The Video Game Thread - what are you playing?

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 30 Nov 2008, 23:42

Played Guitar Hero 2 yesterday with the girlfriend. I was surprised to like it, and my girlfriend had fun as well.

Ofcourse, you do look like a complete dork (save it!!! I know what you were gonna say!!!

), holding a plastic guitar pressing colored buttons to match the onscreen stuff... but it's always fun and addictive to see yourself improve, and go from 'awkward' to 'instinctive' pretty rapidly. Obviously, I'm still on EASY.

Also, my girlfriend complained that I was being way too stiff/rigid (again, save it!!!!

) cause I was just standing/sitting completely still when playing, while when she was playing she was acting like a complete loony, moving around a bit.
At one point, I was playing a song as my usual zombie-self, and she was clapping her hands(!) at which point, I just had to stop playing and give her a stern stare, as you'd give to a dog that does something wrong. I almost give her a tap on the nose and went 'NO!' (Peter Griffin style)...

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 01 Dec 2008, 00:42

EvaUnit02 wrote:I'm currently playing through GTA4 for 360 and have to say that most of the magic that this series once had for me is gone.

Couldn't agree more with everything you've said about GTAIV, it's just not as fun as its predecessors, and the control system for the vehicles is so finicky it makes most vehicle based missions a royal pain in the arse. There's also very little variation in the gameplay as the story progresses.

I was hugely disappointed by it, and completely baffled by the critical praise it's recieved.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 01 Dec 2008, 00:58

Shingster wrote:
EvaUnit02 wrote:I'm currently playing through GTA4 for 360 and have to say that most of the magic that this series once had for me is gone.
Couldn't agree more with everything you've said about GTAIV, it's just not as fun as its predecessors, and the control system for the vehicles is so finicky it makes most vehicle based missions a royal pain in the arse. There's also very little variation in the gameplay as the story progresses.

I was hugely disappointed by it, and completely baffled by the critical praise it's recieved.

Did you go in expecting a continuation of GTA3, and more specifically GTA;SA!?

I think it's mostly about expectations. Some people LOVED the freedom and 'fun' San Andreas gave them, and some people just didnt care for the game, the story, the characters.

Personally, I didnt care much for San Andreas (I did love GTA3 and Vice City was cool as well).

I havent really played GTA4 yet, but I do know to expect a more 'mature' and realistic game. TBH, that kinda appeals to me, cause I get bored easily when the story doesnt keep me interested to care about finishing something or not.

I really think I will like GTA4 more than I did GTA SA, although obviously it's a shame some fun/cool stuff is missing from this new game, simply due to the fact that Nico isnt really the kinda guy that would do all that goofy crazy shit like riding a BMX off a mountain.

Maybe the new DLC will include a lot more 'fun' stuff. New (wilder) character, maybe cooler vehicles, etc.
We'll see.

Maybe Saints Row 2 would just be the better choice. It's on sale TODAY ONLY at play.com, for 18 pounds or something.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 01 Dec 2008, 01:42

While San Andreas did have some feature bloat, it was still an infinitely fun game.

SA's chores where you had to eat daily to maintain stamina and stop losing muscles mass were minor annoyance, but still entirely tolerable. GTA4's dating bullshit where you have to fine and dine your friends sucks hard. The only genuinely useful friends are the Jamaican guy, with his discounted mobile gun shop; and the criminal defense attorney girlfriend whom can clear your wanted rating.

At least GTA4 doesn't seem to have any bullshit mini-games that are essential to progress along with the story. I never finished SA because I couldn't fly the plane. That OG Loc DDR on the beach mission took me FOREVER to complete the first time around.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 01 Dec 2008, 18:37

LocoRoco 2 8) delightful.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 02 Dec 2008, 00:38

Yi-Long wrote:Did you go in expecting a continuation of GTA3, and more specifically GTA;SA!?

I think it's mostly about expectations. Some people LOVED the freedom and 'fun' San Andreas gave them, and some people just didnt care for the game, the story, the characters.

Well, I hadn't played a GTA game in some time as I missed San Andreas, but I guess I was expecting the gameplay to be weighted somewhat like GTA 3 and Vice City, but on a bigger, slightly more realistic scale.

