twmac

Wow, I have not been this deflated by a demo since the Gears of War remaster. So, they have tweaked it in the worst way. Titans aren't guaranteed during a firefight, they are a privilege for the already too good players that result in them dominating the map more than they already did. Every player glows the colour of their team so that you can see them a mile away, which defeats some of the tactics from titanfall. Everyone has a health bar, but that just leads to the best players dodging away from surprise kills and lesser players getting ganked all the time. It also means that you stick out like a beacon for snipers, one of the things I liked about Titanfall was that snipers had to be good to compete, now you get shot by them every few seconds. The game modes they have shown off are all a bit terrible. 'Pilot vs Pilot' is awful because it shows how the tweaks have been made so that the game is more like Call of Duty (it also displays how awful the fan base are because it is the most populated mode). Fuck, I was really excited about this game, unabashedly so, and they have made it into a game that I am not sure that I want to play. I know it is lame, but I got really depressed by playing the Beta. I got too excited after replaying Titanfall for the last two months but this beta suggests to me that it is just Call of Duty with tinfoil mechs and that is a really bad thing.

Syberia appeared in the backwards compatibility list on my Xbox One, I must have drunkenly bought the X360 re-release some years back and never played it. Seeing as I don't buy more than 2 games a month now, I figured I would give it a go. After some of the more grandiose stuff I've been paying recently, it has been a delight from a narative stand point. Not much is really going on in the game and it is about the places and the world that has been imagined more than anything else. The sad emptiness of Aralbad, the inane stupidity of the University with the hilarious deans talking all over each other... The boat man that speaks a dialect that involved 4 different languages. All of it great. Some of it has aged very poorly (the design for controller use is bad) and there are two puzzles that I refused to figure out on my own as the information presented to me just seemed wrong. Also some of the collision led to me wasting about an hour trying to figure something out that didn't need to be (I had just not walked around an item correctly and therefore hadn't found a transition into a new area). Well worth revisiting, I just wish I had Syberia II to play and see what happened next. I also like the fact that Kate Walker is kind of an arsehole, in that too-polite-American way.

It involves abusing the modified vehicles at every opportunity. That motorcycle/combine harvester is a devastating beast.

Maybe, but in Dead Rising 3, on my first run, I pretty much rescued everyone and if I hadn't been dicking around so much I would have finished it. The second run, I rescued everyone and finished the story. For my money it is almost impossible to rescue everyone and get a true ending in Dead Rising. As for the DLC in 3, most of them are self contained stories for different characters in the game (do you remember how weird it was to get a short cutscene introducing army commander, only for you to then murder him straight away? The DLC explains this) but the weird Super Hyper, Mega Remix spin off has nothing to do with the main game and well worth a few run throughs. It was one of those 'available now' announcements at E3 and I had a lot of shallow fun with it. Oh, I am definitely going to buy Dead Rising 4. I bought an Xbox One to play 3 so it is unlikely I will skip 4 (and I might even get the re-releases)

I played Dead Rising 3 on release. To me, it was the first game that Capcom Vancouver had really made their own. Dead Rising is still the best in the series as far as I am concerned, but Dead Rising 2 suffered by trying to be something a little different but also making half gestures to the first one that left me wanting the real sequel to Dead Rising (which was hinted at in Dead Rising Case 0, the XLA title). Dead Rising 3 bins all of that and just becomes this mental game of carnage and stupidity, and for that I found it more honest and easier to enjoy on its own merits. Did you get a chance to play the scrolling beat-em 'up spin-off for 3? The time limit mode in 3 is a joke by the way. I started off on that mode and almost got the 'true' ending on my first attempt and then nailed it on my second (in contrast to Dead Rising that took me about 8-9 attempts). I have watched a couple of promos for 4 and I am a little worried. The developers keep talking about taking the series back to its 'badass' roots and what a kickass Frank West was... That displays a complete lack of understanding for what made Dead Rising good.

Definitely, will change that line and draw it out. That bit was thrown in there a bit last minute after some feedback, will fix. Readers Like You... Hmmm going to have to think that one over.

I liked it, however, I think I would have preferred it if I had know as little as the two detectives. As the audience I already know the reveal way before the protagnists and I think it would have been more fun to be able to deduce that from their analysis of the victim without having the you fill in the blanks so early on. For example:

I rambled about this while we were playing Titanfall, but I thought I would reiterate that I really liked this piece as it does a good job of being impartial in its treatment. I especially liked the part from the left leaning pensioner.

