Whatcha Been Playing?

[Alex79]

I'm not a big Minecraft fan, but I can totally see the appeal. Terraria just seemed like a complete exercise in futility.

[Scrustle]

After thinking about it the other day I decided to go back to Jade Empire after all. Decided to simply continue on the file I started ages ago. That was probably the best choice. I managed to jump back in easily and get familiar with where I was in the story really well. The game actually still looks pretty good. Faces are especially impressive for the time. Hell, they look better than plenty of games from now! It has some emulation issues on 360 though. A couple of textures show up as blank (it appears to be a certain type of wood texture), and it struggles with frame rate sometimes. But it's a relatively slow paced game, so it doesn't matter too much. Combat feels pretty clunky though, but I think it always did to a certain extent. Actually, I wonder how close the combat in this game is to the first KotOR. I've never seen that game in action, but screenshots do make it look similar, and they were released consecutively. They probably share a lot. It runs on the same engine too apparently.

[Cass]

Hmm, trying to download the Bastion C&R episode off the iTunes store but the episode archives only go back as far as Luigi's Mansion (which is episode 25). Anyone know how if it's still available via iTunes?

Having just finished it, I can certainly see where the praise came from. It's beautiful, well-crafted and just generally a joy to behold, but I'm not 100% sold on it for two reasons - the combat is just OK (good weapon variety and customisation hamstrung by awkward movement and ambiguous tiling that means that not everything that looks like floor is floor), and the story is kind of half baked. It's delivered masterfully, sure - the writing is sharp and the voiceover is amazing - but the actual plot itself is sort of a mess, invoking themes of racism, ethnic cleansing, predestination etc. but doing very little with them. Also for all that the voiceover is like dripping honey, I did find myself zoning him out at times - he's constantly talking, and what he's saying isn't always important or essential, so it's easy to tune him out when he is saying something relevant - and because the story is very much "tell, not show", it feels distanced from you as the player, if that makes sense.

All in all, I did really enjoy most of Bastion, but I find it a game that's easier to admire than love. It's so constructed, and so artful, that it loses something for me - and it's maybe not as smart as it thinks it is? - but that's probably the worst I could say about it.

[countstex]

Failing iTunes (I never used it) you can manually download, or just listen on the web here: http://caneandrinse.com/issue-ten/

[Roy42]

I don't know if it's an issue with iTunes or with podcast hosts, but it is a common problem that I've seen with many podcasts, only showing the most recent 50 or 100 odd episodes on their iTunes feed.

[ratsoalbion]

Yeah it's an iTunes thing. You can always grab earlier podcasts from our blog (the search function is a good 'un) or via the appropriate forum folder.

[Cass]

Cheers guys. I finished Bastion, really wanted to talk to someone about it, and then was like "wait, wasn't there a Bastion C&R?"

In future - only playing games covered by C&R.

[Beck]

I've been playing through kingdom hearts 1.5 HD. I think I played this game when it first came out but I remember very little of it. So far I'm really enjoying it, the tie in of the Disney and square worlds is interesting and a good twist. Apart from the awkward camera, I'm really impressed with how well this HD remix has been made.

[AndyKurosaki]

Ever since last week when I finally figured out why my download speed sucked (don't switch your Homehub off = win), I've more than I know what to do with. PS3-wise I've Resident Evil 4, Strangers Wrath, Dark Souls and Castlevania LOS2. On my Vita there's Dead Nation,Muramasa,EDF,Persona 4 and Dragons Crown. Then Pixlejunk and Watch Dogs on PS4.
Could do with an early retirement to get through that lot

[Todinho]

So decided to give Murdered Soul Suspect a try after the last episode of Wolf Among Us left me wanting,so far im liking it but at the same time Im disapointed the investigation is basically look at the crime scene until you find all the evidence which wouldnt be so bad if there wasnt a evidence counter that tells you exactly how many evidences there so you obviously stay there until you find all of them,you also cant get a conclusion wrong the game only takes a ranking of and tells you to try again which is ok for the main case but I wish you could get at least the side cases wrong and that having some consequences it would be cool,also there's too few ghost shenanigans so far I hop they expand this as the game goes on but I have a feeling they wont,still kinda of fun and there's a ton of stuff to collect so if you like that sort of thing this might be up your alley.

