Back Log - Red Dead Redemption

(I'm making it a habit to post something about each game in my Back Log after I complete it)

Gorgeous 

I decided to start my "Quest to Conquer my Back" Log with a bang. Red Dead Redemption was the last game I pre-ordered and I remember rushing home from work to play it. I got about an hour in and passed out, but what an hour!

I spent time over the next week or so picking up the occasional story mission, but mostly just hunting and picking flowers. The world Rockstar created was the most beautiful piece of digital art I had ever laid eyes on. But, as was the case with me I got distracted by other shiny, new games that came out after that (plus my roommate kind of hogged it for a while) and it eventually collected dust on my shelf. I never even made it to Mexico.

So when The new year rolled around and I made my resolution to "Conquer my Back Log" (That seems more and more dirty every time I type it), RDR was the first game that came to mind. I don't know how I managed to stay away from this game for that long. As soon as I fired it up I was immediately reminded of how amazing this game looks. The combination of great texture work and lighting is really hard to top. And I don't think I'll ever be able to look at another video game horse with out thinking it looks like garbage.

All that gushing aside, about halfway through I was reminded of the fact that I kind of don't like open world games that much. I rushed through all the Grand Theft Auto games just so I could see the end of the main story line and then I shelved that shit quick. I've always gotten frustrated when the rest of the world interferes with me while I try to complete mission objectives. This frustration goes as far back as Tony Hawk's Underground. Red Dead Redemption is no different.

For the record, I really liked this game. I do not regret playing at all. But, I'm not gonna lie, I cursed a LOT throughout my time with it. Every time a cougar killed my horse and then me while I was chasing down a bounty, when the cover system would flip out and get me killed, or during the entirety of the train escort mission, expletives went flying. It got to the point that went into GTA mode and just rushed through the story missions so I could see the ending that has been talked up so much across the internet (Which is awesome BTW).

It's no surprise that I got frustrated with a Rockstar game. I should have known better than to expect otherwise. But that being said, had I finished it sooner this would have easily been on my top 10 list (which is also no surprise as it was featured in over 25,000 peoples list on Giant Bomb alone). One thing is for sure. I think I'm gonna wait before I tackle another open world game.

Rage Quit - Alpha Protocol

I just ended my abusive relationship with Alpha Protocol. I gave it more slack than usual when it comes to games with such apparent flaws. The concept of an espionage RPG seems right up my ally. But, after about 8 hours I finally had to say enough.

The event that caused this was at the end of my third or fourth mission in Moscow. Near what seemed like the end of the operation I was tasked with protecting a character that is being attack by numerous soldiers in a courtyard. As soon as I get outside and spot him, a grenade lands next to him and he explodes causing a giant MISSION FAILED to appear on my screen. Luckily the checkpoint was placed well enough that I was able to try again numerous times and do I mean numerous! I ran through this section at least a dozen times. Killing enemies in as many different orders as I could but no matter what, that grenade kept landing next to him. I tried running to him in an effort to get him to relocate or even to grab the grenade and throw it back but I was unsuccessful. At this point the combination of shitty mouse controls, shitty frame rate, and overall shitty design coalesced into an unstoppable force hell bent on consuming my soul. So I promptly exited the game and removed any trace of  it from my computer. While I waited for the uninstall to complete I verbally congratulated Obsidian on created the most ambitious pile of garbage the world has ever seen.

Part of me feels bad for giving up on such a wildly ambitious project. But the other part of me keeps staring at the ridiculously tall stack of games I am yet to begin (see my back log) Who knows, maybe I'll get back into later once I've found some more patience. Regardless, I think I might wait a little while before firing up New Vegas.

What I liked about 2010

On a personal level 2010 was awful for me. But it did give me a lot of cool stuff. These are lists of that stuff.

You'll notice there are no numbers on these lists. There is a reason for that.

Games

• Darksiders
• Mass Effect 2
• Bejewelled 3
• Civilization V
• Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit

Music

• Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
• The Black Keys - Brothers
• White Denim - Last Day of Summer
• Girl Talk - All Day
• Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Social Network

I'm not going to make a list for films because the majority of the films I got around to seeing ranged from wildly disappointing to complete shit. The few stand outs include; Tron: Legacy for being such great eye candy. Inception if only for the amazing, gravity defying hotel fight scene. Scott Pilgrim vs The World gets a trophy for best effort. And the gold would have to go to The Social Network for being an all around entertaining piece of cinema. This year was light on trips to the Theater so any worthy films left out simply weren't viewed by me.

To summerize: 2010 had some cool stuff.

*UPDATE Just remembered, Jack-Ass 3D is the only film I don't regret seeing in 3D.