The Good, the Bad, and the Backlog (GoodBadBacklog)

Adam and Kiaran rewind time in this hella hipster Dontnod hit: Life is Strange. Will they have a pleasant holiday in Arcadia Bay or will the storm known as 'Chloe' leave them raging?

Chuck on your pilot suits and hop in your titans, in this episode Adam and Kiaran discuss Respawn Entertainment's shooter: Titanfall 2. We also discuss magpies, small penises, and prostate exams.

Adam and Kiaran go down the rabbit hole into the underworld to experience the wacky indie RPG: Undertale. 

Adam and Kiaran journey into Ryme City for our very first episode discussing a film. Join us as we discuss our history with the Pokemon franchise, the Ryme City sanitation department, doing it with Ditto, and Pokemon dentistry. We also announce our first giveaway! 

In this episode Adam is joined by Ethan Mace from the Play Your Way Podcast as they tackle their Shin Megami Tensei backlog starting with Devil Survivor. Pop in and see what they thought of this turn-based strategy RPG that takes place in a modern day Tokyo in demon lockdown. 

Howdy y'all, come join Adam and Kiaran as they venture into the wild west in Rockstar's cowboy-epic: Red Dead Redemption 2. Heavy spoilers are discussed for both Red Dead 2 and Red Dead 1 so be prepared. We also draw the winner of our 1 year anniversary competition! Saddle up!

Brain slugs, sirens, buzz saws, and meatballs! Kiaran and Adam chat about these two gems from indie developer Playdead and give a little background on the devs.

Kiaran and Adam journey back to the year 2000 when this title hit the shelves. Does it live up to the legacy of the RPGs from that era when Square was king? Join us in the kingdom of Valendia to find out as we tell a story of a Vagrant named Ashley Riot.

In this episode, Adam and Kiaran take on the La-li-lu-le-lo with everyone's favourite Solid Snake replacement, Raiden. Actually, I am in really bad shape financially. I pay money to my ex-wife as part of our divorce settlement, among other bills... I just had no choice but to make you pay for lunch the other day. I'm really sorry.

Adam and Kiaran hop through Sega's gaping ring and into the world of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. We discuss the controversial character design, the most important character: Longclaw, Australian Idol failed auditions, the brilliance of Jim Carrey, Sonichu, and give our final thoughts on the quality of the film. 

In this episode Adam and Kiaran venture into Helheim to take on Ninja Theory's indie AAA game: Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice. Is the game worth the sacrifice or is it a Hel of a time? Tune in to find out!

Special guest Ethan Mace joins Adam and Kiaran taking on the very first live action film based on a video game: Super Mario Bros (1993). Join us in Dinohattan as we run through the plot of the film, poke fun at the campiness, and appreciate the absurdity that is the 90's Mario film. Grab your tools because these plumbers are going to get you wet!

In this episode the boys visit the red light districts of Kamurocho and Sotenbori to fight street thugs, train hostesses, buy realestate, and sing karaoke in the first chronological entry in the Yakuza storyline. Did they find the game as fiery as the Dragon of Dojima? or was it as nuts as the Mad Dog of Shimano? Tune in to find out. We also made it into the best 30 Australian Gaming Podcasts according to Feedspot. 

How do you like your Snake: Naked or Solid? Find out how we eat ours as we discuss the third entry in the Metal Gear Solid franchise: Snake Eater. We also randomly talk about Wicked City, Bluepoint Games, and iconic video game songs. 

To celebrate our 50th episode, we answered a bunch of questions from our friends, listeners, and fellow podcasters. Everything from 'Has there been a game you enjoyed that you weren't expecting to?' to 'Do you sit or stand to wipe your ass?'. Strap yourselves in, this one gets wild.

In this episode we dust off an oldie from the backlog and try out the game that was supposed to be the reboot of the XCOM franchise. Is it an under-appreciated hidden gem or has time forgotten this game for a reason? Tune in to find out!

Take off your oxygen masks, put your feet up, and sit back with some mushroom tea as we discuss the Metro 2033 video game and the novel it was adapted from.

