Since it seems to be the new thing for all the cool kids to do, I would like to take a trip down the old memory lane and relive some of my personal gaming highlights of the past year.
Biggest Time Sink
World of Warcraft ate fully half of my year. Although there are things about the game that I really liked, especially coming off of a Final Fantasy XI sojurn, I realized one day that I wasn’t updating my website, playing any other games, or really doing anything else except playing WoW and going to work. So I kicked it to the curb. I haven’t fully gotten my gaming legs back yet, but they’re coming.
Biggest waste of money
For a few months there, my sister site, the Closeout Warrior was a place for me to chronicle my habit of picking up just any old gaming trash that I could find for less than $10 and giving it a review. Due to my severe lack of free time, I was unable to keep it updated like I would have liked, but the games that I featured were very often the worst of the worst (with the occasional very rare exception).
Out of the couple of dozen games I played specifically for that site, the one that stands out to me has to be Midnight Outlaw 6 Hours to Sunup. There was nothing (NOTHING!) good about this game.
Biggest Disappointment
I like to think that I have an ability to pick out a game that will be a good match for my likes before I read any reviews. I like to think I know what I like well enough that I can glean from the preview media whether I think I will ilke the game and I don’t need some reviewer to tell me what I should think of it. None of the games I bought for less than $10 were really a dissapointment. I kind of knew when I got them that they were going to be pretty bad. You very rarely will find a game new for less than $10 that isn’t. So those weren’t really letdowns.
The biggest letdown I had this year was Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix. Since I’m a pretty die-hard Nintendo fan, this was my first opportunity to play DDR at home on a system that I actually own. Don’t get me wrong, DDR:MM is a decent game, but it has some serious shortcomings that really put a dent in my enjoyment of the title. The game was too easy (I had all 29 songs unlocked by my second playthrough), about half of the songs were classical pieces or taken from operas (Carmen sounds good and everything, but is a bit out of place), and there weren’t very many songs to choose from (29! 30 if you count the ending credits… which I don’t).
Biggest Surprise
It hasn’t all been doom and gloom. There have been a few games that I bought, fully expecting trash, and got a decent experience out of. My best example is Denki Blocks. I found the game buried in the back of my local EB Games and picked it up for $5. Turns out to be a decent puzzler (although one I play horribly).
Most fun project
In writing this site, I like to try and do things differently than most people, and I usually have fun doing it.
Earlier this year I wrote The List, A Day in the Life of a Gamer (or, How I Spent My Vacation), and completed my second Game Box Resume project. All of which I had a blast doing. I can’t choose between these to be my favorite… so I won’t.
All told, it’s been a very interesting year for games and gaming, and next year looks to be even better with the (we hope) launch of the PS3, Revolution and a new Legend of Zelda game, and that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.