Something of a shocker this week as the disruption to my free time and gaming routines has been such that I have not played any Gran Turismo 5 this week at all! That’s definitely very uncharacteristic. My PS Vita has seen some more Everybody’s Golf loving, and I’ve been doing what’s necessary to stay at the top of my friend’s list tournament in Treasures of Montezuma Blitz. That means setting high scores, not deleting friends, before any of you suggest that.
PS3-wise I played a few hours of Skyrim at the weekend as I want to try and get it finished before the DLC hits, which is hopefully around the end of July. Mass Effect 3‘s multiplayer has been getting some action too as a few friends and I have got quite into it. It was also the cause of a highly amusing text I received from a friend yesterday:
OMG how much do I want to do the savage weekend quest…. 7 million…. we can do that!!!!
Yes, an excitable friend had read it that individual squads had to rack up 7 million kills over the weekend to get their Operation Savage rewards! It was with no small degree of amusement that I pointed out that it was great that they had sufficient confidence in us being able to sustain a kill rate over the whole weekend of about 50 per second – a rate which gave us a little leeway should we need to stop for toilet breaks and get more coffee.
Peter has been playing a plague simulator on his iDevices called Plague Inc. Your sole aim in the game is to develop a disease and wipe out humanity. “Quite fun so far” is his interim verdict. I do wonder whether his need to expunge the planet of humanity comes as a result of his playing through Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor for our review, which he summarises as follows:
[drop2]Naturally if only it had featured Kinect dancing Peter would have escaped the review as it would have gone to Kris instead. Our resident seagull- and arcade-lover has also been playing with his iDevices with Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror being the subject of his reflection this week. “It was enjoyable”, he says, “but not quite as challenging as the first game”.It’s total rubbish. I spent hours trying different clothing, lighting and even moved to a different room to see if that fixed it but all to no avail. It doesn’t function as it should. Unless they were trying to make the most broken piece of crap they could in order to make me swear continuously for about five hours. If that’s the case, they nailed it.
He felt that the pacing of the story suffered in comparison to the original Broken Sword and that the feeling of danger was missing. It was competent enough to still rate as a “good game” though and the presence of “some quite amusing supporting characters” was welcome.
With no more Broken Sword games on iOS Kris is now looking for recommendations for good adventure games for his iPhone. Any suggestions?
With his exams behind him Jim has been gaming more than recently which much of his attention focused on Wrath of Heroes once more. The free-to-play title keeps drawing him back and tempting him to part with cash for more must-have heroes. He’s also “dabbled” with EVE Online though the thought of the subscription is holding him back from fully committing to it.
On his PS Vita he is “almost done” with Mortal Kombat:
I’ve poured hours into this game and still have much to explore, though after having beaten the campaign, arcade ladders and most of the tower challenges, I won’t feel too bad if I ever need to free up some space on my puny 8GB card.
Gaming on his PS3 has been confined to LittleBigPlanet 2 which despite loving the first game he struggled to get into until receiving some encouragement from his little sister. Presumably not the kind that goes after your Adam with a big syringe. Now he’s “on board” with LBP2 he’s enjoying the “added game play features and the newly-found focus on narrative” but is “worried” that he still doesn’t feel up to creating his own levels.
Portable playing has consumed Blair’s attention this week with both of the current handheld consoles seeing some action. On his 3DS it is Heroes of Ruin that got his circle pad orbiting, while the cause of the twin-stick-tilting on his PS Vita has been Unit 13. Both titles are the grateful recipients of a “great fun” rating.
[drop]Positively gushing about Gravity Rush we find Tuffcub. “[It’s] one of the best games I have played all year” is his opener. His attempt to characterise the game is that “it’s Final Fantasy mashed up with Studio Ghibli in an open world float ’em up”. Sounds like we have a new genre there.In case his opinion isn’t already clear he like you to know that he “absolutely love[s] it and it is a joy to play such a game whilst on the move”. His PS Vita is proving so popular that he’s had to buy one for hubby so his own doesn’t keep getting stolen.
