Many of Nintendo’s recent ‘celebrity family playing Nintendo’ television adverts have been pretty cringe-worthy. That only made it all the more surprising when the latest turned out to be quite charming. Even the longer exposition is quite watchable. By now you should have a good idea what most of the 3DS-toting staff (except Dan) have been wandering around the Towers playing this week.
That’s right, we have been playing the new 3DS remake of The Adventures of Robin Hood. No, hang on, that’s not right. We have been playing that other game where the protagonist lives in the forest, dresses in green and wields a bow, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.
[drop]First to succumb was Blair, who we discovered wandering the Tower’s stairwell late one night crying out “Zelda. ZELDA. ZELDAAAA.” Though not before he had completed has ‘good’ run through New Marais and been dazzled by the “absolute blast” which was Beat Hazard Ultra.Zelda: OoT is his “favourite game ever” so Blair’s opinion of the game could have gone either way, it could be a brilliant, well-handled update or a ravaging of a treasured game. So how did that turn out? “It’s excellent”, he says “it has been upgraded really well”. I was able to glean one concern before he descended once more into the Shadow Temple, “I am getting through it rather fast”. The cause though is that it is his “billionth playthrough” and he has “memorised every step Link takes”.
Hey! Listen! You’ll never guess what Alex has been playing this week. That’s right, I was as shocked as you undoubtedly are to learn that he’d “been playing Zelda on the 3DS pretty much non-stop”. Despite conducting a yearly ocarina-accompanied pilgrimage to Hyrule, transported there by his trusty Epona N64 he’s still enjoying the “wonderfully deep, involving game” and revelling in the 3DS remaster’s enhanced graphics and play-anywhere-ability.
Moving down the enjoyable scale somewhat we reach Alex’s dabbles with Child of Eden. He offers the view that it “doesn’t feel as consistent or as well defined as Rez, and I don’t like a lot of the visuals, they feel a bit cheap and nasty”. While it’s good it has yet to really grab him.
Reaching rock bottom on his enjoyable scale we find the “absolute shambles of a game” that is Duke Nukem Forever. It seems he can find no redeeming features at all within the game:
It starts poorly, using tired FPS mechanics and terrible pacing, but manages to get worse and worse as the game goes on. The level design is poor, the visuals are a total mess and the game’s little tricks, like the remote control buggy when you’re shrunk, are executed so badly I had to force myself to get past them. DN3D is one of my all time favourite games, but Forever is horrible.
Dan has also been playing waiting for his copy of Zelda to turn up, having been let down by an online retailer who neglected to comply when it came to delivering it. Fortunately, he was able to find some solace in the “sublime”, “amazing” and “fantastic” Child of Eden. He gave his 3DS some exercise with Naruto Shippuden 3D – The New Era, which he says is “less fantastic” and he has also just started playing the “mental” Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3.
Tuffcub has been stabbing his way through Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood which he says is all good except for the annoying “don’t be detected” missions. He suggests they are the 2011 equivalent of the “instant death by falling into a pit of spikes” feature that games of yesteryear frequently sported.
He and Hubby have been co-op-ing their way through the Lego Pirates of the Caribbean demo which was such fun the game now features right near the top of the to-buy list. Something else surprisingly near the top of TC’s shopping list is Bombay Mix which it turns out is this week’s kitteh kraving.
There have been more co-op shenanigans happening in Toby’s household as he and a mate have been blasting their way through the zombie apocalypse Dead Nation style. The fact he says that it is “much better when played with two people, as you can coordinate your fire and make the harder difficulty modes that little bit easier to handle” suggests that they weren’t drinking enough while playing.
All my gaming time this past week has found me clutching my 3DS in hand too and running through the same forests and dungeons as everyone else (except Dan). Unlike the others though it is the first time I have played OoT. As an Ocarina noob am I enjoying it?
Put it this way, it has kept me off my PC, PS3 and 360 this week. Not only that but the activity log on my 3DS, which tells me that I do not normally play any games on it for more than about 25 minutes at a time, says my Zelda sessions are averaging about an hour and a quarter. It’s good. Very, very good.
Did your copy of Zelda (unlike Dan’s) turn up on time? If not Zelda, what else have you been playing this week and what are you hoping to spend your upcoming weekend gaming time playing?
bacon_nuts
I’ve actually been playing Sly 1 (then two then three) and Elder Scrolls Oblivion. I’m just a little late on those..
Rocket_345
Not alot for me this week. Mainly Medal of Honor which i’m steadily working my way towards the plat on and Tiger Woods 12 with Move. I also bought Time Crisis Razing Storm again Thursday so had a quick go on that.
hunterstryfe
I have been playing Eyepet, Mirror’s Edge and Demon’s Souls. Finally completed all 15 days on eyepet, completed Mirror’s Edge on Easy lol (plus some TT’s and speedruns) and completed Demon’s Souls and almost finished my NG+. New game next week for me will be Alice: Madness Returns and LEGO Pirates from Lovefilm
Sympozium
Thats not fair I want to play Gundam 3 now!
BrainDiver
Wow first time I’ve read one of these articles (I’m pretty slow on the uptake) but it’s really good!! Nice one Greg, count me as a regular reader from now on, it’s really interesting to know what you’re actually playing in your own time.
For the record I’ve put alot of hours into GT5 as I only recently realized how brilliant it actually is, and broke my internet trying to download my welcome back pack.