It was back on 20th May last year that this new incarnation of Lee’s old What We’re Playing series made its debut with me at the helm. Initially we experimented with playing around with the title each week starting with What We Played… While PSN Was Down which is self-explanatory.
That was followed by the L.A. Noire-inspired What We Played… In 1947 (originally to have been titled What We pLAyed). The following week it was What We Played… Whilst Climbing Trains, a title it ‘earned’ merely because Blair and Josh had been playing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
You can see that things were getting a bit tenuous already so week 4’s post was simply What We Played #4 with us having settled on the simple change of tense from Lee’s original formula that we had morphed slightly to reflect what we’d played in the previous week instead of what we were playing at the time the post went live.
It’s remained pretty much the same ever since: a thousand-word summary, often with attempted humour, of what we’ve been playing for the past week.
It’s satisfying to see that the friendly discussions you all have down there in the comments generally ensure that the latest What We Played post sits among the list of the week’s most commented on posts on the front page. A personal thank you for your support, I do always read through all your comments, it’s why we can keep finding the enthusiasm to keep providing you with all the community-focused content here on TSA.
What I’d like you to think about while you read through what we’ve played below is whether there is anything about the format of What We Played that you would like changed or if you have any ideas for things we could incorporate to keep it fresh? Let me know in the comments.
This week What We Played belatedly welcomes Keith, who you’ll more likely know as the keyboard-sneeze-like kjkg. The fact it’s a belated welcome is admittedly my fault for repeatedly forgetting to ask him what he’s been playing.
[drop]And I almost regret asking already as he informs me that he has just got “a shiny platinum in Little Deviants” which isn’t as easy as it might first appear. Keith’s clearly been favouring his PS Vita over his PS3 as he’s been spoiling a good walk in Hot Shots Golf.No friendly four ball for him though, it’s single-player only as the online pass for his American copy won’t work with his UK PSN account, something he politely describes as a “bit of a kicker”.
Maybe the resulting frustration is why he’s also been indulging in “small bouts” of Unit 13.
Aran has been saving most of the galaxy in Mass Effect 3. I say most of as he’s already lost one race, presumably not down the back of the sofa as I don’t think the game features the mini-galaxy from Men in Black [Here come the Men in Black, Galaxy defenders – Ed]. He’s also played the “amazing” Journey which has already grabbed one of his coveted game of the year nominations.
Trying to make an impact on his gaming backlog we find Jim, who’s started his assault with Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom. “At a glance it looks terrible”, he says, “like some last-gen relic”. First impressions didn’t hold though as he adds “it’s easily one of the best games I have played in a while”.
Aside from that he’s hopped back into Borderlands playing as Lilith. He’s finding that while the game “can feel a little too MMO-inspired at times” that’s not necessarily all bad as “the constant loot-hoarding” is keeping him engaged.
Awesomenauts, Salem and Little Deviants also get a mention and of the latter he comments “as a game which seems kid-oriented those ‘gold’ scores are absolutely brutal”. Maybe he should have a word with Keith?
Joseph is another who has been working through some older titles. He’s “nearing the end” of the 3DS’ Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones which has been “a pretty fun distraction”. He notes that any regrets he had about purchasing a 3DS have been vanquished.
The first Mass Effect is also seeing some slow but steady progress:
Having played about 10 hours I’m starting to see what the all the fuss is about. I have finally discovered choice based gameplay is a good thing, having shunned Western RPGs for their Japanese alternatives in the past. Looking forward to being rid of those damn Mako missions in the sequel though, goddamn.
Personally I quite enjoyed the Mako missions as I’ve mentioned before. My own gaming this week has seen the usual few hours of Skyrim and Gran Turismo 5. I’ve also realised that most weeks I’m forgetting to mention I’m still playing Star Wars: The Old Republic.
It gets a few hours a week but it’s odd that it’s almost become a kind of habit rather than a conscious decision to play. I’m not sure what that says about it or me. I’ve not played any of the multi-player missions recently so my Captain Jenn is still working her way through the single player content and having fun exploring the environments. There’s a particularly pesky datacron on Tattooine that’s proving something of a challenge at the moment.
