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Post by Dave_McCoy on Apr 22, 2022 10:37:26 GMT
The Pedestrian - 9/10 (Series X)
Really enjoyed this. Looks pretty for what it is, great puzzles and lovely music. Doesn't out stay is welcome at a swift 3 hours if you don't get stuck as well. Good Game Pass fodder if you need a quick game before getting in to something more involved.
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Post by Sarfrin on Apr 22, 2022 23:21:09 GMT
Did I already mention that I went back to It Takes Two, having abandoned it when it first came out? I've since completed it, but I don't get the praise it gets. Its so slow. The characters are so annoying. The environments are so big every step feels like padding. The platforming is average. The challenge is non-existent. The abilities, whilst plentiful, are all under utilised. The whole game was a slog. It sounds like I could be describing a Kirby game, if not for the pacing, but those games at least feel more carefully crafted from a sandbox perspective. It Takes Two leads with its visuals and considers actual level design last. I agree with the characters being annoying. Everything else you've said feels like we've played a different game - Slow? Shit level design? Padding?Bonkers. Best co-op game I've played in years. I haven't finished it yet but it's a lot of fun to play co op with my daughter.
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Post by Samildanach on Apr 23, 2022 15:21:34 GMT
Ashen
Well if you were looking for a budget Dark Souls then this fits the bill. It has the usual requirements:faded, ruined world, a stamina bar, estus flask equivalent, bonfire equivalent, shields, light and heavy attacks, one handed and two handed weapons. It unfortunately lacks any backstabs and parrys as well as having a rather limited roster of weapons and enemy types.
So what does it do well? It arguably does light and darkness far better than Dark Souls 2 did. You have a lantern that you have to use in place of a shield in some of the very dark dungeons you visit. You can easily pop it down and fight near it if a nasty fight ensures, and it will return to your hand if you go too far. There is a village that is slowly built from nothing by the npcs you rescue/encounter and in a way it has the reverse theme of Dark Souls in that you are bringing a fallen world back into the light rather than seeing the dying embers of a fallen world. There are five bosses (plus one dlc boss best done after the third boss difficulty-wise) and they range from average to quite good. There may be no Artorias equivalent, but neither is there such lows as Rat Vanguard. The World ranges from sparse, faded woodland, to dusty desert ruins, dull hillsides, cramped wooden dwellings in a canyon, a wonderful ruined city and a very dark nasty place near the end. There are three main dungeons and several smaller caves and I would say the whole thing is a bit smaller than Demon's Souls' world(s). I reached a low point after the second boss, namely the hillside area and the second dungeon where I almost couldn't be bothered; but a handy short cut and a great third boss fight later I got more into the swing of things and enjoyed it till the end. The dlc area and its boss were a little easy when I did them (just before facing the very difficult final boss), hence my earlier recommendation of doing them just after the half way point. Anyway, long story short, decent enough game if somehow you were short on Souls-games to play and wanted something new. Probably not worth buying for full price though, especially the quite short dlc.
3/5 which puts it level with Lords of the Fallen for me (which I did also enjoy, despite that game's limitations).
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Post by Phattso on Apr 23, 2022 19:17:56 GMT
Elden Ring (Xbox Series X) Have barely played nor thought about any other game for more than two months. Bought it on PC as well for those moments I got kicked off the tele, because I was aware I had an addiction and I didn't give a fuck. So little polish. Such shonky tech. Such great memories. It's a place, in my brain, and I can go there. And I'll probably roll another character in about five minutes. 126 hours (and counting) well spent. Thank fuck they finally realised it didn't have to be bullshit to be fun / 10
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Post by dominalien on Apr 24, 2022 18:47:00 GMT
The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition on PS3
I played this first on iOS but guess what? It was taken away from me (the 2nd game, too), so now I have the first two games on PS3 of all places for one low price. Never buy anything you’d like to keep on your phone, kids.
Technically it’s dire. The gfx are nice enough, but animation is non existent to the point the original is much smoother to play. Visual glitches galore, too and it’s all surrounded by black borders on all sides. The pixel version isn’t perfect, either, for instance there’s no way to have voices on when it’s active, though they can still be heard in split-second chunks all the time.
Great game still and TROPHIES!!! (no plat but a nice 100% none the less) plus I get to keep it forever now.
