Holy crap, yes, back up your data. Back it up now. Back it up always, unless you don't care about losing it. Backup costs next to nothing compared to data recovery.

Finished a few things since I last posted, but most recently Fallen Order.

The combat is inconsistent and its rules seem to be dictated by unknown factors. The enemies follow different physical rules than the player. While interrupting attacks works one way at one point in time, the don't in another. The visual language of unblockable attacks vs. blockable seemed to be permanently bugged, making consistent combat impossible.

The story is fine, but I felt no direct connection to the story. It didn't help that the narrative seemed to be dependent on me knowing more about more of the Star Wars universe than I was. When I was familiar with something, I wash shocked the game did so little to explain itself. What's worse was that the NPCs acted as if we had been friends for a long time, when I just started the game, and music cues inferred specific emotional states incongruant with what I even felt a little bit.

And that ending? Completely unearned and lazy. It was the biggest failure of the game and I did. Not. Care. Despite all of this, it was pretty ok.

7/10

I voted for Bionic Commando. It was the wrong Bionic Commando. That being said, it doesn't look like my other choice would have effected the outcome, so I don't feel TOO bad. :)

That being said, the only things I picked that didn't make it were Professor Layton (more niche than I thought?) and Torchlight! I'm surprised Torchlight is nowhere to be seen. Did anyone else play it? Remember it? Care about it at all?

I pre-ordered AC3, and before it was released, played all of the other games back to back. The jump from AC to AC2 was such a welcome set of improvements on a formula I was already really enjoying. The Mario gag didn't hurt either. 🙂

It took me years to beat Demon's Souls. The Souls series, in general, has taught me a lot about thinking about certain games in different ways; whether it's how the Souls games are paced, or learning that failure isn't the wall we might think it is. They've also held up really well over time, imo.

I step away for one day...

Left 4 Dead 2 was something I probably spent more time playing multi-player than anything else I've ever played, including MMOs (I would solo a lot catching up to my clan from update to update). Over 250 hours of repeated playthroughs, trying the harder skill levels and seeing how fast we could get through maps. Loved playing that game.

Borderlands is my favorite unfinished game. So much of that title feels weirdly empty, the pacing is a mess, and as much as I liked the multiplayer, it could have been implemented better, like @DIPSET said. It just felt good riding up against the difficulty ceiling. As long as the enemies were at a decent enough level, there was a lot of fun to be had running around like a maniac to keep yourself alive and rezzing teammates.

F that second area car boss fight, though. Still hate that one.

I'm the worst at playing the SMB series. I've hardly put any time into the games past Super Mario World, but I've played bits of a lot of them.

@brannox I'd be sad if I ever had burnout from liking things. :D

Can I get away with being lazy with my picks and coming out ahead? Probably not, but let's try anyway!

Average: 85

WC Average: 83

Delayed:

God of War 2
The Good Life

Cancelled:

Skull & Bones
LotR: Gollum

@happygaming My self inflicted food poisoning has reverted, yes. :) I kinda want to get 8th place again, just because the odds of that happening are so low.