October is our first month as we try to tackle that most first-world of problems. My Video Game backlog.
Here are the ground rules. It must be a game I have not played. Must be a game I own. Must be a game playable on my current PC or the Playstation 4 or Xbox One. Games on the Xbox that are not backward compatible (Such as my hundreds of Xbox Live Indie Games) will not be included in the backlog count.
Games that I have played but not finished (and there is an embarrassingly large number of these), as well as games I want to play again, will be located on a different list.
For every three Backlog Games I play I will play one of the not finished/ want to play again games. I will not buy a new game till my backlog gets down to twenty games though I may still acquire new games through Playstation Plus and Games with Gold and the occasional Humble Bundle (Which is kind of buying a new game but one step at a time.)
Buying remastered versions of games I already own (Played and not played. This will be on a case by case basis so, for example, yes to Catherine: Full Body but no to Ghostbusters Video Game Remastered.)
Our goal is to clear, or at very least put a dent in, the backlog by the time the new consoles are released. (Originally my goal was until Cyberpunk 2077 was released but realistically I may want to wait for the new console version of that game which we all know will come out.)
So with all these restrictions and rules what is my current backlog count? 763… Oh dear God, I will be dead before I get through all of these… Okay Okay, baby steps. Let us see our first two groups of Three Backlog Games followed by a replay game
Thief (PS4)
So Batman moved to Dunwall and called himself Garrett. I have a couple of hours into this one so far and it’s… okay. The graphics certainly are showing their age and the controls are a bit awkward. On the plus side, I like opening drawers and getting a ding sound so that feedback loop is working for me.
Absolver (PS4)
What in God’s name is this? Open world kung-fu simulator with a very deep high skill fighting system. This may click with me but I honestly can see my frustration level causing a rage quit early on. The graphics and customization options are not really selling me so far. Of course, I am a gamer who judges his fighting games by their breast physics.
Crazy Taxi (Xbox One)
I think I recall this one. This is the 360 version with bad controls that lost all the great licensed music in the Dreamcast version. (no The Offspring). This isn’t a long game to begin with and while I enjoyed the original Dreamcast version I have a feeling I will be opting for a Lyft or Uber after half an hour of play.
Zen Pinball 2 South Park Super Sweet Pinball (PS4)
For my play it again game this go around we have a nice pinball game. This will be a quick round where I will play and get a new high score. A note I have Pinball FX 3 of course but some of the tables did not import from Zen Pinball 2 presumably due to licensing issues.
Well, that is our first round and a nice mixture of games if I do say so myself. No time-sucking traps such as Skyrim this time around we will see what the future brings. (Our next round will include R.C. Pro-Am II, Not A Hero, Bully Scholarship Edition, and Madden NFL 18 so stay tuned.)