Four in February: Readers triumph over the Joystiq crew
Put down your buzzers, turn off your engines, sheathe your swords: Four in February has come to a close. The great 4iF challenge brought the Joystiq crew to their knees over the past four weeks. Joystiq Community members, on the other hand, rose to the occasion. Our heroes over on the 4iF Facebook page played through literally hundreds of games, and while not all of them went the distance, they played well.
While a few members of the staff managed to dig into their lists, finishing off entries here and there, not one of us managed to complete all four selections. Richard Mitchell, Joystiq Reviews Content Director, toppled two big ones including Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and Risk of Rain on the maddening Monsoon difficulty. Danny Cowan completed Virtual Hydlide on Sega Saturn while 4iF founder Mike Suszek conquered Tearaway and Toukiden: Age of Demons (though Toukiden wasn't on his original list.) Xav de Matos, Jess Conditt, Anthony John Agnello, and others? Couldn't beat nary a one.
That's okay, though! In fact, failure is just another form of success in Four in February. The point isn't to beat all four, but to encourage diversity in your game playing palette. We all love video games. That's why we're here. Four in February is an event that reminds us of the vast creative richness waiting in the folds of gaming. It's easy to get caught up in the rush of all that's new. 4iF is a conscious effort to slow down and take in our surroundings, to explore what's out there we may have missed. Just playing the game means you've won, even if you didn't see four sets of credits roll.
Still, special honors go to these players. They came, they saw, they kicked four games in the butt. Then "Like" our Facebook page to get in on the next community event, when you can trounce us all over again.
Frank Auletto - I've conquered my 4iF picks! This month I beat Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, Final Fantasy XIII, The Last of Us and Left Behind DLC, and Rayman Legends.
James Collins - Just finished myself! Tomb Raider, LEGO Legends of Chima, The Lego Movie, and Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward. Two platinum trophies and currently working on the third right now.
Shaun Adkins - Costume Quest, Rogue Legacy, Spyro: Year of the Dragon, and Heavy Rain.
Will Racca - I finished New Super Mario Bros. 2 week one, Silent Hill Origins week 2, Final Fantasy XIII week 3, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii during week 4. Bonus game: Remember Me thanks to PS+ and some sick days.
Kiel Chenier - Gravity Rush, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Spelunky, and Dragon's Crown.
Logan Nazareth - I completed it! Max Payne 3, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Aliens: Infestation and Adventure Time: Hey, Ice King! Bonus: Outlast.
Einsam Fechter - I completed my 4iF. I beat Alice: Madness Returns, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Tomb Raider, and Remember Me.
Nathan Vigil - Tomb Raider, Outlast, BioShock Infinite, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Better then I did last year.
Brian Matthew Paradis - Finished Mirror's Edge, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Saints Row 4, and The Last of Us. And for a bonus, I also finished Gone Home!
Joe Allen - Managed it much faster than I could have hoped, beating Far Cry 3, Batman: Arkham Origins, Uncharted, and Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo.
Erik T. Leppänen - Legend of Kyrandia 2 and 3, Postal 3 and The Ball.
Christoph Adams - Blew through Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice and Oneechanbara in one weekend, then felt bad about unknowingly picking these shorter games and played through Max Payne 3 on hard, something I never do otherwise. Cursed Mountain was unexpectedly awesome, so I finished that over another weekend as well. Those were my four picks, additionally I finished Jet Li: Rise to Honor which I'd only been three or four levels into, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons which I bought on a whim during the Xbox ultimate game sale last week, and if I can bring up the courage I might finish Outlast!
Logan Booth - All four of mine complete. Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Deadpool which I even went one step up and got all the achievements for, El Shaddai and my last game was Kane and Lynch. Pretty productive month.
Shaun Andrews - I finished my fourth. Chrono Trigger, Uncharted 2, Yoshi's Island and Donkey Kong Country Returns.
Josh Brown - Lighting Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Gears of War 3, Borderlands 2 and Super Mario Galaxy all done and dusted!
Jakob Holden - Only a little bit left on Dead Rising 3 and I'm done. I've finished Ryse on Legendary, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag single player and Tomb Raider.
Randy Macho Terry - I did Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Battlefield 4, and Super Mario Land all in one week. I don't think my brain recovered.
[Images: Square-Enix, Sony Computer Entertainment, Electronic Arts, UTV Ignition]
