I have a confession to make. Over the last year, I've purchased quite a few Xbox 360 and PS3 games which I've had every intention in playing but time constraints have been taking their toll. Many of these games have been sitting on my shelf for months. WOW really does take up a lot of my gaming-time...even when I'm just raiding. I have been working through them however, though I admit I've been taking a more casual approach (little side-questing, etc).
This list includes:
Resistance 2
Killzone 2
Fable 2
infamous
Infinite Undiscovery
Call of Duty 4
Call of Duty 5
The Last Remnant
Golden Axe
Mirror's Edge
Fear 2
Prince of Persia
Lost Odyssey
Halo Wars
Valkyria Chronicles
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Blue Dragon
Ghostbusters (which I just bought)
...and probably a few other games I can't remember off the top of my head.
Even typing that...that's a pretty long list. Just for the fun of it, here's some impressions of the game's at at least played for more than a few minutes (even if I haven't beaten them yet).
Call of Duty 4 | Fun, but very short short. I think I completed the main storyline in 2 evenings. Very stylish in how it portrays a modern firefight. This was my first Call of Duty game, and it gave me an impression about the series that turned out to not be very true.
Call of Duty 5 | Not so fun. Was generally put off by the game and the lack of a coherent story behind the characters which made some of the big, um, emotional sequences and victories portrayed that much more meaningless. From what I've been told, COD5 is the norm for the series, while 4 was the exception. Oh well.
Golden Axe | Hated it. Got about half way through before I just couldn't stand it anymore. The game literally made my hand cramp up, it took so much damned button mashing to kill even simple mobs. If that weren't bad enough, the monsters came in waves, and waves, waves...the same monsters, the same pack composition; every time you moved forward to the next room/area. It was so repetitive, and took so much mindless button mashing that I eventually couldn't take it anymore. I mean God of War is repetitive...but at least it varies up the monsters and lets you kill them quickly before moving on to the next pack.
Halo Wars | Was better than I expected. Actually it was pretty fun. It was short, though, but I didn't mind it so much due to the rather limited nature of RTS games in general. Not a big Halo fan, but the game itself wasn't so bad.
Mirror's Edge | Hated it. But I will admit that despite the fact that I hated it, I stuck with it until the bitter end. Which made me hate it even more. Recommended only for masochists. For added fun, play the game while sitting on hot nails, and clipping electrified wires to your nipple piercings.
Prince of Persia | Loved it. Loved it besides the glaring game play flaws. I didn't mind the fact that all of the fights were essentially boss battles...but having to re fight the same 4 bosses 4 (or was it 5) times each really hurt the experience. However, I loved how the AI girl companion was integrated into the story and the game play; this is the first time in a game like that where the mechanic wasn't a liability to the game. It really made up for the bad parts IMO.
Killzone 2 | Never played the original. I thought the game was ok; generally hated the controls which made it hard to aim and run&gun well. Sloppy (and probably more realistic) controls are fine...with more realistic damage effects. But in a game where it could take an entire clip to kill an enemy soldier at point blank range...with the gun going everywhere...just didn't work very well and was more frustrating than anything.
Lost Odyssey | Really liked it, until the little kids joined the party and then the game just got weird. Still the main (adult) characters were interesting, and as a whole the game had some interesting moments. But I never actually finished it (though I think I made it near the end). Real life interceded, and then I ended up letting someone borrow that 360...and then let him keep it as a gift. So at this point, I'd have to replay it from scratch since I no longer have the same 360. I will probably go back to it as some point just to see how it ends, but that'll be a while yet.
Fable 2 | Just played this one more recently. I'd never played the original. I'd heard some good things about this game. But honestly, I thought it was only 'ok' at best. I hated the way the game punished you severely for playing good (which I did), and the way in which a simple accidental button press could send people running for cover in town and have the guards show up. After the main tower sequence, getting THE MAGE, I gave up on trying to enjoy the game and do all of the side quests and just pushed through to complete it as soon as possible.
Valkyria Chronicles | Something I tried a while back, but shit came up so I didn't get very far. The game seemed ok, at some points good even, but there were things that just held the whole game back. The story book nature of the 'story' is an interesting concept, which doesn't really work well on paper. And the game's combat system had some odd quirks which were really starting to annoy me. Hopefully I'll get back to it again sometime.
Fear 2 | I think I'm getting sick of FPSes. Fear 2 was OK; and was at least a bit more dynamic than the original. And once again, the motivations of the bad guys, and the undead chick for that matter, are beyond stupid. But it wasn't just the inane story telling. Even early in the game, I was just...wanting...it...to...end, and as each level went on and on I just kept feeling frustrated that the game wasn't over yet. Certainly not a good sign. But right now I'm not sure if this is because of a change in my tastes, or terrible level design.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope | This is what I'm playing now. I'll probably put up a review of it when I'm done. So far I'm digging it, even if the plot was devised by a 13 year old schizo with strange fascination with little girls and young romance. I'm just to the 3rd disk (of 3), but the second disk really didn't last very long (the first disk was at least 2 times longer game-wise than the second) so I don't know how much is left exactly. Still, I'm enjoying the game and am looking at finishing it in the next few weeks.
Whew. So that means I still have a few games left.
Ghostbusters
Infinite Undiscovery
Resistance 2
The Last Remnant
infamous
Blue Dragon
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