With it being last week’s big game that many of us have been playing Batman: Arkham City shouldn’t come as a surprise. When not playing a curious game that consists of repeatedly resetting his router Peter was in the fortunate position of being able to assign himself the arduous task of reviewing the hotly anticipated title.
Our resident superhero fan Kris has predictably also been donning his black cape and pointy-eared helmet/mask, concealing himself in the shadows and dropping on unsuspecting passersby criminals. And that’s just in the street outside TSA Towers. Bizzarely, with respect to the game, he is looking forward to having his face “smooshed” into the dirt by a murderous super strong zombie. At least I assume he was talking about the game when he told me that.
Batman hasn’t been the only rope-swinging object of Kris’ gaming attentions this week, candy has also featured. Note that that’s candy with a small ‘c’ before you jump to any premature conclusions. He’s been playing the “way too short” Cut The Rope Experiments. “When you’ve only got a set number of levels (and when I can 3 star all of them in under three goes)”, he boasts, “it just feels like a waste of 69p”. That hasn’t stopped him picking up the full Cut The Rope though…
[drop]Continuing our “Who’s played Batman” rundown we find Aran. “Simply put, it’s amazing”, he gushes, “a real improvement on Batman: Arkham Asylum”. The added freedom and variety that the more expansive environment introduces gets a particular mention as does the brain/brawn dichotomy of trying to solve The Riddler’s challenges or just beating up the city’s residents.Tuffcub has also been playing Batman but in what I’m going to assume was not a typo he’s been playing back in the asylum. Is he nonetheless enjoying it? “Meh”, was all I could coax out of him. He then promptly returned to his quest to hunt down Higs bozos on the fair plains of Helghast in Killzone 3.
You’ll be pleased to hear that marks the end of TSA’s Batfolk. Dan tells me that he can’t tell me what he’s been playing or which forthcoming portable console that might make a great Valentines Day present that he’s been playing it on. The same title may or may not have been played on two other HD consoles.
In a marked change from his recent gaming habits Toby has been playing Hannah Montana. Just kidding, he is still playing as much FIFA 12 as he can manage (pun intended). “I don’t have the time to dive into a lengthy campaign or massive multiplayer mode at the moment”, he says, “so the nature of FIFA is proving to be very useful indeed”.
When it comes to the ‘future of gaming’ Alex offers us a somewhat less than ringing endorsement before writing anything to solve everything:
[drop2]My own limited gaming time has seen me drinking deeply of the potent cocktail that consists of Gears of War 3’s Horde and Beast modes with a bit of shotgun only Versus Execution. Gotta glove gmy gnasher. Aside from that I’ve been taking a spin in and around the Gran Turismo 5 DLC. The new kart tracks inject a much-needed sense of fun as race settings and GT5 really could do with taking itself a little less seriously at times.I had a look at OnLive on a decent connection (30MB) and it was glorious, although DiRT 3 still lagged like the PS3 version of Shift 2. Press left. Wait. Car goes left. Brilliant.
The wee one loves Scribblenauts (or is attracted to the screen at least) so I’ve been putting grandmas in aeroplanes and dogs on top of ducks. It’s a lovely way to interact and teach kids new words. In moderation, of course. But at least it’s not laggy.
Its online offerings continue to become more flexible as the game develops, with the latest 2.01 update making the Lounge settings more tweakable, along with the arrival of Seasonal Events for your B-Speccers. I’m still hoping it might one day get an online mode along the lines of Forza’s Tag or something like Demolition Derby to help break the intensity of endless track racing when you spend a few hours online with friends.
Blair has enjoyed more gaming variety than the rest of us this week starting with the “good but linear” Ratchet & Clank: All For One. Next up was Tintin which despite some “fun 2.5D platforming sections” was nevertheless “boring and everything you’d expect from a movie tie-in otherwise”.
He spent some time trying and failing to get into Deus Ex: Human Revolution before finally playing some of the “ridiculous shooter” Serious Sam 3. While it was “quite enjoyable” to begin with it all too quickly “got repetitive”.
I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that many of you have also been playing Batman. Has anything else had a look in this week?
DrNate86
Arkham City. That is all.
The Lone Steven
I completed Bioshock one earlier in the week. And have been playing Final Fantasy 13 since then.
I have managed to get into it which is a surprise as i’m not fond of the linear style and the combat system. And the party leader dies=gameover. I mean, why did they think that would a good thing to implent? It’s not and i prefer to controll my entire party in any FF game. It’s been two years since i brought it and only now i’ve given it a proper chance. :O
Sympozium
Good, I like game over
MayContainEvil
I also dislike the party leader death mechanic, but it does make sense in terms of the story. It’s not really a game over either considering it just gameplay you to right before the fight that killed you, really it just makes the game too easy.
tactical20
Played Lord of the Rings:Conquest for a bit (forgot I even bought it), and then Skate 3 (standardly). Arkham City has arrived today, so will be all over that next week.
Sympozium
I got games today!
other than that, losing 5-3 to Cruzieo but at least Corinthians got through the Copa del Brasil.
Shame American football is a bit lacking but its been great than just being the typical European teams.
Origami Killer
No batman at all for me. F1 2011 and that’s it.
Origami Killer
oh forgot to mention, been going through Costume Quest which is a wonderful PSN title perfect for Halloween.
Sitorimon
Beat Hazard Ultra!! I am loving that so much more on the PS3 than the PC version. Worms Minigolf is surprisingly great fun too. Also getting through Madagascar Kartz which is a surprisingly competant kart racer too. Repeatedly failing to pass level 3 in Child of Eden right at the very end too :)
jikomanzoku
Dark Souls for me on PS3, L4D2 and Child Of Eden on Kinect for when I just can’t face DS.
Phobia
In the build up to being able to afford Arkham City and Unchartered 3 I’ve finished the previous titles in the 2 series and now moved on to completing FFXIII finally.
jikomanzoku
Unchartered 3: drake’s accountant :D just joshing, but the image made me laugh fella.
colmshan1990
My iPad arrived this week.
Already pissed off by it’s bugs, but I do find it useful.
DapperHayden007
The Game looks great! I have been checking it out and nearly got me into buying it even with the lack of Cash. I think I might just rent it for now.
DapperHayden007
Also there is a bit of a list at the moment. Skyrim, LOTR War in the north, Far Cry 3, GTA5 Now. and a couple more >.<