• Posted January 26th, 2010 at 17:09 EDT by Adam Dolge
• 25 Comments

The weather has been lousy lately. It seems the ski season is on a temporary hiatus thanks to several days of rain and milder-than-average temperatures. Even the birds are confused, perched on telephone wires, chirping insensately at all hours of the day. This weather makes us feel a bit two-sided. On one hand, we feel as grey as the clouds. It only takes the wrong song, commercial, or old photograph to send our thoughts back to sad days, and suddenly we are pining over dead memories. Still, at least we can sink hours into games without fear of missing something fun outside.

It is days like these we are happy we to be gamers. These are the perfect days to chew up gobs of gaming delights, going through our catalogue to replay our favorite titles. There’s always a bit of hesitation on these days – do we play one or two games at length, mindlessly hacking away at monsters while we level up our character? Or, do we play a handful of our favorite chewy delights, jumping from one game to another as fast as it takes to insert the disc in our PlayStation 3s?

We can’t help but feel this relationship we have with our games is a lot like the relationships we have (or don’t have) with people. There are some games that are good for a quick and fast score. A lot like that girl you met at a bar, these are games you probably won’t take home to mom. You’ll probably get your kicks in a few hours, have a few laughs, feel the rush that comes with quick spurts of excitement; but in the end, you realize there just isn’t enough there to keep a burning flame.

Then there are the games that require a lot of attention, some handholding, and days, if not weeks or months, of commitment. These are the games that keep you up at night, strategizing your next move. These are the games you want to bring to your family’s Christmas brunch, introducing them as “the one.” You can’t expect to just stumble upon one of these games; rather, you have to do your research. You don’t want to get stuck with a dud after 40 hours of gameplay. If you take your time at the beginning, roll up your sleeves, you just may fall in love – gaming love.

Today we take a look at games with serious commitment issues. These are games that we, the PSU staff, find either tugging at our hearts by keeping us in a long, committed gaming relationship, or offering the thrill that comes with a quick fling. We are sure you have your favorite quick action game or long-term title, but these are some (not all) of our favorite games we keep running back to. Feel free to leave your comments below to tell us your favorite in each category.

The titles are separated into two categories – "Games with Benefits,” and "Games to Settle Down With.”

Games with Benefits:

FIFA 10 

 

If there is one game that we love to play in short bursts, it’s FIFA 10. This isn’t the best soccer game (football for everyone else in the world), but it’s always good for a 10-minute match. There’s nothing better than popping in FIFA, loading our Manager Mode, and playing through a couple matches. But just as after a night of drinking with your mates, the next day reveals some odd choices from the night before. Why did we trade this player? Did we really lose to Tottenham? Like picking a date while wearing beer goggles, it’s easy to overlook the game’s flaws when playing for only a few minutes. Unfortunately, EA keeps making new FIFA games, meaning every year we’ll buy the latest iteration, forgetting about the sweet times we had with earlier versions.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Multiplayer) 

 

Enough has been said about Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to give anyone a headache. But, we’ve been playing this game since its release last year. We mostly fill our time playing online – it’s not uncommon ... (continued on next page)