Finished Games for 2009

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Jolor
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Finished Games for 2009

Post by Jolor »

Carrying on in that Grand Tradition of Best Intentions ...
This is the 7th year for this list, and the 8th actual list.

Rules: Maintain a list of all of the games you have completed (judgment call on open-ended games) in 2009. Listing games you started in previous years is fine.

Post only once, then go back and edit your post as necessary. Feel free to add a blurb at the bottom about the most recent game, your current gaming habits or whatever, but the thread isn't for discussion .

Only list games that you have completed in 2009(you could have started it in 2008, that is OK).

Be sure to indicate games you have re-played with an (Again) or (Repeat) or some such marker.
Last edited by ImLawBoy on Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
So sayeth the wise Alaundo.
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Jolor
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Jolor »

Finished / Ranking
(6) Rise of the Argonauts
(3) Sacred 2 - Inquisitor [silver]
(1) Jade Empire - Wu the (accidentally straight) Lotus Blossom
(4) King's Bounty - Mage
(5) Hinterland
(2) Drakensang - Elven Archer

So, final finding is that Jade Empire was my favourite game played during 2009 with Rise of the Argonauts comfortably being the least enjoyed completed game for the year. All the more reason to focus on a wealth of good games that are in my backlog in 2010.
Having said that, there's no way I'm passing on DA:O or ME2.
Last edited by Jolor on Wed Jan 20, 2010 4:33 pm, edited 22 times in total.
So sayeth the wise Alaundo.
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Kelric
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Kelric »

Since my gaming resolution this year is to finish games, I should probably track it. I did finish some in '08, but not nearly enough. I've finished up a few of the more casual games so far this year as that is most of what I am playing for some reason.

Finished
Spectromancer - 2/16 - Finished the campaigns for each class on three of the four difficulty levels.
Nile Online Beta - 3/06 - Made it to the 1.0 release ranked within the top 100 from close to the beginning until the I stopped playing.
Kudos Rock Legend - 4/11 - Good for nostalgia gaming now that I've played through a few bands again.
Hinterland - 4/12 - Played with the hardest settings except for Hardcore. Only wound up dying once. Some day I'll play Hardcore, but I really wish this game had more depth.
Defense Grid: The Awakening - 5/11 - Picked it up for $5 on Steam. Well worth it. I'll continue going back to this for a while as I want to try some of the gauntlet modes.
Trials 2: Second Edition - 5/12 - I went back to this trying to finish off the few courses I hadn't completed. I officially give up and will call it finished.
Hinterland: Orc Lords - 6/23 - A free update was released allowing two new Orc classes. Again I finished with everything but Hardcore for difficulty.
Gears Of War 2 (360) - End of July - Finished a co-op campaign with a friend.
Empire: Total War - 8/14 - Finished a Grand Campaign as Sweden. Conquered all of Europe except for the British Isles. I let them stay around to amuse me. I started a Grand Campaign as Great Britain, so I will continue going back to this.
Demigod - 8/19 - Thanks to Lee for letting me use his 50% off coupon. Finished four Tournaments as four characters. I'll keep going back to this for the odd match or two for quite a while.
Defcon - 8/22 - Played a long, epic game this afternoon. Good enough for now.
King's Bounty: The Legend - 11/4 - Had a lot of fun, though it took me more than two months with this as my main game to actually finish. Bogged down at the end when I had to constantly run back to the capital city to replenish my troops.
Knights Of Honor - 11/15 - Played as Ireland. Conquered Britain, Norway/Sweden, most of western Europe. Decided victory was inevitable and got myself the Kingdom Bonus victory before bowing out. So many of these types of games (Civ, Total War, etc.) are foregone conclusions once you start rolling the opposition. Still, I had fun. I could go back to it on higher difficulties.
Evil Genius - 11/15 - Couldn't find a way to play well and gave up after coming back to it today. It didn't grab me enough to put any more time into.
Plants Vs. Zombies - 11/28 - Bought it months ago. The $5 recent sale made me want to go back, so I did. Finished! If I had known how close I was when I used to play this on my laptop it would have been done over the summer. Now to play the mini-games...
Mount & Blade - One Hundred Years War (mod) - 12/21 - Played 330ish days in-game and am victim of a corrupt save file. :(
Left 4 Dead - 12/21 - I think it is official to say I am done with L4D1 now that L4D2 is well and truly out.


Playing
Left 4 Dead 2
Out Of The Park Baseball 10


Vying For Attention
Rock Band 2 (360) - Endless set list! Eventually. Maybe. I hope.

Games To Play - Way too many to list, but here are some I've started and need to go back to:
Assassin's Creed - A few missions in. It lost it's playing time to games I've actually finished.
Braid
Eets - Another casual puzzle game. Got distracted.
Osmos
Titan Quest - Figured it was about time to give it a try. Then I found out that you should start the game with the Immortal Throne expansion due to the improvements carrying over to the original. But I was already two zones in, so I imported my character into IT. But my quests didn't import, which I didn't realize until I had reached the next zone. Argh! Too aggravated to start over, so this goes on the back burner for now.
Universe At War: Earth Assault - Bumped off the Playing list before I even started because of Demigod.
Last edited by Kelric on Sat Jan 02, 2010 12:14 pm, edited 44 times in total.
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disarm
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by disarm »

after successfully completing 12 games in 2008 (down from 18 in 2007) we'll see how this year turns out...

