Battling the Backlog: Asura, Ico, Skyrim, Resident Evil 5 DLC

I've been working on some reviews lately and got into the Monaco beta so I haven't been digging into my backlog much lately. In fact, aside from Asura's Wrath I beat all of these months ago and just forgot about them. But I still have opinions, so here goes.



Why I put it off: I played the hell out of this game back in December and eventually got bored before I dug into the main questline.

Thoughts: Skyrim was great. For a while. I really enjoyed the Assassins, Thieves and Civil War quests. The main story was kind of terrible though. And that ending. AWFUL. Awful. Awful. Awful. After a while I realized the gameplay basically consisted of go here, do this, kill that, bring it back, rinse, lather, repeat. It had its moments but once I realized what it was, I only kept playing to see the credits roll.

Rating: Pretty damn good, until you see past the veneer and realize you can never go back again,



Why I put it off: Never had a PS2. Picked up the HD collection even though I had already played Shadow of the Colossus because it was on sale for less than Ico HD was by itself as a digital download on PSN.

Thoughts: At first I was kind of let down because I didn't have anywhere near as meaningful an experience with it as Shadow of the Colossus but it grew on me by the end and I realized why its so special to those that have played it...

Rating: ...but it's still overrated.



Why I put it off: I bought it on sale and it sat on my self while I was busy with other things.

Thoughts: This one is making my GOTY short list for sure. I've never played a game quite like it. It's truly a sight to behold and I really liked how it styled itself after anime. Somehow a game largely made up of QTEs made this QTE-hater fall in love with it. Weird, right?

Rating: God Hand meets El Shaddai. (High praise for me, but definitely not for everyone)



Why I put it off: Funny story. I used to live in the UK and was visiting family for the holidays. On my way back to CA I wound up buying Resident Evil 5 in an airport because I had some extra cash and knew the PS3 was region free. That worked until the DLC came out and I learned that games and DLC from different regions don't work with one another. Eventually I picked up a US copy so I could play the DLC I paid for.

Thoughts: Lost in Nightmares is really awesome. It's more similar to classic Resident Evil while maintaining the action control scheme and all of that. I wish Resident Evil 6 went more in that direction rather than heading into teh suck territory.

I didn't really appreciate the Desperate Escape DLC as much. It was a lot more on the action side of things the main Resi5 campaign. Still, Jill is my favorite character in the series so getting to find out what happened with her was worthwhile.

Rating: A roller coaster of enjoyment and lack therof.