Operation: Steam Backlog

[Teggy]

I think I am going to do a little experiment. I have so many games in my Steam backlog that I've never touched, I should give them a chance. I am going to at least try every game series in my Steam backlog for 2 hours. I will go alphabetically, so that will automatically have me changing genres.

Ground rules:
-If the game is second, third, etc. in a series but comes alphabetically first, I will play the first game in the series first (provided I haven't already played it)
-If I don't have the first game in the series on Steam and would like to play it, I can temporarily skip over that game until an appropriate time
-I can set aside a game after 2 hours if I am not enjoying it
-I have the option to skip either 1) the next alphabetical game or 2) any subsequent game in the series if I beat a game (see the end credits). This is to prevent burnout and keep the idea fun.

I'll give a quick of review of each game as I play as well.

Next up:
The Bard's Tale
Bastion

Finished
Alan Wake
Alan Wake: The Signal
Alan Wake: The Writer
Alan Wake's American Nightmare
Analogue: A Hate Story
Batman: Arkham City
Binary Domain
Borderlands 2
Crysis
Crysis Warhead
Deadlight
Far Cry
F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point
F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate (minus last chapter due to bug)
Hotline Miami
I Am Alive
Mark of the Ninja
Portal 2
Spec Ops: The Line


Set Aside Temporarily:
Alice: Madness Returns
Aliens vs. Predator
Alpha Protocol
Aquaria
The Ball
BEEP

Set Aside For Good:
Alien Shooter
Alien Shooter: Revisited
Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded
And Yet It Moves
Anna
Braid

[Isgrimnur]

Good thing AI War isn't in there.  From what I hear, there's no way that 2 hours is a reasonable amount of time before you either "get it" or just give up in frustration.

[Teggy]

Good thing AI War isn't in there.  From what I hear, there's no way that 2 hours is a reasonable amount of time before you either "get it" or just give up in frustration.

Took a look at that one - I don't really play strategy games so it's not surprising I didn't grab it at some point.

[Teggy]

Well, things aren't looking good for Alien Shooter: Revisited. I am stuck right at the start of level 3. I just get stomped by a wave of aliens. Doesn't look like there are any easily found faqs/guides either. From what I am reading, this series is just plain HARD. My last 45 minutes with the game may be really frustrating.

[Teggy]

Meh, I'm going to break my rules already. I couldn't rationalize pounding my head against Alien Shooter for no reason, so it gets discarded. I'll also discard Alien Shooter 2, because from what I read it's basically the same thing. For the 99 cents or whatever I spent on these games I can afford to be a little ruthless. And with Diablo III, these games hardly seem necessary. I'll hold off judgement on Zombie Shooter for the moment.

Next up is Alpha Protocol, which I've been looking forward to playing for a while.

[Harpua3]

I need to do the same. I have ALOT of good games I've never touched or played for an hr max and moved on..

[CeeKay]

I recently went through a bunch of the smaller games, generally time wasters less than 200 megs in size, and gave them 20 minutes to wow me.  a whole lot of them ended up in the 'uninteresting' category, and ti cleared up my list somewhat.

[whiteboyskim]

I've been working on my steam backlog but then they'll have an awesome sale and BOOM! Blown.

[Isgrimnur]

It is almost summer...

[CeeKay]

It is almost summer...

I figure we've got just over a month, maybe July 2nd......

[Teggy]

Well, luckily I'm on "A" so any additions shouldn't affect my plan much, if at all.

[Caine]

Well, luckily I'm on "A" so any additions shouldn't affect my plan much, if at all.

haha, you said "any"

as if, lol

[USMC Kato]

Well, luckily I'm on "A" so any additions shouldn't affect my plan much, if at all.

Hey Teggy, let me know what you think about Alpha Protocol. Was going to wait for a sale, but its a decent title I will get it.

[Teggy]

Quick update - now that the big D3 rush is over, I've managed to get back to Alpha Protocol. I've put about 8 hours in and I quite like it. I have definitely experienced some of the bugginess (enemies getting stuck on boxes, etc.), but it's not enough to make the game unfun.

I think it's a really ambitious game that would appear to let you play really any way you would like. I am playing stealth, as they seem to guide you a bit that way at the beginning, but from my experience, there are parts of the game that work better guns blazing, and I don't believe you are really penalized in any way for going one way or the other.

