Topic: What are you playing?

[azeke]

Super Mario 3d World (Wii U):
It feels like evolved 3d Land. First worlds are already harder than 3d land's regular level so far, so that's good.

3d Land's levels were like SMB1's linear levels stringed onto a 3d wire. In 3d World, levels are built similarly only now there are shoebox-like square/rounded arenas placed between simple lines. Because of a multiplayer, game provides more wide environments and wants to you to roam around there for a bit and not to breeze through it as you could in more "corridor"-y 3d Land. I am guessing this is why roll jump was nerfed that much. It went from the fastest and longest jump to roughly the same as regular long jump.

As i learned by 3d Land i am now playing for full completion right from the go, because i fully expect that at some moment the game will require me to to collect everything, as in: find all green stars, collect all stamps, get all golden flags and finish all levels with all characters. So if i don't get all three stars and stamp and golden flag in one go, i switch to other character for second or third runs.

6-1 level stamp was really, really EVIL (you can barely see it even by rotating camera in free mode) and i still can't find 6-3 stamp!

Beep-bopping blocks level was amazing. Especially amazing if you got a lot of clones and/or playing with someone.

Double cherry is really fun and inventive. It's cool that you can manage your crowd somewhat, like change their formations from one line to rectangle or square by bumping into walls.

I like how many things that look like are only available with cat suit can actually accessed using other techniques, like spin jump (done exactly like in Sunshine). You can even reach the tip of a flagpole from the ground using it, provided there is a wall nearby.

I wish there was option for split screen considering we were playing two player and we could have each screen for themselves.

Uncharted 2 (friend's PS3):
Checked out a few of PS3 games. Seeing how U2 is hailed as one of the bests, i played it for a few hours.

I am very underwhelmed.

First gripe started even before i started the game, when my friend showed me where he is on his save. Main character didn't look like he is "inside" the environment, it felt he was a balloon floating a centimeter above the floor. The feeling got even stronger when i actually started playing the game myself and entered the building (earlier sequence when he was walking on snow was fine). My dude just doesn't feel like he belongs the moment he enters the building.

There was no bumping into the wall animation which helps to anchor the character as a physical object constrained by the walls and not as a 3d sprite that flies around and freely clips through geometry.

3d platforming feels janky, even the worsts Prince of Persias and Assasin's Creeds feel better. ACIII controls are pretty bad (for stealth that is) but even they are miles ahead of what i was given to work with in Uncharted.

Starting from the most basic things like movement of the character the game kept disappointing with basically every aspect. Wonky stealth controls... Mashing button as a combat system, really?

Enough plumbers 2:
Speaking of clone Marios.

Last levels get pretty hard, some of the have to be done in five-six steps. I was stuck on level 20 for a few days. Of course, it was because i was overcomplicating things. The actual solution is shorter than mine while i added two unnecessary steps.

Level 22 was hilarious.

Bravely Default (demo):
I grinded for a few levels and beat devil girl. Abusing braves and then splurge with four attacks in one turn while fun can get pretty dangerous. For bosses it's sometimes better to keep defaulting with physically weak characters to keep them out of danger and keep dealing some damage over many turns with more durable fighters.

I maxed out my first selection of jobs and switched to others. Streetpass relay trick helped me restore my village and unlock all the stuff.

This demo already feels like a full game and i didn't even visited all locations that are in the game.

I am now facing rock boss and he is almost impenetrable.

[Oblivion]

There was no bumping into the wall animation

That's incredibly hilarious because yes there is a wall animation. It's one of the awesome things that Naughty Dog has in there PS3 games (I don't think U1 had it, however). U2, U3, and The Last of Us has has that sort of animation. The Last of Us has even more than just wall clinging.

[Dow Jones]

The Walking Dead: Season 1 on Vita.

[MagicCow64]

Okay, after a long hiatus (aside from playing through Last of Us with my brother over the summer), I borrowed/bought some PS3 games to get a mainstream fix and check out a few titles in which I've been interested.


First up, to address Azeke and Oblivion:

Uncharted 2:

I'm a few hours in and also underwhelmed. I agree with Azeke, in that it feels like there's a two-inch air-hockey table buffer around the character at times, kind of reminiscent of early Tomb Raider games (e.g.). It's not a big deal, it just highlights the general lack of interactivity most graphics heavy corridor games of the previous generation (if you can say that now). Controls and camera feel a bit chunky. When the game is linear I wish it was less so, but when it's more open (stealth) it's extremely frustrating. It's not nearly as dour and self-important as Last of Us, but the basic movement and action are not as solid. Soundtrack is really good though! I'm going to keep going with it and see if it grows on me.


