Battling the Backlog 2024 - A Failed October Challenge! And a Dream European Journey.

After spending a lot of last month focussed mostly on Judgment I thought I would focus on the shortest games in my physical backlog list. Originally, I had planned to treat the four Yakuza universe games in my backlog as one long game, but I underestimated the length of time each of them would take and just one of the Yakuza universe games (Judgment) took me a good chunk of September to complete (as I was also distracted by side missions and mini games). I am usually one to play average length games that last around 15 - 20 hours, but sometimes I play longer games such as the Yakuza titles.

Rather than playing all my remaining Yakuza games in my backlog I thought I would play some shorter games in between the longer Yakuza titles as I feel that I will fatigue on Yakuza if I just just play 4 games that last around 40 hours back to back.

I have around another 20ish physical games in my backlog and I thought to myself how many of those remaining games are the shortest and how many of those short games could I complete in one month. I shortlisted those games into a list of 9 games from the original list of 20 games. At most I seem to be able to complete around 4 (maybe 5 at most) titles within a month that have an average length of 15 - 20 hours.

October is one of the longer months so I wondered how many of these 9 games I could complete in one month.

The games I shortlisted are mentioned below:

• Vanquish - Xbox 360 - Estimated Length: 3 days
• Star Wars Force Unleashed - Xbox 360 - Estimated Length: 4 days
• Star Wars Force Unleashed II - PS3 - Estimated Length: 3 days
• Binary Domain - Xbox 360 - Estimated Length: 4 days
• Bayonetta - Xbox 360 - Estimated Length: 5 days
• Bayonetta II - Wii U - Estimated Length: 4 days
• Disney Jungle Book - Xbox One - Estimated Length: 1 day
• Samurai Shodown - Xbox One - Estimated Length: 2 days
• Split/Second - PS3 - Estimated Length: 3 days

*Update*

Yeah, my plan took a slight hiccup. After completing Judgment I decided to attempt to go through my shorter games backlog.  I started one game (Star Wars: Force Unleashed) and felt that I was not enjoying the game so I retired it and started another game which I also ended up not enjoying. In the end 4 of the above games I ended up retiring as I was not having any fun with them - the 4 games from the list were Star Wars: Force Unleashed I and II, Binary Domain and Vanquish plus Just Cause 2 which was not originally in the list. The reasons for me not liking those games are detailed in my September backlog.

The remaining games that are crossed out in the list have not been retired or completed, but they are games that I decided were titles that I could come back to every so often and play for half and hour to an hour when I am feeling in the mood. 

So technically the remainder of games that have been crossed out and are no longer part of the backlog - those games are Disney Jungle book (which is part of a retro collection), a Beat Em Up title called Samurai Shodown and a realistic Mario Kart racing game known as Split/Second where instead of using power ups a player can break parts of the environment.

I must say crossing out those titles has eased up my physical backlog a little bit, but now I just have to decide which games from my backlog I will now play for the month of October.

Games Mentioned:

1. Trine 4
2. FC 25

Completed on 10th October

Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince

Played on Xbox One

After playing Trine 3, Trine 4 does feel like a return to form. Trine 3 was good, but I felt that it did not live up to previous Trine games. Gone are the collectables that are required to unlock future levels and they have been replaced with collectable Experience Points that can be used to upgrade skills. 

You can now play the game level by level and not have to worry about unlocking enough collectables to unlock the later levels.

Just like Trine 1 and 2, Trine 4 has the characters stuck to one plane in a 2D perspective and now there is no Trine 3 problems of judging the depth perspective when platforming - which is a welcome fix.

Trine 4 just has a higher quality feel in platforming compared to 3 and matches the feel of the first 2 games that came before.

8.5/10

10 Minutes of Trine 4 Main Menu Theme

A Moment for Some FC 25

A note: At the time of writing this sentence I have reached the end of the first act of Trine 4 and I am very nearly ready to start Act II out of V. The whole reason for me keeping a log of the games I play in my backlog is that I want to finish a good chunk of it before I buy another game which would just add to the backlog.

Well, I decided to purchase EA Sports FC 25 upon release day (formally known as FIFA) as I really wanted to check out how the game addressed the new format of the 3 UEFA tournaments this season. I do not plan to add FC 25 to my backlog as it is not really a game that ever truly ends.

FC 25 is the first 'Fifa' game I have played since Fifa 22 (received as a present) and the first I have purchased since Fifa 19, but with the UEFA club tournaments starting in the real world I felt that I really wanted to play as my team in the new look UEFA tournaments.

I plan to play FC 25 on the side, so I do not think it will greatly affect my backlog battle, but it may slow it down ever so slightly. 

Update - I managed to win the Europa League with Rangers. (Righting the wrongs of the actual 2022 where Rangers lost the final by one penalty after the match went to a penalty shootout after drawing 1 - 1).

Final Score Rangers 2 Tottenham 1 (after extra time)

FC 25 Europa League Trophy Celebration

Highlights

Summary

So, that is only one game completed for the month of October, but for the later half of the month I have been playing through Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon, which is proving to be quite a long game - I am hoping that I will complete it but the middle of November.

I also bought (for half of its full price) the latest WWE game, WWE 2K24. Just like FC 25, WWE 2K24 does not truly have an ending and will never be marked as complete. I decided to buy the latest WWE 2K24 as I have wanted to play it all year and I saw it at a reasonable price, so I thought I would just buy it now.

Similar to FC 25, I bought the latest WWE game to play a few matches with my favourite classic wrestlers every so often and to create my own roster with the wrestlers I want in my own tailored TV shows. I am not really a fan of wrestling any more, so half of the current wrestlers I know nothing about, but I do like to play mostly with the wrestlers I grew up with e.g. Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Bret Hart etc.

As of writing I have just began chapter 10 out of, I believe, 15 total chapters in Yakuza 7. As usual with a Yakuza game there is a number of optional side stories and mini games, so it may take a while to reach the final chapter.

Summary of Summary

I have completed one short game this October.

I have bought and played two sport games (FC 25 and WWE 2K24) that technically do not have an ending and are both games were I can occasionally come back to every so often if I just want a quick half hour gaming session.

During the later half of October I started the next single player game in my backlog that does have an ending and I hope to be finished by the middle of November.

• 1 game completed
• 2 sports games played
• 1 backlog game currently playing