The Video Game Thread - what are you playing?

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 12 Dec 2008, 20:26

Mirror's Edge is also now pretty cheap, at 20 pounds/28 euro!

I'll buy Lego Batman somewhere next year I think, when it's a bit cheaper still

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 12 Dec 2008, 20:39

Haha, I've just ordered Mirror's Edge off there, and now seen your post!

Play is certainly doing some bargains it seems.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 12 Dec 2008, 21:19

gasteropod wrote:Haha, I've just ordered Mirror's Edge off there, and now seen your post! Play is certainly doing some bargains it seems.

Play has been great lately, with lots of great videogame offers

So many great games coming out that are worth buying, but not at full price. I'll order Mirror's Edge as well, although I'm not sure yet which version I'll get (360 or PS3). I played the demo on the PS3 and that played and looked very good to me.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 23 Dec 2008, 03:26

I've just finished Mirror's Edge and it's amazing! A lot of really tricky bits which required many attempts, but ah well I loved it overall.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 23 Dec 2008, 05:34

gasteropod wrote:I've just finished Mirror's Edge and it's amazing! A lot of really tricky bits which required many attempts, but ah well I loved it overall.

Yeah, I loved the demo, so I will definately pick up a copy, but sadly play.com had it for very cheap a week orso ago, for their 'weekly' deal, but it was completely sold out after 2-3 days... so I missed it.
I wont pay full-price for it.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 23 Dec 2008, 14:29

shopto.net have it for £20 Yi. clicky. dunno if they post to Europe though!

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 23 Dec 2008, 16:10

play.com also have it back in their bargain-list: 15 pounds. I'm wondering between the 360 and the PS3 version, but I think I'll order the 360 version tonight.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 25 Dec 2008, 13:54

I bought myself a copy of Dead Space (PC) for Xmas. It's been fairly decent thus far. Basically Resident Evil 4 mixed with a thousand Sci-fi and horror cliches, but the execution is fantastic. Utterly immersive, densely atmospheric game.

I'm looking forward to the enhanced PC version of Mirror's Edge out in ~two weeks. PC exclusive Nvidia PhysX effects + superior mouse controls + high resolutions and AA/AF made it worth the wait.

I'm onto the last mission of GTA4, but can't complete it because my Gunship keeps getting blown up by a rocket launcher. Might load an older save and choose the other route. Maybe the alternative final mission is easier?

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 20 Feb 2009, 20:22

Borrowed my GF's Nintendo DS for a few weeks, and just downloaded and installed Advance Wars Dual Strike on it.
It's a pretty fun turn-based strategy-game, but some missions really last a long time.

Also playing Chrono Trigger a bit, plus Pokemon Pearl or Diamond or whatever.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 16 Mar 2009, 14:33

Geometry Wars: Galaxies (DS) - awesome

Been a long while since I played a game like this with emphasis on high scores but it's great.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 16 Mar 2009, 15:10

Ow yeah, been playing Tetris DS lately, and a week orso ago I finished it (Marathon mode, which goes to level 20-21 or something and then the game stops and congratulates you ...) My score was 275729.

Got my PC back last friday and when I'm done updating all the drivers and re-installing all the programs and tools, I'll also be installing some PC games again, including my copy of Far Cry 2.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 16 Mar 2009, 15:40

I only just started playing GW so only have a silver medal on the first planet so far (over 1,750,000 - I think).

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 29 Mar 2009, 00:04

My new Tetris DS highscore is 305041.

Anyway, been playing Chrono Trigger a bit the last days/weeks. It's OK, but at times you don't really have a clue as what to do next, or where to go.
Normally, you'll talk to people and they will give you hints, but this game seems to ignore that a bit.

Also played the newest Pokemon game. Seems pretty much the same as Pokemon Diamond, but it's OK I guess. Played it on the train on my way to my girlfriend. Not really sure if I'll stay interested in this.

Also played GTA DS. Looks great, but I'm not much of a fan of having to use the stylus. Story is OK (few missions in), but I think I would have rather seen this game come out on XBL/PSN/PC.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 09 Apr 2009, 17:30

I'm playing Far Cry 2 at the moment, which I picked up in the Steam sale the other week. It costed roughly the same as the DVD retail copy and they both have SecuROM finite net activations, but the Steam version won out because it has no disc check. The DVD retail copy has internet activation AND a disc check according to the Ubisoft support site. Fuck that noise.

