I've never played GRAW before...

[JazzFunk]

My gaming backlog is ridiculously huge and this factor often puts me off gaming at points because I get stressed at how much I actually have 'to do', gaming-wise (when I seriously believe gaming should be a stress-relieving hobby!) I get so many BIG games out of the way, then decide to concentrate my efforts on other stuff I have, maybe stuff that's less appealing to my personal gaming tastes.

So I start stuff like Venetica, The Club, Wet, Lost: Via Domus, and I complete some and mostly don't complete the rest and I get rid of a few DVD-sized bits of space via trading 'em in and I watch films for a bit, then get stuck back into some of the BIG games in my collection, etcetera.

I'm in that small phase right now. I'm on the aforementioned Lost: Via Domus, and am enjoying it quite heartily, I am seriously, pleasantly surprised by it.

So heartened by the above, I made a pledge to myself to do a complete playthru of GRAW1, a game which rubs against certain gaming conventions that I find hard to generate enthusiasm for (ie. launchgameitis, squad-based "tactics", etc.). Strategy. For instance, when playing the Full Spectrum Warrior games, which are as simple as f*ck, strategy-wise, I just can't handle/don't like that shizzle. I often shy from boring-seeming complexity. That's the type of gamer I am, I figure that though GRAW's not my usual type of game, it was received so well that it MUST have many good things going for it, surely?????

So I'm gonna stick to my word and I am gonna BLAST this unappealing bast of an old game.

In essence, this thread is all about choosing to play games that one would never really wish to play, and the possible benefits/deficits of choosing said options.

So, to kick off, before staring GRAW, I'm currently on Lost: Via Domus on 360.

I watched Lost on Channel 4 to about three quarters of the way into season 2, to the point where everything went all bleary, like the writers were still deciding, and it felt very stagnant and I felt like I was wasting my time, despite me still enjoying the show. So I sort of like the show but really have no interest in it and I know people who are heavily into this junk and take it really seriously(!). And the game, it's good. Not in a Dark Souls type of way, but it's a proper f*cking nice way to do a TV show licence, this really does capture the 'feel' of the show, and the basic adventuring you're offered ticks along quite nicely, with some quite unexpected bouts of graphical excellence (the torchlit cave sequences look and feel exquisitely atmospheric, and channel a bit of that From Software magic in how they feel.) It's really simple, it's very nicely produced, for ?1.98 (in the GAME firesale, earlier this year) it's pretty fab. And I hear it's verrrrry short. In 2hrs, think I'm about 62% in. I appreciate short retail games, these days.

So, anyway, please talk about the games you're playing that you didn't really want to be playing.

[monel]

I often used to start long games, Action adventure stuff, then just stop playingat various points into the games. Shenmue 2 and maybe some of the Resi games are the last ones I finished. So I like arcade games as you can play them for short sessions, but with no more local multiplayer time for me, even they hold little appeal at times. My 360 died twice and I had only played it for maybe 30 / 40 hours total in three or more years.

To stay on topic, I meant to play 24 the Game, due to liking the tv show (which did seem like heavy propaganda at times, but I still enjoyed it). I bought it cheap, it had the cast of the show for the voice acting, I think, but I just couldn't play it for some reason. I got about 5 minutes into it.


Lost was complete crap to me by the end, the show had me hooked and I know people will defend it, but I try and blank that show from my memory. I liked a couple of characters but they didn't really do anything with them.

[rmoxon]

I kind of enjoyed it becuase i like the series but the lost game really was rubbish. You'd have been better off playing GRAW. It's pretty much a stright shooter, not a tactical one, there's no strategy required to play the campaign and enjoy it.

This thread doesn't really apply to me becuase I play a variety of games, no genre is completely unappealing to me, but I do often buy open world games for 40 quid even though I know I will get bored before I complete them. Sleeping Dogs is a recent example. It's a great game, I just cant be bothered with it now despite the fact that I'm quite far into it.