What We Played #37

As you will hopefully have read we had a few people visit the Vita Rooms in Glasgow on Monday. One of those was Blair who came away suitably impressed with the Vita itself and particularly looking forward to LittleBigPlanet, Rayman Origins and Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

When not counting the days until the Vita’s European release next month he’s been continuing to indulge his need to play Zelda. At least until the discovery of the “extremely addictive” Doodle God on his iPhone. Apparently it’s nothing like Doodle Jump, though “you combine elements to create more and it’s really fun” was all I could get out of him before I lost out to the game in the contest for his attention.

Kris made a valiant attempt to play some games on his console, at least until he discovered Mythbusters on Netflix and succumbed to watching them blow stuff up. Only FIFA managed to get a look in when a quick thirty minute session with friends ended up stretching to five hours.

It seems that Toby wasn’t one of those friends, although he too has been playing only FIFA this week; managing to play a few games at the weekend with fellow TSAer Roynaldo. The games were good fun apparently and he’s looking forward to a rematch but didn’t let on who won. Can you shed any light on the results Roy?

The streets of Steelport are still Aran’s primary digital home as he strives to finish the last few challenges in Saints Row: The Third. “It’s a bit awkward trying to do the streaking challenge when the rest of the family is in the room”, he sheepishly admits. Other than that it looks like the UFC Undisputed 3 demo may have succeeded in its marketing aims, as he’s come away impressed with the improved controls, accessibility, new gameplay mechanics, “superb” graphics and a Pride mode that looks worth exploring.

[drop2]Tuffcub has also been roaming Steelport though hasn’t declared his character’s state of nakedness whilst doing so. There’s been the usual bouts of Killzone 3 mixed up with a bit of The Last Guy, some Blur and a game the name of which conjures up thoughts of “Cor! Exciting! Vrroom! Faster pussycat, kill, kill! Non-stop action!” amongst other things. Need For Speed: The Run did not live up to those expectations.

He tells me the that the game boils down to “two minutes racing then a minute of loading screens and XP” repeated ad infinitum. He’s likely not alone in wondering how EA could release a game about about a non-stop road race that interrupts the racing every few minutes and “destroys any sense of pace”.

“The quicktime events are fine”, he concedes, “they keep things moving, unlike that bloody loading screen map”. The overall verdict, in case you haven’t already picked up on the general vibe, “technically it’s a good game, the racing is fine”. I sense a ‘but’ on the way do you? “But everything else is horribly misjudged, an epic fail”. Back to Blur for your racing then TC?

As for myself I’ve spent more than my usual amount of time playing GT for one reason or another this week. To remind myself how far (or not, in some respects) the franchise has come I spun up both the original Gran Turismo and Gran Turismo 3: A Spec in my trusty PS2. It’s amazing how hard Kaz and the crowd at Polyphony Digital have worked to keep the series feeling consistent, even going so far as to reuse the shadows from the original GT in Gran Turismo 5.

I’ve not had a good chunk of time to put into Star Wars: The Old Republic so I’ve done little but fly a few of the space missions. I’m looking forward to Jenn’s next planetfall though as she’s on her way to to one of that universe’s most iconic locations, Tattooine.

[drop]The Wii was employed for some games of Excite Truck, which is still brilliant fun, when I had some company at the weekend before we rocked out for a while in Rock Band 3. Battlefield 3 also returned to my PS3 after months of absence so I could have a crack at some of the co-op missions with a friend.

Dan can’t tell us anything about Asura’s Wrath, yet, but has finally finished the “deeply disappointing” Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception.

Drake runs about like he’s drunk, the game insists on taking control away from you every 2 minutes for a set piece and the wave after wave of generic enemies left me feeling bored. Uncharted: Golden Abyss does it WAY better. If I had done the review it would have been a 7, because I did like the story and the character interaction. Also Chapter 2 was a nice touch.

On the portable front he’s started playing One Piece Unlimited Cruise on his 3DS. I’m not feeling it yet”, he says, “although it’s early days”. He’s also been “religiously playing” the Vita’s WipEout 2048 demo. Many religions are not without cost and the cost to Dan has been the price of importing the game from Japan. “It should be here by Monday”, uh-oh, “then you’ll never hear from me again”. If there’s no TSA news coverage next week you now know why.

We find Joseph in a constant struggle to make his four hours of daily commuting “less suicide-inducing”. This week’s solution has been Tales of the Abyss on his 3DS. “It’s like every other Tales game ever”, he admits, “but it’s an enjoyable and fairly engrossing RPG”. At home it’s been an epic tale of Skyrim, Skyrim and more Skyrim to purge those commuting blues.

What have you all been up to? Did you make it to Glasgow’s Vita Rooms and enjoy what’s on offer there?

