What Are You Playing? (Fall 2010)

OK, I'll start this one.

F/A (Fighter & Attacker) - Namco 1992
Sort of a textbook shooter, but you have a lot of planes to choose from similar to Strikers 1999. The soundtrack is some badass Megaten/J99 Ridge Racer style techno.

Ken-Go - Irem 1991
343900 pts/Stage 5
A sidescroll samurai fighting game, no relation to the PS3 Kengo.
You block by holding down the Attack button like Ninja Warriors, in this case also charging up a powerful wave attack. This sets you up for some good counterattacks- block a Ninja's shuriken, then raise your guard and take him out instantly. You can even jump on top of the first mid-boss' lance. The BGM is quite similar to Ninja Spirit.

Castlevania Lords of Shadow, Assassins Creed 2, SSF4, Deathsmiles, various flash games at work. All good.

F/A sounds cool, I've never heard of it. Does it have a home version or is it strictly MAME?

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Originally Posted by GohanX

F/A sounds cool, I've never heard of it. Does it have a home version or is it strictly MAME?

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It's pretty cool, but sadly there's no home version. Given that, I think was a missed opportunity for Namco to bring out as a Sega CD title- it could've also been done well on a 12-16 Meg Genesis cart, but with a major hit to the BGM.

Metroid Other M, Izuna 2, and, maybe tonight, Torchlight are what I'm currently playing.

This should pretty well cover October at least:

Pretzel Crisp: Borderlands, Dead Rising 2, and soon Fallout: New Vegas
PlayStation 3: Castlevania: Lords of Darkness, inFAMOUS, and Split/Second
Xbox 360: NBA 2K11 (for review)
iPhone: Cut the Rope and Puzzle Agent
Wii/DS/PSP: Super Dust Collector II Turbo Hyper Rotting

Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes
Laborious, but I find myself counting down the hours until I can play it on my lunch break.

NBA JAM (Wii)
Amazing. It has thus far supplanted TE in our little Jam group. Unlocking the classic Jam players is crazy addictive (SCHREMPF).

Halo Reach
The first MP FPS I've played to any significant length since Counterstrike and Unreal Championship. I love it.

Haven't played SSFIV in months. I think I'm finally done with that trash.

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Originally Posted by A Robot Bit Me

Halo Reach
The first MP FPS I've played to any significant length since Counterstrike and Unreal Championship. I love it.

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Get Bad Company 2 and join us.

Kings Bounty Crossworlds and Torchlight.

Baldur's Gate.

NHL 11 and only NHL 11 until the new Call of Dookie comes out.

Alpha Protocol - I would have been disappointed at full price; the combat is broken (pistol FTW), the stealth elements are random, and it's not a great story. But I'm having a blast being a total arrogant dick to everyone I come into contact with and befriending a sociopath. Fifteen bucks was definitely the right price for this.

Halo Reach - Finished everything to do with the campaign but still having fun playing online with friends.

Bought Red Dead Redemption. I'm not a fan of GTA, but I was willing to give the change in setting a chance. Wow, the writing and story is shitty and the action is leaden. How many millions of dollars did they spend on this and they can't hire real storytellers? It seems like it was written by fratboys who happen to know a lot about Westerns.

I understand why this is popular-- the sense of time and place is amazing, just like GTA4, but it is not good. Doesn't really succeed as a fun game or a good movie.

I just finished the 3do version of Wing Commander 3, such a great game. Shame that I can't manually nuke Kilrah in this version.

While I have the 3do out I've been playing a little SSF2 Turbo since I made a 3do cable for my stick, but I'm not sure what larger game I want to start now.

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Originally Posted by Salsashark

Bought Red Dead Redemption. I'm not a fan of GTA, but I was willing to give the change in setting a chance. Wow, the writing and story is shitty and the action is leaden. How many millions of dollars did they spend on this and they can't hire real storytellers? It seems like it was written by fratboys who happen to know a lot about Westerns.

