I hope you’re all sitting down as I’ve some surprising news for you. I’ve played something other than Mass Effect 3 this week! A few things actually. I’ve been trying to get into Rock of Ages as its mix of tower defense and Marble Madness should be right up my street, but despite some great humour (“This is Sparta!” being my favourite cut scene so far) it’s just not grabbing me.
I’ve also been playing a radically different type of game (Not! for Wayne’s World fans), Orcs Must Die, and it’s ludicrously good fun. A mix of tower defense and Marble third person hack and slashery it’s just brilliant. I bought it when it was cheap on Steam just prior to the release of the sequel (which I’ve subsequently bought but not yet played) though I’ve only got around to playing it this week. Highly recommended if you’ve yet to try it.
My PS Vita has been laying lazily on the coffee table for a few weeks weighed down by its full 8GB memory card I got at launch. It got set aside as games wanted patching and couldn’t be because the card was full. It’s just been upgraded with a 32GB card now they’re a much more reasonable price than the 16GB cards were at launch so it should be getting some action in the coming weeks.
Jim was feeling very wordy this week so here’s some unexpurgated Mr Hargreaves for you:
[videoyoutube]There’s not been a lot of gaming for Aran this week. The good news is that he’s no longer managing Everton in Football Manager 2012. The bad news is that that’s because he got offered the Chelsea job so is currently frittering away Russian billions on the transfer market. He’s also been continuing to free run his way through Assassin’s Creed: Revelations in preparation of AC3’s imminent release and particularly enjoying how the story switches between Altaïr and Ezio.Still reeling from better-than-expected A level results last week, I’ve found myself stuck in that classic situation we all face every once in a little while. That’s right, the one in which we turn on our gaming consoles whilst staring at our shelves that are almost splintering under the weight of hundreds of games yet we claim “mmm, there’s nothing to play.”
Luckily this phenomenon didn’t last for too long as I managed to bank plenty of time with Minority’s thought-provoking PSN title, Papo & Yo. I was also lucky enough to be invited to a beta event for War of the Roses, a medieval spin on the classic deathmatch competitive multiplayer we all seems to love so much. It’s a pretty decent game, though it’s plagued by weapon imbalances and has a merciless approach to new players. Think of it as Call of Duty meets Mount & Blade. This could mark the start of a new online gaming trend that I’d definitely like to get behind.
Aside from that, I’ve spent a fair bit of time putting together a one-man business venture that will help me tackle the living costs of university. Instead of shambling around another retail joint as a sales assistant I’m buying and selling second hand games. In my first week of “business” I’ve already doubled my money, so my knowledge of medium seems to be paying off. It’s certainly a change from my regular part time job and involves a considerable amount of risk, though it has given me an insight as to how valuable older games are, not to mention the lack of value in a number of games that are barely months old. Fascinating stuff.
A limited variety of gaming also defines Blair’s week:
All I’ve played this week is the wonderful Retro/Grade. It’s available for PSN now and free for PS+ users. Basically, it’s a little bit of Rock Band and a little bit of a sidescrolling shooter, but it plays backwards. Yes, you have to collect the bullets you’ve fired by using a guitar peripheral or pressing X on the controller at the right time. It’s a wonderfully simple mechanic, which works; you can play it either like a (backwards) shooter or a rhythm game, which is brilliant. It’s just really fun!
And that’s it from us this week, lots happening but little in the way of gaming. Are you all still working through your back catalogues in anticipation of the oncoming Autumnal onslaught of new releases?
KeRaSh
Only played Alice: Madness Returns since I platinumed Rayman Origins on the Vita. Oh, I spent about an hour playing Counter Strike: Global Offensive. I like it alot. Will return to it once I’m through Alice.
bunimomike
Hannypoppie and I have thoroughly enjoyed co-op Orcs Must Die! 2. Brilliant fun. Hope you get to enjoy co-op, Greg. Top stuff if a bit tricky at times.
Greg Aldridge
I’m hoping to find a willing vict^h^h^h^h partner when I come to play OMD2. Trying to convince a friend to buy it.
R1MJAW
I can tell you relatively safely without spoiling anything.
The first one occurs in a dungeon where you have to move lanterns, there is a chance that the lantern will disappear whilst you’re carrying it, if it does immediately pause and quit then choose continue, it should take you back to before the lantern disappears … do not pick the lantern back up or it may disappear for good, fast travel away from the dungeon (it will leave a fast travel point so you can return to the same spot) then fast travel back. Again, do not pick up the lantern using O, by this point you will have an object that will let you pick things up from a distance, go as far away from the lantern as possible and use this object to pick it up … this should solve the problem.
The second one is a side quest that you receive from the Chancellor, which is available after doing a certain story mission. Once you have completed said story mission DO NOT speak to the Chancellor, if you do, the side quest will be broken and undoable. If anyone needs any info on this then send me a PSN message.(PSN ID is same as my TSA ID).
I’ve actually just had a look and there seems to be a fix, however I would still recommend not speaking to the Chancellor and just completing the side quest before going to see him … I know that obviously you won’t know what/where the quest takes place, but it is the only place on that map that isn’t used for a story mission … again, if anyone wants more info send me a PSN message.
R1MJAW
Damn, this was supposed to be a reply to Forrest on the previous page.