Finished

Burnout Revenge (360) - Perfect on All Events (only took 60 hours of playtime over 3 years) - January 30
Resident Evil 4 (PS2) - April 25
God of War - May 4
God of War II - May 17
Fallout 3 (360) - May 20
inFAMOUS - Good Path - June 12
Prototype (360) - July 2
Ico - September 7
Shadow of the Colossus - September 9
Killzone 2 - September 13
Batman: Arkham Asylum (360) - September 17
Shadow Complex - September 18
Halo 3:ODST - September 29
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - October 18
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - November 15

In Progress

Dead Space
Ninja Gaiden 2
Final Fantasy XII
Puzzle Quest
(PSP)
Rock Band 2
Orange Box (HL2, Episodes 1 & 2)
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja
Prey
Last edited by disarm on Mon Nov 16, 2009 5:22 am, edited 11 times in total.
Sabin Stargem
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Sabin Stargem »

As of this year...



ACTION RPG

Ys III - Oath in Felghana
Ys VI - Ark of Napishtim



INTERACTIVE FICTION

True Rememberance
Last edited by Sabin Stargem on Sat Jan 03, 2009 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ulee
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Ulee »

Finished
Dirty Secret
Sacred 2 (2x)
Gravity Bone
3 Cards to Midnight
Fallout 3
Faerie Solitaire

Working On
The Witcher
Tex Murphy: Mean Streets
Last edited by Ulee on Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:16 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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D.A.Lewis
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by D.A.Lewis »

Finished
Titan Quest
Fallout 3
Risen


Working On
Gothic 3
Dragon Age
Memento Mori
Scribblenauts
Last edited by D.A.Lewis on Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:40 am, edited 4 times in total.
AKA: Dajjer
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ChuckB
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by ChuckB »

Currently playing:

PC:
Lord of the Rings Online

PSP:
Jeanne D'Arc

PS3:
Fallout 3
Killzone 2
Battlefield 1943 (I absolutely love it!)

Completed:

Assassin's Creed (PS3) - God, how I hated the end!
Defense Grid: The Awakening (PC)
Last edited by ChuckB on Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:51 am, edited 8 times in total.
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YellowKing
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by YellowKing »

Finished


Currently Playing

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
Prince of Persia
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Picross DS
checkedout
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by checkedout »

Finished -

Are you truely ever finished?

Playing -

Wotlk

LOTRO
Jeff V
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Jeff V »

Finished

My 56th and 57th game of Gal Civ II -- Am I the only one still carrying the OO banner into battle?

Playing


Gal Civ II
Fallout 3
Civ 4 - BTS
Black Lives Matter
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tgb
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by tgb »

Fallout 3, if I actually finish it, will be the first game I've played to completion, given my gaming ADD, in a very long time. I have "completed" numerous games of Civ, GalCiv II, Montjoie, EiA over the past year.
I spent 90% of the money I made on women, booze, and drugs. The other 10% I just pissed away.
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Kyosho
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Kyosho »

Reserved.
sgoldj
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by sgoldj »

Lego Star Wars the complete saga (Wii) 3/4/09
Red Steel (Wii) 5/6/09
Resident Evil 4 (Wii) 6/28/09
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles 8/2/09
Sam & Max: Season One (Wii) 9/4/09
Resident Evil 4 -Separate Ways (Wii) 9/7/09
House of the Dead 2/3 (Wii) 10/7/09
Stars Wars: Force Unleashed (Wii) 10/10/09
Harvey Birdman:AAL (Wii) 10/30/09
De Blob (Wii) 11/27/09
TRON 2.0 (PC) 12/15/09
Dead Space Extraction (Wii) 12/26/09







Just can't seem to get into Fallout 1 (but playing it)
Last edited by sgoldj on Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:36 pm, edited 12 times in total.
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Godzilla Blitz
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Godzilla Blitz »

Finished:
Little Big Planet (PS3)
Beyond Good & Evil (PS2)

Playing:
Rock Band 2 (PS3)
Final Fantasy V (GBA, Japanese)
Pokemon Colosseum (NGC)

Games Finished in 2009: 2
Games Finished in 2008: 7
Games Finished in 2007: 3
Last edited by Godzilla Blitz on Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:03 pm, edited 3 times in total.
BooTx
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by BooTx »

Finished:

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn + Throne of Bhaal
Thief 3: Deadly Shadows
FlatOut 2
Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic (Replay)
Darwinia
Beyond Good & Evil
Rome: Total War (Julii Imperial Campaign)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Call of Duty 4 (Replay)
Test Drive: Unlimited
Deus Ex (Replay)
FEAR + Extraction Point (Replay)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries
Jazz Jackrabbit 2
The Ultimate Doom (Replay)
Doom II: Hell on Earth (Replay)
Diablo II + LOD (Replay)
Thief: The Dark Project
Last edited by BooTx on Sun Oct 18, 2009 12:05 am, edited 15 times in total.
EddieA
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by EddieA »

