So, it’s been around about a week since I embarked upon my epic quest to finish all 40 games sat on my shelf before I buy another… In this article, read about my early progress and how I’ve rapidly become bogged down by one of the longest and most challenging games on the 360 already!

Well, what an eventful weeked I had last week. After deciding that I should undertake and publish the details of this particular challenge, I thought I would get on with finishing a couple of games I was already partway through and then choose another one to crack on with!

Portal 2 was first to go, so I thought I’d do a mini review for you guys to enjoy:

I absolutely loved the first Portal game and even as part of a stunning package (the Orange Box) I thought it really stood out as something more than just a fun concept – it was an idea that really had legs. Unfortunately, the standalone sequel, by the very nature of its asking price, had to be bigger and bolder than the first and that has sadly come at a price.

Portal 2 is a victim of the first games own succes, it could have been more of the same, but instead it has arguably the same amount of test chambers (only that they are MUCH easier) spread out between a load of boring and pointless corridor wandering and standard FPS exploration. Sounds harsh? Well yes and no. Portal 2 is stil fun, but the first game is better and far far cheaper – so why not make the sequel an Arcade game?

Oh I know why not, because as always the fans have to pay for the massive dev cost that goes into creating those pointless corridor sections and to pay Stephen Merchants bar tab. Incidentally, the humour in Portal 2 is spot on, being just like the first, but with so much more of the same that the feeling is of an almost constant narrative.

Honestly, I’m glad I played Portal 2 and I absolutely loved Portal, but if there is a third outing I doubt I will pick it up for more than about twenty quid. If I want to listen to Stephen Merchant for two hours I’ll buy An Idiot Abroad I think.

7/10

Next up then, I decided to complete LA Noire as I had been playing it all week, here’s what I thought:

LA Noire is one of those rare games that you play, put away and possibly never take out again for years. When you do dig it out again and dust it off, you’ll want to play it and although it will age, badly, you’ll still enjoy it as a ‘snapshot’ of gaming at the time. I think of it in the same way as I do Monkey Island – which is old and dated now, but somehow still relevant. That’s how LA Noire will be seen in ten years… Maybe.

Anyway, the reason I say that is because I really Enjoyed LA Noire in a way that other games have failed to capture. Take Bulletstorm for example. Epic specifically wanted to capture the way that players ALREADY used the environment to enhance their potential in similar games, they rewarded you for something you’ve done in a million other games out of sheer ingenuity…. Be it chucking someone off a cliff or shooting electricity into water or whatever, they knew you would do it, so they gave you points.

LA Noire is the opposite. It features naked ladies (yeah, like totally naked) and yet at no point did I close the curtains for some private time or feel at all tempted to squat my character on a corpses head as though he were pooping. LA Noire is serious, it’s REALLY all about cracking the case at hand and moving the compelling story onwards to its inevitable climax.

I’ve read plenty of criticism of LA Noire, about how the main character (Cole Phelps) is boring and rigid but I think they are missing the point… You don’t record hundreds of hours of facial animation and voiceover just to end up with a rigid and starchy character by accident for Godsake! By the end of the game, I’d challenge anyone not to feel themselves spiralling into Cole’s world; even if the game ends with a lot of loose ends and a fairly obvious sequel, it’s classic Hollywood storytelling and of such a high standard that I couldn’t put it down.

9/10

So, I’m just about a week in and two games down. That’s not too bad is it right? Well maybe not, but sadly, I was dealt a harsh blow when choosing my next game. As followers of my Twitter account (@RagingKileak) will have noticed, I was in an odd mood last weekend. Setting not only this challenge, but also a ‘left hand-right hand’ round robin tournament to see which of eight randomly selected games would be next.

By the ‘semi final,’ I knew that Halo Wars was never going to be next – fate had decided that I would be spending the next 130 of my gaming hours playing Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga. Fair enough, it’s not the worst game ever by any means, but it just might be the hardest game I’ve played in ages, not to mention the ugliest.

Hang on, let me just reiterate… Oh my Lord, Divinity is UGLY. Does anyone remember Bee Smith from Prisoner: Cell Block H? I’d say she might be just a bit uglier, but we’re definitely talking Premier League ugly here for sure. And hard. Did I mention hard? I think I’ve played around 10 hours of Divinity II now and I’ve learned that saving every couple of minutes is absolutely essential… The Autosave feature works only before boss battles or other tough sequences and doesn’t even kick in when moving from one area to the next. In fact in my house, the *Autosaving* text box (which pauses the game) has become symbolic of the fact that I am about to be smashed into a thousand pieces 4 or 5 times before I even work out what will kill me. Good times.

So there you have it folks, 2 games down, 38 to go and one huge Dragon based marathon to run before I even begin to climb the pile.

Check back next time for an update on what’s killing me in Divinity II, or possibly (if I leave it three weeks or so) a mini review and some info on what’s next.

Matt