We’re in the last month of 2015’s Summer Backlog Attack, our annual attempt to play through some of those older, neglected games before the new hits of fall arrive. Once again, we’re inviting you, the listeners, to join in!
All you have to do to play along is post your own list of unfinished games you want to get through by the end of summer. (This year, we’ve officially declared that summer ends on Sunday, August 23.) You can put any games you want on the list, but choose wisely: We’ll pick a winner based on who we think has achieved the greatest feat of backloggery. For instance, we’ll be more impressed if you knock out every sidequest in The Witcher III than if you spell a really long word in Alphabear. (Well, Randy might be impressed, as long as the word is “veganmageddon.”)
The backlog champion, once again, will receive an amazing prize: the fall new release of their choice!* (Because after weeks of playing dusty, old games, there will be plenty of room for a shiny, new one.) We’ll even send it to you on release day.**
To get started, just post your list in the comments below. Make sure to follow us on Twitter and listen to the show over the next few weeks, since we’ll be handing out bonus backlog challenges that will surely help secure your title as backlog champion.
If you have any questions, feel free to drop us a line via Twitter, Facebook or email and we’ll be happy to explain any of the rules. We think it’s simple enough, though: play your old games, win a new one! Now get to it and post your list below!
* MSRP $60 (U.S.) or under
** Where available. If the game you choose isn’t eligible for release date delivery, we’ll use the next fastest shipping.
In! Even without the podcast, I had proposed a Backlog Attack with some friends. I am committing to:
P.T. on the PS4.
Destiny on the PS4.
Bit.Trip Runner 2 on… something. I have this game like three ways.
The Swapper on my Vita.
Captain Toad Treasure Tracker on WiiU. I am shooting for a November closure, but I’ll let you know about my to-Aug-23 progress.
Already started P.T. last night. So far I am through about nine corridors, and only a little urine has escaped.
Careful starting Destiny! Ask me how I know… 😉 I really enjoyed Bit.Trip Runner 2 and the swapper so enjoy those. P.T. is on my PS4 too, but didn’t make the cut for my backlog this year 🙂
Captain Toad is SO FUCKING ADORABLE. Should be perfect for cleansing your palate after P.T.
I could only use the Reverse Merman costume for a few levels before it got too disturbing.
I got through one level with the reverse merman before I noticed it, and went back to the pickle
PC
Bioshock infinite DLC Burial at sea parts 1 and 2
The Stanley Parable
Complete a newly generated world in Terraria 1.3
To the moon
and the oldest un-played game in my steam library Metro 2033 (11/17/2012)
Virtual Boy
Wario Land. Calling this one a win if I can play for an hour without getting sick.
I need to go do the burial at sea eps too, though I don’t own them so not technically backlog 😉 If you get time, I’d enjoy a “is this worth going back to?” review comment.
I did “To the Moon” last year and it was brief and enjoyable.
And virtual boy? deep cut there. Good luck!
I forgot those Burial at Sea episodes even existed! I still have my copy of Bioshock Infinite, actually – I may have to queue those up some day and dig into them.
Warioland is one of the easier games to play on v.boy I think. Definitely not red alarm level of nauseating. If you can play Mario tennis on there without getting sick, warioland won’t be any trouble.
The Stanley Parable is so freaking good. I wish there was a magic pill I could take that would allow me to experience my first playthrough of that game over again. I envy you.
Your mention of Metro 2033 being your oldest un-played Steam game inspired me to do a deep dive on my own Steam library. It turns out my oldest un-played game (based on when I bought it) is Deus Ex: Invisible War (which almost went on my backlog list this year). Going by release date, it’s Quake II.
I guess this will motivate me start working on my backlog too! 😀
Off the top of my head, I would really like to start and finish these games:
-Chrono Trigger (Never played it! One of my great gamer shames… >__>)
-Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
-Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
-Grand Theft Auto V
-The Saboteur
-Bioshock 2
-Sly Cooper 4: Thieves in Time
-Earthbound (Another gamer shame!)
I think that’s enough for now. Gotta start working on that backlog!
That is a great list. What systems are you playing Earthbound and Chrono trigger on?
I have the SNES carts, but playing them on a Retron5 whenever I’m streaming. 🙂
Aw…The Saboteur. Otherwise known as the game that killed Pandemic Studios. I remember having a lot of fun with that one – it’s too bad we’ll likely never go back to that world. Enjoy!
Update on my progress
I did manage to beat Chrono Trigger, Grand Theft Auto V and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time for this year’s #BacklogAttack. Chrono especially was an amazing game that is absolutely worth playing and frankly I am stupid for having waited so long to play it! So so good! I could have definitely tackled a another game or two, but things come up and… you know, c’est la vie I suppose! Either way, I’m pretty happy I was able to knock out a few games! 🙂
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CMqUTliVAAAfzI8.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNETTdBUcAAW5b-.jpg
Sorry about the large pics!
Hey everyone. Glad to see the backlog attack is back this summer! Here’s my list. It’s some psplus games that I have meant to get around to and a couple retail releases that I’ve not started yet.
