Whatcha Been Playing?

[OldBailey]

The Wipeout chat on here the other day got me in the mood to play something similar so I picked up Redout on PC and so far, I'm having a great time with it.

It's handling model is solid and fun with plenty of scope for skillful play even if doesn't quite have the snappy, responsive feel of an F-Zero, or the delicious weighty, physics simulation of the best Wipeout games. It definitely leans more towards the latter (as does my preference) but is unique enough to not feel too derivative.

One thing this game does do very well is it's powerup system. I've always felt that Wipeout would be a better game if the weapons were removed entirely but this game proves that it can be done well with a loadout system that allows you to select one active and passive buff. It removes the frustrating element of randomness in Wipeout, all the options are useful in certain scenarios and seem fairly well balanced too.

The game also looks great, runs well and has a mountain of content when you add in the dlc packs. If you get an itch for this kind of game then give it a go, it's definitely working for me. No idea how the console versions stack up, but it's currently 70% off on Steam.

[KSubzero1000]

I played roughly a third of Redout a few years ago and found it a lot of fun, despite being more of a F-Zero fan at heart. Unfortunately, the shoestring production values and perceived repetitiveness of a lot of the campaign events kinda discouraged me from completing it. Hard to compete with the Wipeout Omega Collection sitting right next to it.

But for the heavily discounted price it regularly goes for, zero complaints here. Very solid arcade racer with great handling.

[OldBailey]

I played roughly a third of Redout a few years ago and found it a lot of fun, despite being more of a F-Zero fan at heart. Unfortunately, the shoestring production values and perceived repetitiveness of a lot of the campaign events kinda discouraged me from completing it. Hard to compete with the Wipeout Omega Collection sitting right next to it.

But for the heavily discounted price it regularly goes for, zero complaints here. Very solid arcade racer with great handling.

I can definitely see how it may have felt a little repetative without the DLC to spice things up. There are 5 packs, each adding a new, unique environment with 5 tracks on each. I gather the game as a whole has been pretty extensively iterated upon too over the last few years though.

It definitely does not compete with the Omega Collection but I squeezed every bit of content out of that thing years ago. This is absolutely filling the void for me and may be worth a revisit if you can pick up the DLC in a sale, it's pretty pricey at full whack to get the full set.

[KSubzero1000]

Yeah, I thought the DLC might be worth looking into if I ever were to revisit the game.

The thing is, this specific type of "floaty" arcade racer isn't reaaaaally my thing, so the WOC is probably all I'll ever need for at least a few more years since I have only finished a tiny percentage of it!

These are great games, by and large. I totally appreciate the craft, I just find it a bit difficult to look past my fondness for the signature F-Zero handling and responsiveness. In comparison, I never feel like I'm in complete control of my vehicle in Wipeout and often find myself bouncing off the walls (which probably says more about me than about the game considering the insanely high-skilled gameplay videos I've seen!).

[OldBailey]

Yeah, I thought the DLC might be worth looking into if I ever were to revisit the game.

The thing is, this specific type of "floaty" arcade racer isn't reaaaaally my thing, so the WOC is probably all I'll ever need for at least a few more years since I have only finished a tiny percentage of it!

These are great games, by and large. I totally appreciate the craft, I just find it a bit difficult to look past my fondness for the signature F-Zero handling and responsiveness. In comparison, I never feel like I'm in complete control of my vehicle in Wipeout and often find myself bouncing off the walls (which probably says more about me than about the game considering the insanely high-skilled gameplay videos I've seen!).

That's entirely fair and it's exactly the same for me but in reverse. I like F-Zero a lot, they're obviously incredibly well made games but I much prefer the more "sim" like handling of the Wipeout games. You know when a specific mechanic's game-feel just hits the dopamine button button in your brain, like a Resi 4 rifle headshot- speeding into a corner and perfectly swinging your ship around in Wipeout just hits that spot for me. Redout gets just close enough to that for me to have a similarly satisfying feel.

[Suits]

I started Final Fantasy VI on the SNES last night.

I lost about an hour and a half’s progress at one point due to not saving.

I’m just at the point where I’m trying to make it over Mt Kolts.

[Jon Cheetham]

Despite loving open world games I never got round to The Witcher 3. Bought the complete edition on Switch and it seems like a perfect game to nibble away at on that platform, slowly filling Geralt's pockets from the comfort of my bed. A few hours in and I already really like the atmosphere and tone, there's some great voice acting too.

