What We Played #315 – Splatoon 2, Superhot VR & Valkyria Revolution

It’s been another soggy July week, though there was definitely some sunshine too, so it’s not all bad. Today marks the day that teachers and pupils alike rejoice, as for many it’s the beginning of the summer holidays, and so commences six long weeks, of playing outdoors (perhaps), and quality family time (perhaps), and if you’re reading this, one or two sessions of gaming (definitely).

I still remember hot summers days where we closed the curtains and sat around my mates CRT, with Mario Kart 64 and Perfect Dark dissolving our spare time, and occasionally our friendships. Funnily, this summer is likely to be spent in remarkably similar company, as we drift our way around Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and gun our way through Splatoon 2, but the trick is we can do it outside. Isn’t that what they call progress?

This week I’ve not particularly enjoyed Valkyria Revolution, and played a touch of Cars 3: Driven To Win for our review which will pop up next week. Besides that I’ve downloaded Splatoon 2, but not yet had chance to dive in yet! Aran meanwhile played Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles and made a start on Archangel VR for a review as well.

Tuffcub meanwhile wasn’t that impressed with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided;

I have finished Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. It was a bit of a slog and there was way, way to much exposition. In the end I was just skipping the talky bits as they lasted for so long. I thought overall the game was very dated, it didn’t look that great and parts of it were just pointless, for example I never had to buy a weapon, ammo, or grenade, as the enemies drop them.

The two boss battles I encountered were over in moments and the parts where the game tried to force me to sneaky could be bypassed by just legging it straight through the enemies to a safe zone. Disappointing, especially as I loved the previous game. Apart from that I’ve continued to battle my backlog and working through Battlefield Hardline, had some co-op fun with some TSA’ers on The Killing Floor 2, and a little bit of Tiny Trax on PSVR, which I am utterly rubbish at. Out of 14 races I came last in all but one.

Jim decided that with Middle-earth: Shadow of War not that far away he’d replay Shadow of Mordor. Other games he played included Final Fantasy VI, Mordheim, Game of Thrones, Resident Evil 4 and Superhot VR. He also continued to pump time into For Honor which has displaced Overwatch as his multiplayer go-to. Jake played Fate/ Extella and has enjoyed Destiny 2’s beta and seeing the changes to the game. He also beat Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped for his YouTube channel and played some Breath of the Wild on Master Mode before bed everyday.

Dave is away in Budapest so it’s only been a spot of Miitopia and Aporia: Beyond The Valley, while Miguel clocked in some time with the Vita version of Fallen Legion. Steve played a lot of Iron Crypticle which is a “wonderful mix of rogue lite and Gauntlet”.  He also unlocked Symphony of the Night on Dracula X for Vita but hasn’t started the replay yet.

Tef’s been a busy squid this week, having put together our Splatoon 2 review, checked in on the Destiny 2 beta indulged in some summer sports in Behold the Kickmen, dabbled with a bit of Agents of Mayhem for a forthcoming preview, and got to try out the excellent looking Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. Sadly he can’t really tell us more about that just yet…

So, what have you been playing this past week?

Written by
TSA's Reviews Editor - a hoarder of headsets who regularly argues that the Sega Saturn was the best console ever released.

14 Comments

  1. I ending up picking up Amplitude in the last sale, after finding all the songs on YouTube and deciding they’re not all as terrible as the ones in the demo. It’s fun once you realise “beginner” is not in any way challenging, and anything above “intermediate” will make you scream and throw your controller at the wall.

    And of course there was the KF2 fun on Monday night. I’m going to get all the collectables before that happens again so when someone points them out while I’m surrounded by zombies, I can safely say “get it yourselves, I’ve already got them”. And those zombie clowns! I’ve no problem with zombies, or clowns, but combine the two? Far too creepy. But they explode well, so that’s ok.

    Then there was Elite, of course. And some Doom to check out the update (and pick up a few trophies)

    Oh, and I had a go at Orcs Must Die! Unchained. Which is quite good fun for a free to play game. Worth checking out.

    • Doom is elite, although that trophy for one stupid hard difficulty level is all that I need for platinum and it is stupid hard!

      Just been glorying in the amazing 4K Horizon, wandering around, picking things up, as you do ;)

  2. Some more Neon Chrome, i have 3 elevators unlocked so about half way through now.

    Mostly VR stuff this week though – i just got around to playing the Spiderman Homecoming VR experience, quite disappointing except when i moved up to being stood on top of the crane. Ooh this is cool, it looks like i’m really high up but i know i’m not so that’s fine. What’s that? i need to turn and look to see where the target is? .. oooer… sudden vertigo and i find myself buckling my knees to maintain my balance as i turn to look – lol that was the best bit! :)

    More Driveclub VR, racing through the tour and enjoying the passenger replays.

    More Mervils, despite it’s very basic appearance and mechanics it’s still quite engaging, the minecart level was pretty good, a little bit like the J&D rail-grinding sections.

    And i’ve grabbed a few more games in the sale, Windlands, Rush of Blood and Crystal Rift. I don’t want to jump into all of them sraight away but i’ve made a start on Crystal Rift and i’m liking it’s old-school design so far, not a huge fan of the grid-based movement but it plays pretty well as a VR game.