Dead Space 3:


Picked this up for cheeep used, which was the only way I was going to bother after the pretty negative fan reaction. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the game (I think), about to head to the planet (I hope). I actually haven't noticed much of the decried co-op-y-ness so far, unless it's taking the form of all-around lackluster design. So far in the first part of the game in the derelict armada it's a spiritless retread of Dead Space 1 without the novelty or tension. In general, I hold video game stories to porn standards: unimportant unless distractingly bad. It's distractingly bad here. The game opens with a summary of the first two games that appears to completely retcon the lore and render the previous action on The Sprawl pointless, unless that already happened in prior DLC or motion comics or some ****. Also, the fact that 200-year-old ships are chock full of compatible ammo, benches, and suit stations is just dunderheaded.


The crafting system is needlessly complex, and feels like the designers just outsourced design and balancing completely to the user. No new enemy types or gameplay elements after four hours. I'll probably finish it just to complete the apparently moth-balled series, but so far: boo. Extraction remains the best game in the franchise.


GTA V:

Picked up from a save file midway through the game, because I don't give much of a rat's ass about the series, having hated previous entries, but wanted to experience the cultural zeitgeist. I was surprised, however, by how much they've improved the car handling. It's no longer frustrating and awful to drive around, largely because of the very smart move to make the cars nigh-indestructible. No more constantly flying through the windshield or catching whips on fire. The on-foot stuff is also better, a big step up from the in my opinion unplayable third-person shooting of GTA IV. Also, the reviews weren't kidding, the environments in the game are shockingly pretty at times.


It's unfortunate then that the characters and story are insufferable. Unbelievably crass and juvenile. At the same time, the game is very story focused, so it's difficult to ignore. Also, the character models and animations mostly look like garbage, which stands out like a sore thumb against the technically outstanding environments. A very odd duck, this game. I put about five hours into it, and will probably call it a day.

[Oblivion]

You guys are silly.

[magicpixie]

Oh sweet merciful Jesus, I just hopped back into Assetto Corsa's early access, and WOW, what a difference a few weeks makes.  Kunos have promised to keep updating the game on a regular schedule, and so far they have delivered. Anti-aliasing options have been improved and the effect on the game's visuals is dramatic.  They've also seemingly further optimized the visuals and improved the framerate on a lot of people's rigs.  The game looks fantastic, though, it will be interesting to see how it performs when you are doing more than just time-trials.

I feel they've made some improvements to the force-feedback through my G27 setup.  In a lot of sims, I feel like the FF is far too... stiff, I guess, but here, it all seems to feel appropriate to the driving conditions.  Whether you're eating too much of the kerb, or locking the wheels, it feels like everything is being transferred to your hands.  I'm having a hard time deciding which game does it better right now, this or Game Stock Car.

They've added a few new tracks, and some new cars.  I think there are 15 cars now, and maybe 9 tracks or so.  Each car they've decided to introduce to the game has been pretty different, so that everybody can have a car to suit their own tastes.

That said, the game still is just in early access.  I'm not sure when exactly the team have targetted a final release, nor do I know what level of completion the game is in.  There are still a few rough edges that need tending.  I noticed during replays, that shadows and reflections have a tendency to pop in and out, randomly, which is a little jarring.  Many of the off-track details seem unfinished.


Need for Speed Rivals PC - picked this one up during one of the Black Friday online deals for $25.  I heard that there was a command line entry you could input to force the game to run at 60 fps, but I forgot to do so and ended up playing at 30 fps.  To be honest, I was underwhelmed with the graphics.  It doesn't seem to be much of a progression from Most Wanted, but I'm looking forward to bumping up the fps to see if that doesn't help things a bit.  The unskippable tutorials at the beginning of the game are atrocious, and put Nintendo tutorials to shame.  They take so long, especially when you just want to jump in and wreck ****.  Once they're out of the way, though, the game is a lot of fun to play.  It was kind of fun to know that the cops that were chasing me right out of the gate were live players, and matching wits with them was a lot of fun.  It was very fitting for me when I managed to escape my first few chases, and gain some SP, only to lose them all wrecking in normal traffic on my way to a hideout.

[azeke]

I wish i could see that wall bump animation. I still can't see it on video of the first levels with the player who plays the game like me -- constantly running around and bumping into walls.

