Although the new year has already arrived, I’m still taking a lot of time to reflect upon the year that was. This past year saw me finally return to playing and talking about games on a more regular basis (which led to the creation of this site in the first place) and I finally caught up to the current generation. Catching up to what everyone was talking about in recent games was a lot of fun, and though I did still play a lot with friends, it was nice being able to enjoy single player experiences for hours on end with no one to kick me out of their house. It was also a time to get used to the fact that games I had been waiting for were starting to come out, and I was going to have to live up to either being happy or bummed about their quality. I played a lot of great games, many of which I reviewed for UGTV this year, but there were quite a few that stood out above the rest. The real thing that stood out to me was not necessarily the games I spent hours with that were critically acclaimed, but the games that many wouldn’t even put in a top 50 that spent quite a lot of time in my consoles, and sucked up many of evenings and nights.

So instead of taking time to list my favourite games of this year by merit, or going over the games that I spent the most hours in, it’s time to go over the list of the games I spent the most time with this year that I probably shouldn’t have. Games that were flawed, certainly not significant or influential to the industry, and often ones that didn’t even have a strong multiplayer component. What games took hold of my life for long enough that I had to sit back after and go “Why in the world did I just spend 40 hours of my life doing that?”

1. Too Human
One of the most talked about games during the first half of 2008, for good or for bad, was Silicon Knights Too Human. In my review (linked above) I actually stated that I enjoyed the game. I certainly had my blinders on for the most part, since I am a big fan of Silicon Knights’ work and was looking forward to the game for as long as it was announced (see: years) but I did think that among all the flaws the game had it was a relatively satisfying experience. The big issue here was that there wasn’t a really big reason to play the game again. It was a relatively short campaign and didn’t have a whole lot of weight in characters or story, but your loot and character carried on from play to play. And that seemed to be reason enough to play it again. And again. And again. And then invite friends to play. Again and again and again. Although I spent a large amount of time playing it at friends’ houses or by myself, it took up a significant portion of my time considering I didn’t think the game was mind-blowing by any stretch of the imagination. Would I recommend the game after the time I spent? To a certain audience, sure. It’s worth plowing through the demo and if you don’t like it there it doesn’t get much better or much worse. Still, more than 60 hours of my time went into a game that heard complaints of 10 hours or less during the initial previews. Yikes.

2. PixelJunk Eden
There was a lot of headway made this year for downloadable games. Companies began pushing out content online in a big way by the end of the year, and even Microsoft had a strong summer that saw some of the best games of the year emerge, let alone best online games. Dylan Cuthbert’s Q-Games also extended their PixelJunk series after a lukewarm reception for their first entry Racers. PixelJunk Monsters hit early in the year and met much more critical success, and when the first images and concepts for Eden started to emerge I started to pay close attention. I didn’t have a PS3 at this point, but was still playing games whenever they came up, and knew that I’d likely have one by the time the game dropped. It looked quirky and fun, and for 10 dollars I didn’t think there was any way I could go wrong. As soon as the game hit stores I picked it up and there went my entire month. Through the first week I was within the top 50 ranked players in the world, and still managed to pull my full time job and other games I was playing for review. But every time I had a free moment, I would flip on the PS3 and start up Eden. I gave it a glowing review, obviously, and still believe it is one of the better games of the year. That said, I know that it certainly isn’t a very deep game, and it is repetitive enough that one play through would tire most people out completely. It still gets play time with me, however, and often gets used as just a demo of my TV whenever I have guests over and want to demonstrate the power of the PS3 in terms of stylish graphics. I only played in passing with others and mostly enjoyed the game to myself. I have played the first levels over and over so many times my friends and family are worried. I am, too.

3. Lips
I knew that I was playing a game too much when one of the members of the PR team for Microsoft told me over Live that “Wow, you really like game, huh?” Lips was the culprit this year that I would say I spent the most time with considering what it is. It’s not an epic single player experience, or an online shooter or RPG that is meant to be a complete time sink, it’s simply a karaoke game that managed to find a permanent fixture in my household right away. It’s easy to introduce games like this to friends more apprehensive to playing games in a group, and my fiancée wasn’t put off by the idea, so it worked out that Lips was often on the screen as people gathered for the holiday season, or I had guests stop by to help out with the new house. I’ve had other karaoke games, but nothing resonated quite the way that iNiS’s attempt at the genre had. It was the first time I was throwing MS Points at downloadable content like crazy, picking up songs on a weekly basis. I’m on a campaign to pick up all 1000 points for this game, a feat I’ve not accomplished at all yet (secret shame) and it is an ongoing addiction. The game is still in and when I’m done playing games I’m getting reviews out for I will often through in Lips to wind down for the evening. Sure, it’s not a perfect game, and it’s not even very challenging, especially when you play the game by yourself. As a multiplayer experience, and a party game, it’s really drawn people to the Xbox in a way I have not been able to do up to this point. You can’t fail, and while most see that as an almost pointless endeavour, it’s not threatening and has gotten even the most shy people to the microphone to give it a try. You should, too!