Yoshi's Island for me. Completed a lot of games this year, for once. I normally give up before the end, but I've stoped buying as many games and focused on really good ones, with a strong retro mix. New Katamari next, then Chibi Robo then Ridge Racer 4. Have to have a plan.

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♫ I promise to commit no acts of violence,
Neither physical or otherwise,
If things come alive

Not something that happens very often I have to admit, but Dororo is probably the last game I completed.

Its unusual for me to complete under the tele games. I've properly rinsed a large chunk of my GBA collection though. Finishing games like Broken Sword and Donkey Kong Country. The PSP is getting a good rinsing too and I'm drifting my way quite happily through ridge racers at the moment.

Finished Another Code which was dead easy, but enjoyable in a gentle way.

Last game actally completed was Shinobi (Arcade version), but that's a bit of a cheat as I probably complete it once a week Other than that, it's been Resident Evil 4, which really blew be away on so many levels. Next up is DMC3, but I'm not going through it to complete it yet, just practising a level until I can get A ranking or better, then moving on.

It takes a lot longer this way, but it's so satisfying to be able to just go up against any level and totally own it (including Cerebus!). I'm currently at that level where you are shooting the floor, and making that Jester dance. That section had me in tears of laughter the first time I came to it.

I've been trying to make an effort to actually finish games this year as prior to this they've just been sitting on the shelf.

The last game I finished was Beyond Good and Evil. It's a great little game which I'd recommend anyone to play it's got nice high production values, great voice acting and a great little story to keep you hooked.

One thing I noticed was that a lot of people complain about tacked on stealth elements in games. This game is guilty of that too but they were a lot of fun and broke up the pace of the game nicely.

I've gone through the whole, "Pile of games I can't complete because I have a pile of games I can't complete" issue, a few years back. So I got rid of a load, and have been kinda slightly completing games when I totally focus.

Haven't decided what to tackle next for the Completionion machine that is JibberX, maybe Morrowind..... pfft I jest jovially.... Maybe ummm, hmmm, I'll have to think, Oh yeah, I'm still trying to finish Shenmue 2, I'd best plough some more time into that.

Ugh, Stealth can go fuck itself up the bum quite frankly.

I loved MGS, but why does every game have to have stealth in it now. Less stealth more "Operation Stealth" please.

Stealth is up there with "keeping NPC alive" its an idea that was cool when you first saw it then game designers with zero imagination leeched and strapped it onto their game engines forever more. Like running and jumping.

Even the innovational Nintendo grafted it into Wind Waker, but then they seem to use the Zelda franchise to dump all those ideas that Western gamers seem to like.... realistic graphics, shooting, running people over, battle rhyming, spraying decals on Epona, it'll all be in there.

Well For me it would be Red Dead Revolver. Which I started on a friday night and completed on the following Sunday. Have it.
Before that I completed Headhunter: Redemption which took a bit longer cos the fookin thing kept crashing on me. This year I have also completed Metal Gear 3, Knights of The Old Rebuplic ( again hey Treb ) oh and another fav Deus Ex on the Ps2, just to name a few...

Finished Killer 7 over the weekend, persevering with the JPN version.

Enjoyable, lots of style, and an interesting story. Predictably obtuse ending though, which I found to be too much of a cop out.

Concentrating on Metroid Prime 2 and Chibi Robo now

Halo 1 on release.

Are you serious you must be able to think of something more recent! Still I only finished Halo shortly before Halo2 was released...

That's actually pretty depressing, when you think about it
I don't really get satisfaction from a game until it's complete. But I get very bored of long-winded games, so I avoid them and try to go mainly for arcadey, handheld and retro games these days. I enjoy my gaming a lot more for it, too.

Maybe you'll enjoy stuff more, and get more satisfaction, Cookie, if you avoided the majority of games and concentrate on buying just a handful of shorter games? As I say, I did Yoshi's Island last and that cost me a tenner. Only took around 5 days to complete. I re-bought Xmen: COTA on Saturn for under a fiver and completed that with several characters. I'm playing Minna Daisuki Katamari now, and that and its predecessor are short, fun games that take hardly any time to complete, but totally enjoyable all the way through to that completion.

I'm enjoying gaming now more than ever, in all honesty with these short, pithy games. I think it was Outrun 2 that finally sealed for me the fact that I prefer shorter gaming experiences, and should stick with those, for the most part ^^

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♫ I promise to commit no acts of violence,
Neither physical or otherwise,
If things come alive

When I say completed I mean really completed. I have finished many games since but not bothered to play on all difficulty levels/open up all bonuses/learnt all the games intricacies etc.

I do stick to the more arcade oriented titles but you can never truly complete them. Take Psyvariar for example: I have played all the levels but I would never say I had truly completed it. Likewise I have played all the iterations of the Winning Eleven series to death but its a title you never actually complete.

I do have a very short attention spam when it comes to games. Its why I steer clear of RPG's and the like as I know I would only ever scratch the surface. I much prefer titles that offer short bursts with lots of replayability. I am far less forgiving with games nowadays though. If there is a niggling problem it will turn me off the game completely whereas when I was younger I could play through the problem.

Oh right. Well, I consider completing the game on whichever level I initially chose to be 'completing' it. Anything else is 'rinsing'

I am the same about 'playing through' problems, in a way. Most of the time, if I get stuck and then bored, it's because either A) it's bad game design and I know it (rather than blame myself for being shit) or B) I've done stuff like it in a billion other games, which means its unoriginal.

If I get stuck on a section in a good, original game, i'm still the same as I was back when I was about 8 years old: I cane it until the bastard's done

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♫ I promise to commit no acts of violence,
Neither physical or otherwise,
If things come alive

Ridge Racers (PSP). All tours won, cars unlocked, yadda yadda, though technically-speaking, it's a game that can't be "completed".

The last game I "finished" was Biohazard 4.

I can see myself running out of steam on Ridge Racers. The difficulty is only now starting to ramp up in PRO mode, but even then it's not 'that' hard. I find myself wishing for quicker progress. The tours with three races in seemed about the right length to play in a single sitting. But 5 or 6 races is starting to feel like a chore to get a reward.

I'm also not 100% sure that its a game that can work well in TA mode. The (drift = speed reduction + nitro) balancing act adds an additional and imo unwelcome level of complication to the game. I want time attack to be about the track, the car and my skill, not some sort of puzzle game where I have to work out that if I'd drifted one of the 'grip' corners I'd end up with an additional nitro to use.

I don't think that the inclusion of nitro has ruined the game, but it's certainly taken the edge off of it, because it largely negates the penalty for small mistakes or not carrying enough speed into a hill climb. The last ridge game I played was V and before that the original arcade version, so perhaps I'm just used to the pure experience delivered by those games.

It's good but not great. You're right about the Nitrous - it just over-simplifies the game. Play any of the others and spot just how hard it is to catch competitors if you make even one *slight* error, and how over-sliding makes your car judder.

The cars in 'Racers handle like the Ferraris in Outrun 2.

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♫ I promise to commit no acts of violence,
Neither physical or otherwise,
If things come alive

Yeah there is a bit of that in Racers. Provided you execute a drift command it sort of locks you in. The emphasis in Racers is executing a drift at the right moment and setting your car at the right angle of attack to make the corner. I rarely find myself making adjustments mid corner. Outrun2 on the otherhand requires more mid corner trickery to navigate around the traffic. The mechanic in both is excellent though and brings a smile to my face every corner.

Yeah, I stand by the fact the Ridge Racers is an excellent game too. It's not one of the best Ridge games specifically, though.

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♫ I promise to commit no acts of violence,
Neither physical or otherwise,
If things come alive