Games Finished
=============
Mass Effect (360) - 48 hours - 550G
Pirates of The Caribbean : At World's End (360) - 850G
Crackdown (360) - 480G
Shadowgrounds : Survivor (PC)
Crash Nitro Kart (XBox)
Tales of Symphonia (Gamecube) - 103 hours
Stranglehold (360) - 335G
Elite Beat Agents (DS)
Sam & Max Season Two : Ice Station Santa (PC)
Castle Crashers (XBLA) - 125G
The Simpsons Game (360) - 21 hours - 490G
Pariah (PC)
LEGO Star Wars 2 (XBox) - 34 hours - 89.2% complete
Secret Files : Tunguska (PC)
Halo 2 (XBox)
Professor Layton & The Curious Village (DS) - 22 hours
Marvel : Ultimate Alliance (360) - 625G
Star Wars : The Force Unleashed (360) - 12 hours - 555G
Guitar Hero (PS2) - finished Medium
Blue Dragon (360) - 90 hours - 60G
Spider-Man : Friend or Foe (360) - 1000G
Uncharted : Drake's Fortune (PS3) - 50% trophies
Ratchet & Clank : Size Matters (PSP)


Casual Games Finished - 72
Last edited by EddieA on Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:55 am, edited 91 times in total.
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Quitch
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Quitch »

Finished

Nothing yet

Playing

Call of Duty 5 (PC) - Very traditional CoD, feels like a step back from 4.
Far Cry 2 (PC) - Bloody awesome, I hope for a sequel which builds on this foundation.
So Blonde (PC) - Point & click adventure which hasn't really grabbed me.
Sam & Max Season 1 Episode 5 (PC) - The season just gets better and better.
Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 - The coop (human or AI) is the only thing which keeps the campaign worth playing. A step back from C&C 3.
Left4Dead (PC) - Good solid fun in coop. Versus holds no interest. Not sure if it'll have legs once I've finished all the campaigns.
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Z-Corn
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Z-Corn »

Finished:
Fallout 3
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wi111
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by wi111 »

Finished

Tribes Vengeance
a bit disappointed by its the indoor level so so repetitive,but the out door level do had some old tribes feel to it.overall a OK game. 17/2

For my gaming ADD hopefully can get some game finish this year

Now Playing

Dead Space
Great atmosphere but only after 4 chapters i already feel its repetitive

Uplink Hacker Elite
Last edited by wi111 on Tue Feb 17, 2009 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Brain
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Brain »

Finished:
Spectromancer
Magic the Gathering (Microprose)
Sword of the Stars - Murder of Crows
King's Bounty (Warrior/Hard)
Plants Vs Zombies
Dawn of War - Dark Crusade (Chaos)
Hinterland: Orc Lords
King's Bounty (Mage/Impossible)
Last edited by Brain on Sat Nov 14, 2009 2:43 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Hipolito
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Hipolito »

PC

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Jan. 22, Hardened difficulty) Rating: 4/8
The grimly realistic portrayal of war and the highly compelling nature of some of the levels (such as the AC-130 one) are undone by the nature of the pacing of the gunfights, in which you must keep moving forward in order to prevent enemies from respawning. Your teammates are invincible and, unlike you, know exactly where to go, so the game is really more about trying to survive while following them. Success depends less on tactics and more on luck as you repeat a level again and again and hope things turn out differently. The story has some unconventional twists but is told in MTV-style pans between levels. I was never clear on exactly who I was fighting.

Ben There, Dan That! (Jan. 27) Rating: 4/8
Explicitly pays homage to LucasArts adventures, though its interface is more like the point-and-click adventures from Sierra. Some pretty funny moments, and it's interesting to read the error messages that are customized for most of the screw-ups you make. But the length is often too long and the pacing too slow for the dialogue. The game is often very quiet, but the music and sound effects that are there are well done. The ending is clever, but would have benefited from being a bit longer.

Beyond Good & Evil (Mar. 7, got all pearls) Rating: 6/8
Neat action-adventure that has an open-world feel without getting too big as open worlds tend to be. Great characters, mostly fun minigames, and large missions of stealth and puzzling that are fun to work through. The item locator really helps and is a great feature. The story has a couple of surprises, as do the action sequences. Unfortunately, the last two hours of the game are bad. They involve a completely uninteresting final area and frustrating boss. They are so bad that I didn't care about the final plot twist, and they reduce the game from greatness to mere goodness.