Anyway, I'm quite enjoying the game. It's can pretty be immersive once you forgive all of the small stupid shit. It's got Call of Duty's "Michael Bay factor", mixed with whatever "bad game design flu" the Assassin's Creed's devteam had and Stalker - in Africa, pretty much.

I didn't really notice the instant respawning guard posts into quite a few hours into the game, TBH. But I tend to bullshit around in open world games a lot - ie exploring and playing side missions.

It's comparable to Stalker in a way sort of, being a diamond in the rough with a lot of potential. Stalker:SoC was still helluva buggy for me, even after applying fan-patches; and Far Cry 2 has a fuckton of bad design decisions. That being said, Stalker is still the far superior game. I'll probably burnt be out on the instant gratification shootery-ness by the time that I've finished the game and I'll go back to playing Fallout 3.

The vistas in the game can be utterly beautiful. Which was another of the key reasons why I was immersed by Assassin's Creed.

The game actually runs quite noticeably better in DX10 mode than DX9, this certainly must be one of the first. Benchmarks to prove it.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 09 Apr 2009, 18:53

I've got the PC version as well, but haven't tried it yet.

Last few days I've been giving Team Fortress 2 a try. It's nice, but pretty small and few maps and kinda samey. I would prefer Battlefield 2 style gameplay (I LOVEDDDDDdddddddddddd being a sniper in that, helping out a team from a distance...), but haven't picked up a 360 version of BF yet...

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 10 Apr 2009, 01:10

Yi-Long wrote:Team Fortress 2

Its a superb game, the more you play the better it gets. I was addicted to it a while back, ever spare hour I was spending on it

its just so much fuin to be part of a team and you can help win an entire game

I just love running right in there and killing as many as I can before getting blown away, I may die a lot, but damn I will take them bastards with me haha

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 10 Apr 2009, 06:28

Yeah, Team Fortress 2 is fantastic. I heart the PC version, it gets loads of free maps added and new class specific maps added every few months. The console versions get jack shit support. They promised the PC class specific updates for 360 version back around last July, but those haven't come yet, plus you're gonna have to pay for those.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 10 Apr 2009, 15:12

Yeah paying for things on X Box and PS3 is a joke!

I got Street fighter 4 on PS3, superb and love it, but you have to pay for such trivial things as extra costumes for a charecter! £3 what a joke. The game has them on the disc, everything is on the disc, the download is just a password to acivate them

seriously Consoles are a way to milk idiot chavs who pay for phone ringtones and screensavers, in other words morons!

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 10 Apr 2009, 15:30

The DLC scamming and milking was the final straw that broke the camel's back for me. Especially the crap Capcom is pulling with SF4 (costumes) and Resident Evil 4 (versus-mode of 2mb(!)), but when you just look at all the DLC available for these consoles (360 and PS3), it's all(95% of it) completely a scam, and 5% IS worth the money...

Anyway, like I said, it's the straw that broke the camel's back, so I've already decided I'll be modding my 360. I'll still buy the games I am interested in, but games like Soul Calibur 4 and SF4 who are milking that DLC for all it's worth, will just be downloaded instead.
I have no problem paying developers when they've made a good game, but as soon as they decide to pull this kinda bullshit, I choose to not buy that game anymore. However, that doesn't mean I don't want to play the game.

Not sure if I'll mod my existing 360, or that I'll buy a seperate one instead.

Played TF2 again last night. I like it, but it's so 'hectic', while I personally am someone who likes to do that kinda stuff in an 'organized' matter, so I really loved Battlefield 2 on the Xbox cause I could just find a nice spot from very far away, and help my team from a distance (sniper). I love sniping. It's calm and relaxing

I can snipe in TF2, but it's wayyy more dangerous and the thrill is also a lot less, cause it's from a shorter distance.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 10 Apr 2009, 16:14

Street Fighter 4 for me gladly I am not tempted at all to pay for anything, esspecially costumes! if it was new charecters then I would be really pissed! guess we will see how it goes.

