It seems as though we need gaming more than ever, filled as our media feeds are with fear and uncertainty and a rollercoaster general election night. This is not to ignore what’s occurring in the world, but rather as a positive response to it. Gaming, and the enjoyment it brings are vital to ensuring that joy and fun remain a part of our everyday lives, and as ever we’ll be here to cover it.
With everything going on in recent weeks, it’s been easy to forget that E3 begins this very weekend. EA are due to show their hand first on Saturday, with what follows with the other conferences painting a picture of the next twelve months and beyond in the gaming landscape. From the excitement of a new console launch from Microsoft to the hope of amazing software from Nintendo and Sony, here’s hoping they’ve saved at least a few surprises for us.
For me, this week has been mostly about ARMS, Nintendo’s wonderful arena brawler, and it’s probably giving me some much needed exercise while I try to unlock just a few more gloves for my fighters. Besides that, the awesome 4K racing of the WipEout Omega Collection has been a favourite of mine, while I’ve made a start on episode 2 of Telltale’s Guardians of the Galaxy, with a review sure to come early next week.
Tuffcub was the first to check in this week, and, well, I’ll let him tell it in his own words;
I have played Joe’s Diner. For some reason it was in my rental queue. I don’t know how or why, but it was, and when I was informed it was on it’s way I looked up some reviews. Oh. Dear. Here’s the plot: You have to clear the tables in a diner, which is situated on an old Native American burial ground. Two dead chieftains are still annoying each other from beyond the grave, and they do this by turning on electrical appliances in the diner. If the appliance chieftain can make enough noise, the other chieftain will get annoyed and come after you.
So, you wander around the diner, which takes 5 seconds to walk round, picking up trash from tables (no animation, just press x and it vanishes) and going back to the kitchen bin and disposing of it. You can only carry one bit of trash at a time. That’s it. There are thirty fricking days to go through and it is totally tedious, nothing changes. There are no extra levels, it’s the same diner, the same tables, the same appliances turning on. Worst of all if you do too make much noise the chieftain ends your game by…. flashing up a picture of a chieftain on the screen. That’s it It’s bloody awful!
Thankfully I have also been playing PlayStation VR Worlds and The London Heist is pretty good. Why didnt anyone tell me it features a massive muscly hunk? I do like looking at him in VR. Hubba-hubba!
Miguel has been enjoying the PS+ offering Killing Floor 2, as well as some Overwatch and Titanfall 2. He’s also rifled through the retro section of his collection and been playing Republic Commando which was “a blast” as well as picking up the beautiful WipEout Omega Collection. Aran, meanwhile, finished up the Rise of the Tomb Raider campaign, got stuck into Superhot, played a spot of Injustice 2 multiplayer and made a start on Yakuza 0.
Jake’s been looking for a new day job, but he’s also managed to bag the Tekken 7 platinum, while taking pictures in Horizon: Zero Dawn and hoovering up a few Uncharted 4 collectibles. Dave has also been playing Tekken 7 as well as side scrolling shooter Drifting Lands on PC.
Another one with a wide range of gaming is Jim:
This week has mostly been about Friday the 13th: The Game for me. At £30 it was a risky buy, considering the expected technical flaws and a potentially low player count. I’ve had no regrets and while, sure, there’s room for plenty of improvements, it’s been great fun.
Meanwhile I’ve snuck in some more Paladins and Marvel Heroes Omega, as well as For Honor. For Honor’s been a strange game to come back to, as it’s now shed most of its inexperienced players. To make things just that bit tougher, I’ve been playing as both the Centurion and Shinobi, For Honor’s first DLC fighters, both of which are tough to master.
Finally, Tef has played a good amount of Dirt 4 over the weekend, leading to our review, but he also found a couple of moments to hop into the ARMS Global Testpunch over the weekend as well. He’s still getting a little bit of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in every once in a while as well, but has just bought the rolly-polly rogue-lite Tumbleseed. It’s apparently pretty to look at, but it’s very, very difficult.
So, that’s us, but what have you played? And what are you hoping for from E3?
Tony Cawley
Started the week getting the platinum on Rory McIlroy, that was fun and took me less than a week after buying it.
Since then I’ve played quite a bit of Killing Floor 2, which I really like for some mindless fun.
Had a good season on Borderlands 2 with Roy and Del.
Played a decent amount of Marvel Heroes Omega which is OK, not bad for a free game.
Tony Cawley
Finally got the platinum on For Honour, they released a patch yesterday that fixed the bugged final trophy. 2 platinums in 1 week, something I haven’t achieved for a very long time!
Now just need to clean up Alienation, Tales from the Borderlands and Paladins.
Andrewww
Still Fallout 4, completely stuck in the wasteland, not getting anywhere with the main story, just doing side quests. I enjoy it, though. :o)
Expectations for E3? Thrashing all of you at the TSA bingo, some nice surprises by Sony and Ubisoft, maybe a decent effort by MS (although I consider Scorpio to be irrelevant), and not really that much else. (Of course, I’d wish for SEGA suddenly showing up out of nowhere with Alien:Isolation 2 or PSVR, but I cannot say I expect that.)