CounterSPY
Valiant Hearts
Game of Thrones (episodes 1-5)
Bastion
Captain Toad Treasure Tracker
Valiant Hearts was another one of those lovely UbiArt games, right? I’ll have to check that out – I think it’s actually available on Android phones/tablets now. Enjoy CounterSpy! That was a (brief) fun one.
Really had a fun run with counterspy. I liked how they transitioned between a 2d platformer and a 3rd person shooter so smoothly. It was definitely a good palate cleanser coming off of batman and the witcher. I also really appreciated it’s brevity. Had no idea it’d be so short but it was kinda nice it wasn’t so bloated.
Play Game of Thrones!
Finished episode 1 and man, that was good. Can’t wait to play more.
Update: finished counterspy and had a ton of fun with it and rounding out the last levels of bastion now.
I’m really finding bastion to be pretty one-note and dull; especially after the excellence that was transistor.
That’s too bad about Bastion, although I definitely see how it might feel a little bare bones after Transistor.
It definitely does. I’m loving the proving grounds challenges, but collecting the cores and shards (the proper levels) are not my favorite. I did switch over to the Vita though and I’m finding it much more enjoyable for some reason, but the saving grace here and the main thing keeping me playing is the fantastic soundtrack.
final update. As of 11:17 pm I’ve finished valiant hearts. This was an emotional one for me and im surprised how much this story affected me. Highly recommended
So 4 out of 5 of my backlog games are complete and I’ve finished one episode of game of thrones (overall completion 82%) I’m pretty happy with my progress (especially considering I’ve got a 5 month old too!)
My profile pic is samsquanch and your is bubbles.
Gre-hee-sy.
Here’s the list:
-Shadow Warrior PS4 (Gave up, I hate the last few levels…)
-Far Cry 4 PS4 (Finished)
-Shadowrun Returns PC (Not going to get to it)
-Wolfenstein Old Blood PS4 (finished it)
-Zelda Oracle of Seasons 2DS (Might still happen)
-Alan Wake’s American Nightmare PC (going to try to get to it)
-The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 2DS (probably not going to get to it
-Call of Jaurez: Gunslinger PS3 (Finished)
-Sleeping Dogs PS4 (gave up didnt want to replay it)
-Witcher 3 on PS4
-Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 PS3
Terraria 1.3 is going to take longer to complete than this backlog attack will allow. Here is the podcast name forever stationed in my terraria world.
This is so freaking cool! Thanks for thinking of us, Rockherder. Love it.
OK. A little LTTP but here’s my list.
* Shadow of Mordor – Took me almost 30 hours but thoroughly enjoyed that game. Might go back and clean up a few sowrd and bow missions I missed but we’ll see.
* Mass Effect – I’m actually planning on going through the whole tilogy but with a week left putting a dent into the first game is my only hope.
In most cases I’d say a 2-game backlog list just isn’t trying hard enough, unless one of those games is Skyrim.
So yeah, I have to withdraw my candidacy. PC took a crap so no Mass Effect or Skyrim for a while. 🙁
Not sure if the backlog attack kickoff was in June or July.
In June I finished:
Yggdra Union (PSP)
Metal Gear Solid 4
Split/Second (PS3)
Atelier Rorona Plus (PS3)
Katamari Damacy (PS2)
For July I finished:
Just Cause 2 (PS3) Platinum trophy earned
Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack (PS3)
For August I finished:
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean (PS3) plan to platinum
Still playing:
Portal 2 (PS3)
L.A. Noire complete edition (PS3)
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (PS3) plan to platinum
Final Fantasy III (PSP)
Just Cause 2 platinum!! At one point I thought I would go for the platinum myself, but I think I underestimated the sheer size of the map. Also I get really easily distracted from objectives in that game. That’s some real dedication, congrats!
I bought the game due to the enthusiasm about it on this podcast, backlogged it, and finally played it this summer. I had a lot of fun just paragliding and blowing stuff up and completed 50% before finishing the main story. Once I finished the story, the 75% complete trophy became a grind with a total play time of about 80 hours. The hardest difficulty trophy took another 12 hours.
Yeah dude. You just won the competition. Nice list.
How’d you like mgs4?
MGS4 was excellent. I thought it took some of the best stuff from 1 and 3 to make great gameplay. While it intertwined and explained storyline elements from 1-3, it did not leave me totally confused like 2 did. I even enjoyed the long cutscenes. For anybody that liked 1-3, definitely should play 4.
As far as knocking out what is on my current playlist: Portal 2 is the only one I would be close to completing by the 23rd. LA Noire, LEGO Potter, and FF3 will take me into Sept.
Last minute comment, since I fell off my backlog attack so hard but here’s my link for my games I wanted to play, what I actually got around to… and what sucked up all the rest of my time… *cough*Destiny*cough* … whoops
http://dontjudgemyadd.no-ip.org/backlog
I wasn’t intending to enter the contest this year, but now, as a backlog warrior failure, I must ask again not to judge my ADD to hard for it 😉
P.S. dibs on taco tuesday destiny 2.0 release should taco Tuesday return, lol.
http://dontjudgemyadd.no-ip.org/backlog/backlog-20150821.jpg
(visual representation of my progress)