7/10 because shonky special edition, the game’s an easy 8+.
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Post by Jambowayoh on Apr 24, 2022 19:46:03 GMT
Deathloop (PS5)
Finally finished this after dipping in and out of it since buying it last Christmas. Started it focusing on it properly yesterday and finished it about an hour ago. I'm not really sure how I feel about it as at the beginning the options it presented seem quite large but it's very focused after you find and follow the golden loop. I didn't really feel a need to switch up any of my powers or guns, so I stuck with Nexus and Shift. The AI isn't the best if I'm being honest it's either laughably stupid or able to spot you from miles away with auto aim. The invasion aspect I didn't get to witness as I believe many people have moved on from this game. Regardless I found that aspect of having to kill Julianna a bit of chore as it went on, especially coupled with having to complete the last task to get the golden loop that really felt like padding. When it came to that point I just wanted it to be over. As is usual for an Arkane game the ending, well the ending that I got, was very open to interpretation about if it is a good or bad one. Don't think I'll go back to to get the other ones, I'll just check YouTube.
All in all it's a good game, I don't think it's Arkane's best as some of the reviews have said. For me that's still Prey just for its world building.
7/10
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Post by dominalien on Apr 27, 2022 5:23:29 GMT
Resident Evil 6 on PS3
I remember being very vocal about how shit it was, but I've now changed my mind. I went back to it after 7 years aiming to get the plat and have now completed it on Professional. I think my initial mistake was playing on Veteran where I died all the time and generally had no idea what was going on. Now with some upgraded skills it was much more manageable and enjoyable. Like any RE, really, it rewards familiarity and repetition.
All that said, it mostly happens at night and is very dark and very ugly. Even when they put in some green or yellow, you can be sure it'll be the ugliest green or yellow, respectively, they could find in their RGB palettes. All the instant-death QTEs can fuck right off. And inventory management is just a mess.
It's obviously not as good as 4 and even not as good as 5, but there's a lot of fun to be had here and the story's not half bad, especially the Jake/Sherry one. Onto more trophies for me.
7/10
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Post by docrob on Apr 27, 2022 16:15:50 GMT
Prey aka System Shock 3 Brilliant. Been ages since a game kept me up until 3am as I just needed one more side mission or one more upgrade. Took a while to click, but when it did it was absolutely fantastic. 10/10 Loved it. Ended up abandoning it about 80% of the way through though. It just got unfairly hard. Got fed up with the number of tough enemies being thrown at me at once.
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Post by dominalien on Apr 27, 2022 20:05:44 GMT
Hmmm, I did not have that experience at all. If anything, it got more amazing the closer to the end I got.
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MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
Posts: 6,664
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Apr 27, 2022 23:15:49 GMT
I loved Prey, but pretty much ran past most of the enemies in the last quarter or so of the game. I was ready for it to finish.
Shame it shat the bed with the ending.
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Post by Jambowayoh on Apr 27, 2022 23:31:50 GMT
I loved Prey, but pretty much ran past most of the enemies in the last quarter or so of the game. I was ready for it to finish. Shame it shat the bed with the ending. I quite liked that ending.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Apr 28, 2022 6:58:53 GMT
It was ok, but it seemed kind of unnecessary. The ending itself I mean. But even before that the backtracking with respawning on top had gotten tiresome.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Apr 29, 2022 5:06:04 GMT
Sayonara Wild Hearts (on the Switch)
Liked this. Played half of it back at xmas, and then got sidetracked / kicked off the switch by the kids. Went back and finished it in a couple of short sessions.
It's very light touch. Short, not particularly hard or punishing. Mainly about the vibe and the nice visuals in time with the music. It does its best to change up the gameplay every few minutes, although some forms work better than others. It's occasionally a bit annoying when you repeatedly fail a section, but you rarely have to go back very far and it's not that hard.
It's basically an interactive music video.
Once you finish it, you unlock the ability to play through the entire album seamlessly. TBH, I rather which it had been more seamless in the main playthrough, as each level is pretty short so you don't really need the constant level breaks. (although the entire album one doesn't let you save, so you need to do it all in one sitting apparently).
Well worth the few quid I paid for it, but if you're someone who demands complex gameplay or challenge or plays games for dozens of hours a day then you'll probably burn through it very very quickly.