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I don't think that's fair. The "do I care about where this story is going?" factor kinda falls off a cliff once you get a few missions deep into that Seth/Irish/Dickens milarkey, yeah, but the dialogue and characterization is great throughout.

As far as the gameplay goes, it's a big improvement over GTA and that's as much as you should have reasonably expected.

Finally got a PS3 and have been playing through MGS4. Looking at getting Lost Planet 2 as I am really enjoying the hell out of the demos.

Avatar the Game: I got this cheap a while back and figured I'd play it while I'm waiting for Fallout: New Vegas and Rock Band 3. It's solid, though the jumping is a bit off, and the character slips off ledges sometimes, but it's actually pretty fun.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: I beat this when it came out, but I never played as a pro-registration team. Time to whore some achievements!

New Super Mario Bros Wii: At world 7, but it's pissing me off. Seems like a difficulty spike since earlier in the game. I'll beat it little by little.

Sonic 4 (XBLA): I HAD to play this, though now I wish it were cheaper. I'll finish it, but it's kind of like eating a meal you don't really like but paid a lot for. You're not just going to walk away, right?

Game Room: Jackal comes out next Wednesday, and I have exactly 240 points left!

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Sonic 4 (XBLA): it's kind of like eating a meal you don't really like but paid a lot for. You're not just going to walk away, right?

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Razor would ask SEGA to pay for half.

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Originally Posted by Melf

Game Room: Jackal comes out next Wednesday, and I have exactly 240 points left!

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:eep:

I'll finally have to shell out for something in game room then.

SMT: Strange Journey DS (still)
Portal 360
Sword of Mana GBA
Nosferatu SNES

Mainly old games lying around:

GTA4
NFS Shift
Gears of War 2

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Originally Posted by Melf

Game Room: Jackal comes out next Wednesday, and I have exactly 240 points left!

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OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG...

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Originally Posted by Bacon McShig

the dialogue and characterization is great throughout.

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It's good "for a videogame" I guess, but still sub-B-movie. In other words, it sucks. The main character should be less hick and more cowboy too.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
I'm over 4 hours in. All I ask is that it picks up in difficulty and gets less linear. It has been challengeless so far and a little heavy on tutorial text but everything else has been great. Switching between Bowser and the guys trapped inside him is a neat twist on Mario RPGs, the presentation is top notch, and the timing-based battle system is as enjoyable as ever.

Wing Commander
I wish I had a flight stick but using a 360 controller + joy2key + keyboard is doable I guess. These cinemas still manage to impress me. When Spector showed it in his PAX presentation, I knew I had to play it again this year. The gameplay has held up as well. I was never big on space sims so this series has gone underplayed for me but I plan on changing that.

Trackmania United Forever
This stopped working for me in Steam almost a year ago for some reason. I gave up trying to fix it but it started working again when I tried a few days ago.

Blur
It's not as pretty artistically as Split/Second but I now see how annoying the AI can be in that game so I'm looking forward to spending more time with this.

And I bought a few cheap last gen games and played a bit of them: Mortal Kombat: Deception, Go! Go! Hypergrind, and Mister Mosquito.

Just finished up Castlevania. Starting Kirby's Epic Yarn right now. I'd like to finish Alundra, the Monkey Island remakes and get all the trophies in Flower in the meantime as well.

To people playing Kirby early: Broken Street or U R l33t?

I would never pirate a game.

the Wii is my free system

Target Terror Gold

Score: a bit over 4.24 M in Justice Mode, 8 continues used.