In this episode we enlist in Squad 7 of the Gallian militia along with Rosie the racist, Murial, and super gay Jann. Do we have the strategic chops to beat the Imperial invaders out of our homeland or did we rage quit half way through? Tune in to find out our take on the alleged "Best Strategy RPG on PS3". 

Chris Coplien from Retro Hangover joins the show to fill in for Kiaran and discuss the red-headed stepchild of the Castlevania franchise. Is the Wii 3D fighting game an abomination to rival the most fearsome night creature? or is it the unofficial Death Note crossover you never knew you wanted? Tune in to find out and also hear our pitches for the next Castlevania spinoff title!

In this episode we escape our traumatic lives and head off to OL' SHOSHONE during the best year ever (1988). Grab a glass of Campo De Santo and find out what we thought about this brilliant narrative-heavy walking sim. 

7 podcasters, 1 prize. Who will take home the gold in this retro game trivia extravaganza hosted by the quizmaster himself: Toby from Secret Levels podcast. Tune in to find out where the Good Bad Backlog boys placed and play along for yourself!

Shout-out to our amazing rival teams:
Secret Levels
Grand Rapidians Play Video Games
Region Free Gamers
Retro Hangover
The Review Brothers
Zeng This

Pop on your jetpack and brush off your Angaran dictionary, Kiaran and Adam have taken a one-way trip to the Andromeda galaxy in the largely criticised sequel of the Mass Effect trilogy. We talk about our history with the franchise, our impressions of the characters, Turian tongues, krogan genitalia, and much much more. But most importantly: is it really THAT bad?

Pop a couple of paracetamol, you're about to get one hell of a psychic headache as Adam and special guest Jon review the 2021 brain-punk anime action JRPG: Scarlet Nexus. We also talk quite a bit about JRPGs in general, anime, the Scarlet Nexus anime adaptation, and more. Very minor spoilers ahead. 

Put on your yellow raincoats and hold onto your lighters, we're delving into the world of Little Nightmares to sneak through the darkness and escape the horror of the maw. What did we think and how does it stack up to other games in the genre? Tune in to find out. 

Slip into your OctoCamo suit and turn on your Solid Eye, it's finally time for our fourth foray through the Metal Gear Solid franchise with MGS4: Guns of the Patriots! 

You asked for it, so we answered! Join us again as we sneak through the tunnels of the Moscow Metro and try to survive the apocalyptic wasteland above in the much acclaimed second instalment of the Metro franchise - Metro: Last Light (now with 100% more nudity). 

Join us for a stroll through Fabletown where we meet the colourful locals, view the onstage entertainment at the Pudding & Pie, and solve some gruesome murders. Did we enjoy our time in Fabletown, or did the locals make us want to wolf-out and rip some throats? Find out as we play: The Wolf Among Us. 

In this episode Adam is joined by special guests Chris Coplien from the Retro Hangover Podcast, and Ozzy Garcia (a Cuban). We took on Squaresoft's 1999 forgotten PS1 JRPG: Threads of Fate... or Dewprism if you're a purist like Chris. Was the game worth it? Is there a good reason it was forgotten? Tune in to find out!

Grab your dog skull rings, leather vests, red hankies, and ass-less chaps... It's time to fulfil your biker boy fantasy in post-apocalyptic Oregon. Join us for a particularly fun episode as we take on and critique: Days Gone. 

We have a message for you. Yes YOU. The You in the sky. Join us as we deliver this very important message with custom-made art pieces, as we compare Tearaway on the Vita and Tearaway Unfolded on the PS4. 

Get your stamp cards ready, Chris Coplien from the Retro Hangover podcast and Kade from the Gaming Memories podcast have joined Adam to run errands with our anthropomorphic Kangaroo friend in the prequel to the spiritual successor of the Suikoden franchise. Confused? Me too! 

Is it a coffee cup? Is it a stapler? No! It's Adam and Kiaran mimicking mundane office items in order to take over Talos 1. Come join us as we play the under-appreciated gem from Arkane Studios: Prey (2017). Not to be confused with Prey (2006) or Pray (MC Hammer). 

