Lego LotR to be a bit of a chore for a number of reasons. This one however seems much more compact; the fact that there's only two movies they're pulling from is part of it, but overall the levels and world hub feel way more polished than they did in Lego LotR. The game also "only" hardlocked twice for us, which is an improvement over most of the lego games. Only thing I wasn't a big fan of was the smithing system; it adds an unnecessarily level of complexity to the game, and it shoots itself in the foot because in story mode the game has to give you enough materials for things, and in the world hub once you beat the story you unlock a vending machine where you can buy whatever you need...so what's the point? Also wasn't a big fan of the things in levels where you had to build stuff and select the right pieces, was another unnecessary edition that was just annoying and slowed things down. All in all though the game was an improvement and a good time.
Game 19: Titanfall
# Typing this out a while after the fact, but ultimately I think the game was a bit of a disappointment. The very core mechanics are great; the problem (outside of a couple things gameplay-wise) is that there's no immediate gratification like there is in CoD, and more importantly there's no real long-term goals to strive for. For all it's problems, CoD at least encourages you to try new stuff to finish Challenges to get new skins, titles, etc. There's zero customization in the game so that's out the window, and the only purpose of Challenges (which are hidden in a very poorly designed menu, at least on 360) is to get Burn Cards which I always had a full deck of and got tired of managing pretty quickly. Also even like 2 weeks after launch on 360 it was already getting hard to find matches, and with the lower (human) playercount it was way harder to mount comebacks if your team was losing. Practically every game I played was a complete slaughter one way or the other. All I can say is I hope that they improve on a sequel, the core combat feels and plays great, but their only real unique hooks (albeit big ones) are the parkour and the robots, and that wears thin pretty quickly.
Game 20: Deadlight
# Holy shit this game was awful.
Game 21: Picross e
# Yo it's Picross. Not having the bigger sized puzzles is a bummer, but it was also like $6 so hard to get too upset about it.
Game 22: Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (~4-5 hours)
# Bought this over the holidays when it was like $1.50 on XBL. My first runner game outside of playing a tiny bit of the first Bit Trip Runner on 3DS, bought this mostly because the demo was entertaining and it was cheap. That said, the game was fun but I was pretty disappointed that the music really doesn't change that much and there's not a whole lot of it. The music's great, but it got old way quicker than I thought. Also I saw some people saying that the move to 3D graphics might present possible-gameplay issues, and I'd have to agree. I spent most of the game struggling specifically with dying because I was jumping too early and just could never seem to figure out why. Then when you get to the last world and everything is much more stark (and therefore visible) I totally breezed through it.
Game 23: Grandia III (~42 hours)
# I know fully understand why everyone mostly shit on this game when it came out. On a lark decided to try to start finally wiping out my PS2 backlog that's like all JRPGs, and this was literally just the first one alphabetically. Gameplay-wise the combat is pretty excellent, and the graphics and music both hold up pretty well. The story is a complete goddamn mess, thinking about things in hindsight practically nothing makes goddamn sense. The two best characters in the game (one of which is your mom, which is hilarious and awesome) literally just bail about a quarter of the way through the game, then it's all downhill from there. It honestly feels like only half a game happened plot-wise, then they realized they had to put an ending in. You never see some people you would expect to see again later on (including one of the primary villains, who I realized in typing this out literally just stopped showing up), and nothing about the main villain's motivations or anything makes any fucking sense. There's also literally ZERO side or optional content; you get an airplane and a world map very early on but there's no practical point to it since there's only like 8 locations on the world map and you can only land there. No optional dungeon, bosses, exploration, anything; this was FFXIII corridors before FFXIII came out. That said, the story isn't aggressively bad, just kind of typical JRPG bullshit and baffling towards the end. I still ultimately enjoyed my time with it since the combat is so good, but I don't know that I'd really recommend it to anyone at the end of the day.
Game 24: Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F
# Had a friend very generously buy this for me randomly since I had seen him playing it a while back and I like rhythm games and random/crazy Japanese stuff, and it delivers on both. Reminds me of good times I had way back in the early PS1 games playing DDR games with a controller. Not really into the weird mode where you touch the characters and buy them shit, but the gameplay is pretty solid and I like most of the songs. This is something I will probably come back to here and there when I'm in the mood.
Game 25: Wolfenstein: The New Order
# Very interesting. Wildly inconsistent though across the board in all aspects. Starts pretty strong, but kinda dips. Almost seemingly random stuff would just happen, in retrospect there's a whole lot of nonsense going on.
Game 26: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PS2 version, ~110 hours, True Ending)
# This game has been my backlog white whale since the day it came out. We got it day one, but at the time I hadn't finished Persona 3 so I didn't start it. And it was already a very late PS2 release as-is, so I just got completely side-tracked. The Giant Bomb Endurance run really made me want to play it (watched the first 20-30 episodes), but I would either keep not getting around to it, or I'd get a few hours in and either get distracted or would be unhappy with how shit it looked on a big HDTV. I finally went through the PSP version of Persona 3 about a year ago, but I put it off again because I wanted to hold out for Golden but didn't have a Vita. Finally about a month ago I decided to say fuck it and push through on this version by playing in a spare bedroom that had an old okay CRT TV in it, and I'm glad I finally did.
