Article written by Peter Chapman.
Published on 06/12/2010 at 06:00 PM.
Note: I’ve linked each game’s title to its TSA review or the article most pertinent to that game. Hopefully this will help serve as a recap for some reviews – and games – you might have missed throughout the year so far.
It’s a fortunate situation I find myself in, as we careen headlong into the coldest, darkest months. Just as the outside world becomes frigid and bleak I find myself with potentially the quietest month of the year stretched ahead of me and a large (and growing) pile of games to play.
You see, I have missed a few of the big titles. Even a couple of games that I was really keen to play have passed me by as I was kept busy with other review commitments. I’ve missed Fable III and Call of Duty: Black Ops thanks to the Kinect coverage. I didn’t get around to finishing God of War III because I was busy with Mass Effect 2 and Final Fantasy XIII. As great as it is to be able to play lots of games and call it work, I often miss out on my most anticipated titles because I’m busy with something else.
So what am I planning to do with my December? Well, I’ve got some racing to do with GT5 and I’ll pick up Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit as soon as I can justify the time it will take up. I can’t spend the whole month behind the wheel though, so Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Vanquish and Call of Duty: Black Ops are sure to be a welcome salve for my action itch. I’ve even got God of War: Ghost of Sparta ready and waiting in case I get left in the car while my wife tries on handbags or whatever it is women do for hours on end in Next.
Auditorium HD and Flight Control HD will satisfy most of my urge for smart puzzlers and casual games but I’ve also got Plants Vs Zombies sitting, half finished, on my iPhone and Bejeweled 3 is appealing quite a bit too. I might even try to make time to finally finish New Super Mario Bros. Wii and start Super Mario Galaxy 2 (I know…). Metroid: Other M, Epic Mickey, GoldenEye 007 and Donkey Kong Country Returns all came out (or are about to) on the Wii this year and I’ve missed them all so far – something I’m keen to remedy as soon as possible.
I’m really keen to get back into StarCraft II and I just picked up Football Manager 2011 for a bargain price too. So my PC will see some gaming love this December, before the inevitable Steam Christmas sale mugs me again and I spend January wishing I had time to play all the games I’ve bought for next to nothing.
I’m keeping an eye out for RUSE and The Fight at good prices so I can use Sony’s magic wands a bit more and I’ve got Dance Central for Kinect if I ever manage to get drunk enough to play that with a group. I’m also looking into some of the fitness software (aside from The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout) for all the motion control systems for January, when I will inevitably need to shed the extra weight I fully intend putting on over the holidays.
So, with TSA’s Game of the Year discussions going on behind the scenes and a long, dark month (ending with a festival of gift-giving!) just upon us, we’re interested to know what you’re looking forward to catching up with and what games would you recommend to others for the holiday period?
Gift giving? i like the sound of that. I only play up to 3 games at a time.
I’m planning on picking up Medal of Honour, Apache Air Assault and Enslaved.
There’s also Afrika, which is a game that I’ve been meaning to get for about 2 years now. The thing is that it’s import only, and I just haven’t got around to finding somewhere that is cheap and looks reliable. I don’t know what it is about the game that makes me want to play it that much, but I guess it’s because it’s totally unique and therefore I want to play it.
AFRIKA is awesome, i have it and fully completed it, its such a great game, i really recommend it, its about animal photography ;)
Awesome, where did you get it from?
I think the US version is called Afrika, and the Japanese version is called Hakuna Matatta too.
i have hakuna matata, but i would get afika from amazon.com, its the best price ive found, ebay is over priced, but shipping may take along time
You don’t want to see my back-log list. It’s like staring into a bleak time portal of shame.
Yes, i want to see your back log and i promise that i won’t laugh.
BioShock, the first one, is on it. I’ve said too much …
Portal of shame…
;)
I’ll raise you Metal Gear Solid 3.
Yes, not even Guns of the Patriots, but Snake Eater…
il see your bio-shock, il see your snake eater (which i too have sitting in my pile)
and il raise you a final fantasy 7 which i purchased from Gforce about 2 years ago, and further a vagrant story procured from the psn.