[drop2]My PS Vita has also seen a lot of gap-filling play this week with Treasures of Motezuma Blitz and a number of minis robbing all the ‘bigger’ games except for Ridge Racer of screen time. Old favourite Vector TD still gets a lot of play during the longer gaps that need filling.In the shorter moments, often after I’ve temporarily run out of ‘lives’ in ToM Blitz, the brilliant Velocity gets some more attention. I’ve also been playing The Impossible Game which, while exceedingly difficult, never leaves you in any doubt about its fairness; failure is always your fault and you can see what you need to do to overcome it. It now occupies the same mental pigeon hole as Ikaruga and F-Zero.
Peter has been indulging in a spot of footy management with Football Manager 2012.
“It’s really all I’ve had time for because FM2012 fits into a very specific space in my life. It’s the game I play for five minutes between other PC-based work and then leave running for half an hour while I work before coming back, tweaking for a few minutes and going away again. I finished third with Leicester but started my second season badly, as I always seem to. So they sacked me after six games and I got a job with Brighton instead. I love FM.”
Trials Evolution has been keeping Blair entertained with its single player mode. That he finds the multiplayer “nothing special” is fortunate as his LIVE Gold subscription has just run out. Will he renew? He doesn’t say.
Portal 2’s new Perpetual Testing DLC “offering a good level editor and tons of content with new Cave Johnson announcements” is reportedly “great”. He also tells me that this week he finally got Minecraft and some time of not understanding what all the fuss was about.
That’s it from us but before I go here’s a quick reminder to get your TSA E3 Bingo 2012 entry in by the end of today if you haven’t already.
What’s on your own ‘played’ list this week?
shields_t
I’m still ploughing through Dead Space 2 on Zealot when I get the TV rights, and patiently waiting for my lives to refresh on Treasures of Montezuma Blitz when I dont.
shields_t
Oh, and happy birthday “What We Played”.
Youles
Platinumed Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. I didn’t find it that hard at all really.
I’ve also been playing Awesomenauts, WipEout 2048 and DiRT 3 at the various meets. Really enjoyed my first DiRT 3 meet! Just getting a few more of the online trophies done before I go for the Platinum.
Then I’ve made some progress on my Sonic the Hedgehog speed-run. So far I’ve done the first 4 levels in 2 minutes 47 seconds, so still have 37 minutes spare!
I’ll probably try the 2 new MW3 multiplayer maps later, possibly Back to the Future (if it’s arrived) and try the Spec Ops The Line demo.
Youles
And as shields_t said, happy birthday “What We Played”, great work Greg, can’t really see how it could be improved. However it might be nice to see more writers in the TSA meets so we can see what you’ve been playing first-hand *thumbs up*
SpikeyMikey23
The new maps are shit! But bear in mind I said that about the previous 4 maps, now i enjoy piazza, blackbox and liberation. Still hate Overwatch though!!
Foundation has some good height to it, plenty of ups and downs, ladders etc but also a shit load of camping areas. The other one – beginning with S? has potential, I just need to get used to it.
Wish they would dump them all in the normal playlist too, annoys me that they aren’t put into the general map list for a month or two
Youles
Oh really, hopefully they’ll grow on you! Cos I don’t play it much I like that they’re seperated, so I can just try them out. They might seperated them due to the match-making, I guess they could put them in the normal modes too though. Currently it also means you have to play the preset game modes they choose. :(
LTG Davey
Not a huge amount of gaming for me this week. I’m mainly just waiting for the new releases which are coming out soon (and their subsequent price drops of course!)
Finished my Dead Island playthrough – Started off great but became painfully repetitive towards the end and if I ever have to do another fetch quest again it will be too soon! ;) Still, worth the few quid it cost me through Lovefilm.
Aside from that I made a start on playing through GRAW2 again in preparation for Future Soldier. Still an enjoyable game, though it’s immediately clear that the game is about 6years old now!