All that out of the way the game is more or less amazing as everyone says it is. It's like picking your favorite kid, but overall I would have to say Persona 4 has a more enjoyable/likeable cast than Persona 3 and I like the plot/conceit more, but I preferred Persona's 3 setting. This also leads to probably my only real major complaint about the game, is that the pacing is kinda wack. Persona 3 had the same problem, but I feel it's a bit worse in Persona 4. I'm not a big fan of the time constraints/limitations both games have, but I feel like in Persona 4 it's even more artificial. In Persona 3 you would hit hard barriers (literally) on dungeon progress but I feel like you could largely do things at your own pace, whereas in Persona 4 you go decent chunks of time where there is no new dungeon/content and it's just the school/social stuff. And while that's the best part of these games, I feel like it made the pacing even more wacky in this one since you'd have chunks of time where there was literally no reason to go into past dungeons and a new one was not available plus any extra time you had from finishing new dungeons early. It wasn't something that really hurt the game for me or anything, but while it was something I noticed in Persona 3 it was really apparent in 4.
Aside from that my only other real complaint is the same one I have with most of the other Atlus Persona/SMT games is bullshit with bullshit deaths. Like in most of those games it only happened to me maybe 3-4 times in the entire game, but wiping out and losing progress because my main character died (which is a stupid decision), my main character got hit with an instant death spell which happened to work, or an enemy getting a first turn and hitting me with a weakness and exploiting it before I could do anything and getting killed is complete total bullshit. It rarely happens to me in their games, but it always makes me approach any of the SMT/Persona games with a complete sense of dread constantly. I don't know if Golden makes it so the game doesn't end if your main character dies, but that would be much appreciated, and SMT4 had things you could equip to nullify Hama/Mudoon, so if there's some kind of decent workaround I'm okay with it, but otherwise it just completely pisses me off.
Other than those two complaints the game is pretty great. I prefer Persona's 3 soundtrack but this one's is fine, and the stuff you care about the most (S-Link's/characters) I think were for the most part better in this one, although I think most Persona 3/4 debates are just personal preference. Also Nanako is the fucking best. Going to dive immediately into Persona 4 Arena (which I've also owned forever) just for the plot pickup.
Game 27: New Super Mario Bros. U (~8-10 hours to beat all co-op)
# Got this with the Luigi U with our Wii U, we've played a few other things but this is the first thing we finished. Most definitely done with the NSMB series of games at this point. Honestly was already fatigued by the end of the Wii one, I played the 3DS one for like 30 minutes and shipped it right back to Gamefly. This one at least has some more merit since it can be played with other people, but goddamn this is like the same fucking game. Wasn't a terrible time, but they have bled this well dry, the whole thing was just going through the motions.
Game 28: Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs The Souless Army (~30-35 hours, my in-game clock was horribly inflated)
# The most interesting and also unfortunately flawed game I've played in probably years. Up front I will say the setting, music, and style are all great. Everything else is a completely mixed bag where every good aspect of the game also has a bad part to it. The plot is interesting, but winds up being really short and shallow and not very fleshed out at all in hindsight (game is surprisingly short). The core combat idea is great, but the camera and controls are not. Using demons for investigations is a great idea, but it effectively doubles the number of things you need to worry about keeping track of and making sure you have in your party (3 separate times I had to completely bail out of a level because I needed a demon skill I didn't have in order to progress). You get a ton of fusion options, but because demons only can know 4 skills and 3 are usually pre-set fusion winds up being unnecessary 90% time of the time (unlike every other SMT-esque game I've played).
A lot of the time I was actively annoyed by the actual gameplay and mechanics, but I also couldn't stop playing it. In part this is because I knew going into playing this that everyone swears the sequel is vastly improved and most people recommend skipping the first game altogether, and I also knew this was on the short side. I don't know that I'd actually recommend the game to most folks, but it was something I'm glad I went through.
Game 29: Kirby Triple Deluxe
# Other than the last boss sequence (which I had a lot of trouble with for some reason) it's more or less a Kirby game.
Game 30: Persona 4 Arena (~8-10 hours to 100% Story Mode)
# Went through this just for the story primarily, which is kind of interesting mostly because it's canon. Mostly fanservice stuff though except for Elizabeth's ending which I'm not quite sure where/how they're going to resolve that exactly. Good times and enjoyed reliving a lot of the Persona 3 and 4 music. The first ASW game I've played, but the story mode fights are one round and easy so I really never had to pick up on any of the nuances or really learn the mechanis in-depth, so no opinion there really.
Game 31: Mario Kart 8 (~2 hours to beat all of the cups in 50CC and see a staff roll)
# Game is amazing, and the online works really well. This is the first Mario Kart I've really played since the GC version (never touched the handheld ones really, and only played the Wii one a bit and didn't care for it a ton). This one is a blast and well really put together all around. Also helps a ton that I have a bunch of friends on another forum that all get together once a week to play over skype with a full lobby. Great game for bullshit shenanigans. Going to keep playing this on a regular basis for sure.
Game 32: Super Metroid (Wii U VC version ~5 1/2 hours)
I was thinking about doing that but that's a huge hassle for every game. I might do it for shorter ones. I was thinking about playing through Sonic Spinball today and played it for about 5 minutes before remembering how annoying that game is.
