twmac

So, I have played through to just after a prison level and there is a dissonance between the two styles of play and the story line. I am playing on the difficulty between normal and uber, and the main problem I am having is that there are clear points where I must resort to stealth to get through them and then quickly revert back to all out carnage if I want to not get brutally murdered. This would be fine as they are clearly sign posted (if you are told there are commanders in the area then you better start using stealth) but it just then feels like both types of play are neutered as a result of not wanting to over power one or the other. When it does go ovaries-to-the-wall mental with the violence (the auto-shotguns will happily sever limbs) you then get hit by some cutscene that makes it very hard to understand where the pathos is supposed to fit in. It is a bit like watching First Blood 2 or the new Rambo film - they would be fun but the straight faced moments between the violence makes no sense. My last main complaint is that I have no idea why the fuck they make me have to pick up bullets and health. Secrets and weapons, fine, I should be forced to look for those but when every encounter (on harder difficulties at least) is then punctuated by having to slowly move around nosing around for prompts instead of being able to rampage to the next gun fight just breaks the pace. In contrast, look at Saints Row IV that understood that the one thing that sucked the most was having to regen your health and instead had every enemy drop health so that there was no need to retreat if you were good at the game. Wolfenstein manages to change some old-school design and still make itself feel out dated.

Seeing Erkki's change over the series of posts has made me kind of excited to open my collector's edition of Risen 2 (I am playing it on X360 so I expect it to look poor). I actually really liked the little I played of Risen and was charmed by its weirdness.

So, I moved the PS3 out of the bedroom because I never play games in there. The first thing I did was fire this game up and start playing in seriousness. Holy shit it is bad, there isn't a single redeeming feature to it at all. It is astounding that some agreed to publish it at all. None of it plays well, it is full of bugs (it has crashed 4 times on me now), and the rampant sexism throughout the game is the vomit-icing on the shitcake. I am about 8 missions off of beating it so I will probably do so just to cross it off my list but I honestly don't know what the developers were trying here.

So, I don't have anything to really add to the conversation but I really hate the way that Far Cry 4 is being marketed. It doesn't sound interesting in the slightest and going the Saints Row route on cartoon villains and over the top stuff for the main franchise seems like a completely missed opportunity. Why not make the Blood Dragon spin-off the one that goes with this stuff? I really need to sit down with Far Cry 2 again and play it. There are clear elements that made me really enjoy the game - the emergent gameplay meant that I had hundreds of little stories that occurred of the course of the game and almost none of them relied on the narrative imposed by the cut scenes. Far Cry 3 felt like I was being constantly funneled down a route of the developer's design. One that just never felt compelling enough for all the harassment the game kept giving me to do the dumb stuff.

Yeah, that game is dull. I finished it over the weekend after recommendations from friends and it really outstays its welcome. Surprised that you had to think in the combat. I played as the Rogue and basically backstabbed my way through the entire game.

I actually really like Powerstar Golf. It is not simmmy at all but it is a hell of a lot of fun. Not sure what platforms it came out on other than Xbox One.

Okay, so that has tempered my excitement a little. I showed the video to my house mate and he started freaking out at how it undermined everything sacred to the Wolfenstein franchise, which surprised me a little that a 25 year-old woudl have that much of an attachment to the franchise and all (3?) of its games. I just started playing Wolfenstein on X360 - man that game is a classic example of a B Game. Everything works but nothing stands out above any other game that was released at the same time (nor just prior) but it is still a solid little shooter that had too many delusions that there were going to be people playing the multiplayer forever (see the achievements). Unfortunately the game spat out a dirty disc error when I picked up the third tome and now I am debating as to whether to spend another 3 pounds so that I can carry on playing it or cross it off the list of my backlog and chuck it in the bin. It is good but not 6 pounds worth of good.

Played it at EGX Rezzed and thought it was dull as ditchwater. Looked really nice but my word was I bored before the demo was over. At the time I think I called it 'tepid'. Consider this a vote for Saints Row IV, which is a way more fun traversal game than either of the Infamouses.

Yeah it cost me 4 pounds and has sat next to Wolfenstein and F.3.A.R. on my shelf looking at me resentfully. Which reminds me I also have Painkiller: Hell & Damnation to play. I didn't realise this was StarBreeze! That makes it an instabuy for me. I appreciate everything they have made even when it is a little broken (Syndicate).

Yeah, I saw that trailer today and I think I am onboard. I have F.3.A.R., Singularity and Wolfenstein all unopened in my backlog. I should probably play one of them.

My advice, is go get the ring of whispers and make sure that the scorpion boss is really the scorpion boss. After that, I would keep following that route as it was the easiest one for me.

Finished the game last night. Did anyone else end up singing the final lines of The Prince of Bel Air in the final cutscene? Maybe it was just me.

Eurogamer Expo - Rezzed is happening this weekend. Anyone else going to be there?

I forgot to check back on this thread and then the Wi Fi was terrible all weekend. Was a great weekend, the indie presence was great, I want Steamworld Dig in my life so bad.