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (Mar. 30, as Druid, via GameTap) Rating: 6/8
The way the game plays is only superficially similar to Bejeweled. When you're matching gems here, you're not merely trying to clear the board, but are taking risks, biding your time, and forming strategy. The back-and-forth feels like a duel, a dance. The spells are all impressively balanced, the challenges varied. The sound effects and music are effective. There are many options for improving your character, allowing you to build an inventory that will easily defeat your enemies for a while until you come across one that forces you to change your strategy. The story, while light, is well-written and has humor. Its ending is better than that of most games. The major thing that needs changing is the amount of "random" encounters. The game should have allowed the player to skip most encounters against most "wandering" enemy types that have been beaten many times before. (Note: I later found out that there is a way to do this, which I missed.)

World in Conflict Collector's Edition (July 17, Normal difficulty, completed all objectives) Rating: 6/8
The battles are nice and smoky and the vehicles move around realistically. (Though it's strange how powerful anti-tank infantry are.) I liked the ebb and flow of battle, with plenty of overwhelming situations punctuated by appropriate music. For an RTS game, the story is fairly good with some good actors, interesting characters, and even a couple of poignant scenes. The secondary objectives were fun to pursue and I was able to complete all of them.

Braid (July 28, got all puzzle pieces without using hints) Rating: 6/8
I like how the game lets you learn how to play it and figure out the rules of each level. That's a challenging reward in itself. The puzzles are very tricky and challenging, but the frustration factor is mitigated by the time manipulation function. I approached many of the puzzles thinking they would be impossible, so I felt quite good when I figured them out. The game just lets you dig into each puzzle without other things getting in the way. The music reflects the mood of each chapter very nicely, and the graphics are bright and colorful. It's an inviting game to watch and play. I didn't care much for the story and how it was told, though I appreciated the cute little references to Super Mario Bros. in some of the levels. Whatever message the game maker was trying to convey was lost on me, though I've come to understand it from reading interpretations of it online.

World of Goo (Aug. 4, 12 hours 30 minutes, 714 goo balls) Rating: 6/8
The music, which seems inspired by everything from Tim Burton movies to Koyaanisqatsi, really puts you in the mood to solve each of the varied, challenging levels. I enjoyed figuring out the levels and playing around with different goo balls. The levels are not just challenging; they are interesting to look at and are designed to help convey the story (such as it is). There's nothing quite like watching your carefully (yet poorly) constructed work-in-progress sway alarmingly in the breeze and under its own weight, your heart stopping as you see whether the bridge will maintain equilibrium or collapse in the next second. The story is told in brief cutscenes between chapters. I didn't really get it, but the cutscenes were neat enough to watch. The story touches on the environment, consumerism, and corporations, though as soon as I think it's about to make a point about one of these topics, the chapter ends and a new topic is focused on. The fourth chapter is significantly different in look, feel, and mechanic. It doesn't use the bridge-building aspect. It was interesting, but I didn't enjoy it much.

The Path (Aug. 7, via GameTap) Rating: 5/8
From about 7 pm to 3 am, I was completely hooked to this game and determined to fight off sleep and finish it, which I did. The game looks great and has good mood music with surprising variations. It's simply fun to explore the world and collect stuff, then figure out how to close each chapter. Each character had a distinct personality, sometimes a very cute one. And watching each astonishingly detailed and choreographed chapter close is both intimidating and saddening. Although the movement interface was sticky, I liked how the way to interact with objects was to simply let go of the controls. My overall experience was ruined in the end, though, by what seemed to be a serious bug (at least it's a bug in my opinion), making me think that I'd either missed something or screwed up the game. Some of the areas force you to walk instead of run, and it's a really terrible slog when this happens. Finally, the epilogue was really weak. Although I'm embittered by the problems I had, I can't forget how enthralled I was for most of the game. I really cared about seeing it to the end. I want more weird, flawed games like this and Killer 7.

