The Video Game Thread - what are you playing?

[EvaUnit02]

My impressions of the Medal of Honour 2010 MP Beta:-

Lemme see, it feels like DICE made a cheap Battlefield: Bad Company 2 mod, by stripped away everything that was great about that game and tried to turn it into a CoD4 clone. In the objective-based mode Combat Mission, there's absolutely no structure to teamwork, it's a scattered mess. There's no destruction and the soundwork is utterly lacklustre.

EA LA's Single Player component has leaning, prone and at least some destruction (likely nowhere near as extensive as in Bad Company 2 though) . DICE's MP has none of these.

Worthy of praise though is:-

• * The technical optimisation (it runs like a dream)
  * Marvellous netcode (virtually no noticeable lag when playing on 200+ ping US servers).
  * Effort for some authenticity. Eg Americans and Taliban have unique sets of weapons, a la Counter-Strike. Americans have their AR15 derivative rifles, Taliban use Kalashnikov derivatives.

They've actually addressed most complaints of their direct competitor, Modern Warfare 2.

• * No perks, you only unlock new guns and attachments.
  * No over-powered, cheap as hell killstreaks, like helicopter gunships, AC130 and nukes. Just mortar strike and rocket strike.
  * Explosions have been nerfed into the ground, they have no splash damage. Obvious emphasis on actually killing people with bullets rather than with rifle nades.
  * It's definitely not as camper friendly as CoD. Depending on the side you're playing as, you have C4 or IEDs that have to be activated manually, they aren't motion sensitive like the claymores in CoD.

In the end though, the bad points of the game over-shadow the good by quite a margin. This game is absolutely not worth buying solely for the MP component.

[Yi-Long]

Been playing FallOut3 GOTY the last week orso. Very impressive.

Can't say there's anything particularly impressive about it. Graphics are OK, kinda outdated and stale. Sound is ok, but nothing special. Story is 'find your dad in the nucleair wasteland'. Characters? Don't really care about any of them either.

So like I said, the game doesn't really have specific qualities that stand out.

However, the experience, and the adventures you come across, still make it very special. Whenever you enter a specific location, you won't know what to expect. You might meet new people, find new enemies or weapons, discover new missions or info, etc etc. It's an explorer-adventure-RPG, and with that, it's very entertaining.

Also been playing Persona 3 on the PSP. I'm still only a few hours in, but it seems like a nice game. Fighting is still pretty limited at the moment, but with new characters and moves being introduced, it should expand pretty soon, and get better.

[Yi-Long]

Got my plasma last friday, so I can finally play in HD, and play games I have so far 'ignored' until I could play them in this quality.

Been playing GRID the last few days, which is very entertaining so far.
Also started with Shadow Complex again now that it's crystal clear. And Street Fighter 4 looks amazing in HD as well.

Will probably start with Mass Effect this week. Had already started with it a year orso ago, but it's been a long time since I played it so I'll probably be better of just starting all over to get used to the controls again...

[grim_tales]

Muramasa on Wii, very nice looking game and very Japanese

[Yi-Long]

Muramasa on Wii, very nice looking game and very Japanese

Played that 2-3 weeks ago on my girlfriend's modded Wii. I liked it.

I've been playing Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 on the PS3 the last week and a half. Nice game.
Also been playing FIFA11 on 360, and the more than excellent ilomilo on XBLA.

[gasteropod]

I'm currently playing Arkham Asylum on rental from Lovefilm. I completed Resident Evil 5 last week and have been playing Blur loads lately, it's really fun (and well worth the tenner I paid for it).

[Yi-Long]

I'm currently playing Arkham Asylum on rental from Lovefilm. I completed Resident Evil 5 last week and have been playing Blur loads lately, it's really fun (and well worth the tenner I paid for it).

Arkham Asylum is awesome. Can't wait for Arkham City. Have only played the demos of BLUR and RE5. BLUR seems nice, but RE5 didn't do much for me. I'm not a huge fan of RE4 either btw, although TBH I haven't really played it enough yet...

[gasteropod]

The Scarecrow bit was dead cool!

P.S. RE4>RE5.

[grim_tales]

Been playing Paper Mario/TTYD a bit as well, TTYD is still a superb game.
Shame most VC graphics look blocky on Wii

[IronMonkey]

I've put in nearly 80 hours on Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (on PC) now, and still loving it.

[grim_tales]

Nintendo 3DS looks pretty cool, but disappointed Nintendo didnt show any of its games or say what the launch games would be at the European 3DS event.

[thelostdragon]

Been playing "Super Meat Boy" to death. Working on those 100%.

Also "Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit" is pretty awesome.

[Yi-Long]

Downloaded the trial for Death Spank yesterday. Played it for a while, loved it, picked it up. Haven't played anything today yet though. So many stuff I have yet to play, so I don't know where I want to begin.

[thelostdragon]

Me, too. I haven't even started to really play "Comic Jumper" although it seemed kinda cool.

[Yi-Long]

Me, too. I haven't even started to really play "Comic Jumper" although it seemed kinda cool.

I'e only seen some vids of Comic Jumper, but I didn't really care for the style it had.

But I've still got Lara Croft, Shadow Complex, Death Spank, Prince of Persia, Defense Grid, Monkey Island 2 to play, and I haven't even finished ilomilo or SMB yet...

... and that's just the games on XBLA. I also still have a huge list of games to play for PS3 and 360...

[gasteropod]

Monkey Island 2

I played that the other day, used a guide because otherwise it would have taken forever and frustrated the hell out of me*. The ending is weird!

*And it's not that I'm shit at point and click games, I did Broken Sword 1-3 by myself.

[Yi-Long]

Monkey Island 2

I played that the other day, used a guide because otherwise it would have taken forever and frustrated the hell out of me*. The ending is weird!

*And it's not that I'm shit at point and click games, I did Broken Sword 1-3 by myself.

I've played both Monkey Island 1 and 2 many years ago on the Amiga and PC. I remember using a guide for 1 part in the first game,but other than that I think I managed it without.

Haven't really played the XBLA version yet, apart from just quickly checking it out. Not a big fan of the new sprites, although they're better than the new sprites in the remake of the first game.

[gasteropod]

That they are, and of course you can always just switch it back to its original graphics Yeah I played the first two years ago but I didn't complete the second one back then. My favourite of the series is The Curse of Monkey Island, I love the animation in that.

[gasteropod]

I completed Arkham Asylum last week by the way, and completed all the Riddler things & the spirit of Arkham I had to look on YouTube to find some of the more obscure ones. The final boss took me a fair few attempts, was quite frustrating!

Also, my love for Blur is waning now as I have completed all the tasks required to get to the final boss except one, and that is to stay above 120mph for a whole lap, I tried repeatedly but it's hard as hell Something that tricky shouldn't be part of the main game, it should be an extra challenge.

[grim_tales]

Just finished Time Hollow on DS - tedious in places but has a terrific idea and is a very nice game overall (its a visual novel kind of game) - excellent music

[Yi-Long]

Played Mass Effect 1 for 360 today. Nice game apart from the bugs, but I just spent an hour in a new place, a fight broke out, and the game didn't auto-save so after I died (shitty combat-system) I was all the way back on my ship. Bastards.

Also been playing Super Meat Boy. Just an amazing game. Love it.

[thelostdragon]

Also been playing Super Meat Boy. Just an amazing game. Love it.

[gasteropod]

I'm currently playing Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, it's good but can be very irritating and challenging!!

[Yi-Long]

Also been playing Super Meat Boy. Just an amazing game. Love it.

Probably my favourite game of 2010

[thelostdragon]

Did you beat the story? I did and now I'm working on 100%.