I have tweaked mine a bit more and added some extra dialogue, removed one of the references to 'loopy' as it was felt to be a bit callous, as well as changed a few bad mistakes (like the fact that Noidy and Trevor both have wives with the same name - whoops). Apart from a few other tweaks I am unlikely to change much, Mawd thank you for your earlier criticism. Not sure I have addressed it properly but I tried. I look forward to reading your entries!

I don't know if anyone has been talking about it but me and my partner have been watching UnREAL a lot recently and the trappings are quite generic but the writing is real sharp. The premise is that it is a drama about people working onset on the a TV show that resembles 'The Bachelor' (the creator worked on that series) and it is how cold blooded the producers are so as to make reality television 'pop'. Our housemate has worked on reality TV and she said that the atmosphere and the scenarios are accurate but anyone that ambitious would be working in scripted shows.

Soooo, has anyone else finished a piece? Would hate for this die on its arse on the second entry.

I tried Tron Evolution for free and after playing the initial tutorial, I just started getting flashbacks of the awful Remember Me and the okay but dull Aeon Flux games. If I run out of everything else to play on my console I might go back, but I am not sure I can face it.

I don't know where to put this as I haven't quit this beautiful game, nor have I beaten it. I just really wanted to talk about it but don't think I could make my own thread. 10 second Ninja is a piece of masterful glory. It plays a lot like a platformer version Trials HD, in that beating a level is not that important (you only have 10 seconds to do it) but mastering it and shaving fractions of a second off your play time is what will keep you coming back. I've already started to develop a blister on my left thumb but I am absolutely in love with this game. Please, everyone, go try it.

Wish I could be there. I honestly doubt there will ever be a Idle Thumbs, Thailand meet up

Have to agree that Stranger Things is proving to be really fun so far, like a video nasty meets The Goonies but is plotted better and has better acting. Winona Ryder's best role ever.

Yeah, the mileage seems to vary. A lot of people I have sent this to have not even blinked at the stumbling mess that are the people in this. But the girlfriend of a friend (she is from South America) thought it was funny but unbelievable 'because no friends act like that'. My mother kind of hated it but that is because it is loosely based on my own grandmother, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimers, and she felt that all the characters were unsympathetic. In real life my grandparents are very friendly and nice so I had to explain that some of the events are inspired by real life but the characters most definitely are not.

Don't worry Sno - I have your back on Guilty Gear: Overture. I really wish they would put this on the back compat list for Xbox One as I would play the shit out of it.

All useful info. The point of him talking about details but getting them wrong or not really knowing is an illustration of the kind of relationship that he is now in, and that Trevor finds himself in too. These people are friends in a very old fashioned English way. They'll talk about football and play draughts (checkers) but really, they don't know anything about each other and are absolutely not the people you should be calling when you are in trouble. These people hardly talk about their lives to each other, unless it is one where they can place themselves in a position of power (especially in Trevor's case). For Trevor, being the age that he is, he doesn't have a lot of options and his pride his blocking him reaching out to his family (this is alluded to a bit when they talk about their finances). The ending is supposed to be bitter sweet because when Arnold 'Noidy' makes one attempt at connection he is rebuffed. You'll laugh or cry depending on the perspective. The passive voice was an attempt at something different but it was definitely also an attempt to almost mute the events. Will try and give him a bit more of an inner voice but I am worried that if I do, the whole short story would be engulfed in colloquialisms.

I might need to cut out that "'cos" because it made sense when I was going to give Trevor a different voice. That said will look into the contractions anyway.

So, I finished the first draft just now and have done a rudimentary spell check but I think this one is very rough around the edges: https://medium.com/@twmac/a-person-shaped-thing-is-a-person-6148086906da#.m6bldr5y2

Almost picked up Full Mojo Rampage for the four player Co-Op, shame that it didn't add markedly different experiences with new unlocks.

So, I just finished this after my console buddy bought it so we could share. At first I kind felt like a lot of stuff had been done before in Limbo and then there is this sharp right turn about halfway through and everything lights up from a gameplay perspective. Oodles of fun regardless of some repeated beats. I completely agree on the gameplay itself not being as unforgiving but that the world itself feels far more oppressive. It is a beautiful game too. Favourite game of the year so far.

I am almost finished. I have been trying to have all the action happen in present tense, which is hard to do for me as I am so ingrained in it being my voice relaying the voice of another. After this one though, I am definitely going to try my hand at a comedy.

A response to the response Thank you for the feedback!

About a thousand words into my first draft. Trying to figure out how to stop this one being utterly depressing.