The game train continues its forever onward journey, TSA haphazardly holding on as tight as we can as the juggernaut winds its way through pastures new and old. Once again – and you might notice a pattern forming – we literally run the gamut of gaming genres this week. There are literally dozens of games discussed, a testament to the eclectic and deep array of games we consume here at TheSixthAxis.
ColossalBlue:
This week I’ve had a load of work on trying to pull things together for TSAtv so most of what I’ve been playing has been a snatched half hour here or there. I have given some time to Supreme Commander 2 for review though, that should be published in the next day or two. I’ve also been reconnecting with my past as a PC gamer and playing the Steam version of Lead and Gold so I can review that in time for the console release.
Thanks to the brilliant sale on the PSN I’ve bought Gran Turismo PSP and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and I’ve been dabbling with them. GT seems perfect for a handheld, there’s nothing too intricate to bog you down and the races are over quickly which is ideal for travelling or waiting in the car for your spouse to finish trying on dresses. GTA is fantastically presented and seems like a lovely little jump back in time to the days of GTA’s craziness, but I’m having difficulties getting used to the controls. It just seems a bit jumpy to me. I’ll keep going back to it though until I get a grasp of them. Hopefully, by the time people read this I’ll also have spent some time with LBP on the PSP. I’m waiting on a little memory stick delivery from Amazon before I can download that though. Not very patiently, it has to be said.
cc_star:
A bit of a non-gaming week for me, could blame it on lack of time but to be honest a little bit bored of gaming at the moment. Something awesome did happen though, PopCap sent me a 60min trial of Bejewelled Blitz – One word, WOW! One of the world’s most addictive games just got 2,437 times better. Simply stunning.
Tuffcub:
MotoGP 09/10 Demo – Finally got some spare time so catching up on games and demos I have downloaded. This was 1.7 gigs so I am hoping for something special. Er no. Terrible textures, terrible animation, terrible music and annoying SHOUTY BLOKE who SHOUTS EVERY MENU OPTION. I’d love to know what the 1.7 gig consists of because it certainly is not graphics or music. As far as simulating riding a bike goes, it’s pretty much a fail.
Greed Corp Demo – Click what? Press what? Eh? How can you make a tutorial that is baffling? *delete*
Bioshock 2 – Disappointing. It’s essentially the same game as Bioshock 1. Same plasmids, same game play, same combat. I’m not quite sure why this has got so many good reviews when it is identical to the first title. The plot is pretty dull although it does get better towards the end. I am not quite sure what happened about 2/3rds of the way through. I lost all but three of my weapons and never got them back, even though ammo for them was still scattered about – that seemed very odd, no explanation as to why that happened.
Where The Wild Things Are – Surprisingly enjoyable. It’s basically God of War Lite with a chunk of Prince of Persia thrown in. Pleasingly simple, the puzzles never take more than a few moments, the combat is well balanced and the platforming is good fun. Recommended for a lazy Sunday of gaming.
Batman: Arkham Asylum – Finished it at last, not bad at all. End battle a tad disappointing but apart from that a very solid game.
Killzone 2 – The usual Monday night bloodbath. If you have not joined in the TSA boot camps then you should, quite possibly the most fun you will have with your PS3 especially when your headset erupts in to peals of laughter as someone has just fragged half their own team with a rocket.
Grand Theft Auto IV – I bought it because everyone else did even though I hated previous GTAs and Bully. Played it for about an hour of day of release and it’s been sat on the shelf since then. Decided to give it another chance but still hate it. I don’t know what it is but something about Rockstar games just annoy the hell out of me, They’re a bit like Ricky Gervais – apparently he’s a comedic genius but all I can see is a sad bloke who keeps on playing exactly the same character over and over again. Why do people think that’s funny? Why do people like GTA? I will never understand.
God Of War III – Only the second level but it’s pretty much what I expected. It’s very shouty and over the top and feels very slow and clunky compared to Dante’s Inferno. Starting to annoy the hell out me I get to play for 30 seconds then watch half an hours cut scenes.
Bayonetta – Much sprightlier than Kratos and very OTT. It’s a bit rough in places but quite enjoyable.
