2011 Games Roundup - Nate

In 2010, I played 73 games. That's a lot of games. Probably too many games. I was pretty sure I would never play that many games ever again.

In 2011, I played 84 games. That's more games that I played in 2010, the year in which I played too many games, probably.

In this edition of my annual gaming inventory, I'll note how many hours I spent with each game, what progress I made, and whether or not I'll come back to the game in the future. I post this knowing that someday, years from now, it will be used in an intervention regarding my time management skills and/or life priorities. I'll be too busy playing Ultimate Angry Birds vs. Capcom to listen to my concerned friends and loved ones, though.

 

2011 games played (in order of favorites)

Batman Arkham City Cover1. BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY (~25 hours) 100% story mode content for both characters. Plan to play through New Game + and Challenge Rooms at some point.

2. RADIANT HISTORIA (~40 hours) 100% complete. Returned to GameFly. Might replay the game someday, it was excellent.

3. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: SKYWARD SWORD (45 hours) Finished story mode, all sidequests, and found most heart pieces. Might play Hero Mode, but probably not for a while.

4. INFAMOUS 2 (~15 hours) Finished the story and got both endings. Only did a few sidequests and user-generated challenges. Returned to GameFly.

5. PORTAL 2 (~4 hours) Finished the singleplayer campaign and dabbled in co-op. Definitely need to finish the multiplayer.

6. WII PLAY MOTION (10 hours) 100% completion, all platinum medals. Might break the game back out for multiplayer fun now and then.

wii Play Motion Cover7. SUPER MARIO 3D LAND (14 hours) 100% shiny five star profile. Traded in to Amazon.

8. BASTION (9 hours) Beat the game, finished all weapon challenges and all dream arenas memory dealies.

9. KIRBY MASS ATTACK (11 hours) 100% story completion, played through all of the minigames. Didn't collect all the medals. Returned to GameFly.

10. MOTOHEROZ (10 hours) Full story completion, some online challenges. Still plan to collect most of the Ancestor collectables and beat the Gold medal ghost times soon.

11. KIRBY'S RETURN TO DREAM LAND (17 hours) 100% completion except for the challenge rooms' platinum medals (which I didn't know about). Returned to GameFly.

12. UNCHARTED 3: DRAKE'S DECEPTION (~6 hours) Completed the story mode. Did not play any multiplayer. Returned to GameFly.

13. MARIO KART 7 (6 hours) Completed all 150cc Grand Prix cups. Played some multiplayer. Returned to GameFly.

Ghost Recon Shadow Wars Cover14. MAGICKA (8 hours) Completed the story mode in singleplayer. I want to see how hectic the game gets in multiplayer, though.

15. L.A. NOIRE (~15 hours) Completed the story mode. Returned to GameFly.

16. TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON: SHADOW WARS (30 hours) Completed the story mode. Returned to GameFly.

17. GHOST TRICK: PHANTOM DETECTIVE (~12 hours) Completed the story mode. Returned to GameFly.

18. MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3: FATE OF TWO WORLDS (~2 hours) Unlocked all hidden characters. Returned to GameFly.

Street Fighter Third Strike Online Cover19. BIONIC COMMANDO REARMED 2 (~10 hours) Close to 100% completion. Probably won't bother with the rest, though.

20. NHL 12 (~4 hours) Played a dozen games or so. Will revisit now and then.

21. PILOTWINGS RESORT (12 hours) Gold medals on all challenges and found all landmarks. Traded in to Amazon.

22. STAR FOX 64 3D (1 hour) Played through story mode once. Returned to GameFly.

23. SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV: 3D EDITION (4 hours) Played online for a few days. Returned to GameFly.

24. STREET FIGHTER III: THIRD STRIKE ONLINE EDITION (~4 hours) Played through Arcade mode and online a few times. I just can't stand playing with the PS3 controller.

25. CRYSIS 2 (~4 hours) Played through half of singleplayer campaign. Returned to GameFly.

Captain America wii Cover26. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME 3D (1 hour) Got to Hyrule Castle Town. Returned to GameFly.

27. RAGE (~4 hours) Played until I got a taste of car combat. Returned to GameFly.

28. CAPTAIN AMERICA: SUPER SOLDIER [Wii] (6 hours) Finished story mode. Returned to GameFly.

29. CAPTAIN AMERICA: SUPER SOLDIER [PS3] (5 hours) Finished story mode. Returned to GameFly.

30. DEAD OR ALIVE: DIMENSIONS (15 hours) Finished story mode and played online for a few weeks. Traded in to Amazon.

31. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: FOUR SWORDS ANNIVERSARY EDITION (1 hour) Barely got a taste for the game, but it seems tedious in singleplayer. I'll give it another chance sometime.

32. SHINOBI [3DS] (1 hour) Made it to the third stage. Returned to GameFly.

33. SONIC GENERATIONS [PS3] (4 hours) Played through the story mode. Returned to GameFly.

Steel Diver Cover34. SONIC GENERATIONS [3DS] (2 hours) Played through the story mode. Returned to GameFly.

35. 3D CLASSICS: EXCITEBIKE (30 minutes) Played a few Grand Prix modes. Done forever.

