Woo! 350! Another batch of games done! And it’s been eventful – during this fifty we found out a new edition of the book had been released and we have to scramble to see how we can deal with this. Still, adding twenty games to the total project (with only 12 more obsoleted games to deal with) isn’t too bad and the reason it matters little in the end.
It’s been a lovely 50 games, and a good more 50 coming up!
Best Game I Had Not Previously Played
Beyond that, Metroid Fusion was surprisingly interesting. Before starting this blog, I never really was as interested in the Metroid series, but having started playing it, the series has become one I keep looking forward to playing. Ni No Kuni feels like a satisfying masterpiece, an enjoyable story with interesting mechanics and wonderful animation – a perfect blend of Ghibli and Level 5. It almost feels like a cheat to mention Mega Man 9 here, but as tough as the game was, it was a lot of fun to play the game again.
Still, the two best new games for me were Fallout 3 and Mass Effect 2. More on that, though, at the end, as I really kept playing it.
Worst Game
Not all games worked out as well for us. Although we still enjoyed most of the removed games, Army of Two: The 40th Day felt like it was removed for the right reasons. We couldn’t get into it, it seemed a bit boring and felt off.
Still, even games that stayed didn’t always work. Bounty Bob Strikes Back is a game that might have looked good in the days, and the right sort of difficulty then, but for me it was just frustrating – too much work, not enough fun in playing the game to make up for it.
Most Surprising Game
The Darkness was a surprisingly interesting shooter. It initially looked vaguely generic – another FPS with some weird weapons. When we started playing, however, it developed into something more. There was a story weaved through the game more carefully than many others, while the titular darkness gives you an interesting set of powers, playstyles and puzzles.
Probably more suprising though, both in gameplay and in store, was Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor. When playing the game, there was a lot more depth to it than just spinning webs around the area. While there wasn’t a lot of clear story, the way it implied story – like Journey‘s minimalist story telling – made it a lot more powerful.
Biggest Disappointment
I’m not sure why it is, but for some reason this group of games felt like it had more disappointments than before. It could be that, due to the wait, more of them had gotten build up in our minds as games we’re going to love playing.
Take Dragon’s Lair for example. Based on how we read it, an adventure using full motion video, a game like (say) Broken Sword years before we could pull of that graphical quality. And while it looks good and plays nicely, it really just comes down to a few QTEs. Not the full experience we expected.
Little Big Adventure felt like it should be good – including by anyone’s measure and the reviews given. We, however, ended giving up in frustration without getting out of the first level. It felt that clumsy and annoying.
Personally, however, I’m probably most annoyed that Sins of a Solar Empire wasn’t what I hoped for. While it wasn’t terrible, it wasn’t the 4X game its supposed reputation as unofficial Galactic Civilizations successor suggested. Instead, it’s more of an RTS with some 4X elements, but more focused on the strategy of any other such game. It fels like such a shame and drew me out of it early on.
Best Blast From The Past
After the previous 100 games, it’s been great to return to a lot of games I haven’t played in a while. So many good memories – it’s difficult to narrow it down to a single game, so in no specific order…
I had played Morrowind before, but not too far in. Playing it further and going deeper was a lot of fun. On the other hand, I played Starcraft before – it feels like it has been a constant in my life since it was released. It was amazing to revisit it again, even if it’s slowly being pushed back.
Broken Sword is a series I have good memories of. I got a bit more of the second, but the first is still good, and there were a lot of edge of my seat moments seeing Peter play it.
Probably the most intense however was Civilization IV. The serie still rules – and we’ve spent quite a bit of time on the fifth installment as well now – but despite some niggles number 4 still feels like the best Civ installment so far.
Games We Kept Playing
The best games we kept playing are the ones we finished. There have been two main entries in that category for me, two large RPGs.
I finished Mass Effect 2 a while ago. This is really as much because I played through and finished the original Mass Effect, wanting to complete the trilogy – we’ll start the third game at some point, when we have space in our schedule.
At least as time consuming, if in a different style, is Fallout 3. Focused more on exploration and world building, rather than story telling, it is still engaging and made me want to explore more of the wasteland – as much as possible in fact. At this point I have finished the main quest and am mostly focusing on DLC, but I hope I’ll finish that, too, soon.