What Are You Playing? (May)

[Gooch]

I'm sorry.

You're the guy who really likes Senko no Ronde, right?

My condolences.

[Brand X]

I played a bit of Dead Space, and it was pretty horrible. So I went back to Stuntman Ignition, which is the exact opposite of horrible. Probably one of the best five games of the current generation, actually.

Not so sure about the Dead Space hate since I loved the demo (haven't played the full version yet). I will say that Stuntman Ignition was a shitload of fun, even though I was able to 4+ star everything in like 4 hours. Some of the perfect runs are just straight up nutty though, to the point where it made me not want to play the game anymore.

[A Robot Bit Me]

I actually find it harder to four-star stuff than five-star it. Four star demands a great score, and five just demands that you full-string the course; a crappy score doesn't exempt you from five stars. You can miss all but one of the director stunts and still string the level.

[Tain]

You're the guy who really likes Senko no Ronde, right?

My condolences.

Senko no Ronde is a game more than it is a really shitty six hour movie that you waggle through.

WHU-PISH

i'm probably not going to touch senko now that voot is on xbla :[

[Cowutopia]

I played a bit of Dead Space, and it was pretty horrible. So I went back to Stuntman Ignition, which is the exact opposite of horrible. Probably one of the best five games of the current generation, actually.

For
Real

The only reason to play Suntman is to 5-star levels. It requires planning and precision gameplay that is comparable to like, old Mega Man games to get a clean run through.

The only reason to try to deliberately 4-star a level and break the string deliberately is if you've played it way too goddamn much.

[A Robot Bit Me]

Dead Space is an another matter, though. What do you find so horrible about it, ARBM?

I can't tell if the gameplay is supposed to be subservient to the story or the story subservient to the gameplay. Like, which is the part I'm supposed to overlook and which is the part that I'm supposed to enjoy? The story was derivative and conveyed via that horrible Bioshock piecemeal narrative that seems to be all the rage these days, and the combat was like Resident Evil 4 on qualudes.

There's also a ton of excess like superfluous button-presses, obnoxious item indicators, and that goddamn shrill string-screech that heralds the arrival of every group of Clive Barker brain diarrhea monsters.

So I did not much like it at all! You know how we all love Silent Hill 2 even though it's kind of a disaster of combat and level design because the atmosphere and direction are so fucking great? To me, Dead Space is like that, only without that last part about the great atmosphere and direction.

[Cowutopia]

The demo didn't do shit for me.

[NeoZeedeater]

The story was derivative and conveyed via that horrible Bioshock piecemeal narrative that seems to be all the rage these days

While I don't think Dead Space has a strong story, I like the "piecemeal narrative" structure in games when done properly. The idea of exploring to find story parts gives an interactive appeal you don't get while watching cutscenes.

[Rumpy]

I'm in the middle of Dead Space and love it. Blows RE 5 single player out of the water.

[Nash]

I'm trying to get back into Assault Heroes since the last time I played it was when I first bought it in 2006, but now I know why I stopped playing it. I want to like it, but so much of it just annoys me --- the way the car controls, the slow pace, how you have to be near the top of the screen to scroll forward, the longer-than-it-needs-to-be levels, the ridiculously slow on-foot controls, etc. I'm going to go ahead and finish it up just because I paid for it, but I doubt I'll ever be going back to it. I thought this would be comparable to Jackal, too. Now that's a game that needs to come out for Xbox Live Arcade.