Whatcha Been Playing?

[Kez86]

PC
Baldur's Gate III - A simply phenomenal game. Just... *chef's kiss
Turbo Overkill - A really surprising game from Apogee Software (makers of Duke Nukem). It's a fast, bombastic, over-the-top FPS that is just a joy to pick up and play. The controls are just spot on. Highly recommend trying the demo.

Switch
Final Fantasy VII - Oldie, but a goldie. Havent played this in nearly 20 years, so is my "evening" game of choice

[Scrustle]

Recently I've been playing Like a Dragon: Black Panther, the first of the two Japan only PSP spin-off games of this franchise. There has been a fan translation patch out there for a while, but a new one recently got released by the team who have already done the sequel. This one is much more comprehensive than the original translation too. That one only had the main story done. This one has everything except for most of the hostess dialogue, which is supposedly coming later in an update.

So far I'm liking it quite a lot. This is the first time I've played one of these games in a long time, last time being the remasters of the PS3 games, which got me burnt out on the series. Thankfully it seems I'm over that now, and playing something new to me definitely helps. This game is basically a fully fledged Like a Dragon/Yakuza game, with more or less everything you would expect from a mainline entry, albeit trimmed back a bit. The combat is slightly different though. It's presented from a side-on view more like a 1v1 fighter, although you can actually move in all directions and you do fight multiple enemies at a time. But there's more of a focus on closer quarters engagements, and a system where attacks can hit different parts of an opponent which then causes different effects. Like you can aim for the head which causes the enemy to get dizzy, stuff like that. There's also a big emphasis on learning lots of different combat styles and levelling them up through use. Each one being suited to different approaches. Like boxing is suited to punching and upper body blows, and Muay Thai is better suited to kicks and lower hits. It's a bit clunky compared to the main games, and a bit less bombastic, but it's still pretty fun and makes you approach fights in a fresh way for this series, yet still feeling in like with its character.

The combat didn't make a great first impression though. You start off pretty weak, with your initial fighting style being somewhat lacking. I guess that's to emphasise you starting off as someone who isn't a trained fighter, and not someone special like Kiryu, et al. But it feels really clunky and unresponsive at first, and your stamina is pretty pathetic at that point too. Those problems do mostly go away once you start getting stronger though. There's also a parry move, but it's so hard to pull off that it is rarely ever worth attempting. Even once you start getting in to upgrades, this ability never really seems to become any more viable. It also doesn't help that the tutorial tells you the wrong button for it. Thankfully it's not much of a problem once you get other options to make up for it though.

The story has been pretty interesting so far too. It has quite a different tone to the main games, although again it's something that doesn't feel out of place. You play as a character who is not a particularly nice guy. He's basically one of the many generic punks you would beat up without a second thought in the other games. He's brash and arrogant, self-absorbed and short-tempered. But then he gets thrown in to a situation that is reminiscent of the inciting incident of the first Yakuza game. So it's clearly exploring how this similar kind of event affects a very different personality. How someone who doesn't have a strong guiding philosophy develops one, especially when there's no-one around like Kiryu to take an example from. Or at least that's what it seems to be pointing towards right now. I definitely want to see how it develops.

[Workyticket]

For anyone looking for a non-EA F1 game I've been pretty impressed with New Star GP on Steam. It's a bit more arcadey, but the physics have enough touches of realism to give a bit of challenge and the graphics are full-on Virtua Racer-style polygons.

It's got an interesting career mode, where you advance through decades of F1 - so you start in the 80s, then to the 90s, then the 2000s and 2010s. It's Early Access at the moment, so some might want to hold off, but the 80s and 90s leagues are in there at the moment and it's (so far) polished and very playable. A nice bit of variation in the types of races as well, closer to something like GRID than the official F1 games. If the devs manage to keep up the quality, this one could grow into a real competitor for Codmasters/EA.

[Truk_Kurt]

For anyone looking for a non-EA F1 game I've been pretty impressed with New Star GP on Steam. It's a bit more arcadey, but the physics have enough touches of realism to give a bit of challenge and the graphics are full-on Virtua Racer-style polygons.

