GW My Top Ten: Unfinished Favourites

Gnipper gives us his Top Ten games that he hasn't actually finished.

Published 29/01/2010 at 14:00.
By Gareth C [Gamoc].

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It’s the first time we’ve ever had a guest do one of our regular articles, so Gnipper has a reasonably high honour. In this particular GW, Gnipper lists his top ten games that he never finished, which span from ‘retro’ games all the way up to the recently released. Enjoy.

I have strange thoughts sometimes. This one occurred to me whilst I was on the loo. There are quite a few games I invested hours of my precious life into and never actually finished. When I think of the hours I have spent in these worlds to not receive the gratification of a glorified end sequence it saddens me. Maybe that is testament to my extremely poor span of attention, or maybe it’s down to my inability to resist buying the latest game but when writing this list it bought back a LOT of fond memories of games I loved and never actually climaxed with (so to speak!) – ah, how art imitates life. So, without further ado here are my top 10 games I never finished:

10. The Last Ninja – C64 – Well, I spent hours playing this as a kid. Maybe I was bedazzled at the time by its isometric fantastic graphicalness, or maybe it was because I was about 7 or 8 and it was just cool to be a ninja. Never finished it. WAY too frustrating and required pinpoint (pixel perfect) accuracy on some of the sections (the bit with the sleeping gas and the dragon in the cave springs to mind). Having said that I DID finish the Last Ninja 2 (or was it 3) only to be greeted with a screen saying “Congratulations, you have finished the Last Ninja”. Talk about anti-climax. I almost wish I hadn’t finished it now!

9. Psychonauts – PC – what a crackingly weird and oddball game this is. If you haven’t played it I URGE you to beg, borrow or steal it. It’s a great game full of different gameplay styles and levels. You can tell that an AWFUL lot of thought has gone into its world design. I got to the circus level where you are bouncing about on slabs on meat (I said it was a bit weird, right?) but never finished it, frustration took hold and other games came along.

8. Fahrenheit – PC – oh my goodness. I love this game. RIGHT up until the point where it all goes a bit weird and ghosty. I loved the real world grittiness it had, the realism of a police investigation and someone seemingly going insane. Then the main character died (if I recall) and it just got plain weird. It went from gritty realism to stupid ghosty mythology in the space of a few minutes. Shame. It still sits on my game shelf at home however – I might have to replay this before Heavy Rain lands.

7. Baldurs Gate – PC – Amazingly rich, detailed world with TONS to do. Sank tens of hours into it, felt like I was getting towards the end and then stopped. As a result I never really played Baldurs Gate 2 (which I regret to this day) as I felt the story would carry on and it would be great to play them together. Still own the entire Baldurs Gate collection however so I can see this one coming out again soon.

6. GTA 4 – Xbox360 – love the feel of the game, but for some reason “Niko” and his story didn’t gel with me. I absolutely LOVED playing Tommy Vercetti in Vice City – that guy had a real bold, outrageous feel about him. Didn’t enjoy playing CJ much in San Andreas but there was so much to do that was new and outrageously daft the world hooked me, but 4 just doesn’t do anything for me, the story is too bland, the world FAR too life like to be as fun as SA. Oh, and if that mobile rings once more whilst I’m about to start a mission and its that annoying tit Roman wanting to play pool I swear to god I’m going to smash the disk to pieced.

5. Dead Space – PS3 – yes, yes, I know. It’s a GREAT game, great atmosphere, great design, great weapons, great enemies, great story but for some reason, I just got to a point where I couldn’t be bothered to carry on with it anymore. There’s only so much limb severing, seeing dismembered corpses and blinkety blinky lights that one man can take. OK!?

4. Oblivion – PS3/PC – bit of a cheat entry really as I doubt there is anyone who can say they have actually finished this game, but I never finished the main storyline. I remember getting close but then got distracted by a ton of side quest stuff. I thought at the time that I just wanted to live a life in Cyrodiil, you know, get a house, a horse, go raiding, looting, slaying demons and stuff like you do in every day life. To be fair, this is the one game on the list that I sank (probably in total) nearly 100 hours into over the various formats but don’t regret one hour of it. For me the main story wasn’t the pull here, it was the world and the exploration stuff.

3. Half Life Episode 2 – PS3 – actually this is a bit of a cheat entry. I never even played it. But I think it deserves an entry here as I bought the Orange Box really just to play this game. I thought Id play through the whole HL2 saga again to bring myself up to speed as I was the worlds most MASSIVE HL1 & 2 fan on the PC – I totally fell for all the hype. Problem was it didn’t translate well to a controller & console. So I was about ¾ of the way through Half Life 2 when my PS3 YLODed and I expect I’ll never go back to it. Shame. Oh, and in the midst of all this I discovered there was a game called “portal” in the package. Meh. I’ll give it a go I thought. Wow. Now that game is something special. I finished that one so cant talk about it here!

2. Modern Warfare 2 – PS3 – controversially I just don’t like this. I played the first 2 or 3 single player missions on my launch 60gb PS3 before it YLOD’ed on me and I haven’t been back to it since. I’ve NEVER pressed the Spec ops button on the main menu nor the multiplayer button. Am I weird? Is there something wrong with me? I think I’m the only person in the entire world that owns a copy of MW2 that’s neither single player complete or multiplayer touched? I’m going to write to the News of the World – see if they want to do an article on me. I just don’t GET the hype – sure it’s a pretty looking game, but the “point” of it sailed past me like a javelin missile heading for its target. I put this partially down to being TOTALLY FPSed out. Totally.