Whilst not “on the move” his PS3’s Blu-ray drive has been spun up for the “rather fun” Lollipop Chainsaw and Spec Ops: The Line which is actually managing to live up to expectations and be “rather fab”, apparently.
That’s us done for another week. If you have got any suggestions for Kris let him know while you let us know what you’ve been playing.
mugsybalone
Old planes, new planes, and the fluffy dimension for me. That is, taking to the skies in the excellent Birds of Steel on the PS3, spending far too long achieving suprisingly little in Nimblebit’s Tiny Tower follow-up Pocket Planes on iOS and last night I started the brilliant Quantum Conundrum on Steam.
bmg_123
I too have finished my exams, and so I’ve been going round all of my PS3 games, trying to finish them all (it’ll never happen). That and of course Gravity Rush, which I, like Tuffcub, am “gushing” over, it’s brilliant.
Youles
I too have been enjoying a lot Gravity Rush and see the similarities between Final Fantasy – particularly the modern ones where it’s more action based. Initially it reminded me of FF7 due to it’s own unique artstyle (which I love) and small community – much like Midgar. However, I would say it’s very much an action game rather than an RPG. This has kept me from starting the WipEout 2048 DLC for now. Also have done some Golden Abyss trading and I now have all the Fetishes in addition to all the Bounties.
On PS3 I played Sniper Elite V2 co-op with freezebug2 which was awesome – looking forward to another session tonight. Restored my MW3 100% with McProley completing the new Spec Ops missions which, as always, were great fun and challenging enough without being frustrating. Then the odd bits of DiRT 3 online and a couple of games of Awesomenauts. I still haven’t played Bang Bang Racing or the Hitman Sniper Challenge as I’d hoped.
Looking forward to the Cat N Mouse DiRT 3 Meet on Monday night, although we could do with a few more people please if anyone is interested! :)
McProley
Yeah the MW3 Spec Ops are always a good laugh!
Youles
Especially when I’m reloading at the back of the tank, and you reverse over me, lol.
+900 points multi-kill FTW!!
McProley
Yeah, my tank driving skillzzzzz are awesome! You love your tube!
dude90
Well I’ve playing Gran Turismo PSP on my Vita and some minis. I haven’t had internet at home since Monday, an idiot decided to burn a cable which affected the phone lines throughout my area.
hazelam
Simon the Sorcerer is available for Ios, it’s a pretty cool point and click game.
it’s the fully voiced version with Chris Barrie voicing Simon.
it would probably play better on an ipad but you can play it on an Iphone or touch, it’s just a little fiddly with the buttons being kinda small.
still it’s a good game, and the woodworm are hilarious when you meet them. ^_^
anyway, i’ve mostly been playing Darksiders.
still a great game, Devil May Cry style combat, with what i call classic nintendo gameplay, where you gain new abilities that open up new routes in areas you’ve already visited.
and the voicework is pretty good.
McProley
“it’s the fully voiced version with Chris Barrie voicing Simon”
Ive never not wanted to play a game as much, lol!
hazelam
not a fan then?
i think he’s great personally, he does a fantastic job reading the Red Dwarf audiobooks, his Kryton is spot on.
almost as good as his Rimmer. ^_^
but anyway, it also has text so you could always turn the volume down. ^_^
Forrest_01
I don’t think that was sarcasm actually hazel.
I don’t think i know anyone who doesn’t like Chris Barrie actually, come to think of it.
Which reminds me, i may have to watch The Brittas Empire again soon. :)
hazelam
fantastic series The Brittas Empire.
i’ve got the first series on dvd, i wanna get the rest if i can.
incidentally, any fans of The Dwarf might be interested in this.
the first publicity shot from Red Dwarf X.
http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/news/2012/04/27/picture-this/
Forrest_01
Yeah, i introduced my wife to it (shes a little younger than me) & we watched the lot pretty much back to back (as in we didn’t watch anything else, not we stayed up for 4 days straight with a box of matchsticks for our eyelids or something!!).
