Whatcha Been Playing?

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

Suits wrote: June 5th, 2018, 12:30 pm Is anyone familiar with a mobile game called 'Out There'.
I’ve had Out There on my iPad for years and never played it. Until now! What a cool game. I’m not massive into spaceship management but this is pretty simple to grasp and there’s a great risk-reward system at play. You’re right -it’s pretty unforgiving though! Thanks for that. I’ll play it some more later!

I’m still completely torn on Mario Tennis Aces, three days after the online tournament demo ended. I’ve now pre-ordered and cancelled twice. On the one hand there was too much going on - there’s still no tennis game I’ve enjoyed more than the pure, simple arcade fun of Tennis (featuring Mario) on the Game Boy; on the other hand, despite it feeling more like Street Fighter than the tennis game I wanted, I couldn’t stop playing it! Now I’m thinking of pre-order number three because I think it will probably end up being my game of the year!

Also had a horrible moment twelve hours into Golf Story when I thought it was turning into Monkey Island, but fortunately the quest in question wasn’t quite as obscure as I first feared, and with a bit of trial and error I got it behind me and we’re back to golfing on what seems to be somewhere near the end of the game, which does sadden me a bit as I’ve really enjoyed it.
rob25X
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by rob25X »

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince (Xbox 360) -

I played this game on the PS3 around 5 years ago and quite enjoyed it. Decided to go back to it this time on the 360, and really, this game is excellent.

I have no interest in Harry Potter really (only saw the first movie and didn't like it) but this game is very good. The story is quite short but interesting and there's a lot of fun to be found after (quiditch matches, dueling fights, mixing potions, and generally exploring the school). It looks very good too. Controls could have been slightly better but still an excellent game.

4.5/5
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Suits »

stvnorman wrote: June 6th, 2018, 10:17 pm I’ve had Out There on my iPad for years and never played it. Until now! What a cool game. I’m not massive into spaceship management but this is pretty simple to grasp and there’s a great risk-reward system at play. You’re right -it’s pretty unforgiving though! Thanks for that. I’ll play it some more later!
Yeah, I forget how it sprung into my head, I think I was thinking about No Man's Sky and how I enjoyed the language mechanics - which reminded me that perhaps they got the inspiration from 'Out There'. Or something similar.

I used to play it on the train into Town each morning and I remember it's compelling gameplay, artwork and short run mentality.

Like I said, I'm fairly certain it's been updated quiet a bit since then so I should get back into it really, I just very much dislike playing games on my phone.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ratsoalbion »

When I think of No Man's Sky, two mid-late 80s games always spring to mind: Captain Blood and Explorer (by Electric Dreams)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_B ... ideo_game)

http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A ... FID%3D3512
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

The language thing goes back at least as far as Starflight. Now there’s an old game I’ve not thought about for a while.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ratsoalbion »

True, Starflight predates Captain Blood ever so slightly. I believe we played some music from it on SoP recently.
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duskvstweak
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by duskvstweak »

Started Telltale's Jurassic Park: The Game last night. First two episodes done, with only two more to go. Seems short, but there's also not much "game" there, so it's probably for the best.
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Scrustle
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Scrustle »

Lately I've been playing Vampyr, and so far I'm rather enjoying it. It does a very good job of creating an atmosphere with its dark and gloomy London, with a melancholy cello soundtrack. But the real stand-out thing so far are the characters. Discovering all the people there are to meet and interacting with them is really rewarding. Pretty much every single character is fleshed out, has their own distinct personality, and several things going on that you gradually dig in to as you learn more about them. Both through them and other characters they have a relationship with. It's really impressive, and pulls you in and makes you empathise with all of them. Even those who might seem like horrible people on the surface have some decent redeeming qualities. They all have pretty great voice acting too. Before I started this game I was intending to go around killing everyone so I could get all the cool powers, and to see what it did to the game world. But the characters are all so good I've been finding it hard to actually commit to that. The game also does this somewhat mean, but pretty clever trick to put you in that sort of mindset. They have this system where in order to get more XP from killing NPCs, the more details you have to know about them. So in other words, to make the most out of them as simply a source of power for yourself, it forces you to get emotionally invested in them. I think that's a really smart way to put you in the boots of the player character. On the one side, you feel the urge to gain more power, like a vampire's thirst for blood. But at the same time, it makes you care for all these people around you, like the caring doctor you play as. So I'm pretty impressed with how they've managed to create that emotional resonance and conflict in the player with a good mix of mechanics and narrative.

