Shameless Gaming Month Day 1: Lollipops and Chainsaws

Hey, internet! It is I, your best friend, Alex, and his pants! They’re trousers tonight, because it’s mighty cold out there. Anyway, you’ve stumbled upon my little blog-thingy, which has been abandoned for many months. One day I’m going to properly commit to this, I swear it. This is now being repurposed slightly to hopefully include rantings and ravings about fiction and the process of writing, as well as the occasional Tales of TAY-esque detour.

It’s July 1^st, and that means Shameless Gaming Month is upon us! Shameless Gaming Month was born from the devious mind of Kotaku community member Trjn. I wasn’t a part of the Kotaku community this time last year, so browsing the site in that month was a little confusing, what with the talk of pineapples. In fact, I still don’t understand why pineapples are involved in this, but I guess that’s irrelevant to the point of this post.

It’s pretty simple; in Shameless Gaming Month we have all of July to finish as many games as we can. It’s not a competition, though. Shameless Gaming Month is all about dealing with your pile of shame, the games you bought but never finished, or worse, never played. It’s a great way to discover some hidden gems and take a second look at some games you might have brushed aside a little too early.

So what better way to start off Shameless Gaming Month, than buying a whole new game to add to the pile? It wasn’t my intention to do that, but JB Hi Fi’s 20% off sale felt like the right time to grab Lollipop Chainsaw. I guess my pile, as you’ll see below, isn’t too big anyway, so throwing on one more game isn’t going to topple it. It’s very tempting to just talk about Lollipop Chainsaw right now, because I’m enjoying it a lot, but it’s also important to step back from the game for a while and let that initial reaction fade out a little so I can properly appreciate (or hate) the game after putting more time into it.

I don’t have many games in my pile of shame, being the kind of person who tries to persevere through a game regardless of quality. I’m also the lucky sort who seems to enjoy the vast majority of the games I buy. But there are a few that have slipped through the cracks, and it’s time to give them some lovin’. So, in alphabetical order:

–          Blur

–          Braid

–          BRINK

–          Bully: Scholarship Edition

–          Deus Ex: Human Revolution

–          Dragon Age: Origins

–          Fallout 3

–          Halo CE Anniversary

–          Left 4 Dead

–          Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

–          Lollipop Chainsaw

–          Machinarium

–          Magicka

–          Red Dead Redemption (and Undead Nightmare)

It isn’t a very big list, but some of these games are pretty time-consuming. The problem I’m having right now is finding the motivation to complete some of those longer games, particularly Dragon Age and Fallout, which I have attempted to play multiple times but found myself losing interest very quickly. So those two are very low priority, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t even get touched at all. It sounds quite depressing to say that even on the first day of this event I have already partially given up, but if I’m genuinely not interested in the game I don’t see any point in forcing myself to play it.

Right now, my priority games are Lollipop Chainsaw, Halo, and Red Dead Redemption. I’m also quite keen to give Phantom Hourglass another try. Skyward Sword may also be added to this list soon! I’m motivated here by a desire to actually complete a Zelda game! And I call myself a gamer…

Since this list is so short, and I, in my laziness, will likely not touch half of these games, I’ve added some repeat runs of some games that I really love, just for the sake of looking back on some solid game experiences. Again in alphabetical order:

–          Alan Wake

–          Batman: Arkham City

–          Mass Effect 3 (FemShep playthrough)

–          Max Payne 3 (Hard difficulty)

I’m already about halfway through that FemShep playthrough so woohoo, progress!

It’s going to be interesting to see how much progress I make here (especially if I end up replaying games). My list is nowhere near as long as some folks, but even this feels slightly daunting.

As I make progress in each of these games (or perhaps just when I finish them) I aim to write a short piece about the experience, a not-quite-review of things, really. Maybe that’ll be entertaining.

And of course, there will always be time for Monday Night Halo Fights.