I was lucky enough to be bought the entire set for my birthday, but i think you can get the individual DVD’s pretty cheap if you shop around.
freezebug2
@Greg I haven’t noticed your times on the GT5 academy events boards, which surprises me a little, as you get to win all of the cars that you complete the events in, as long as you get a gold score time…which are easy enough. It’s worth doing the academy events just for the cars that you’ll win!
I completed a playthrough of Renegade Ops, which is quite a decent twin stick shooter, if you can control that damn Jeep :P, and have made a start on the Hardcore difficulty.
freezebug2
Edit: Although the only car left to win now is in the final event as they were time limited!
Youles
So you’ve decided to go for the Ren Ops 100% then? :D
There’s no WipEout meet tonight so I can play from 7pm-10:30pm if that’s good for you?
Also, can I interest you in a DiRT 3 meet on Monday evening – a “Cat n Mouse” Special?
freezebug2
Yup, the one thing that I thought was near impossible in the game was getting the “Alien” skill level, but in level 2 hardcore it gave me “Superhuman” which is only a level away from “Alien” I think. It has 15 skill levels from poor to alien, and my level 2 hardcore playthrough was frankly…shit but I completed it to recieve a shock! “Superhuman” skill level.
Basically you need give loads and take little….in the damage department that is!
Defo up for a longer Sniper co-op meet, that’ll be great mate.
Mondays are GT5 meet night and TSA sim racing afterwards, but more especially this coming Monday is the return of Jambo to the GT5 fold, so it wouldn’t be a night that I could do the cat ‘n mouse I’m afraid.
Youles
Oh that’s good then, sounds like you’ll achieve Alien rank then!
Great – one more Overwatch mission with me as the spotter and we should both get the respective trophy before swapping roles! Then we will probably have time to finish the third and final (I think there are only 3) Overwatch mission for that trophy. I guess we may have to repeat one Overwatch mission to ensure we both get the 50 tag and 50 tag kill trophies. Then it’s just Bombing Run (and we’ll defo get the x10 revive trophy in that mode, lol).
No worries regarding DiRT 3 mate – I would do the meet on another night but the wife works Mondays so it’s dictated.
freezebug2
Indeed, the only trophy that’ll need any repetition is the Bombing runs, but we only need to complete 10 of those anyway, and we already have 2 or 3 done. And there are, as you say only 3 Overwatch missions in total to complete ;)
I’m surprised though that they give you silver trophies for tagging and sniping 50 enemy in overwatch, I’d have expected bronzes to be honest.
Youles
True – I guess the reward is more for playing co-op opposed to difficulty. I also realised this morning that I only need to tag 50 enemies, I don’t even need you to kill the ones that I’ve tagged!!
freezebug2
I’ve got 5-10 enemy tags to my profile, I tagged them for a randomer but he wouldn’t shoot them, before leaving the lobby lol.
Youles
Maybe that’s why they did it like that – at least they counted ;)
Taylor Made
Gravity rush for, this game is mind twisting, the plot is weird. I love it but sometimes the combat is frausrrsting really is but overall the game is a gem. I need to buy the DLC for it.
Also some mutant blob, I’m in love with this game another sweet mini gem.
My ps3 haven’t touched that for months til I sort my Internet out. I feel as if my ps+ is not being put to good use right now
Forrest_01
Quite a varied week this week, starting with a bit of Guitar hero 5 & DJ Hero 2 with Boomshanks, speedily followed by the Max Payne meet on Monday. It was nice to finally get into a multiplayer match (after a bit of a tweak to my settings) & discover i am bloody awful at the game.
Tuesday saw the Dirt Showdown tournament, which did not go to plan… At all. After a Rampage round that saw me only awarded points for some hits & not others (which was bloody frustrating actually!), a Domination round where i admittedly messed up & rolled my car & a Race Off that i basically had to bow out of half way to stop one of my cats chewing some plastic he had managed to pull out of the bin, I am now firmly in last place. Yay.
Wednesday saw me home late from work, so i only got an hour or two of gaming in, which consisted of a bit of Lollipop Chainsaw (which i concur, is pretty damn fun) & Lego Harry Potter (Years 5-7), which i am trying to get finished up to trade for Lego Batman 2.
