Despite our hobby of writing about games, actually playing them tends to happen less than you’d think. Even if we do manage to find enough time, the games come out faster than we can beat them. Those unfinished games quickly turn into a backlog, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a games journalist out there who doesn’t have one. So what do our staff members find themselves tasked with this week?
Chris Hague: I’m still sitting on a copy of Dragon’s Dogma from GameFly. It’s not great, but I really do enjoy the combat. I’m still trying to catch up with the free games PlayStation Plus has been throwing out in the past months, but I’ll probably only get to Gotham City Impostors in the near future. I’ve been picking up some of the Indie Bundles during the Steam Summer Sale, so there’s a list a mile long; A Valley Without Wind is a standout from those. It’s really interesting, but I’m only an hour or two in, and it’s going to require a bit of time to learn.
Nick Mudry: Over the past few Steam sales, I’ve acquired a list of games in my backlog in my library longer than the Great Wall of China. With amazing games such as Fallout: New Vegas, Skyrim, and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series being sent to the back of my ‘to be played list’, I’ve started tackling my backlog with much shorter, yet still enjoyable games such as Dungeon Defenders, Splice, and the occasional multiplayer match of Battlefield 3. Eventually I look to be caught up to finally enjoy the AAA titles that were released in the past few years that I have been missing, yet all my friends have enjoyed.
Jonathan Heier: I actually haven’t had time to play much of anything lately so I don’t have a backlog currently. Once I find the time to play something I am sure it will be a lengthy backlog.
Josiah Renaudin: Downloadable games, such as Deadlight and Dyad, have really been taking up the majority of my gaming time this summer, but I do have quite a few retail games that are beginning to collect dust. I picked up Two Worlds II for about $10 last year and while it’s not the most polished game in the world, there’s enough interesting content beneath the oddities to warrant a return. I should probably also finish Final Fantasy XIII. I’m an avid fan of Final Fantasy games, but since XII, I’ve really had trouble actually completing the games. RPGs in general just don’t seem to drive me in the same way that they used to, as I’ve only sunk about 10 hours into both Skyrim and Fable 2. Will I ever complete either of those? Well, probably not, but I can dream.
SC Nolan: This week I managed to beat Infamous 2, which I borrowed from Josiah at the beginning of the summer and just now got around to playing. I’ve also been playing Hitman: Contracts on my Mac because I’m dying for Absolution to come out this November. My backlog currently consists of re-playing the campaign of Uncharted 3 and getting back into some online favorites (NBA 2k12, for one). Can you tell I need to go out and buy a game or two? As far as what I’m wishing for, I really hope to play at least one of the PSN PLAY games coming out soon.
Dougie Veney: I’m fairly ashamed to admit this, but Red Dead Redemption has been on my backlog for quite some time. I bought it the day that it launched and played about an hour of the story. I quickly found myself engulfed in the multiplayer free-roam as I jumped my horse off of cliffs and tried to catch people with my lasso.
I’ve just now recently started the game over and I’ve cranked through the story. I’ve been in Mexico and completed a few missions, and hoping to finally finish the story within the next week or two. What’s up next for me? The Assassin’s Creed series. I know, I know, I’m a terrible person.
Dillon Skiffington: Before I made my migration to Stick Skills I had the opportunity to review Close Quarters, so I’ve been putting in a good amount of time into Battlefield 3 which has just been collecting dust on my shelf until now. I’ve finally managed to get Skyrim back from my sister so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get through Dawnguard before she decides that she’s going to take it again. Also, with the Summer 2012 season starting up in Full House Poker, I’ll make a well deserved return to that game and hopefully grab Nick and some other friends to play some Texas Heat with me.