It begins

I love to buy video games. Whenever I see a bargain I pick it up, and this has created a problem. My pile of shame is so insurmountable that I need to take drastic action. This is not a backlog that’s going to be cleared in a couple of weeks, or even a couple of months. It’s going to take much longer. The purpose of this blog is to help me complete all of my unfinished games by 28 August 2013. 

For every birthday and Christmas my girlfriend asks me what game I would like her to buy me. A couple of weeks ago it was my birthday, and she didn’t even ask if I wanted one. This was because I’d returned from an overseas trip with about 15 new games. I’d also recently signed up to PlayStation Plus, the yearly subscription that offers a heap of free games over the course of the year. So after rearranging the shelving unit to accommodate my new purchases, and downloading plenty of free stuff on the PlayStation, I sat back and wondered where to begin. It was then that I belatedly came to the same realisation as my girlfriend; I have far too many games. I didn’t know where to begin.

It was like that feeling the morning after you’ve hosted a massive party. You wake up bleary eyed and furry mouthed, you look at the mess that’s been left and you just don’t know where to start or how it’ll ever get done. It seemed like there was a massive chore in front of me. Of course, playing video games should be more fun that cleaning up empty glasses, spilt ashtrays, and broken beer bottles, and so that’s why I decided I need this plan of attack, not only to help me get through my games, but to also have fun while I do so.

By the 28th August 2013, my birthday, I will have hopefully played through and completed all the unfinished games in my collection. I will then be able to receive a brand new game for my birthday, safe in the knowledge that I have nothing else that needs playing, I won’t have that guilt that comes with playing a new game when there’s a ton of unfinished or unopened ones still sitting there on the shelf. I’ll have also played a whole bunch of awesome games too, of course!

I’m hoping that one game a week will be an attainable target. Obviously there are some games I’m further into than others, some games that have more content and will take longer to finish. There will be periods where I’ll get through several games in a couple of weeks, and then there may be weeks where I don’t finish anything as I play through the longer games. Real life will no doubt intervene too, and there may be times where I don’t get a chance to make much progress at all. But that’s further down the track. First we need to know what we’re dealing with here.

So, let’s take a look at the list. It includes games that I’ve started and got distracted from, some I’ve not even started at all, and a couple of stone cold classics that I’ve never got around to playing despite their status and reputation. When I say I want to finish or complete these games I mean that I want to finish the main story and get the end credits. I don’t intend to try to 100% these games. Attaining all the trophies, achievements, and secrets of this many games is a task that’s way too daunting, and frankly insane. So without further ado, and in alphabetical order, here is the list of my incredible pile of shame:

Alan Wake

Aliens vs. Predator

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

Battlefield 3

Borderlands

Bulletstorm

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Call of Duty: World at War

Crysis 2

Dark Souls

Dead Island

Deadly Premonition

Dead Space 2

De Blob 2

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Dirt 3

Driver: San Francisco

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

FIFA 12

Gears of War 3

God of War 1

God of War 2

GTA Episodes: The Ballad of Gay Tony

GTA Episodes: The Lost and the Damned

Halo: Anniversary

Hawx

Homefront

Infamous 2

Killzone 3

LA Noire

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Little Big Planet

Little Big Planet 2

Mass Effect 3

Max Payne 3

Medal of Honour

Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Outland

Portal 2

Rage

Saint’s Row 2

Saint’s Row the Third

Skyrim

SOCOM 4

Super Mario 64

The Witcher 2

And to demonstrate just how immense my pile of shame is, here’s a picture.

Now there are a couple of things that need noting. I’ve previously completed both Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear solid 2 when they were initially released, but having picked up the HD collection I want to play through them all in the order that they were released so that I can fully enjoy the convoluted madness on offer in the later instalments without struggling to remember what had happened in games I clocked a decade ago.

FIFA is not a game that can really be completed. I would however like to play one full season to feel that I’ve actually accomplished a certain measure of ‘completeness’. As the premiership season has only just started I think I’ll play one game every time there’s a game in real life, that way I’ll have done a full season by May, and it will be interesting to see how my probably piss poor performance matches up with the real thing.

And yes, I never completed Mario 64, and never even played Ocarina of Time! At the time they came out I was too busy playing PSOne, and Goldeneye was about the only thing we played on 64. But as my nephew Dave recently passed on his N64 to me (he’s 26, I didn’t mug some poor 8 year old for their Nintendo) I’ve been given the opportunity to correct this oversight.

So where do I begin? Well, the good news is I can scratch one game off the list already. Since my birthday a couple of weeks ago I’ve been making a concerted effort to finish off some games as part of this grand plan. Last night as I formulated the idea for this blog I completed Bulletstorm. Progress already! So I think I’ll try to finish off some games that I know I’m near the end of. This would make the first cabs off the rank Rage, COD: World at War, and Battlefield 3. As there are a fair few shooters on this list it’ll be good to knock a couple of these off and it’ll feel like I’m making good progress. So that’s where I’m going to start.

Wish me luck.