Well I did my part to help towards the success of last weekend’s Mass Effect 3 operation though the margin of victory was very small. The community exceeded its target of taking down 600,000 Atlas’ by only 0.6713%.
Aside from that I’ve been playing with the Borderlands twins. I’ve gone back to play through Borderlands with a friend who’d written it off based on an hour’s play a couple of years ago. Convinced to try it again now it’s a ‘free’ download on PS Plus we’ve had some good fun.
In fact I’d forgotten how much fun it was to play. Like ME3 it’s more fun when everyone playing understands it’s a co-op game so by definition you’re supposed to work together. That’s an aspect that’s proved difficult to always get over to some players lately.
A few hours into Borderlands 2 on solo play, ‘going Commando’ as it were, it’s more of the same but better. There are some very welcome little additions, like the storage box that all your characters can access which is a great place for any of those awesome class mods you find but can’t otherwise use. Thoroughly enjoying it, the only downside being the constant screen tearing.
With most of the gang already down in that London for Eurogamer Expo (I won’t be there until Saturday) there’s not been much gaming this past week with all the preparations. Somehow Peter managed to find some gaming time though:
I played the first half an hour or so of LittleBigPlanet on Vita, which was just about enough to get through most of the introduction and a little bit of tutorial. Why it takes so long to actually start the game – or why those tutorials aren’t skippable – is beyond me.
I can only assume that Tarsier thinks more newcomers will buy it that people who played the previous games.
The charm is wearing thin for me, too. LittleBigPlanet for me was all about struggling through the imprecise, slow platforming to collect enough bits to use the amazing create mode effectively – the quirky charm helped me through that less-than-impressive platforming but I feel like, after two PS3 games, I’ve tired of its character and I’m not inspired to trudge through it even though I really want to create.
I’ve also played a little bit of FIFA 13 and, despite the career mode changing slightly – and for the worse, in my opinion – I’m really enjoying the little bits they’ve added.
Finally, I’ve been playing loads of Football Manager 12. I have it open on my laptop at all times, on its own little desktop so I can switch over and make a few tweaks or play my next fixture in between work on my other desktops.
I started a new career with Leicester City and I’ve got a formation which is doing reasonably well for me. Now, if only I didn’t have two whining centre-backs who think they should be playing every game and fall out with me if I substitute them, I might be able to make a decent run at the league!
Blair is also finding the latest LBP a little tired. “I’ve played LittleBigPlanet Vita this week,” he said, “in amongst starting University again and preparing for EGX. It’s a brilliant game, I am really enjoying what is essentially LBP 2.5 on my Vita. The formula is getting a bit stale but the ability to download levels is great. It’s good and fun but not too much of a change.”
It seems nothing can prise Aran’s Xbox 360 controller from his grip as he continues to work through the highlights of that console’s extensive back catalogue:
This week I’ve mainly been playing The Witcher 2 after restarting as before I had rushed in to it. This time I’ve progressed slowly to take in everything and I am loving it. Honestly one of the best RPGs I’ve played. There have been a few parts where the map hasn’t made sense causing me to wander around for ages but I do love the setting and getting lost has helped me find side quests.
“I’ve also played a bit of Top Spin 4 as well which is good for a quick gaming session,” he added, “though the power of shots doesn’t always make sense.”
Lastly we come to Tuffcub who’s been delving into the bargain bin in search of gaming goodness:
picked up Clive Barker’s Jericho for £4 and it’s surprisingly good. You play as part of a seven man squad so it’s more like a multi player game than a solo effort and there is one crucial difference with the AI players – they’re good.
If you are attacked in any other game your AI players will fire off shots but rarely score a kill. The Jericho team are bad-ass mofos and will happily wipe out the majority of the bad guys without your assistance.
You could argue that this is robbing you of some the gameplay but I found it made the game a lot more realistic and believable.
As I’m progressing the game play is becoming a tad formulaic, run through corridors, enter large area, kill everyone, repeat, but the ability to swap between all seven characters at will helps. Each character has different skills and abilities so there is plenty to keep you amused.
The game does stutter slightly when there is a lot on screen and it is relentlessly brown but these are minor quibbles.
The story is excellent – Barkers twisted touch is evident – and the sound design is superb, If you loved getting scared shitless in the original Dead Space then Jericho is well worth a punt (and probably a lot more pant wettingly terrifying than Dead Space 3 is going to be).