I told myself that 2014 would be a year of RPGs for me, playing through multiple RPGs I haven't played yet and replaying some old classics. Combining that with this challenge.. Challenge accepted.
Game 1: Etrian Odyssey Untold[3DS] - 7.5 hours(In Progress)
# I never played the EO games before, so taking advantage of the Atlus sale seemed like a no brainer. I'm very glad I did. The battle system is so fun, and thought provoking. You can't just auto attack your way to victory, you have to think about every step you take. Very Persona-esque. Speaking of Persona...
Game 2: Persona 4[PS2] - 72 hours(Complete!)
# Jesus christ, I hate myself for not putting in the time back when I first bought it. The game is simply astounding... it might very well be my favorite RPG of all time.. Okay, maybe not top 1 (Shadow Hearts: Covenant and FF Tactics 2gud) but still one of those games that I want to replay immediately.. I have time.
Game 3: Final Fantasy VII[PC] - 18 hours(Complete!)
# I think that's.. like the 12th time i've beaten 7. Sweet.
Game 4: Pokemon Y[3DS] - 5 hours(In Progress, but already finished X)
# Great game. Just breezing through this one to have a second Pokemon game finished.
*I'll probably start erasing the comments on the games as I progress, in case I run out of room.*
Game 1: Torchlight II - ~30 hours played (Steam says 34 hours but I have some "pause" time in there)
# Honestly kind of disappointing. Finally got around to this after really liking the first game, but it just felt like the whole thing was going through the motions. Also shocked to see how completely dead that community is after all the talk about the game pre-launch, I had a really hard time even on the official boards trying to find up to date info on certain classes after a patch over a year ago. Still good and I appreciate that they have mod support, but I quite frankly doubt I'll ever touch it again.
I do not know what is more depressing, that you play that much Dota 2 in a short ammount of time. Or that I actually think that 52 hours of Dota 2 should be considered more than one game entry.
Ok I'll give this a shot. I only beat 19 games in 2013 lol.
Game1: GTAV (PS3)
Duration:(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: After playing GTA4 I was done with GTA and Rockstar in general. So I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed GTAV. GTAV did a good job of bringing the fun back and updating the gameplay systems to modern standards. GTAV also has the most realistic world I ever seen in a video game. Story wise it's hit or miss and kinda went up it's ass own towards the end. Michael Franklin and Trevor were great characters..switching between them was a great feature. Another great feature was the heist. I just wish there more of them to do. All in all GTAV was my favorite GTA game since Vice City. Would love to have a PS4 version since the PS3 version had framerate and aliasing issues.
Game 2 DmC(PS3)
Duration (COMPLETED)
Thoughts DmC is a solid action game... I really liked the level design. I didn't like the combat but.. it got tolerable as I unlocked more weapons and upgraded them. the story had a cool premise but it tried too hard to be edgy. DmC is Ninja Theory's best game.. but the worst DMC game
Game 3. Dishonored (PS3)
Duration
Game 4: Resident Evil Revelations. (PS3)
Duration (COMPLETED)
Thoughts Capcom did a fantastic job of porting from 3DS to PS360/PC. I have mixed feelings though when it comes to Resident Evil Revelations. I enjoyed the return of the old gameplay and the campiness of the story. But I have no desire to play it again lol. . Raid mode is very fun..yet again once I had my fill I was done. I do wonder what's left for RE. at this point the series feels like it's just floating away on the Queen Zenobia.
Game 5 Brothers (PS3)
Duration B](COMPLETED)[/B]
Thoughts Brothers was an interesting the game. The control scheme was a neat idea but sort of a pain to play with PS3 though .The story artstyle and characters haVE a lot of charm to them. But with that charm there's also some really depressing parts of the story. The ending was predictable but in the end I really liked Brothers.
Game 6. Alpha protocol(PS3)
Duration:(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: Alpha protocol was a real gem. Michael Thornton might video game's best asshole. Go play it now. That's all that has to be said..
Game 7 Anarchy Reigns (PS3)
Duration :(COMPLETED)
Thoughts At first I was a little cold on Anarchy Reigns. Which almost lead me into a super depression seeing as I've always liked Platinum's games. I really didn't like how you had to grind to unlock missions. But then something clicked and I started REALLY loving it. The story is pretty interesting and the soundtrack is so damn good Anarchy Reigns is truly the sequel to Madworld.
Game 8 : Torchlight 2 (PC)
Duration: (COMPLETED)
Thoughts: Torchlight 2 was an "Uncharted 2" type leap from the first game. The gameplay was polished and was the right kind of challenging. The enemy variety always kept me on my toes. There wasn't much to the story but it's still pretty interesting. It was cool how it involved the characters from from the first game. Overall I really enjoyed TL2 Can't wait to see what Runic does next.
Game 9: Dragon's Dogma (PS3)
Duration: (COMPLETED)
Thoughts: I had a lot of fun playing Dragon's Dogma. To me it felt like Itsuno wanted to make Oblivion but with better gameplay. The gameplay and pawn system were a refreshing add on to the RPG genre. I also really appreciated how you had to earn your victories against Cyclops, Griffons ect. Now there were some issues with the frame rate and story stuff. The story was practically nonexistent outside of a few interesting cutscenes. I wish there were a bigger focus on that. Overall Dragon's Dogma was a lot of fun to play and hope Capcom greenlights a sequel.
