Since we've reached the point in January where last-year retrospectives have become completely lazy and tiresome, I figured I'd squeeze at least one more out because, hey, I've still got some 2008 baggage left. It was a super-busy year for me, full of new assignments, responsibilities, and that maelstrom of neverending crap known to most of you as "fall." Since my free time was so limited, I had to make some serious decisions about what to play; and some choices, like spending over 60 hours on Grand Theft Auto IV, were clearly wrong. This poor planning left many games I wanted to play untouched and unloved in a GameFly distribution center as they sat in their paper sleeves and desperately waited for me to add them to my queue. Why must inanimate objects make me feel so guilty?
Maybe you can tell me if I made the right decisions by looking at--and judging me by--the games I had no time to play. It's the only way I'll learn.
Tales of Vesperia - Ever since I spent over 100 hours with Tales of Symphonia back on the GameCube, I've been waiting for the series to wow me again. Legendia was a cheap cash-in, and I wasn't even able to judge Tales of the Abyss because its god-awful loading times made me shelve the game forever after just a few hours. I've heard that Vesperia is a real return to form for the Tales series, but my healthy skepticism might have prevented me from becoming too interested.
Tomb Raider: Underworld - To be honest, I've never really sat down with a Tomb Raider game since the second one. But after watching a friend play through a little of Legend back in 2006, my opinion on the series did a complete backflip. Even so, the stigma that haunted Tomb Raider from the late 90s to the early 00s seems to be one that's hard to shake--which could explain why I was never motivated enough to play more than the demo.
Mirror's Edge - I feel the greatest amount of shame for not playing Mirror's Edge over the holidays. As a semi-real games journalist, I feel somewhat responsible for playing and supporting refreshingly new gameplay concepts, even if they happen to come out of a mega massive studio like Electronic Arts. Rest assured that I will play Mirror's Edge at some point; it is my duty to you, the reader. (Unless someone can convince me otherwise.)
Fallout 3 - Even though I'm mighty tired (some would say plum tired) of medieval trappings in role-playing games, Fable 2 won out over Fallout 3 for me this fall due to the chip I have on my shoulder for developer Bethesda. It's not that they've spited me personally, or anything; I've just been misfortunate enough to discover how much the design philosophy of games like Morrowind and Oblivion clash with my sense of fun. It seems to be a common theme with the games I missed in 2008, but once again an established bias kept me from playing what might be a fantastic game.
Persona 4 - I had a little addiction to Persona 3. It kinda got out of hand. So, intent on not wasting my entire holiday break on a single game, I refused to touch Persona 4 and... didn't really end up spending my time productively, anyway. The Persona 4 cravings have started, but I think I'm going to save the game for the summer, when I'll be finished with graduate school and have two fancy book learnin' degrees to my name. I'm sure the hundreds of hours of P4 will give me something to do, because I don't foresee steady employment in my near future. And when I'm done with the game, I assume I can cook and eat it? Wish me luck.
Related Links:
Whatcha Not Playing: Persona 4
Facepalm: Crispy Gamer
Mirror’s Edge: Everything You’ve Heard Is True