After ten days of playing, I finally finished Saints Row 2 and sent my review off to be posted.  I played for about 20 hours, gained 45 neighborhoods, completed 56 missions, tried dozens of activities, earned hundreds of thousands of dollars and killed hundreds of people.  The game is great, and I had a fantastic time playing it, but here’s a little secret, just between you and I:

I’m a little tired of Saints Row 2 right about now.

It’s not just SR2 either. I’m tired of games in general right now which can mean only one thing, fall is upon us.

I usually like the fall. I like the colder weather.  I love football.  I like that I don’t have to mow the lawn any more.  I like that we can put the down comforter on the bed.  I like the leaves.  I even don’t mind raking them.  I used to like that fall was when all of the best games came out and wherever you looked, there was something good to play.

Now?  Not so much.

In the past 30 days I played and reviewed Rock Band 2 for the 360, played and reviewed The Price is Right for the DS, played and reviewed de Blob for the Wii, played and reviewed the aforementioned Saints Row 2 for the 360, wrote my humor column about Rock Band 2, played with and reviewed two Rock Band 2 instruments for a  Rock Band 2 gear round up and played Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (review pending).  That’s a whole lot of playing and a whole lot of writing.

Now, much of, if not all of this is my own fault.  After all, I’m the one who picks the games that I want to cover and I picked all of these, with the exception of Saints Row 2 which was given to me by default for attending the preview event.  So, my schedule is all my doing, however at the same time, when I don’t pick games, I can expect an email from my editor asking me if I’m sure that I don’t want to cover any more games. This is one of the pitfalls of being competent at something.  Others expect you to keep doing it.  The reverse of this accounts for why I’m never asked to be on anyone’s basketball team.

It is a common lament among gaming journalists that the holiday season is hell on Earth for those that write about games and as packed as my schedule has been, it is nothing compared to what I’m sure those writing about games full time has to put up with.  After all, I pick my own games, and my editor is steadfast in his refusal to let you pick two games that come out on the same day even if they’re on different systems, a notion I have bristled against for some time now due to my ability to play both a handheld game and a console game at the same time.  Well, not literally at the same time, but within the same deadline space.  Any way, I can only imagine that for those that do this full time, they have to juggle multiple games at once and keep it all straight in their heads.

For me, at least I get a break to go to work, or play with the kids, or do something other than play games.  If you write about games for a living, you still have breaks, but they are fewer and farther between, even more so come the fall crunch time.  More importantly, once you finish a game and then write about it, you jump right into the next one.

This is my biggest problem with crunch time, not the constant playing of games, because honestly, how much I play games during these times doesn’t change that much other than an occasional longer session when I’d usually be watching tv with Linda, or playing on the DS or PSP at lunch.  What changes come crunch time is that I don’t have any time to play games that I’m playing just for enjoyment.  I need a little bit of a break between assignments to get my thoughts straightened out and cleanse the gaming palate, so to speak.  If the only time I had between games was spent writing about the one I just finished, I think I’d go a little crazy.

Plus, for me, having more time to not be playing the game gives me more time to formulate an opinion about what I’m playing.  There are some really great design choices made in de Blob but it’s not until you step away from it and have some time to think about it, that you realize what’s there.  Well, I didn’t any way, and you’re most likely much smarter than I am, so your mileage may vary.

Don’t get me wrong, I love having the extra cash on hand as the holiday games season is filled with games that I do want to play, many of which I’m not reviewing, and they’re not going to just show up on my doorstep free of charge.  The holiday season also means an influx of toys, specifically Transformers, all of which I am compelled to buy.  It would just be nice if the onslaught of games that come from mid September through December could be spread out over the course of the year, rather than force feed me over the next few months and then starve me come January.  Cause, let me tell you, as bad as the crush of games is now, it ain’t nothin’ compared to the titles available for review come the new year.  I give you Draglade.

Luckily, due to SR2 arriving a lot earlier than I imagined and the next Crash Bandicoot game for the PSP being delayed a couple of weeks, I have 2.5 weeks before I have to play anything that I don’t want to.  Oh sure, I have to write my Sonic Chronicles review, but that’ll be done this weekend and then it’s nothing but me time.  This is a good thing because I still have to finish Mercenaries 2 and I have a bunch of touring to do in Rock Band 2 not to mention I’m still crawling my way towards level 60 in Mass Effect.   So much to play and it’s all completely up to me!  My gaming ship is my own to navigate through a sea of choices!  Who knows where I’ll stop, but for now, I am in command!  Me!  Me!  Me!

You know what?  On second thought, I think I’ll just play Saints Row 2 tonight.