81 Comments

  1. Med 2: Total War, Empire: Total War, Total War: Shogun 2, Civilisation 4 complete edition, World in Conflict, Call of Duty Black Ops (Zombie mode and Combat Training), Warhammer 40K:Space Marine (Exterminatus and versus), Dawn of War 2, Titan Quest, Battlefield 3, Aliens vs Predator, Chime: Super Deluxe, and World of Tanks for me. Played a lot this past couple of weeks :)

  2. UC: Golden Abyss for me. Loving it, it’s so much like the first Uncharted and a really solid game.

    • Rub it in. Found out this morning that I am now getting my Vita as a birthday present, a whole MONTH after release. I was getting so pumped I was going to get to play U:GA in Feb… Ah well. 2 months to go….

      • I’m in the same boat Omac. Getting it on the 24th of March. Well just before so I can charge it in time for my 8 hour flight to America :) Going to have Wipeout. UC and FF8 to keep me occupied.

        Can’t wait.

      • Same – I have to wait until March 27th. :(

      • Well, at least Sony can count on 3 sales after the first week unlike in Japan…

      • I have considered cancelling my order, only because it’s like Uncharted is costing me £270! That’s the only game I want at the moment, and Escape Plan but I’m not sure that’s out on release. It’s a shame a lot of PSN games aren’t compatible with the Vita, only PSOne classics and Minis.

      • Not looking forward to Wipeout? Im getting Uncharted, Wipeout & Rayman Origins (purposly waited for the PS Vita release) on physical cards and then probably spend the £5 PSN discount on Little Deviants.

      • Not really into Wipeout – if it’s a racing game I need real manufacturers/cars. And although Rayman looks great, as a Platformer I don’t think it will hold my interest. And I’m really trying to avoid having another backlog of games, so really only want to buy a few. Plus I’ll probably only use it on lunchbreaks.

  3. This week, Okabu (insert your own joke about cloud gaming here), Strangers Wrath HD, Jurassic Park: The Game, San & MAX BTS, Angry Birds, Words with friends, Battlefield 3, Sklanders, Uncharted 3 & Resdient Evil 5.

    oh and erm….

    *Cough*HannahMontana*Cough*

    • That’s a nasty cough you have there mate, I hope it’s not the cause of any embarrassment :P

      • Hannah Montana?! Bahahahaha :P

      • This cough has been plaguing me for a few days. Just cant seem to shift it. Other symptoms include an increased level of self loathing and a perma-red face. Diagnosis?

      • Give him a break, he only played it for 4 HOURS! ;)

      • Thats all it took to get that shiney platinum trophy and now its sitting waiting for me to trade it in. It keeps giving me sideways glances though so Ive trapped it in a mirror lined box to contain the evil.

      • Lol. Do you think a shop will take it back? :p

      • Maybe Boots the chemist will take it in exchange for some cough medicine :P

    • If boots wont take it, I will take it to the local church, drown it in holy water then go to the confessional to confess my gaming sins to god.

      • That’ll be 50 Hail Hannah’s, I mean Mary’s.

      • *Wipes tears of laughter away*
        Is it dead now?

  4. Civilization 5 and Pocket League Story for me this week, PS3 has been used entirely for Netflix, having only discovered it last weekend.

  5. Played Bioshock 2 multiplayer with sanmartinez, and another chap Friday night. Unfortunately yogdog’s internet was playing up. I’m just about to hit level 30 (finally). Also tried the Protector Trials which is good fun actually!
    Played some more co-op Resistance 3 with Origami Killer – it’s great fun, really enjoying it and I gave a better account of myself this week (marginally)! I’ll be a bit sad when it’s over, need to find something else co-op. Last night I got a few of the awkward trophies out the way so we’ll hopefully both Platinum it this week or next. If it’s next week I should have enough time to get the other trophies first.
    Otherwise not much else, still not touched the FFXIII-2 demo yet, and I’ve not even showed FIFA12 or MW3 any love this week.

    • Funny thing is, it’s completely fine on the PC, but it’s really struggling with PSN. No idea what the problem is :(

      • Odd. I was relying on you and sanmartinez to help me get a few extra wins! It’s great fun, but 97,000 ADAM seems SO far away when it’s only 10 ADAM per kill. Hope you get it sorted!

      • I’ll try it again soon, when I can drag myself off current games :)

      • Ok mate, look forward to it….although it could be a while! :)

      • Yeah, Total War and Civ 4 are just so addictive :P

      • You like Total War? Why have you never mentioned this?…… ;)

      • I have several dozen times! :D

      • Not as many times as he’s mention Warhammer/Space Marine :p

      • What can I say? I love Warhammer :P

    • Got a free day tomorrow so going all out on Juggler and Medusa trophies! :P Should get them hopefully.

      Also I have been playing Dark Souls this week, and have made quite a bit of progress. Managed to kill the Carpa Demon, however, I was owned by the huge butterfly and also I got cursed in the Depths. I now have half life and no idea how to be healed :s Im loving the game!
      Also got round to finishing Broken Steel Fallout 3 DLC, very buggy and it crashed a lot but managed to complete it. Now going for the last DLC the Pitt.
      Also I am stuck on Stranger’s Wrath, quite difficult the game is.