Forrest_01
Lanterns & Chancellor. Got it. :)
Whether i remember or not will be another matter… XD
LTG Davey
Thanks man, I’ve made a note of these too so I don’t get caught out. Loving this game at the moment so don’t want my experience spoiled by nasty bugs heh
element666
Finally got my sound shapes platinums!Bloody death mode seemed impossible!
I also managed to get my gravity rush platinum,some of the challenges on that seemed impossible too,lol.
I played the LBP meet,which was slap-tastic :)
I borrowed lego hp 5-7 of my gf,so I started that yesterday,oh and some MGS4 as well.
Youles
“slap-tastic”, lol!
Have you tried the Gravity Rush DLC challenges, one in particular is an utter twat! ;) More annoying is the loading times if you fail half-way through, grhhh!!
Sounds like I’ve got some fun times ahead if I decide to play Death Mode :/
element666
yeah mate I’ve tried a couple,going for the 100% now,it just gets confusing at times when you dont know which way is up or down lol.
Death mode is hard,but tbh its more luck than anything :)
Sitorimon
Retro/Grade is amazing. That is all.
The Lone Steven
I’ve been playing Fallout:New bugas. Am surprised i managed to play it for more then 15minutes as the last time i booted it up, it crashed. I was going to disable the Hud(well, turn it down to zero) but due to the subtitles being a part of the hud, i didn’t. The reason why i play with subtitles on is because of bugs that and i like to hear every little conversation that can be missed very easily. I chose the Experienced(introduced in one of the add ons) trait which adds 5 points to all of your skills but you have a 10% loss of exp which doesn’t really affect me as the game has plenty of things to do that results in exp and can get to level 50. It will just take longer. Also,chose the Wild Wasteland trait.
I failed to save the goodsprings settler during Sunny’s quest. Completed Ghost Town Firefight without any goodspring residents dying as usual. I always avoid convincing(25 explosives required) Easy Pete to avoid any deaths. Not going to bother with Hardcore mode as it’s just another few stats but i am forcing myself to eat, sleep and drink every in game day as imo, it’s a lot better. Do wish that hardcore mode actually had visual effects if you didn’t drink eat or sleep. If you don’t drink, you could start to see things that are not really there. Don’t eat and you struggle to move as well as lift a gun or melee weapon. And as for sleeping, mostly the same as eat but with some vision effects thrown in.
I plan to use the riot officer armour from Lonesome Road as the final armour due to it suiting my characters backstory as well the character itself.
If you are having trouble with Deathclaws or Supermutants or FUCKING CAZADORS! Then feel free to ask me for help. The stay back perk(Dead Money perk i think) pretty much makes them push overs due to it’s knockdown abillity and combine that with the riot shotgun, you can take anything on. If you are a energy weapon user. Make sure you have the Guass Rifle as that always knocks down your targets but i would reccomend firing from a distance due to it’s rate of fire which is a bit slow but it is better then the plasma and laser rifles. If you are lucky enough to have a plasma caster then feel free to go hunting. As it will take care of anything in your way but it is crap in terms of durabiltiy and will break a lot. If you are using explosives. I have nothing at this moment in time as i rarely use them against the enemies mentioned above. As for the melee and Unarmed users. Chuck Norris worships you if you can take on an entire pack of deathclaws using boxing gloves or a switchblade.
Oh and if you have managed to get banned from every casino and now have a stupid amount of caps, you may find that you won’t be able to spend it all. But i think the Gun Runner’s Arsenal(which is worth the £1.50 as it adds a lot of weapons and ammo types as well as perks) will be a bit of a dent in your wallet due to the cost of the unique weapons.
Oh and played some BF3 MP. Completed the SP on Saturday night. Tis average and do wish that the tanks part was not 99% on rails as that stands out the most in what is a go from point a to point b game. Wish i could have controlled the jet in Going Hunting. Oh and the pacing is a bit rubbish at times as it feels like they threw in a lot of random maps, and wrote an average plot to incoroprate them. It turns out that i’m deadly in a tank and getting better at flying a jet. Managed to shoot down a heli the other day as well as disable a tank with the minigun. I am shit at flying a heli though but i do love shooting them down with the stinger. And i use the shotgun a lot.
The Lone Steven
Oh and Dead Money has that bloody annoying skip dialogue bug which can ruin your experience if you like listening to what someone has to say. And when i say DM has it, it has it at the final confrontation with Father Elijah.
Origami Killer
You may as well of written the bloody article! Some light reading in your comment :P
Origami Killer
“Still reeling from better-than-expected A level results last week, I’ve found myself stuck in that classic situation we all face every once in a little while. That’s right, the one in which we turn on our gaming consoles whilst staring at our shelves that are almost splintering under the weight of hundreds of games yet we claim “mmm, there’s nothing to play.””
This is literally my situation at the moment. I have a dozen uncompleted games but still stand by the comment theres nothing to play. Instead I’ve looked to the Vita and have been playing Sound Shapes. Wonderful game.
blast71
I’m currently getting pissed off with I Am Alive due to the auto-saves being too far apart. Played the current level for over an hour, doing side rescues that are optional(because I’m good like that ;p) only to die when i got back to the story, then found I was back to the start of the level having to do it all again. Turned it off, had a bit of a cry.
Otherwise, good game ;)
Tuffcub
I’ve been playing getting a lovely tan, hope you are all behaving while I am away.