Backlogs: Almost all gamers have this problem. Backlogs are a gamers’ worst nightmare and an indication of how many games they bought and intended to play later, regardless of how many months, years, or decades have passed. Everyday when we wake up in the morning, we see a mountain of games neatly stacked on a shelf just grabbing our attention waiting to be played and, for the most part, completed. Some of us here at Gamer Horizon have hundreds of games that we haven’t played yet. So how would one decide which one to play?

The answer: Crowd-source it!

Yes, dear readers: We’d like you to vote on which game each of us should play through and finish… starting with me, the guinea pig of the whole crew.

Now, it would be impossible and overwhelming for everyone to peruse through hundreds and thousands of games in our collective backlogs, so I decided to just boil my backlog down to 5 games that wouldn’t affect my review schedule in the next coming weeks. But here’s the catch: We have a time limit, which will vary on a per game basis.

While I don’t know how the others will deal with their backlogs, I personally intend to update you all on my progress on a weekly basis. Think of it as you keeping tabs on me, making sure that I’m keeping my end of the bargain!

A little bit of introduction is in order for my chosen games, I suppose: Since two of the games I’m reviewing will need to be played on a TV, the ideal situation for me is to play through games that won’t take up the same space. Because of that, I’ve selected some PSP/Vita games that I feel that are just sitting in my backlog, not getting played and not getting finished. Of course, YOU get to pick which one I should play. So let’s get started!

• Persona 3 Portable (PSP/Vita) – The reason that I haven’t played Persona 3 Portable and, by proxy, Persona 3/Persona 3 FES is the simple fact that I got Persona 4 first back in 2009, then played through it and decided to get Persona 3 FES. The problem, of course, is that Persona 3‘s difficulty curve was a lot more brutal than Persona 4, not to mention the fact that you weren’t able to control your entire party. In some ways, Persona 3 Portable refined this, but instead of just playing through the damned game, I just went through Persona 4 Golden instead.
• Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation (Vita) – Maybe it’s the disappointment of playing through part of Assassin’s Creed III, but looking at Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation on my Vita fills me with feelings of doubt and disgust. No, perhaps disgust is a strong word: More like, jankiness, perhaps? While the game looks great on all fronts, there’s a weird jankiness to the game that I just can’t shake off. Yes, I suppose I should be impressed that I was playing an Assassin’s Creed game on the Vita, but when you look at something like Uncharted on the same platform and what they’ve accomplished, it’s not easy to go back to Liberation and say, “Damn. If they only took a little bit more time.” Still, I need to finish the game: Aveline is a somewhat compelling character, and I do want to see her story through until the end.
• God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) – I kept hearing how incredibly awesome the God of War games were on the PSP, but never really got around to finishing any of them. I seem to recall getting quite far in Chains of Olympus, then more “important” games came out and pried me away from the game. Heck, I even have the HD remakes! Maybe this will be the opportunity I’ll have to finally finish the game.
• God of War: Ghost of Sparta (PSP) – This game is allegedly the better portable God of War of the two, if only because God of War II director Cory Barlog worked on this game after leaving Sony Santa Monica. I did start playing Ghost of Sparta fairly recently, but as with most backlogs, other games have pulled me away from it. But from what I remembered playing, I really liked, and the quality of the game is definitely a step up from Chains of Olympus – not that the latter was bad!
• Limbo (Vita/PS3) – I actually got Limbo on the PS3 when it got released and completely missed the hype train on it. Yes, I know what happens at the end and how crazy and different it is, but what I did remember enjoying was its interesting gameplay and creative art direction. Sadly, as with all my games, something wooed me away from it, and I haven’t picked it up since. It’s a good thing there’s a Vita version out!

And there you have it, fair gamers! This is the backlog that I present to you now. As I mentioned, I intend on updating everyone on my backlog progress weekly, and a deadline will be set by the crew once the game is determined by you. Again, I’m not sure how the other crew peeps are going to do it, but expect them to be posting their very own backlogs very soon. But for now, pick me a game!