Whatcha Been Playing?

[AndyKurosaki]

Tried to play God of War Ascension again and after 3 attempts I'm just not getting into it.

Started Thomas Was Alone, which is probably as far from GoW as you can get, and I'm really enjoying it so far.

GOW Ascension is the only game in the series I've not played to completion. It's not a bad version, but for some reason I didn't feel the need to play it. I got about 4 hours in, put it to one side, then about 3 weeks later sent it back to Lovefilm. Just couldn't be bothered with it somehow.

[Sean]

I bought GoW:A day-one, and, while I did enjoy it, I did end up trading it in towards BioShock Infinite.

There were, as per usual, some really stunning moments, and, the gameplay was as polished as it's ever been, but, it had some weird sound issues that constantly took me out of the experience. It also felt too long for the story it was trying to tell. There were sequences that felt like hours would go by with Kratos saying barely one line of dialogue. The story was decent, but, not well-paced.

The multiplayer, on the other hand, was the real star of the show. Totally different compared to most of the stuff out there. Would love for them to do the Uncharted/Killzone thing of just releasing the multiplayer version on PSN. Would pick that back up in an instant.

[Buckled Kipper]

Started To The Moon last night after listening to this weeks Chet & John. Wow, what a game. Wanted to finish it in one sitting but after 3 odd hours I had to go to bed as it was about 2.30 am. Just started chapter 2, anyone know how long I have left? Want to set aside enough time to finish it tonight.

[Buckled Kipper]

Sorry should be act 2, not chapter 2.

[Todinho]

Decided to pick up Shadowrun Returns since I never played the original and I wanna see what can you do with 2 million dolars in a Crpg,turns out it's very little I dont think I ever played a more linear western rpg you cant even save the game yourself it relies on a infuriating checkpoint system...that said the world is really cool a strange mix of cyberpunk and fantasy the writing is also very good so far but the story itself has been predicable I hope it picks up soon,one other thing the combat system is lifted entirely form the new Xcom which is good but It is still very limiting but despite all my issues im enjoying it I mean you dont get to play as a ork detective in every game.

[Buckled Kipper]

Decided to pick up Shadowrun Returns since I never played the original and I wanna see what can you do with 2 million dolars in a Crpg,turns out it's very little I dont think I ever played a more linear western rpg you cant even save the game yourself it relies on a infuriating checkpoint system...that said the world is really cool a strange mix of cyberpunk and fantasy the writing is also very good so far but the story itself has been predicable I hope it picks up soon,one other thing the combat system is lifted entirely form the new Xcom which is good but It is still very limiting but despite all my issues im enjoying it I mean you dont get to play as a ork detective in every game.

Really want to play this, but I'm holding out for the ipad version which is due out in a couple of weeks.

[Todinho]

Really want to play this, but I'm holding out for the ipad version which is due out in a couple of weeks.

I didnt even know there was gonna be an ipad version but thinking now the UI kinda makes more sense now I wonder if the overall structure of the game was changed develepoment because of this too,probably not but still, anyway it's pretty good but just liek I said dont expect too much open-endness

[dezm0nd]

Well, after much pootling about with not much taking my interest on my back catalogue, I was motivated to play Pandora's Tower.

It's a very flawed game, mechanically but the action-RPG, almost Monster Hunter-esque mixed with Castlevania has got me hooked. PUN! I can see why the game is hovering at about 70 but I am compelled to see the game through to the end. The basic premise is enough to keep me interested without boring me to tears via the traditional JRPG tropes and the combat is more my style. (again, think Monster Hunter).

I'm about half way through with 7 hours clocked and it'll be one that I play on my days off for numerous hours at a time. I'm half tempted to get the other Operation Rainfall games but I don't want to push my luck!

Also picked up DropChord which is basically Elite Beat Agents mixed with Dyad. A hard game to explain but definitely one of Double Fine's oddest yet highly enjoyable games as of late. Originally made for PC's Leap Motion controller the game has seen a transition to touch devices and it works really, really well!

[Roy42]

The Last Story is Final Gears of Fantasy War, if that helps sway your decision.

[AndyKurosaki]

Heavy Fire Shattered Spear. It's COD crossed with Time Crisis, only designed by the work experience boys with no idea what they're doing. Easily one of the most laughably bad games I've ever played.

[Scrustle]

Just finished Dragon's Dogma... I think. I finished the main quest line and the illegible credits rolled, but then it dumped me right back in to the game with new quests. I thought that would have been the end and I would go on to new game plus by now. Is this some kind of epilogue thing before the game actually ends? Either way, I've decided that since I screwed up a lot of the game I was just going to ignore the pile of side-quests I hadn't finished so far. I think at least one of them was glitched too. The one where you are supposed to get jumped by assassins at night for example; it just never happened. Even looked it up on the wiki and went to the place that was supposed to trigger it several times, and got nothing. Either way, I just decided to screw it and make my next playthrough much more thorough and less incompetent. I haven't even explored the whole map either. I guess I'm going to have to wait a bit more before I get my chance to try again.