It's got an interesting career mode, where you advance through decades of F1 - so you start in the 80s, then to the 90s, then the 2000s and 2010s. It's Early Access at the moment, so some might want to hold off, but the 80s and 90s leagues are in there at the moment and it's (so far) polished and very playable. A nice bit of variation in the types of races as well, closer to something like GRID than the official F1 games. If the devs manage to keep up the quality, this one could grow into a real competitor for Codmasters/EA.

Interesting, I will check it out

[Hattond]

I'm working my way through Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the second time in preparation for this weeks show and Resistance: Burning Skies on the Vita.

Resistance: Burning Skies has to be one of the most generic FPS shooters I've played in quite a long time but it does prove that the controls for FPS games work perfectly fine on the Vita so it wont be long before a better game takes advantage of the device.

I also play cs go, in addition to this, I collect various skins for weapons. My favorite in the collection is "Huntsman Knife | Night".

I agree that Resistance: Burning Skies is one of the most generic FPS shooters I've played in quite a long time. However, I do think it's a good game to show that the controls for FPS games work perfectly fine on the Vita. I'm sure we'll see some better FPS games for the Vita in the future.

I'm also a big fan of the Metal Gear Solid series. I've played all of the games and I think they're all great. Metal Gear Solid 4 is one of my favorites. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

[Alex79]

Fully back in to Elden Ring. Picked up my 90 hour or so save earlier in the week after about a year away from it and couldn't remember anything I was supposed to be doing. Managed to get back in to it though and put another 10/15 hours in over the week. Finished Volcano Manor and all the bosses there and now in the capital city just exploring. It's a good game.

[Alex79]

I agree that Resistance: Burning Skies is one of the most generic FPS shooters I've played in quite a long time. However, I do think it's a good game to show that the controls for FPS games work perfectly fine on the Vita. I'm sure we'll see some better FPS games for the Vita in the future.

Yeah I'm not sure about that. These bots are getting weirder.

[Alex79]

I reinstalled Red Dead Redemption 2 today after finishing the main story again back in January and saving the epilogue for later (now). I've played to the point where I'm basically free to do what I want and fully intend to try and 100% it. I could spend forever in this world. I love this game so much, I can't see it ever getting knocked off my top spot. Just walking around, spending hours and hours in the forests, searching for perfect animal pelts or looking for dinosaur bones or any of the other collect-o-thon side missions. It's a world I just love to be in.

[Jobobonobo]

Finally back to Kamurocho with Yakuza 6: Songs of Life. I remember playing the demo of this way back in the day right after finishing and loving Yakuza 0. Big mistake! There was so many characters I had no idea who they were and so many events had happened that I was really lost in what was going on. Naturally a lot would have occurred when there are five games between 0 and this one. I decided I would uninstall it and try it again once I have gone through the rest of them and naturally, things are making a lot more sense now. It has the same engine as KIwami 2 which I am quite happy with as both games are quite easy on the eye and I do love the way you gather experience points by basically doing a whole range of stuff from fighting, eating, finishing substories and more. I just find it a nice addictive way of leveling up as you don't need to wait long until you can improve your skills. Also that title screen music is definitely the most moody ensemble that I have heard from the series. Gives a nice impression that you are reaching the end with Kiryu*. Really memorable way of starting up a game. So far, I am enjoying it quite a bit and its story has me hooked. Really interested to see how this one ends.

*Well not really the end, since Like a Dragon Gaiden is coming out later this year and focuses on Kiryu but still it works for this title.

[Truk_Kurt]

Been playing Pizza Tower on steamdeck and after initially not clicking with it. It’s now come into its own as a really fun 2d platformer. Each level has you going through it in an ordinary way but there’s a big emphasis on speed, similarish to Sonic but with a bigger focus on platforming. But then at the end of the level you set off this alarm and it goes 'PIZZA TIME!!!!' which means you have to run your way back to the start within a time limit. These sections really remind me of the chase sequence levels in rayman origins and legends and are a tonne of fun.

Minor complaint, whenever you load the game back up, you start at the bottom of the tower and have to work your way back up to the last level you were on.

