ImRage: Finding A Game When You’ve Got ‘Nothing To Play’

So I often go through phases in my life where I’m in need of some inspiration or entertainment and what I really need to hit that spot is a really good game. Us gamers know the feeling. A movie or a TV series will do at other times but when you need a game you need a game. And then when you go off to pursue said game only to be confronted with a shocking reality… there’s nothing to play. You know the feeling. Your cupboards are full of worn out discs and aged classics that you’ve played between two and three hundred times each but those just aren’t going to cut it. You need something new.

That, my fellow readers, is the predicament I’ve found myself in right now. I’m a busy man who keeps busy with my studies and while I don’t often have time for games in between juggling the many responsibilities and interests in my life, I do still get that itch from time to time that only pixelated violence can scratch. So my usual routine when this craving sets upon me is to peruse eGamer and Gamespot (not that I trust Gamespot) for present and upcoming titles that I might be interested in. Between all the repetitive first person shooters and the ‘innovative’ third person shooters (is that what we call innovative nowadays?), I eventually settled on a list of games I want to play… only none of them are out.

I’d love to play Tekken Tag Tournament 2, in fact I’m pretty damn hyped about it, but that’s only due in a month. The football season is starting soon and I wouldn’t mind FIFA 13; another month or two. Resident Evil 6? The gameplay looks awesome. Nope, that’s still going to be a while. The new Devil May Cry game that’s being advertised everywhere? Only in JANUARY!? Heck I’d even settle for Assassin’s Creed III, no unfortunately it’s still a few months away.

Maybe it’s just that July-August-September dry spell we go through every year where nothing good is released, but really there doesn’t seem to be anything worth playing at the moment! I do have Darkness II sitting on my coffee table at the moment and I believe there was some considerable hype leading up to it but after the dismal and bland experience I had with the first one, I’m not in a hurry to give the second game a chance. And then I still haven’t played Mass Effect 3 so that’s a consideration but I won’t play it for the same reason I still haven’t played Deus Ex 3; I just don’t have 30-60 hours to put into another long-term RPG. At least not when I have Skyrim which I incidentally still play from time to time and have still not finished.

By the way, just because I get desperate for a good game doesn’t mean my quality standards drop. When you’re craving a nice and juicy char-grilled fillet you don’t go for the semi-edible meat-like cardboard that McDonald’s serves, you go to a steak ranch. In the same thread, when I find myself in this *‘I’ve got nothing to play’* dead zone I’ll skip the Lollipop Chainsaws and the Dragon’s Dogmas of the world and head back to the older games for a quality gaming experience (also helps that they’re cheaper. Games are expensive these days!).

In the past at these points I’ve found myself replaying Max Payne 1 and 2 and Sacrifice among others. More recently, I purchased the Metal Gear Solid and Devil May Cry HD collections and I am not sorry that I did. Replaying MGS2 was really awesome and the DMC Collection kept me busy until I finally got tired of it after finishing DMC3 for the 3rd time in succession. I’ll definitely be buying the God of War Saga Collection when it’s released and on a side note I wonder how much Sony makes off these HD Collections. They’re incredibly reasonably priced and multiple best seller games is nothing to scoff at even if they are last gen. I’m too lazy to actually check it up though.

Recently the ‘I’ve got nothing to play’ fever struck again and while Skyrim kept me busy for a while I really needed something new to shake things up. So I took a trip down memory lane to the great games of the past that I might have missed out on or would like to play again and I managed to stumble upon an under-appreciated gem that I was very much interested in playing but had just never gotten around to doing so: Bayonetta.

It was made as a spiritual successor of sorts to the Devil May Cry series and so I was definitely interested in it being the DMC fan that I am. But it was just one of those things and I’d never actually gotten around to playing it. At one point I even got it off a friend but he wanted to sell it so I ended up giving it back without finishing it. But anyway, since a gap had appeared in my life that I intended to fill with a game, I went after Bayonetta and was fortunate to find a single copy available at Century City nicely discounted at less than half price.

I picked up Bayonetta and I’ve started to play it and while I do have my fair share of complaints (so many damn cutscenes that I don’t care about!), I’m overall feeling pretty glad that I took the time to play it. It’s fun, it’s the kind of game I enjoy playing, the production values are high and the price was good. It should keep me busy for a while. At least until October hits and the new game releases come flooding in. Then I actually should have too much to play! But that’s a refreshing thought… it’s better than the alternative.

So maybe the next time you find you have nothing to play, perhaps you should take a trip down memory lane and pick a forgotten classic or an HD collection. Just because a game is old doesn’t mean it still won’t be good and, who knows, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to stumble upon something you wish you hadn’t missed.

See you in two weeks time…