For the sixth year in a row, I have tallied the number of video games I played in the last year. For the sixth year in a row, it's an absurd amount.
But this year, my numbers have plunged. I played some 161 games but finished a mere 28 of them, down from 52 in 2010.
Did I start hating games or something? No. I just played slightly fewer games and many more games that just can't be finished.
A Few Things to Keep in Mind
My year-end totals count the games I've played for fun or, simply, at home. As a games journalist, I am sent dozens of video games, some of which I play, some of which I don't. I have the luxury, though, of playing many games without first having to decide if they're worth paying for.
I exclude from these year-end lists games that I only play at video game industry events. I exclude all those game that I only touch at E3 or at, say, a PlayStation showcase in New York. I do include, however, unfinished games that I play at home as part of my judging duties for the Independent Games Festival. I include downloadable games that can be played on their own but omit downloadable expansions that require the base game. I list games I either started or finished in the calendar year. I don't count demos.
The list reflects my personal taste and my professional curiosity. This year, I wanted to understand Facebook gaming better. This year, I still wasn't very interested in playing sports games or fighting games.
I do not include playing times for the games in the list. Some of them I've only played for an hour; others I've played for dozens. I bold the ones in which I've reached narrative completion or some sort of credit-rolling finale. As I've been compiling these lists year after year, it's become harder and harder to say I've finished games, not just because I've devoted less time to gaming (I'm not sure that I have) but because it seems that fewer games are being made that can be "finished."
On with the list!
My 2011 Games Played/Finished List
(Games I started listed below. Finished games are bolded)
3DS
(25 games played; 0 finished)
- 3D Classics: Excitebike
- Aliens Infestation
- AR Games
- Face Raiders
- Freakyforms
- Frogger 3D
- Kirby Mass Attack
- The Legend of Zelds: Ocarina of Time 3D
- Madden NF Football
- Mario Kart 7
- Mario's Picross (Game Boy)
- Pilotwings Resort
- Pokemon Rumble Blast
- Pushmo
- Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
- Ridge Racer 3D
- The Sims 3
- Samurai Warriors: Chronicles
- Skylanders
- Steel Diver
- Super Mario 3D Land (Note: I finished the main quest but I don't consider that game completion for this title; those who have played will understand why.)
- Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition
- Tetris Axis
- Thor: God of Thunder
- Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition
DS
(3 games played; 1 finished)
- Ghost Trick
- Okamiden
- Professor Layton and the Last Specter
Facebook
(6 games played; 0 finished)
- Adventure World
- Dragon Age Legends
- Empires & Allies
- Lucky Space
- Mafia Wars 2
- PixelJunk Monsters Online
iOS
(34 games played; 1 finished)
- 1-Bit Ninja
- Air Pengun
- Amazing Breaker
- Anomaly HD
- Aquaria
- Async Corp
- Batman: Arkham City Lockdown
- Bubble Ball
- Collision Effect
- Connectrode
- Continuity 2
- Dead Space
- Dream Skate
- Dungeon Raid
- Entanglement
- Forget.Me.Not
- Freddie Wong's Flower Warfare
- Grimm
- Infinity Blade II
- Jetpack Joyride
- Knight Defense
- Lilith's Pet (unreleased)
- Scribblenauts Remix
- SpaceChem
- SpellTower
- Stem Stumper
- Super Crossfire HD
- Super Quickhook
- Superman
- Sword & Sworcery
- Terrorist Zombies
- Unpleasant Horse
- Wind-Up Knight
- Zombie Minesweeper
PC
(16 games played; 0 finished)
Note: Most of the games I played on PC, as in years past, were incomplete games I tried as a judge for the Independent Games Festival. Some of these games are assigned by the IGF; others I sought out on my own
- A Closed World (unreleased)
- Antichamber (unreleased)
- Dear Esther (unreleased)
- Emoticon vs. Rainbow (unreleased)
- Forgotten Kodama (unreleased)
- Ibb and Obb (unreleased)
- Instance 1000
- Kali 9 (unreleased)
- The Last Word (unreleased)
- Link (unreleased)
- Molecat Twist (unreleased)
- Moto (Unreleased)
- Rope (unreleased)
- So Many Me (unreleased)
- Space Loop (unreleased)
- Unmechanical (unreleased)
PSP
(0 games played; 0 finished)
None
PS3
(22 games played; 8 finished)
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations
- Battlefield 3
- Dark Souls
- Dead Space 2
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- Driver: San Francisco
- Infamous 2
- Infamous: Festival of Blood
- Killzone 3
- L.A. Noire
- Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7
- LittleBigPlanet 2
- Motorstorm Apocalypse
- PixelJunk Shooter 2
- PixelJunk: Sidescroller
- Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
- Rocketbirds: Harboiled Chicken
- Rayman Origins
- Saints Row: The Third
- Shadows of the Damned
- Skylanders
- Uncharted 3
Wii
(5 games played; 3 finished)
- Fortune Street
- Kirby's Dreamland 3 (Virtual Console)
- Kirby's Return to Dreamland
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- Lost in Shadow
Xbox 360
(50 games played; 15 finished)
- Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
- Alice Madness Returns
- Asteroids do Concern Me
- A World of Keflings
- Bastion
- Brink
- Bulletstorm
- Burnout Crash
- Captain America: Super Soldier
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (Note: This is the only 2010 game I finished in 2011.)
- Child of Eden
- Crysis 2
- de Blob 2
- Dead Rising 2: Case Zero
- Duke Nukem Forever
- El Shaddai
- Fight Night Champion (Note: I finished the story mode.)
- Flotilla
- Forza 4
- From Dust
- Gears of War 3
- Homefront
- Honor in Vengeance II
- Hunted: Demon's Forge
- Hypership: Out of Control
- Ilomilo
- Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
- Kinect: Disneyland Adventures
- Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
- Lego Star Wars III
- Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
- Miner Dig Deep
- Missile Escape
- Modern Warfare 3 (Note: I didn't prestige. I finished the campaign.)
- Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess
- Mortal Kombat
- NBA 2K11
- Outland
- Platformance: Temple Death
- Portal 2 (Note: This is the closest I got to 100%-ing a game in 2011, finishing its solo and multiplayer campaigns.)
- Rage
- Red Faction: Armageddon
- Renegade Ops
- Rock of Ages
- Section 8: Prejudice
- Spider-Man: Edge of Time
- Splatterhouse
- Skyrim
- Toy Soldiers: Cold War
- Trenched (aka Iron Brigade)
The final 2011 tally is: 161 games played; 28 finished (NOTE: I originally counted 27 games finished, because I accidentally didn't include Sword & Sworcery among my conquered games.)
That compares to:
2010... 195 played; 52 finished
2009... 165 played; 48 finished
2008… 135 played; 37 finished
2007… 118 played; 35 finished
2006…102 games played; 21 finished
(Sorry, PSP. It was fun.)