For example, you get certain XP for killing, and certain XP for non-lethal. It may be you get a little more for non-lethal; I haven't looked that closely. However, you get "perks" based on your playstyle. For example, for x number of enemies evaded, you get a perk that reduces your movement noise, for getting beaten on without dying, you get a perk that increases your HP, for beating guys up you get a boost to your CQC damage. I don't have any perks from shooting guys yet, but my expectation is that I will - it will be a shame if it doesn't work that way. They offer you very specific customizations to go silent, use explosives/gadgets or be a soldier-type. If I find that you are actually punished for doing anything but going silent, I guess my opinion will be different, so I'll have to report back on that. Right now I do mostly stealth, but when things get hairy I switch to shotgun, so it's a nice variety.

Story is also pretty interesting - I thought it was going to be a serious spy story, but it turns out it is a bit James Bond campish.  I'll have to find out if it turns out unique or just silly. Coversation is also very important and you have quite a few choices that already seem to have had an effect on the story.

[frost]

i refrain from buying too many games so my backlog is never more than a few games at the most.  but i find this interesting, what you're doing.

Although the game mechanics were a little rough for Alpha Protocol, I felt the content, and choices made it fun and I played though it several times.  I hope you are enjoying it.

[Purge]

D3 has derailed my Steam Backlog effort.

[Teggy]

UPDATE

I got stuck on an annoying boss in Alpha Protocol, so I decided to set it aside for the moment, but will be going back. I wound up with a bunch of games in recent sales, some of which came alphabetically before Alpha Protocol.

First I finished Alan Wake. Game was pretty good, very atmospheric and the story was compelling. A shame they decided to add a confusing twist at the end. I've got the two DLC episodes to play now, which will hopefully reveal some of the odder features of the ending. The gameplay was pretty fun, but walking through the woods getting jumped by the same enemies over and over did get a little tiresome. It didn't help that the weapon selection was small, and there were few interesting ways to take out enemies.

Next I will work on Alan Wake: The Signal, as well as Alice: Madness Returns. The latter is Origin, not Steam, but it is still part of my general PC backlog.

[CeeKay]

UPDATE

I got stuck on an annoying boss in Alpha Protocol, so I decided to set it aside for the moment, but will be going back. I wound up with a bunch of games in recent sales, some of which came alphabetically before Alpha Protocol.

let me guess, Disco Boss in Russia?

[Teggy]

UPDATE

I got stuck on an annoying boss in Alpha Protocol, so I decided to set it aside for the moment, but will be going back. I wound up with a bunch of games in recent sales, some of which came alphabetically before Alpha Protocol.

let me guess, Disco Boss in Russia?

Correct - is he known to be a pain? From what I understand, making certain decisions can help, but I didn't make those decisions.

[CeeKay]

UPDATE

I got stuck on an annoying boss in Alpha Protocol, so I decided to set it aside for the moment, but will be going back. I wound up with a bunch of games in recent sales, some of which came alphabetically before Alpha Protocol.

let me guess, Disco Boss in Russia?

Correct - is he known to be a pain? From what I understand, making certain decisions can help, but I didn't make those decisions.

It's just an annoying fight.  I found the walkthrough that helped me here, but there isn't much too it.

[whiteboyskim]

The Steam Summer Sale managed to completely blow up my backlog, which is now epic in size. But on the plus side I have enough gaming goodness for the next six months. At least.

[Harpua3]

Im working on this same issue. Too many games, yet something comes out and I want it. Boom, purchased!!! I have been chipping away at it though. Replaying hl2, hl2 ep 1. And ep 2 as well. The games are old but at 1080 p with all maxed, it suprisingly look good.

[Teggy]

Been bouncing around a bit, but still trying work down the list alphabetically for the most part. I'm setting aside another game, even though I didn't give it 2 hours. And Yet It Moves is the type of 2d platform puzzle physics game that I generally can't get into. Gave it a shot, and while it is a clever idea, I know I won't enjoy it.

[Teggy]

Still have this in my sights, and while I have veered off course a bit (Batman: Arkham City, Borderlands 2, Portal 2 - hey, 2 of those start with 'B' at least), I'm trying to chip away at it.

I've decided to set Alpha Protocol aside for now because I haven't felt like going back and trying to get through the boss fight I was stuck on. Sad, because I was enjoying the game. Alice: Madness Returns may go in the category soon, but I love 3D platformers so I'm hoping to get back to it. No big reason why I stopped playing, I just got distracted by some other games.

Two games up next: Alan Wake's American Nightmare, since I finally knocked off all the AW DLC, and Anna, some kind of horror adventure game. Sounds like an interesting change of pace, especially since CoD is coming up.

