So I’ve been doing this for a year now, and despite the fact that my readership still wavers somewhere around two people, it’s been helpful to me to have to sit down and write something, anything, so I’m going to mark this occasion by going back through and looking at what I had played the most in the past year, what I felt about them then, and what I feel about them now, because for some insane reason, I have logged this information, and by gum I’m going to do something with it. So, here are the top 10 (+2) games I played the most during my first year of What I Played Today.
Honorable Mention: Dance Central
This gets an honorable mention, because even though I’ve only mentioned it five times in the blog, I’ve played it far more often than that, but I never mentioned it because I had literally nothing to say besides how many calories I burned or something really dull like that. But I have waxed a lot about how great I think this game is. It’s not perfect, it’s a bit rough, and the songs aren’t the most entertaining, but it is such a revolutionary idea that I can only say, “Yes, they have made this device worth owning.” It is the only reason I like the Kinect, and it sucks that the company who created it had such horrible news hit it right after its release, basically being dropped like a sack of hammers, but they bounced back and bought themselves, and I have confidence that they will maintain the quality they have shown up to this point. Dance Central; dang awesome.
10. Descent
This year I feel in loath with Descent. I really think it’s a fun idea and a fun game, but it also does a lot of things that make it very difficult to enjoy. I participated in a weekly campaign during the early part of last year, and while it was fun at first, it slowly became a drag. There was just too much time spent trying to get from place to place, trying to outthink the Overlord, and we ended up growing too powerful as individual characters that we weren’t challenged in the dungeons, but were utterly swamped by the circumstances on the metaboard, which made the whole scenario seem pointless. Eventually we decided to stop playing as a group, right before we reached the next level of play, because we were so bored with the proceeding. After a good six months of not playing, I got dragged into a game, and was instantly hit in the chest with a feeling of intense dread of having to play it again. Again, massive power swings between the characters, the Overlord was either pointless or a complete dick with wide variance; it just felt like the flow of the game swung too often. The only reason we were in danger at all is because my character was made of tissue paper and kept getting killed. So I don’t find myself wanting to play it again anytime soon, which is too bad. Maybe I need to play as the Overlord, to see if I like that part of the game, because as a player, I’m either constantly frustrated, or powerfully bored.
Also 10. Battlestar Galactica
I’m cheating again, but there was no way I would not talk about Battlestar Galactica, which is my favorite co-op/traitor game of all time, and it was a big year for BSG, because it unexpectedly received a second expansion, which I really enjoy for the new loyalties cards and the much more consistent cylon fleet option, although the new game mode is a bit of a blender. I played the game seven times this year, and in all but one, I was the cylon, which spelled doom for pretty much everyone else. In fact, I think I won every single game of BSG I played, which might be why I like it so much. It’s a bit of a bummer that I have such a hard time getting a group together nowadays. I understand the problem; the game is long, and it can be brutal if you don’t get flipped (and you’re playing against me). But I hope to play BSG as many times in the coming year as I did in the last one.
9. Shadow Complex
Alright, no more numbering shenanigans. Shadow Complex is a game that I played a lot of when I first started the blog, playing straight through, and then straight through again, then collecting all the items in a grab towards 100%. I never got all the achievements because they decided to throw in time trials, which I hate, but I did enjoy playing this game. It’s simple, clever, and looks good to boot, and I wish the whole controversy over its release didn’t happen so that more people got a chance to play a pretty good Metroidvania. Although, the moments that I remember most vividly are the ones where I failed again and again, like the really-tough-to-get powerup in the room full of evil heaters, or the robot that I never figured out how I was supposed to defeat him easily. But I liked it, and was pleased to see it when only last week a friend was over and poking around my machine and he started playing it out of the blue. Good times.
8. Thunderstone
I keep telling myself I don’t like Thunderstone, and I don’t know why. I mean, I play it often enough; and I have all the expansions for it. I think it’s just the easy target, the first game out the door that jumped on the giant bandwagon that Dominion created, and so it’s the easiest to point at and say, “Look at this trash. It cannot possibly compete.” But it’s a pretty alright game. The problem of not drawing the cards you need is compounded greatly in this game, with having to balance three different figures in order to score points, and some game elements that they’ve added are poorly balanced, but the most recent expansions seems to imply that they are getting it, that they now know how to make it fun. They are playing with a lot of interesting design space, so I guess I like it. I just can’t imagine getting really into it.