1. Final Fantasy 7. Yes, I know. Ridiculous isn’t it. In a weird way I’ve probably bought this game more times than any other. PS1 version for my PS1. PS1 disc version for my PS3 and then the PSN store version so I could play it on my PSP, but I never ever finished it. I’m sure I got to the last boss on the PS1, but continually got my butt kicked and there is only so much butt kicking one chap can take before he turns the console off in disgust. This game amply demonstrated that level about 571 times. I’m disappointed in myself that I haven’t finished it, which is perhaps why I bought it so many times? The thing is, the entire game is now familiar to me on such a level that I could probably quote the entire script and chain of events verbatim to you now! Hmm, if the rumours of a remake are true, I’ll perhaps just buy that 5 times and finish that. Yeah. That’s what I’ll do!

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debasemasonsgrog | 29/01/2010 14:05
have a nice day!
985 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008

I loved GTA: Vice City and San Andreas because there was so much to do and buy after completing the story, whereas you have over $1million at the end of GTA4 and have nothing to spend it on really.

I’m starting to go off MW2 a bit – AC130/airstrikes etc. annoy me :P
- ScottW-1976 | 29/01/2010 15:23
  Member
  722 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2009
  
  Depends if it’s you doing the airstrike…..
SIR-DARK-HAZE | 29/01/2010 14:08
Banned
Comment hidden
- gnipper | 29/01/2010 14:27
  Member
  810 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
  
  It is good. And I didnt mention it here but I also got The Lost and Damned but never even started it – maybe thats another top 10 though LOL. The games I bought and never started!
nofi | 29/01/2010 14:11
Wants a custom tag.
5421 TSA Points | Member since: Forever

You can bomb through the main storyline in Oblivion in about 4 hours. Do that, then enjoy the massive game for all its worth!
- Pemberton_ | 29/01/2010 14:17
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  694 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
  
  I would agree with that also…but when you level up the loot you can get from the main campaign becomes a load better.
- gnipper | 29/01/2010 14:27
  Member
  810 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
  
  I should really.. I still have a hankerin’ to get back into Oblivion..
Deathbrin | 29/01/2010 14:11
Member
1186 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009

“I think I’m the only person in the entire world that owns a copy of MW2 that’s neither single player complete or multiplayer touched?”
Nope, ialso never touched the MP and stuck on Single Player so i never completed it. The Spec Ops thing is like drugs though, but only if you’ll find yourself a willing teammate (and if you like FPS, of course). Highly recommended.
- Deathbrin | 29/01/2010 14:13
  Member
  1186 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
  
  Oh, and also i bought two different versions of FFVII off PSN since i thought the International one is going to be in English. But then i have the fourth bonus disc. ^^
- ScottW-1976 | 29/01/2010 15:27
  Member
  722 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2009
  
  Never got the Spec-Ops thing, I find playing against AI so much less interesting than real people. MP gives you a much better feel of the difference between weapons and equipment than SP or Spec=OPs.
citizeninsane45 | 29/01/2010 14:17
Member
1295 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008

I think you got too scared with Dead Space and was too terrified to finish it. You really should though, it is a great game and has a nice twist in the story at the end.

Also, totally agree with you on GTA4 but I did manage to finish all the story missions
- TctclMvPhase | 29/01/2010 21:49
  Member
  818 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
  
  I havent finished Dead Space either. I think the atmosphere has a lot to do with it.
  
  Its so tense that it gets tiring.
Roynaldo | 29/01/2010 14:24
Member
4155 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008

Ive not finished Sacred 2, Prototype, Fallout 3, Mirrors Edge, Endwar and Mercenaries 2 which are currently gathering dust. Im sure theres a few others that I have sold too.

PS. You MUST finish Dead Space, dont wanna spoil it for you so il just say its a real cool ending.
- dirtyhabit | 29/01/2010 16:03
  Member
  1716 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
  
  Dead Space.
  Ha! I’ve been playing that for about 6 months! I’m up to level 9 (I think) I’m just past the bit where you have to but the beacon on the asteroid and fire it into space.
  Obviously can’t play it when the kids are around, the missus doesn’t like it either. So I’m playing it about 1 hour at a time when I remember and everyone else is in bed.
  Great game…….. will finish it eventually
bunimomike | 29/01/2010 14:25
Member
8861 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009

Oblivion – cripes. Sank 250 hours into the first play through and sniffed around every tree, boulder, dungeon. Felt very “completed” if only from an emotional sense. Gaming-wise, I have no “didn’t finish” regrets but know I must return to things to get them sorted before imminent sequels pop through my letterbox. Thanks for the reminder!
cc_star | 29/01/2010 14:27
Team TSA: Writer
11320 TSA Points | Member since: Forever

except for Flower and Uncharted2, I’ve not finished anything this generation – games just don’t hold my attention long enough, and besides I’ve got Warhawk to play.
- Kevling | 29/01/2010 14:32
  Member
  2612 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
  
  Ha, I thought that was just me ;)
  The only things I’ve finished are Flower and Braid. I’ve platinumed Burnout, but not got anywhere near my Elite license (never mind 102%ing it).
gnipper | 29/01/2010 14:28
Member
810 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009

Thanks for the comments guys. Maybe I should finish Dead Space.. But its been so long it would probably be better to actually start again!! Ive forgotten a lot about the story!
- cc_star | 29/01/2010 15:18
  Team TSA: Writer
  11320 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
  
  Yes, you’ll need to start again… you need to relearn the skills in the early levels… I rejoined at level 9ish, and died lots
mynameisblair | 29/01/2010 14:42
Member
4205 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009

I haven’t finished Dead Space or GTA either.
I loved DS but couldn’t be bothered finishing it for some reason…
I just got Psychonauts on Steam when it was £1 the other day, and look forward to it.