I must confess that I did not fair too much better in July than I did in June, but I did double my output. And I brought my total past the half-way mark. 52 games would still be one game a week were I to stop tallying, which ain't too shabby. I've said it as many words and math as possible, but in raw numbers, I got four games to talk about in this belated July edition of my progress towards beating 100 games in one year. 4.

49. Ratchet & Clank [2002]

I’ve finally gotten around to starting one of the more celebrated Playstation 2 franchises. In fact I beat the original trilogy this month, playing them all back to back to back. These games hold up reasonably well. I’m definitely glad I didn’t work backwards, because some quality of life improvements with each game really helped mitigate some of this one’s dated qualities. The characters have that Insomniac, silly with attitude charm. The beginning of Insomniac’s goofy gun fetish dates back to this one, though I don’t know enough about Disruptor to say that with 100% confidence. This particular game strikes me as a good foundation for a series, but I wasn’t overly impressed considering where how big the series got. The remake probably fixed a lot of my issues with it, but I tend to be down for the raw experience and I enjoyed myself enough to keep space truckin' on through the next two games.

50. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando [2003]

Continuing on Going Commando improves upon the first game in some logical ways, like a better camera, more fluid movement and more silly guns. It retains the charm of the first game, but is perhaps slightly less so. I feel like a weird trend for animal starring games/cartoons was to have a love interest of the same species pop up in the second game, and then disappear from the series later, which seems to happen here, but I could’ve gone crazy at some point and conjured up this trend on the basis of this game alone, because no other examples come to mind. Interestingly enough saves from the first game carry over and you get to get some of your favorite guns from the first game back in this one. On the whole, Going Commando is a logical follow-up with about as many improvements as you could expect in a year.

51. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal [2004]

Commonly touted as the best of the bunch, and after playing the trilogy back to back to back, I’m inclined to agree. The quality of life and control improvements aren’t up to modern standards, but Up Your Arsenal is still noticeably better than its predecessors. The writing stayed consistent with previous games, but I feel it never grew or evolved in a meaningful way throughout the series. This culminated in Dr. Nefarious who is a bit too over the top for my tastes, but I enjoyed his butler, and Captain Qwark remained an enjoyable character. His 2-D levels were a neat diversion too. I think they were enough to push this one to the top for me. However, because I played all of this trilogy in fairly quick succession they all kind of blend together a bit, all being solid action platformers.

52. Batman: The Telltale Series [2016]

Batman and the universe he lives in is brimming with stories to be told. There seems to be no shortage of ideas and takes on the character. This one takes more after the animated series and previous Arkham Asylum series than it does the not even that recent anymore Nolan series of movies. The writing gets a little iffy with some characters in spots, but I quite liked the look unique look they gave the Penguin. Technically speaking its scene transitions can be jumpy at times and it could’ve used a bit more polish. I’m thinking Telltale games definitely don’t hold the same appeal they did a few years ago, but their take on the bat man is enjoyable enough.

Is August the month I get my shit together? Find out next week on Dragonball Z... my blog I mean.

January Progress Report 19/100

February Progress Report 24/100

March Progress Report 26/100

April Progress Report 37/100

May Progress Report 46/100

June Progress Report 48/100

July Progress Report 52/100 (viewing)

August Progress Report 63/100

September Progress Report 73/100

October Progress Report 82/100

November Progress Report 88/100

December Progress Report ???/100