Lost Planet 2 Multiplayer – It’s a bit hard to judge the game with only one map, two game modes and one power suit – so it’s handy I played the full version a few weeks ago at the launch event. It is considerably better than the multiplayer demo suggests as the demo I have now bombs out quite a lot. Not the best advert for the game Capcom!
Watchful:
Most importantly, what I haven’t played this week is Dragon Age.
I have had a second play through of Heavy Rain trying to do things differently. I say trying because at one of the points in the story where I intended to deviate from my first time through to explore a different path, I couldn’t. It’s not that the game wouldn’t let me, it’s just I couldn’t bring myself to let [removed] die.
Despite Heavy Rain’s clichéd story, screen-tearing (I haven’t encountered any other glitches besides a notepad left floating after its owner had walked away) occasionally sub-par acting, animation and sometimes clumsy controls (okay, almost always clumsy movement), I have still found myself becoming invested in the story. I have caught myself smiling or grinning during some of the (few) happier moments and wanting the characters to reach a happy (though that’s not always the right word) conclusion. In particular, I felt great satisfaction for the mother in question in the ending “A Mother’s Revenge.” A man far more eloquent than me once said “Mother is the word for God on the hearts and lips of all little children” and it was great to see this mother become a vengeful god.
On a lighter note, I have also spent a good few hours this week running around the surface of Pandora in the company of friends slaughtering the native fauna and many ex-employees of the Dahl Corporation wherever they be found. Once you get to about the mid-point of the game and you start picking up team-boosting class mods (and you’re lucky enough not to have anyone too selfish in the group) Borderlands really is an exemplary co-op game.
Other lightweight gaming nuggets I’ve taken a bite out of this week are the VectorTD and Telegraph Crosswords minis. I do like my tower defence games, but is anyone else finding VectorTD freakishly difficult? Please say it’s not just me.
Zuler:
A lazy week it’s been, with me playing a bit of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Pokemon Diamond and Mushroom Wars. Nothing new to say about the first two, they are still as addictive as they were last week. I picked up Mushroom Wars during the sale on the US Store and am kicking myself at the fact that I didn’t pick it up sooner. It is the RTS I’ve been looking for since I got my PS3. Savage Moon, PixelJunk Monsters and Endwar were all nice, but their massive difficulty spikes put me off completely. Since I would get absolutely dominated, I left each of these games in frustration and defeat, knowing that I need to execute a perfect strategy that would require ten or so tries to figure out.
Mushroom Wars, on the other hand, is absolutely perfect. The difficulty is just right for me. You don’t need that perfect strategy to win in this game, you just need a bit of careful thinking. The controls are pure genius: simple, yet effective. Every time I lose, I know there is something I can do better and never do I feel frustrated. I love you, Creat.
If you haven’t played this game, and you (like me) aren’t masters in the RTS genre, then you need to give this game a shot. It easily ranks with PixelJunk Shooter, Braid and Flower as one of my best downloadable games. An absolute masterpiece.
Nofi:
You’d think all I’ve been playing is ModNation Racers, but – no – I’ve become bloody Kratos’s puppetmaster again, this time shoveling him through Chains of Olympus yet again due to the recent PSP sale. Give me games I’ve already played to death but for cheap and I’ll buy them again, Sony.
Still, at least it’s a good game. I’ve bought some stinkers recently on the PSP and it’s only the joyous thought of knowing I don’t actually have to review them that’s saved me from certain insanity. Playing games you don’t like is easy – you just don’t play them. Playing the shitty ones because you have to is like Chinese water torture, without the water. Or the Chinese.
I also had another go on that secret game I mentioned oh-so-fleetingly last week. It’s the same version, nothing’s changed, but this time I’m much better at it. I can’t say any more because it’ll spoil the surprise, but I’ll write it all down in a sealed envelope and then film myself opening it when it’s announced, because nobody believes me
anymore.
But yeah, Kratos. I don’t even really go for third person adventures much, especially ones I’ve already completed twice. Must be the loincloth.
