Okay, I admit it. Another week has gone by where I have pretty much only played Mass Effect 3 and Borderlands 2. So without further ado we’ll quickly move on to what the boss-man has been playing.
Unfortunately Peter freely admits that he hasn’t “had much time to play anything so far this week” either. He did find time for an hour or so of The Unfinished Swan and doesn’t think the game’s marketing did it justice. “I have to say that I think they really made a mistake by not showing what that game becomes after the fairly aimless pure white section. When shadow is introduced, it’s much more interesting and visually arresting.”
More and more we seem to be looking outside the mainstream for our gaming and Steam’s community-supported Greenlight system, intended to help fast-track the release of Indie titles was the source (pun intended) for the other game Peter’s found a reasonable amount of time for this week.
One of the first Greenlight games, Towns, “has an interesting premise” he tells me. “You basically run the town that’s above the dungeon from a traditional dungeon-running RPG. So your job is to build and maintain a thriving town that a hero can visit in his quest below ground.” While the game is “extremely basic, to the point of seeming quite unfinished, I love the idea” and he looks forward to spending more time with the game.
Gamoc took a look at a very early version of Towns for our Cheap PC Gaming series late last year and you can read his thoughts about the game here.
Tuffcub has finished off Asura’s Wrath and “even though there is not much game I enjoyed every single second”. So if you’re looking for something a little different to satiate your gaming appetite this could be one that’s worth a look. Last week he suggested there wasn’t much gaming to be had but he now adds “to be fair the amount of playtime does ramp up towards the end”. An end “which is the most ridiculously over the top thing I have ever seen”. [Spoiler warning for the next paragraph.]
The game is structured particularly well, Asura goes nuts (or more precisely even more nuts than usual) at the end of act II and for the first part of act III you are playing another character for a few episodes. Talking of characters, every single one of them is wonderfully portrayed, most notably the camp-as-tits Sergei. The final battle is just bonkers, a tentacled snake thing half the size of planet Earth (and indeed, buried in planet Earth) is your first boss battle. What could they do to beat that? What would be the most ridiculous and yet awesome thing to have as boss? Oh yes, the molten core of our own frickin planet. Obvious.
He thoroughly recommends it if you are fan of bonkers Japanese cartoons, especially as you can find the game for about £12 at online retailers. Aside from Asura’s Wrath he’s tried the yawn-worthy Crysis 2 and “played a bit more MUD” on his PS Vita.
[drop2]Finishing off Dishonored this week Aran found it increasingly difficult to keep his per-level kill count down. “Guard corpses everywhere is all I’m saying thanks to my Blink and Dark Vision abilities.” Nonetheless he says it’s a “great game” looks forward to revisiting it in the future for a more “careful” playthrough.
FIFA 13 Ultimate Team has been getting more screen time and he’s now made it to “Division 2 on the Online Season mode”. He’s also picked up a cheap copy of Shadows Of The Damned. His two word review; it’s awesome. By way of a lengthier description he offers that it’s “a comedic, third person B-movie type shooter”. Aran says the game offers a good challenge and is so bizarre that you should “buy it, because I want more of this”.
Last up this week is Dan who has played, and completed, Halo 4. He came away impressed too. “It’s one of the best looking console games I’ve ever seen. Gameplay wise I’m disappointed 343 didn’t mix things up and deviate from the Halo formula, but it’s still a good game.”
His Xbox 360 got no break after that as no sooner had he laid down his plasma rifle he jumped back behind the wheel in Forza Horizon. A game which has made its way into his top 5 list for 2012.
Have you found time for anything other than Call of Duty: Black Ops II this week?
LTG Davey
Halo4 and BlackOps2 for me this week. Both excellent games and some of the best multiplayer I’ve experienced all year. Halo4 in particular stands as one of the best shooters I’ve played this generation.
Been itching to continue playing through Borderlands2 with the Mrs but our little one seems to love making her presence felt in the evenings at the moment so we haven’t had chance yet, lol.
Youles
Played some Black Ops 2, which seems good – waiting to try it again whilst choosing “Best” connection settings since the lag compensation is annoying. Otherwise it’s not had many problems for a CoD release….although playing Zombies caused me to lose all sound, apart from this annoying buzzing sound until I restarted the game. Got a multiplayer meet on Monday if anyone’s intereted!
Played some AC3 online which is great, really enjoying it although I haven’t started the SP yet.
Then I’ve been competing in the TSA FUT league, got my 4th game this evening which I’m looking forward to! I also got the last FUT related trophy last night (for getting a club value of 85,000,000) so I’ll probably stop playing FUT for a while and work on my Online Pro.