Game 10 : Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (PS3)
Duration: :(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: Blood Dragon is the first Far Cry game I've ever played so I can't compare it the previous games. But yeah BD was like a breath of fresh air in a stagnate FPS genre. Dean Evans and team nailed the 80's vibe. The music and presentation were top notch. Although there seems to not be very much stuff to do post game. Overall BD is very enjoyable. I'm there day one for whatever Dean and team do next...that's a Rex Colt guarantee .
Game 11 Yakuza 4. (PS3)
Duration: (COMPLETED)
Thoughts:
Game 12 MGSV: Ground Zeroes (PS3)
Duration: (COMPLETED)
Thoughts: Ground Zeroes was a nice teaser of what's to come with Phantom Pain. The gameplay is probably the best of the serious. Everything fees much fluid and modern. There wasn't much of a story but it was told in a cool way. Some of the audio tapes where horrifying. The graphic looked pretty to be on PS3. On the surface GZ might seem like a paid demo but there's plenty of replayability.
Game 13. Puppeteer (PS3)
Duration:(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: Puppeteer was a pretty amazing game. It managed to fuse the tight gameplay and charming style of Mario...with the giant epic levels of and boss fights of God of War. There wasn't much to the story but it had a Tim Burton vibe to it. Puppeteer could have been Sony's Mario but fortunately Sony pissed it away. I'm hoping Puppeteer gets a PS4 because it deserves a 2nd chance
Game 14 Infamous 2 (PS3)
Duration:(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: (BAD)Infamous 2 was an amazing game from start to finish. I was shocked to see the Uncharted 2 size leap of quality. The already fantastic gameplay was made even better. The new powers were a lot of fun . The story was ok I loved the idea of The Beast. But a certain Twist towards the ends kinda ruined it for me. Bertrand was also a boring villain compared to Kessler. The UGC missions were also a cool add on. Another minor thing I didn't like was how quiet the city was. Overall I loved Infamous 2 much more than Infamous. When talking about best games of the generation Infamous 2 definitely has a spot in that discussion.
Game 15 Max Payne 3. (PS3)
Duration: :(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: Max Payne 3 was a lot of fun to play. The game play was phenomenal the most satisfying TPS since Vanquish. Story Wise It's pretty much a ridiculous version of Man on Fire. I have no connection to old games so that was alright with me. I honestly think it's the best game to come out of Rockstar. I'm there day one for whatever is next for ol Max.
Game 16 Call of Juarez:Gunslinger (PS3)
Duration: :(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: Picked up this up during a recent PSN sale. Can't say that I really liked it. The story was told in an interesting way but unfortunately it mostly felt like background noise. The gameplay was a lot of fun but it eventually got repetitive. Even with the upgrades the gameplay still got tiring. I don't think Gunslinger lived up to the hype at all but Ubisoft deserves a lot of credit for publishing Gunslinger.
Game 17 Infamous 2: Festival of Blood (PS3)
Duration::(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: coming soon
Game 18 ICO (PS3)
Duration::(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: I just didn't get the hype behind ICO. Maybe because I played this after similar games like The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite. The world is pretty interesting but you only get a tiny view through 3?cutscenes. Gameplay felt like a standard puzzle section.. it really didn't do anything for me. I probably would have enjoyed ICO better if I had played back when it launched but as for now it has a been there done that feeling.
Game 19 Catherine (PS3)
Duration::(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: Catherine was an amazing game. I really loved how it mixed two genres that I don't care for Dating Sims and Puzzle games. The story was really well done and loved how your choices affected the story.
Game 20 Shadows of the Damned. (PS3)
Duration::(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: coming soon
Game 21 Dragon's Crown. (PS3)
Duration::(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: coming soon
Game 22 Drakengard 3. (PS3)
Duration::(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: Drakengard 3 was pretty disappointing..considering how great Nier is. The story was all over the place. It almost felt 5 stories being told at once. I did really enjoy some of the wack comedy bits. Also the relationship between Zero and Mikhail. The gameplay wasnt that bad..I wish there were more parts using Mikahil. Those were the best gameplay parts.
Game 23 Far Cry 3(PS3)
Duration::(COMPLETED)
Thoughts:
Game 24 Hitman Absolution (PS3)
Duration::(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: . The grindhouse like story ( dem nuns) and stealth..when it worked made Absolution an enjoyable experience. It was really frustrating when you were spotted in a costume..or even when "hiding" I'm glad the controls were updated to modern standards because that's what kept me from getting into the series. I originally had an horrible experience with Hitman 2 on PS2. The graphics were nice but I had issue with my PS3 freezing every 30mins. So I did wish Absolution was a tad bit more optimized. All in all Hitman was fun and I'll be buying 6 day one if doesnt end up like Triad Wars.
Game 25 Infamous 2 (PS3)
Duration:(COMPLETED)
Thoughts: (GOOD) Everything still stands from my other review. I did find the good ending pretty depressing.