I am not talking about wall clinging animation that you do by pressing a button, that's a duh and not awesome because everyone does that today. I am talking about a passive ability like in Assassin's Creed games.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Killzone: Shadow Fall (online multiplayer)

When you suck as much at First-Person Shooters as I do these games can really grind you down. I've put maybe 10 hours into the online portion of Shadow Fall and I'm absolutely done with it. Half the time I have no idea why I died or who killed me. Everyone else seems to be bullet sponges while I appear to go down in one shot. I appreciate that in reality there is no difference between the damage I take and the damage everyone else takes and that this perception is merely the product of me sucking ass, but the point stands, when you aren't very good at these types of games the perception is that everyone else appears capable of surviving an encounter whilst your avatar appears to have a target tattooed to their forehead.

Let me put it this way, playing Shadow Fall over this past week has given me a new found appreciation of why Nintendo has removed competitiveness from Mario Kart. Losing is fine. Losing often can be frustrating. Losing constantly? Well, that's just not fun.

The truth is that I'm just not a very competitive person, and that mentality extends to the way I play games. As with Fighting games, I find First Person Shooters to be incredibly stressful and spending hours online dying over and over again is pretty demoralising. I like to check in with the genre every couple of years out of curiosity, hence why I picked up Shadow Fall, but I think my curiosity has been satiated.

These games aren't for me.




On a brighter note - Resogun, Flower and Soundshapes are all delightful!

[ejamer]

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)


So this has been sitting on my shelf for a while, but gaming time has been pretty limited and it never seemed like the "right time" to start playing another Mario game.  Wow.  I feel like an idiot of having something so amazing just sitting there, not being actively enjoyed. 


This game is utterly fantastic, and even though I really liked Super Mario Galaxy it's hard to think of anything the sequel doesn't improve upon.  The best part is that my kids actively request that we play a level every day - it's just as exciting for them to gather stars and see what challenge Mario will find next as it is for me.

[azeke]

Super Mario 3d World (Wii U):
After "finishing" the game, i can now say that bosses are kinda bad in this game. Mostly because there aren't really all that many of them. Galaxy 1 and 2 i think had more and all were very different.

Car boss encounter takes way too much time. Square boss was probably the best.

I think i liked 3d Land bosses more simply because it reproduced SMB1 boss battles with the bridge and a button and made it work and also because of the final final boss level. I remember that i was really blown away with awesome music, scenery and tenacity of the boss who just wouldn't give up.

Final final boss level in 3D World is very cool and it makes a lot of sense for what the game is, but i wasn't as amazed by it. Probably because it wasn't non-stop run as 3d land's battle and i was constantly forced to stop and wait.

I still hadn't reached final final final level, so that may change though.

I like how game gets trollish at times. Not as trollish as "I wanna be the guy" or Cat Mario but it does have it's fair share of tricks. Like if you enter the stage and see flagpole right away, there's going to be more to it than meets the eye. And that even happens more than once.

Still can't find the damned stamp in 6-3, at least i can grind there for lives while i am looking for it after few later levels demolished my lives counter (namely Red Hot Run and Grumblump inferno [if you click on this video, humanity will be wiped from history because of intensity of the spoilers within, so please don't]).

Double cherry is very cool and but kinda underutilized. Game encourages you to get an army of clones and spam fireballs but apart from that there are no advantages to having a lot of clones. So they put gates that block you from getting stars and stamps that require you having clones inside the level to justify having this power-up.

Boomerang still remains the most useful power-up.

Rosalina's spin move makes the game closer to Galaxy because you now can be more sloppy and not forced to jump on everyone's head. Rosalina's Fire dress is even more gorgeous that Peach's.

[shingi_70]

State of Decay Breakdown

I picked up the DLC for State of Decay and I've been playing that a bit off and on. This new game mode is pretty fresh being more sanboxy style horde mode to what I would consider my current GOTY. Its been a slow burn however with Permadeath in this one being much more serious than in the base game.

My one complaint I have which is that some of the systems have this type of in Game free to play style mechanics. I went to make a Watchtower for my base yesterday and it said it would take an hour in real time to build. But if I had a party member who knew carptentary I could pay the in game cash to complete it automatically. You never play real money but it can be a bit annoying.

I'm still on the first Breakdown level and I'm playing it safe not really going out at Night yet until I move to another base.