Psychonauts (Aug. 17, gave up on final level) Rating: 3/8
Despite the obvious creative vision behind the game, I found the platforming gameplay frustrating and the story uninvolving. The various psychic powers are fine, but the targeting system is too unresponsive. My opinions of each of the levels:
Spoiler:
  • Campgrounds: Pretty boring stuff. I didn't find many conversations to eavesdrop, though the ones I did find were fairly funny. The various characters are not very deep, though it seems that the game expects us to connect with them. The rolling hills and various animated little sprites don't hide that there's little to look at and even less to do.
  • Basic Braining: A rudimentary level, clearly part of the tutorial. I neither liked nor disliked it. The trainer played the part of the part of a barking, permanently P.O.'ed drill instructor. Little did I know how significant a part he would play in the story.
  • Sasha's Shooting Gallery: The tutorial mode gives way to serious challenge (both in the gameplay and the story). I was still getting used to the controls, not even having decided whether I'd use the gamepad or the keyboard. (I eventually settled on the keyboard.) It's cool to be able to walk from one facet of the cube to another, but it's annoying to have to dodge and shoot all those enemies without anything interesting happening in the plot.
  • Milla's Dance Party: All the disco dancing and Milla's personality are supposed to make this level sassy and cool, but it's just annoying. Having to bounce and roll to find the way out of each segment of the level was frustrating.
  • Lungfishopolis: Controlling my character from the point of view of the giant lungfish was neat (not great, but neat), and the monster movie parody that followed was both great and neat. The story of supporting some rebel movement felt tacked-on and stupid, but it was a lot of fun to climb and smash buildings. The screams from the panicking civilians were funny, particularly those regarding the orphanage. I didn't enjoy the end-boss battle as much.
  • Milkman Conspiracy: Great satire and captivating art and level flow. It was a trudge, though, to walk around the town looking for all the objects I'd need. Everything looked the same, which was fitting but confusing. The "Milkman" character himself is fun to watch and hear, as were all the agents. I didn't care for being sucked through the pavement to fight non-sequitur mini-bosses, though.
  • Gloria's Theater: This level does a great job of portraying a play gone wrong, with horrible acting and an indulgently vicious critic. But it was very frustrating in difficulty.
  • Waterloo World: Fantastic rendition of a board game come to life. I love how you can focus on a landmark on the board, and the camera pans in and takes you there. It was also gratifying to use telekinesis to move the board game pieces. It was clever how you had to solve the morale problems among your troops to get your army on par with Napoleon's. Unfortunately, many of the tasks you had to do were difficult to figure out without a walkthrough (and still time-consuming with a walkthrough). This was made more annoying with Napoleon's troops taking potshots at you.
  • Black Velvetopia: I'd gotten so tired of and frustrated with the game that I decided I'd use a walkthrough for this level from start to finish. I'm glad I did. The look of the level is cool, but navigating it is a nightmare. Getting my telekinesis power to activate the necessary parts in the final battle was arbitrarily difficult. And the story of love lost just ended kind of stupidly.
  • Asylum: I did this part on my own, and while I fell many times, I'm glad I was able to figure it out. It wasn't bad. The frog is cool. I wish I'd been able to find all the brains; I missed three, despite all the repetitive wandering about. I liked the main character's comments on each chracter when he found the character's brain, but it emphasized how little the game did to get us acquainted with most of the characters.
  • Meat Circus: I only attempted this notoriously difficult level for a half-hour. I gave up trying to keep the kid from getting hammered by meat bunnies as he flew to higher and higher levels. I watched the level played out on YouTube. It's just bad in terms of design. In terms of story, it was alright, and it would have been nice to earn those story moments on my own.
F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon Director's Edition (Aug. 31, Low difficulty) Rating: 3/8
Utterly dull. I don't mind that it all takes place in warehouse and office environments so much as how little goes on anywhere. The plot is uninteresting, the characters bland. There are no real scares.

Spycraft: The Great Game (Sept. 7) Rating: 4/8
It was hard to enjoy this game with its choresome interface and disc-swapping, but I admire how much attention to detail there is. It's cool to work through most of the elaborate puzzles. But often, there's some detail about the information or interface I didn't understand which made my guesses wrong, so I ended up using a walkthrough a fair amount of times. There is a lot of voice and video acting, much of it good. The story, though it lost me on the details, has a pretty disturbing finale.

F.E.A.R. Extraction Point (Sept. 17, Moderate difficulty) Rating: 4/8
This add-on throws in a few more weapons and enemy types, all good additions. People who found F.E.A.R. scary (I wasn't one of them) may find this unbearably intense. The level titled "Malignancy" is a particularly well-crafted walk through a house of horrors. The combat's the same deal, though there are a few very dramatic and challenging firefights that beat whatever the original had. With better firefights (and me playing on Moderate rather than Easy difficulty), a shorter length, and better (not effective, but better) scares, this game was more fun than the original and not so bad overall.

Majesty (Sept. 27) Rating: 6/8
It's fun to watch your kingdom grow, your subjects develop and add to your coffers, and your subjects prevail in battle. It's been characterized as a "hands-off" RTS, but I think it's an RTS that makes more sense. Rather than getting caught up in the minutiae of troop deployment and spell usage, you generally tell your subjects what you want and how important it is (by placing flags). It's not really hands-off at all, as you have to make many decisions on building choice, placement, and upgrade, plus occasionally helping your soldiers as a "hand-of-god" spellcaster. The interface handles it all well minus a few annoyances. Overall, a highly enjoyable game.

Majesty: The Northern Expansion (Oct. 12) Rating: 4/8
By making the game this much more difficult, the charm of developing a town and economy and motivating your heroes is lost some. Now you have to rush to be ready for massive, frequent onslaughts from powerful foes, which limits one's options. That's just not what Majesty is about.


PlayStation 2

Fatal Frame III: The Tormented (June 11, 29 hours, Normal difficulty, gave up on final battle) Rating: 3/8
The ghosts are spooky, but it's a bit of a chore to fight them. It's also a chore to explore the haunted house with the clunky controls and figure out how to trigger the next cutscene. The game's photo mechanic makes for scare potential, but it's too frustrating. There doesn't seem to be much to the story; either I don't get it or there's little to get. The last several chapters are "timed," making the usual wandering around not an option; you have to know where to go and get there quickly. Even on Normal difficulty, the game is too stingy with healing items and there's no warning that you should only pick up certain powerful items for the character(s) who need them. I watched the final boss battle on YouTube; it would have been nice to be able to reach this awesome-looking battle on my own. I'll give this game an extra tentacle to put it on par with other "great" games that were too hard for me to enjoy: Warcraft II and Homeworld.

