Whatcha Been Playing?

[ratsoalbion]

Pine or oak though?

[KSubzero1000]

It says 'oak'.

[Suits]

Don't Google 'Hard Tits' if you're in public .

[Magical_Isopod]

Picked up Axiom Verge after hearing how the Dev and his disabled son were screwed out of $200,000 promised to them by Badlands Games - the publisher of the WiiU physical version.

Good game. Has some huge problems with dropped button inputs and some irritating level design, but the overall theme of the game is great. Kinda hate the 8-bit look too, but it fits with the theme.

[Suits]

The soundtrack is banging .

[Magical_Isopod]

The soundtrack is banging .

I'd agree. Not personal playlist stuff - just not my kinda thing - but I applaud the composer for mixing in modern sound instead of just relying on the same lazy chiptune stuff indie devs have been leaning hard on for the last decade.

[Suits]

Makes it even more impressive when you keep reminding yourself it’s just the one dude.

I love the atmosphere and tones it gives off.

I picked up the special edition for the Swicth, it came with soundtrack, poster, art book and blu-Ray documentary. It’s wonderful .

[Chopper]

It's a decent action game with an interesting nemesis mechanic.

I found it repetitive and didn't stick with it long, but I was definitely in the minority. Well worth trying out, as I'm sure it is cheap.

It doesn't have anything much to do with the books, I believe, so better to treat it as a separate entity as regards lore/story etc.

[Magical_Isopod]

I've been binging my way through The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies since Friday, so I'm thinking of picking up Shadow of Mordor to continue my time in Middle-Earth. Have many people on here played it and how do you think it holds up in 2019?

It's basically an Ubisoft style open world game. So if you somehow haven't played the 800 of those released this gen, it might hold your interest for a while.

[Alex79]

It was very well recieved and has some interesting systems. I still want to play it at some point.

[Alex79]

It's very well regarded. 9.3 from IGN, 5/5 in the Guardian. Isopod seems to have a bit of a thing against traditional style open world games - not that I want to put words in his/her mouth - but if you like open world adventures it's meant to be rather good, and I wager, cheap.

[Simonsloth]

I've been binging my way through The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies since Friday, so I'm thinking of picking up Shadow of Mordor to continue my time in Middle-Earth. Have many people on here played it and how do you think it holds up in 2019?

It's basically an Ubisoft style open world game. So if you somehow haven't played the 800 of those released this gen, it might hold your interest for a while.

If that's the case then no, I won't be buying it.

I think you are perhaps selling it short as I would not describe it as a derivative open world Ubisoft game. Whether you like it or not depends on whether you buy into the nemesis system and although I can’t guarantee it’s as refreshing playing today it was original and well regarded on release.

I still remember my first trivial death to a low level grunt who eventually ended up as top dog. I hated him. It was brilliant.

[Stanshall]

I've finally finished Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight . It was about as long as I can bear these days now that my attention span has been absolutely battered by shmups. It took me about four hours. Perfect amount of time. It's a slightly gothic cutesy 2D hack and slash Metroidvania with little charms and stuff like Hollow Knight. If Hollow Knight managed to compress its good bits into five hours, it might be as enjoyable as Momodora to me. The pixel art is really pretty and the environments are a combination of Zelda, Castlevania and Bloodborne. The music is also gorgeous, some really beautiful themes. The ability to switch between this Red Riding Hood kind of girl and a cute cat is great and makes for some neat traversal and discovery. I obviously missed some stuff because it just popped up with BAD ENDING after a little cut scene but I was happy enough for everyone to die. It fit the tone of the game. I'm going to start a petition for more five-hour games.

Besides that, still trying to get into and bouncing off RDR2, God of War, Spiderman and HZD. I don't know why besides the two hundred quid invested that I don't want to write off. And the feeling that one day, one of them might click.

To look at the positives, traversal in Spiderman feels fantastic, as good as traversal in any game I can think of. RDR2 is truly committed to what it wants to be and when I can stomach the rides between missions, the voice work and writing are often good. As a walking sim kind of thing, I like it, and as a major work within the medium I respect it. HZD is probably the best looking game I've ever played and the bow combat feels excellent. It's the one I'm most likely to finish, it's the most gamey. I also like what I've seen of the lore stuff. God of War is "mature", "worthy" Oscar fodder gaming. Thirty seconds of button bashing for every ten minutes of drudgery, asset streaming and ponderous dialogue that takes itself very seriously and which is ultimately hilarious. It's aiming to be The Tree of Life but it ends up nearer Big Daddy. I quite enjoyed Big Daddy, so that's as kind as I can be.

[Chopper]

HZD is probably the best looking game I've ever played and the bow combat feels excellent. It's the one I'm most likely to finish, it's the most gamey. I also like what I've seen of the lore stuff.

Our tastes could be completely different but if you're enjoying the lore, this is the one I would push you to finish, as the story actually delivers, as unlikely as it may seem at the start. While it is an excellent game, I wasn't a big fan and did the absolute bare minimum to get to the end, but I enjoyed the story. (I haven't played GoW or Spidey).

I am 100% with you on the shorter game thing.

I have no gaming time in the next week, so I've decided not to start Mutant Year Zero, which is next up for me, as I'd like to play it in contiguous sessions. Instead I've been dipping into the free games of the Humble Trove.

Drawkanoid is a block-breaking game which I assume takes its name from Arkanoid. It's not very similar though; the hook is that the ball goes into bullet time as it nears your paddle, and then you 'draw' the paddle yourself So for example you could draw the paddle like this _ or like / or \ in order to bounce the ball back at an angle of your choosing. I didn't like it much.