The game has a rather scrappy presentation to it, but in a rather intriguing way I think. Obviously being a middle-tier game, it isn't as polished or expansive as the biggest budget games out there. Yet I wouldn't say the presentation is "bad", but rather "old". It almost feels like a remaster of a game from 2012 that didn't exist. The dialogue system in particular feels right out of that period when everyone was trying to copy Bioware and their wheel system. So playing the game now feels kind of like discovering a lost, forgotten cult classic from that time period.
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Stanshall
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Stanshall »

I've been playing the perfectly formed but somewhat uptight arse off Ikaruga. A fantastic concept and more fun than my memories would have had me believe, but exceptionally difficult and it feels limiting. If you don't attempt to optimise your route, you'll find yourself quickly overwhelmed and trapped. I don't really enjoy that aspect of it, it feels like learning a long string of numbers and recalling them at the right moment, rather than expressing oneself through destruction and annihilation.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

The more you play, you'll build up extra lives and continues and stuff. Permanently I mean.
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

Decided to give Watch Dogs 2 a go seeing as it’s very cheap in CEX these days.

It’s so different in tone from the first game I kind of wonder why they didn’t give it a new name entirely instead of associating it with all the baggage.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Dying Light is in the PSN sale, and I'll probably grab it tonight.

Is it worth paying a few quid extra for the enhanced edition with the Following DLC bungled? I don't generally go for DLC, don't have the time and once I'm done with the main game I usually move on, but wasn't sure if it intergrated a lot of other enhancements in to the main game.

Any advice? Thanks!
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ratsoalbion »

I bought the complete edition on Xbox One yesterday for £16. This is not much help but I figured the extra bits and bobs would be worth £4.
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Chopper »

Alex79uk wrote: June 8th, 2018, 12:20 pm Dying Light is in the PSN sale, and I'll probably grab it tonight.

Is it worth paying a few quid extra for the enhanced edition with the Following DLC bungled? I don't generally go for DLC, don't have the time and once I'm done with the main game I usually move on, but wasn't sure if it intergrated a lot of other enhancements in to the main game.

Any advice? Thanks!
Yes, 100%. The Following is an excellent bit of DLC, really changes up the main game. In the main game you are on foot, in the DLC you're given a huge area and a dune buggy type thing to drive around it, which is great fun.

I rarely play DLC but I played this about a year after I played the main game and loved it.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Yeah thanks both, complete edition it is then!
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NuKaholic
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by NuKaholic »

Just picked up Dead Cells on steam in a sale. Cool little 2D Metroidvania game. It's very addicting. Put 10 hours into it already. It is still in early access so that's something to keep in mind if anyone else is considering getting it. In 10 hours I personally have not run into any bugs or anything egregious. Highly recommended if you're a fan of the genre.
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Craig
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Craig »

Purchased Human Fall Flat and I’ve had some proper belly laughs from it. You have an absurd marshmallow like character who walks and controls bit like a chubby toddler freshly awoken from nap time. It starts off great fun, multiplayer too, but unfortunately this clumsy controls start to become frustrating when the levels get more complex. They’re asking you to carrying out tasks that are too precise for the physics engine and controls to deal with. Sometimes it’s unclear if what I’m trying to do to progress is the wrong thing or I’m just not quite able to pull it off.

Still, if you see it for cheap there are some laughs to be had.
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

Just picked up Burnout Paradise remastered -£11.99 on the PlayStation Store! As fun as I remember. Also just finished Golf Story on Switch. Clocked in at exactly 20 hours to finish main story and all “side quests” bar three that really annoyed me. The final tournament must have taken me twenty goes - thought I was pretty good until I started that!
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

This is completely off-topic, but I just came across this and I feel like sharing:



God of War has nothing on this in terms of boss scale and adult-themed violence! :lol:
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stvnorman
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

I like to give every fee game on PS+ a fair crack, but after the first scene (where you vaguely interact with some terrible controls) in Beyond: Two Souls, I had to delete it as fast as possible. What an awful game!
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