Hmmm, apart from the cut-scene skipping part (which is kind of a deal breaker) that all sounds really interesting. I might see if I can borrow it from somewhere so that I can get a feel for whether I want to bother with the game. I have no problem with the jam effect and I am all for using aesthetics to convey things (when everything went black and white in Splinter Cell: Conviction was a good example), be it by using cinematic style that we associate with that kind of thing or even just coming up with your own (ie: Splinter Cell: Conviction).

Fuck, really? Can you skip it the second time you play it? In regards to the gameplay, is it as diverse as they are making out? In terms of being able to go 'weapons hot' does this feel like a viable tactic and have they cleaned up the awful shooting mechanics from the previous games? Is the HUD as pared down as the Eurogamer review implies?

Okay, so I hate the Metal Gear Solid series because, quite frankly, its story is puerile shite. However, after reading the changes that were made to the mechanics (the mini-map, you can tag enemies and then follow their patterns) made it sound like some really cool parts of Splinter Cell mixed in with the lost, good bits of Hitman Blood Money and some of the ideas that I appreciated about Absolution. So it saddens me that no one seems to be talking about the only thing that even had me mildly interested - how the game plays. Will some one who will skip all the cut scenes and ignore all the collectible bollocks be able to enjoy the actual game parts? Has it shifted away from the previous installments in terms of game play that I might be interested?

Someone has recreated the Operating System in Jurassic Park and allowed you to roleplay as Samuel L Jackson: http://jurassicsystems.com/

I am not really struggling at the moment I am definitely feeling like there is a lack of resources. Anyone got to the That bit is awesome. I am currently around level 70 and I've started to notice that coast a little. Also the blue rings are a bit weird there is one that is for the meek and one for the mighty. If you are wearing one it calls a wearer of the other to you. Also found the first Pyromancer, the exchange with them is pretty cool.

So, I played this and the Walking Dead this weekend and I am seriously considering this for GOTY.cx. It is a love letter to SEGA fans, from the music, to the sets, to cast selection. It is built by Sumo Digital who are more SEGA than SEGA have been for a very long time. On top of that they seem to have hired some ex-bizarre creations guys who have taken the Blur and PGR mechanics and made a deceptively deep driving game underneath the cartoon presentation. The career mode is extensive and the challenge level is pitch perfect in that C level is easy, B level is challenging and A level requires pure mastery of the track (there is an S ranked challenge that unlocks later that is mind-boggling hard). I love this nutso world where Outrun 2 physics are king and drifting makes you go faster than driving straight. I haven't seen all of the unlocks but Vyse from Skies of Arcadia is in there. Metal Sonic comes free with the limited edition (same price as the normal edition). I'll admit there have been no big surprises (except for Joe Musashi from Shinobi) but the roster is almost pitch perfect (Amigo, AiAi, Ulala, Shadow, Knuckles, Beat, Gilius Thunderhead). They all level up as well, not in a broken way that makes a level 5 guy too good for a level 1 guy but more so you can tweak your favourite character to your play style. So far the balancing is pretty good, at first it is easy to see Sonic as the better character but that is because the opening stages are pretty wide and he is drift heavy making him ideal to beat them. I split my choices between Tails for the Ring Races (think Pilot Wings), Ulala for boost levels (a level littered with boost pads set against the clock) Sonic for the drift levels (essentially the Outrun 2 challenges), Danica Patrick (don't ask)for the assault levels (you chase a tank and fire missiles at it while dodging its volleys) and Knuckles for almost everything else. I've dabbled with BD Joe and Shadow as well. Just finished the main career and it unlocked a new area. Not to mention there are still a ton of content to unlock that requires I perfect some of the earlier races. Anyone else played it?

Damn you! 3 more days and I get to play, there are tons of people getting psyched for it at work too which makes me very happy.

Midnight City are also publishing Gone Home on Consoles, I like the cut of their gib.

That's disappointing, I happened to go into the swamp and saw him there: I was hoping there might be more to that.

Wow, so Dark Souls is now over for me. Ceaseless Discharge became a war of attrition with him losing as a result of not being able to regen health. I stomped through all the bosses and I ahve to say that the final boss in that area was the weakest one in the game. It stood in stark contrast with the rest of the game that was so good. The four kings were interesting, because I really struggled for ages until I realised that there is a really easy way to kill them and it goes against everything you would normally expect. The final stage is breathtaking to look at, the image it evokes of how all of this came to pass is perfect. It was icing on the cake to be invaded by a guy dressed in full knight garb (not sure if it was an NPC or not but I don't think so) fight me in there and then kill him. Does anyone have anymore info on the Pyromancer that you rescue in the Depths? Some kind of story played out at the end and I don't want to go into detail but it left me intrigued into what the backstory was between him and the other swamp Pyromancer. Also, that Plague of Gripes guy gets everywhere, it seems impossible to escape him.

So alone. But then that is what Dark Souls II is all about.