Game 26. Wolfenstein:The New Order (PS4)
Duration :(COMPLETED)
Thoughts:
I'm also updating this list on my blog, check it out if you want a little more on my thoughts
Game 1: Persona 4 Arena - Jan 02 COMPLETED (Every character, story mode finished)
# Part of my Persona run that started around December 5th, finished P4 a few years ago during the endurance run days but that was it and wanted to get ready for P5 and PQ. I Finished P3:FES and put in something stupid like 200 hours just before 2014.
Game 2: Broken Sword 4: The Angel of Death - Jan 08 /Jan 14 COMPLETED Playtime: 7 Hours
# Boy oh boy this game, you thought 3 was bad with it's block puzzles? The game has some of THE WORST animation I have ever seen, recurring characters VA's replaced with people who can barely hold an accent and a plot that has so many eye rolling moments (A Hobo manages to break into the Vatican Necropolis just to steal booze) By far the worst of the Broken sword series and most probably the reason it never got funding by a major publisher again. That leads me to my next game....
Game 3: Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse Episode 1 - Jan 14 /Jan 15 2014 COMPLETED Playtime: 7.4 Hours
# What a turn around from The Angel of Death, BS5 Serpents Curse returns to the game's 2D roots and is much better for it. This is classic point-and-click adventure gaming just the way you like it with a few more traditional puzzles here and there to mix it up. The story this time revolves around a stolen painting depicting Lucifer and the religious heretics of the Cathar movement, something fans of The Crusader Kings games might be familiar with. The plot and characters are fantastic and the voice acting is leagues ahead of the last game. BS5 stands as a true testament to the Kickstarter model of game funding, allowing the game creators to self publish their games and not have to make any sacrifices in the name of getting the finished product out.
Game 4: Broken Age Act 1 - Jan 16/Jan 17 2014 COMPLETED Playtime: 5.3 Hours
# Wow, it's quite amazing how different two games that share the same genre can be.
The irony of playing another point-and click-adventure game with the word "Broken" in the title after the last two entries in this blog is not lost on me, however the sheer difference in tone, aesthetic, difficulty and overall feel of this game in comparison to the Broken Sword series is so vast, that any worry that I had of a burnout on this type of game was quickly swept aside. Broken age is one of the most charming games I have played in a long while, everything from the painterly art style to the soothing soundtrack coupled up with the pitch perfect voice acting makes it impossible to hate this game, even in the face of a few slight issues I had with it. Let me set something straight before I go on, this game is VERY EASY when held up to the standards of the genre, there's only around 3 multi-layer problems to solve within the game. Every other puzzle in the game can be solved simply by going through your inventory and using the most obvious item for the job in whatever situation you find either Varla (The female lead) or Shea (the male lead) in. The ability to switch between each protagonist's story is a cute addition but ultimately serves no purpose and I never even used it, it even seems like it serves the plot better to play one after the other with Varla being the first choice. Those small issues however are only slight detractions from the game as a whole, the optimal way to experience Broken Age is like that of a visual novel going from story beat to story beat and not thinking of it as a traditional game and more of using game mechanics as a medium to serve you gorgeous visuals and a brilliant, funny, quirky and sometimes dark story, I'm immensely looking forward to ACT 2.
I'm game for this. Going to assume that adding games that were started and not completed last year is ok?
Overall Progress: 4/52
GAME #1: Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag [PS4] - 35hrs 24m [COMPLETED 1/1]
# After how lackluster AC3 was Ubisoft really threw a hail mary with this one and boy did they pull it off. A lot to not be happy with still but the main character, backdrop, and naval battles made up for them. Interested to see where the series goes next and Ubi should really consider that a huge victory if more gamers hold the same sentiment. I thought AC3 had completely torpedo'd the franchise.
GAME #2: Dead Rising 3 [XONE] - 20hrs [COMPLETED 1/4]
# Solid game. Enjoyed just about all of it, but felt like some of the quests felt way to repetitive (fetch x, fetch y, etc.).
Ending also felt too perfect to me. Really liked the throwback to DR2 though.
GAME #3: Pokemon X [3DS] - 31hrs 57m [IN PROGRESS]
# Only one badge and I've already spent this much time in game. Been mainly running around catching pokemon, leveling up and exploring the world. This game has pulled me back in like Red did back in the day.
GAME #4: Ys: Memories of Celceta [PSV] - 4hrs 43m [IN PROGRESS]
# I've purchased several Y's games on Steam but this is my first time actually playing one. Up to this point I have mainly listened to their soundtracks more than anything else. Game is solid, nothing special but hasn't done anything to push me away.
GAME #5: Rocksmith 2014 [PC] - 37hrs [IN PROGRESS]
# Not sure how I will mark this game as complete seeing as it is very open ended but I bought it to finish off the job of learning guitar that I started years ago and never accomplished. So far the lessons are pretty useful and the training mode is pretty great in the amount of fine control you have over it. Song selection is good too.
GAME #6: Metal Gear Rising: Revengance [PS3] - 9hr [COMPLETED 1/9]
# Very fun game that was frustrating at points for me but overall turned out a lot better than I had anticipated.
GAME #7: Gone Home [PC] - 1hr 30m [COMPLETED 1/5]
# What an amazing experience. I knew that this was going to be good but wasn't expecting it to be this good. Definitely earned a slot in my GOTY list.