I took a different approach to TTG this time, concentrating more on no-miss streaks instead of wrecking shit and spamming on dying enemies for combo count. This caused my stage 1 score to jump from 198K to 640K. Special weapons were generally ignored, usually resulting in "Just My Trusty Beretta" coming up on the medals screen. The 2 helicopters got owned with a doubleshot of satellite laser cannon fire (have one "smart bomb" item on each side before you pick stage #2 or #5). Unfortunately, I screwed up the end of mission 10 this time - that's why this didn't go in the Completion thread. :mad:

Alan Wake - Pretty decent so far, but I was annoyed that the game wouldn't let me pick the hardest difficulty, locked things to be only accessible in that mode, and then made Alan talk incessantly. He really needs to shut the fuck up, I cannot believe they felt he needed to narrate every little thing that occurs. Sometimes I'm amazed he doesn't describe every time I take a step or fire the gun.

Gameplay isnt bad, but this would be a lot better without them actively sabotaging the atmosphere.

Just wait until the dlc's. Alan isn't the only one that states the obvious.

Oh well, started playing wow again, messing around on one of bliz-like private servers.

NBA2K11 (PS3) - the best basketball video game I've ever played. I usually pass on sports games due to the annual play tax that is charged, but a few go rounds with this at a friend's, and I had to have it.
Metroid Other M (Wii) - going through a second time incrementally due to expanded play list. There is plenty of hate for this game but I do not share any of it.
Time Crisis Razing Storm (PS3) - playing via Guncon and I'm thrilled so far. It's been a while since I've played an HD gun game.
Epic Yarn (Wii) - playing this in increments as well. It's overly kiddy and not the least bit challenging but the visual style and how it is implemented with the gameplay is done so well I want to see more.
Vanquish (PS3) - just wetting my beak with this one but I'm hoping it's the God Hand of 3PS shooters.

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Originally Posted by Salsashark

It's good "for a videogame" I guess, but still sub-B-movie. In other words, it sucks. The main character should be less hick and more cowboy too.

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Salsa! ;_;

RDR's protagonist is intensely lovable. Some might say... irresistible.

I'm playing God of War Collection (good), Split/Second (meh, no Burnout, that's for darn tootin'), and LittleBigPlanet GOTY Edition (garbage).

just beat GrimGrimoire. Started it like saturday night. It was ok. Could have been translated better and the mechanics could have been a little bit better. But nothing was game breaking. Had fun with it

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Originally Posted by Compass

Salsa! ;_;

RDR's protagonist is intensely lovable. Some might say... irresistible.

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This requires some 'splaining.

He talks too much to be the cool hero of a Western. Even worse, the stuff that comes out of his mouth is usually stupid.

The rest of the dialogue in the game is pretty decent now, as long as it isn't part of the main story.

I admit I may be at a big loss here coming off of reading Blood Meridian.

P.S. Little Big Planet garbage? :cry:

Sid Meier's Civilization V - Now that the big patch has hit, this is excellent. I wouldn't say that it's better than Civ 4 (post-expansions) as of yet, but the hex-based system really adds a lot of tactical depth to what was previously a primarily strategic game. I also like the city-states, which make the world feel less empty and are a much better way of providing side goals than Civ 4's random quests for resources/locations.

Fallout: New Vegas - Man, if an FPS had animation and pathfinding as bad as this game, it would deservedly be getting 3/10 scores. It was just hilarious watching that tutorial lady and her dog run awkwardly towards the wells and occasionally get stuck on each other thanks to the awful pathing. It's fascinating how RPGs like this get a pass on what would be game-breakers in other genres due to the scope of the game and the focus on storytelling instead of action. I find survival mode to be a hilarious addition from Obsidian, considering that the Planescape: Torment design document actually contained a rant specifically about how character upkeep actions like feeding were detrimental to role-playing. It's still a great game, but I don't think it's up to par with Fallout 3.

Deathsmiles - I'm a slowpoke and only 1CCed it (with Rosa) recently. Now to work on 1CCs with every character.

I've been giving the PC a little love, as of late, since I got a GTX 460 videocard.

Bioshock 2 (PC): I got this game on the cheap, for $7.50 at Target. I like the fact that this game supports Live achievements, and I get the enhanced graphics of the PC.
Starcraft II: I'm not a huge PC RTS fan, but this game has been pretty good so far. I doubt I'll go online, because I know I'll get my ass handed to me.
God of War 2 (PS3 Compilation): I'm about 60% through this one, and I'm really enjoying it. I needed to finish this game, before moving on the GOW3.

