What We Played #70: FIFA 13, New Star Soccer, Machinarium

Watchful 22 Comments

What We Played

Things did not go well at the weekend as the Mass Effect 3 online community failed to reach the target set in the three-day operation, coming up 20,000 short of the Allied goal. At least I got the squad goal done.

Given the modest target we were set it was a little surprising not to reach it. Whether it indicates that players thought it was an easy target so played less or that the player base is falling away now that New Game Season™ is about to burst upon us who can tell. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, BioWare do to try and maintain interest in the face of autumn’s onslaught of new titles.

Is it Joe Danger: The Movie or Joe Danger 2? There’s some confusion even among those like Alex who have played the game. Not that it matters as “it’s brilliant” he tells me. “Really solid gameplay, great graphics and actually pretty funny. Even the good lady was interested, looking up and saying ‘that looks nice’. Basically, there’s your 10/10.” And who can argue with that.

Kris is still filling what little free time he gets with New Star Soccer where he’s now managing Birmingham in the Premier League. “Whilst we’re 7th in the league, we’ve got good cup runs in the League Cup, FA Cup (which we’re defending) and Europa League going. Might do a cup triple, which would be lovely!” His beloved Albion must be feeling neglected.

“Finally got around to playing The Walking Dead Episode 2”, says Dan. “So grim, yet utterly compelling! So far the episodes I’ve played have been game of the year material in terms of how story/characters are dealt with.” It’s all good then is it Dan? “My only gripe is with the game engine (on the PS3 at least). It stutters and judders and you always get the feeling it’s one step away from crashing, which it did at the end, preventing me from seeing my end-game stats.”

Finding himself with some proper gaming time for the first time in a while Josh has been taking full advantage of it.

I’ve been working my way through Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 PS3 in co-op with my girlfriend, I started (and completed) Machinarium, I played a little bit of The Fight before it drove me mental with its constant punching wildly into the sky above my opponents heads, and also finished up Rayman Origins on Vita – I did have a couple of goes on the Land of the Livid Dead extra level, but I’ve very definitely given up for now.

With Sleeping Dogs campaign done and dusted Jim is busy hoovering up the games remaining trophies. “Compared to other games, it’s fairly easy going though having to buy every vehicle and piece of clothing the game has to offer is tedious to say the least. That, and having to drive a sports car at top speed for thirty minutes.”

After that it was time to sift through his PSN downloads to find any gaming nuggets that were laying there undiscovered. “I also managed to dig up Lara Croft and Guardian of Light, courtesy of PlayStation Plus. At a distance it really doesn’t look that remarkable and I was a little apprehensive whilst waiting for it to download. However, after playing it for ten minutes I was immediately hooked and plan to finish it as soon as get the time. Hopefully we’ll this crop on the Vita at some point in the future.” Which reminds me that I’ve got it on my Xperia S and have yet to try it.

Not normally one for the little indie games that many of us here at TSA are fond of playing Jim found his resistance crumbling this week. “Something about the most recent Gamersgate Indiefort bundle caught my eye. For £2.50 I bagged myself copies of Air Buccaneers HD, A Sirius Game, and Tiny & Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers. Without touching the first two, I dove straight into the latter and what a surprise it has been. Beautifully crafted and relaxing to play, in Tiny & Big players manipulate their environment to forge the way to the next level, splicing and grappling chunks of rock to make crude paths. It’s proper good, and for 83p you’d have to be a right mug to pass it up.”

Finally, Aran is still enjoying Counter Strike: Global Offensive and particularly Arms Race mode. “My kill of the week this week was when as the last man on my team I managed to sneak up on the last 2 opponents and take them both out with my P90.”

The FIFA 13 demo has also impressed, “It feels a lot more focused and the AI worked well. I look forward to playing the full game.” He’s also been hanging out with everyone’s favourite pistol-packing witch, Bayonetta. “I have no idea what’s going on but the ridiculousness of the game is fun.”