You asked and we answered. Adam and Kiaran re-enter Sega's gaping ring and return to the world of Sonic the Hedgehog in the sequel film from 2022. We discuss the plot, the characters, Sonichu, Rebel Wilson, Idris Elba's voice acting, our ideas for the sequel, and so much more. We hope it was worth the wait! 

It's our 69th episode so of course we wanted to do something special and play a game in the very raunchy Leisure Suit Larry franchise! Little did we know it would be so... traumatic.

Hop aboard the S.S Backlog! For this episode we're venturing into spooky waters as we play the first instalment of The Dark Pictures Anthology, the Man of Medan. Will you need a proton pack to fight some ghosts? or has Adam just eaten too much cauliflower rice? Tune in to find out!

This very special bonus episode is a SNEAK PEEK of our first Patreon episode! We discuss our list of games that are critically acclaimed but we have no intention of playing! If you like this content and want to hear more, you can join our Patreon for as little as $1 via our linktree at: https://linktr.ee/goodbadbacklog

Grab your magical axes, arrows, and severed heads of exposition. It's time for us to finally play the 2018 GOTY alleged 'masterpiece': God of War. Is the praise justified? Is this the best game we've ever covered? Is Kratos a DILF? Tune in to find out. 

Do you like stories? Well this game certainly has a story! Joining Adam in this episode are special guests: Chris Coplien from the Retro Hangover podcast, and Jon to discuss our in-depth thoughts on the latest narrative adventure game published by Xbox Game Studios: As Dusk Falls.

Grab you're spelunking boots because we're hopping back into the Uncharted franchise with the DLC turned full-game - Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. How does the game fair without the franchise's main man Nathan Drake? Tune in to find out! 

You asked for it, and we delivered. We watched the highly anticipated (maybe) film adaptation of the iconic Sony property and boy did we have opinions! If you want to hear two idiots pick a mediocre film to pieces, you've come to the right place! Tune in to find out what we thought!

In this episode we go for a simulated stroll through the quaint English village of Yaughton and try to figure out where tf did everyone go? 

We're back again skulking the streets of Kamurocho. It's our second foray into the Yakuza franchise, tune in to find out what we think of the remake to the first game and how it compares to our experience with Yakuza 0! 

In this episode Adam is joined by friend of the show Dave Jackson to discuss the recently released Giger-inspired "biopunk" game: Scorn. Check out what we thought of it as well as our plot analysis and interpretations.

The Good, the Bad, and the Backlog socials: https://linktr.ee/goodbadbacklog
Tales from the Backlog: https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog

That's a wrap! In this episode we give our own GOTY awards for the games we played this year as well as take a look back at some of the show highlights from 2022! We would like to thank all of our listeners, patrons, and our podcaster friends who helped contribute to this episode! Thank you for an amazing 2022!

Links:
The Good, the Bad, and the Backlog: https://linktr.ee/GoodBadBacklog
Gaming & Collecting Podcast: https://linktr.ee/thebarberwhogames
The Main Quest Podcast: https://linktr.ee/MainQuestPod
Retro Hangover Podcast: https://linktr.ee/retrohangover
Retro Wars Podcast: https://retrowars.podbean.com
Revival & Extinction: https://linktr.ee/revival.extinction
Tales from the Backlog: https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog
The Unlockables Podcast: https://linktr.ee/unlockablespodcast

All aboard! We're back from our break and going cross country in the latest entry in the Metro franchise: Metro Exodus. As fans of the franchise we also read the novel Metro 2035 and give our thoughts on the third book in the series. Come on comrades, let's explore the Russian wasteland together! 

Grab a glass of your finest Red Rum, we're headed to the Timberline Hotel to solve the mystery of The Suicide of Rachel Foster. Take a shot every time we call the Timberline Hotel 'Timberland'.

This episode covers sensitive subject matter and adult themes, there is a warning in place before we discuss these topics but listen at your own discretion. 