Game 1: Shin Megami Tensei NG+ - Started 1:55 AM 1/1/14
Finished game with Lawful ending late last year, now playing NG+ and Chaos.
Game 2: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - Started 1/1/14 - Completed at 10 hours
The game is super clunky but it's also kind of cool. Interested in seeing how it will play out.
It's actually much better than I expected. The controls are clunky, but the tactical depth of the gameplay is quite deep and the plot is more interesting than I thought it would be. The way you can use abilities of squad members together rewards clever thinking. On harder difficulties the game is super difficult and requires you to employ a lot of tactics and management, just like a true RTwP game (and this game is a RTwP action RPG).
The twist at the end of this game is MIND BLOWING. The game is actually quite cool and totally worth playing.
The Bureau sounds more and more like a diamond in the rough. You think it could be another Alpha Protocol, where the right knowledge going in can make it pretty great in the end?
Seems like playing it on hard is the first tip to keep in mind.
It's not as "diamond in the rough" as Alpha Protocol, but it's still quite good. It's way too short and its low budget is quite apparent at times, but what it does with what it's given is pretty impressive, and there are several curveballs in there that keep the gameplay and story interesting throughout. My 10 hours was basically a 100% playthrough from what I can tell. If I was trying to rush through on easier difficulties via ignoring side missions, it would probably take 6 hours or maybe even less.
Also, I'm a huge fan of the XCOM lore which helped with my enjoyment of the game.
Game 1: Remember Me - 10 hours - beaten Jan 2nd
Completed the game on Normal/Errorist. Picked it up for 10$ in the recent Steam winter sale and so far it's my game of the sale. Remember Me has one of the most stunning worlds, it's simply a beautiful game. I haven't felt compelled to take as many screenshots like that in a good long while. I normally don't dig linear, highly cinematic games but I was completely enthralled by Remember Me. Will probably replay it after I polish off a few other games.
This should be fun; here's my first batch of targets:
Game 1: RESOGUN 5 hrs, in progress
Finished the whole game as such, trying to get plat in this game so still going on.
Game 2: Contrast 2hrs, in progress
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE
Game 3: Killzone Shadowfall 45hrs or more, in progress
Finished Single Player, playing mp non-stop will neverstop playing this atleast for next 6 months
Game 4: Assassins Creed : Black Flag
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE
Game 5: COD Ghost 35hrs, in progress
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE
I think 52 is a bit ridiculous, the reason this works with Books/Movies in OT is that those are inherently short mediums, most games require a massive time commitment. It should be at most 26(One game every two weeks).
Most games can be, "beat" in 3-10 hours. So if you pick many of the low end games and depending on how many hours you get to game it's definitely doable. With about 1 hour a day or 7 hours a week you could beat most games.
I'm using this thread to get through my backlog, If I can even get through 20 games I'd be satisfied!
If you want tips, either pick all the long games in your backlog and do them first to get them out of the way. You can also do all the shorter games first so you have more time to finish the long ones. Pick some indy games, or virtual console and ps1 games.
I usually just lurk around here, but I feel I have to give this challenge a go. Even if I don't think I will make it.
Game 1: Ass Creed 4 - 40+ hours and counting
I have finished the SP, just collecting the final few bits and pieces. This game made up for all of AC3's flaws (I have played and finished all Ass Creeds with the notable exception of finishing AC3)
Game 2: Killzone; Shadowfall - 10 hours maybe?
I have never really enjoyed any Killzone enough to finish it. And aside from a few niggles here and there, I liked this one a lot more than the others. Looking forward to trying the mp.
Game 3: Guacamelee - 10 hours ish (unless there is an in game clock I never really count how much I play a game)
Brilliant game. I had to leave it and come back on a regular basis, as the platforming made my brain hurt, often : ) Well worth persevering though.
Game 4: Shadowrun Returns - 13 hours
Been meaning to play this for a long time. Having finally got a 'not shit' PC I got it the other day. I quite liked it, Even if it hung on me two or three times about an hour into playing?!? Which wouldn't have been so bad if they allowed you to save whenever you wanted?? However it was an enjoyable game and I look forward to trying the user content out there.
Game 5: Brothers - 4 hours ish
This is a game I would probably have never tried without all the good word of mouth from GAF about it. Thank you GAF it was a very nice game. Nothing to complicated and relatively easy. Enjoyable though
Game 6: Rayman Legends - maybe 10 hours
Been a slow burner since before Xmas. Not the greatest platformer fan, but really enjoyed this game and it's sense of humour. Even if I was tearing what little is left of my hair out on the last level.
Game 7: DmC - 11 Hours or so.
Another Plus game (I love this service) Although I appreciated the commitment to the art style is was not to my taste. And I constantly felt the combat was just not good enough. Any game that thinks X + Triangle as a combo is a good idea should be beaten. Otherwise it was good, a solid 7 and maybe 8 in the better levels.
Game 8: Bioshock Infinite - 12 hours maybe?
I was not sure I would like this compared to the original Bioshocks. I was pleasantly surprised. The vigors work better than I expected (essentially plasmids by another name). Elizabeth is such a boon in combat that the rare sections she ain't there, you really miss her. They handled it so well with her not being a drag or pain in the ass. The story was very entertaining, but not quite as focussed as the earlier games.