Ōkami (July 19, 103 hours) Rating: 5/8
The best parts of the game are the giddy flourishes of life that sweep across the screen when you restore a region's natural beauty. It's like a watercolor painting coming to life. The story ended up being pretty stupid. How the game concluded left such a bad taste in my mouth that I'm knocking down from six tentacles to five.

GrimGrimoire (July 29, 25 hours) Rating: 5/8
The plot of the game is pretty interesting, though I had trouble keeping track of who was betraying who. The voice acting is pretty good, and especially good when it comes to the Advocat character. The biggest problem I have with the game is how grindy and samey it gets. You fight in the same tower again and again. The layout changes from level to level, but the scenery is all the same. Despite the many different units and possible tactical situations, the campaign is one "wipe out everything" level after another (with the occasional survival mission), with no StarCraft-style dialogues or plot twists during it. The main reason to play each mission is to see the cutscene after it.


PlayStation 3

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Aug. 25, 25 hours, 51% completion) Rating: 2/8
Why did they feel the need to start each level with the Star Wars theme and text crawl? And what's with that persistent jangling sound in the background? What a bad game. Maybe kids enjoy it for its cute look and simple gameplay. But I found it a bore and a chore. Most of the cutscenes didn't charm me. The flying levels were more fun than the walking levels, if only because they were easier and over sooner. I'm glad that the game includes a lot of unlockable "Extras" that are essentially cheat codes to help power through the game. I used a walkthrough to find and take advantage of them.

Valkyria Chronicles (Dec. 27, 50 hours including downloadable content) Rating: 7/8
It's sometimes impossible for me to play this game sitting down and more than 2 feet away from the TV. It's really that exciting and absorbing. Combat is amazing, interesting and fun, and a battle can turn out a different way each time. I enjoyed watching the characters be themselves and the story unfold. It's like playing Jagged Alliance 2 in 3D with a mild anime flavor. It even has the same flaw of Jagged Alliance 2 with both sides becoming too powerful in the protracted end. As for the DLC, "Edy’s Mission: Enter the Edy Detachment" and "Selvaria's Mission: Behind Her Blue Flame" are story-containing missions that are worth playing, but the others are story-less challenge missions that are not.


Game Boy Advance

WarioWare: Twisted! (Aug. 25) Rating: 4/8

Pokémon Emerald (Sept. 13, 85 hours, Pokédex 87, gave up in Pokémon League) Rating: 4/8
All this fuss over a pretty simple RPG. The story about the turf war between Teams Aqua and Magma could have been more interesting, but it is addressed too infrequently in the midst of hundreds of mandatory trainer battles. Catching and developing Pokemon is sort of cool, though chances are you'll find most of them too weak and useless and you'll focus on a few favorites. The world revolves around Pokemon, everyone is obsessed with it. Most of the game time is spent in battle, which is a reasonable if not captivating challenge of balancing strengths, weaknesses, timing, and items.


DS

The World Ends with You (Oct. 17) Rating: 5/8
After a slow start, this unique game gets interesting with its characters, story, and vast array of collectable, artistic pins. Lyrical and soothing music. It's not really feasible to control both characters during battle with precision, and the control is not as responsive as I would have liked, making combat a drag, effects-laden challenge. The multiple ways to adjust difficulty (and affect combat outcome) and the postgame content are quite appreciated and stand out among games.

Chrono Trigger (Dec. 19, 50 hours) Rating: 4/8
The game is put together quite well. I understand why some may call it perfect. But it lost my interest pretty early, probably when it became clear that the player character wasn't really a character. It was interesting to see how people of various times came together to stop a common threat. I liked the time travel theme and the soundtrack but not the combat. I don't see myself playing this game again.


Edit: originally, this post only had tentacle ratings for the games. However, when I had played the games, I had written in my personal notes not just my ratings but also critiques about them. I just hadn't shared those critiques here. It didn't occur to me until now to go back and edit this post to include those critiques. So I've now included the critiques I could find.
Last edited by Hipolito on Thu Jan 12, 2023 12:35 am, edited 21 times in total.
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Creepy_Smell
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Creepy_Smell »

PC
Fallout 3
F.E.A.R.
Timeshift
SW:Kotor
Operation Flashpoint (OG campaign)
System Shock 2 (Replay)

DS
Orcs & Elves

WII
Lego Star Wars
Last edited by Creepy_Smell on Tue May 05, 2009 9:55 am, edited 6 times in total.
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Baroquen
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Baroquen »

Finished

Mystery Files: Huntsville - 1/31
(Casual, I know, but it was free. I blame Fairway Solitaire which led to a free version of Hidden Expedition: Titantic, which led to three more freebies from Big Fish. I just grabbed another free one today. With a baby in the house, "casual" might be a larger slice of my gaming pie.)

