Whatcha Been Playing?

[stvnorman]

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

Treading all over my dreams with your superior knowledge...

[ratsoalbion]

Have you got this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_Arcade_Treasures_2

[stvnorman]

I know it but haven’t got it. However, when I last looked the price on PS2 was much higher than it seems to be on eBay currently. Unfortunately my PS2 drive is knackered and only plays about one in three games, so I’ve been reluctant to buy anything new for it. The first one does still work though. If it’s only a few quid I might take a punt. Thanks!

UPDATE. Just bought for £2.50!

[Alex79uk]

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.

Hope you enjoy it! I loved it, and it was my favourite of the trilogy. I even loved the ending (but then, I liked the Lost ending too so what do I know?)

[duskvstweak]

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.

Hope you enjoy it! I loved it, and it was my favourite of the trilogy. I even loved the ending (but then, I liked the Lost ending too so what do I know?)

Yes, I'm aware of the controversy/mixed feelings people have about the ending, and vaguely aware of why (not certain, so no spoilers please!)

I will say, I like the series but don't love it, so I doubt I'll be mad either way. Also, from what I've gathered, people were upset because the ending made them feel like their choices didn't matter, but, from what I've seen in the games, it's more of the illusion of choice anyway. If people want to see Bioware choices that can really mess them up, go play Baldur's Gate II.

[stvnorman]

I’ve been dabbling with Night Trap since the day it came out last year on Switch, gradually getting a bit further through the story each time. A couple of weeks ago I got to what turned out to be a mid-way checkpoint (after all of 14 minutes!), so I’ve been getting a bit more serious, even taking notes on event timings like it’s 1992, no less! The game is the same every time, and once you start down this route, you get gradually more addicted to working out where and when everything happens, and it gets very easy to have just one more go and get one more scene further along. I’ve now finished it, with the final run clocking in at around half an hour.

I love the low-budget 80’s horror it’s based on; I love the concept of the repetitive gameplay and ultra simple controls - essentially switching between 8 CCTV cameras playing FMV and activating traps on vampire trespassers; and even though I’ve never played it before, I still have huge nostalgia for how cutting-edge and cool this game was when it came out. I know most people hate it, but I couldn’t be a more perfect demographic for both the concept and the dumbed-down gameplay, and as such I think it’s great!

[Caligulas Horse]

I’ve been dabbling with Night Trap since the day it came out last year on Switch, gradually getting a bit further through the story each time. A couple of weeks ago I got to what turned out to be a mid-way checkpoint (after all of 14 minutes!), so I’ve been getting a bit more serious, even taking notes on event timings like it’s 1992, no less! The game is the same every time, and once you start down this route, you get gradually more addicted to working out where and when everything happens, and it gets very easy to have just one more go and get one more scene further along. I’ve now finished it, with the final run clocking in at around half an hour.

I love the low-budget 80’s horror it’s based on; I love the concept of the repetitive gameplay and ultra simple controls - essentially switching between 8 CCTV cameras playing FMV and activating traps on vampire trespassers; and even though I’ve never played it before, I still have huge nostalgia for how cutting-edge and cool this game was when it came out. I know most people hate it, but I couldn’t be a more perfect demographic for both the concept and the dumbed-down gameplay, and as such I think it’s great!

Ahh that's cool, I'm planning to get a Switch sometime soon and I didn't know this was on there.

I've wanted to play it since I saw it on AVGN, in my teens. I get a kick out of crappy low-budget things in general and even more so when they have something unique going for them. I reckon I'll feel the same as you do when I eventually give it a go.

[Alex79uk]

I waited and it finally paid off, picked up Yakuza Kiwami 2 on PS4 in the sale last night. Got to finish Detroit first but can't wait to get back in that world and play through the second installment.

[stvnorman]

Ahh that's cool, I'm planning to get a Switch sometime soon and I didn't know this was on there.

I think you’ll like if. The Switch version has loads of extras if you’re willing to put the time in. I think it’s been in sales fairly regularly since it came out so hopefully you’ll get it at a decent price too.

Speaking of which, thanks to Leon for recommending I check out Midway Arcade Treasures 2 on PS2 so I could get my hands on Pit Fighter again. Bought on eBay for £2.49 on Tuesday, arrived today and thankfully works in my temperamental disk drive. I haven’t played it since it was one of those arcade machines everyone marvelled at for its visuals, which obviously aren’t the marvel they were then, and the gameplay was and still is, shall we say, simple, but I won’t hear a word said against it! Aside from Pit Fighter, it’s one hell of a compilation. What a buy!

[DomsBeard]

I waited and it finally paid off, picked up Yakuza Kiwami 2 on PS4 in the sale last night. Got to finish Detroit first but can't wait to get back in that world and play through the second installment.

Yeah that is a great price for Kiwami 2.

Judgement continues to be excellent. I now have a girlfriend who constantly texts me whenever I'm trying to get anything done, much like real life

[Alex79uk]

Detroit continues to be really good. I'm hoping that once you finish the game you're given the opportunity to replay the individual vignettes, as there is a lot I wish had gone differently but there doesn't appear to be a way to go back and change anything during a playthrough. Wish I'd knocked the artists son out for starters...

[DomsBeard]

Detroit continues to be really good. I'm hoping that once you finish the game you're given the opportunity to replay the individual vignettes, as there is a lot I wish had gone differently but there doesn't appear to be a way to go back and change anything during a playthrough. Wish I'd knocked the artists son out for starters...