I played uh, Seiken Densetsu 3 on emulator, which was a sequel to my favorite game of all time, Secret of Mana. I never even knew it existed, and I will say, it's probably my second favorite game of all time and the first time in many years that playing a game didn't feel like a waste of time to me. Did this just before my road trip, awesome fun!

I played through Mega Man II the other day.

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Originally Posted by gamevet

Bioshock 2 (PC): I got this game on the cheap, for $7.50 at Target. I like the fact that this game supports Live achievements, and I get the enhanced graphics of the PC.

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I was fooled by GFWL for a while too. Then you realize that it makes patching awful and is more an albatross than a benefit. Thankfully Bethesda figured this out and scrapped it for Steamworks in Fallout. You still get Achievements but without all the baggage.

It's too bad New Vegas is a glitchy mess. Maybe in 6 months when they fix all the problems with the game, will I buy it.

Medal of Honor. Playing it on the PC and I can honestly say I probably won't finish it. They have fixed none of the main issues from the other 10 games. Same death animations same stupid ai. And now for some nitpicking.

I don't expect one shot one kill every time I have an enemy in my sights but I do expect some realism especially when they go on and on about how real the game is and how they WORKED WITH FORMER TIER 1 OPS! If I shoot somebody in the lung they're not going to keep running and have pinpoint accuracy with an AK-47 in full stride. You can't even get accuracy not injured and standing still with that weapon. But yet in this game the Taliaban are all crack shots. Also, unless you shoot somebody in the head (which is iffy, even at point blank range with a shotgun. Yes the ai is that bad) they always take three shots to kill. EVERY TIME. I can shoot them three times in the leg, or three center mass. The animation and outcome are the same. The "gore" is laughable. The blood looks like Gears of War. And I am sick, so fucking sick and tired of having shots travel right through enemy models. Now some will say "well you missed." Not when I have a plume on the ground where the bullet should have hit the body and traveled through. That's a hit and the game doesn't register it. Also it doesn't look any better than MW1. I'm playing 1920x1200 with everything maxed.

Risen. Game is really ugly, UI is clunky (to say the least), but I am compelled to play this because I like the way quests are resolved.

NHL 11. Playing through BAP mode to unlock some boost. Online every now and then.

Bad Company 2. Still having fun with Destro's crew.

Split/Second. The catchup AI is really bad.

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Originally Posted by Dyne

Medal of Honor. Playing it on the PC and I can honestly say I probably won't finish it. They have fixed none of the main issues from the other 10 games. Same death animations same stupid ai. And now for some nitpicking.

I don't expect one shot one kill every time I have an enemy in my sights but I do expect some realism especially when they go on and on about how real the game is and how they WORKED WITH FORMER TIER 1 OPS! If I shoot somebody in the lung they're not going to keep running and have pinpoint accuracy with an AK-47 in full stride. You can't even get accuracy not injured and standing still with that weapon. But yet in this game the Taliaban are all crack shots. Also, unless you shoot somebody in the head (which is iffy, even at point blank range with a shotgun. Yes the ai is that bad) they always take three shots to kill. EVERY TIME. I can shoot them three times in the leg, or three center mass. The animation and outcome are the same. The "gore" is laughable. The blood looks like Gears of War. And I am sick, so fucking sick and tired of having shots travel right through enemy models. Now some will say "well you missed." Not when I have a plume on the ground where the bullet should have hit the body and traveled through. That's a hit and the game doesn't register it. Also it doesn't look any better than MW1. I'm playing 1920x1200 with everything maxed.

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This has been a problem with this series forever. I really hated the Sith Nazis and their Force-guided guns in the other games, and this game being the same shit means $15 used or GTFO.