In Progress

Disgaea 3
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Final Fantasy Tactics A2
Star Wars: KOTOR

Reasons Why I'm Not Finishing Games

WoW: WotLK

Finished Games in 2008: 8
Finished Games in 2009: 1
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JonathanStrange
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by JonathanStrange »

Finished 3 long games of Civ 4 "Fall From Heaven 2" - epic empires of Ljolsalfar, Elohim, and Khazad.

Plus 10-12 shorter FFH2 games that I experimented playing with non-favorite civilizations.

Civ 4 and its mods are so seductive to me that I finish one and then say "Well, what if I try this next time?" and I start again.

I'm all Civ'd out for now though so I claim FINISHED.
The opinions expressed by JonathanStrange are solely those of JonathanStrange and do not reflect the opinions of OctopusOverlords.com, the forum members of OctopusOverlords, the elusive Mr. Norrell, or JonathanStrange.


Books Read 2013
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Boudreaux
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Boudreaux »

Finished
Gears of War 2
LEGO Indiana Jones (100%)
Call of Duty: World at War (SP campaign)
Mass Effect
Assassin's Creed
Portal (2nd time)
Ghostbusters
Red Faction: Guerilla
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Beatles: Rock Band (Story)

Now Playing
Dragon Age: Origins
Brutal Legend
Dawn of War 2 (SP campaign)
NHL 10
Last edited by Boudreaux on Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:41 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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naednek
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by naednek »

Finished:
Call of Duty: World at War PC -January 5th, 2009
Gears of War II Xbox 360 - January 7th, 2009
Fable II Xbox 360 - February 4th, 2009
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune PS3 Feburary 14th, 2009
Dawn of War 2 March 19th, 2009
Red Alert 3 P April 3rd 2009
Star Wars Force Unleashed May 15th 2009
Fallout 3 PS3 May 21st 2009
Grand Theft Auto IV Lost and the Damned May 25th 2009
Killzone 2 PS3 June 13th 2009
Mass Effect PC July 16th 2009
Red Faction Gorilla PS3 July 20th, 2009
Madden 2009 September 7th 2009
Batman Arkham Asylum September 9th, 2009
Farcry 2 PC September 28th, 2009
Crysis: Warhead PC October 12th, 2009
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves PS3 October 21st 2009
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 PC November 24th 2009

Playing:
Brothers in Arms Hells Highway PC
Space Siege PC
Resistance 2 PS3
Brutal Legend - Xbox 360
Dragon Age - PC
Halo ODST
Battlefield: Bad Company
Last edited by naednek on Wed Nov 25, 2009 2:10 am, edited 18 times in total.
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Enigma
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Enigma »

Finished:
COH: Opposing Forces SP Campaigns
Call of Duty World at War SP Campaign

Playing:
First Eagles
Sacred 2


Fallout 3
Need to play/finish:
The Witcher
World In Conflict SP campaign
Bioshock
Far Cry 2
Two Worlds
Gears of War
Mass Effect
Mercenaries 2
Last edited by Enigma on Sun Sep 13, 2009 2:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Now Playing:
XCOM, Huge backlog in the wings thanks a lot Steam!
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srdaniel
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by srdaniel »

Finished
GTA IV
Fallout 3
Mass Effect
Gravity Bone

Playing
The Witcher
Caesar IV
Last edited by srdaniel on Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:11 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Lordnine
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Lordnine »

Finished
Brothers in Arms: Road to the Hill
Dawn of War II
Defense Grid: The Awakening
No More Heroes (Wii)
Braid
Plants Vs Zombies
Zeno Clash

Playing
King's Bounty
Stalker: Clear Sky
Last edited by Lordnine on Sun Jun 07, 2009 4:17 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Chaz
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Chaz »

To keep up with my push for finishing games lately:

Finished
-Fable 2 - 635G
-Lost Odyssey- Totaled 60 hours, 45 of which was over a three week period. - 740G
-Persona 3 - 103 hours total, took 1 month, 7 days
-Half Life 2 - about three weeks total, but only around 15 hours played
-Lego Indiana Jones - 960G, 20 hours, 100% - Somehow this sucked me in over a long weekend, and I did the whole thing in three days.
-Half Life 2 Episode 1 (and Lost Coast, but that was so short it doesn't really count)
-Half Life 2 Episode 2
-Tales of Vesperia - 55 hours, 530G, 1 month 2 days
-Red Faction Guerrilla - 6/20 - 21 hours, 435G
-Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - 6/22 - 8 hours
-Uncharted 2
-Assassin's Creed
-Assassin's Creed 2
-Wet
-Secret of Monkey Island SE
-Modern Warfare 2
-Batman: Arkham Asylum
-Borderlands - first playthrough

Now Playing


Next Up
Persona 4
Fallout 3
Infinite Undiscovery
Last Remnant
Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts
Mad World
Last edited by Chaz on Sat Dec 12, 2009 1:19 am, edited 9 times in total.
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Little Raven
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Little Raven »

Finished:
  • Heroes of Might and Magic V
  • World of Goo
  • F.E.A.R.
  • Red Alert 3
Playing:
  • Heroes of Might and Magic V: Hammers of Fate
  • F.E.A.R. Extraction Point
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Giles Habibula
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Giles Habibula »

02-15-09 **** "Battlestrike: Force of Resistance". Another 8-mission budget shooter from City Interactive. This sold new for only $10, and it's surprisingly good. Uses the Chrome engine. Nice, varied environments, interesting, fairly long missions, good weapon sound and feel. All-around good, fun game. Really enjoyed it.