Oooh, I have Vagrant Story as well…
Haven’t even clicked ‘new game’ yet…
ive barely started it, i think when i do go back to it il start over again.
I haven’t played GT1 since i have brought it 7 months ago. Nope have not even put it in my ps3 for more then 2 minutes.
Dany2Step, get your ass to the nearest TV and beat FFVII.
i know! im such a wanna-be fanboy ugh.
ive just went back to 13 to attempt the marks/waystone side quest. its not that well set out but im getting there.
You’ve listed 16 games you want to get out the way this Dec! Very hopeful! It is insane how frequently “unmissable” games come out now, I have a similar list in my head of games that I would like to, but most likely never will, play. Next year’s gaming schedule looks even busier, there just isn’t enough time sadly to get through everything I would like.
As for games at the moment I am getting through before Christmas, Red Dead and Castlevania have been 2 that I am playing pretty solidly now to try and finish. I would highly recommend them both! Enslaved is the other big one on my radar that I want to play, but that will have to wait until after Christmas now (along with after AC: Brotherhood and GT5 that I am getting at Christmas), so it might be a while!
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood will probably be the game that I play over Christmas.
Busy with Need For Speed:Hot Pursuit at the moment, but I’ve nearly got all of the achievements for that (fortunately some more are on the way soon: http://youtu.be/bD7F9-LX3SE)
The recent DLC for Trials HD will have me cursing well into January and I’m tempted to pick up Singstar Dance for when the folks come over.
Unfortunately, I’ve become addicted to Hot Pursuit, which means GT5 and Black Ops are unplayed and growing dusty. My brother said he wanted to pick up all 3 Assassin’s Creeds and I would like to get the God of War trilogy for myself. My final plans are to play through both Uncharteds on crushing.
Even if I spend all my hols on that lot, I doubt I’ll make it through them.
Easter too, will be pretty busy, with Killzone, LBP, Motorstorm etc.
Tell your Bro to miss the first AC and just watch a youtube video of it instead. It’s good, but too repetitive.
AC2 and AC:B are utterly brilliant though.
this man tells the truth about ac1. cracking game, if ac2 and acb hadnt been released, I tried it again the other day and everything is such a chore. the story can be summed up in a 60 seconds
It’s summed up at the start of AC2. I played AC1 just last week and I don’t think you should discard it. It’s a great game like you say and I think it just makes for a better background knowledge of AC in general. I loved it, I will get AC:B on christmas but I won’t play it till after boxing day. Oh and as for NFS:HP, I wish I had gotten that game instead of GT5. A rental of NFS:HP and a buy for GT5 is not the way I would go about it again in hindsight.
BackLogPourMoi: Bioshock 2, Skate 3, Red Dead Redemption (to go for 100%), GT5 (as I’m busy with PoP 3D trilogy, Sly Trilogy and Enslaved), Fallout: New Vegas (bought on the cheap via tons of vouchers XD), then there’s all the PSN games which have came with PS+ which I’ve glanced at then gone back to my retail collection.
It’s not even like I want to willingly play on the other games though as I just get sidetracked by new stuff coming more and more often. I managed to complete alot over the summer due to only Mafia II coming out near the end for me.
Having games pile up unfulfilling their destiny to entertain is a shame. So is the fact I’m on my last Bourbon :(
Ive got around 10ish games at the moment to play through!
My December is going to be finishing Blue Toad Murder Files which i’ve recently bought and are really enjoying, Getting all the perks in MW2 to pro level before getting BLOPS this Xmas (Half way there ATM) and finishing God of War Collection and a few other games to make space on my Hard Drive
I counted number of games lying around the house, I haven’t played yet… 24. Yay for a long xmas vacation.
Not meaning to brag or anything but I think I get one of the longest Christmas Holidays of the people I know [who actually do something which grants a holiday] and that is that I have 5 weeks off. How about you? I think it’s great but I will definately once again sit there on the day before I go back thinking, what the hell just happened to 5 weeks..
loads to do my self CB will get the sly trilogy this week plus have about 9 fresh games to start as well.