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Originally Posted by kingoffighters

Risen. Game is really ugly, UI is clunky (to say the least), but I am compelled to play this because I like the way quests are resolved.

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I tried playing this one, as I really liked Divinity II. Hell, I even beat Two Worlds. I can get past the fugliness and shitty UI, but the fact that you practically need a FAQ for every quest pissed me off. "Go do this!" and no clue as to where to go or who to talk to... I got tired of running around at the city with the Inquisition (I have to do that and prove to Esteban that I'm trustworthy) and just shut it off. I should try it again sometime.

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Originally Posted by Melf

I tried playing this one, as I really liked Divinity II. Hell, I even beat Two Worlds. I can get past the fugliness and shitty UI, but the fact that you practically need a FAQ for every quest pissed me off. "Go do this!" and no clue as to where to go or who to talk to... I got tired of running around at the city with the Inquisition (I have to do that and prove to Esteban that I'm trustworthy) and just shut it off. I should try it again sometime.

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Hmmm, I read that complaint a lot, but the quest seems very straightforward and clear to me, as long as you talk to everyone. They do throw a shit ton of quest at you right off the bat but I don't have any problem finding the right person to talk to progress.

Last few weeks:

Atelier Rorona. It lasted much longer than I wanted it to due to having to start from the very begining after a game over.

Pochi and Nyaa, just trying to get better at it in my spare time.

Kirby, been playing it in bits and pieces. This is partly because of my low attention span, but also because I want to prolong it.

Started Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, this game is really surprising me with how good it is. It makes me want to finish the anime.

And I should be starting Fable III tonight, I tried to buy it yesterday but they wouldn't sell it to me because I didn't have my ID. I remember when they use to be really half-ass about carding people for mature games, but now that I'm not a minor they enforce it.

Beat Costume Quest, but still have a couple achievements to get. Normally I don't care, but this game is so lovable I will take any reason to go back. Also, "fuck you" I say to any reviewer that gave it a bad score. It is shallow, but it is also 5 hours long. I wish it had been 30 hours long with deeper evolving mechanics, but it is what it is. And what's there is wonderful and doesn't outstay its welcome.

Also playing Policenauts finally. It's awesome. Kojimaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

I'm playing Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, myself. Those cutscenes and codec conversations are pretty out of control. I'd only heard it was a major issue in the fourth game. The controls are often slippery, unintuitive and/or bizarre. And I haven't seen so much nonsense in an ending sequence since Eternal Sonata.

It's a far worse game than even the first Splinter Cell (which came out later, but still) on every single level. Nonetheless, I liked it (I think).

Costume Quest got bad reviews? That's troubling.

Codec conversations live on through this arm. Surprisingly, most (I think all, but there's probably something I'm forgetting) of the game does make its own kind of sense, though they don't explain a lot of things until MGS3&4 and even then not always through the normal course of the game (you need to make lots of extra codec conversations to random people for some explanations). I picked up MGS3:S so I could do a run of all the console games in timeline order, but never got around to that. Maybe one day.

Kojima's penchant for too much information works better in an adventure game setting I think. In MGS it has no place to go really but the dialogue. I wonder if he'll ever get to/want to use his clout to make another adventure game (with Suda51?). You really have to admire the flowing codec rambling though. The characters in MGS talk in rivers.

A couple years ago I played through MGS1-3 before #4 (and I never beat #4, oops).

I really liked MGS2, far more than I thought I would. I didn't find the controls unintuitive at all. MGS3 was totally unplayable with the overhead camera, though.

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Originally Posted by Salsashark

The characters in MGS talk in rivers.

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True. Rivers of diarrhea.

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Originally Posted by Diff-Chan

MGS3 was totally unplayable with the overhead camera, though.

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Subsistence improved the camera enough to make the game awesome, though.

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

Rivers of diarrhea.

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This is what Weezer needs to change their name to.

Lost Planet 2

Picked it up last weekend and have been playing it non-stop. Beat it last night and still not bored.

