Backlog Gamer Week 4

I've decided to start using a numbered system instead of just associating my post titles with dates.  Thought it would look a bit better, and I also won't feel so guilty when I post in the middle of the week.  I've also changed the layout a bit.

Not a whole lot to say this week.  Due to my Game 2 selection last week I am starting to regret not being more selective with my game collecting.  If I would have just put the crap down my sense of self loathing would be at an acceptable level, instead of the gargantuan level it is at now.  Is this how Emo-folk feel all the time?  If I go stand in the corner with my crappy game(s) and cut myself with a game manual will I feel a accomplishment?  Christ, that was way off topic.

                     
                                                                        Post Mortem

Enslaved: I really enjoyed playing this game, even though I have to recognize its often glaring flaws, but instead of focusing on camera angles, proportionate bodies, and the quirks of the Unreal Engine, I think I will instead view the game as a whole experience, because I feel that taking this game as a whole is the only way to truly enjoy it (much as I felt about Jak II).


                                                                          
                                                             Games For This Week




                                                                                                                                   

Game 1 Title: GTA IV: Episodes From Liberty City
Platform: PC (Steam)
Purchase Date: 11/25/11
Cost: $2.49

I was pleasantly surprised to see this chosen as a random game, especially as I had started playing it anyway as a pallet cleanser to the piece of trash below.  So far everything is fine, though in the beginning I had quite a bit of trouble with the controls.  I just don't feel that I will ever be comfortable playing a GTA game with a keyboard and mouse.  It just doesn't feel natural, almost like I am contorting across the keyboard like a damn Twister-nut just to powerslide into a turn.  I suppose that I could just play Lost and Damned on the 360 and come back to the PC for Gay Tony (that sounded awkward), but the game looks so much better on my computer.

I am amused to learn that since the game is both on Steam and a Games for Windows game, my Gamercard sig is showing GTAIV on the Xbox Live side and Episodes of Liberty City on the Steam side.  I have to say stuff like that every now and then or else they will revoke my Freakin' Dork/Jedi Master card.

                                                                             

Title: Stellar-Fire
Platform: Sega CD
Purchase Date:1998
Cost: $1.00


I spent around three days trying to beat this game and only managed a few levels.  On the plus side I learned how to beat the game, and on the negative side I don't think I want to go through the effort.  Dare I explain?  In the game the goal is to collect gems, which can be easily located by following the white bar displayed on the radar.  The problem is that the gems seemed to be scattered around the level, so that in some stages following the radar will almost ensure repeating the level (meaning that you will die).  However, if you make a map you can find a better, more optimized route than the shitty GPS route the game gives you.  This way of playing is just not an option in some of the latter stages.  Should I give up?  Should I pull an "Arino" and call in a AD to finished the job for me (which means using a cheat to see the ending)?  Only time will tell.

                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                 

Title: Treasure Adventure Game
Platform: PC
Purchase Date: N/A
Cost: N/A


I found this little title while mindlessly clicking on links in my Bookmarks Toolbar.  Even though I spend a lot of time on the Internet, I had all but forgotten that I have a Fileplanet link.  Weird, huh?  Although it is described as a platformer, I find it to be a pleasant combination of platforming, action, and RPG.  I especially like that the game has fully customizable controls (a rarity amongst free Indies games), so I can finally assign my movement to the WASD keys and the action buttons to the arrow keys.  I know you don't understand this but just believe me that it is important.

Please play this.  You will be surprised then you will have fun.  Then you will thank me, which will stoke my ego and make me smile (which is a bi-product of my ego stokage).



In The Bag For 2012
Alan Wake - 1/25
Dead Space 2 - 2/4
Portal 2 - 2/10
Enslaved -  2/17

Backlog Gamer 2/12-2/18

Well, my posts are getting closer to the beginning of the week.  At this rate I'll be posting on day one by the middle of next month.  All right me!

As I stated last week, when I first conceived this I thought it would be best to show some sport and only pick games randomly.  I failed miserably when the first group of games turned out to be some of the most highly rated recently released games in my collection.  However, this week I decided to play by the rules and  pick randomly.  Will I be rewarded for my honesty, or will I feel the flames of redemption?

                     
                                                                        Post Mortem

Portal 2: Wow.  I mean, wow.  The only way I think I can express myself properly is to directly beam the information to your brain in the pure emotional content (so as to not spoil the nice bits).  Ready?  Errrrrm.  Got it?  Yeah, what did I tell you!  Awesome, right?


                                                                          
                                                             Games List For This Week


Game 1: Enslaved
Game 2: Stellar-Fire
Game 3: Kyle's Quest 2 

                                                                                                                                   

Title: Enslaved
Platform: Xbox 360
Purchase Date: 9/29/11
Cost: $9.99

At last, Enslaved finally gets the attention it deserves.  I know that in the past I seemed a little "blah" on it, stating that it seemed a little average and maybe generic.  I would now like to formally take this back.  Sure, in some cases the action can be a bit predictable (I'm speaking specifically of the general direction of the action, not the action itself), but Enslaved has sunk its claws into me, and not just the story this time: The characters, action , along with the story are equally as important to my experience.  I especially enjoy how, for all his supposed strength, Monkey is often completely outmatched by the mechs in combat (even against the "weaker" ones) and is forced to rely almost exclusively on his unmatched agility.

