Whatcha Been Playing?

[Scrustle]

Much like others, I've been playing Forza Horizon 3. First impressions overall are positive, but I have to say I am finding it a little less exciting than I was hoping. It looks and sounds great, and the cars feel as good to drive as they ever did. But I'm not so sure I like the world they built for this iteration. While it's gorgeous to look at, this time they've gone further towards off-roading than they ever have before. I've never been much for that kind of thing. I much prefer the feeling of whizzing around on sticky tarmac and twisty roads, rather than ungraciously bouncing around on dirt and crashing in to everything. But because they've gone for this direction, only a comparatively small amount of the map is taken up by urbanised area, or tarmac roads at all. And I think making so much of the environment rough terrain is actually kind of an inefficient use of space, even if you like that kind of thing. If you think about it, how much gameplay variation can you get out of a field or two of dirt or grass? Not much. Sure, there's technically more space to drive around in there, but what you can do in it isn't much different from one spot to another. On the other hand, if you take the same kind of area, but make it set in a paved, urban area, you can have all kind of twisty routes. Different types of roads, junctions, corners, scenery, etc. While I do appreciate world design in a racing game that does space things out a bit to give the variation that can bring, I think FH3 might be an example of going too far that way. I hope it grows on me though. It took me a little while to warm up to the setting of FH2 after all. Then again, first impressions of that were still significantly higher than FH3 has been for me.

I think they may have gone a bit overboard with unlocks and stuff too. There's so much stuff you need to get through the perk system which should just be basic features, and it does take kind of a while to get some stuff. I'm also undecided on whether I like the whole system of creating your own races too. The Forza games have been getting less and less structured as they've progressed, but I'm not so sure that's entirely a good thing. Plus, they may let you create race events, but you can't create your own tracks, which would have made this system a whole lot more interesting.

Haven't been that impressed with the soundtrack so far either. To me, the soundtracks in these Horizon games has always been kind of hit-and-miss. Some radio stations are brilliant, while others are just okay. Almost never bad though. Maybe a station will have mostly good songs and a few forgettable ones, sometimes the other way around. So far nothing about the FH3 soundtrack has stood out to me. Everything is just okay, but forgettable. Only one song stood out to me so far, and that was only because I recognised it from another game. I also happen to not like that song.

I also tried out the PC version. Can't run it. It tells me when I boot it up I don't meet the minimum specs. Although, when I start it up anyway it sets the pre-sets to High for some reason. So I tried turning some of those down to see if I could run it, but I didn't get much luck. I can drive down the road at a glorious 60fps for all of about 10 seconds before the game crashes to desktop. The game also crashed on startup every time when I had Avast installed. Some people say the port is badly optimised, and I think that might be an issue. But even if they were able to iron out these problems, the game would still probably be too demanding for my PC, so I don't really expect much out of it. I was really looking forward to this PC version, but I guess I'll just have to do with the Xbox version for now. In a way, it makes it kind of impressive the Xbox can run the thing as well as it does.

I am having fun with it, but I don't know. Maybe it's just because I haven't had the time to give it proper attention lately, but I'm not really feeling as blown away by it like I have previous games so far. Feels like going through the motions somewhat. Just getting enough of the career mode out of the way so I can dig in to the stuff I really want to do, or when I find the areas in the world I like.

[Craig]

Wanted to play through Shovel Knight again and then noticed I hadn't touched the Plague Knight DLC. It's really really really well done. Beautifully animated and thought out.

It's a little difficult to get the hang of the new movement at first, but when you do it's wonderful.

Also, press down after you've visited the Trout Apple and...

Spoiler: show

he does a lovely superfluous dance. Best thing since the hug button.

Try and dance in front of Mona and...


he gets too shy and can't. Adorable.

[Alex79]

Oh yeah I never played the Plague Knight stuff. I think I started it then just thought it was the same game with a different character?

[Craig]

It is, but the tweeks to the story are pretty good and plague knight controls so differently it has a really different feel about it.

[DomsBeard]

Been playing Forza Horizon 3 a lot, it is great fun and I've not really touched the online stuff yet apart from one game of tig which was hilarious.

Deus Ex Mankind Divided is also still very very good. Having been to Prague I can tell they have spent a bit of time researching it. The story is crazy to take in without reading the prequel novel and comic books (which I have).

Also been attempting to finish Soma but I've reached a point I'm constantly killed on and don't want to look at a guide in case of spoilers

Spoiler: show

I'm at the end of the Curie and after pulling out some tentacles a monster hits me from nowhere then keeps catching me/instadeath

[seansthomas]

I'm a bit unsure what to tackle next. Have a few 3/4 finished games I want to polish off but can't really muster the enthusiasm to do so.

Been dipping in and out of Little Inferno for the past week or so, just doing the odd combo here and there.

