Yeah, the exploring really is awesome. I'm currently with something like 90 relics and four outposts left. (Story completed).

Did you get anything for all the relics?

Hmm, nothing that I recall, nor for 100% either.

Dead Island. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started it. I knew it had zombies, I knew some people liked it and others hated it, and I knew that it had tons of bugs--at first, anyway. I ended up enjoying it a lot, though. It was really a lot of fun. The story was kind of meh, and it wasn't very good at being emotional or dramatic. Still, it served to get you from one place to the next, and there always a lot of zombies to kill along the way. Occasionally it felt like there were too many, but in the end, it wasn't bad enough to make me not like it.

Can't say the same for the Ryder White DLC. Blech.

What about the main campaign? I thought it was crap, so I didn't bother with the DLC afterwards.

I liked the main game, plays out a nice story imo.

Dragon Quest 4 (DS). Both ends.

Completed Half Life 2, Episode 1 and 2 in the last 2 weeks. Half Life 2 itself was a bit of a letdown for me - especially story-wise. Episode 1 and 2 made up for that, though.

I found the story quite predictable (see the Zero Punctuation review for details), but my main gripe was with the half-arsed cover shooter mechanics and the endless pottering about between missions. I wouldn't mind so much if said pottering about had been fun, like in Saints Row 2 or Grand Theft Auto Vice City, but it wasn't. Maybe it's just me, then.

You're wrong! It won more than 50 GOTYs!

Personally I think HL2 is one of the most overrated gaems evar.

Just finished Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning. 109 hours with 225 quests completed. I didn't find everything and didn't get all quests, but I explored the game pretty thoroughly and had a blast with it. Played an Assassin with almost all my points in the Finesse tree (I think only a handful were elsewhere). Hit the level cap quite a bit before the end of the game and with my crafted gear, I was pretty much unstoppable.

I paid around 15 bucks for the game + both expansions and it was worth every penny. Shame 38 Studios went under, as it would have been interesting to see where they went with the franchise. Good, solid action RPG with some fun mechanics and actually a lot of lore put into the game world.

Finished Broken Sword 2. A fine adventure game but some puzzles were clearly lame, especially those who require you to talk to 10 different persons in a specific order. The hint system was enough to overcome my problems.

In 2012:
- Alone in the Dark 2
- Atom Zombie Smasher
- Bastion
- Batman Arkham Asylum
- Broken Sword 2
- Cave Story+
- Costume Quest
- Da New Guys: Day of the Jackass
- DLC Quest
- Fahrenheit
- Gemini Rue
- Iji
- Jolly Rover
- Jurassic Park: The Game
- Limbo
- Lost: Via Domus
- Lucidity
- Lume
- Rayman Raving Rabbits
- Puzzle Agent 2
- Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack
- Serious Sam: The Random Encounter
- Shank
- Soulcaster 1&2
- SwiftStitch
- The Shivah
- The Walking Dead
- The Witcher 2
- Transformers: War for cybertron
- VVVVVV
- Your Doodles Are Bugged
- Zombie Shooter

Just finished (for the xxxth time !) No One Lives Forever 2, in a little less than 13h.

This game is still as good as it was when first released! Okay, the animations are not "up to date" anymore, but who cares? The action is gripping, the dialogues among the best in their category, pure gamer's happiness from beginning to end!! ^_^

But never, oh NEVER play Contract J.A.C.K., a game set in the same universe than NOLF. Imagine NOLF without any humor but with lots of added blood. If i want a manic shooter, there's Serious Sam for that, guys! Contract JACK is all a NOLF should NOT be...

Please, guys, give us a NOLF 3!! I actually don't want remakes of 1 or 2, even in HD. I want new adventures of Cate Archer!!

My finished games so far: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2012_1/post15

I guess expectations have a significant effect on my enjoyment of a game. I went into Spec Ops, Bulletstorm, and Medal of Honor with very low expectations, and all three games blew my doors off. Whereas, games like Crysis and Human Revolution came with such high expectations and ended up being great experiences, just not quite as great as I had hoped for.

PC games that I finished for the first time in 2012:

Crysis
Crysis: Warhead
Bioshock 2
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Call of Duty: World at War
Bulletstorm*
Medal of Honor*
Duke Nukem Forever
Homefront
F.E.A.R. 3
Syndicate
The Darkness II
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Sin
Sin Episodes: Emergence
Rage
Serious Sam 3
Serious Sam: The First Encounter HD
Unreal Tournament III

Just Cause 2
Red Faction: Gorilla
Dead Island
Velvet Assassin
Spec Ops: The Line*
Alan Wake
Assassin's Creed
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
Alice: Madness Returns
Prince of Persia
Tomb Raider: Legend
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Ghostbusters
Bully
Zeno Clash
Overlord II

Driver: San Francisco*
Burnout Paradise
Puzzle Dimension
Risen
Torchlight
Shank
Stacking
Toy Soldiers
Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble
Back to the Future


*my favorite games of the year

I finished Spec Ops: The Line earlier this week. It was definitely a challenging game, both in the sense of the mechanics (clunky to being frustrating at times) and the content of the game. However, as I'd heard a fair amount about the game I had some preconceptions going into the game. Nothing bad, but I had some nebulous concept of how the game would play out. While playing, apart from some truly gruesome and nauseating scenes, it was difficult to understand why it was so highly praised. But that ending, the ending really made the game for me. It cemented everything the game was about and trying to say. After finishing, I went a few days without playing any games to allow the experience to settle. Overall, I'd have to say I went with some high expectations, and the game still exceeded them in the end. Definitely something everyone who plays games should go through at least once.

So far:
Just Cause 2
Cave Story+
Area 51
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
XIII
Star Wars: Jedi Academy
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
Metro 2033
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Mirror's Edge
Thief II: The Metal Age
Alan Wake
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link
Alan Wake's American Nightmare
Unreal Gold (including Return to Na Pali)
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
Alpha Protocol
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
Spec Ops: The Line

Let's see:

On pc:
Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time (love)
Call of Duty Black Ops (LOL)
To The Moon (awfully overrated)
Dear Esther (little less overrated)
Battlefield 3 (omg grafix, otherwise meh)
Max Payne 3 (at last a new modern big game that I enjoyed and even replayed)
Fallout New Vegas (gotta buy the ultimate edition with all DLCs and replay)
Dishonored (liked at first but since completion meh)
Prince of Persia - Warrior Within (sex)
The Longest Journey (I prefer Dreamfall)

On ps2:
Urban Chaos - Riot Response (hidden gem)
SSX3 (amazing)
SSX Tricky (lot less amazing)
Hitman Blood Money (ps2 can actually handle it, with constant tearing LOL)
Drakan - The Ancients' Gates (hidden good game that turns into horror trash at end)
Indigo Prophecy (overrated)
Deus Ex - The Conspiracy (love)
Timesplitters 2 - Future Perfect (fun)
Mafia (love)

On ps3:
Chrono Trigger (best console RPG ever?)
Chrono Cross (mixed bag)
Uncharted 2 (like)
Heavy Rain (love, replayed 4x LOL)
Heavenly Sword (like)
Journey (worst 15 usd I've spent :@)
Uncharted 3 (didn't work the 2nd time)
God of War HD (false advertisement, it's a straight port)

On psp:
Chrono Cross (that's right, replayed)

Here goes my 'Im not a hardcore gamer' - I thought it would be a lot less that that :0 And I didn't include unfinished games, mods, small games, psp small games.