03-17-09 ***** "Secret Service: In Harms Way". The original 2001 title developed by Fun Labs on their proprietary 3D engine. There were two more Secret Service games, but both pale compared to this well-thought-out original. This is what I consider to be a perfect game for me. Many ways to accomplish your missions. No save games or checkpoints means each of the 16 missions must be done in Ironman mode. Often brutally frustrating, but never unfair. LOTS of exploration is possible in each huge and imaginatively-designed level. Sniping is fun. The 3D engine is old now, but even now it impressed me. You can shoot through doors and walls, and the physics feel just right. Took me several years of sporadic efforts just to finish the first level, which is extremely difficult until you get used to how the engine works. Most missions require you to 'protect' someone. I usually would hate this, but I enjoyed it here, as you can really use your imagination. Absolutely loved this game. Best FPS I've played in a few years, even better than the recent big-name titles. This is gameplay for the hardcore!

03-25-09 **** "Land Of The Dead: Road To Fiddler's Green". This game got a lot of bad reviews, and I don't know why. It's a fun and satisfying zombie shooter, that is all, and it does what it does quite well. Nice level design, varied environments, good weapons, and even a decent (if quirky) dismemberment engine. Quite bloody. Even the story, while not profound, is definitely good enough for a zombie shooter. Loved it. And for a game released as a budget title, it is quite long, encompassing 26 levels.

08-01-09 ***** "Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood". Another excellent western shooter by Techland. Finished it in (according to official stats sheet at end of game) 10 hours and 20 minutes, which included a fair amount of exploration in the areas that allowed it. Loved the quick-draw mechanic; they could theoretically make some kind of budget quick-draw game using this feature all by itself, with a few tweaks. Loved the overall game and story, about as much as I did the original.

12-13-09 ***** "Thief Gold". Took me 10 years, but I finally finished what I consider to be the best computer game ever made. Total game time according to game clock: 22 hours 16 minutes.

12-20-09 ** "Jonathan Kane: The Protector". Budget shooter with some Tomb Raider elements thrown in, along with some "stealth" segments. None of this really works, and the proprietary 3D engine sort of sucks, but it's good enough to finish, I guess. Had some fun with it. Some interesting environments, but it's not very cohesive. Might be worth $10. I paid $20. It was released at $40, which was way, way too high.
Last edited by Giles Habibula on Sun Dec 20, 2009 8:01 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Malificent
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Malificent »

Finished:
The Witcher
Mass Effect
Fable 2
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (normal difficulty)

Playing:
Rock Band 2
King's Bounty
Fallout 3
Lego Indiana Jones
Crimson Skies
Left 4 Dead

Started But Unlikely to Finish:
Dead Space
Last edited by Malificent on Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Zarathud
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Zarathud »

Finished:
Prototype
Plants Vs. Zombies (twice)
Demigod (campaign)
Star Wolves (at impossible last mission)
Saint's Row 2 (campaign)
Left For Dead
Dawn of War 2 (campaign)
Hinterland

Playing:
Alien Shooter 2
Drakensang
Demigod
Left For Dead
Empire: Total War
King's Bounty
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
Neverwinter Nights: Storm of Zehir

Last Edit: Finished Prototype
Last edited by Zarathud on Wed Aug 05, 2009 1:19 am, edited 10 times in total.
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apatdapat
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by apatdapat »

Finished:
Persona 3 FES
Persona 4
Fallout 3
Fable 2
Approximately 20 or so games of EU 3

Now Playing

X3 Terran Conflict
GTA 4
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Sacred 2
EU 3 is the default always in progress game.
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Grievous Angel
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Grievous Angel »

Finished:
Puzzle Quest
Fallout. The first one. For the first time. Only took me about 12 years.
Here's to a long life and a merry one; A quick death and an easy one; A pretty girl and a true one; A cold beer, and another one.

Will write for food or music.
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Bakhtosh
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Bakhtosh »

FINISHED:
Baldur's Gate II: SoA (original)
Baldur's Gate II: ToB (expansion)

ON THE MOUND:
Sins of a Solar Empire
I'm sure I'll play around with Fallout 3 a bit, but intend to concentrate on Sins for a while.

IN THE BULLPEN:
Fallout 3
Civ 4 (replay)
Last edited by Bakhtosh on Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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moss_icon
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by moss_icon »

Finished:

Brothers in Arms - Highway to Hell : 29/03/09 - according to Xfire it took me 10 hours. good game.
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Gwar21
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Re: Finished Games for 2009

Post by Gwar21 »

Completed:

3/29 - Final Fantasy IV (PSX) - 41 hrs

Currently playing:

???
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