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MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
Posts: 6,664
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Apr 29, 2022 5:10:31 GMT
I play games for about 3 dozen hours a day, so I'll probably give it a miss.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Apr 29, 2022 18:25:04 GMT
"Finished" Deathtrap after eight hours. It's a tower defense game mixed with an ARPG, so quite accessible. Perhaps I'll replay it with another character at some point, but for now one playthrough is enough for me.
The character building and loot didn't seem particularly engaging to me, but there are some interesting tower types. Enthropic Pillar for instance is kind of a poison/ice ray that can apply healing effects to the player or nearby creatures.
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Post by dangerousdave on Apr 30, 2022 9:54:35 GMT
Thanks to Aunt Alison I started playing through Bowser's Fury the other day. This morning I completed it, 100%. It took just under 8 hours over 3 sittings and I enjoyed every moment of it. It's definitely DLC material, but the level design is on par with any 3D Mario game. Part of me wonders if it had been developed years ago, hut never released due to the Wii U's poor sales. It feels like this game inspired Mario Odyssey, rather than the other way around. Either way, a great game. Waaaay better than It Takes Two. Now hopefully I can convince the girlfriend to play Kirby with me. Otherwise it's back to Dragon Quest XI for a bit.
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Post by lutzie on Apr 30, 2022 9:56:10 GMT
Deathloop. Finished it last week, and I'm struggling to play anything else because other games are not Deathloop. Absolutely phenomenal game. (Although I'm an Arkane fanboi so...)
May blast through Streets of Rage 4 a few times to get out of my funk.
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Post by Samildanach on Apr 30, 2022 17:35:38 GMT
Call of Duty Infinite Warfare More backlog delving with this entry in a little known franchise. My only other COD experience being the COD4 MW Remake this came bundled with. I have avoided COD mainly because of all the annoying hoorah stuff and indeed they did say hoorah several times in Infinite Warfare. Well I gritted my teeth and soldiered on. So how was it? Not too bad actually, in a adrenaline-filled- constant-excitement-slurry kind of way, so the player never gets bored, even for a tiny second. It's all GO! GO! GO! without any moments to soak in the quite impressive visuals of the solar system. Definitely a one and done for me, and I have no intention of ever buying another COD, but to be fairthe first person shooter genre is not really my bag (Half Life 2 was the last one I actually thought was great). 7 Hoorahs/10
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Post by timmywimmywoo on May 1, 2022 19:59:20 GMT
Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight (PC) - 9/10I remember buying this game back in 1997 and struggling to get it working on my Dad's PC, and I think I must only have ever got 4 or 5 levels in as a kid. Luckily it still plays fantastically well in 2022, albeit only in software mode because I was too lazy to do the (easy) fix to get hardware acceleration working. The levels are astounding - the sense of scale is gobsmacking despite the rudimentary level geometry and basic graphics. The Star Wars soundtrack is sparingly applied so it's extra emotive when it kicks in, and you do feel like a true badass when you get the lightsabre and wade through stormtroopers, who lose the odd arm. In fact, the enemies don't get any more varied/hard from about level 6 or so, with the only real difficulty spikes being a few puzzles (which are mostly enjoyable), and several Jedi lightsabre boss fights. The entry-level weapons are still useful later on, and you do have to watch your ammo a bit, especially in the first few levels. I stuck to a fully light-side force power playthrough (you allocate stars to your powers at the end of most levels to make your chosen powers more powerful), which grants you a special light-side power which is very handy against the bosses, it's like a mad shield thing. Overall I'm so glad I went back to it - I had no issues getting it running other than the odd crash in between levels, but nothing a restart of the game didn't fix.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2022 20:08:56 GMT
Great ace attorney chronicles on the switch.
Hmmm... I can't say I actually liked this and found it a real slog. I am not sure why, I liked the stories, the characters etc but something just did not gel. But at the same time I felt it was something subjective and objectively it is really good.
The pros: I liked the characters, Plots were fun Some great real history (racism, pawn shops, gas lighting etc) which really made it feel real despite have Herlock Sholmes.
Cons: It was no zany ace attorney. It lacked something and I was bored towards the end.
I feel like I am being really harsh, I so wanted to like it but just didn't.
