Whatcha Been Playing?

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ratsoalbion
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ratsoalbion »

Hand over your gun and your badge.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

You're not wrong, it's a stunning looking game. I really think M2 have excelled themselves this time (shonky online features notwithstanding). I'd love to see more games given this treatment. Not a reimagining or an update of, but a remaster in the truest sense.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Alex - Have you seen the M2 interview from MLG ??
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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No, what's MLG? I'll have a look :)
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

I think he's talking about the interview on the My Life in Gaming YouTube channel. But they barely mention any game other than Battle Garegga. I can't remember anything about Virtua Racing...
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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My Life In Gaming.

Take a look man, I’m a very big fan of their content, excellent documentary they did based on the focus and detail of M2 early this year.

Cup of tea and a Kat-Kat jobbie.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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KSubzero1000 wrote: July 6th, 2019, 8:48 pm I think he's talking about the interview on the My Life in Gaming YouTube channel. But they barely mention any game other than Battle Garegga. I can't remember anything about Virtua Racing...
Yeah, that’s the one man.

I enjoyed the way in which M2 talk about their projects 😎😎.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Cool thanks, I'll check it out!
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Stanshall
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Stanshall »

They did two M2 docs, with one specifically focused on shmups (M2 ShotTriggers). Bloody good stuff.
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Suits
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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clippa wrote: July 6th, 2019, 10:07 pm I don't think I've ever played the game but I remember enjoying the digitalfoundry video on virtua vacing.
Yes, which is very good.

I have history with this game.

This was big business when it came out. Or it was to me anyway.

I was young, March 1994 I had just turned 10, so this was hot on the noise off the playground in South Wales.

I was no where near being able to consider this game as a potential gift, given the time of year release and price of £70.

But because of that price point and crazy visual appearance to will ever be a solid part of video game fantasy for me.

The fact that it still plays well today is a testament of solid game design in my opinion.

It taps into that, 'just one more go' feeling.

To have finally conquered it, is quite a fulfilling feeling.
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Played a bit of each of the PS+ games this evening. Really enjoyed the first 90 minutes or so of Detroit, just played the scenario where you're helping the painter. The voice actor for him sounds a lot like Mike off Breaking Bad, but I've not looked it up yet.*

Also did the first area of Horizon Chase Turbo. This game was fantastic for mobile and its even better on console, really fun! And friends leaderboards is always a great bonus in games like this...

*Ah, it's Lance Henriksen!
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ReprobateGamer
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ReprobateGamer »

Okay, so here we go.

TrueAchievements is holding it's annual bean dive currently. For those who don't know it's a ten day event where participants aim to play a game until an achievement is unlocked then they move onto the next game.
It's a deliberate attempt to encourage you to play some of the games in your backlog. It also then forces you to play a lot more to rebuilt your completion ratio ... more details here: https://www.trueachievements.com/n38321/bean-dive-2019

Which means I've played 11 new games in the last 72 hours (takes deep breath) - I'll keep everything thought to three sentences or less in a vague homage to the podcast

Borderlands 2 - Have played previously on PS3 but this was the handsome collection. Got this achievement without moving my character as I had a look at all the customisation options and it popped. Next game ...
Everspace - space dog fighting with a possible roguelite element? Disappointed I couldn't barrel roll. Will come back to.
Bridge Constructor Portal - exactly what it says on the tin. Glados makes for an interesting addition to the puzzle construction genre. I'll be trying this with my daughters
Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) - platformer made with the assistance of an Eskimo tribe. Didn't realise there was a co-op option. Looks engaging
Rime - been wanting to play this game as it seems to riff off from Journey. Boy has funny run. Daughter interested in seeing more
Tacoma - wife seemed intrigued by this game with the zero-g opening. She missed my basket for three points and first achievement before having managed to actually do anything more
Wargroove - lovely little game but graphics seem a little too rough despite the pixel art style. Anime opening leaves me wondering just which side are the bad guys. Like turn based strategy so i will return
The Gardens Beneath - Had thought there was a platforming element to this quirky puzzler. There really isn't but a take on time control that shows promise
Old Mans' Journey - This actually is a platformer albeit at a slower pace with the gimmick that you move the landscape so your character can reach it. really not certain what I think of this
Forza Horizon 2 - The Italian countryside looks a little false compared to driving around north Britain in FH4. Think with the amount to do in the latest franchise offering that this won't see a lot of use.
Bastion - been on my pile of shame since the first summer of gaming. narrator is still great but the controls feel clunky now. Suspect this will go back on my pile of shame

Phew. There are some crazy folks on TA who have manged to play over a hundred games enough to pop an achievement in the same time :shock:

I have more games that are sitting lurking so there is likely to be a part two later in the week
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Stanshall
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I've been going through various bits and bobs I've had lying around, partly so I can uninstall without any regret and get them out of my sight.

Girl Fight is a sub-DOA tit-centric fighting game for the Xbox 360. It's sluggish, has GG-style cards and perks and a naff, late 90s industrial/big beat soundtrack. Fundamentally, it's about a range of tits in different costumes.

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. Excellent name and cult status aside, this is a very pretty, but very simplistic Bayonetta type thing. I can imagine feeling like it was something special ten years ago or something but the form has been superceded several times over by better games.