Oh, and fighting the dragon was awesome. See, that's how you do a final boss dragon in a game! Although I enjoyed Kingdoms of Amalur, the dragon which was the final boss in that was really weak. The design of it was cool, and I suppose there were some cool set piece moments, but actually fighting it consisted of nothing more than fighting some weak ghosts things, and then pressing a button prompt to watch a little cutscene. You don't really fight it at all. It just sits in the background until you kill enough ghosts to charge up and activate the prompt. Snooze. But in Dragon's Dogma the thing actually gets right up in your face! It meant the camera struggles a bit, but it was still great. It was fast and dangerous too. With huge enemies in games, they often don't really seem dangerous because they're so slow. You can see their attacks coming from a mile off, and they attack so infrequently too. But not this guy. People often say dragons in RPGs are crap because they're overused and not done right. This one was.

I also wanted to add a little something I forgot to mention with GoW3. I was going to add it to my previous post, but since it was so long already I couldn't be bothered to add even more. But I've actually been somewhat impressed with some moments of characterisation so far. That being Kratos' interactions with Hephaestus. They had some really interesting conversation, and Kratos actually showed a little bit of his feelings instead of shouting at everything all the bloody time. That's one thing I really didn't like about GoW2. He just shouted at fucking everything! It sounded so stupid, and made Kratos look like he had some kind of mental problem too. It was ridiculous. Not everything about the GoW3 story has been great either. There's still a bit of stupid moments that come out of nowhere, that GoW2 was full of. For example Athena showing up and suddenly deciding she wants to help you, and telling you suddenly the fate of mankind now rests in your hands, and that she's "learnt something" that she won't tell me. What the hell? You can't just pull bullshit like that out of your arse and expect it to not look stupid. Even if any game could, GoW would be the last series to be able to get away with it.

[ratsoalbion]

I've avoided spoilers myself, but Sean Bell has repeatedly implied that the 'end' of Dragon's Dogma is only the very beginning of the game's best part.
So you may want to look into that.

[Scrustle]

Yeah, I have heard that the end of the story is much better than the rest of it. Although the story did start getting better towards the "end" that I've reached, I don't feel like it ever reached a point of being "good". But the events that have happened in the last few cutscenes in the game do create some very interesting situations. Since I turned it off right after, I don't really know what's going on, but it looks like it could be cool. I guess when people say the"end" is the best part, this is what they mean.

[Beck]

I'm working my way through uncharted 3 and so far I've found it to drag. I can't put my finger on why this one isn't as good as uncharted 2.

I don't think finishing tomb raider last month helps. Tomb Raider is the better game imo. I can't see me completing uc3

[Baron Phil]

Uncharted 3 was a bit of a slog for me as well, I did get through it but I was close to giving up.
It was the combat that did it for me, it just felt so much more frustrating than 2 even though I was playing on easy. A lot of the enemies were bullet sponges and I really didn't like the 'heavies'.

[Scrustle]

So I just played the demo for The Wonderful 101. Not really sure what to make of it. I'm not sure the demo really did a very good job of showing off the game. Didn't really explain things very well, and information windows disappear by themselves quite quickly. I was starting to get the hang of it by the end though. I've always been kind of unsure on this game, and I still am. There doesn't really seem to be much to it. You smack robots with either a simple attack where your mob charges enemies, or with one of the two special powers. The fist and the sword. Oh, and there's a gun as well, but I didn't use that. There are a couple of small gimmicky puzzles too. I don't really like the camera angle either. It seems too close to get a proper bearing on your surrounding, but too far to be able to see what's going on in combat very well. It seemed to get obstructed on some occasions too.

Everyone seems to be going crazy for this game, but it's just not doing it for me. Every time I've said that I've gotten hate for it. Apparently I'm not allowed to not love a Platinum game, even though they're one of my favourite studios too.

Also played a bit more of Dragon's Dogma. Things certainly have gotten interesting. Giving away much more would border on spoilers, but this section seems to be focused on the best element of the game. It's a blast.

[Todinho]

Started playing Sword&Sworcery again maybe this time I can actually finnish it,I dont know why I stopped playing it the first time just lost interest I suppose other than that I decided to give God Hand another try I tried it awhile ago and didnt like it at all I just died all the time and never really got good with it,glad to say im enjoing it alot more this time,managed to build a good combo and I think im getting better at not dying,the camera is still a pain in the neck though.

[Baron Phil]

God Hand is a hard game to get into because its so punishing to start with, I gave up on it 3 times before I'd even got through the first area.
It has ended being my 2nd favourite game of all time so I'd definitely say stick with it.

[Kajigh]

I've been playing quite a bit of Dungeons of Dredmor recently in build-up to Gaslamp Games' next release, Clockwork Empires (even though they have nothing to do with one another apart from the similar art-style), and have really enjoyed it.

The difficult rogue-like elements make for challenging 20 minute sessions (if you're as bad at it as I am) meaning its relatively easy to just boot up and play if you don't have a lot of time. The variety of classes you can take into the dungeons with you all have interesting specialities and passives that make for re-playability in the class combinations you choose and the randomly generated dungeons. It has a quirky sense of humour as well, which is refreshing when compared to other adaptations of the genre.

Safe to say I'd recommend it. I got it on sale but it is less than £4 anyway so not much hassle to pick up.

[Todinho]

OK third time is the charm,started dark souls again and this time I am going to finnish it!