[MagicCow64]

Super Mario 3d World (Wii U):
After "finishing" the game, i can now say that bosses are kinda bad in this game. Mostly because there aren't really all that many of them. Galaxy 1 and 2 i think had more and all were very different.

Car boss encounter takes way too much time. Square boss was probably the best.

I think i liked 3d Land bosses more simply because it reproduced SMB1 boss battles with the bridge and a button and made it work and also because of the final final boss level. I remember that i was really blown away with awesome music, scenery and tenacity of the boss who just wouldn't give up.

Final final boss level in 3D World is very cool and it makes a lot of sense for what the game is, but i wasn't as amazed by it. Probably because it wasn't non-stop run as 3d land's battle and i was constantly forced to stop and wait.

I still hadn't reached final final final level, so that may change though.

I like how game gets trollish at times. Not as trollish as "I wanna be the guy" or Cat Mario but it does have it's fair share of tricks. Like if you enter the stage and see flagpole right away, there's going to be more to it than meets the eye. And that even happens more than once.

Still can't find the damned stamp in 6-3, at least i can grind there for lives while i am looking for it after few later levels demolished my lives counter (namely Red Hot Run and Grumblump inferno [if you click on this video, humanity will be wiped from history because of intensity of the spoilers within, so please don't]).

Double cherry is very cool and but kinda underutilized. Game encourages you to get an army of clones and spam fireballs but apart from that there are no advantages to having a lot of clones. So they put gates that block you from getting stars and stamps that require you having clones inside the level to justify having this power-up.

Boomerang still remains the most useful power-up.

Rosalina's spin move makes the game closer to Galaxy because you now can be more sloppy and not forced to jump on everyone's head. Rosalina's Fire dress is even more gorgeous that Peach's.

I actually think the bosses are better than Galaxy, largely because you can wipe most of them out very quickly, which becomes its own thing (as I discovered in the Boss Blitz level). There's also some way to take out car Bowser really fast that I did once but have no idea how. Final boss was quite cool, but yeah, I was expecting a final tier to it that didn't arrive. I like the double cherry; like most of the power ups, it's fun in its own right even if the practical goal is just to get to a certain point with the power-up intact. I more so dislike the later instances where you have to go into a level with a power-up that isn't available in-level, which felt a bit cheap to me. But this only happens 3 or 4 times as I recall.


I'm starting to doubt if I will actually be able to beat Champion Road. I got to the first green star once out of maybe 50 attempts. This is a first for the Mario series for me, discounting NSMBU challenges.

[magicpixie]

Picked up the DLC episode for Phoenix Wright. I've only just started it, and already my brain is all "WTF?!"  Really digging the wackiness in the episode so far.

I found out how to "unlock" photo mode in Assetto Corsa, and, while it was something I only played with in Gran Turismo 5 in passing, I feel like the options presented in AC might help make it a bigger feature for me.  Being able to change the time of day, and even the position of the sun really provides a new dimension to take really killer pictures.  When Kunos add a livery feature, I can see myself losing hours just trying to find that perfect shot.  The devs released their 0.3 update on Friday, which added two new tracks, including the big-boy layout at Silverstone, and I think two new cars, including the McLaren MP4.  My favourite combo right now is running the P4/5 Competizione on Silverstone GP, those S-curves are just too much fun.

Picked up Injustice Ultimate Edition for $25ish from the Steam VGX sale last night.  It's a fun fighter, I'm liking it more than MK so far.  I really like the interactive sets.  Didn't get to play it much last night, so I'm looking forward to getting deeper into it.

[Phil]

In addition to Super Mario 3D World, I don't know why, but I'm a sudden kick of playing GameCube games. I've put a fair amount of time into Star Fox: Assault, which I've gotten all bronze medals, almost all of the silver medals, and Wolf unlocked in multiplayer. Going to go for all flags and the rest of the silver medals now.


A game I began last night was Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. I remember enjoying it when it came out, and I'm having fun with it. Wish I could do multiplayer, though.



I started Custom Robo the other night, which is a game I got in a trade. Never played it before, unlike Star Fox Assault and Crystal Chronicles, so I'm interested in getting more into it.

[magicpixie]

That's funny, for my own nostalgic kick, I went and installed UT2004 last night and had a blast playing Face3 instagib + low-grav against bots.  It's no match for the original Face, but boy did I miss that style of game.

[Adrock]

I played NHL '94 last night. That is the first hockey sim I've ever played. It was so slow, but I won 1 to 0.