Get your jelly guns ready, we're saving the planet from invisible space phantoms in everyone's favorite "photorealistic" CGI animated film: Final Fantasy the Spirits Within!

In this episode Adam is joined by special guest: Bill from the Gaming and Collecting podcast! We descend into the depths of the labyrinth and take on the RPG dungeon-crawler/map-making 3DS classic: Etrian Odyssey Untold - The Millennium Girl.

Socials: https://linktr.ee/goodbadbacklog
Gaming and Collecting podcast: https://linktr.ee/Thebarberwhogames

Do you wanna be a King? Do you want to be a prepubescent King with cat ears and a delicate face? Well do we have the game for you! No it's not an anime Visual Novel, its the RPG from Level-5 and Bando Namco: Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom!

Another episode and another special guest! This time Shane Koski from the Retro Hangover podcast joins Adam to chat all about Vampire Survivors, the viral sensation where you have to survive an onslaught of enemies... even though there's no vampires. 

It's a dystopian 1996 and you're a teen, can make it over the border for a better life or will you fall victim to one of the many threats along the way as you hitchhike to your freedom? Find out how we fared in this wild hitchhiking simulator! 

Kiaran has been expelled from Hogwarts and for this episode Adam is instead joined by a very special guest! Grab your cloaks of invisibility and top up your goblets of fire with more Pepsi Max, we're in for a magical broomstick ride through the Harry Potter open world adventure: Hogwarts Legacy! 

Grab those lightsabers and adjust those crooked jaws! We played Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and it was certainly a game. 

That's right, we're back with another Metal Gear Solid game! This is the fifth in our journey through the series, how does it stack up to the previous entries? Does it have a good story? Will we actually enjoy the gameplay? Tune in to find out!

We're back again dipping our toes into the wet spot on the gaming bedsheet that is Leisure Suit Larry. After our last notorious foray with Box Office Bust, how will we feel about a Larry game that gets back to the gameplay roots (hehe) of point-and-dick... er... click?. 

In this episode Adam is joined by our old friend Chris Coplien from the Retro Hangover podcast! We step back to 1996 to see how "good" this allegedly under-appreciated SuperNintendo JRPG actually is!

We finally did it. We finally completed the Team Ico trilogy! Tune in to find out what we thought of the final entry in the Ico trilogy, and how it stacks up against its predecessors. 

What is 'yomi'? Is this game good? What time does the 3:10 to Yuma leave? Can Japanese people hear each other having sex behind those paper doors? We ask the important questions in this episode because we played: Trek to Yomi! 

It's time to don your gillie suits and beat your chest like a macho bro-man because we played our very first Call of Duty game! Are we butch enough to fit in with the US Marines and SAS dudes? Will we understand the appeal of military first person shooters? Who knows, but what we do know is if John Lennon had his way, there would be no peace. 

What's that? You want Revenge? You want some Vengeance? How about some REVENGEANCE! *cue electric guitars* This episode we continue our journey through the Metal Gear franchise and finally get the chance to play Platinum Games' entry in the series: Metal Gear Rising Revengeance! 

What's this? A game about Enoch Powell the British politician from the 70's? Or is it about the blind guy Denzel Washington played who was really into the bible? or is it about the many breasted one? I'm afraid the answer is 'none of the above', but strap yourselves in for the fever dream that is El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron!

If you're sensing a Dark Presence don't panic, it's only us back again with a brand new episode as we tackle the Remedy classic: Alan Wake (Remastered)! How does it stack up to the original? Is it as good as one of us remembers? Tune in to find out! 

Stone the crows! We played Death's Door developed by the talented magicians: Fenn & Foster. Is this a door worth opening or is the gameplay so challenging it'll hit you on the ass on the way out? Tune in to find out!

Press X to Doubt. We're travelling back in time to 1947 to become detectives in Team Bondi's only game: L.A. Noire.

We've made it to 100 episodes! For this very special episode we've merged a mailbag Q&A with our GOTY episode to answer listener questions, award prizes to the best games of the year under various categories, and we give away brand new GBB merch!