After finishing this I spent double (treble?) that time obsessing over Time Attack on the first couple of stages. The drop dash, spins and trajectory when launching sonic from slopes at speed made it a lot of fun to replay the same sections over and over.

I got this free when I bought my 360 in anticipation of Street Fighter IV but I was burned out on the series, maybe the genre, by that point. Completed it in solo and LAN co-op but it was a real slog.

The conversations around grief we're more heartfelt than I anticipated. Almost made up for the dire dungeon design. The start of the intro tune is pretty cool also.

I loved this. I played it a lot while commuting but never quite reached the credits before letting a friend borrow my copy. I might return to it (I won't).

I did enjoy the battles (and getting killed almost immediately by Dark Aeons) but struggled to have fun for the most part. Reached the final boss but didn't bother completing it.

Once it gets going the combat is a lot of fun. Some fights are more spectacle than skill and it's a bit more bloated than it needs to be but throwing that axe is incredibly satisfying and I'm optimistic the sequel will shave off the excess and up the variety.

Played up to the point I got to climb atop the Duomo and that was enough for me.

My main memory of Half Life 2 is new gameplay trailers being released when Celtic were fighting against Porto in some football tournament and my entire home town was in my cousin's house watching the match while we both watched cars get smashed away by a helicopter over and over. The physics looked unbelievable (though the delayed release dampened their impact slightly).

I don't know if Vita was the best platform to experience this one but when things were going well it was really cathartic to carve through foes.

I generally prefer a game where I get to press a lot of buttons but the twists and charm (and music!) of this made a lovely change of pace during a period where I was travelling a lot.

There's a very satisfying, simplistic approach to the brutal stealth in this that reminds me a lot of Manhunt. The overall story may not be terribly original but the pared-down dialog and voice performances elevate it. The atmosphere in the moments brings a weirdly soothing tension. I'd have likely earned the Platinum trophy if it didn't require an absurd number of multiplayer matches.

Borrowed a PS2 for this and my lasting memory is enduring, bleary eyed, a cutscene near the end that was so long I though maybe I was already sleeping. I kinda plan to return to it but I have even less patience for cutscenes now than I did then.

A wee delight.

An absolute belter. Maybe a bit light on challenge relative to 3D Land until the very, very end but it's still a joy throughout. Plus some of the platforms look like big cubes of pickled beetroot, which I consider a positive.

Mario Kart 8 iterates on 7's ideas to the point where it makes it a little redundant but that doesn't stop it being an excellent game in its own right and I do miss its Wuhu Island courses.