Here's part 1 in my adventures into backlog city.

I was under the impression that I made some good progress this year with this whole undertaking, but it's still a losing battle. Seems like every day a new game is added to my list because I can't resist a game that only costs $3.75 plus tax. I'll try to keep it short because, well, I got things to do and games to play but feel free to let me know if I'm right or wrong about these games. I get through them very quickly (with some exceptions) so it's possible I'm totally off base here.

Forza Motorsport 5

It may have had a shaky start with the terrible microtransactions, lack of cars, lack of tracks, and unfinished menus, but with time Turn 10 has actually listened to the community and have been diligently updating the game since release. They are giving out free tracks, new cars and improving the game overall but it still feels like a launch title and if you've been a long time fan, you're better off skipping this one.

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

This is a rough one. It has the trappings that made me adore Blood Money (my first Hitman game) but it's missing so much. Big levels, multiple kill methods, decent sneaking, good controls...all of these things aren't around and it makes the whole experience feel super restricted.

Hitman Contracts

I should not have played this right after Hitman 2. I simply resorted to shooting everyone after the first hour and it made the whole thing moot. I will admit however that this game has way more of the elements that made Blood Money spectacular and that were missing in Hitman 2, only problem is that they were wrapped in a shitty story and boring missions.

Dante's Inferno

This game looks dope. The art style and presentation are what a horny 14 year old would come up with, but I still really enjoyed looking at this game. Yeah the technical aspects of the graphics can look bad at times but all the art and the halfway decent combat made this a fun experience. The last bit before the end boss was bullshit but everything before that was a good time. That cliffhanger ending better pay off Visceral.... :( :( :(

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

I'm glad they're making a sequel to this. It may not be for everyone but I quite enjoyed this twin-stick shooter/puzzle adventure. I never got around to the co-op, the main course of this game, but I still had a good time shooting mercenaries, giant spiders and dinosaurs.

Trials Fusion

If you liked the last two Trials games and want some more, get this game. If you didn't like them then this isn't going to change your mind.

Wolfenstein

This is the 2009 game I'm talking about here. Honestly I had the most fun in the first mission when I was just shooting nazis and blowing up trains. It reminded me of Allied Assault. After that the game goes into nazi occult bullshit and although shooting them is still fun, I no longer cared about the story or the characters which is too bad. There was a lot of potential there for a bit.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Fly to this place, solve this puzzle, beat this boss, get this item, unlock the next place. Now I know this may sound mundane, but it is done very well here. It's a solid game, just nothing out of this world.

Civilization Revolution

This my only experience with these types of games, so by default Civ Rev is the greatest strategy game of all time. There you go you heard it here first.

Deadlight

This game wins the award categories for:

1. Least Original Premise

2. Least Interesting Narrative

3. Least Interesting Characters

4. Least Interesting World

5. Least Original Gameplay

The Deadlight team would like to thank their families, friends, god, the academy of interactive arts and sciences and their biggest inspiration of all: The Walking Dead.

Thank You

Child of Light

Ubisoft is 2 for 2 with their Ubi-Art Framework initiative. This is more of a JRPG Lite rather than a full on 80 hour adventure and it makes for a tight experience with awesome fights, awesome art and awesome music. Probably one of the best games of 2014.

That main theme music....can't get enough!

Dead Island

How this game ever passed certification by anyone is beyond me. The in-game models eyeballs jump out of their eyelids....that's how little care was put into this. Also it's boring as hell and all of course you have to fight humans at one point and of course it's the worst fucking part of the game, you don't even need me to tell you that, but I will anyway!

Super Mario Galaxy

This starts off very slowly in what I assume is a way for younger kids or newer players to get used to the controls and mechanics but after a few hours I was totally invested in getting every single star I could. This is a beautifully crafted game and I finally get what all the hype is about. It's not hard to beat, but if you're a completionist you're going to get just the right amount of challenge from this. It may not be as revolutionary as Super Mario 64 was back in 1996 but it is definitely up there as one of Mario's best outings.

Wolfenstein: The New Order

This game is very similar to the 2009 game but the main difference is that after the first mission I was still totally invested into the world, the story and the characters. I love a shooter that lets me play in a variety of ways (Deus Ex, Metro Last Light) and this does just that by letting me choose to either blast every nazi in my path of stealthily slit their throats. I hope Machinegames is given more opportunities to work on Bethesda IP, maybe they can bring new life to DOOM one of these days.

Watch_Dogs

If you avoided all the outrage around this game like I did then you may have a very skewed opinion about this game, at least that's what I've been lead to believe when I bring up my feeling about Watch_Dogs.

Yo this game is pretty cool. Yeah the story was completely forgettable but Chicago was fun to explore and the amount of detail was astounding. The problem comes from the things you can do within the city; all of the activities seemed designed by committee. If they make a new city I just hope they come up with better things to do than 40 driving missions and 13 towers to climb.