Apart from that I have also been playing Just Cause 2 which is an awful lot of fun, Doctor Who which is a pleasingly simple distraction after a hard day’s work and Ecolibrium and Zen Pinball 2 on Vita.
If you’re at EGX over the weekend we all look forward to meeting you, well most of you anyway. :-) If you can’t get to Earls Court you can keep up with all our EGXploits via the site in-between your gaming sessions.
In the meantime, have you had much time for gaming this week?
Youles
Greg, I have to confess that I too have only played Borderlands for a few hours and just didn’t like it – although with all the hype of its sequel, I’m tempted to give it another shot.
I platinumed Dead Space! Anyone who hasn’t played it needs too. I was even a bit jealous when I saw that Maneroix (I think it was) was played Dead Space 2, I need more Dead Space!! Fortunately I did play a little more, in the form of Extraction – with the help of McProley we completed the first 2 levels of my Impossible playthrough as well as completed the first 2 challenges. Also on PS3 I finally played the Lego Batman 2 demo and whilst it’s presentation and humour is fantastic, and the gameplay can’t be faulted, I just got a bit bored – I guess its just my attention not being held by a platformer, there’s certainly nothing wrong with it. The acro-bat-ic (see what I did there?) Robin was very cool!
On Vita I’ve played LBP. Christ that game is awesome, and what the Vita has been crying out for. It needs to be sold with every Vita, it offers everything from single/multiplayer, co-op/competitive, racing, shooting, creation mode, brilliant mini-games – everything!!! Whilst it still won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, I think it will still appeal to a lot of Vita owners who didn’t necessarily enjoy LBP on PS3 that much. Added with the fact most of my LBP & LBP2 DLC costumes are compatible, it’ll be the best £35 I’ve spent this year.
Tonight, I shall mostly be playing FIFA13 Season mode!!
Youles
Also, I shall be at EGX on Sunday with McProley!
McProley
Yes we will be! Thanks TSA!
element666
I got stuck on Dead Space ages ago and never played it since.. I’ll go back to it at some point then!
Have fun with McProley at EGX!
Youles
You should mate, it’s great! Despite what people say, I really rate DS2 aswell!
Thanks, Sunday should be good fun – I’ve not been to anything like it before!
Greg Aldridge
With Borderlands until you’ve at least got to level 5 and unlocked your class’ ability (turret, phasewalk, bezerk, Blood Wing!) the game doesn’t really open up. Get your level to double-digits and it starts to become something more special (e.g., Blood Wing deals more damage or provides you healing, depending on skill tree choices) and you start to feel that your character is someone out of the ordinary.
Co-op takes it to another level again and it becomes clear that that was always the way it was intended to be played, with the various classes ably backing each other up.
That guy over on the ridge popping the heads of midgets and psychos from extreme range, his pet raptor ravaging the area… that’ll be me. :-) “Go get ’em boy”, Mordecai.
Youles
Ha ha!
Ok, thanks for the advice – I’ll have to give it another whirl. ;)
McProley
I did enjoy Borderlands to a certain extent and completed it, but i only played it solo and found it one of the most isolating and lonely gaming experiences. And the story (where present) was just dull
Greg Aldridge
It’s definitely best played with friends in co-op if you can.
KeRaSh
Played Borderlands 2 almost exclusively. The only time I touched a controller that wasn’t controlling Axton through hordes of Bandits on Pandora was when me and a friend drove down the highest mountain we could find in Just Cause 2 in the most spectacular ways possible. We literally didn’t do anything else for hours and it was still funny every damn time.
element666
Tiny bit of LBP vita and Borderlands 2, just can’t put it down,the humour in it has been ramped up too.Playing it co-op is amazing!
allan_treebeard
Not had much time for gaming this week. Lots of borderlands 2 last weekend, although it is really and the humour is fantastic i just didnt find myself getting into it quite as much as the first one. Up to level 11 going to plug on through when i get some more time this week.
Other gaming involved yet more attempts to crack the impossible game, a bit of pixel junk shooter 2 and pac man championship edition dx…loaded it up and found that all my S ranks have gone down to A’s…*cracks knuckles and readies the controller*
McProley
Ive Been really sessioning LBP on Vita. Love it. I never really “got” the previous iterations on PS3 but can totally apreciate them now. The create mode is amazing, so much things to make!
