Whatcha Been Playing?

[Roy42]

It's not necessarily playing a game, but I've been watching a Let's Play of Final Fantasy XIII-2. It really doesn't look as terrible as I was expecting.

In other news, I hit 55 seconds on the last level of Super Hexagon, which annoys me to no end. I can't imagine how the hell I will ever finish that level, but every time that thought crosses my mind I remember that I thought the same thing about roughly half of the levels in Mischief Makers.

[DomsBeard]

I've watched my Mrs play through most of FFXIII-2 and it's ok but the lack of decent boss fights puts me off it. She's going to have to go through and replay certain sections again to level up as she's too weak to face the last bosses.

[The Sonic Mole]

Apart from (lots of) Xenoblade Chronicles and FIFA13 I've been playing the Resident Evil remake on GameCube. It's been tough getting used to the old fashioned controls but other than that it's been a joy to go back to classic Resi. It looks lovely too.

[DomsBeard]

I've been playing Dead Island some more tonight after playing Walking Dead (zombie overload). How long is it? I'm enjoying it but if its a massive game I'll just buy the GOTY edition for £15 and send it back to love film.

[magicjoef]

How long is it?

I finished it in co-op and Steam says I've played for 17 hours, but I didn't play much of the site stuff in the second half (the first half of the game was the definite highlight for me).

[AndyKurosaki]

I've been playing Dead Island some more tonight after playing Walking Dead (zombie overload). How long is it? I'm enjoying it but if its a massive game I'll just buy the GOTY edition for £15 and send it back to love film.

I solo-ed it, think it was about 18 to 20 hours or so.

[DomsBeard]

Hmm think I'll buy it then as I really like it. Cheers

[TomFum]

Ive been lent a copy of Mass Effect 3 recently.

Managed to stay away from spoilers on the game and although ive heard alot of negativity towards the game, i have to say so far im really enjoying it and the Kinect integration kinda works as well.

[magicjoef]

I'm really struggling in F1 2012. I'm trying to get the difficulty level to be fun in the career mode and just can't get it balanced. I have the driving model/assists exactly as I want it and I love the feeling of actually playing, but I'm a about 3.5 seconds a lap too quick for Intermediate difficulty and 0.5 too slow a lap on Hard - which is a lot over a race.

I spent hours today thinking I could practice to get that time up a bit, but nope.

If only there was slider I could just knock it down a touch. It could break career mode for me.

[The Sonic Mole]

I started Dishonored on Saturday. I've been pretty blown away so far. I love how each level can be approached in so many different ways. I also love how you have to improvise and live by your wits. Yeah, fantastic stuff.

[magicjoef]

I'm freeeee! Last night I scored 10,000,000 points.

It's possibly my favourite game so far on my iPad.

[Roy42]

Finally had an evening free, so I booted into Windows and played a couple of games I've been meaning to for quite awhile.

Did the first two levels of Mark of the Ninja; incredibly satisfying to stealth around the place, and if levels didn't seem so long, I'd have played a bunch more. I didn't like that the first level seemed determined to have you kill guards though. Second level was much more fun due to that.

Then did the first two levels of Rayman Origins. Controls didn't seem as tight as I thought they'd be, but I had fun nonetheless. It has an excellent sense of momentum.

Lastly, I finally started Half-Life: Source. And after dying in the first underwater bit because Mr. Freeman didn't seem to share my enthusiasm for oxygen and my mouse didn't seem to share my enthusiasm for functionality, I discovered that the game doesn't auto-save. And as great as I'm sure that opening sequence of the game is, the effect is somewhat diminished when I have to sit through it again not 30 minutes later; I didn't keep playing after that. I suppose it's a good thing overall, though, for how much of a newfound appreciation for checkpoint saves it's given me. I'll just have to do better at remembering to save every time it hits a loading screen, I suppose.

[Sean]

Finished a second playthrough of Max Payne 3 on hard last night.

That game is so fucking cool. One of the best 3rd person shooters to come around in a while. Such a nasty, grimy story.

[The Sonic Mole]

I've got a train journey back to Leeds from London in about two hours, plus I'm heading to Newcastle tomorrow. That means I've got plenty of Grandia and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite ahead of me!

[Dante Fireseed]

Flicking between Borderlands 2 and XCOM at the moment, and loving them both.

[NokkonWud]

Finished a second playthrough of Max Payne 3 on hard last night.

That game is so fucking cool. One of the best 3rd person shooters to come around in a while. Such a nasty, grimy story.

Make sure to give New York Minute a go, it's brilliant. I loved it and then New York minute Hardcore (which I don't recommend unless you're a sadist - third go I died on the last level!), but that mode is brilliant (both normal and hardcore).

Max Payne 3 is my favourite third person shooter of the generation. I've completed it six times and put hours upon hours into the MP (max rank legitimately) and I still adore it. Plus it looks and sounds incredible and does it with a story I loved.

[Sean]

I plan to jump into NYM tonight. I took such a 180 on this game. Really didn't care for it at first, but, once it got to New Jersey, it sunk its teeth in, and, now it's one my favorites of this year, and, definitely one of my favorite TPS' of the gen.

The airport chapter is one of my favorite chapters of any game in recent memory. R* continue to be the best at licensed music placement, because, man, when that Health song kicks in, you feel like the baddest dude in the world.

I always felt like dirty crime stories are an untapped well in games. Its one reason I always admired the Kane and Lynch games, even though they were, unfortunately, just not very fun to play. But, K&L still kind of went for a serious crime drama, especially in Dog Days. But, most crime games like GTA, Sleeping Dogs, etc, always have a very silly side to them, which, I appreciate, but, sometimes, I wish they'd get a little darker. Even the first two Max Payne games, for as dark as they are, get pretty silly, themselves. But, MP3 is, from the very start, just a nasty story about shitty people doing ugly things to each other, and, it never lets up. You sincerely believe Max's transformation over the game from a careless drunk, to a man with nothing to lose.

It's awesome.

[dezm0nd]

MP3 is brilliant, I agree. I loved the grim story, always a bit of a sucker for the more depressing storylines in movies/games etc.

[NokkonWud]

The airport chapter is one of my favorite chapters of any game in recent memory. R* continue to be the best at licensed music placement, because, man, when that Health song kicks in, you feel like the baddest dude in the world.

Absolutely. That hit me even harder than the entrance to Mexico in RDR, and I loved that. It's just a perfectly chosen piece of music for that period in the game.
Max Payne 3 also does something that very few games (if any?) have managed and that's to be gritty and almost hyper-violent with it, yet never felt like it was gratuitous and completely needless, it all feels perfectly balanced because, you know, in that world, as you said, it's full of shitty people doing shitty things.

[General Aquila]

Need to give Max Payne 3 a try once it gets quiet on the games front, heard so many good things about it!