Thursday, December 31, 2015

A New Year. A New Goal.

Now that 2015 is coming to a close, I feel I must re-focus for this new year.

After only playing 12 games in the last few months of 2015; less than 10% of my library! I'm imposing a thirty minute ceiling to sample each un-played game. I feel this will give me adequate time to assess whether or not I want to keep going on a particular title. Lets keep pushing this experiment forward.

Keep Calm and Game On,
rudy

Breath of Death VII

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/107300

How Long to Beat? 5 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=1317

Total Steam play time:
84 minutes

My rating:
4 out of 5

This game is excellent. 8-bit graphics, silly characters, great music really round out this game.


Verdict?
Will come back to this one!


Next game?
Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Braid

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/26800

How Long to Beat? 5 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=1290

Total Steam play time:
0 hours.

Played this game on the xbox 360.

Was not a fan. If I remember right there was a lot of jumping... stupid jumping...

My rating:
2 out of 5

Verdict?
Not currently installed.

Next game?
Breath of Death VII

Borderlands 2

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/49520

How Long to Beat? 31 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=1274

Total Steam play time:
50+ on Xbox 360 & 3 Hours (on Steam).

Played and beat this game on the xbox 360.

Great game. Go play it.

My rating:
5 out of 5

Verdict?
Not currently installed.

Next game?
Braid

Blocks That Matter

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/111800

How Long to Beat? 5.5 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=1176

Total Steam play time:
23 minutes.

**Doesn't work on the Steam Link. Controllers are unresponsive.**

The story with the two video game developers is a huge turn off. Obnoxious.

The controls are tight and graphics are cutesy, all good there. But not enough there to keep me playing.

This is definitely a hard puzzle game, and/or I'm really dumb.

My rating:
2 out of 5

Verdict?
Uninstalled

Next game?
Borderlands 2

Monday, December 21, 2015

Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/218060

How Long to Beat? 6.5 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=1084

Total Steam play time:
4 minutes.

Rhythm platformer, my two most disliked video game genres.

Text is completely legible. Graphics are modern and the charm is gone.

Controls are responsive.

Why is there a story?

Production budget has quite obviously increased. Since the game's download is five times bigger than part 1, I will assume they had a budget that was five times as big. Voice actor. Fancy graphics. Sigh. No thanks.

My rating:
2 out of 5

Verdict?
Uninstalled.

Next game?
Blocks That Matter

Bit.Trip Runner

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/63710

How Long to Beat? 8 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=1085

Total Steam play time:
16 minutes.

Rhythm platformer, my two most disliked video game genres.

Text is completely illegible, otherwise graphics are neat.

Controls are responsive.

My rating:
2 out of 5

Verdict?
Uninstalled


Next game?
Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien

BioShock Infinite

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/8870

How Long to Beat? 11.5 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=1068

Total Steam play time:
15 hours.

What I didn't like:
The saving. Yeah there is a little icon on the top right, but sometimes it goes by so quick, one can easily miss it. It's only very obvious when you load into a different area and that happens once every hour/hour and a half.

Everything else:
The combat was good, not great. The rails were fun. The guns felt right. The powers were neat.

The graphics were great! I loved them. I'm obviously behind the times, but wow! Loved them.

But the story...

This game has the best story of any game I've ever played. At least in the top 3 of my all time list.

This ending was amazing!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

I found these two really good ending re-cap articles:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/03/27/an-attempt-to-understand-bioshock-infinites-brilliant-and-bizarre-ending/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/03/29/the-one-twist-in-bioshock-infinite-you-might-have-missed-completely/

I want to keep this spoiler free, so I will refrain. But the guitar scene. I. LOVE. THIS. GAME.

Hardware note: I played the majority of this game using the Steam Link. Besides a few hiccups, it ran very well.

My rating:
5 out of 5

Verdict?
Staying install because I own the DLC. Which I'll get to eventually. Maybe next?!

Next game?
BIT.TRIP RUNNER

Friday, November 27, 2015

Super Metroid

Store Page:
http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/WUE1-4fPdnQzop6b1XC8yD-2KyiI3LXh

How Long to Beat? 7.5 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=9390

Total play time:
9 hours 30 minutes.

Due to the urging of a very close friend, I began playing Super Metroid. I stopped playing after putting 9.5 hours into it and only getting about 1/2 way done. Either I'm really horrible at this game, or everyone on "How Long to Beat" does really slow speed runs. Verdict is still out.

The game is fantastic, it has great atmosphere, great music, tight controls, and amazing graphics. My biggest complaint about the game is, and I'm sure it's more my problem than it is the game's, too much platform jumping that I suck at.

This game has me torn. I want to finish it, but I want to move on. With the holidays coming around, and more games being added to my collection and older games I never got to. I'm moving on.


My rating:
4 out of 5

Verdict?
Keeping it.


Next game?
BioShock Infinite (for real this time?)

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Ben There, Dan That

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/37400

How Long to Beat? 2 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=1004

Total Steam play time:
21 minutes.

It's British and hilarious. I get it. Whatever. Moving on.


My rating:
3 out of 5

Verdict?
Keeping it... for now.


Next game?
BioShock Infinite

Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/231040

How Long to Beat? 5 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=13549

Total Steam play time:
25 minutes.

Great music/rhythm game. Not for me.


My rating:
2 out of 5

Verdict?
Uninstalled.


Next game?
Ben There, Dan That!

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Bastion

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/107100

How Long to Beat? 6.5 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=869

Total Steam play time:
38 minutes.

While this game is wonderful and majestic in every way. I don't care to play any more than I have. Not sure what it is about his game, but meh. I do see why people would absolutely adore this game.


My rating:
2 out of 5

Verdict?
Uninstalling


Next game?
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Antichamber

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/219890/

How Long to Beat? 5.5 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=510

Total Steam play time:
2 hours.

The green gun taunts me behind a pane of glass...

I love the existentialness of this game. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm enjoying being confused and someone nauseous. Haven't beat it, but I think it's one that I'll go back to from time to time.

My rating:
4 out of 5

Verdict?
Keeping it.


Next game?
Bastion

Friday, September 4, 2015

And Yet It Moves

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/18700/

How Long to Beat? 3 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=457

Total Steam play time:
26 minutes.

It has an interesting premise, no doubt. But after 26 minutes, I had enough. And those lizard graphics... wow.

My rating:
2 out of 5

Verdict?
UNINSTALL!

Next game?
Antichamber

Sunday, August 30, 2015

First Game! Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Store Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/57300/

How Long to Beat? 8 hours.
http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=440

Total Steam play time:
12 minutes.

Huh? Yeah, well, screw this amazing game. 2 of those minutes were tweaking the graphic options. About 10 minutes of actual play time. Playing in the daylight with headphones on, I was complete immersed and scared out of my mind. I got as far as lighting the first candle. I never want to play this game again. Too scary.

My rating:
5 out of 5

Verdict?
Uninstall! (I'm just too scared!)


Next game?
And Yet It Moves

What is this blog?

I recently discovered that on http://howlongtobeat.com/ it will scan your Steam account and tell you how long it will take to beat your entire collection.

As of 8/30/2015 I'm at 117 days and 4 hours.

Since I recently re-formatted and installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 (http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/07/how-to-do-a-clean-install-of-windows-10-from-windows-7-and-8/), I thought this moment would be fortuitous and I would only install one game at a time, starting alphabetically, and try and beat them (or at least play them once...).

Some games I've played before (and those will be noted), others have never been installed.

Here we go...