We’re coming up on holiday season. If you’re American, it’s already started with Thanksgiving. And you know what that means if you’re a gamer: Steam sales.
Steam sales are terrible, awful things in the most wonderful way imaginable. Top quality games up to 90% off their regular price. Bundles of games a fraction of the cost of their individual components. And, of course, the resignation to the fact that your Pile of Shame will inevitably be getting bigger, because after all, you’d be stupid not to purchase these games while they’re so cheap, right?
Right. Glad we’re on the same page. With that in mind, and with my broke-and-unemployed status in mind, I thought I would attempt to list my current Pile(s) of Shame in an attempt to convince me that I don’t really need Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, despite the fact that I’d very much like to play the multiplayer with the Squadron of Shame.
All right. Here goes. Let’s start with the least-depressing part of the list:
Games I’m Currently Playing And Intend To Finish Before Playing Or Buying Anything Else, Dammit
Deadly Premonition (Xbox 360) – fantastic game, and contender for Game of the Year 2010 in my eyes. Definite contender for “most memorable protagonist of all time” and “best ensemble cast”. And “worst use of next-gen graphics technology”, but that’s really not the issue here.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (Xbox 360) – one of the most entertaining driving games I’ve ever played, and looking likely to be the second driving game I ever beat, after Split/Second. I would beat this much quicker if the stupid Autolog “YOUR FRIEND BEAT YOU BY 0.02 SECONDS! DON’T YOU THINK YOU SHOULD GO AND BEAT THEM?!” thing wasn’t in place… but that’s part of the fun.
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (Xbox 360) – You can’t “finish” this, unless you give up on it after getting all the Achievements, which you will do after approximately 30 minutes of play. But it’s worth noting that this is perhaps the perfect retro reimagining. It’s Pac-Man, but not Pac-Man. It has the perfect blend of frantic gameplay coupled with some modes that actually force you to think quite a bit.
Games I Stopped Playing When I Got Deadly Premonition But Intend To Go Back To When I’ve Finished Deadly Premonition, Dammit
Fallout: New Vegas (Xbox 360) – Controversial to some, but I was enjoying this a bunch more than Fallout 3. I’m a particular fan of how much the main quest appears to branch.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PS3) – Epic is not the word. A stunning soundtrack and the most gorgeous graphics I’ve seen since Uncharted 2. Looking forward to getting back into this one.
Games I Think I Should Probably Play At Some Point But Don’t Own, Dammit
Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood – I played a bit of the first one and enjoyed it, but traded it in when something better came out, as I recall. I’d like to go back to it and play through the whole series, up to and including Brotherhood. The multiplayer in Brotherhood is a lot of fun, for sure.
The Mario Galaxy series – I have not played a mainline Mario game since Sunshine, which I didn’t like much. I hear the two Galaxies are rather good, though.
Games I’m Not Sure If I Want But Think I Might At Some Point, Maybe When They’re A Bit Cheaper, Like After Christmas, Dammit
Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) – I said on Twitter yesterday that I probably wouldn’t bother with this, but I’ve since watched a few videos and read a few bits and pieces and it sounds potentially interesting, if a bit flawed in its current state. I like cars, too, though I don’t know anything about gear ratios and whatnot, apart from the fact my friend Woody and I once got some Mitsubishi thing up to over 300km/h in the original Gran Turismo by playing with gear ratios and not really knowing what we were doing.
Fable III (Xbox 360) – I really enjoyed Fable II, late to the party as I was, and I was impressed with Fable III‘s initial showing at the Eurogamer Expo. But reports of it have been far too mixed for my liking, coupled with the fact that you can exploit the game’s main “moral dilemma” by simply leaving your console turned on overnight for a couple of days. Still, I like the voice cast, I like the concept and I do like the Fable world, so perhaps I’ll come to this one very late like I did with Fable II.
And now, the main event(s). I’m going to split this into several lists to be less depressing.
Games I Own And Haven’t Played At All Yet And Feel A Bit Bad About, Dammit
Steam
And Yet It Moves
Gish
HeXen II
Jade Empire
Jolly Rover
King’s Bounty: The Legend
Multiwinia
Puzzle Agent
Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale
Sam & Max 105, 106, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205
Time Gentlemen, Please!
Unreal II
Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 3
X-COM: Terror from the Deep
X-COM: Apocalypse
Console
killer7 (PS2)
Resident Evil 4 (PS2)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)
Games I Have Played Before (Maybe A Few Times) And Enjoyed, And Intend To Go Back And Finish Sometime (Probably Restarting From The Beginning… Again) Because They Were Rather Good, Really, Dammit
Steam/PC
Aquaria
Darwinia
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
King’s Bounty: Armored Princess
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead 2
Mount & Blade
Peggle Nights
Plants vs Zombies
Torchlight
TrackMania United
Trials 2
Unreal Gold
Vampire: Bloodlines
The Witcher
World of Goo
X-COM: UFO Defense
Baldur’s Gate II
Icewind Dale
Ghost Master
Realms of Arkania
Myst
Riven
URU
Martian Memorandum
Mean Streets
Handhelds
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA)
R-Type Command (PSP)
Ratchet and Clank: I Forgot The Subtitle (PSP)
Final Fantasy Tactics (PSP, though I have beaten the PS1 version)
Xbox LIVE Arcade
Castle Crashers
Lode Runner
Peggle
Perfect Dark
Puzzle Quest
Rocket Riot
Shadow Complex
Splosion Man
Super Meat Boy
Consoles
ICO (PS2)
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
Project Zero (aka Fatal Frame, PS2)
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (PS2)
Persona 3: FES (PS2)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)
Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
Darksiders (PS3)
Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii)
Zak and Wiki Make A Porno… wait, that’s not right, whatever it was called (Wii)
Demon’s Souls (PS3)
Disgaea 3 (aka The Game I Always Forget I Actually Own, PS3)
Games I Own But Will Probably Never Finish Even If I Kept Playing Them Non-Stop Until The End Of Time, Either Because Of Immense Difficulty Or Sheer Volume Of Content Therein But I’m Still Glad I Played Them, Dammit
Alien Hominid HD (XBLA, difficulty)
Braid (XBLA, difficulty, overratedness)
Forza 3 (Xbox 360, volume of content)
Trials 2: SE (Steam, difficulty)
Games I Own And Have Finished But Would Like To Go Back And Replay Or 100% Or Achievement Whore Them, Dammit
Dragon Age: Origins (Xbox 360, would like to play Awakening too)
Bayonetta (Xbox 360)
Canis Canem Edit/Bully (PS2, though I’d like to try the Xbox 360 version)
Persona 4 (PS2)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Steam)
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (PC)
Sooo… maybe I don’t need to play the Assassin’s Creed series just yet, huh.