Not much PS3 for me at all, apart frome the Dead Space Extraction with Youles as mentioned above
McProley
I also tried out the demo for Silent Hill Book of Memories which I thought was fantastic and is now an insta-purchase
Youles
I still have tried the SH demo mate, will play it over the weekend!
McProley
Its brilliant, I really rate it
R1MJAW
I played through the first zone earlier, seems like it could be pretty good actually. Will get round to trying the rest of the demo later on.
bmg_123
I liked the SH demo but I thought the combat could’ve been a little more, I’m not sure…involved? It’s just pressing a button to attack, block and running around to find keys. Just a little boring in that aspect, in my opinion.
TSBonyman
I’m loving LBP Vita atm, it’s restored my faith in the Vita’s potential and i don’t think my Vita has been recharged so often as it has been in the last week. The story levels get much better as it progresses and the arcade and mini games are really well done. When you complete a level you can send a challenge via near – although it would be great if you could also send challenges via psn messages as i’m not often in a location where near works. The online community levels, thin on the ground at first, are increasing daily and there are already some very accomplished levels out there. Being able to download levels to the Vita means that when i’m in the sticks and without internet at the weekend, i’ll still have plenty to keep me going!
While i’ve been playing that i’ve also kept the LiveTweet app open, so i can see when there’s a new TSA article without having to load the website first.
I also played the first generation of Tokyo Jungle and i’m looking forward to playing more but it’ll have to wait until i return from my travels.
Apart from that, a few chapters of StarHawk sp and the Hell Yeah demo from US store – the latter is brilliant fun!
LTG Davey
Not a lot again this week. Made a start on a Rainbow Six Vegas playthrough (awesome), chipped away at some more medals on Bejeweled3 and played a few rounds of Scavenge on L4D2.
My Wife and I also started our ~6th playthrough of RE5 to get ready for RE6 next week. Had forgotten how much I love that game and, to be honest, it plays so much better than what I’ve seen of RE6 so far.
Eurogamer this Sunday, can’t wait :D Out of interest, does anyone know the best bus to take from KingsX to Earl’s Court? Directions are not my strong point ;)
Greg Aldridge
Bus? What’s wrong with the Piccadilly Line (which they’re both on)?
LTG Davey
We normally take the underground but we have someone coming with us this time who is incredibly claustrophobic so that kinda rules out that form of transport :(
Greg Aldridge
Ah, I don’t think there’s a single straight-through bus. Try TfL’s journey planner and set your travel preferences to just ‘bus’.
http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en
LTG Davey
Ta. Damn, 1hr 20mins? The conference will be done by the time we get there! lol
LTG Davey
Oh I also played an hour or so of “Deadly Premonition”…. It was shite.
Dom El
This week I’ve played some UFC Undisputed 3 which nearly made me throw my controller across the room! Never before has a game’s tutorial handholding been so abrasive and grating, with Mike Goldberg’s smug delivery robbing every opening moment of the game of any reward. If he appears again next time I play I’m taking it to be traded in!
Other than that I’ve played some more Rock Band Blitz, which I got obsessed with one night until I was 7th in the world on a Deftones track, and Double Dragon Neon which is brilliant!
On Vita it’s been mostly all about Monster Hunter Freedom Unite – with a bit of Unit 13 thrown in too!
I also caved and preordered a deluxe Wii U with ZombiU, Nintendo Land and the pro controller – mainly so I’d be able to play Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and Dragon Quest X – and possibly because I’m a horrible console junkie.
R1MJAW
This week has been quite a mix, F1 2012, London 2012 and a quick blast of Tokyo Jungle on PS3 and LBP on Vista … as well as the usual Dirt Showdown and THPS meets.
The Lone Steven
Still Dark Souls. Deleted the new game plus save as it lacked any sort of challenge thus making it a bit boring to play. Taurus, i killed in 3 hits. Ayslum Demon, i think in 2 hits.