You can

[ReprobateGamer]

Another 3 games tried out recently:

Thimbleweed Park - Honestly didn't get too far into this. Not a huge fan of adventures in this ilk but heard good things

Final Station - Freebie from a Mixpot giveaway two(?) years ago. Knew it involved trains but hadn't realised it was a platformer. Undecided if I want to go back

What Remains of Edith Finch - Very atmospheric and I've managed to both never had played this before AND avoid spoilers. Geography of the house makes no sense to me. Intrigued for more.

The bean dive is coming to a close so that'll be it for a while on batches of games. It's been a nice change to dip into a selection of games rather than continuing with games that require a grind

[Alex79uk]

Started Super Mario Bros 3 on the Switch with the intention of finishing it, which I don't think I've ever actually done. On World 2 at the moment, and it's still a fantastic game. Not used the the NES visuals which were so much more nicely polished up for the SNES All Stars version, but it doesn't look too bad. Does make me wish we had the option though - and a decent D-Pad! Using the face buttons rather than the stick seems preferable, but they're not ideal.

[Scrustle]

Just finished off the Minerva's Den DLC for Bioshock 2, and it was pretty great. I think my impression of it now is a bit more positive than it was previously, but probably not by much. I did like it before after all. While I used to think of it as being sort of a contracted version of the main game, now I think it's more of a "greatest hits" instead. Both of the two (and a bit) levels are really impressive, among the best in the game. It feels like they were able to focus on to this shorter experience than maybe they were able to do across all the levels of the main game. It's got a really good atmosphere too, as they put a lot of effort in to the audio design, with the sounds of old mechanical computers always clacking and creaking away in the background. The new weapon and plasmid are pretty cool as well. The Ion Cannon pulls of the admirable task of making a laser beam weapon that feels like it has weight and power to it. It also feels like a more usable long range weapon on a controller compared to the spear gun. The black hole plasmid is really fun to use, and useful for clearing out several enemies at once in a physics flailing spectacle.

The story is also really good, but especially the ending. This isn't quite like the main game's plot though, so my metaphor doesn't quite fit so well here, but it still feels like a very appropriate "Bioshock" story. Having a single plot arc over several levels instead of just one means that you get a better sense of the main character, Porter, who talks to you over the radio. More chances to pick up audio diaries and hear about him and his life. He has a much more fleshed out backstory than most comparable characters in the game, which makes the ending much more poignant. But it differs from the main game in that it doesn't deal with any themes of fatherhood or parenthood in general, so I suppose it misses out on some of the things the main game was going for, but I think what they're aiming at here is pulled off better, despite it not being as fleshed out. The ending though is the real kicker. Even though I was fully aware of the twist coming, it had more impact on me this time than it had before.

Spoiler: show

Finding out that you're actually playing as Porter who has since been turned in to a Big Daddy, and that the voice on the radio was just a simulated personality by the super computer that he built, and that the plot revolves around, feels like a really good Bioshock-esque twist. It fits in to the style of the series really well, as it's something you had all the clues to work out before, but still isn't directly hinted at until it happens, as well as it cleverly playing with player perception and re-framing what came before. It's also good in that it feels like it's within an appropriate scope for what this side-story is too. It feels like it does carry weight, but it's not trying to one-up what came before or anything like that. Perhaps knowing the twist going in helped it somewhat, as I knew listening to the audio logs of Porter that I was hearing the thoughts of someone who was already gone. Helped add some pathos to it I think. But the part that hits the hardest is after the twist is revealed, and you're walking through Porter's old office, seeing the artefacts of his past lying around. Like a time capsules of a lost moment in time, untouched by the chaos of Rapture. Listening to the audio diary you find in there, of when Porter first tests the personality replication abilities of the computer, is particularly affecting. When the voice of his dead wife starts speaking, you can really empathise with Porter's instant regret, and feel what he's feeling as he has the bittersweet realisation that all his efforts were a mistake. There's a profound sadness there that the main plot cannot compare to.

Another thing I liked is how it feels like it fits in to the canon of this universe much better than the main game, despite it doing some similar things in a way. While a lot of the stuff from the central game suffered from either feeling like it was so important it should have come up in the original, or that it simply breaks continuity in order to insert itself in to places it can't have been, in this DLC it felt natural and like a no-brainer that the stuff it introduced would exist in this world. Of course there would be a massive, centralised supercomputing hub in Rapture. Even if we never heard of it before, there were clearly robots and computers in this world that seemed to be connected to each other somehow. And so here it is.

[dezm0nd]

Timespinner on gamepass.

It's a symphony of the night-like and it's bloody brilliant

[Suits]

Does make me wish we had the option though - and a decent D-Pad! Using the face buttons rather than the stick seems preferable, but they're not ideal.

Nintendo has a solution for you......

[Alex79uk]

Yeah they do look nice, but they're expensive and tiny! If they add SNES games at any point I might consider getting one of the third party SNES style pads. There seem to be a few well reviewed ones about.

[Suits]

Yeah they do look nice, but they're expensive and tiny! If they add SNES games at any point I might consider getting one of the third party SNES style pads. There seem to be a few well reviewed ones about.

Well, they are exactly 1-1 replicas (size wise) as original NES controls and feel incredible.

Perfect for playing the NES games on the Switch service.

There are plenty of other options out there like you mention but these, these are what you want if your like your NES games.

[Flabyo]

Timespinner on gamepass.

It's a symphony of the night-like and it's bloody brilliant

As a side note, this is strictly speaking only on gamepass for PC, but as it’s cross buy if you have gamepass ultimate you can download it on the XBO. But you have to go to it store page to do so, it won’t be in your list of XBO gamepass games.

This apparently applies to anything that will be only on pc gamepass but that has crossbuy. Something they’ll probably tidy up in the UI at some point (in that it appears to be intentional, but should be exposed better than it is)