Another week without any Vita, although I should be playing some LBPV this evening!
LTG Davey
What do you think of TranZit so far? It took a few matches to get used to it but I’m kinda hooked now, lol :D
Youles
I’ve not played it for long but it’s come at the right time, cos I played W@W and Blops zombies to death, so I like that this seems more objective based than survival-only based…..it seems great so far!
Taylor Made
Been playing liberation on vita nothing much really.
I’m really trying get into AC3 but the game really needs a patch especially with when Connor speaks in his native language the text is really small £ wrong color
JohnnyBoy
I was playing Borderland 2 mostly until my phat PS3 YLOD’d on me.
Being a yorkshireman I’ve not paid for PS+ so didn’t have a recent backup (about 2 years ago being the last one I did when I replaced my HDD). Although 15 minutes of hot hairdryer action brought the old girl back to life just long enough to backup.
So Amazon now have another £230 of my money and I have a shiny new slim model (with clunky lid) to finally beat Handsome Jack with.
element666
Just crysis 2 and AC3 meets and a bit of AC liberation which I’m getting close to platinum! Looking forward to AC3 meet tonight!
R1MJAW
This week has been mainly NFS MW, LBP Karting and Sports Champions 2 … and of course the usual weekly meets (Dirt Showdown, Ridge Racer Unbounded and THPS)
It has been a good week for platinum trophy earning though, I got my plat in NFS MW last Sunday and I’ve literally just platinumed Sports Champions 2 (well, about 15 minutes ago). I’m also relatively close to platinum in LBP Karting, but it’ll probably take me a few more days (mainly create time required).
Forrest_01
‘grats on the SC plat – How are your arms now? ;)
R1MJAW
Bloody sore, although the gold cup in boxing is more about defense than all out punching.
Forrest_01
Lol – At least you got to take a rest whilst you were ‘keepin’ ’em up’ then! :)
Sitorimon
If you need some LPBK online racers to play with let me know – loving it so far but not had people to race with online so its been an AI only experience so far!
Origami Killer
Not much gaming from me this week, had a few assessments to complete so yeah. Have played little bits of MGS HD, Ridge Racer and Burn the rope. All pretty good games still :D
allan_treebeard
Completely got to agree with Tuffcub on Asura’s Wrath, absolutly mental but fantastic game.
My gaming has been more Borderlands 2 going through the true vault hunter mode, getting closer and closer to lvl 50!
Tried a bit of Crysis 2, wasnt that impressed…. Also tried some of the other PS+ game, Cubixx. Its pretty addictive and quite challenging in places with a surprsing amount of depth.
Also went back to Max Payne 3 to try and complete it on the various difficulty levels. Quite surprised that there seem to be a lot more bugs in there since last time i played it… Anyone else found this….?
Forrest_01
I have been interested in Azuras Wrath since it was announced, but i keep getting put off by the “there’s not much game to it” sort of comments. When i pop a game on, i do tend to like to actually play the thing. Have i been unjustly put off?
As for Max Payne, i haven’t touched the singleplayer in months. Last Mondays online meet was a tad more buggy than usual though & we had to call time on it a lot earlier than i would have liked. Whether that has anything to do with the issues you have experienced or not though, is past my level of expertise.
The Lone Steven
Still playing AC3. Have noticed that the subtitles tend to fail or become hard to read due to them being white and if the camera happens to be at an angle that catches white, parts of it will be hard to read. I’m on sequence 11. Some of the set peices were a bit disappointing as some could only be done in a linear manner such as that battle from the E3 trailer. :( Am loving the naval battles. Figured out how to make a lot of cash as i discovered i could select different shops after 20 hours in. Encountering a gamebreaking bug. The screen went white and have the sounds of birds repeating. Had to exit to the XMB after reloading failed. Also fell through the ground. Currently focusing on hunting, doing homestead missions, assassain contracts, locating new shops so that i can trade with them, naval battles(The last lot are tough and i’m currently trying to get every upgrade in order to avoid being sunk),finding peg leg trinkets etc..
Also the guards attack me for no reason sometimes despite me having not having done anything to raise the noritety. Tis annoying.
TheDemocrodile
Had Towns since february, its a wonderful concept and the new UI is brilliant, well worth the money they are asking especially as they keep pushing the boat out in terms of features.
Currently im not doing much gaming, i compile LPs into PDF format as a hobby and that takes up alot of my time, i DO have Dwarf Fortress running in the background though for the occasional splurge, im mostly waiting for Bioshock Infinite before i start gaming properly again.