      • Good luck with the trophies. Medusa took me about 10 minutes then Juggler took me about 45mins to an hour – it’s defo glitched. I know this because I did EXACTLY the same thing to about 40 seperate enemies, and only 1 in 10 counted. :/

        This is the best guide for Juggler, plus the check point select takes you right to this point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFp9wNPbOOA

        However the other location I mentioned is best for Medusa.

        I’ve not touched any of the Fallout 3 DLC, I hear it’s good but suffers from frame-rate issues which may be related to the crashing?!? I should go back to it really.

      • Ok thanks, will watch that now. The Broken Steel DLC paused the game for about 2mins for it to resume again, this happened twice and on the third time it crashed. Overall the DLC’s have been good, Broken Steel just has a lot of issues though :/ Did you have them free with PS+ as well?

      • Nope, didn’t know they were free on PS+ – but I picked up the GOTY edition cheaper than the collective DLCs, so I have it on disc. This also saves HDD space ;)

      • Yeah when PS+ was first out they were free shortly after. Im thinking of doing that with New Vegas, the ultimate edition is cheaper than all the DLC’s on the store.

      • Good plan. Will probably do the same

      • Just a quick note, playing Resistance 3 now and have managed to get to 2/4 for Juggler! :)

      • YES!! Just got the two trophies! Plat should be fine now

      • Sweet, well done! Did any of my tips help?

      • Yes they did, copied what you told me to do for the Medusa one, which was run to that pipe then bump the difficulty up to superhuman and gather 5 then blast them. For the Juggler one I copied the video above and got the trophy on my 4th attempt.

      • Glad it helped, 4th attempt was pretty good too!! You’re close to the Plat now!! :)

      • Yep will be very happy with my 8th Plat. Do you still own Dead Island btw, wouldn’t mind doing coop on that until I complete it.

      • I certainly do! Plat is easy on that too, just requires a few horrible grinds such as getting to level 50 and playing through the first Act with all 4 characters – which probably takes just over an hour each time, if you run everywhere! I’d be happy to jump in and assist, although I really need to get to level 40 on Bioshock multiplayer first (as I’m worried Infinite will be out in March and then no one will be in the multiplayer lobbies)! If we get a couple of other it’s good fun – you should post in the forum. Plus I can upgrade loads of weapons for you as I have a lot of the blueprints and loads of money! ;)

      • Last response sorry, awesome stuff. I probably should I mentioned that I have Bioshock 2, might have to come online for a bit sometime :P

      • *late not last

  6. Well I played a bit of Last Guy last night too. But rage quit when I had a line over 1200 and never noticed a monster. Oh well.

    Played SR mostly, loving it but do have the niggling feeling that it’s going to get boring soon. Hopefully I’m wrong.

  7. I totally agree with TC about The Run. I took the comment in the review about playing the game in one sitting as a challenge, did it, and totally failed to enjoy most of the game. In the 6 hours I was sat there I think a grand total of 45 minutes of the game was spectacularly exciting (unfortunately many of those minutes were the avalanche race that also featured in the demo!). It wasn’t a bad game, it just missed the mark in a fair few ways. And, compared with Hot Pursuit, the online is terribly awkward and uninspiring.

    Oh and was that a subtle dig at GT5’s shadows Greg? I wish they’d just patch in some plain old dark blobs!

    • I’m not sure it was that subtle! :-)

      • True, ‘subtle’ seemed like the fashionable word to use, I guess it was more like twisting the knife!

  8. Driver San Francisco, GT5, Gatling Gears, and a spin or two around the city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty….must be Paradise ;)

    • Gatling Gears is massive fun, played through it last year :)

    • Loaded it up last night but didn’t actually play Gatling Gears (was seeing if there was an update), but I’m itching to start it now! I think the only reason I didn’t buy it was because I was playing Dead Nation at the time, and I knew Renegade Ops was coming….I love the look of it, the animation style, menus etc, and all the planes etc flying overhead, it’s a great little game! Roll on next Friday! :)

    • Yeah, gotta love the old nostalgic 2D shooters ;)

    • Driver SF is great! Been hitting F1 2011 for the platinum and some great co-op racing with Sir_J.

  9. Finished Mass Effect 2. Gonna finish LA Noire next. Got the last desk to do.

  10. oh and my daily fill of MW3

    • I played no MW3 this week, not a single game. I sicken myself sometimes.

      • I have the game but havent touched it since helping blackredyellow to the plat. Online doesn’t like my connection and the single player is boring.

      • I don’t know why but I don’t enjoy MP as much as I did with MW2, perhaps it’s because I just played that to death, or it could be the maps. I’m just hoping for some decent Spec-Ops DLC, as they are the best part in my opinion.

      • I loved MW2, maps were great, not so with MW3, they are too bland and nothing special. I was really surprised at how good Specs Ops was!

      • I miss Estate, Underpass (which everyone used to skip?!), Favela, Afghan. However, the average stock maps may have been deliberate so we buy DLC, as the first DLC maps look good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt7krHGsriM&feature=fvst

      • Favela was my fav! One new map looks a carbon copy of Metro on BF3 (know it from the Beta)

      • Yeah it does; the other looks similar to Favela, in terms of the height changes, narrow alleys – will hopefully be good!

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