    And actually no No man’s Sky this week!

    • No effing way!! I can’t believe you’ve left NMS behind this week, as you’re Hello’s most loyal customer they should be very worried :)
      You’ve really thrown yourself into VR, and in such a short space of time! What do you think, good value for money, impressive, enjoying it?
      Lots more Elite for me. I’ve turned explorer for a week, visited the Witches and Orion nebulas, tagged a few systems and raked in the cash. And then blown it on pointless ships that I don’t like.

      • You should be more like me* and spend hours looking at new ships, checking out exactly how good they’ll be with various modules and comparing it with your current one and then completely fail to spend the money because you’ll end up with a max jump distance that’s 0.2LY less than your current ship.

        * being more like me is probably not advisable because, well, you’ve probably seen enough evidence already.

      • I’m going through a phase of being irresponsible with my imaginary space money! I started being miserly, saving up, but I think with Elite when you spend big you end up earning big, especially if you can visit an engineer for a healthy extra LY on your range! Don’t spend big on passenger missions though, they’re crap.

    • I’m really enjoying VR Ron, something i always wanted but was slow to come around to as i thought the tech wasn’t quite ready – and it might never reach the expectations my sci fi readings have seeded – but now that i’ve made the jump i am impressed with how convincing the tech actually is. Driving in VR is a new deal, seeing into the bends and glancing at rival cars as you’re vying for pole position. The above-mentioned spidey crane incident was surreal – i was consciously aware that i wasn’t actually on top of that crane but still felt the effects on my brain from the visual feed.
      Ultimately for me, VR means worlds that i can explore in first person and i can’t wait for Skyrim (and now rumoured FO4 too) to properly realise that. VR began with a lot of short games and experiences but more and more quality games are appearing recently so it looks like VR is moving along at a steady but progressive pace.
      I can’t see it replacing regular gaming completely but it is definitely a type of gaming experience that shouldn’t be missed. The next-gen hardware is going to be even better and some folks will prefer to wait for that but … Skyrim in VR!

  3. I didn’t play that much, just a bit of Fallout 4. Then I watched Deadpool, which I liked, and then I read The Road by McCarthy, which was one of the best books I read in a long time. Highly recommended to anyone who liked The Last of Us.

    Finally, I got the Wipeout collection today from the library, at least they didn’t tell me my boy was too young for that.

  4. I got the platinum out of Until Dawn during the week. It’s easy and enjoyable but not very scary. I’ve also been trying to get back into FIFA 17 but it just didn’t feel right after paying PES most the year. I’ve also had a go on PES 18 beta which is amazing. I’ve also played GTA V. Doing the heists with Buninomike and Waxbull again.

  5. Still can’t believed they fucked it up. How can you fuck up a very much wanted sequel/spin off? It is literally saying make me and you’ll make tons of cash! Goddamnit, Valkyria Revolution. :(

    Anyway, I’ve been playing Hitman:Blood Money. Best in the franchise and i really love the variety in the missions. So many ways to kill the targets and the disguise system is perfect. It also made me realise that Absolution is not a good Hitman game. I’ve moved onto that one and yeah, the disguise system is now pissing me off. Who thought to make it so that every NPC knew everyone thus disguises being tied into instinct was a good idea is a doo doo head. I mean, diguises are a big part of Hitman and they tied it into a short meter. What was wrong with the Blood Money system?

    Seriously, why do that? Some levels, it’s justified. E.g. small bodyguard, squads of cops etc… But cooks? Really? Fecking cooks? Are you fecking serious?

    I also played the beach level of real life. Tis alright. Needs more fanservice.

    • Commonly regarded as the poorest series entry, Absolution is actually my favourite.

      No, I don’t get it either.

      • I can understand why people feel it is the weakest and after Blood Money and not Monday as i almost typed, the weak parts of it does stand out to me a lot. The diguise system, the kinda filler levels. I mean, the levels that aren’t really anything but filler due to go from A to B but when it does give you targets, it really does what a Hitman game does. However, overall, i do feel it is weak because of the filler levels(That said, each level is enjoyable), the diguise system being a pain in the ass because it’s linked into Instinct and apparently, is flat out broken on Pro settings. But Silent Assassain, i probably will never be able to play due to it’s clunky mechanic as a result of it’s age.

        That said, Hitman:Absoultion did do what i think they intended to(perhaps, not as well as they hoped) and got Hitman back.

  6. Only Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. I’m about 8 hours in and I’m loving the zodiac job system which is already making it a more focused experience.

    Genuinely improving on a game that would undoubtedly make it into my top 5 of all time. For a gamer it doesn’t get much better than that.

  7. Little late here but when I’ve made enough time for the PS4 I’ve mostly been playing the PES beta which felt very sloppy and slow at first, I now really enjoy.

    Little bit of Absolute Drift too which I picked up for $3. It’s … interesting, feels almost more like a rhythm game than anything else. Definitely a task in patience and skill but ultimately extremely rewarding when things go just right. Super soundtrack too, compliments the experience wonderfully.

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