If I reviewed games I would give this game a solid B as long as it holds out to the end.

                                                                             

Title: Stellar-Fire
Platform: Sega CD
Purchase Date:1998
Cost: $1.00


The funny thing is that I thought for sure that most of the games I randomly picked would end up being PC or NES games, which makes sense as those platforms make up over 26% and 20% of my collection (respectively).  In the end I think I had to hit the random button three times.  The first two were either demos or games I'd already beaten, and on the third Stellar-Fire popped up.  I have to admit I am rather nervous.  I have never played this game, not even to test.  I purchased all of my Sega CD games in a lot, and I was only really interested in the Working Designs games that came with it.

Playing this game might prove a little harder, as my Sega CD was acting "weird" the last time I booted it up.  Therefore, I will use my laptop as an emulator, which should be interesting at the very least.

                                                                                                                                                  

Title: Kyle's Quest 2
Platform: iOS
Purchase Date: N/A
Cost: N/A


Once upon a time there was a group of devices called PDAs.  While they were mainly for organizational and productivity purposes, it turned out that people wanted to also play games.  Many of these games were fun, but most sucked.  A game that didn't suck on this platform was a little series called Kyle's Quest.  At heart modeled after 8-bit role playing games, this two Kyle's Quest games featured Japanese-inspired big-head characters but with a nice Western twist: you could make your own adventures.  While this sort of control didn't appeal to everyone, it wasn't long before there were a ton of great adventures to play.  While the games weren't free (very little quality titles were free on PDAs) the adventures were, meaning that one could easily make the $14.99 price tags a non-issue.

Kyle's Quest 2 (and the innumerable downloads for it) provided me many hours of entertainment in a very dark part of my life.  Because of this I didn't expect to care much when I found this game in the iOS App Store (just thinking about it brought back memories of hospital-sterility) for free, but I was surprised.  Though the game has lost the ability to load player made levels from the Internet, there are still twenty different games loaded in, and since many of them are short, they fit the aesthetics of a mobile platform.

I don't see myself deleting this game on Monday as I have done with the previous weeks "Game 3" title.



In The Bag For 2012
Alan Wake - 1/25
Dead Space 2 - 2/4
Portal 2 - 2/10

Backlog Gamer 2/5-2/11

I probably should have explained the ideas behind this blog a it better last week.  My intentions were to play through my game collection, choosing only games that I had not finished (I know that is a subjective term, but we can cross that road later, I think).  This project should keep me busy for quite a while, even taking into account the extra time I now have.  Got it?  Good.

Regarding the Games List, because I cannot count on being able to play games either on a television or computer (my wife or one of my children are utilizing it, for example), I thought it best to choose two games from different platforms (usually PC and a console game) and play through them.  But since I have such a Jones for indie and mobile games, I would add a third game for that week that could be on any platform (and more importantly, allow me to continue gaming on my laptop should other avenues be closed).  The plan was that I would pick a primary game, a secondary game, and a "side" game.  The primary and secondary game would be from my personal collection, and could be played for the amount of time needed to "finish" the game.  The "side" game would be a indie or casual game of my own choice, but regardless of where I was at the end of the week, I would put it down and pick up another.  Because some games would be finished before others, I decided to changed the game naming convention from "Primary" and "Secondary" to "Game 1" and "Game 2", with the indie or casual being "Game 3."  Still with me?  Good. because that is enough ranting for this week.

                       
                                                                        Post Mortem

Dead Space 2: This game was wonderful from beginning to end, though I felt some parts of it were meant for a "Strategy Guide Gamer."  As I made my way through the game, I spent my Power Nodes on upgrades for my Rig, my Plasma Cutter, and a few other weapons. My error was apparent as I faced the final boss with nearly no ammo and for my main shooter (Plasma Cutter) and no sufficient "big" weapon.  It took me an hour to finally make it.  It wasn't pretty.  After I reviewed the a few guides on Gamefaqs I saw I could have cut a few hours out of my final time (about eleven hours) if I had followed the weapon upgrade paths listed.  Oh, well.  I will end up playing this game again for sure just to play with the weapons, I think.
                                                                          
                                                         Games List For This Week


Game 1: Portal 2
Game 2: Enslaved
Game 3: Cartoon Wars: Gunner 

                                                                                                                                     

Title: Portal 2
Platform: Steam (on PC)
Purchase Date: 1/1/12
Cost: $7.25

This game is...  The thing about Portal 2 is...  I just realized that I can't even really talk about this game without giving things away, which is the last thing I would want to do to someone who has yet to experience this masterpiece.  Ah, I have it!  The game takes the content from the first game and turns it up to eleven!  Too cliche?  Portal 2 takes the excellent puzzle-type gameplay and engrossing story and of Portal 1 and then eclipses it in every way.  Did you like Portal?  Then you need to play Portal 2

Title: Enslaved
Platform: Xbox 360
Purchase Date: 9/29/11
Cost: $9.99


The smart thing for me to do when I finished Dead Space 2 would have been to focus on playing this game first and pick a replacement later.  Oh, well.  I still contend that the best feature of this game is Trip, who exhibits emotions and behaviors that break the usual female stereotypes featured games up till now.  I'm just about out of things to say about this game, so I'll make sure to beat it next.