Surprise of the week came in the form of the Spec Ops demo, a game that wasn’t even remotely on my radar. Thoroughly enjoyed the demo, nice shooting mechanics and even the storyline looks reasonably decent. No online achievements means I’ll wait for the inevitable price drop however.
Oh, I also picked up a cheap copy of Timesplitters2 for the GameCube to celebrate the console’s 10th birthday. I would imagine this will be played a lot this evening over a few beers with some mates :)
Youles
Lol, bet you’re pleased you finished Dead Island….the Prison was a bit poor in my opinion.
LTG Davey
Oh jese, the Prison was awful lol. I don’t think it could have felt more tacked on if it tried ;) Still, it made the 250 gun kills achievement very easy so it’s not all abd ;)
Youles
Oooh, I like the “likes”!
SpikeyMikey23
Loving the Like button! Bravo
Anyway – MW3 for me.
SpikeyMikey23
so… who liked my post then? ;)
Forrest_01
Was it you? :P
Origami Killer
You mean we can like our own comment without looking like a tw@ as you do on fb?
Origami Killer
I’ve been ploughing through Fallout 3. Managed to kill all the Super Mutant Behemoths (spelling) and find enough Nuka Cola Quantum for that quest. Both were a drag and the game crashed a handful of times but I enjoyed it. Hoping to complete all other trophy related quests and get the plat.
Also the odd go at F1 2011, ToM Blitz and all the Plus games this month which are all bland and average. If not a little shite.
Youles
What?!! Awesomenauts is, well……really good! ;)
Origami Killer
I’m not into that type of game but it did seem the best out of the lot so I’ll exclude it ;)
Youles
I’ve shown my appreciation in the form of a Like.
Forrest_01
Britains Got Talent has seriously got in the way of gaming this week, but I have managed to fit in a little bit of Lego Harry Potter, Dirt 3 (at the meet on Tues) NFS Hot Pursuit, GH Warriors of Rock & Back to the Future… & 2 of those were last night!
Battlefield tonight & then no idea on the weekend – It’s not like I am running out of things to play though!
Origami Killer
Lego harry potter any good for serious potter fans?
HoboCastro
Yes. Get it.
Forrest_01
I would imagine so – I am not the biggest potterite (i think i have seen all of two of the films!), but i enjoy it.
That said though i do enjoy lego games, so maybe i am a bit biased, but what i have seen seems familiar & reasonably well done.
Fun fact: I wasn’t too keen on Harry Potter at first, as it seemed a bit childish. Then Twilight came along.
Origami Killer
Im tempted to get it now, would have to get both 1-4 and 5-7 though.
Don’t even mention Twilight!
LTG Davey
Like all Lego games the Potter ones are pretty enjoyable and well worth their £20 price tags these days. Easy trophies/cheevs too ;)
colmshan1990
Purely going off Years 1-4 on PS3, yes.
I’m going to be picking up 5-7 as soon as I feel I can afford to.
HoboCastro
Killzone 3 Multiplayer… Awesome. Considering setting up a meet. Who like pistol only on Radec?
Awesomenauts… Yet to try it online.
Spec Ops: The Line demo… Promising. (BTW Follow @JanDavidHassel on twitter)
Darth Newdar
Got my fourth Platinum this week, in the form of Sly Raccoon and the Thievius Raccoonus – great fun, especially considering it’s 10 years old this year.
Taylor Made
Just been on my cuts while an here in America.
Bought mk for vita & the tower challengers are finger pain in the ass & Like on the ps3 am struggling to beat shao Kahn, I just don’t like raiden he is useless thunder God.
Taylor Made
Oh and I have a question if I buy a 32gb for vita and use the same account as my 16gb, would I still need to format my ps vita or can I just carry on as normal? Like on my 16gb am going use it for minis & demos, vids & music & 32gb for games of psn r
Sympo
Don’t have to just copy game data, I think.
Sympo
..Actually UGH I need to find my 4GB memory card would be nice for small games as well. I hate small things :(