The problem is that the "no holds barred" fun of GTA3/VC has been completely sucked dry out of GTAIV, a typical game will literally see you start from your save point, run out into the street, accidentally bump into a pedestrian, knocking them over & a nearby cop raises your wanted level to 1. So you nick a car, and drive around a bit to ditch your wanted level - only to accidentally run over a pedestrian who suddenly decides to run into the road at random -and a nearby cop sees this and raises your wanted level to 1, etc, etc. You can sometimes literally while away up to an hour or more ducking wanted levels whilst simply trying to get to the next mission.

People say that the removal of the ability to wreck havoc without bringing too much police retribution down on you ruined the "realism" of the game, but you spend 5minutes walking around a street in GTAIV and keep count of the number of cops - both in cars and on foot - that you encounter, and you'll quickly realise that no city in the world has that level of police presence!

As for the vehicular control system, I could rant for hours on how they fucked that up!

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 02 Dec 2008, 00:43

Yi-Long wrote:Maybe Saints Row 2 would just be the better choice. It's on sale TODAY ONLY at play.com, for 18 pounds or something.

The Zero Punctuation review of Saints Row 2 perfectly sums up the problem with GTAIV and why SR2 does seem far more appealing to me, even though I've yet to play it.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 02 Dec 2008, 01:07

Wow.... that stuff about GTA4 sounds bad, how you describe it. I can see how that really affects the enjoyment from the game.
I only played it for 15 minutes orso, so I tried to hit and smack around as many people as possible, so obviously I didnt really notice that problem in that very short space of time.

Saints Row to me also seems appealing, and I thought about buying it today for 18 pounds, but I still have so many games to play and enjoy when I finally manage to get a plasma (such a hard choice), that by the time I will have time to enjoy SR2, it will already be on sale.

I did buy Bioshock for the PS3 though (also 18 pounds).

I'm trying to stop buying any more games this year, but when really good deals come along ofcourse I'll jump on them

Maybe next week Play has another Mega Monday which some other great games for cheap, like Mirror's Edge and Motorstorm 2 etc...

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 02 Dec 2008, 14:58

Bioshock's level of difficulty is insulting. Death is only a minor inconvenience. In fact you're rewarded for dying, you can kill any enemy with sheer determination.

If you actually want to enjoy Bioshock, then play it on Hard (or the new Survivor difficulty) with the Vitachambers turned off.

Why did you buy it for PS3 anyway? You already had the 360 version.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 02 Dec 2008, 15:37

EvaUnit02 wrote:Bioshock's level of difficulty is insulting. Death is only a minor inconvenience. In fact you're regarded for dying, you can kill any enemy with sheer determination.

If you actually want to enjoy Bioshock, then play it on Hard (or the new Survivor difficulty) with the Vitachambers turned off.

Why did you buy it for PS3 anyway? You already had the 360 version.

Thanks for the advice. Might play it on HARD now

Yeah, I have it on the 360, but it's the LE Big Daddy version (twice), and they're both still sealed. Just bought it to sell it with a profit 10-15 years from now

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 02 Dec 2008, 15:46

I stress turning off the Vitachambers. This one variable affects the experience greatly.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 05 Dec 2008, 23:48

Started playing GTA4 on the 360, mainly cause I was starting to get curious about the criticism by Shing about getting into fights and police-chases when you dont want to. I'm still pretty early into the game (beat up a few loansharks), and did a lot of free-roaming, but cant say it bothers me much yet. I also like the driving. The car-physics look great. Must be a matter of taste, of maybe I'll grow sick and tired of it in a few weeks, and I'll agree with you.

Also quite like the story and the characters. I never cared for CJ and his posse and story in San Andreas, but this is much better.

The city is HUGE btw. Just the first island is already pretty damn big, and gorgeous. The game looks stunning, even with the occasional hiccup and pop-up. Obviously, it's a free-roaming game so there had to be some sacrifices when it comes to NPC's and vehicles etc, but compared to other games in the genre, it looks tremendous. Huge amount of detail. Loving it so far, story-wise, although I agree that it probably could have used some more 'fun' stuff here and there. The broken down amusement-park near your home is an example of a place where you would have liked to see some mini-games. (and to see it up and running and crowded etc)

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 06 Dec 2008, 09:56

Finished Gears of War 2 on Insane last night. Awesome game!

Can't decide whether to play some more of Bioshock next, or start the campaign on Far Cry 2...