[NWR_insanolord]

Have you played the NHL 94 mode in NHL 14? It's fun, but it feels mostly like a stripped down NHL 14 with a few presentation tweaks.

[Adrock]

Nah, my friend and I played the old SNES version. I had no idea who any of those players were. I don't really follow hockey though I won Flyers tickets at work last year and that game was awesome. I appreciated hockey a lot more after that.

[NWR_insanolord]

Oh god, the SNES ones were awful. That console was better than the Genesis in most ways, but EA's sports titles were just so much better on Sega's platform.

[Adrock]

Blast processing at its finest!

I finally played Kid Icarus: Uprising. It's good, but the controls are terrible... for a left handed person. I can imagine it being pretty good with the Circle Pad Pro XL. Right now, it feels like I'm trying to write with my right hand. I'm considering just buying the Circle Pad Pro XL just so I can actually enjoy this game.

[azeke]

I finally played Kid Icarus: Uprising. It's good, but the controls are terrible... for a left handed person.

It works good with finger/thumb stylus if you have original 3DS (also left-handed). 3DS XL's touchpad got too big so right thumb can't reach the entire area of it now.

I recommend putting the system on your lap to move the weight off your left hand.

Also Kid Icarus is an amazing game.

[Adrock]

I don't have the thumb stylus and I gave my original 3DS to my brother anyway.

I was using the stand that came with the game which works well, but it's unusable with either Circle Pad Pro. I wish Nintendo molded the peripheral to fit into the stand. Oh well. I'll probably prop my elbow on the arm of my couch.

I didn't really want to buy the Circle Pad Pro XL. Between this and (eventually) Monster Hunter 4. It may be worth it.

[Halbred]

NINJA BIG BOOBS

Uh, I mean Senran Kagura. It's actually pretty fun. Mindless hack 'n' slashing with good character progression. I'm working on grinding all the girls (sigh) to their highest Yin/Yang attributes. Yeah, the game is 110% cheesecake, but that's what I like. Maybe not worth the asking price, but you ARE getting two surprisingly large games for that $30.

METAL GEAR RISING: RAIDENVENGEANCE

Only a few missions in, but I really like it. The world of MGS4 through Raiden's eyes is really cool. You take down an advanced Metal Gear RAY in the first mission, and from what I hear, it only gets crazier from there. Platinum's imprint is everywhere here, but I do miss some of the other MGS characters--you'd think they'd be more involved after the fall of SOP, but whatever. It's very enjoyable.

LINK BETWEEN WORLDS

Beat it 100%, went back for Hero Mode but didn't stick around long. You get killed so very easily in Lorule it's not even fun anymore. Still, this is one of the best Zeldas in recent memory and certainly the best 2D Zelda since Link's Awakening. I'm also playing Oracle of Seasons and I'm not liking it very much.

[magicpixie]

I'm weak.  I said I wouldn't, that I had enough racing sims on PC to get me through.  But I went and bought Gran Turismo 6 digitally.  It's a bit of a departure from the handling models in the PC games I've been playing, but it's a lot of fun.  The menus are much quicker and responsive than GT5, and load times in general are vastly improved.  The game looks and runs pretty well, and I haven't run into too many framerate issues.  I really like the new suspension model, even though it has some serious issues(braking downhill tends to send the ass-end of cars airborne).  The AI is... special.  When you're behind them, they are fairly tame and waiting to be passed.  As soon as you make your move, they become much more aggressive and seem to disregard racing etiquette altogether.

The nature of these games(in early career mode, at least) is to provide a decent racing experience in short bursts.  A lot of the early races are short, 2-3 lap affairs.  In these situations, the AI can't be too realistic, or else you wouldn't have much chance since you always start in last.  The way these events are structured tends to encourage racers to exploit the handling system which has always favoured overly-aggressive driving, and practically drifting through turns.  It all makes for a much more immediately rewarding racing experience than some of the more realistic sims out there.  I found myself dive-bombing the AI through corners that no real racer would ever dare make a pass attempt and loving every second of it.

[jrlibrarian]

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

I picked this up a while ago in a Steam sale, but just got around to playing through it the past two nights. The references and jokes were amazing, and the game itself was obviously very well-made, as it was a mod of the Far Cry 3 engine (which I still need to play). I didn't bother freeing all the garrisons or anything, since the payoff wasn't anywhere close to worth it.


On a different note, maybe it's just cause I recently played the new Tomb Raider, but using the bow and arrow in this game felt way more satisfying than using any of the other weapons, the Killstar notwithstanding.