[Teggy]

Finished Alan Wake's American Nightmare - it had its moments, but IMO not as good as the original game. An obvious reusing of one set of assets to extend the game, even though the story was fairly clever. Best part was all the new weapons, which would be nice to have in a proper Alan Wake game. I'm not much for solo arcade modes, so after one round I was done with that aspect of the game.

I set aside Anna. It's a very short game but I was failing horribly with the puzzles. After looking at a walkthrough a few times (ingame hint system was not working for me), I decided to forget about it.

Up next: Aquaria and The Ball

[Purge]

I can't get Armed and Dangerous to run on Windows 8 Pro.

I was looking forward to finishing that one.

[CeeKay]

Been bouncing around a bit, but still trying work down the list alphabetically for the most part. I'm setting aside another game, even though I didn't give it 2 hours. And Yet It Moves is the type of 2d platform puzzle physics game that I generally can't get into. Gave it a shot, and while it is a clever idea, I know I won't enjoy it.

I got that one in a bundle.  the concept was neat but I felt the same way.

[Teggy]

Been bouncing around alphabetically, but if I'm depleting the backlog it still counts, right?

First was Mark of the Ninja. I very rarely like sidescrollers, but I could play this stealth oriented variation at my own pace, which made it a lot of fun. I think the best part of this game is that you can play it any way you want and not really be penalized, as long as you act like a ninja. You can get bonuses for stealthing by enemies, or you can get bonuses for killing enemies in a ninja-like manner. A bit of a though-provoking ending as well.

Next was Spec Ops: The Line. This is a pretty fun game in the Gears of War mold. As you may have heard, what sets the game apart is the story. When I finished up the game, I immediately started up another run not because the gameplay was that great (although the gunplay is pretty satisfying), but because I needed to see parts of the story again based on the ending.

[Teggy]

Another bounce around the alphabet - finished Far Cry. I had to use god mode on the very last checkpoint, but I won't hold that against myself because it as accepted as being stupid hard. I still had quite a few hours (23!) of fun with the game. Very challenging, but some of the levels make it very worthwhile, and it gets easier as you start to understand the way the game works. It is definitely not COD.

[Teggy]

Added 2 more games to the "maybe I'll come back to it some other time" pile.

First was The Ball. I guess this kind of wanted to be Portal, but Portal has a lot of charm and narrative going for it. Basically you roll a big ball around, occasionally flipping switches to navigate it through volcanic ruins. You also encounter mummies that try to attack you, and these enemies seemed an unnecessary bother. Yes, Portal has turrets, but they are stationary and part of the puzzle solving. Funny thing, I thought the best part of the game was the set of Portal puzzles they made for it which included GlaDOS. Still, I didn't hate it, and I'll leave it on the drive, possibly taking on a level here or there.

Next was BEEP. BEEP is a physics-based sidescrolling platformer where you play a robot (or an identical robot after each robot is destroyed) who has a gravity ray, a gun and can use jet packs. I have a love/hate relationship with 2D platformers. I like the jumping and traversal, but I just don't have the right set of reflexes for them. At best I'll get halfway in before I simply get frustrated. So I was surprised when I was really enjoying BEEP. A lot of the puzzles are stacking items in the environment or moving sliding or rotating blocks to get where you need to go. There are stationary lasers which can be disabled, but there are also flying and rolling robots that try to kill you. This extra obstacle of dodging fire and trying to kill enemies is where the game started to frustrate me. Add to that the fact that there is only one set of keyboard controls and no option for a controller and it started to test my patience. You can't even switch the jump button from "W" to the space bar. I would love to try this game with a controller and I think I will at least fire it up again because I really did enjoy the concept.

[Teggy]

Moving to the "tried but won't finish now category":

Aquaria - this is a pretty cool Metroidvania type game, except the main character swims, so no jumping. To make it unique, there are color-coded songs that you sing to either change into a different form or use an ability. Played a couple hours but was getting a little annoyed by the keyboard movement controls and was getting killed by the first boss. Unfortunately, the 360 controls are a bit lacking. I would like to give this another shot someday, however.

Alice: Madness Returns - decided I wanted to play the original Alice (which I have on 360)before going back to this.

Finished:

Crysis - Felt a lot like the good parts of Far Cry for the most part, although didn't do a good job with alternating between outdoor and indoor levels like Far Cry did. The last 3 chapters in particular were a little lacking, and I wasn't a big fan of the end fight. A very nice looking game, for sure.