Game 9: Rain - 5 hours ish
Loved the concept, enjoyed the atmosphere, the story was simple yet effective. Puzzles were rarely anywhere near tricky I hope that was intentional. I feel more could have been done with it though. Glad I played it.
Game 10: Shadows Of The Damned - God alone knows
I do not usually have a pile of shame. As most games that I like I make an effort to complete. I also do not buy a new game till I have finished my current game. Which makes Ps Plus a brilliant money saver for me. This game 'was' my pile of shame. My old PS3 YLOD'ed whilst I was playing it back in 2011. Finally I return and finish it off. Fun game, with some annoying difficulty spikes here and there. Worth the price of admission for The Legend of the Stinky Crow alone.
Game 11: Mirror Of Fate HD - 6 - 8 hours.
This came with the Lord of Shadows 2 pre-order and I had always intended to get around to playing it. So I did. Looked good, sounded good, played well. If I have a gripe it is the loading screens, there were a lot of them making exploring back and forth in the castle frustratingly slow at times. I liked it, overall it was very enjoyable.
Game 12: Castlevania Lord of Shadows 2 - over 10 hours at least
I was actually surprised how this game has effected my opinion on reviews. I liked it, yes it has it's faults, but it certainly is a 7 and if you liked the first game then an 8. No way is it close to a 5, bloody stupid games jurnalizm. I did have a a bit of a nightmare in two places one being
Agreus' leaf maze, urgh, trial, error and the bumrush basically got me through it
and the final section
Fighting Alucard possessed by Satan
took a few retries. Otherwise a solid game.
Game 13: Tomb Raider - 8 hours ish
Nothing really new, but what it does it does well. I liked the new look of Lara.
Game 14: Mark Of The Ninja - Steam says 10 hours.
Finally managed to finish this after having trouble with the controller drivers. Really liked this game. Loved the atmos, controls were good, story was about right. I enjoyed how it made you take on the bosses as a ninja would too. Recommended.
Game 15: NFS;rivals - 15 hours
I enjoyed this one a lot, but it lacked personality compared to the others.
Game 16: Dead Nation - 10 hours
Played Co-op PS4 version. Was great fun after they fixed the initial bugs.
Game 17: Stick It To The Man - maybe 6 hours
I liked this a lot more than I thought I was going to. Shame it was so short.
Game 18: Warriors Orochi 3 - God alone knows, too much whatever it is.
I only tried this after reading about it on GAF. I have always wanted to try a DW game and chose this one because of the expanded character roster. I can see why it gets the slating it does, but I still enjoyed it a lot. Enough to be eyeing up DW8 for the PS4.
Game 19: Batman Arkham Origins - 10 hours or so.
A good game, but you can feel the difference between Rocksteady's output and WB.
Game 20: Borderlands 2 - About 20 hours in co-op
Although I quite enjoyed this game in SP, MP wasn't the unabashed joy I was hoping for. It felt too random and not very tactical at all.
Game 21: Final Fantasy ARR - 20 + hours
So counting this one even if I didn't finish the story. I was persuaded to try this by friends. I am not the greatest fan of Fantasy in general so I consider it an achievement to get as far as I did. If it wasn't a subbed MMO I would return on a semi regular basis to play with friends. But at £8 a month I am not playing it enough for it to be worth it.
Game 22: Pixel-Junk Shooter Ultimate - Over 10 hours, maybe 15 ish?
Far more game than I was expecting in this title. And for a game that had quite a few tough encounters it is remarkably chilled to play. Never felt like I was cheated, just felt like my skills needed improving whenever I (frequently) died. Boss battles felt quite epic too. Recommended.
Game 23: Abe's Odyssee New 'N' Tasty - 10 hours maybe
Loved going back to revisit this remade classic. Visuals are amazing, controls are a little woolly compared to the original, but overall I really enjoyed going back and finding all the Mudokons on Hard difficulty
Game 24: Killer Is Dead - 8 hours if you believe the in game clock
This is all that I love about Grasshopper Manufacture. Batshit crazy story. Unique looks. Good sounds. Fun and easy mechanics. Didn't really linger on the Gigolo missions. I was very happy to have played this and look forward to playing more Grasshopper.
Game 25: The Walking Dead Season 2 - 8 hours or so
Although I do enjoy the universe and even most of the execution of these games. This one really lost it's way for me. The choices they ask you to make feel contrived to annoy and irritate me. When
Kenny flips from nice guy to moronic idiot is just stupid
And how they expect you to believe a group of adult survivors look to the 11 year old for guidance and leadership just took me out of the whole experience.
Game 26; Mario Kart 8 - 10 hours maybe
Finally picked up a Wii U (mostly for Bayonetta 2, although I have a little list of games I do want to try out on the console) with the Mario Kart 8 bundle. I was not disappointed. Probably the best Mario Kart I have ever played. I blasted through on 100cc to just enjoy, learn the tracks and unlock the new GP's. Cannot wait to try the challenge of 150cc. So much to like about this game.
Game 27; Final Fight HD - 8 hours or so.