6/10
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Post by dfunked on May 2, 2022 10:56:22 GMT
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands - 8/10
A definite step up from BL3 in terms of writing. Spells are a nice addition (so much more useful than grenades have ever been in the series), and it's pretty much the Borderlands formula perfected. A few niggles that have been with the series for a while like limited inventory space, shit maps (pretty much unusable on anything that has multiple levels)
Just waiting for the unskippable end credits to finish rolling and I'll crack on and play the first bit of DLC (which I accidentally walked into at level 3), hit level 40 (finished at 39) and clean up a few side quests. I went Graveborn/Spore Warden and it's an absolutely ridiculous combo. Found a bit of gear that allowed me to have 5 hydras up, and one appeared every time I cast a spell or killed someone, so some boss fights I barely even had to fire a bullet as my 7 minions were just melting everything in sight.
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Post by Aunt Alison on May 2, 2022 12:14:25 GMT
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands - 8/10 A definite step up from BL3 in terms of writing. Spells are a nice addition (so much more useful than grenades have ever been in the series), and it's pretty much the Borderlands formula perfected. A few niggles that have been with the series for a while like limited inventory space, shit maps (pretty much unusable on anything that has multiple levels) Just waiting for the unskippable end credits to finish rolling and I'll crack on and play the first bit of DLC (which I accidentally walked into at level 3), hit level 40 (finished at 39) and clean up a few side quests. I went Graveborn/Spore Warden and it's an absolutely ridiculous combo. Found a bit of gear that allowed me to have 5 hydras up, and one appeared every time I cast a spell or killed someone, so some boss fights I barely even had to fire a bullet as my 7 minions were just melting everything in sight. Wow, you got through that quickly. How long did it take you?
I haven't played it since I started BL3 (in part because I fell off a ledge after going up the skull jaw lift before triggering a respawn point and was having trouble finding my way back)
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Post by dfunked on May 2, 2022 12:32:20 GMT
23 hours played so far and I've had it for just over a week, so yeah, binged it pretty hard! That's doing all but 4 of the side quests and every shrine apart from one which I'm guessing is tied to one of the side quests. It's a pretty lean game by BL standards so I'll see how much longer it holds my attention.
Oh yeah, and I started over after playing for a few hours on the magey class too, so would've been about 20 hours to get to the end credits with most side stuff done.
And yeah, I fell off the same ledge I think and went the long way around. Badly placed respawn/fast travel points are another gripe!
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Post by Bill in the rain on May 2, 2022 13:54:00 GMT
Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight (PC) - 9/10I remember buying this game back in 1997 and struggling to get it working on my Dad's PC, and I think I must only have ever got 4 or 5 levels in as a kid. Luckily it still plays fantastically well in 2022, albeit only in software mode because I was too lazy to do the (easy) fix to get hardware acceleration working. The levels are astounding - the sense of scale is gobsmacking despite the rudimentary level geometry and basic graphics. The Star Wars soundtrack is sparingly applied so it's extra emotive when it kicks in, and you do feel like a true badass when you get the lightsabre and wade through stormtroopers, who lose the odd arm. In fact, the enemies don't get any more varied/hard from about level 6 or so, with the only real difficulty spikes being a few puzzles (which are mostly enjoyable), and several Jedi lightsabre boss fights. The entry-level weapons are still useful later on, and you do have to watch your ammo a bit, especially in the first few levels. I stuck to a fully light-side force power playthrough (you allocate stars to your powers at the end of most levels to make your chosen powers more powerful), which grants you a special light-side power which is very handy against the bosses, it's like a mad shield thing. Overall I'm so glad I went back to it - I had no issues getting it running other than the odd crash in between levels, but nothing a restart of the game didn't fix. I love this game so much.
It came out at almost exactly the same time as Quake 2, and while quake 2 had really nice graphics for the time, the scale and design of the levels just couldn't come close to this.
The environmental puzzles could be pretty hard at times (the one getting into the tower where you had to ride up on the top of the 'door' stumped me for ages!) But they were also great fun, like the one where you had to manipulate and rotate a container as it descended through a huge area so that you could jump across it. That was almost Half-Life in nature.
Plus the idea of an FPS with actual story and RPG elements! I know everything has RPG elements these days, but at the time it was really fresh.
And you basically had a great triumvirate of tools in the Lightsaber, the guns and the force powers. (Unline JK2 where the guns were a waste of time).