[Scrustle]

Unfortunately I've been in a bit of a negative slump these past few days in terms of games. The recent announcement of Forza Horizon 2 spurred me to go back to Forza 5 again for the first time in ages. It still feels really disappointing, and at this point I think I'm running out of patience for it. I'm starting to think the stuff that I've given the benefit of the doubt to isn't worth trying to get along with anymore. I took a quick look at the Forza forums too. Haven't posted there in forever, and I haven't really been an active member in maybe a year and a half. It's not the same place anymore. It doesn't seem like it's a bad place. I've always thought that community was mostly pretty cool, and from what I saw it hasn't turned toxic or anything. But it seems they have changed their TOS quite a lot to avoid that happening, and now it just doesn't seem like a friendly and casual place to me. Oh well. I guess it doesn't really matter since I lost interest before it changed. And Horizon 2 sounds like it's got some really fantastic features so far. Seems like the perfect additions to the formula. Or most of the changes seem like that. Not so sure on the stuff they're carrying over from Forza 5. I'm just really hoping they refine that stuff going forward now.

I also played the first few levels of The Wonderful 101 too. Got that as my free game along with Mario Kart 8, which I'm still having a blast with. TW101 on the other hand, I am not. Pretty much all my fears I had about the game, from seeing what it was about and trying the demo myself, seem to have been realised. I really didn't enjoy it. I really dislike the camera, and simply how you control your "character". That being your little crowd of heroes. A lot of the non-combat stuff seems really infuriatingly obtuse and gimmicky too. So disappointing, because the intro level is amazing. I really loved the campy tone to it, and I was so happy to find out that my earlier experiences were wrong. That was until I found out I actually was right before. I'm sure it's fantastic if you can get on with the mechanics and work things out, like all Platinum games, but I just don't enjoy it on a fundamental level. I find it quite aggravating.

Enough of that. On to something a little... less negative.

I also decided to get the DLC for Nier. I'm a bit confused by it. I thought it was supposed to tell the story of Nier's deceased wife, but I've found nothing of the sort. Seems like it's just short, cryptic messages that only show up for barely long enough to read them between combat encounters. I'm totally fine with it being just a string of fights with little else if there's some good story to back it up. In fact, it's been kind of fun doing these challenges they've created. They add new enemies, and put you in old environments shown in a new light. For example there's a section where you float around Facade on the gondola in a first person perspective shooting enemies. Or there's one set in the port town, except you're out on the water on a floating dock. They also have some new music in there. Mostly electronic remixes of tracks from the game, and they're pretty good. Sometimes they put a weird filter over the picture though. Sometimes it makes something that's kind of interesting, but most of the time it just seems nonsensical and pointless. Feels like it's there "just because", not because anyone actually had an idea to use it to make any specific look. And as I said, I don't see where the story is fitting in to this either. It's the main reason I bought this thing, but there seems to be no sign of it.

I've also been playing a bit of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood. The first game from the Games with Gold scheme that I've actually wanted! I've always had my eye on it but never got it. Not sure why. Maybe it seemed too expensive or something. Either way, I'm liking it right now. Nothing about its concept is especially mind-blowing, but it's pretty inventive with the mechanics it has. It throws a lot of head-scratchers at you. I really like the animation and art style too. There's something very charming about it, despite it not appearing extensively original or radical. It's got a lot of personality. Seems like it really could be a proper cartoon or something. There are some parts which are quite savage though. Times when you're being chased by a big monster and you have to use your magic skills quickly to get away. They can be really fun and tense, but they can also be annoying with how often you have to replay sections sometimes. But they're actually quite frightening. There's a real sense of danger, and sometimes failures can lead to some pretty brutal deaths. It reminded me somewhat of some of those old "art platformers" there used to be back in the day. I've never played any of them myself, but one thing about them that's always stood out to me is how brutal they can be, despite looking colourful and cartoony on the outside. This seems to go for a similar thing. The voice work of your character during levels adds to this as well I think. All the little noises he makes in reaction to what's going on in the game feels very natural, and can sometimes portray a very convincing sense of fear from the character. He seems genuinely terrified running away from some of these beasts.

But I've reached a tricky boss, and I'm not really sure if I'll continue from here. This seems to be a thing for me with this kind of game. I just don't care enough to bother with this trickier bits when I've got so many other larger and more involving games vying for my attention. I get to a hard boss with these and just feel like the game isn't worth putting in the effort to beat it. Same thing happened with Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet and Strider recently.