Nostalgia. Loved playing this through with all three characters, sent me right back to the days of my yoof and playing in the arcades.
Game 28; Bayonetta Wii U edition - 13 hours
Bought a Wii U for mostly Bayo 2, just had to play the original first to get in the mood. It is as insanely tough as I remember. Although I am no good at this game I am always in awe of its flawless control scheme and batshit crazy storyline. More games would do well to be like this game. Get the mechanics right first.
Game 29; Steamworld Dig - 6.5 hours
I had a go as it was free with Plus just to see what it was like and finished it in two sessions. Actually surprised how much I liked this game. Fun while it lasted.
Game 30; Bayonetta 2 - 10 hours
Awesome. Play it!
Game 31; Alice; Madness Returns - 15 hours ish
For all it's problems I liked this game. Picked it up when in a PSN sale. Good = Character models, level design, story. Bad = Combat was a little sluggish to respond to inputs (coming in off Bayo 2 didn't help), camera was awkward at times and some levels were a little over long. And the Cardbridge level was just sooo nice.
Game 1: Hotline Miami - 14 hours played (Steam counter)
All achievements unlocked (03/01/2014), one the best indie game I have ever played, hard but never frustrating and the OST is gorgeous. 9/10.
Game 2: Guacamelee! Gold Edition - 12.5 hours played (game counter)
All achievements unlocked (08/01/2014), a very good Metroidvania with a lot of humor and references. The mexican atmosphere (artistic design and soundtrack) is charming, besides the fights sometimes confusing, this is a great game overall, totally worth the price. 8/10.
Game 3: Trine - 13.4 hours played (Steam counter)
All achievements unlocked (13/01/2014), an average platformer bought for 0.80€ during the holiday sale. The gameplay is somewhat approximate and I wasn't attracted by the artistic direction. 5/10
Game 4: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Ultimate Edition - 46 hours played (Steam counter)
All achievements unlocked (26/01/2014). A good BTA dulled by some weaknesses (the lack of free camera is on top), I've been marked by the soundtrack and the story. 7/10
Game 5: Brothers - a Tale of Two Sons - 5.1 hours played (Steam counter)
All achievements unlocked (05/02/2014). One of the most beautiful and smartest game I have ever played, what an ending. 8/10
Game 6: Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - 21 hours played (Steam counter)
All achievements unlocked (11/02/2014). Finished for the first time last year, I played it on True West difficulty and completed all other modes. An excellent, very fun, and particularly underestimated, FPS, probably the best released in 2013.
Game 7: Trine 2 - Complete Story - 37 hours played (Steam counter)
All achievements unlocked (14/02/2014).
Game 8: Limbo - 6.6 hours played (Steam counter)
All achievements unlocked (24/02/2014).
Game 9: Mark of the Ninja - 29 hours played (Steam counter)
All achievements unlocked (02/03/2014).
Game 10: Hell Yeah - 7.5 hours played (Steam counter)
All achievements unlocked (08/03/2014).
Game 11: Shank - 9.2 hours played (Steam counter)
All achievements unlocked (13/03/2014).
Game 12: The Cave - 15.8 hours played (Steam counter)
All achievements unlocked (03/04/2014).
Game 13: Spec Ops: The Line - 16.7 hours played (Steam counter)
All achievements unlocked (20/06/2014).
Game 14: Darksiders - 16.5 hours played (game counter)
All achievements unlocked (21/07/2014).
Game 15: Assassin's Creed Liberation HD - 12 hours played (game counter)
All achievements unlocked (10/08/2014).
Game 16: Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon - ~15 hours played (estimation)
All achievements unlocked (05/10/2014).
Game 17: Q.U.B.E. - 5.8 hours played (Steam counter)
Game 18: Max Payne 3 - 10.6 played (Steam counter)
Game 19: Borderlands 2 - ~80 hours played (Steam counter)
True Vault Hunter Mode finished with Axton (level 50) and Normal Mode finished with Maya (level 40).
Game 20: The Witcher 2 - 34 hours played (Steam counter)
Game 1 - Killzone mercenary (Vita) Time 5 hours
Just finished the campaign once but will definitely come back for the alternative objectives and difficulties plus multiplayer
What kind of lives do you guys live were you can obtain 52 different games and still have the time to play them all? I got half the PS4 launch games and WWHD and I won't have the time to finish all of them this spring.
So I started with NES Remix, but the first credits I saw this year, was actually in Sonic Racing:
Game 1: Sonic & All-Star Racing Transformed
# Fantastic game, finally managed to get enough stars to get to the credits in the World Tour. Now to complete unlocking all the characters.
What kind of lives do you guys live were you can obtain 52 different games and still have the time to play them all? I got half the PS4 launch games and WWHD and I won't have the time to finish all of them this spring.
Most games can be, "beat" in 3-10 hours. So if you pick many of the low end games and depending on how many hours you get to game it's definitely doable. With about 1 hour a day or 7 hours a week you could beat most games.
I'm using this thread to get through my backlog, If I can even get through 20 games I'd be satisfied!
If you want tips, either pick all the long games in your backlog and do them first to get them out of the way. You can also do all the shorter games first so you have more time to finish the long ones. Pick some indy games, or virtual console and ps1 games.
I'm sure those games count if you finished them in 2014.