Lorcan:
Sadly I’ve not played any games this week. Partly because I’ve been living in a cabin in a Swedish mountain for the week and also because my DS broke. I would detail the reasons behind it’s demise, but they’re humiliating and shameful so I’d rather keep them to myself. To make things worse, SoulSliver arrived in the post, just to rub my nose in the fact that DS games were no longer an entertainment tool available to me.
ColinBarr66:
I’ve been playing more Formula 2009 and enjoying it more. I’ve gotten used to the handling and liking the realism. In my second career race I started from pole, seemed very slow during the first lap then my engine packed in half way round the lap. The lack of pace may have just been my driving though.
Played a bit more of Just Cause 2 before returning it. Good rental but I won’t be buying it until the price drops a good bit.
More God of War III again. Not really hooked by this so it will be a while before it actually gets finished. I saw a gameplay video the other day and I now fear a similar situation to Killzone 2 may arise for me.
Also some Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, FIFA 10 and Killzone 2 wrap it up for me.
tom_lord:
Wow, what a week. I’m ill yet again, I just can’t seem to shake these bugs off. This has seriously eaten into my gaming time but I have managed to squeeze some God of War III.
I’m about half way through it, with my goal to get at least one save point further with each time I boot the game. Hugely enjoyable so far, especially considering this is the first God of War game I have actually sunk some time into. Of course, FIFA 10 is still the staple of my PS3 diet, and it was interesting to compare it to the newly released 2010 FIFA World Cup: South Africa demo. In the new World Cup game, passing is noticeably smoother and player likenesses are vastly improved. But is it really worth full price? The jury is still out on that one.
I also subscribed to FirstPlay and enjoyed the first episode. If you compare it to Pulse (the free US only PlayStation news video on the PSN) you get a lot more content, a couple of free downloads and great community features, plus you receive it on a more regular basis and it includes reviews and exclusive previews. Thus worth the 99p fee in my opinion.
I finally picked up Yakuza 3, Heavy Rain and Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time and I very much look forward to playing them in the coming weeks.
djhsecondnature:
This week has been full of games. Right at the start I completed the incredible God of War III which quite simply blew me away. It joins Uncharted 2 and Heavy Rain as the must play games of all time in my book.
Included in my week of gaming has been a few sessions on Uncharted 2 and EyePet, but the bulk has been with FIFA 10, Rock Band 2 and Final Fantasy XIII, with the latter impressing me. Last time I checked my game time indicated that I’ve surpassed the six hour mark of the game, and whilst it does have a very slow start, I am greatly enjoying being back into a Final Fantasy universe. The graphics (both in-game and cut-scene) are beautiful, and the battles are well thought-out and incredibly addictive. Obviously, I’ll need a lot more time with it to give a more rounded and complete opinion when I’ve played through considerably more.
The FIFA 10: World Cup Demo was good enough to convince me that this will be the first World Cup game I’ll get since France 98. FirstPlay kept my attention, and against all that has been said, I like the service and subscribed without a second thought.
Kovacs:
I finally finished Assassin’s Creed. No, you don’t need to consult a calendar, I’m just really behind. It will go down as a memorable if frustrating jaunt through the 12st century, the Holy Land depicted meticulously with real depth and character. Unfortunately, I can’t help but feel the game was either rushed out with the majority of its gameplay features still half-sketched on the drawing board, or it’s simply a title that thought it could hoodwink the gaming public with its aforementioned lush graphics alone. I can’t see many people being so bamboozled. The ending was also incredibly naff. I was expecting some tremendous well-wrought twist, and, well, I won’t ruin it, but it’s a bit shit to say the least.
Next to be plucked off the shelf, its thick layer of ancient dust blown from its forgotten, forlorn sleeve was Uncharted 2. I remember standing in a gaming store in Cairns, Australia the day it came out, holding the box in my hands and releasing a solitary tear down my sunburnt cheek. A local lad wearing nothing but shorts and a smile picked it up and completed his purchase with palpable glee. “Enjoy it,” I whispered despondently before returning to seek out Typhoid vaccinations. Now that I’m back and (slowly) making way through my mammoth backlog, Uncharted 2 is finally mine! Mine I tell thee! And I’m absolutely loving it.