I'm going to be playing Civilization 5 and Fable 3 soon. Has anybody picked up Fable 3?

Why would they. Terrible franchise.

Compass is right. There's no good reason for that series to exist. It's all hype and bullshit.

I liked the original Fable, I think. I remember TNL losing it's shit over that game and to this day remember someone saying it was "so fresh".

Then I played the second one and just could not get into it. This third one does nothing for me.

Fable was super generic and boring. Never played too far into it and never even looked at the sequels. Not for me I guess.

Just finished up the main story in Other BM and there's an epilogue? My suffering will never end. The Metal Gear story and cutscenes were probably the highlights of the game for me. Bland, boring environments boasting the very best texture work that a PSP could handle. Boring combat. At least it's like 5 hours long and I didn't have to pay for it. It's like a 2nd rate Shadow Complex.

I knew I had to finish it because I booted up Prime Trilogy for the briefest of seconds and knew I could never, ever go back to that trash if I started this up.

I liked Fable 2. The only thing that broke my enjoyment of it for me was being able to die with little to no punishment. I think I'm actually going to reply Fable 2 and, whenever I die, throw away all items and equipment that I have on my character - just to give it a little more of a roguelike flair. Sure, I know I shouldn't have to make my own enjoyment, but I like the core game enough to try and add my own spin to it.

Playing Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. It's the fast food of the DW franchise with short missions and crazy air acrobatics. Lock-on system saves the horrible camera, but the 360 version has occasional framerate issues not in the PS3 ver. There are a few too many systems for upgrading your guy and his weapons, gets confusing, but AI for your teammates are actually pretty good if you aren't playing online. Orochi 2 is still best of series though.

And just starting on Lost Planet 2. It's kind of... yeah.

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Originally Posted by Drewbacca

I'm going to be playing Civilization 5 and Fable 3 soon. Has anybody picked up Fable 3?

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It seems pretty short, I was crowned within 10 hours, I expected the bulk of the game to be trying to get the crown, but instead it looks like you spend a lot of time actually ruling your kingdom. If you liked the previous games you'll like this one, but it doesn't make any radical changes that would draw new people in.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Compass is right. There's no good reason for that series to exist. It's all hype and bullshit.

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It's very underwhelming, I make no bones. But I absolutely love the atmosphere they have crafted in-game. Very dry and British.

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Originally Posted by Rated E

It seems pretty short, I was crowned within 10 hours, I expected the bulk of the game to be trying to get the crown, but instead it looks like you spend a lot of time actually ruling your kingdom. If you liked the previous games you'll like this one, but it doesn't make any radical changes that would draw new people in.

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Sounds like a rental.

Vanquish. It's fun.

Deadstorm Pirates (PS3) - Included in Time Crisis: Razing Storm/Big 3 Gun Shooting.

I've never been able to find an actual DSP cab, so this one's a completely new game to me. The Wheel Actions work nicely with the Move controller. Comparisons to Let's Go Jungle are definitely on target- a couple places have bug swarms somewhat like the Terror Bites in TC4. The great classical style BGM is performed by the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra. The PS3 version seems like it might be fun to dual-wield sometime, since all you need on each gun is the trigger (can't say that for the mounted guns on the arcade cab). Move > Guncon 3. With Move, there's no need to stand 5 feet back from the screen.

If you're playing the Ranking Mode- save the Mountain Stream for last so you don't burn up your 3 continues too early. IMO this stage is the hardest out of all of the selectable 4.

Bayonetta, what a fun game even with it's ridiculous sense of.. style? And sexuality.

Also Etrian Odyssey III still, I've been stuck on the third stratum way longer than I'd like.

