Spring Cleaning.

I did a bit of spring cleaning and added a ton of games to Goozex. Within minutes, I had a ton of requests. So today I mailed off the following games, with an explanation of why I don't feel I need to keep it forever. Just for fun.

Bionic Commando- I believe I had Ryan buy this for me for 5 or 8 bucks during one of Gamefly's crazy sales. I was curious about it and loved Bionic Commando: Rearmed. This is not that game. It took me months to get around to even popping it in, and when I did, I only played the first two levels and I'd seen enough.

Bioshock 2- I was hesitant to buy this game in the first place but did thanks to my undying love of the first Bioshock. I didn't know if I wanted to return to Rapture and, as expected, I found the game felt like a been-there, done-that grind. I did end up enjoying my overall experience and the story became interesting near the end, but it never blew my mind like Bioshock did. I guess I never made a personal connection with the game. If I was going to go back and play a Bioshock, it would be the original.

Call of Duty World At War- I waited a long time to buy this game. I feel like it's unfair to just blatantly accept the 'Infinity Ward makes good COD games, Treyarch makes so-so ones' stereotype, but I did. But Ryan, Chris C and Nic all eventually moved on from COD4 to WaW, and eventually I caved. I hated the single player and probably didn't make it more then 3 or 4 levels before just quitting outright. The multiplayer was ok, but I felt like CoD4 was just undeniably better. I liked the old weapons but felt the map design was particularly uninspired. The Nazi Zombie mode was a fun novelty, but the pacing was terrible. Playing with a few good people turned what should have been a breezy mode that shouldn't have lasted more than 20 or 30 minutes into an hours long slog. I quickly quit after we got good enough to last longer than it remained fun. Overall I just didn't have much fun with this game at all.

Darksiders- Darksiders is a very good game. I enjoyed it a lot, and I'll be buying the sequel. If this game had a different art style it might have become one of my favorite games of the year (something closer to Shadow of the Colossus? Or Okami? Maybe? I have no clue). As it stands, it was a ton of fun. But the world wasn't interesting enough to revisit.

Halo Wars- I don't know why I keep thinking I might like RTS games. I don't. Also, although I like Halo games, it's not because of the rich lore. So combine a genre I don't much care for with a franchise I have little love for, and it should be obvious why I'm ditching this one.

Hotel Dusk Room 215- Unique art style! Complex story! Puzzles! Point and clicking! Hotel Dusk was an amazing 5-8 hours of fun. Too bad it lasted 16-20. This game was way too long to ever think about replaying it.

Infamous- Some fun powers and world navigation. Pretty generic everything else. Climbing the junk tower was really cool, though.

Klonoa- Don't know why I got it (oh yeah, it was super cheap) don't know why I didn't send it away immediately. I didn't like much about this game, and I don't know why I thought I might...

Lego Rock Band- Exported the songs. Done.

Metro 2033- Very cool game, I loved the atmosphere and my journey through the game. There was just way too many oddities, bugs and frustrations to make me want to go back. It's so linear and scripted, and I have fond memories of the game. If I played it again, I think I would ruin those memories.

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword- Ummm. A DS ninja game with all touch-based controls. It is amazingly competent and polished. But I'd rather just play real Ninja Gaiden.

Whew. That was longer than I thought it might be.