After a few rough weeks, I’m glad to be back posting stuff here, even if no one reads this blog. I was thinking about the games I’ve completed this year and thought I’d write a few notes about them. How many have I finished? Well, these should be broken down into retail games and PSN games. Don’t think I got anything new on the 360, so that’s PSN and not XBL.
GameFly tells me I’ve rented the following this year:
- Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (later purchased)
- F.E.A.R. 3
- Street Fighter X Tekken
- Portal 2
- Uncharted: Golden Abyss
- SSX
- Sniper Elite V2
- Rayman Origins
- Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
- Binary Domain
Not a bad list and it really justifies the GameFly fee, seeing as how I’d not have purchased most of those. Of the 10 titles GF sent me over the course of 8 months, I only completed 4. But that’s not really bad seeing as how SFxT can’t truly be finished and my PS3 died before I could complete the fun Sniper Elite.
In addition, my friend and I love coop games, but both Ghost Recon and Binary Domain aren’t what we’re looking for (gotta pay for one, no campaign coop in the other), so I wouldn’t count either of those.
This leaves F.E.A.R. 3 which, by all measures, was pretty much crap. SSX just was absurd and I didn’t play that long before shipping that one back. It lost all the charm the old games had. Now, Skyrim is a big one, and I quite enjoyed what I played but I have yet to complete the campaign despite dumping scores of hours into it.
The games that I count are Rayman Origins which was a pleasurable platformer replete with collectibles and tons of replay value. Had I not been on vacation in the middle of nowhere (which is why I got the game to begin with, really), I would’ve written more about it. The handheld Uncharted was largely a success. In fact, it’s the best-looking handheld game I’ve ever played and it felt like Uncharted, itself a success!
Finally we have Portal 2. I’ve said it before and won’t hesitate to repeat it – Portal 2 is one of the most brilliant achievements in gaming history. Ingenious and clever and…well, no reason to do this again.
Now to PSN games. It looks like I’ve played the following this year:
- Outland
- Journey
- The Mysteries Of Little Riddle
- The Walking Dead (Episodes 1-3)
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD
I figured I must’ve beaten more than that…but I guess not. I’ve already professed my love for that game. As for Journey, I wasn’t entirely sure what I thought of it. The Little Riddle game was something fun to play with my wife, and The Walking Dead games…well, just read below. Playing through the three episodes was one of the of the most enticing gaming experiences ever.
I played, but haven’t finished:
- Batman: Arkham Asylum
- Just Cause 2 (PS3 died, lost save game)
- Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One (same)
- Lara Croft & The Guardian Of Light (same)
- Rochard
I’d like to get back to Rochard. Batman…I didn’t love that as much as everyone suggested I would.
Verdict: So…let’s face it…the reason for this article was to figure out what the best game was that I completed. Well, first off, Borderlands 2 comes out in two weeks and Resident Evil 6 in four. Those could very well be high up on my list, but from what I’ve done so far, Uncharted, The Walking Dead were the highlights. Rayman and Outland were fun, visually-impressive titles, but Portal 2 was the best.
Let’s see how BL2 and RE6 fare against such a juggernaut!