Also, I like Gwent!

[Alex79]

I loved Gwent!

[Simonsloth]

I started Final Fantasy VI on the SNES last night.

I lost about an hour and a half’s progress at one point due to not saving.

I’m just at the point where I’m trying to make it over Mt Kolts.

Now that is a game.

Obviously it’s a game. So I mean it’s a GAME. Glad you are branching out

[Jon Cheetham]

I loved Gwent!

I'm always tempted to go and see the scholar for a hand when I get back to the Woesong bridge and the Inn

[Scrustle]

The other day I decided to dig out the 360 again and have a mess around with that. Main thing I've been playing is El Shaddai. I've been wanting to revisit this one again for a while, and I actually gave it a go at the start of the year, but stopped playing before long as I found it had an awful glitch that made it practically unplayable. But just on a whim I decided to have another crack at it and I found a way around it that makes it playable. It's really good to revisit this game. The art design is really jaw dropping. Still one of the best looking games ever. It's so imaginative, in ways that sometimes has you questioning how they even worked out how to make it do the things it does. Combat is extremely simple, but it's fun enough to remain engaging. But mostly the enjoyment comes from the overall experience being a surreal trip through this really imaginative world.

Also dipped back in to Forza Motorsport 4 as well. It's slightly odd going back to this after so long, when it used to be such a dominant thing for me. It's like going back to your old school or somewhere, years after you've grown up and moved away from it, when it's become deserted and forgotten. An eerie emptiness of somewhere that used to have so much activity that you were right in the middle of in another time. But as a game, it's still pretty enjoyable. It holds up well. The handling still feels good, and not like it's poorly aged or anything like that. Graphically it still stands up too. Car models still look great, and environments actually look good too, and manage to create nice scenes and vistas, and the lighting looks good too. Although it does have some issues with excessive bloom on chrome and other highly reflective things.

Lastly I did a quick dip in to Burnout 3 as well. To my shame, I've never actually finished this game. So I figured with just going through Paraside again, I thought I should try to fix that. I almost did it before dropping this game previously. Trying it now, I remember why. The only events I have left are mostly Crash mode events. It's not rare to come across people who will say this mode is the best thing about these games, and honestly I don't get it. It's a fun bonus I guess, and I get the appeal of trying to cause as much carnage as possible in a sort of puzzle game way. But it's not that interesting. A fun novelty as an aside to other stuff, but gets old. The meat of the game that is always way more interesting has always been the races, and the Road Rage mode too I suppose. But I've practically exhausted all of that, yet the game won't let me continue without doing a bunch of Crash mode. It's like half the game for some reason.

[Magical_Isopod]

Getting very close to finishing FF13-2 with the "true ending" and it's been really interesting to me to see just how many of this game's ideas actually went on to feature in Nier Automata - similar soundtrack, similar "multiple endings and the first ending you get isn't the real one", and in some instances similar art direction. I wonder how much commonality in staff there was between these two games?

Also been playing Mario + Rabbids on the Switch and... Wow, that game is way better than it has any right to be. It's more involved and more difficult than I expected. Rabbid Peach is a national treasure.

[dezm0nd]

Not to have a pop but every game has the right to be good.

I never quite understood that phrase, but yes, Mario and Rabbids is one of my favourites on the system although the DK DLC didnt have quite the same impact to me

[Alex79]

the DK DLC didnt have quite the same impact to me

Oh really? That's a shame, I keep almost buying that when it's in sales but haven't played anywhere near enough of the main game yet so thought it pointless. Was looking forward to getting round to it eventually though - was it just not as good, or was it that it didn't really offer anything new?

[Suits]

Glad you are branching out

No bats and whips you mean .


Borderlands 3 (Xbox) - Pretty fun apart from the last area we did which was everything I don't enjoy about Borderlands, a twisting, snaking setting that has you checking your map more than you're checking your ammo.

Pro Evo (PS4) - Desperately missing football, so I'm running the Euro's as Norway.

Final Fantasy (SNES) - Ooofff, just got out of the rapids and decided to follow Sabin and I've just paused as I'm half way through the Ghost Train. Very good.

Just waiting on my PC Engine to come back from servicing and I'm going to be all over that.

Then I'm proper looking forward to Paper Marion Origami King, I'm ready for that type of adventure again.