Crazy_Del
Well over that Weekend there it was Friday the 13th non-stop and Borderlands with Tony and Roy.
Now I cannot be online for a month so…. been playing Injustice 2 and one trophy away from the Platinum which is a luck based one. Once I nab that pesky lucky trophy, I will be playing Borderlands 2 solo to try complete it. Then hopefully get all collectibles in DeadNation in between Borderlands.
Sadly DiRT 4 will have to wait :(
Now I am off to see ROB Zombie live and tomorrow off to Hampden for Scotland v England. I will have no memory after this weekend xD
tactical20
Finished my first play of Lego City Undercover, which was brilliant. Started on the seemingly endless side missions and collectables, but the Wipeout arrived and I’ve just been playing that instead. It’s not often you get a game that’s still enjoyable, even when you suck, ha!
tactical20
Btw… Totally agree with the TSA Wipeout review re: switching between Hd/Fury and 2048. They feel very different. I think I prefer HD/Fury at the moment, but only played a couple hours of 2048 so far.
MrYd
Wipeout could well keep me going all weekend. Even if there seems something a bit off about the AI. They’re all over the place smashing into everyone. And weapons seem to frequently just fly straight through your opponents.
Still, it’s Wipeout, and it looks nicer than ever, even if it’s a bit of a lazy remaster. Plus the music is as terrible as it’s always been.
Killing Floor 2 has also been entertaining me. But who decided half the trophies should be for collecting random things on every map??
Bit of Marvel Heroes again, which has reached a bit of a grindy point. Think I need more heroes and level those up (which gives bonuses to other heroes, which is a neat mechanic)
And Skyforge. I’ve come to the conclusion it’s far too addictive, and does “free” just right. Just earned 3 weeks of “premium” without having to pay anything. And when that runs out, I might just have earned enough for a whole 180 days of premium. Without paying a penny. Big invasion boss coming soon, so that should be fun. I can see that taking hours to beat.
ron_mcphatty
I’ve been on holiday, I fully intended to waste tomorrow night on Wipeout but now I’m worried about dodgy AI and clipping weapons. Do you remember any of it from playing first time around or do the bugs seem new?
Being right down the toe fluff end of Cornwall I’ve felt the joy and release of no phone signal, intermittent and extremely poor internet, a broken TV aerial, ale and beaches. It’s been wonderful and I ate ice cream and played a lot of Brio trains and shape puzzles with the kids.
MrYd
To be honest, I’m not entirely sure it’s a new thing, or if my memory is playing up and it was always that way. And it’s certainly not anything that spoils the game too much.
Wish I’d been somewhere nice like Cornwall dodgy internet this last few days too. And just to catch you up on things, there was an election that went “Why? We just had one!”, then “Oh dear, this is bad”, followed by “Wait, this might not be so bad” and “Ha! Hahahaha!” and finally “Oh, shit”.
ron_mcphatty
Ah okay that’s good to know, cheers. I never considered the ports being cocked up, the HD/Fury content on 2048 was pretty much identical to the PS3 version, so any criticism other than ‘this is all old’ was a shock. Glad it’s still a good game!
Lol, thanks for the catch up, after spending an hour trudging through Facebook last night I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Also, funny how no one is positive about the result apart from the politicians, who all seem so incensere. Maybe we should replace politics with curry, almost everyone is positive about that, right?
Steelhead
The Walking Dead: 400 days. Life is Strange episodes 1+2, which I am enjoying hugely and can’t wait to play more episodes on my next night off. The story manages to be intriguing, weird and very down to earth all at once.
Sampled Neon Chrome for a half hour. An ok game but not really for me.
On Switch, more Fast RMX. It’s currently my go to game when I have a spare 10 minutes. Last of all Kamiko, a real charming indie action adventure. Evokes a feeling of the earlier Zelda titles, but faster and more accessable. Has three very different characters. Short, sweet and absolutely damn good fun. I highly recommend it to anyone who has a switch and is looking for something to play. It’s only £4.49, bargain.
TSBonyman
More NMS and i also dipped into some of the plus content. Spy Chameleon didn’t hold my interest for long but Neon Chrome is more my kind of game, i’ll be keeping that and returning to it regularly.
As for E3 … BOOOO! Because i’ll barely have time to sleep in between all the streams, nvm get some gaming done too! :)
JR.
Mostly Prey this week. Really enjoyed this in the end (after a dodgy start) but loading screens became a real cause of frustration. Especially towards the end when you’re just running through different areas of the ship, trying to reach your next marker and having to wait 30-45 seconds while each new area loads.
Other than that:
Lego Batman 3 DLC
Lego Marvel Avengers DLC
Batman Arkham Knight DLC
It’s been a DLC kind of week.
Pixel_nme
Started off the week getting the platinum for Mxgp3 in the very early hours of Monday morning,got another platinum Tuesday night with Tekken 7 after trying hours to get the Ranked match trophy with the crappy online issues,picked up the absolutely gorgeous (especially on Pro) Wipeout great game,also picked up and played a bit of Dirt4 then the rest of the week was the usual Alienation,Wildlands and tonight GTAV with the lads and almost forgot a little Overwatch and probably more what with double Xp weekend.