Up next:

Crysis Warhead - as long as I have Crysis fresh in my mind

Aliens vs. Predator - the current top of my list alphabetically.

Also, I had Far Cry 2 on this list, but I didn't like that you couldn't make controller icons appear on the screen so I decided to play the copy I have on 360 and get my achievements.

[Teggy]

A few more knocked off the list:

Crysis Warhead - A bit more character development than the first game, but a lot easier on normal. Psycho can really take a beating before dying. The pace of the game felt a bit rushed. I know it's just an expansion, but it sped along very quickly from mission to mission, so it didn't feel quite like the original.

Deadlight - A short (3 hours) experience, probably only worth it on sale. Some pretty fun platforming, with a bit too much emphasis on trial and error towards the end. Story was mostly to push the game along, although the ending was good. Not much in the way of replay value unless you want to try getting through the stages without checkpoints. Some collectibles as well.

I Am Alive - Another short game, a bit longer  at 5 hours. The history of this game is a bit of a mystery, as it orignally showed up in 2008 looking like a retail game. When it finally came out it was downloadable and the character and story looked to have changed. The traversal aspect was quite good, with the character having to manage stamina unlike Nathan Drake. Each encounter with enemies is also a challenge, as you may wind up with limited (or no) ammo in your gun and have to figure out how to survive. Again, I'd recommend this one at $5-7 range, especially if you like games with climbing. The game as whole had a lot of atmosphere, but the story as a whole was pretty flimsy and ends with little satisfaction. Replay value is only in harder difficulty and rescuing 20 survivors, which involves a little puzzle solving.

[Caine]

I voted for Deadlight during tonight's community choice, but with The Walking Dead also on that list, it doesn't stand a chance.  I've been interested in both of those for a while now.  different takes on post-apocalyptic gaming. 

[Teggy]

One more down, one more in the discard pile.

I finished F.E.A.R., and as my separate thread said, I loved it. I'm going to work on the expansions next.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I'm tossing Braid. I didn't buy it, I got it in a bundle. I tried the demo on XBOX a while back, but figured I'd give it another shot. It has a few things working against it for me right off the bat - it's a 2D sidescroller, it has roaming enemies and it requires precision jumps. Add to that the instructions don't even tell you what all the controller buttons do, and I got frustrated very quickly.

[Purge]

Braid was a brilliant game.

You only have jump and directions, and time reverse IIRC. As you progress, each world has a "theme" to it, where certain doors will not be affected by time reversal, etc.

[Teggy]

Braid was a brilliant game.

You only have jump and directions, and time reverse IIRC. As you progress, each world has a "theme" to it, where certain doors will not be affected by time reversal, etc.

It has a "how to play" screen which doesn't even show you the X button. Then, once I pressed the x button I had to figure out that the shoulder buttons did different things. But mostly I can't deal with having to perfectly time jumps while simultaneously avoiding enemies (or using one of those enemies to bounce). It's the same reason I gave up on playing 2D Mario and Rayman games. :/

[Teggy]

Knocked off F.E.A.R. Extraction Point. Combat was as fun as in the original game, but not much in the way of evolution. One fun grenade addition and a couple of mediocre guns. Creepiness was amped way up and very effective. The excuse to have enemies to shoot was nonsensical, though, and there was not much story at all. One really awesome death scene.

[Purge]

My backlog grew significantly in the past few days. Warhammer 40K series (Dawn of War RTS ones), Sleeping Dogs,

Sleeping Dogs SWAT Pack
Sleeping Dogs - Street Racer Pack DLC
Sleeping Dogs Square Enix Character Pack
Sleeping Dogs - Tactical Soldier Pack
Sleeping Dogs Screen Legends Pack
Sleeping Dogs - Drunken Fist Pack
Sleeping Dogs: Retro Triad DLC
Sleeping Dogs: Top Dog DLC
Sleeping Dogs The Red Envelope Pack
Sleeping Dogs Top Dog Gold Pack
Sleeping Dogs
Spec Ops The Line (ROW)
Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition Complete Pack
Kung Fu Strike: The Warrior's Rise - DLC
Kung Fu Strike - The Warrior's Rise
Dawn of War Franchise Pack
Torchlight II
The Bard's Tale

[Teggy]

Ah yes, the winter sales have given me plenty more backlog to attack.

[CeeKay]

Ah yes, the winter sales have given me plenty more backlog to attack.

I've been remarkably good with the sales so far.