Whatcha Been Playing?

[Scrustle]

I love Amped 3. One of the first 360 games I ever got and I still have the same copy I bought all those years back. Fantastic game. Not played the others though. Never heard of the series before then, unfortunately.

I've wondered about Stoked before though. Given how few snowboarding games released this generation, I always kept an eye on the handful that did. But the reviews for Stoked weren't so hot. I thought it wasn't worth trying out. But you say it is good after all? What's it like? Did you ever play the improved re-release they put out?

[Roy42]

I never looked at the reviews for Stoked, I just saw it in the shops and its namesake reminded me of Amped. I certainly remember having fun with it, but I'll throw it in and have another quick play around to make sure. One of the things that I think might have been weighed against it is that to get the ability to fly around each mountain, you need to complete a couple of tasks, either trick-based or point-based, which can be a bit of an issue if you don't know what you're doing. And I don't know if what I have is the re-release or not, I'll look into that.

It basically plays like Amped does, where you get dropped at the top of a mountain and are mainly trying to get points for doing tricks on the way down; how you do so exactly being up to you. I might record a short video of the game if I've got time this week.

[CapinGreen]

I'm playing through Demon's Souls in preparation for Dark Souls 2 (I never stopped playing Dark Souls though).

I'm also about to make a start on Revengence; looking forward to another Platinum epic.

[Roy42]

Okay, firstly, I played Kairo a day or two ago. For a couple of hours, then stopped; and I have no intention of ever playing it again. It's like it wants to capture the feeling of discovery and wonder in a new world that Myst did, but fails to capture the subtleties. Like having a world. Or having puzzles that are at all intuitive and not literally based on luck. Kairo is awful, you should not buy it, and if you already have it, you should not play it.

I also played a mission of Dungeon Defenders on the PC; and good god, is that a horrible port of a console game.

Then, today, I figured I'd see how abysmally my computer would run Skyrim at; turns out it kept up pretty well. As soon as I fast travelled once, the frame rate dropped from the solid 20-ish to single digits, but it'd been going good until then, so I guess the intro was pretty fun. I'll look forward to playing that whenever I build a PC that can actually run it.

And then I played Dyad for half an hour. Does anyone know what platform it was originally for? It makes me feel like it was a portable game of some kind, or should have been. It's not designed to be played in long bursts, which I personally prefer. It's bright and colourful and trippy and fun and has a wealth of gameplay options; it's just also incredibly draining to play.

Oh, and I've been playing an iOS game called "Lyne" that was recently released. Looks to be by an Australian indie developer and it's pretty good for the minimal price you pay for it, so I recommend it; I've got more to say about it beyond that, but I actually foresee me completing that this year, so I'll save it for the other thread.

[ratsoalbion]

And then I played Dyad for half an hour. Does anyone know what platform it was originally for?

PS3 I believe.

[The Sonic Mole]

I'm still hooked on Bravely Default - although I've just realised I could do with grinding for a bit. Not a big deal as the combat is cracking. When you don't mind grinding you know you're playing a very good JRPG.

Other than that I'm reacquainting myself with the CAVE shmups I have in my collection. When I went to bed on Saturday all I could see when I shut my eyes were hundreds of tiny red and blue bullets!

[James]

Today I played through Deathsmiles twice (to complete the 4 character stories), DoDonPachi Resurrection and Akai Katana. Bloomin' heck, those are some good games, but I too fear the red & blue mist descending.

I also grabbed the trial of Guwange on XBLA to take a step back into Cave's 90's output.

It, Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga may find their way onto my 360, but those real money prices do look steep.

[ratsoalbion]

Silvergun and Ikaruga are well worth the asking prices, especially given that the disc versions cost £50 to £100! That said, they quite often feature iin XBLA sales so it might be worth hanging on.

No urgency though - we won't be covering Treasure's games on the Cave podcast

[James]

Yeah, I know, but I'm kinda in the mood to see some of the other pinnacles of the genre now.

I'll try the demo versions for now and wait for a sale... maybe.

[ratsoalbion]

Warning: The demo versions are terrible demonstrations of those games' merits!

[Bakers_12]

I been playing a lot of Zelda: A link between worlds such a brillant game. Showcases Nintendos ability to take a game thats over a decade old add a few bits and rejig it and come out with somthing that feels so fresh.

[ratsoalbion]

I been playing a lot of Zelda: A link between worlds such a brillant game. Showcases Nintendos ability to take a game thats over a decade old add a few bits and rejig it and come out with somthing that feels so fresh.

Well over two decades old in fact!

[Bakers_12]

Trying to make myself feel younger

[ratsoalbion]

Ha ha, fair enough - sorry man!

[AndyKurosaki]

Ikaruga is well worth the asking price on 360, one of Live Arcade's very best games.

[Alex79]

Yeah it's great but woah there, rewind a sec - Radiant Silvergun is on XBLA now?!

[ratsoalbion]

Yeah it's great but woah there, rewind a sec - Radiant Silvergun is on XBLA now?!

Only since September 2011...

[Alex79]

Palm and face in perfect unison.

>_<

[Cass]

Was really hesitant about playing DmC, since it's not the genre of game I usually like and every other Devil May Cry game left me cold. But it was on PS+ so I thought ah, what the hell.

5 hours later and I've forgotten to eat or wee. SUCH A GOOD GAME.

[dezm0nd]

I have been playing Nidhogg. A simplistic 2D fencing game in which each player has to run to their goal and get eaten by a giant worm aka the nidhogg.

When you kill the opponent, you're then allowed to run to the next screen and vice verse. The genius here is how much depth and hilarity there is within the controls and the moves you can do to outwit your foe.

SO GOOD.