I played some more of Strike Suit Zero too. Played the second campaign they added for the Director's Cut. There's only five missions in it unfortunately. They're not bad though. Pretty fun, although it's generally more of the same. Except the last mission that is. It's called "No Win Scenario", and that's no lie. It's ridiculously hard. Way, way more than anything else in the game. I'm sure there's some very specific way to beat it, but like with these other games, I highly doubt I'll ever bother to find out what that is. Seems like a pain. Oh well. I feel like I got my fill out of it from the initial campaign. That was pretty fun.

[Alex79]

Trials Frontier on Android is brilliant!

[Flabyo]

Still playing Watch Dogs. The main character is still a moronic douchebag.

[dezm0nd]

I hit the Alpha level cap in Destiny today. I really want to continue playing it but what with it being an an alpha build, i'd lose my progress and therefore my time. Really enjoyed it but it takes a while for the game to show you how it works. Stick with it. It's like a Halo MMO in the vein of Guild Wars 2, I guess?

I dunno. It's good though!

[AndyKurosaki]

I was up for trying the Alpha, but it's 6gb, and I only get 10gb allowance a month as it is. I'll give the Beta a shot next month.

[Beck]

I managed to grab thirty minutes with destiny tonight. It's really cool, like a mix between fallout / phantasy star / halo reach. I've yet to delve into much of it but it looks nice. The sound needs some attention but I'm sure bungie are on it

It's much better with company so ps4 players, feel free to add me. I'll hopefully be allowed some more time with it tomorrow

[countstex]

Gotten pretty far, I think, into the recent Tomb Raider. For those who've played we're repairing a boat?? Anyway I'm really rather enjoying it, at this point she's pretty much become a female Batman who doesn't mind using guns, which is pretty awesome actually! As long as avoid too many death scenes I have a great time. Worst sections so far seem to be the sliding down things parts as they seem very unforgiving on catching sharp pointy things! Pretty sure I'll get to the end of this game though, which for me is always a rarity!

[Cass]

Picked up Kirby Triple Deluxe. It's pretty great. Not Kirby Super Star great, but a fun, easy little platformer to cheer you up when you're down.

[AndyKurosaki]

Gotten pretty far, I think, into the recent Tomb Raider. For those who've played we're repairing a boat?? Anyway I'm really rather enjoying it, at this point she's pretty much become a female Batman who doesn't mind using guns, which is pretty awesome actually! As long as avoid too many death scenes I have a great time. Worst sections so far seem to be the sliding down things parts as they seem very unforgiving on catching sharp pointy things! Pretty sure I'll get to the end of this game though, which for me is always a rarity!

Yeah you're reaching the home stretch now. Said it before, but I'll say it again, one of last year's very best games. Can't wait to see how the sequel turns out...

Given up on Castlevania Lords Of Shadow 2. It's not terrible, but I'm really not enjoying it. I loved the first game. But so far this has been stealth bit, stealth bit, combat, more stealth bits. Just didn't grab my attention, and I've other things on my "to play" pile. So back it goes.

[James]

Given up on Castlevania Lords Of Shadow 2. It's not terrible, but I'm really not enjoying it. I loved the first game. But so far this has been stealth bit, stealth bit, combat, more stealth bits. Just didn't grab my attention, and I've other things on my "to play" pile. So back it goes.

I managed to reach Chapter 8 of the first Lords Of Shadow and realised I hadn't enjoyed any of the past 6 hours or so. I can't recall finding a game quite as unreservedly dull. Needless to say LoS2 was never even a passing interest after that.

Oh, wait, I gave up on Muramasa Rebirth recently too. It is one of the best games I've ever played, visually. Sadly, everything else was forgettable or just not terribly interesting. Coincidentally, I made it about half way through that one too. I'm now employing a pretty strict boredom/frustration limit in an attempt to chip away at my backlog.

For my sins, and now having wrapped a second full trophy/achievement list on Dark Souls II (Steam this time), I took the plunge into Spelunky. Making it out of the Mines wasn't too tough, but I've only managed the Jungle a few times in the 5 or so hours I've played. Unsurprisingly, Spelunky deserves its reputation.