Castlevania Lords of Shadow (PS3) - Stunningly beautiful but fairly shallow gameplay. The combat has a heavier, more solid feel than God of War but is nearly as brainless and unfulfilling. Like God of War, it often feels like I'm going through the motions just to get to the next cool looking part. LoS is somewhat redeemed by a more comprehensive package of gameplay but this is not the Castlevania reboot I'd have preferred. Not bad by any means but it doesn't do the justice to its lineage as Other M did for its. I'll plan on completing it and then selling it shortly thereafter.

I discovered the way to enjoy Lost Planet 2 was to shout "FUCK YOU!" loud enough to have your neighbors reaching to dial 911, giving yourself a hour to cool down, and just accept the bullshit wrapper on its creamy nougat gameplay. It's amazing how many bad decisions there are on the surface layer, but when you dig up a broken mech and just raw dawg your way through the lair of the jungle pirates, skipping the horrible cut-scenes along the way, it's paradise. Also, change the control config. The default is fucking terrible.

I've been on a PC gaming kick since it's so damn convenient and cheap.

Right now I'm starting to dick around with Civ V but it starts out so damn boring. It seems like you're just making turns pass over and over at the start just so shit can get built.

You're doing it wrong. Build a scout or two.

Go into the advanced settings and start in a later era.

I didn't really bother with scouts too much, but when I did I just set them on auto. Infact setting your workers on auto makes this start to slam by when you start expanding.

I played for like 8 hours straight and got the time victory. I'm gonna keep playing with this world for a while longer though, I took over one of the two land masses and after I give every city every upgrade I'm going to build up an army and just demolish the other continent.

The more I play Risen, the more I enjoy this RPG more than Dragon's Age or Fallout 3. I love the way how many quests have multiple outcome and there is no clear "good"/"bad" choice. I just solved a murder mystery in the Monastery that is more impressive than the one in Kotor. The PC version is a lot prettier than the 360, so go with that version.

This might be my favorite RPG this generation despite the ugly graphics.

Yea apparently Risen was really good. I heard Gothic 4 sucks balls though. :\

I started back on Just Cause 2. I really like this game - one of my favorites of the year, easy. I zip around, start some shit, and fly away. It's fun doing over and over and over and over and over and over. It doesn't get old. And they got Southeast Asia down pat (well the jungle and city parts - the snowy mountains are artistic license). It looks amazing.

Until just right now I'd never even heard of Risen.

The gameplay videos look so-so, what's so great about it?

Tried a little Vindictus, a free-to-play Korean MMO. Plays somewhere between DMC and PSO, where preformed groups of four people go into instanced dungeons from a small hub town, with very combo-heavy action gameplay and a neat physics engine. Not as bad as I thought it might be and actually pretty fun, but I'll probably get bored of it soon enough.


Halfway through Chapter 2 in Castlevania: LOS and it's okay. I probably shouldn't be playing this right after Vanquish, makes it feel a lot more boring with all the running around empty areas and needless wall-scaling. I also don't like the button-combo dodge, wish they would've used the right-stick since it's not doing shit else.

Finally decided to get around to playing Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines.

Been playing the shit out of it this last week and holy shit, this game is phenomenal. It's quite sad that Troika died shortly after as a followup would be fantastic. For those of you who haven't played it, think Deus Ex set in the WoD with Vampires. I've played through one time as Tremere and am now working on a Malkavalian playthrough before I'll count it as done for now.

Seriously, I tell anyone who's playing it, you HAVE to play Malkavian at some point. The writing is just so fucking good.

It's good to see another fan as that is one of my all time favorites. If the combat were better it would definitely be one of the best games ever.

I bumped the official thread so we can discuss more... but yeah, the writing for the Malkavians is pretty damned brilliant. I wouldn't play as them first though, as it can be hard to tell which responses of theirs will be the right responses and which will piss people off, also all the little insights you won't catch if you don't know what's coming.

VTM Bloodlines is great for most of it but it falls off a cliff once you enter those damn sewers. Like all Troika games, you have to take the good with the bad.

I can agree with that. Although there were a couple of good points after the sewers (The Giovanni Estate and the fight in Griffith Park). The endgame dungeons are a drag though.

