Well, that didn't go so well.

So, today it came to my attention that I have failed spectacularly to accomplish one of my goals for this year, which was to not buy anywhere near as many games as I bought last year.

Last year was crazy.  It was absurd.  I bought so many games.  The fact that I was settling into the swing of things with PC gaming (and by extension, Steam), combined with the fact that 2011 was an unreasonably good year for games meant I bought far more games last year than I did any other year of my life.  It got to the point where it was starting to feel like irresponsible use of my money.  I bought Dark Souls when it came out, but didn’t even take the shrink wrap off until a month later.  Ultimately, the 2011 total for “games bought” is at 37, and that’s counting the bundles as individual listings.

Today I pre-ordered Hitman: Absolution, bringing the 2012 count to 37.  Whelp.

Anyway, I’m not a fan of the new PlayStation Store.  It might just be that I don't feel like having to get used to something new, but it doesn't really feel like an improvement to me, functionally or aesthetically.  Apparently people thought the previous storefront was really ugly, which I disagree with, but that's neither here nor there.  At least it was organized, which is more than I can say for this one so far.  When you have two different categories named "Hot titles" and "Top titles", there might be something wrong.

I got Assassin’s Creed III in (hence my having to deal with the new PS Store, as there was a bunch of DLC to download), and so far I’ve played through about 75% of the main story.  It’s really good.  It’s ridiculously big, for one thing.  Not just in terms of its sandbox, but in terms of gameplay variety.  There is so much to do.  So, so much.  But it has…issues.  There are places where Assassin’s Creed III is pretty much bursting at the seams.

Because it’s so damn huge of a game, I’m also having trouble approaching the review.  There are so many facets to discuss.  So much stuff that I’m going to have to just outright not even mention if I want to keep the review size reasonable, even if it’s stuff I really want to call to attention or give or dock Ubisoft credit on.  Just sorting out all my thoughts on the game thus far is difficult, so expansive is the Assassin’s Creed III experience.

But before that, XCOM.  The XCOM review is a little over halfway done.  The main thing is the combat, which I haven’t written about yet.  I’m still thinking about exactly what it is I want to say about the combat, and how I can effectively put it to words.  If you had asked me what my GOTY would likely be maybe three weeks ago, I would have said Assassin’s Creed III.  Today, my answer is still….Assassin’s Creed III.  But as I continue to sort out my thoughts on AC3, if there’s one game that can contest it for GOTY, it’s XCOM.

Or Hitman.