A2Be was billed as a 'science fiction narrative' based on the idea of teleportation making travel and transport of goods instantaneous, thus solving the climate change problem , which How Long to Beat had down as taking 27 minutes - more on HLTB later - but was so buggy as to be unplayable. In the second scene my character disappeared; not a huge problem as you're just clicking on other characters to interact anyway. But I restarted and the same thing happened. I pushed on, and in the next scene I got stuck in a conversation tree with no way out What a mess.

Copoka - I actually finished this one, in about 2.5 times the time HLTB said it would take (57 mins). The blurb for the game is "Copoka is a game about a bird, flying freely above the totalitarian city of Copoka. Speakers all around the city announce that the Great Leader will bring the state its salvation, while people whisper in the streets about unrest and dissatisfaction. But what are human concerns to a bird anyway?"

At the moment I'm playing Shelter, the badger simulator from 2013. I'm two stages into the game's five, and despite it being fairly easy, I'm surprised how stressful it is. All badger cubs have survived so far, bless their squeaking hearts.

So....How Long to Beat. People are obviously lying through their teeth on there. It's probably a combo of lies, the people who have registered on the site trying to outdo each other (as I assume they can see each others' times), and maybe the people who log time naturally gravitate towards smashing through a game in the quickest time possible. I am thinking of doubling my time for anything I put on there now, in order to provide some balance, so they've got me on the lying bandwagon now too.

[Michiel K]

Kid Icarus on the NES.

It's hard as tits, even with save states.

Really compelling though and the tower levels are really cool.

I cleared that back in the days. Really steep hill to climb, but it gets much easier later on, when your health bar expands and you get better weapons.

It's such an awkward game, but I agree it's very compelling as well. And there is a ton of hidden depth, with under the hood dynamic difficulty adjustments and item drops tied to score. This is maybe the aspect that Sakurai and Sora translated best to Uprising.

Currently in rotation (and this is a bit of a note to myself, so I don't lose track on the games of my backlog I'm currently tackling):

- Impossible Mission (C64)
- Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
- Fire Emblem (GBA)
- God of War (PS2)
- The Witcher - Enhanced Edition (PC)
- Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS)
- WarioWare Gold (3DS)

Impossible Mission, Kirby SSU and WarioWare Gold are off this list now and I've been going at God of War and DKC2 especially hard.

Besides that, my son played Dead Cells yesterday, which prompted me to give it a new shot... and now I’m kind of hooked. Reached and very nearly beat the Concierge on my second run.

[ratsoalbion]

I’ve got Dead Cells installed on all three current consoles. I don’t love it, but I do like it (clearly)!

[Michiel K]

Yeah, my hot take is that the 'procedurally generated Metroidvania' marketing descriptor is just quite nonsensical, really, as the exploration aspect is just so thin. The game really is all about the combat and it does have an addicting effect on me.

[Pitwar]

I picked up The Division 2 over the weekend, and started it yesterday.

I put 107 hours into the first game, so needless to say I was dead keen to play the sequel. I'm not massively far in but so far it's not disappointed.

If you weren't keen on the first game you likely won't enjoy this, but for fans it's more of the same with some sprinkles on top. This will be my go to game for the foreseeable future for sure.

While I played the first game on the PS4, I decided to go for the sequel on the Xbox as the X version is meant to be the best console version. If anyone fancies some games feel free to add me and let me know (my gamer tag is Pitwar80).

[Magical_Isopod]

Axiom Verge is a game I think I could love, but it has too many little flaws holding it back. The bosses are probably the biggest. They all have that stupid Space Invaders things where they speed up the closer they are to death... Which might be okay if they weren't bullet sponges. This is a frequent barrier to me for a lot of fighters and Bayonetta style games, but I simply do not have the physical coordination to handle games that are too fast and too demanding of perfection. So I'm mashing shoot, doing my best to avoid fire, and it's just mentally taxing in a way that's tough to describe - it's like my hands are bound up and I can't coordinate what my brain wants to do fast enough. And that's kind of bullshit. I fucking hate the "git gud" crowd for this reason. Like, I don't even have a disability, and these games are just too hard. Game devs need to enter the 21st century and stop making design choices that demand superhuman reflexes.

Back to Super Paper Mario though. I like that game. It's silly in a good way - something I desperately need in the dour political climate. There's obviously the NZ shooting and all the anger and frustration surrounding that, but Ontario's seeing some austerity cuts - seeing child and youth workers that basically saved my life as a kid being put out of work so the rich can get deeper tax breaks. And I'm in a really shitty place emotionally, on top of trying to help a friend escape an abusive marriage so it's like... Sometimes some stupid puns and flashy animation are just the right way to escape.

[Michiel K]

And that's kind of bullshit. I fucking hate the "git gud" crowd for this reason. Like, I don't even have a disability, and these games are just too hard. Game devs need to enter the 21st century and stop making design choices that demand superhuman reflexes.

I sympathise with your plight, but game devs are free to do whatever they want and you're free to not spend money on games that aren't for you.

And I'm in a really shitty place emotionally, on top of trying to help a friend escape an abusive marriage so it's like... Sometimes some stupid puns and flashy animation are just the right way to escape.

Sorry to hear all that, man. And yeah, games are my drug of choice in my toughest moments, as well. I've seen better moments myself and (tieing into superhuman reflex demanding games) I became totally engrossed in trying to clear some really mean and precise timing demanding levels in Donkey Kong Country 2, yesterday. Because at that moment in time, the outside world stopped existing for me and all that mattered was trying to get to the end of Bramble Blast and Hornet Hole.