Otomedius Excellent is a Gradius game spun off the theme of massive anime tits. It's not really worth playing if you have the Konami Arcade Classics Collection or any other way in which you can play the Gradius games themselves.

Otomedius Gorgeous is very similar but with one bloke to choose from and it's all in Japanese. Identical tit content.

SEGA Rally Online Arcade is a really good fun, lite Sega Rally game. It looks cheerful and handles very easily but with some decent challenge as you go on. It's no OutRun 2 but it's more interesting and fun than Daytona USA to me. I won't actually uninstall this, it's good.

Dead or Alive Extreme 2 is a mini game collection built around the concept of big bouncing tits. It's every bit as boring as one might imagine, with the dolly dress up and looking at the tits elements taking up perhaps 50% of the game time.

Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury is one that I think I played on the DS and at the time I just thought 'cultural differences'. Fifteen years on or whatever it is, I still don't get this game at all. It seems fun on some extremely base level but also curiously mind-numbing and pointless. It's funny that it's by Treasure considering how rigid and austere their other shmups are that I've played. It has nothing at all in common with Ikaruga or Radiant Silvergun. I know that they're not very Treasure kind of games, in fact, but they're much more to my taste.
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James
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Stanshall wrote: July 7th, 2019, 2:26 pm El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. Excellent name and cult status aside, this is a very pretty, but very simplistic Bayonetta type thing. I can imagine feeling like it was something special ten years ago or something but the form has been superceded several times over by better games.
Perhaps others would disagree, but I never saw El Shaddai's combat as particularly noteworthy. At least, that was never the draw for me. It was simplistic even when released in 2011, compared to forebears like DMC and Bayonetta. The draw was the art and the way mythology was presented and played with.

Taking DMC4's religious overtones as an example, notions of faith and religious iconography were largely backdrop, and it's my opinion that the developers didn't really use these to best effect, beyond giving Nero and Dante stuff to hit. Bayonetta uses similar motifs and manages to craft a personal story for Bayonetta herself out of it, but I didn't feel the developers ever really tackled the (Christian) faith that it uses to dress up its characters. Orders of angels and demons, with vague nods to an eternal war, etc, etc.

I think it's notable that the director on El Shaddai was a character designer and artist on Devil May Cry, rather than a gameplay or combat designer. The development team surely put a lot of effort into crafting El Shaddai's gameplay, and I wouldn't want to minimise or ignore that, but what makes El Shaddai special for me lay elsewhere, and I can't say I've seen anything in the genre surpass it since.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Combine Hunter »

Yeah, I'd agree James. I like the combat just fine, it never gets in the way, but the draw is aesthetics and theming. Bayonetta came out a year before it and it's still the gold standard for character action games like this for me.
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Stanshall
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Stanshall »

James wrote: July 7th, 2019, 4:57 pm Perhaps others would disagree, but I never saw El Shaddai's combat as particularly noteworthy. At least, that was never the draw for me. It was simplistic even when released in 2011, compared to forebears like DMC and Bayonetta. The draw was the art and the way mythology was presented and played with.
Cheers for the reply. I suppose part of it is that I don't know anything about the Jewish iconography and/or mythology that the game is apparently using. I found the art style very pretty but after an hour or so, I gave up on the game because it's mechanically very simple and I also found it aesthetically quite similar throughout (the short time I played it). I totally accept that I haven't seen the full game or really understood what it's doing but it's a subgenre that I don't especially enjoy at the best of times (DMC series does zero for me; Bayonetta was something I loved at the time but struggle to go back to; Bayo 2 was overblown, all turned up to 11 and therefore ironically dull; Nier:A is amazing in some very specific ways, but little to do with its mechanics or presentation). I could have given it more of a chance but I didn't fancy button mashing my way through any more. I can see that there's plenty I'm likely missing out on, though.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Simonsloth »

El Shaddai definitely is more style than substance for me. The fact my favourite part of the game was the Jason Issacs delivered attract mode says a lot. Let me tell you a tale...
[youtube]https://youtu.be/GU4I6MM-moU[/youtube]
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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I started Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect 1 was the first game I streamed from start to finish on Twitch back in 2017, so now I've been using the series as my anniversary game. I'm only two hours in (the intros never really grab me) but excited to finish this trilogy up. I most likely will not be trying Andromeda.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by stvnorman »

I think Game Boy Castlevania Adventure gets a bum rap. Then again, I think that about Pit Fighter and the Spectrum version of Out Run too! Anyway, I remember being hugely impressed with it on the original hardware, and have really enjoyed playing through it again in the Konami Castlevania Collection on Switch.

A lot of the current criticism seems to be about it being boring compared to the sequel, therefore redundant in the collection, and taking the place of a GBA game or Symphony or whatever.

The first stage is a bit sedate, but there’s some really good platforming, races against time and boss fights later on. Took me a few goes to remember how the end bit works, but the rest felt comfortably familiar and as much fun as I remembered. And I for one am glad it’s present! Now I just need that Arcade Archives Pit Fighter release!
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by ratsoalbion »

I rate M2’s Castlevania: The Adventure - Rebirth as a fabulous SNES-esque remake too. Real shame it isn’t on the compilation.

I don’t think Hamster have any Atari IP, so you won’t get an ACA version of Pit Fighter.
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