What are you currently playing?

[Hot Heart]

 

Carmageddon on phone. Pretty good port. Lot's of quirks of being an older game that somewhat drag it down though. (But I feel some of the issues like lack of map, spinny camera and aggressive AI aren't issues that affected all games of the era).

 

There is a map. You have to pull from the left of the screen to show it (from the right brings up Action Replay). Problem is those controls aren't shown from the main menu. While in a race, pause the game and hit the '?' for that explanation, along with some other things it would've been handy to know beforehand (like repairing and recovering). Unlike the original though, you can't continue playing while the map's up; the original put a little moveable window that showed a shrunken view of the action. That might be due to not all control schemes allowing, I don't know.

 

The 'spinny camera' is something you just sort of get used to. I feel it adds to the tension of when you get turned around during a scrap so you're not sure if someone's going to come smash into while you're trying to reorient yourself, but I can see how it might be annoying for general racing.

 

As I said before, the AI does seem a little more aggressive/suicidal than in the original (and your own car a little tougher). Before, you'd have the smaller, weaker cars more focused on actually racing and it was only when you attacked them that they might start fighting back. When police along with huge dump trucks/SUVs/jeeps start showing up, that's when things get a little tougher. I know the sequel made it more apparent with an aggression level indicator or something, and it worked a bit better there.

 

Overall though, I find it a good port. It captures a lot of the essence of the old game and they've ever so slightly tweaked the controls to make it a little easier to steer (it's still very physics-governed rather than arcadey though).

[TheMightyEthan]

Especially the guy that looks like Hugo Weaving

since he shows up twice in my dream

 

 

If you're talking about the Outsider, he's supposed to be like some kind of god.

[deanb]

no the loyalist in pub. Outsider looks nothing like hugo weaving

[TheMightyEthan]

 

Yeah, I didn't think so, but I couldn't remember anyone other than the Outsider showing up in a dream.

 

 

*Edit* -

Oh, wait, I know who you're talking about.  I think you actually are confusing him with his brothers, who do show up in your dream.

 

Edited May 11, 2013 by TheMightyEthan

[Mister Jack]

I'm only two levels into Demon's Souls so far and I already want to strangle a fucking infant.

[Little Pirate]

Redownloaded Amnesia and I forgot i had Don't Starve.  Gonna see how these play out.

[deanb]

Well if your forgot you had Don't Starve, I assume you're going to eat Amnesia.

[Waldorf and Statler]

Started playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution.  Haven't gotten far enough to have any thoughts yet (had to save and quit mid tutorial), other than the abruptness of the switch from 3rd person to 1st person when leaving cover is very disorienting.  A zoom effect would have been much better.

 

They could. I guess. But then we wouldn't have this. And it makes it worth it.

[Hot Heart]

Started Alpha Protocol. It's been pretty interesting so far, getting acquainted with the systems and such. The 'field agent' route seems to be a safe bet because I was terrible at the additional gadget training challenge, but punched my way to success anyway (totally ninja!). I think I may stick with the Sterling Archer approach to espionage, which also includes 'kramering' my way through every door when available.

 

Had considered writing up that approach, but not sure how entertaining or even achievable it would be.

[Waldorf and Statler]

My punchies stealth approach was a lot of fun, but make sure you put points in weapons as there are boss battles and they basically HAVE to be done via shooting. So if you don't have enough damage it's gonna take forever, like it did for me. Especially one infamous battle near the end.

 

Started on Sleeping Dogs. I'm loving it. What a fucking great game, and because it's not the US I'm liking it better than some GTA's already

[Hot Heart]

Yeah, field agent comes with points in pistols as well, the melee was just a fall back when things went pear-shaped (or guns/ammo aren't available, like during training). I have a feeling I'm going to be failing stealth so much.

[Little Pirate]

Don't Starve.

Really addicting, although it took a bit of trial and error to figure out what you're supposed to do because there's no tutorial or 'how to play'.  Basically just do what you can to survive.  In a way it's like Minecraft meets Amnesia.  I do like that aside from your health and hunger meter, there is a sanity meter.  if you go too long without preserving your sanity the edges of the screen will waver and you'll start seeing imaginary monsters.  At night, if your sanity is REALLY low, you'll see some really spooky shadows lurking behind your character.