[Alex79]

What are your choices? Although when I feel like that I'll spend a few weeks going through a bunch of little indie games. Loads of variety packed in to shorter games. That's generally mostly what I play now. Off topic, but I'd love more triple A games to follow the current Hitman model. 2-3 hour chunks, released monthly, maybe 5 big name titles doing it, it'd just be like how we consume television shows.

[Flabyo]

I've been playing all sorts of stuff this week. I'm taking part in a contest at the True Achievements site where you're matched with another player and given a list of 20 achievements from games you both own that you've not got, and have to get as many of them as you can in a week.

So far I've replayed the first few hours of fallout 3 in a very different way to my original play through to get a 'max evil' one, replayed a bit of Alan Wake and been reminded how good that game is, dipped back into Magic: Duels and discovered that they've added a butt load of stuff to it since I last played it, rediscovered how much fun Spelunky is, mopped up some more races in Forza Horizon 2 and The Crew...

I get a new set of 20 on Monday afternoon, and again the following Monday. After that there's a cut to the best 512 players for several knockout rounds that I don't expect to qualify for, but it's been great fun so far...

[Stanshall]

That sounds like a cool idea, I think I saw Jay Taylor tweeting via True Achievements and wondered what it was.

I've been playing through Bayonetta 2, which is brilliant, but I don't feel I've got any particular weapon setup which I like, and I must be two thirds of the way through the game. I'm using the swords in hand and the flamethrowers on my legs. It works, it's effective but I don't feel it's especially interesting compared to what I ended up playing with in the first game a few weeks ago. I suppose that's the nature of starting this kind of game from scratch immediately after, you can't help but feel a bit limited. While I don't find the story as intriguing as the first one, it's building somewhere and I'm getting into some pretty bonkers scrapes. It's definitely trimmed the fat, no Sega tribute levels or the shooting gallery, but Loki is a right little turd of a character compared to Jeanne, and I've spent about 95% of my game time with him now. I'm enjoying the variety in the areas, it obviously goes in multiple directions, often from one moment to the next, but I definitely prefer the Paradiso enemies to the Inferno. Maybe it's because one is quite subversive where the other is already a staple, no matter how interesting the designs. Oh, the Lumen Sage fights so far have been absolutely unbelievable, especially as I forgot I was wearing Gaze of Despair; I've basically improved my reflexes threefold since I started playing the game. Anyway, looking forward to finishing it, farming a load of halos and unlocking a nurse's uniform and leg muskets or something.

[Scrustle]

A little update on FH3. I've been enjoying it much more these past few days. Haven't been able to drag myself away from it. As I was expecting, and kind of hoping, it did grow on me as I got more familiar with it. Collected some of my favourite cars and found some spots in the world I like too. Been having a blast with it. I've been really enjoying tearing it around Surfers Paradise, and I've found some other spots I like too, with help from some friends. That's often the best thing about these games, just messing around with mates in the open world.

I still think some of my earlier problems persist though, although they're nowhere near as bad as I first feared. I do still think the game would benefit from having some more built up areas, and I still don't really care much for the soundtrack. Although, despite me being disappointed in some of the stations returning from previous games, I've discovered some of the new ones are relatively good. Also got the Groove channel working with my own music. It works well, putting the same dynamic equalising effects on to it as the normal stations. Problem is it doesn't seem you can share game clips while that station is playing. It'll play part of a clip if that doesn't have that station playing at that second, but if your music starts playing, the clip just ends. It still lets you keep the complete clip for yourself though.

EDIT: Turns out that it seems clips with Groove music actually can play. It just seems the app wasn't working properly the other day when I was trying it. It is working now, or at least it seems so, if this clip is working for other people as it is me:
https://account.xbox.com/en-gb/gameclip ... 664ce1dfab

I've been playing through Bayonetta 2, which is brilliant, but I don't feel I've got any particular weapon setup which I like, and I must be two thirds of the way through the game. I'm using the swords in hand and the flamethrowers on my legs. It works, it's effective but I don't feel it's especially interesting compared to what I ended up playing with in the first game a few weeks ago. I suppose that's the nature of starting this kind of game from scratch immediately after, you can't help but feel a bit limited.

Personally I really love using those swords. Those are my usual go-to weapon. I usually pair them with the whips on the feet. They compliment each other really well. Don't often use the flamethrowers though. They can be good, but they're a bit slow. There's plenty of other really great weapons in the game though. I'm fond of the scythe and the enormous hammer you get later on. The Chain Chomp is actually a really good weapon too. I usually pair that with the hammer.

You can also get the katana from the first game too. I use that sometimes, since it was my main in the first game. But the dual swords are so similar it feels a bit redundant to use both at the same time.

[Alex79]

I've been playing all sorts of stuff this week. I'm taking part in a contest at the True Achievements site where you're matched with another player and given a list of 20 achievements from games you both own that you've not got, and have to get as many of them as you can in a week.