[Truk_Kurt]

Been playing Pizza Tower on steamdeck and after initially not clicking with it. It’s now come into its own as a really fun 2d platformer. Each level has you going through it in an ordinary way but there’s a big emphasis on speed, similarish to Sonic but with a bigger focus on platforming. But then at the end of the level you set off this alarm and it goes 'PIZZA TIME!!!!' which means you have to run your way back to the start within a time limit. These sections really remind me of the chase sequence levels in rayman origins and legends and are a tonne of fun.

Minor complaint, whenever you load the game back up, you start at the bottom of the tower and have to work your way back up to the last level you were on.

Following on from this, I have decided to abandon Pizza Tower haha. I must clarify that it is a very good game, I'm just not good enough at it. I think if I had more patience and been younger, I would have pursued on with it, but when I keep failing a level multiple times I get frustrated and I don't want to spend my spare time feeling like I am banging my head against a brick wall until I get good enough to do it. If you like tough 2D platformers like Super Meat Boy and platformers like Wario Land back in the day, then I would highly recommend this. If nothing else just Google some screenshots to appreciate its 90s cartoon art style.

[Alex79]

Is this on console too? I do like 'hard games' but there's a very fine line for me. I loved Celeste, for example, but thought that Super Meat Boy got pointlessly frustrating and difficult and it just annoyed me.

[Truk_Kurt]

Is this on console too? I do like 'hard games' but there's a very fine line for me. I loved Celeste, for example, but thought that Super Meat Boy got pointlessly frustrating and difficult and it just annoyed me.

Not yet but it has been such a hit on Steam that I would suspect it on consoles at some point. I was say it is easier than both Celeste and Super Meat Boy, the former of which I did manage to finish but I think back when I played that I was more willing to put time into a game to get used to it. The instant restarts at the beginning of the stage in Celeste also helped ease any frustration.

Pizza Tower I never died through losing too much health, the bit that I found too annoying was that if you fail the Pizza Time parts at the end of each level where you have to run back to the start of the level under a time constraint, you then have to play through the level again before you can retry the Pizza Time part again.

[Truk_Kurt]

Two games I have started.

First off, Blasphemous 2. Really impressed with it so far. I didn't play the first game due to hearing about its difficulty but reading the reviews for 2 they suggested the difficultly was much more balanced so I decided to give it a shot. I really love how the game feels to play, the combat is satisfying and so is the platforming. What really makes it stand out is its art style and setting which isn't really replicated in any games, 2D or 3D. Probably the closest is the Castlevania games but even those games look like sunshine and rainbows compared to Blasphemous. I have already seen some horrendous imagery but in a good way.

On the opposite end of the spectrum and probably the ideal counter to Blasphemous is Pikmin 4. I haven't played a Pikmin before and no matter how many times I asked people to describe what kind of game it was and what you do in it, I was still never really clear. So I took the plunge and it's a lot of fun. Still quite early days in it but it's a very cute game and just a nice chilled game to play. I think Tinykin would be the closest game I have played before to it.

[Alex79]

Decent sale on the eShop at the moment. Just picked up The Messenger, which I wanted to play before Sea Of Stars, for about £4 and both Inscryption and the Baldurs Gate 1 & 2 Enhanced Editions collection for around a tenner apiece. All games I've been wanting to play for a while, good times!

God knows when I'm going to have time to finish them all. I must have at least 30 games on Switch I've not even started...

[Jobobonobo]

On Chapter 4 of Yakuza 6 and I am fully down the rabbithole of substories and minigames. Here you can spearfish which is a fun arcadey rail shooter type experience. I am really quite into it and am also building up a baseball team by recruiting players from all over the town. The boost in graphics also make this a bit nicer on the eyes than other games in the series so yeah, having a very nice time with this so far.

Also trying out Sonic's first GBA title, Sonic Advance. Was mostly enjoying this but the last two levels pull a lot of bullshit on you. Huge bottomless pits, spikes appearing out of nowhere and really awkward jumps you have to make to finish the level. What the hell were the developers thinking with this design?! Will try a few more times but the quality really nosedives quite a bit when you get further into the game honestly.