I loved the missions, the stealth, the feel of the weapons, the enemy AI, the driving, and the combat scenarios but all the extra bits felt totally superficial. If they could focus down their effort and make 5 meaningful side-activities rather than 50 forgettable ones Watch_Dogs 2 could be one of the greatest open world games of all time.

Mario Kart 8

I bet this is really fun to play with friends :( :( :(

In single player you either win very easily of loose very badly. It looks great and plays great, what else can I say?

Dust: An Elysian Tale

I'm pretty sure the person responsible for choosing the color palette in this is color-blind....Unless I'm the one who's color blind....

Holy hell does this game look shitty and it's only because the colors make it look like a 4 year old had their hand in this. I can't fault the artist for the design of the characters but I can certainly blame him or her for choosing the colors they did.

I know it's very petty of me, and the game plays just fine, but I just couldn't stand looking at it, and no...it never grew on me either.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

This game is amazing. Put aside your feeling for Banjo Kazooie of old for a minute enjoy the fact that for once your capacity to think critically and build your own abilities (ie. the vehicles you create) are how you get the Jiggy. It used to be that if you found the ability and were good enough to press some buttons you could reach your goal easily enough. But in Nuts and Bolts you are solely responsible for building a vehicle that will net you a Jiggy. It's truly amazing and it's sad that it went right over the heads of so many BK fans.

This is also the reason the challenges that have pre-built vehicles are the worst because they limit your imagination and creativity.

Now if they could fuse the concept of crafting your own powers and abilities into a true platforming world (rather than a mission based system) they could make one truly amazing platformer.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Wow...Ubisoft is on a roll with these quick Ubi-Art games. Much like Child of Light was a simple take on the JRPG, Valiant Hearts is a easy and light adventure game but set in one of the least represented eras of video games. This is one of the only games where I was actually searching out collectibles and reading all of them because they were so interesting, I learned so much about the first world war and I was already pretty knowledgeable on the subject. This is another front runner for best game of 2014.

Also, the ending....gawd damn....

Vanquish

Hell ya Vanquish!!!

This was the perfect game to play after Valiant Hearts. You feel so powerful in your ARS suit, and your mobility on the battlefield is unparalleled in any 3rd person shooter. The game has a weird blue tint to it, the voice acting is especially bad and the story twist can be seen coming from a mile away (you won't believe who the real bad guys are!) but the way you can mow down enemies and bosses with such ease (even on hard difficulty) will make you forget all the bad parts of Vanquish.

Even with so many games to finish, I still took the time to beat the game twice because it was so much fun.

Gotham City Impostors

If you're going to make this type of game, you need to front load the first levels of progression with a wide variety of weapons, have the middle section be populated by more specialized weapons and have the last few unlocks be powerful but hard to use weapons.

Imposters has 100 levels, no good unlocks until level 20 or so and tries to pass off costumes and calling cards as important unlocks.

Nope I say to that. I'll go back to playing MW2.

Perfect Dark

I kept seeing list after list claiming Perfect Dark to be one of the best ports on xbla ever and I finally decided to see what all the fuss is about.

The reason people cite Perfect Dark on xbox as one of the best ports ever is because the base game is absolutely amazing. Yes I've played tons of shooters since 2000, and even in 2014 it amazed me with the smoothness of the shooting, the cool story, the challenging missions, the creative weaponry and the solid multiplayer. I felt truly bad for never having played this before.

I was prepared to hate this because of its history as one of the first console shooters but it still holds up 14 years later.

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

I've never played a CoJ game before but RDR is one of my favorite games ever, so I gave this a shot. It's a solid shooter with a cool story-telling mechanic where the game you're playing is literally being narrated as you play through it. It leads to some interesting situations and although it isn't the longest game, it also doesn't overstay its welcome.

I must say however, the dueling mechanic is a giant mess. I've completed maybe 25 duels and I still have absolutely no idea how it's supposed to work.

Oh it ain't over yet...

Damn, it's an overwhelming feeling to see a list that never seems to shrink. September 9th marks the day Destiny comes out and a whole new crop of new games might destroy me as a video game enthusiast and as a person. Here's what I need to finish within the next two months:

-Viva Pinata TIP

-Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

-The Orange Box

-Dark Souls

-Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze

-Super Mario Galaxy 2

-Paper Mario Sticker Star

-Bravely Default

-Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

-Zelda: Skyward Sword

-Donkey Kong Country Returns

-Bit Trip Runner 2

-Castlevania Lords of Shadow

-Final Fantasy XIII

-Battlefield 4

-Borderlands 2 DLC

-Super Metroid

-Max: Curse of Brotherhood

-Halo: Spartan Assault

-Pikmin 3

-Bully

-Condemned: Criminal Origins

-Guacamelee

-Paper Mario

-Far Cry Classic

-Beyond Good and Evil HD

Wish me luck...