What an absolutely brilliant idea!

[seansthomas]

What are your choices? Although when I feel like that I'll spend a few weeks going through a bunch of little indie games. Loads of variety packed in to shorter games. That's generally mostly what I play now. Off topic, but I'd love more triple A games to follow the current Hitman model. 2-3 hour chunks, released monthly, maybe 5 big name titles doing it, it'd just be like how we consume television shows.

So many! In terms of partly completed, I'd say AC: Black Flag, NSMBrosU, Bit trip runner, Little Inferno, FAST Racing Neo and a few bonus levels of Captain Toad.

Unstarted: Stealth Inc 2, the recent Humble Bundle (Darksiders 2, Affordable Space Adventures, Shantae, etc), Master reboot, Rayman Legends and NBA2K.

Tempted to replay: Metroid Prime, Bayonetta 2 and Starfox Zero.

[DomsBeard]

I thought I would be a smart arse and use my 10 hours of Fifa 17 via Ea Access to complete ''The Journey''. Little did I know they obviously saw this coming a mile off and it cuts off about 3 hours in and lets you play the normal game. So I bought my first Fifa since Fifa 1997 yesterday!.

The Journey is good fun but not without faults. The story must be quite linear as

Spoiler: show

Alex scored 5 goals, had 4 assists and 3 man of the match performances compared to his best mate who had scored 1 goal in that time yet for the story Alex goes out on loan which doesn't make sense

.

If you are like me and love football but are not a fan of football games I'd recommend it via Ea Access for The Journey.

Sean you should replay Metroid Prime, I wish I had the opportunity to do that!.

[PapaJupe13]

I am strictly console, so I was finally able to get into some XCOM 2.
It is groovy. Me, Serena Williams, Gal Gadot, and Floki from Vikings are laying waste to these alien invaders.

[Stanshall]

I've been playing through Bayonetta 2, which is brilliant, but I don't feel I've got any particular weapon setup which I like, and I must be two thirds of the way through the game. I'm using the swords in hand and the flamethrowers on my legs. It works, it's effective but I don't feel it's especially interesting compared to what I ended up playing with in the first game a few weeks ago. I suppose that's the nature of starting this kind of game from scratch immediately after, you can't help but feel a bit limited.

Personally I really love using those swords. Those are my usual go-to weapon. I usually pair them with the whips on the feet. They compliment each other really well. Don't often use the flamethrowers though. They can be good, but they're a bit slow. There's plenty of other really great weapons in the game though. I'm fond of the scythe and the enormous hammer you get later on. The Chain Chomp is actually a really good weapon too. I usually pair that with the hammer.

You can also get the katana from the first game too. I use that sometimes, since it was my main in the first game. But the dual swords are so similar it feels a bit redundant to use both at the same time.

Sorry fella, just seen this. Thanks for the tips, I'll keep working my way through to get a few more options.

[Suits]

I finally picked myself up a Sony PVM20M4E monitor for my Super Famicom.

So I've been playing a glorious, 800 line, 60hz, Super Mario World. It's amazing.

It's fantastic, so rich and vibrant.

I also cleaned up and refurbished a few of my old pads, so I honestly feel like I've fallen in love all over again with my favourite console.

[ColinAlonso]

I am strictly console, so I was finally able to get into some XCOM 2.
It is groovy. Me, Serena Williams, Gal Gadot, and Floki from Vikings are laying waste to these alien invaders.

I should really get XCOM 2. This just reminded me of doing the same with William Wallace, Ulrika Jonsson, Dirk Kuyt and Helen Hunt in Enemy Unknown.

I'm focussing on Master League in PES 2017 at the moment. The goals are starting to come after I switched to a 4-1-3-2 formation and an outside chance of promotion is on.

[stvnorman]

My 9-year old talked me into FIFA - I caved in immediately to avoid weeks or months of nagging. We've been enjoying that together. Wasn't long ago I was going easy on him to let him win. Now he thrashes me without any assistance! Finally finished Black Ops 3 story mode, which is possible the game I've enjoyed least but played to completion - that boyhood 80's mentality of seeing a game through no matter how bad because you've spent all your pocket money on it has never left me! The story is dreadful, even for COD, and the ludicrous final levels seem to go on forever. Then decided to see what happened when I jumped into Star Wars Battlefront multiplayer with my new medieval internet connection and was amazed it ran perfectly at around 1MBPS. And happy because I thought that little pleasure was gone to me for good. Then I decided it was time to give in to Witcher 3. Only a couple of hours in but it got its hooks in me immediately. Can't wait to spend more time there.

[Alex79]

Arkham Knight. Just found out who the Arkham Knight is!!

[DomsBeard]

Arkham Knight. Just found out who the Arkham Knight is!!

Did you guess? I thought they signposted it a bit too much