He’s also been playing a stabby, shooty game set in a time period Peter’s proved quite knowledgeable about but he’s currently sworn to secrecy on it and under threat of becoming the victim of a targeted killing if he spills the tea in the harbour beans.

What’s the tale of your own gaming week?

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22 Comments

  1. I loved Machinarium. Very nice graphic style. It was over way too quickly but, seen as it was free with PS+, I can’t complain. I’d love to see a sequel, “Beyond the Machinarium” anyone?

  2. This week I will be trying out Demos. I’ve downloaded 2 PES demos, Fifa 13 and F1 2012. I’ll buy 2 of these games most likely. This is the first time in a long time i’ve used demos to decide if i’m going to buy a game or not.

    Played the first PES demo last night. It’s ok, nothing special, doesn’t have the fluidity of Fifa. Still got the PES Final demo to try though.

    Completed God of War. Started God of War 2. Will finally be able to play God of War 3 in around a month’s time!

    I have also been playing New Star Soccer. Bit of an Up and Down Career so far. Started in the Welsh League with Flintshite (shire), Moved to Fleetwood Town in the conference where I underperformed. Was quickly moved on to Rushden & Diamonds. Played half decent there. Moved to Verona In Serie B. Became a bit of a legend there. Snapped up by Inter. Won the Champions League, Italian Cup and finished 3rd in the League. Then at 21, moved to Swansea where I am yet to play a game. Need to get back to it asap.

    Love the game!

  3. Like Aran I was impressed by FIFA 13 and the AI, particularly the runs now mde by players without the ball. Decent long-range shooting also seems possible again which is great, and even the opposition had a few cracks from distance.
    I was not impressed by the handling in the WRC3 demo sadly. I also thought the menus were horrific! Shame really as I’d love a decent, fully licenced rally game.
    After weeks (possibly months) of sitting on it I finally played the Hitman Sniper Challenge which is good fun. It’s not perfect but I’m still looking forward to Hitman – and it could be more polished from that early demo.
    Aside from demos I platinumed Cars 2 which is good fun, especially multiplayer with McProley and my son. I’m so close to platinuming Assassin’s Creed II which I should get done tonight – the DLC I started last night has held me back a bit. Then McProley and I finished my 5-star playthrough on Dead Space Extraction….now we’ve just got to do the last 3 levels on his PS3.
    On Vita I played a few levels and grabbed a few trophies on Mutant Blobs Attack.

  4. Still playing dark souls same as last week, i don’t think i’ve played anything else.

  5. Still playing Dark Souls. I got past Fatso and speedy(Ornstein and Smough) thus recieving the lordvessel and placing it in the altar. I made my way into the catacombs which is very easy as at that point most players will be level 60+ and have a weapon capable of killing the skeletons in 1-3 hits. Defeated the game’s easiest boss, Pinwheel. Didn’t feel like a boss fight and did something that would normally get me killed, rush in and beat him to a pulp with my ultragreatsword. For the being that stole the lord of death’s power or at least some of it, he was a massive disappointment. Sadly, i was forced to kill Sif. :( I would say that the chosen undead is a massive arsehole but i discovered that just after Queelag. Also killed Pertious after he threatened to kill Rhea who i assume was trapped by him in the tomb of the giants. Well, he didn’t flat out say that he was going to kill her but inadvertly gave a subtle hint about him killing her.

    Killed that bastard Lautrec and restored the bonfire at firelink shrine. He is a bloody ganker!(Ganking is summoning phantoms then wait for someone to invade thus getting an unfair advantage). Joined the Darkmoon blades and have yet to make the guilty pay as i either invade to find out they have a phantom or a lagstabber or both. Did bump into a honourable guilty player who bested me in a fair fight. I bowed and he bowed then we dueled. Lasted 1 minute probably because he was over level 100 and i’m just level 70ish.

