Gaming, both as a hobby and as a research interest, has been a slow go for me this year. Since I got my Xbox 360 Elite last July, I have finished Grand Theft Auto IV and Fallout 3, played some NBA Live and Left for Dead, struggled with Fable 2, and reunited with the driving simulator while playing Forza 2. I have also dabbled with other titles and I have a STACK of games at home to play. Thing is, there simply isn’t enough time in the day to game the way I really want to.
Much to my surprise, I loved Fallout 3. 
I am not a huge RPG fan so my adoration of this game still surprises me, even a month after I finished it. Well, it’s probably more accurate to say that there are times when I really hated this game’s difficulty settings and the amount of time it took me to finish it (logged in 90 hours, I know, I know, I know, but I tried not to use the Walkthrough, stumbled around and found things the hard way and kept walking instead of teleporting). By the end, I really loved my black woman character and Star Paladin Cross, her black woman sidekick. Just the fantasy potential here for having two black women roam apocalyptic DC was huge for me. I created a rifle-shooting, charismatic black woman who was mostly kind but a little aloof. I also imagined my character and Star to be lovers as they wandered the Wasteland. The pre-ending to the game, the last mission following the robot, was one of the most satisfying and exciting moments in my recent memory. Great fun! Finishing the game was bittersweet and Fallout 3 all but ruined Fable 2 for me–a game I just can’t like enough to finish despite being a HUGE fan of the Xbox original version.
In that regard, I blame Fable 2 for my current gaming slowdown. While I don’t consider myself a hardcore gamer, I am hardcore in my enthusiasm for gaming and that makes me a purist at heart who likes to finish games–even if it takes me MONTHS–and each time I turn on my 360 and fiddle in Fable 2’s pretty but vapid world, I just don’t feel inspired to play on. Still, even though I have Gears of War 1 and 2 waiting to be played and a still-in-the-shrinkwrap copy of Battlefield Bad Company, I have not let myself play another narrative game. The unfinished Fable 2 haunts me like a fun-sucking curse, taunting me to play or turn away.
My inability to either finish Fable 2, throw Fable 2 in the toilet, resell Fable 2, or simply move on has halted my narrative game play. Enter Forza 2 as away of jumpstarting my gaming enthusiasm for the moment. Now I still don’t have a lot of time to devote to gaming (maybe on 3 hours a week right now) but picking up Forza 2 has been the right move for me. First off, I forgot how much I love driving games. Some of my fondest memories of grad school involved me sitting around with my fellow students, playing Gran Turismo on the PlayStation 1, and lamenting about our experiences over the roar roar roar of the pretty cars on the simulated tracks.
This meditation on how I got from Fallout 3 (a newer title) to Forza 2 (a slightly older title for the system) helps me clarify for myself the top gaming genres near and dear to my heart. While I like the adventure set, and even a good RPG (my brother and a good friend have been hounding me to play Mass Effect), I do think I’m going to have to say that driving games are tops. They are a great way to sneak in a few minutes of play at the end of a very stressful day. On the 360, you can’t beat the option to have your own music blasting over the system as you fly around the tracks.
Perhaps my next post will be on gaming genres and how they fit into my gaming life. For now, here’s a preliminary ranking of them:
Gaming and Genre
1. Driving/Racing (Forza, Gran Turismo, the Burnout franchise, and even Grand Theft Auto for me because driving is so imperative there)
2. The Sims franchise (looking forward to The Sims 3 but I think I will wait for the Mac version for the first time ever)
3. Shooters (this is why I think I will like Gears and Battlefield if I can ever get on to them)
4. Sports titles (NBA, ESPN football of yesteryear, golf)
5. Action Adventure (I’m really thinking of taking the Brainy Gamers advice and trying Beyond Good and Evil–someday)