The usual collection of new releases and old favourites, some of us are even playing obscure titles like Prison Break: Conspiracy. Don’t worry, an intervention has been arranged.
As we head into the traditionally dry season of new releases, it’s also a time for gamers everywhere to dust off some old gems that were not played back when they were topical, and revel in games most people finished eons ago. Expect the next few weeks to feature more than a few blasts from the past.
Zuler:
Same old this week: Pokemon Diamond, a bit of Just Cause 2 and a small helping of Final Fantasy XIII. Been a very busy week, so I haven’t had much time to play any games really.
Michael:
This week I have sold: MAG, MW2, Uncharted 2, FIFA 10, and BF:BC2. Does that count? I even got a score: 90 something or thereabouts. So, yeah, not played anything again. I should give up this gaming web site lark. Don’t print that!
tom_lord:
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. Certainly, if there was a competition for the longest game title, the latest instalment in the FIFA franchise has to be in the running for top honours. It also has to be regarded as the finest representation of the beautiful game to date. It’s debatable whether or not if you already own FIFA 10 you should buy this game, but either way, I have been having a blast with this game over the past two days and I’m looking forward to a tournament in our household over the coming week.
Aside from football, I managed to play 30 minutes of Prison Break: The Conspiracy. When I say managed, it was a close run thing. This game is bad from whichever way you look at it. The controls are so wayward it’s hard to run in a straight line. It is full of horrible video-game clichés like weak stealth levels and robotic character animations that I thought this generation had surpassed. Just when gaming takes one step forward, titles like this try to wreck the progress.
Finally, still making my way (albeit very slowly) through God of War 3 and I picked up Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City, diving head-first into The Ballad of Gay Tony and finding it a thrill-a-minute.
ColinBarr66:
It has been another busy week, thankfully it was busy because of games as I actually got a chance to play some this week.
On Tuesday I joined nine fellow TSAers as we took on EverythingPlayStation in a 10 v 10 match of FIFA 10. As you probably know by now we won and I somehow managed to score a hat-trick! I still enjoy FIFA, so much so I went and bought 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa game. A lot of the little annoyances in FIFA 10 seem to have been removed, except the overly strict referees, they are still a pain.
Finally finished Army of Two: The 40th Day with Murdo this weekend. I really enjoyed being able to play through it with a friend and I really hope more games will include a co-op story or separate missions like Modern Warfare 2’s spec ops.
Another brilliant TSA competition ran last Thursday evening, the Uncharted 2 Treasure Bearer competition was a very enjoyable way to spend an evening. I even managed to make it to the third round which was a big surprise considering I’ve barely touched the online mode in that game.
Got the chance to play a little bit of Splinter Cell: Conviction early last week and unfortunately enjoyed it. It wasn’t amazing but still gave me another reason to want an Xbox 360.
Played a bit of Just Cause 2 again. Pretty fun game, and after a week of playing it I finally decided to do a mission. The missions seem decent enough but are just a distraction from blowing stuff up. Can’t see myself playing this much longer before it ends up alongside God of War 3, Killzone 2 and Prince of Persia in the “games I’ll never finish” pile.
Lorcan:
With a broken DS and being in a separate continent as my PS3, things have been very hard, and anyone who’s been around me for the past 5 weeks will tell you that my separation from gaming has not been an easy thing to deal with.
Things eventually came to a head last Saturday. I simply couldn’t bare it any longer and I purchased Lego Star Wars and Tomb Raider Anniversary on the mac. This was a stupid thing to do for two reasons. First of all, I always promised myself that my macbook was purely for work and the internet. I had decided I wouldn’t bog it down with games or give myself the luxury of yet another distraction from doing more productive things. To be honest though, I’d already sort of broken that rule when I got Peggle Nights and Bejeweled 2 last year, but even with that excuse disregarded, I now have to explain to my wallet where I managed to find the ridiculous amounts of money you have to spend for a mac title. Desperate times though? And please, if you know where you can get them cheaper, for the sake of my sanity don’t post them in the comments.
So here I am now, with Lara and Darth Vader’s heads sitting proudly in my dock, ready to be played. Having delved into Tomb Raider Anniversary I must say that I much prefer the exploring/acrobatics of Lara’s world to Drake’s. Obviously when it comes to Drake, he gets his combat and story nailed to perfection, but having played with Lara again, I’ve realised just how linear Drake’s world is. Every area is a puzzle to be solved and every tomb feels like it gives you numerous ways to approach its architecture. Not only that, but the puzzles and tombs require you to manipulate them in far bigger ways than they do in Uncharted whose puzzles only ever need some blocks to be pressed or moved around. I’d never had a problem with Uncharted’s exploration before, but having gone back to the girl who started it all, I’ve realised it’s not as great as I once thought it was. Lara is still the queen here.
Then there’s LEGO Star Wars (Original Trilogy. You know, the best one!) and that’s just as great and fun as ever!
Tuffcub:
Wanted: Weapons Of Fate – Another rental, seems quite good but have not played it much so far.
Final Fantasy XIII: I had to wait until I knew I had time for this as I know exactly the effect it would have. I was right, bought it Saturday have been playing it non stop since then. Utterly fantastic, gripping storyline and enough cut scenes to give Metal Gear Solid 4 a run for its money. And, before anyone comments, as the fighting is episodic in nature, the cut scenes do not intrude. Bit of fighting, some stats juggling, explore, cut scene, repeat. Roll on Final Fantasy Versus XIII!
Wakeboarding HD Demo – Still not entirely convinced. One thing I would suggest Creat do is get some new sounds – some of the sound effects are very similar to Magic Orbz and the music is way too cutesy.
Kovacs:
I was hoping to finish off Uncharted 2 last week, but due to some “review commitments” Drake had to be left in Shambala until I have a spare couple of hours to bring him to his inevitable conclusion. I’ve spent a few hours with Blue Toad Murder Files but the majority of the week (or at least the preceding weekend) has been spent in the company of one Nier. I’ve invested buckets of time into the game in order to get the review up and ready for later today. It’s been an interesting experience.