Edited May 14, 2013 by LittlePirate

[Saturnine Tenshi]

Atelier Ayesha. The English voices are as awful as I'd expected.

[NeoStarr]

Uncharted Waters Online. Just found out about it; played the SNES one a bunch as a kid. I probably wouldn't recommend it, honestly. It's so painfully niche that it accepts Starbucks giftcards for microtransactions.

 

that's probably not as funny as it was in my head i'm just gonna throw it out there and see what happens...

[Mister Jack]

Rayman Origins.  I'd been meaning to play it for a long time and I recently got it as a gift.  It makes all the recent Mario games look like a stack of crap.

[Strangelove]

I brought this up about a year ago and while the gameplay and art style are solid, I still hate that it's animated like a flash game from the late 90s. Everything just stretches and swings, you can tell and I hate that. I bet there are games made the same way but I just cant tell. Thats all I want. I want to not be able to tell. I imagine the way Rayman Origins was made is way cheaper and less work than actual sprites.

[Thursday Next]

Playing Ni No Kuni. It is utterly gorgeous. I could quite happily just sit back and watch it being played (provided the person playing it wasn't rubbish). Getting into the combat a bit more, though I don't really "get" counters.

[FMW]

I am currently playing a very agreeable trio of games.  Fire Emblem Awakening is my story game.  Etrian Odyssey IV is my grinding game.  Luigi's Mansion is my action game.  I'm not yet even halfway done with ANY of these which is the most exciting thing in the world.

 

For my tastes, these three games are perfect.  Yes Luigi's Mansion is super easy as action games go, but I'm terrible at action games so it's just about right.  Etrian Odyssey is a much harder game, but in a genre I'm much more comfortable in and happy to tackle unreasonable challenges from.  And Fire Emblem works great as a story game because all the important story beats are character driven in the support conversations.

 

I do feel some pressure to play more Etrian Odyssey right now though, because when Shin Megami Tensei IV comes out I'm going to want to rotate it in as my old school JRPG.

[toxicitizen]

Started playing Nier. I didn't feel like playing anything I have on Steam so I figured I needed a palate cleanser and this seemed like the weirdest thing I own. 

 

So far, it seems like an alright JRPG. I like those and I haven't had the chance to play one in quite a while so I'm enjoying it. About 6 hours in but I don't think I'm very far into the story since most of that time was spent doing side-quests. 

 

You guys have been praising this game so much that I figured it couldn't possibly live up to those expectations so I went in expecting to be disappointed. So far that's not been the case but I also don't see anything particularly special about it. I like what it does with the camera at times but that's about it.

[Strangelove]

Id say the music and some of the dialogue/story is what makes the game special. Especially if youre not impressed by all the genres it tries to cover.

[Mister Jack]

Started Metro 2033 (the first one) on my pc.  It's pretty decent so far but is it just me or do the gun effects sound kind of cartoony?

[Saturnine Tenshi]

Just spent an hour or two fully exploring Hoelbrak in Guild Wars 2, which is probably my favorite capitol city thus far. Most of the screenshots in this album are from that snowy peregrination.

[Strangelove]

Spec Ops: The Line. It plays pretty well and like reviews have said, it quite unremarkable in that dept. Theres nothing special about it.

I also quite enjoy Nolan North's voiceacting in this, its probably one of the best performances Ive EVER head in a game.

But I bought it for the story and it really hasnt been as great as everyone has said. But I havent finished it yet, im on chapter 10. Is the big lifechanging stuff after chapter 10? Either way, its fun and interesting enough that ill finish it.

Maybe the point of it isnt the story, its just what gradually happens to Walker as the game goes on, he kind of becomes ruthless while still not going insane. The gradual damage is also really cool, I wish more games beside the Batman games did this. I feel I need to finish the game and then see the big picture before I make my decision.

[Hot Heart]

You definitely need to complete it to get the full impact.

[Alex Heat]

Just tried out the State of Decay demo and I gotta say...it really hit all the right notes with me.  Definitely on my To Buy list.