36. BLAZBLUE: CONTINUUM SHIFT II (30 minutes) Played through the story mode. Returned to GameFly.

37. STEEL DIVER (1 hour) Played through most of the game's content. Returned to GameFly.

38. RAYMAN 3D (2 hours) Played for a couple hours. Returned to GameFly.

39. KYOTOKEI (1 hour) Played through Stage 4. Done forever.

 

2011 games I missed out on (in order of regret)

Skyrim Cover1. THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM

2. RAYMAN ORIGINS

3. DARK SOULS

4. DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION

5. CATHERINE

6. MIGHT AND MAGIC: CLASH OF HEROES HD

7. MINECRAFT (it officially came out this year, you know)

8. THE WITCHER 2: ASSASSINS OF KINGS

9. BATTLEFIELD 3

10. OUTLAND

 

Pre-2011 games played last year (in order of favorites)

Super Meat boy Cover1. SUPER MEAT BOY (17 hours) All bandages and A+ ratings for both worlds, all secret characters unlocked. I want more.

2. MASS EFFECT 2 (~40 hours) All story content that I am aware of completed. Returned to GameFly.

3. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: LINK'S AWAKENING (16 hours) All story content complete. Went for the cool red tunic instead of the lame blue one.

4. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA (15 hours) Story mode complete, though my map is missing the very top right square. Might check out the Second Quest sometime.

5. BURNOUT 3: TAKEDOWN (~10 hours) Played through about half of the singleplayer content before getting fed up with the rubberbanding. Fun while it lasted, though.

6. RED DEAD REDEMPTION (~25 hours) Finished the main story and a handful of sidequests. Might try the Undead Nightmare expansion someday.

Frequency Cover7. CASTLEVANIA: RONDO OF BLOOD (9 hours) Finished the full story as both characters. Might revisit someday.

8. FREQUENCY (~2 hours) Played through singleplayer until disc read errors became prominent. Returned to GameFly.

9. PSYCHONAUTS (~15 hours) Finished the main story and most extra content. Returned to GameFly.

10. DEAD NATION (~1 hour) Played through the first few stages in singleplayer. I liked what I played, so I'll come back to it at some point.

11. TRINE (~4 hours) Played through the story mode in singleplayer.

12. CASTLEVANIA: HARMONY OF DESPAIR (~30 hours) Maxed out a few characters (or nearly maxed). Have not finished Chapters 10 or 11 in Hard mode. Might get back into it, but probably shouldn't.

13. SUPER TURRICAN (3 hours) Beat the game on Normal mode.

Half Life 2 Episode 2 Cover Thumbnail14. MARIO VS. DONKEY KONG (6 hours) Finished all twelve Worlds, picked up all three presents in each stage.

15. HALF-LIFE 2: EPISODE 2 (6 hours) Finished on the standard difficulty setting.

16. HALF-LIFE 2: EPISODE 1 (4 hours) Finished on the standard difficulty setting.

17. ANGRY BIRDS [Chrome] (~2 hours) Finished all stages that were available. Now it won't load in my browser for some reason.

18. DARK VOID ZERO (2 hours) Beat the game.

19. EUFLORIA (~1 hour) Played through the first several stages. I might play some more.

20. THE INCREDIBLE HULK: ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION (~3 hours) Played through some of story mode. Returned to GameFly.

21. BLASTER MASTER (6 hours) Beat the game.

Recettear Cover22. RECETTEAR: AN ITEM SHOP'S TALE (10 hours) Paid off the inherited debt, but didn't do much in the adventure fields. I probably won't bother playing the post-game content.

23. OKAMI (~3 hours) Finished the first dungeon. Not really feeling it.

24. SHANTAE: RISKY'S REVENGE (6 hours) Finished the story mode.

25. BORDERLANDS (~2 hours) Played a few missions solo. Still interested, but I'll probably just wait for the sequel.

26. WIPEOUT HD (~2 hours) Played some singleplayer races. It was alright, but I probably won't play more.

27. WARIOWARE INC.: MEGA MICRO GAME$ (3 hours) Finished the singleplayer mode, unlocked most minigames. Won't bother playing to unlock the rest at random.

28. AAAAAA!!! – A WRECKLESS DISREGARD FOR GRAVITY (45 minutes) Played through a few dozen jumps. It was alright, but I'm not really interested in playing more.

29. TRILBY: THE ART OF THEFT (~3 hours) Finished the story. Won't do that every-heist-in-one-shot thing at the end.

Wonder boy Cover30. DEUS EX (~1 hour) Failed tremendously in the first mission. I should probably try again someday.

31. ARMY OF TWO (~1 hour) Played some brief co-op. That's enough for me.

32. BALLOON FIGHT (30 minutes) Played through the singleplayer mode until it started repeating.

33. WONDER BOY (2 hours) Beat the game.

34. ART STYLE: BOXLIFE (2 hours) Played through both modes until it got too difficult for me.

35. WRECKING CREW (2 hours) Played through a few dozen stages.

36. F-ZERO MAXIMUM VELOCITY (1 hour) Mode 7 racing just doesn't hold up for me.

37. MARIO KART: SUPER CIRCUIT (30 minutes) See above.

38. ZONE OF THE ENDERS (~1 hour) Gave story mode a shot. Sent back to GameFly.

Zeno Clash Cover39. MARIO'S PICROSS (2 hours) Played a few dozen puzzles, but it hurts my eyes.

40. SUIKODEN (~3 hours) Began story mode. Probably done forever.

41. ZELDA II: ADVENTURE OF LINK (2 hours) Began the second temple. I can see why they abandoned this formula.

42. X-SCAPE (1 hour) Not a fan of the controls.

43. KINGDOM HEARTS (~2 hours) Finished the Wonder Land segment. It's not for me.

44. DOC CLOCK AND THE TOASTED SANDWICH OF TIME (30 minutes) Didn't make much of an impression on me.

45. ZENO CLASH (30 minutes) Really disappointed in this one, it just felt off somehow.

46. ICE CLIMBER (30 minutes) Nintendo wasn't quite at their best with this one.

47. LUGARU HD (~1 hour) Just couldn't get into it. It started of pretty promising, too.