So i started a new game. Chose Deprived class, got to the burg, decided it would make the game a bit too challenging, started again as a knight. Trying to build a battlemage with it. Turns out that a reinforced battleaxe is an excellent weapon for the undead areas near the begining. :O It’s replaced the drake sword for me. I do use that sword but only for it’s AOE attack. Useful for crowd control. That and i can’t weild it as i’ve not dumped all of my points into strength this time around as last time, i had no idea of what build i was going for. So you could say that the first proper playthrough was a test run. Also, using the Halbred for the enemies that are not close enough or too risky to get in close with the battleaxe+5. Also, i got very lucky and managed to get summoned 8 times yesterday. Twas at the Capra demon. When i decided to face him on my own(wasn’t going to risk waiting for a summon sign to show up, then get invaded by a powerful PVP build). Twas a close fight due to silly mistakes. Did use the cheap plunging attack method a few times though. If a TSAer is stuck in the depths or in the burg area, let me know and i will help you. Just summon me. PSN is Stevenevil2. Oh and if you do summon me for ganking purposes(summoning 2 players and waiting for an invader to invade, i will just black crystal myself home). Speaking of that, i may have caused someone to kill themself due to them thinking i was a ganker and they tried to black crystal me but instead, hit the darksign(the suicide button, you lose everything). : I was only trying to point at Solaire’s sign using the point down gesture. :S Will stick to using messages in future to avoid a repeat of this embrassing incident.
Now i’m in the depths again. Got invaded by a parry spammer who taunted me then backstabbed me. Was lucky he didn’t help himself to any of my hard earned 10 humanites otherwise i would have been very annoyed.
Did try to play Notthatmuchlagnowadaysrim aka Skyrim but Dark Souls keep demanding i played it. That and i had trouble getting into it. :O Damm you Dark Souls!
I think i will use the Golem Armour as my end game armour as Havel’s armour is known as newbie or “noob” armour amongst the Dark Souls community. I think. Explains why i rarely got summoned on my first playthrough. Oh and don’t use Giant’s armour or any of the family masks as people will refuse to summon you due to it being known as the Ganking setup. May cap my strength off at 30-37 as the zwien is a useful greatsword, will probably cap Dex off at 30, Vit 40(i’ve heard it is not worth doing it past 40 due to the piss poor increases to health) same with End. Then focus on dumping my points in the magic stats. Won’t bother with resistance as i can buy a ring that boosts my poison resistance by 400% from Owsald(the bloke in the undead church tower after you ring the first bell).
Am surprised how good i’ve gotten at Dark Souls as i don’t die very often. Oh and Ayslum Demon is a pushover for me now. :O And if you do a jumping attack before doing a plunging attack, you will do more damage.
I wonder if i will take Hazelam’s title for having massive blocks of text this week? This is not a challenge Haz. ;)
The Lone Steven
Oh and trying to avoid very heavy armour as i’m not trying to go for a tanking character. Using Knight armour +4 atm. May replace the gaunlets and leggings with lighter armour reinforced so i have the same amount of protection or wait until i can handle Gankroot garden(apparently, it’s a ganking hotspot and i’m fond of my 10 humanites as i had at best 3 on my previous playthrough).
Origami Killer
I dont see the problem with using Havels armour, I use the helm and leggings as its the strongest, I have made my stats better so I can equip it well. Now I can take the brunt of most physical attacks. I was summoned loads and if I see people wearing this armor is I need a phantom I will immediately go to summon them as I know they will fight like me.
I guess you are not going for plat as otherwise you would of continued with NG+ and kept all your armor, spells, weapons and rings.
Undead Burg and the depths were easy anyway during the end of the playthrough and they were slightly tougher on NG+ (at the start), which would of meant that in NG+ the last few bosses will be hard.
The Lone Steven
Well, i think most players regard other players who use Havel’s as noobs. :S Don’t care about trophies. Not 100% sure.
May just dump the Drake sword just near a bonfire in the hope that it becomes a powerful vagrant. >:)
Origami Killer
Well they are stupid. Coming from being an expert in Demons Souls and using the most powerful armor in that and now in Dark Souls, if someone called me a noob they wouldnt want to hear my reaction.
The Lone Steven
Good point but i found that using Havel’s was probably what killed the NG+ save for me due to it being the second best armour in the game. Smough’s is said to be the best due to the 109 protection. Plus, i think i may mix and match armour sets untill i find something that is the right mix. :(
Origami Killer
I use Smough’s as the main torso for my armor. So anything physical will not harm me in the slightest.