Great game, love fighting online and it's the only game I even bother with on the PS3.

It is a pain sadly that people cheat online so much

many people who I fight against disconnect their internet line before I beat them, so they keep their points! and run away like little girls! leaving me wanting to hunt them down and kill them for real!
I am so sick of tossers jumping ship just as I am about to win, its just pathetic anyone does it, but I get a large amount of scum doing it.

If this is not taken care of soon in a patch, then the game is a joke online. People need to be punished for quitting a game like that.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 21 Apr 2009, 02:29

I finished The Bourne Conspiracy yesterday. Nice little gem of a game that's an adaptation of The first Bourne film, with flashbacks to when Jason Bourne was an active Treadstone assassin. Very cinematic with terrific set-pieces. The score is marvellous, done by Paul Oakenfield, he remixed a lot John Powell's film scores.

The gameplay itself is a mixed bag. The key draw of the game is the brawling mechanics, which are fucking fantastic. The fighting system is simple and intuitive - light punch, heavy punch, block and charged heavy/light kicks. I loved the really visceral Takedowns, where Bourne will use his nearby parts of the environment to deal massive damage to the enemies and the like.

The cinematic QTE sequences are really well done in this game.

The downside is the shooting mechanics, it's basically lifted directly from Gear of War, except nowhere near as polished. Enemies soak up a lot of ammo before going down, except headshots are instant death. There's some noticeable collision detection problems too that annoyed the piss out of me, I really hate bad bullet hit detection in shooting games.

Overall I highly recommend The Bourne Conspiracy if you come across it in a bargain bin. The game is about 5-6 hours long and easily worth the low price that I had paid for it ($30 NZD).

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 19 May 2009, 23:52

Started playing Mass Efeect (360) a few days ago. I'm not far in it so far, but first impressions are decent. The voiceacting is very good, as are the facial animations.

I didn't like the character-creation engine much (pretty limited), so instead of trying to make a look-alike Yi-Long, I just went for something completely different and ended up with a scrubby Keanu Reeves lookalike. Also, it could have used 2 more months orso in development to clean everything up, cause there's stuff still popping up during a scene, like textures and stuff, and occasionally the frame-rate drops a bit.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 20 May 2009, 07:32

Yi-Long wrote:Started playing Mass Efeect (360) a few days ago.

I recommend restarting the game as a female Shepherd. The acting performance (courtesy of Jennifer Hale) is leagues better than the male counterpart. You can genuinely feel the emotion in the very believable female performance, on the other hand the male Shepherd just sounds bored and constipated all of the time.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 08 Jul 2009, 00:23

Thanks Eva. Hopefuly I'll pick up this game again now that I'm back. The main male character didn't bother me much though (like I said, mine looks like Keanu Reeves, so stale wooden bored constipated lines actually look pretty convincing

) so not sure if I'll bother with a female lead, unless you can play through the game with here wearing nothing but her underwear (like in KOTOR).

Anyway, on vacation I mostly played my PSP. I hoped to maybe find some time for the 'bigger' games like Final Fantasy and Disgaea and Jeanne d'Arc, cause those are the games which you normally don't really play when you're home all day and have a PC, a PS3 and/or a 360 as the alternative.
Sadly, I ended up playing mostly FIFA 09, Golf, and Virtua Tennis 3.
I might actually like the gameplay of FIFA09 on PSP better than the same game on PS3.

Anyway, I DID play one of the 'bigger' games on PSP while I was in HK: God of War! And although when I first checked it out months ago, and didn't really care much for it (didnt really give it a chance though), this time it did hook. I really enjoyed playing it.
Sadly, I'm now stuck at some point with some big dudes in an arena and blades seering through the ground, but I'll work that out when I feel like it

I finished Ninja Gaiden Black, so I can do anything!

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 08 Jul 2009, 08:09

Yi-Long wrote:I finished Ninja Gaiden Black, so I can do anything!

Ah but what difficulty did you finish it on?! I know what you mean though, once you can beat Ninja Gaiden / Black / II, you feel like every other game is a walk in the park in comparison.