Date night was pushed back to last night this week due to the woman being away for the earlier part of the week, so no gaming occurred last night.
Other than that, i did also spend a little time playing Yakuza Dead Souls, which is a pretty good game full of all the usual Yakuza nonsense & some zombies make a nice change of pace from beating street thugs & other Yakuza up all the time, but it is spoiled a little by an awful camera.
Youles
Sorry mate, but I had a good laugh at the cat bit – why do they do stupid things. My cats are a pain in the arse most of the time. Fortunately the dog gives them a hard time. That sort of thing always happens to me. ;)
Nate
My cat goes ape-shit for those sheets of plastic poppers. It’s like cat crack, she turns completely demented.
Youles
Lol. Have you tried them with carrier bags – cats fucking love ’em? Stick one down on the floor, as flat as possible. I bet within 5 minutes the cat is sitting on it, having the time of his/her life.
Forrest_01
Well, my cats are nothing but a bit eccentric!
One has a plastic fetish & will chew any unattended plastic bags & the like as much as he can. He prefers the sort that come from Fopp that are a bit thicker than your average carrier bag.
Another one chews stalks on things like grapes etc, loves playing with plastic bags, but is sh*t scared of black bags for some reason. Not sure of the logic behind that one.
The other one will pretty much eat anything & tries to – You’ll be eating your food one moment & then the next you have a little cat face looking over your shoulder to see what you have. If you want her to go anywhere or be at a specific place at any one point, all you need do is shake the treats box & she will come running, regardless of where she is at the time (usually on top of the wardrobes).
Youles
At least they have personalities, and there certainly seems to be a common like for plastic. Should we make a “pets of TSA forum thread”? ;)
McProley
This week I Platted Resistance Burning Skies which I quite enjoyed even with the very basic textures. Pltted the disc edition of Back To The Future. Burst of Every bodies golf on the Vita and had to delete one of my friends because of their constant insanely high scores of over 50,000,000 in Treasures Of Montezuma Blitz. And also a bit of Treasure hunting In Golden Abyss
McProley
Oh and I’ve Also been grinding some Dirt 3 multiplayer for the Plat after finishing off the single player
Forrest_01
You did the beat the bobsled thing? Kudos.
I am always (& i mean always) at least a second too slow. That, plus a couple of other things have bascially made me give up on Dirt 3.
McProley
I had most of the trophies so I thought I might as well go for it. Plus, Youles is grinding it too so i thought I’d do it with him. That bobsleigh one is a pain. Many much swear words were launched at the TV!
Forrest_01
Yeah, i have managed to do most too, but the bobsled one continues to evade me. That plus the 500k in a Gymkhana event (which to be fair may come with practice & a good line) & a couple of the mp trophies (the one for winning all party modes is a b*tch as i am awful at Transporter) have put me off a bit at the moment.
McProley
I was lucky with those as I Youles and I just got in a lobby with only us 2. He definitely didn’t let me win though *looks shifty*
The same with the hardcore trophy
Taylor Made
Lol are you serious u had to delete a friend of your friendlist cause of envy. Should be ashamed!!
McProley
Not really a friend, Just someone who added me Via Near. And yes, I do feel a little ashamed. The problem is that My fat stubby fingers are too lumbersome for the game. *cries in the corner*
McProley
Oh, and it wasnt just cos of TOM Blitz, I was running out of freind space
Taylor Made
Lool joker!! If u need space feel free delete me, I will just add you lot when I’m back online at the moment, I’m relying on my 3G vita just to be online even then only vita people can see me.
Taylor Made
Lol if you need space feel free delete me cause at the moment I’m only online with my 3G vita til I sort my Internet out then I re add you lot back
Dom El
Virtua Fighter 5 has taken up a good portion of time online – though it’s not the best game to play before bed as I’m too hyped up! Other PS3 gaming has been Uncharted 2 which is great, and Darksiders which I love the art style of.
On Vita I’ve played a fair bit of Tom Blitz, though my scores haven’t been high enough to get beyond third place on my friends list. I’ve got the Wipeout 2048 DLC so I expect to play that this week ( as well as Wipeout HD!).