Just started playing Prime in the Trilogy collection, and holy shit.

I was just bashing Other M from memory, but to be shown up this hard in every respect by a what, five year old game? Embarrasing.

Westerners do what Japandon't.

Correction: 8 years old looooooooolllllllllllll

Although to be fair to Japan, Zero Mission > Prime.

I've been playing Darius, KoF2002UM, SSFIV, and a little bit of Etrian Odyssey lately.

If I get a second 16:9 monitor, it will be for Darius. It seems like a good game, and harsher than expected. Trying to figure out if the top path is really the best choice. Bosses are tense as hell, the wide playfield makes accuracy super important (you can be waiting, like, a whole second before being able to fire again if your existing shots need to travel ALL THE WAY across), and I love the skanky-ass drums on stage B. Life is good.

Super is still the usual fighting game, here, but KoF2002 has been pretty cool. There's so much shit in this game, it's kinda overwhelming. I was never good at KoF. Online blows.

I'm stuck in that beginning stretch in Etrian Odyssey before fighting the first stratum boss. I rarely play the game when I have access to something else, though.

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

Although to be fair to Japan, Zero Mission > Prime.

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I really didn't like the way you get the super bombs at the absolute last second of ZM, and then they expect you to run around collecting more of the things that you don't even need. Super Metroid did it right.

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Originally Posted by Mzo

Just started playing Prime in the Trilogy collection, and holy shit.

I was just bashing Other M from memory, but to be shown up this hard in every respect by a what, five year old game? Embarrasing.

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Prime had so much fucking style. I can still play the original and think it looks better than almost any other shooter I've played, which is insane if you think about it.

Now we're just getting nuts. Prime was a better-than-expected (not hard) but still nowhere close to a best in genre game. The fact that it's so much better than Other M just shows what dog shit that game is. Compare Prime to something like System Shock 2 or Deus Ex, and it's a complete joke.

I did not call it best in genre.

I just said that it looks better than many newer games, which is true. It had a clean style and good effects/lighting. Games that rely only on high res textures and gimmicks could learn from it.

What new game that is worth a shit looks worse than a GameCube game?

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

Now we're just getting nuts. Prime was a better-than-expected (not hard) but still nowhere close to a best in genre game. The fact that it's so much better than Other M just shows what dog shit that game is. Compare Prime to something like System Shock 2 or Deus Ex, and it's a complete joke.

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What genre are we going with, exactly? Adventure? FPS? RPG? Aside from the viewpoint Prime and Deus Ex/SS2 share all of like nothing in their gameplay.

In terms of style and atmosphere I'd take prime over pretty much every military shooter ever made.

This is not a discussion about high definition graphics, obviously based on technicalities almost everything this generation looks better if you only judge off polygon count and textures.

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Originally Posted by MechDeus

What genre are we going with, exactly? Adventure? FPS? RPG? Aside from the viewpoint Prime and Deus Ex/SS2 share all of like nothing in their gameplay.

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They're non-linear first person games. There aren't that many, so you have to be loose with the lines to compare anything.

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Originally Posted by Opaque

In terms of style and atmosphere I'd take prime over pretty much every military shooter ever made.

This is not a discussion about high definition graphics, obviously based on technicalities almost everything this generation looks better if you only judge off polygon count and textures.

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I'm not going to defend Call of Duty or Medal of Honor, so I suppose you are safe going in that direction.

Metroid Prime is a perfectly respectable game. There's no reason to compare it to Deus Ex or System Shock 2. That is pure e-peen BS.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Metroid Prime is a perfectly respectable game. There's no reason to compare it to Deus Ex or System Shock 2. That is pure e-peen BS.

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Yes, this.

I don't like Metroid Prime, but yeah, going "Deus Ex trashes that turd" is kinda pointless.

aka "thirded"

We should compare every game to Deus Ex.

I started Dino Crisis today.

it's not as good as deus ex