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 06 Dec 2008, 19:20

I played the Lego Batman demo the other day and loved it haha, I've put it on my Christmas list

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 06 Dec 2008, 21:22

Yeah, I played that too (the Batman Lego Demo) and really liked it as well... although I'll wait till it's 15-20 bucks orso. The 'villain' bit was a bit annoying though, mostly cause often you just dont jump where you want to jump.

diceman · Post by **diceman** » 07 Dec 2008, 13:24

No shit! Concerning virtues like gameplay, long-term motivation, challenge and level-design "Doom" is still going strong as ever. Back in the days when you were playing FPS-Games with the keyboard only and no need for constant struggling with dozens of shortcuts to activate gimmicks and various equipment, you didn't need Bump-Mapping and Dynamic Lightning in order to create atmosphere. The gameplay was smooth, no bugs, no glitches. I play it with the Zdoom-Port, which, in my opinion, is one of the most stable, retro-style engines you can get. For some extra challenge, which I'm currently on, try to get through on "Ultra Violence"-Level, keyboard only and without saving. Back then we were using that IDDQD-Cheat in abundance, but it's actually possible to get through without it; and much more fun.

Godzooki · Post by **Godzooki** » 07 Dec 2008, 14:32

IronMonkey wrote:Finished Gears of War 2 on Insane last night. Awesome game!

Can't decide whether to play some more of Bioshock next, or start the campaign on Far Cry 2...

GOW 2 is an awsome game but Insane turned out to be incredibly easy, especially on co-op.

Hopefully there will be an announcement about some tasty DLC soon!

Not touched the FC2 single player campaign yet myself as there are 2 many better games to play. I'm currently conkers deep in NFS Undercover (with Maggie Q)!!

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 07 Dec 2008, 15:13

diceman wrote:For some extra challenge, which I'm currently on, try to get through on "Ultra Violence"-Level, keyboard only and without saving. Back then we were using that IDDQD-Cheat in abundance, but it's actually possible to get through without it; and much more fun.

Doom is one of my favourite games! I finished it on Ultra-Violent on the XBLA version. I much prefer the use of the 360 controller for this type of game.

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 07 Dec 2008, 15:16

Tigercage wrote:GOW 2 is an awsome game but Insane turned out to be incredibly easy, especially on co-op. Hopefully there will be an announcement about some tasty DLC soon!

I'd be more happy about an announcement for fixed player matchmaking! It is a great game though.

Tigercage wrote:Not touched the FC2 single player campaign yet myself as there are 2 many better games to play. I'm currently conkers deep in NFS Undercover (with Maggie Q)!!

Maggie Q - MMM!

I've started the single player campaign but yesterday I got Battlefield 2: The Complete Collection for PC & thats been taking up my game time! But now I think I'll jump on the old 360 & have a play of Far Cry 2.

The only thing I don't like it is the acceleration on the aiming joystick, its a bit harsh & theres no way to turn it down. I'll get used to it though...

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 07 Dec 2008, 16:20

Diceman:-

Play Doom with a source port, my favourite is jDoom (aka Doomsday).

High resolution & horiz.+ widescreen support; 3D accelerated renderers; separated left+right strafe keys (rather than a modifier key); mouse look + auto-aim disable; always run.

diceman · Post by **diceman** » 07 Dec 2008, 16:34

The reason I play with Zdoom is because of the authentic Retro-Style.
The last thing a perfect game like "Doom" needs is 3D-renderers and dynamic lighting. All these enhanced graphic-features kinda bother me. And I just love the original controls, plus in jDoom the levels look way too bright, thus taking away a lot of atmosphere. Also invisble pinky-demons are way too easy to spot. All the other extra-features, like seperate strafe-keys, disabling auto aim, adding crosshair, always run etc. are optional in ZDoom, too, but I disabled them.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 08 Dec 2008, 02:38

gasteropod wrote:I played the Lego Batman demo the other day and loved it haha, I've put it on my Christmas list

Lego Batman is only 18 pounds today over at play.com!

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 08 Dec 2008, 03:14

Woah! Cheers mate, I'll order it now

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 08 Dec 2008, 20:49

Just bought "GTA - Liberty City Stories" for PSP.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 12 Dec 2008, 20:17

My £17.99 Lego Batman (cheers again Yi) arrived today and I've just been playing it, love it lol, and you get to go back to the batcave and explore it!