[stvnorman]

Final Fantasy (SNES) - Ooofff, just got out of the rapids and decided to follow Sabin and I've just paused as I'm half way through the Ghost Train. Very good.

Just waiting on my PC Engine to come back from servicing and I'm going to be all over that.

I need to go back to that. I’ve started it on the SNES Classic four times and everyone’s dead within 30 minutes every time! (I’m waiting for my PC Engine Mini too)!

I’ve always resisted buying Sega Ages Thunder Force IV on Switch, even when it’s been on sale, but for some reason I’ve been counting down the days to Sega Ages Thunder Force AC, which is the arcade take on its predecessor. I do have a fondness for III on Mega Drive though, so probably why…. just avoid the SNES version, Thunder Spirits – it stinks! Anyway, brilliant version and thoroughly recommended!
 
Still plodding through Jedi Fallen Order on PS4. Not sure if 50% means half the story done, or half of everything completed, but I hope the latter because whilst I’m enjoying it enough while I’m playing, I’m struggling for motivation to fire it up. Just a bit average and the Star Wars licence isn’t enough to elevate it.
 
Played through Alone in the Dark on Game Boy Colour over a couple of sessions. It uses a cool high colour programming exploit that could get 2000 colours on screen at once, making some of the environments look spectacular for that system (think Myst on a tiny screen), though it can’t handle combat at the same time, so when that happens you switch to a more traditional GBC look! It’s very early Resident Evil-lite in almost every respect, but it’s a very enjoyable and surprisingly immersive few hours!

Also playing TMNT on Game Boy Advance. It’s like Streets of Rage with turtles and it’s very good!

[Magical_Isopod]

Not to have a pop but every game has the right to be good.

I never quite understood that phrase, but yes, Mario and Rabbids is one of my favourites on the system although the DK DLC didnt have quite the same impact to me

Ostensibly, it's just a way of saying, "I was apprehensive of this idea at first" or something like that. It sounds silly on paper, but good in execution.

[Alex79]

Also playing TMNT on Game Boy Advance. It’s like Streets of Rage with turtles and it’s very good!

Yes! Bit of a hidden gem, that game.

[Mr Ixolite]

Been playing that Golf Story on the Switch
At first I was extremely intimidated by the mechanics, but feel like I've got a good handle on them now. My biggest limitation is the absence of the metric system.
I'm finding that I have some trouble being motivated to play for any extended length of time, which I think comes down to the game being a lot more Golf than Story, compared to what I expected. The writing seems perfectly charming so far, but I'm spending so much time doing minor golf challenges that the momentum of the story feels rather low. Idunno, as someone expecting a more traditional RPG experience, spending so much time golfing by yourself can feel a bit...lonely? But in all fairness, this could be colored by the hole in my heart left by Wandersong, which I recently beat.

Unless the narrative sinks its hooks in me, this is most likely a game I will simply chip away (hah!) at ocassionally.


Filling the void of Wandersong to a slightly greater extent is PIKUNIKU, which so far is just charmingly goofy. I like wearing a pencil on my head and beating up capitalist robots.

[Magical_Isopod]

I'm HOPING to finally finish FF13-2 this weekend, but I'm at the point where things start to get a little ridiculous. On Wednesday, I spent 9 hours - 9 bloody hours - on a slot machine mini-game to obtain a single fragment (fragments being a collectable, of which all 160 are required to get the true ending). Luckily, you can have it "auto-play" by holding L1, so I taped that sucker down and let it roll all day. But here's the thing. You have to win a total of 7777 coins, AND you have to have over 7777 coins in your wallet to get it. So if the RNG decides you're going to lose most of your 15,000 coins before you win 7777 total, and you have 6000 left... You have to restart. Let me tell you, it was an experience.

It doesn't get less tedious though. For the remaining fragments I have to:
- Find and kill one of every monster type, including rare spawn super bosses.
- Find a randomly spawning NPC in a massive, sprawling, labyrinthine city 4-5 times (where he spawns is completely random, so you have to kind of camp a spot and reload the level til he spawns in the same province as you).
- Grind chocobo races to get enough coins to buy the stupid casino fragments that aren't random drops.
It's all boring, tedious busywork... But I'm so close to that damn platinum, and I refuse to settle for the bad ending.

While I'm at it, I think I'm gonna try and finish the plats for Horizon: Zero Dawn and .hack//GU, because I got ludicrously close to finishing those before life got in the way.