7. Rock Band
I will always play a lot of Rock Band. I’ve been playing it a lot less now that I have my own place, because it’s become the default hangout space and I don’t have the right set-up. But whenever the gang gets together, there will be Rock Band. It’s almost a given. While I still like playing it, I’ve become soft to marathon sessions. I only want to play maybe four or five songs, then move onto something else now. I guess it comes with being out of practice. One thing I do enjoy is all the great changes they’ve made to the game with the third iteration, which I can’t imagine not playing with. While the backwards compatibility is nil, all the different changes to accessibility makes it worth it. Probably the only stumble I can think of is making character customization so difficult, with only a few options available from the get-go and an inability to tell how to get more. But it’s a great release, and I’m glad it exists. I can’t figure out where they are going to go from here though. It’s kinda peaked.
6. Red Dead Redemption
This is probably the only AAA game I played for exactly the reason it’s known as a good game. I’ve played it in bouts and spurts, getting incredibly frustrated with both the Mexico chapter and final set of missions after the game should be officially over, but after about six months I finished it, and it’s just as good as people say it is. It’s kinda buggy though; one moment I failed to mention is when the cutscene glitched and two versions of a character were walking around, which was really creepy. But I like this game a lot, still feeling the itch to play even after it’s over, because collecting outfits is kinda fun. It’s just too bad that half of the outfits look awful (I remember spending weeks trying to get all the materials for the treasure hunter outfit, only to find out it’s a pair of ugly red overalls). But it’s definitely one I recommend.
5. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
Oh man you guys, I played so much of this game in the past month, it is not even funny. The initial thrill is gone, as I’ve gotten a little frustrated with the high-level multiplayer, but it is still a great game overall, and I’m really looking forward to playing more of it. It would probably be in the number one slot if it had come out earlier, but since I’ve only had the game for a limited amount of time, I’ve only put so much time into it. The single player, which I ignored for a long time, is also fairly awesome, so awesome in fact that any adventure game that doesn’t fluidly allow you to get on top of a building is going to feel crappy in comparison. A masterstroke for a game that seems to have been written off as a poor expansion pack.
4. Mass Effect
I played this early in the year because Mass Effect 2 had just come out and a friend who lived far away wanted to reclaim the copy of the original that had been left in my home. So, while on a deadline, I did a blitz run of this game, and ended up enjoying it a lot. Once I had gotten past the initial trouble of working with the janky combat system, I got deeply intrigued by the story (even though I noticed an obvious pattern) and was completely stunned when I got to the twist, amazed that it hadn’t been spoiled for me yet. It’s a fine piece of story wrapped in a mediocre action RPG, and the sequel is even better, fixing a lot of the problems of the first. I just wish Bioware would release plain-old visual novels, because their storytelling is much better than their roleplaying systems.
3. Final Fantasy XIII
Going back and reading through my many attempts to try and like this game is pretty sad. I think it was denial of the hate hype, wanting to prove that I could enjoy this game, damn it, but once it got to a certain point and had some time away from the game, I suddenly and quickly realized that the game just wasn’t as engaging and as intuitive as it should be. It drags you around a lot for no real reason, it cuts out all your options without explaining why, and it just takes way too long to be interesting. I just have a hard time understand the appeal, because the game was not that good. What probably killed it for me was when I ended up spending months trying to get through a single level of the game but getting really bored because it was just way too long. No sense of pacing whatsoever. But, mistakes are made, and even I need to realize that I can fool myself.
2. Dominion
Absolutely stunned how many times this game got an entry. 24 times. On 24 separate days in a single year, I would play a game of Dominion. Most of the time, I would play two (they’re cheap!)! I mean, I really like the game, but that seems absurd. The fact that two expansions came out this past year may have helped see it hit the table, but even during times when the expansions weren’t the high point, it was still a constant. There is an entry that mentions Dominion nearly every single month, year round. This game is something that I can play, any time, and will have no problem finding a game. It just goes to show how brilliant and sensible the design is. If I also included the games that I own and have played exclusively because they are like Dominion, then Dominion would no doubt be my game of 2010.
1. Persona 3 Portable
But how can I say no to this. Discovering the Persona series was almost a religious experience to me, and I absolutely love the world and the characters and the system and nearly everything about it except for its unbearable length. This game hits pretty much all the right notes for me and I want anxiously for any information on what the team will be putting out next. The game listed here actually caused me to purchase a new system entirely, just so that I would have an opportunity to play it. I have nothing but love for this, and while I haven’t touched it in a few months, probably because of frustration that I botched my “make out with all the ladies” attempt, I still look at my PSP and think, “I should really take it up again, get it finished already, and then move onto the lady’s story.” Who knows when I will? It does not surprise me that this is my most played game of the year, and while I doubt it’ll get the same honor next year, it certainly has the staying power.
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