    Got Queelag’s furysword which has replaced my flaming zwienhander as it can inflict damage quicker. Also got Havel’s armour which is said to be the best armour in the game.
    Got Ornstein’s spear but need to level up my dex as it requires 24 and i only have 21. I plan to use that instead of the divine tail axe which does sod all to the ghosts as i’ve discovered that yesterday, the hard way. :( Either that was a glitch or divine weapons are not meant for fighting ghosts and i’ve wasted some souls.

    Thinking of getting either ICO HD or MGSHD.

    • I got past the Gargoyle (Thanks to your fine tip) Now just doing a bit of levelling up before I take down Medusa and that annoying butterfly. Loving Dark Souls again, which is really good because i’d totally lost interest!

      • Summon the witch Beatrix whose’s summon sign is hidden in the bush under the stairs to the fog gate to it as she can inflict a lot of damage on it. In fact, she can tank it for you. You just need to keep dodging. I defeated it with her help and striking when it landed. Who’s Medusa? Do you mean Queelag? Because if you do, i may be able to help you as i can warp to the bonfire near it and wait to be summoned. Just don’t use fire against her as she is immune to it and pay attention to her top half as she gives away what she’s about to do next. oh and prepare to feel like a dick afterwards when you discover her sister.

  6. Been playing Dark Souls. Reall happy with how my characters coming along now, i’m starting to look like an evil Mo-Fo.

    The Fifa 13 demo was quite frankly dissapointing, they haven’t really changed an awful lot. Player AI is more switched on and I do like the poor touch if you over hit a pass – but have they really done enough ? Would I really benefit from buying the game? No I think i’m much better off sticking with FIFA 12. I will however be buying PES 2013.

    Also been playing the new Transformers with some mates online. The game is so fast paced and brilliantly competitive. One of the best multiplayer modes i’ve played this year.

  7. Not a huge amount this week really:

    + Finished up the last couple of missions on Sleeping Dogs, which were awesome. Easily my favourite open world game. With the game finished and traded in towards the Wii-U fund I made a start on some of my older games.
    + Played through Splinter Cell Conviction and was shocked to see the ending credits 3 hours later… :| wow, that game is short! Least the multiplayer is great.
    + Also played through Shadows the Damned. Love that game but was reminded, again, how stupidly short it is (about 4 hours I believe).
    + Aside from that I played through the “Mark of the Ninja” demo again, which I enjoyed and was about to buy until I realised “Jet Set Radio HD” is out next week so I held fire using my Microsoft points.
    + Also played a few quick rounds of Bejeweled 3 , helping the Mrs get a couple of taxing achievements.

    Just thumb twiddling until RE6 now really :)

  8. This week Youles and I completed our first run through of Dead Space extraction on his PS3 and we are expecting to do it on mine tomorrow. Been finding a new love in the Assassins Creed franchise. Ive been sessioning AC2 this week and am now 2 trophies away from the plat which is for collecting the feathers. tried that Ecolibrium on Vita and havent got my head around the tutorials yet. Will try it again over the weekend. The odd bit of Plant vs Zombies and Street Fighter 2 tables on Zen Pinball 2 and thats all this week. Although, Youles’ Wife is away all weekend so we are having a lads weekend so we should be able to play loads. BF3 meat tonight too

    • 6pm tonight through to 10pm Sunday makes 52 potential gaming hours. I hope to have a realisation percentage of about 70%, (allowing for some sleep, food & drink breaks, loo breaks, time to photo “my rig” and occassional pausing to keep an eye on the football). I’ll see if I can earn one trophy per available hour, sounds easy but 52 trophies is quite a lot.

      Also, we played some Nazi Zombies last week which I forgot to mention!

  9. Finished the campaign in Ghost Recon Future Soldier. I got it before reading the TSA review and was a bit apprehensive, but really enjoyed it.
    I got Spec Ops The Line a few weeks ago for my birthday which got better reviews so I’ll be starting that at the weekend with a more positive attitude.

  10. Off topic,but how do i add a picture to my profile?

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