The Stack

My game playing has been following a disturbing trend for the last couple of years. Amazing games, or at least somewhat good ones, are released pretty frequently. I like to own as close to all of them as I can manage. The problem is how few of them I actually end up playing to completion. Enter Exhibit A:

My stack of unbeaten games.

 

There are over 60 unfinished games sitting in a pile on my bedroom floor. It is my intent to complete every single game in that pile. I’ll keep track of my progress in this blog. This is mostly a way for me to keep track of it but I’ll try to keep it interesting for anyone who somehow happens across this page. Yes, pretty much every game in there is from the last two generations. That’s deliberate. I’ll go back to older games after I finish. Probably. That pile is ridiculous, too.

 

The pile is mostly in the order I intend to play them, but anything new I buy goes straight on top.

 

I imagine this will be the longest single post I ever make, because right here is a full list of every game in the pile and every game that should be there but isn’t (in the mail, lent out, whatever) as well as my current progress, if any, in that game.

 

For the record, I’ll try hard to keep this blog spoiler free.

 

Current time: 7:04pm

 

Metal Gear Solid – PS1

Metal Gear Solid 4 is out now and I own a PS3, so I pretty much have to own it. Unfortunately the only MGS game I’ve beaten is 2. I’m about 2/3 through MGS1, I think. Not on the second disk yet, but I’ve just fought Sniper Wolf. I’d have finished this already, but my PS3 is in repair at the moment and that’s what my save is on. (Yes, I backed it up)

 

Bioshock – 360

I bought it at release but just never got around to it. Again, I think I’m about 2/3 done. Honestly, with the site not letting me upload that image, I’ll probably have beaten Bioshock before this post goes up. EDIT: I was unable to post this and, yes, finished Bioshock. More on that tomorrow night.

 

Timeshift – 360

Borrowed from a friend so it’s higher priority. Unplayed.

 

FEAR – 360

Also borrowed, also unplayed.

 

Ninja Gaiden II – 360

Start of the second level. Started over on easy.

 

Condemned 2 – 360

Start of the second level. I beat Condemned maybe 8 times but this game is pretty much just a black screen. I’m sure I’ll get into it.

 

God of War II – PS2

I think I was nearly finished it. Probably at least ¾ through, but I lost my save. Not like it’s a long game.

 

Enchanted Arms – 360

I don’t know why I keep buying JRPGs. I’m about 3 minutes into this.

 

Metroid Prime 2 – GC

Just bought it, which is why it’s higher in the stack than MP1. I’ll do these in order. Unplayed.

 

Metroid Prime 3 – Wii

Same story

 

Sonic the Hedgehog – 360

Yeah, I know… I’m nearly finished watching the Something Awful Let’s Play of this and I can’t imagine actually playing it now. Basically unplayed.

 

Sonic Mega Collection Plus – PS2

I’ve beaten Sonic 1, 2 and 3. I’ll do Knuckles, but probably won’t beat the other games on the disk. The Game Gear games aren’t as good as I remembered.

 

Super Smash Bros Brawl – Wii

I’m sorry, but I hate it. Bought it at full price based on all the hype but it’s just not a fun game. 6 hours in, not sure what I’m going to consider “finished” here either.

 

Metal Gear Solid 4 – PS3

I’ll get to this after I beat 1 and 3.

 

Metal Gear Solid 3 – PS2

Next in line after I beat MGS.

 

Dark Sector – 360

Had to import this since it got banned here. I can’t imagine why. It’s nowhere  NEAR as violent as RE4 or Gears. I’m pretty much exactly halfway through.

 

Final Fantasy XII – PS2

I keep jokingly saying I intend to beat all the numbered FFs in order. I’ve done 1 and 2 on the Dawn of Souls cart and I played through 8 ages ago. XII is unplayed.

 

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories – PS2

Unplayed. Not sure how much I’ll want to play it now I’ve beaten IV.

 

Eternal Sonata – 360

Unplayed. The graphics are amazing but it’s so rare for me to actually play a JRPG that I mayyyyy never get to this.

 

Devil May Cry 4 – 360

Basically unplayed.

 

Lost Planet – 360

Unplayed

 

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 – 360

Unplayed

 

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – Xbox

I got a little way into it ages ago. I loved and finished 3, VC and IV, but I just don’t like anything about SA. No idea why.

 

Lost Odyssey – 360

Another RPG I’ll probably never touch.

 

Dreamfall – Xbox

Bought it on ebay after its Xbox Originals release reminded me of its existance. Unplayed. I don’t even know what it is.

 

Ninja Gaiden Sigma – PS3

Barely played. You don’t realise how much better than NG this looks until you go back. The difference is HUGE.

           

The Orange Box – 360

Specifically Half Life 2 and the episodes. I’m at least 1/3 through Half Life 2. I’ve beaten Portal over 10 times.

 

Super Mario Galaxy – Wii

Great game but I’m probably not even 10% through it. I’ll get around to it.

 

Mass Effect – 360

I was really excited to get this early when EB leaked it, ran home, played the first mission and then… haven’t touched it since.

 

Devil May Cry 3 – PS2

I think I was halfway through it but I lost my save.

 

Silent Hill 3 – PS2

Barely touched. Don’t know why. 2 is one of the best games I have ever played.

 

Zelda: Twilight Princess – Wii

Yes, I got it at the Wii launch. I’m at the start of the second dungeon.