Lastly, been playing Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for the 3DS. I liked these sections in 3D World so nice to see it be a full fledged game. Very fun little puzzler which has that one more go factor after you beat a stage. Levels are at just the right length and solving certain tricky puzzles can be nice little "light bulb switches on" moments. Just a pleasant cozy experience all around.

[Alex79]

Oof. This was unexpected. The Messenger drops off hard after the midway point. Anyone who's played the game will know exactly where I mean, but the game transforms from an ultra-tight action platformer to a meandering, unfocused mess. Mess is harsh, but the metamorphosis from one to the other is really stark. All of a sudden I'm just wandering around, clueless about where to go or what to do, getting bored and frustrated. What a shame.

[Caligulas Horse]

Oof. This was unexpected. The Messenger drops off hard after the midway point. Anyone who's played the game will know exactly where I mean, but the game transforms from an ultra-tight action platformer to a meandering, unfocused mess. Mess is harsh, but the metamorphosis from one to the other is really stark. All of a sudden I'm just wandering around, clueless about where to go or what to do, getting bored and frustrated. What a shame.

I think for many that is the point where the game gets better lol, but I can totally see how it would have the opposite effect if you're enjoying the linear platforming. I do think mess is a bit harsh-- it's just the metroidvania style they are aping, innit? I thought it was cool the way the game opened up, and I had fun going back over old areas using the new mechanic (not to give too much away).

That said, I did lose some momentum and ended up putting it down before I completed it.

[Caligulas Horse]

I made the mistake of buying Civ 6 last weekend, as it was on sale and I thought it would be fun to play a game with my flatmate, who has been on it for the past few months.

That decision has had a disastrous impact on my sleeping habits. I've been staying up till 2,3 or 4am basically ever night since. The one more turn syndrome has definitely got me!

I haven't played anything in the series since 4, about 10 years ago, so it took me a few games to get the hang of it again.

For the first game I played as Pericles/Athens. I was still working everything out when I was invaded by South Korea, who were apparently upset with me for neglecting science (give me a chance you nerds!). I survived the attack, but they killed all of my troops and razed one of my main cities, so I was left picking up the scraps without much hope of making a dent in anyone else.

In the next game I played asTrajan. Things seemed to be going well until Teddy Roosevelt decided to declare a surprise war, capturing Rome itself within a couple of turns. He caught me slipping. I managed to wipe out his army and re-take Rome. I had the bigger army and had him hemmed in from there on, but his city defences were always one technological step ahead of me and my troops would always die out before I could do any real damage. The game kind of grinded to a stalemate as a result. My flatmate could have given me the edge, but he was on the opposite side of the map and had his own problems dealing with Hungary.

Now I'm doing a solo game as Alexander and I'm kicking ass. I learned from Teddy to go for the early offensive, taking out Persia before the Classical era had ended (historically accurate). The other civs were pretty mad about that, and Russia declared war (not so historically accurate). I took a few of their cities, with some help from barbarians posted by Moscow. Then Sweden joined in, so I accepted peace (on very favourable terms) with Russia while I dealt with them. By the time I was ready to finally switch off this morning, I had taken Stockholm and a few other cities, with basically no resistance left to stop me taking the rest. Meanwhile I'm building nuclear warheads to deal with whoever is on the other continent from us. I've turned full war-mongerer.

I'm having a blast, but I definitely need to work on finishing the session at a reasonable hour.

[Alex79]

Oof. This was unexpected. The Messenger drops off hard after the midway point. Anyone who's played the game will know exactly where I mean, but the game transforms from an ultra-tight action platformer to a meandering, unfocused mess. Mess is harsh, but the metamorphosis from one to the other is really stark. All of a sudden I'm just wandering around, clueless about where to go or what to do, getting bored and frustrated. What a shame.

I think for many that is the point where the game gets better lol, but I can totally see how it would have the opposite effect if you're enjoying the linear platforming. I do think mess is a bit harsh-- it's just the metroidvania style they are aping, innit? I thought it was cool the way the game opened up, and I had fun going back over old areas using the new mechanic (not to give too much away).

That said, I did lose some momentum and ended up putting it down before I completed it.

I've had another turnaround I realised you can pay the shopkeeper for hints on where to go next and since I did that I'm having a lot more fun with it!