                                                                           

Title: Cartoon Wars: Gunner
Platform: iOS
Purchase Date: N/A
Cost: N/A


There are about a million types of this game available on iOS.  This is neither the best or worst, but the one that I saw first (that was free).  You play a stickfigure out to survive waves of various weapon-wielding stick figures and strange beasts, using various upgradable missile (such as guns and bows) and melee weapons (such as swords and... swords).  You can even get a minigun-firing mech at some point (with the appropriate amount of gold).  Fun and light, which is all I really need for a casual game.


In The Bag For 2012
Alan Wake - 1/25
Dead Space 2 - 2/4

Backlog Gamer 1/29-2/4

Up until a few weeks ago, I hadn't played more than an hour of videogames in more than four years.  Full-time School, that great and massive force, took all of my free time.  Like a breastfeeding mother of triplets, I just didn't have any time for anything but the necessities (that being family, school, and work).

That has ended.  From this moment on (or until I get too bored with it), I'm going to burn my gaming-candle at both ends.  I will have to take occasional breaks for continuing education (the bane/boon of the IT industry), but for the most part every second of extra time that is not used to chip away at my large honey-do list will be spent working on my massive videogame backlog.

Enter the Backlog Gamer.  I know, the name is lame.  It's all I have at the moment, and will likely change in the near future.

I finished the first game on the list, Alan Wake, before I decided to write this series of articles.  Because of that I will make a few comments on it then banish it to the "In The Bag" completion list and speak of it no more!  Suffice to say that it is a great game that uses (but does not overuse) a light/darkness element as well as a spoken narrative by Alan Wake himself.  I loved the combat, even though I heard endless bitching from reviews and other gamers about it.  I plan on at some point purchasing the two DLC packs for it and maybe even making it a yearly or bi-yearly play.

                                                                          
                                                         Games List For This Week


Game 1: Dead Space 2 
Game 2: Enslaved
Game 3: Dig-N-Rig

                                                               

Title: Dead Space 2
Platform: Steam (on PC)
Purchase Date: 1/1/12
Cost: $9.99

I am almost done with this game (I think).  I could be wrong I guess, as I was sure I had reached the ending about three times now.  I was surprised by the strategy required to play this game.  Sure, you might be able to play the game by blasting everything in sight, but I wasn't able to.  It took longer than I care to admit that this game is as much a strategy/survival-horror game as much as a third-person shooter, requiring that you spend as much time learning to use the right tool for the right necromorph encounter as possible.  The story is also quite good.  I especially like the way it is told, not just with cutscene footage and the audio/text logs scattered about, but also the settings and props in the rooms themselves.  Some rooms will tell a story of a struggle, with mutilated corpses scattered about, while another shows whole families still on the floor next to ominous white cups.

Great game.  Great buy.  You should probably play it.

Title: Enslaved
Platform: Xbox 360
Purchase Date: 9/29/11
Cost: $9.99


I bought this game on a whim after hearing about someone talk about it on some gaming podcast.  Overall the game is fun, but it does have some very generic gameplay progression (explore, fight, explore, learn new ability, fight, boss).  I'm not a big fan of Monkey, the male protagonist, who seems as much a typical male macho-protagonist as possible.  The real star of the show is the female protagonist, Trip.  Her writing and acting are done in a way that conveys fear for herself, but also a great deal of empathy for Monkey, whom she enslaved.  The environment, which consist of a Earth-like city overgrown by nature, is also very interesting to me.

It's not a great game so far, but the story has a hold on me, so I plan on slogging it out to the end.

Title: Dig-N-Rig
Platform: PC
Purchase Date: N/A
Cost: N/A


I downloaded this game after hearing a guest on the Giant Bombcast (it might have been Paul Barnett, though I can't remember) gush about it.  The game is quite fun, if a bit on the simple side.  You basically drill stuff, which creates resources, which you funnel to your home base by way of conveyor belts and lifts, then you buy new stuff, upgrade your old stuff, then dig deeper.  There is an overall goal, that being to reach the core of the planet, but it may prove unattainable for some.  Usually after about two hours of gameplay my drill disappears (?), so my digging activities are limited to using explosive devices.

Like I said, the game is fun, but I don't think I'll be playing this next week.  On a positive note finding this game also revealed the massive game vault over at Digipen (the folks who created Portal), so regardless of the outcome this game was totally worth the time.


In The Bag For 2012
Alan Wake - 1/25