 

The Darkness – 360

I got maybe 2 hours into it. Like it a lot.

 

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory – Xbox

I got about halfway in and ran into an absolutely awful mission in Shanghai or something. Fun fact: I have done the first level of this faster than the speedrun on Speed Demos Archive more than once.

 

Lego Star Wars – Xbox

Unplayed. I should do this early on. It’s like… an hour long, isn’t it?

 

Psychonauts – Xbox

I’m about an hour in.

 

Splinter Cell: Double Agent – 360

Start of the second mission. Want to beat Chaos Theory first. I hear the xbox version of this is a completely different, equally good game. Can anyone confirm this?

 

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – Xbox

The first game was amazingly good. I got a planet or two into this. Didn’t stop for any reason in particular.

 

Silent Hill 4 – Xbox

Unplayed. Want to beat 3 first.

 

Morrowind – Xbox

I spent 150 hours on this game. In one sitting. Seriously. 6 days and nights straight. I did all of the missions for pretty much every faction. By the time I was finishing up and getting ready to start the storyline the game was crashing so often that it wasn’t even worth playing. A real shame. Also, this game is infinitely better than Oblivion – a game I DID finish.

 

Resident Evil 0 – GC

I LOVE Resident Evil. There are 3 RE games in my top ten of all time (2, CV and 4 in that order). I’m about 3-4 hours into this and making good progress but I’ve just never felt comfortable playing it. I realise that’s kind of the idea.

 

Ratchet and Clank – PS2

Unplayed. I’ve never played ANY R+C game or any Jak game.

 

Killer7 – GC

I played it for about 20 minutes. I’m not sure this is a game.

 

Metroid Prime – GC

What are you doing this far down the stack? I’ll never play 2 and 3 at this rate. I’ve been about 2 hours in I think. I hate that they made a great game nearly unplayable just to prove it wasn’t Halo, but I’ll get into that control rant when I get to playing it.

 

Onimusha 3 – PS2

I’ve beaten the first one on the Xbox. Never played any other Onimusha, including this one.

 

Rayman Revolution – PS2

This appears to be Rayman 2, which I got about an hour into on the Dreamcast. This seems like as good a place as any to call Rayman 1 for the Saturn the best 2D platformer I have ever played. Oh yeah, and pretty much impossible without cheating for more lives.

 

Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle Earth II – 360

I’ve finished the evil campaign and have been as far as the last mission of the good one. Wish I’d beaten it back then, because my save has since deleted.

 

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz – Wii

It’s Jeff’s fault I own this game. The minigames looked so fun when you guys played it at Wii launch. In reality, less than half of those minigames even work and the other half only ‘sort of work’. I’m sick of people pretending the Wii remote is a functional controller, but that’s a rant for another post. I got nearly the whole way through the single player game and it got so hard that I just don’t ever want to see the game again.

 

Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm – PS2

It was really cheap secondhand. I don’t even really know what this is. Unplayed.

 

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up – Xbox

Another game that was banned here. This is nowhere near as good as Jeff told me it was. A rare miss. I got maybe 2 hours in. If guides are to be believed, this game must be insanely long.

 

Project Zero II – Xbox

Called Fatal Frame 2 elsewhere in the world. I beat the first game. Haven’t touched this.

 

Burnout Revenge – Xbox

I’m not sure if it was just the colour palette change that changed this from the fantastic Burnout 3 but this game is just… terrible. I got about halfway through. Burnout Paradise was a fantastic return to form and may well be the best driving game I have ever played. I 100%ed that.

 

X-Men Legends – Xbox

I’m somewhere between 5 and 10 hours into this.

 

The Thing – Xbox

Probably 4 or 5 hours in.

 

007: Everything or Nothing – Xbox

Not a fan. I did maybe 5 missions.

 

Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes – Xbox

Found it super cheap secondhand a week after launch, never put the disk in. I have no idea what this game is.

 

Mechassault – Xbox

I’ll probably never finish this, even if I beat everything else on this list. It’s TERRIBLE.

 

Project Gotham Racing 2 – Xbox

Good game, but the difficulty gets insane about 2/3 in. I got about the same distance into MSR. Finished PGR 3 and 4.

 

Turok Evolution – Xbox

Maybe ¼ through it. Not so good.

 

Starfox Adventures – GC

I got maybe an hour in. Not bad, I just never got around to it.

 

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean – GC

Enormous title. Another unplayed RPG. Unfortunately I had nothing better to buy and dropped $99 on this. (standard full price for a new game in Australia. Equivalent to about $96 US. Seriously.)

 

Final Fantasy X – PS2

Unplayed. I’ll get here one day. Maybe.

 

Final Fantasy X-2 – PS2

I’ll get here a few days after that.

 

Resident Evil Outbreak File 2 – PS2

The worst ‘game’ I have ever payed full price for. It was a great idea but it’s just… nothing. Hopefully Left 4 Dead makes up for it.

 

Other games I own that aren’t in the pile for various reasons (mostly still in the mail from ebay):

Okami

The Matrix: Path of Neo

Ratchet and Clank Future

Jade Empire

The Bourne Conspiracy

Soul Calibur 4

 

All unplayed.

 

So there we go. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me. I’ll probably finish up Bioshock first. Stick around for my (spoiler free) thoughts on that and the rest of the games on this list.

 

Time now: 8:09 – That took just over an hour.