Every year, NeoGAF has a 52 games challenge, in which you have to beat 52 new games before the start of the next year. There is also a movie and book equivalent, in which you have to read 50 new books and watch 50 new movies. These challenges provide that extra motivation to do/finish the things you already wanted to anyway and can lead you to checking out stuff you otherwise may not have (this is especially true with books).

I didn't even come close to completing the challenge, beating only 18 games during the entirety of 2015.

My ratings are done on a 5-star scale (no halfsies). I didn't rate all the games I beat for 2015.

★ - Hated it
★★ - Disliked it
★★★ - Liked/enjoyed/didn't actively dislike it
★★★★ - Really liked it
★★★★★ - Loved it

For games, I sometimes wrote a sentence or two about my thoughts and experiences, which are included here. I also include about how many hours it took me to complete some games.

Here are the 18 games I beat in 2015:

Game 1: Knack - ~10 hours - ★★★
Longer and more challenging than I expected, Knack was an enjoyable action-platformer that felt very much like something from the creator of Crash Bandicoot.

Game 2: Depression Quest - ~3 hours - ★★★★★
A very accurate portrayal of depression that hit a bit closer than I expected, Depression Quest is an important experience that those who wish to know more about the illness should play.

Game 3: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist - ~21 hours - ★★★★★
Much better and truer to Splinter Cell than what I was initially led to believe, Blacklist is a great addition to the franchise that allows a lot customization and freedom in how to handle situations. The co-op, as always, was the best part of the experience for me. I completed all the 4E missions including the DLC with random partners.

Game 4: Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae - ~5 hours - ★★★★★

Game 5: Borderlands 2 - ~83 hours - ★★★★
I played the entirety of this game and all of its story DLC on co-op with my friend Sean. We begun on August 23rd, 2014 and just finished up everything on March 27th, 2015. An overall enjoyable game that can get tedious at times, we ended up ignoring most of the enemies near the end as we were so over-leveled by that point it didn't matter. Tiny Tina is the best.

Game 6: Ryse: Son of Rome - ~10 hours - ★★★★

Game 7: Mortal Kombat X (iOS) - ★★★

Game 8: Batman: Arkham Knight (PC) - ★★★★★
A fantastic game all around, and probably the most technically impressive I have played to date (July 25th, 2015). Really liked the story, and the writing for one character in particular was top notch. Game of the Year contender for sure. Oh, and I liked the Batmobile!

Game 9: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD (PS3) - ★★★★★

Game 10: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD (PS3) - ★★★★★

Game 11: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PC) - ★★★★★

Game 12: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PC)

Game 13: Metal Gear HD (PS3) - ★★★

Game 14: Resident Evil 5 (PC) - ★★★★★

Game 15: Until Dawn (PS4)

Game 16: Star Wars Battlefront (PS4)

Game 17: Adventure Time: Magic Man's Head Games (Gear VR)

Game 18: Nidhogg (PC)

I have a Notepad document which contains a list of posts to eventually write; "Pets Named After Game Characters" is one of them. I know I'm not the only one out there who has named a pet after a video game character, either. So, what made me decide to write about this topic today? Well, it's because of a little guinea pig that showed up at my front door a few days ago, but we'll get to him in Part IV of "Pets Named After Game Characters".

Let's do this alphabetically, which just so happens to be chronologically as well!:

Big Boss

Big Boss was an easy cat to name due to his time of arrival and the color of his eyes. Belonging to my mom's former boss's stepdaughter (that was tough to write!) who was originally going to abandon him, my mom's boss took him in only to discover that he didn't get along with their other cat. So, she asked my mom if she wanted to take him in. Already having four cats in the house, taking care of Big Boss wasn't an issue, and we soon added a fifth kitty to our loving home. This all took place shortly after E3 2003, where Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater made its 10-minute debut.

A lot of speculation was abound, as is usual with a new Metal Gear reveal, and some of the crazier (and obviously wrong even then) theories were suggesting that Hideo Kojima was introducing time travel to the series and that you would continue to play as Solid Snake. People like myself knew better. We knew that the only real explanation for the game taking place in the 1960's and having a character look nearly identical to Solid Snake is that the game was going to tell the story of Big Boss himself. Being a massive Metal Gear fan, and seeing the cat's eyes matching the exact color of the man himself, I knew what to call him instantly.

Trivia:

Has the softest fur out of any kitty I've ever petted (which is a lot!).
Is a super-good cuddler! You'd be hard-pressed to have a more relaxing, furry sleep.
Is very good at telling you what he wants by meowing loudly until you follow him.
Enjoys viewing the outdoors.

I always enjoy people's reactions to his name at animal clinics and such. My mom always likes to point out that I'm the one who named him. He still has one of the coolest names for a cat ever.

I should really see if they make eye patches for cats...

Just kidding. I don't think he would like that very much.

2015: The 18 Games I Beat

Pets Named After Game Characters: Part I

Big Boss

Part II