I was trying to follow the lightside path, but due to messing something up in the level just before the point where it branches, my light/dark meter was about 1% into the dark side, leading to a deeply harrowing part where I/Kyle went totally psycho and ended up in a falling tumbling exploding ship with accusations echoing around his mind.
That was fucking awesome.
If you liked it, definitely give Mysteries of the Sith a shot. It's just as good. Probably worth putting in the effort to get the proper 3d working for that one though, otherwise you'll miss out on the colored lighting (which was cool at the time, even if they did go a bit overboard with it)
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Post by Chopper on May 2, 2022 15:27:35 GMT
Great summary of Ashen in your post Samildanach; agree with a lot of what you say, even though I thought it was much better than you did. It really fills a nice niche of an easy- to intermediate- souls game, with plenty to recommend it from the graphics and base-building side. 3/5 which puts it level with Lords of the Fallen for me (which I did also enjoy, despite that game's limitations). Then you went and ruined it I also enjoyed LotF, but it was definitely the most basic iteration of the souls formula we've seen. And the first, of course, so we can forgive it its flaws.
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Post by Samildanach on May 2, 2022 16:21:34 GMT
Great summary of Ashen in your post Samildanach; agree with a lot of what you say, even though I thought it was much better than you did. It really fills a nice niche of an easy- to intermediate- souls game, with plenty to recommend it from the graphics and base-building side. 3/5 which puts it level with Lords of the Fallen for me (which I did also enjoy, despite that game's limitations). Then you went and ruined it I also enjoyed LotF, but it was definitely the most basic iteration of the souls formula we've seen. And the first, of course, so we can forgive it its flaws. Heh heh, yeah I thought my last comment may be slightly controversial as LotF is generally seen as the weakest of all professional souls-likes (not counting all the shovel-ware on Steam). I do think it can be very build dependent on how much LotF is enjoyed, with the obvious first choice of the Warrior being a slow and turgid experience. I went for my usual choice of the Dex build (was it a Rogue?) and had fun throughout... other than against any enemy who turtled behind a shield - very poorly implemented enemies. Ashen is arguably the better designed game, but I had equal fun and frustrations in both. Neither are a patch on the FromSoftware games though.
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Post by timmywimmywoo on May 2, 2022 18:39:13 GMT
[If you liked it, definitely give Mysteries of the Sith a shot. It's just as good. Probably worth putting in the effort to get the proper 3d working for that one though, otherwise you'll miss out on the colored lighting (which was cool at the time, even if they did go a bit overboard with it) Ooo I have that too (got all the Dark Forces games for £7 on Steam). Will fire it up, but I’ve just got System Shock 2 ready to go as well…
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2022 18:56:44 GMT
Great summary of Ashen in your post Samildanach ; agree with a lot of what you say, even though I thought it was much better than you did. It really fills a nice niche of an easy- to intermediate- souls game, with plenty to recommend it from the graphics and base-building side. Then you went and ruined it I also enjoyed LotF, but it was definitely the most basic iteration of the souls formula we've seen. And the first, of course, so we can forgive it its flaws. Heh heh, yeah I thought my last comment may be slightly controversial as LotF is generally seen as the weakest of all professional souls-likes (not counting all the shovel-ware on Steam). I do think it can be very build dependent on how much LotF is enjoyed, with the obvious first choice of the Warrior being a slow and turgid experience. I went for my usual choice of the Dex build (was it a Rogue?) and had fun throughout... other than against any enemy who turtled behind a shield - very poorly implemented enemies. Ashen is arguably the better designed game, but I had equal fun and frustrations in both. Neither are a patch on the FromSoftware games though. I quite liked LotF but it is very ropey. The Surge was slightly better. The Surge 2 is a LOT better and the best out the three Deck 13 souls likes by quite a margin. I have Ashen but bought it not long before ER came out so I'll probably get on to it soon. Liked what I played of it mind you, how little that was.
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Post by Bill in the rain on May 3, 2022 0:07:22 GMT
Ooo I have that too (got all the Dark Forces games for £7 on Steam). Will fire it up, but I’ve just got System Shock 2 ready to go as well… ooh. That's another great game. Do that one first, then come back for MotS. Unless you want to do them chronologically.
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2022 0:29:12 GMT
I bought the two Jedi Outcast games on Switch, so we can all Kyle Katarn.
Also why does he look exactly like Casey Affleck?
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