What We Played #92: Aliens: Colonial Marines, Antichamber, Crackdown

I’ve not been playing much lately and I’m kind of surprised that I don’t miss it. I feel weary, for want of a better word, of gaming and just can’t pin down why it is. Maybe it’ll pass. Maybe. It has before…

For all that I’ve actually played two games this week for the first time in a while. There was the usual bout of Mass Effect 3 online. Then for something completely different that isn’t about a small squad of sci-fi soldiers facing an unrelenting enemy bent on the consumption of the human race to further their own survival and evolution I’ve been playing Aliens: Colonial Marines.

I’m only about half way through the campaign so far and while the technical points raised in reviews, muddy graphics, dodgy clipping and frame rate are all there, they really don’t matter. Playing the campaign in co-op with a fellow Aliens fan is an absolute blast.

Whether it’s the simple joy of blowing xenomorphs into clouds of green mist with a pulse rifle, finding the empty sentry guns at the end of that corridor, discovering Vasquez’s dog tags or the, perhaps misplaced, joy when your fellow marine goes down in the grip of a facehugger or gets pinned to the floor by an alien that’s just dropped out of a ceiling vent. It’s just damn good fun!

No, it’s not like being in the film, but let’s face it trying to play a proper Aliens game would be no fun at all. It would be maybe ten minutes of blind panic running down barely lit corridors firing at shadows before either being shredded or stuck to a wall for a couple of days before giving birth. Remember how many of the film’s marines made it home?

Aliens just wouldn’t work as a game no matter how much we all think it would. The aliens themselves aren’t the cannon fodder, the marines are breeding stock and never stood a chance. As long as a game casts you as a marine you shouldn’t be able to win. But it’s time I stopped flogging that dead horse, it’s got a date with a frozen ready meal.

Peter’s played the anti-euclidean Antichamber and after that for him to describe playing Proteus as “very weird” you do have to wonder if he’s yet reached the ultraviolet end of that particular spectrum. He says that he’s yet to discover a purpose to Proteus and it’s “just an oddly coloured, pixelated island to explore”. Perhaps he’ll find more given time?

Crackdown is still keeping Aran entertained. When it’s not irritating him anyway:

I was enjoying it until I had to face the Shai Gen leader. Made it to the top of his tower and was met with him on a unreachable ledge and respawning enemies, which is one of my gaming pet peeves.

Every time I got close to the boss waves of enemies would just appear undoing my hard work as the boss’ health regenerated. What’s worse is when you die instead of saving progress up to where you are the game will basically reset the tower, making you fight your way up it again. So I gave up and went orb gathering which is significantly more fun.

Dan is continuing to play through DmC and making slow progress as he “can only seem to play the game for half an hour at a time before getting a blinding headache”. When he needs a break from that he’s turned to a bit of PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale on his PS Vita. “Despite initially being down on the game, I have found myself really enjoying it.”

[videoyoutube]Still attempting the odd, mostly unsuccessful, dalliance with DOTA 2 this time Jim tried having another go after watching some guides and commentaries. While he still remains unconvinced by the game he says that he can at least “finally appreciate why so many are invested in such a complex gaming experience”.

Despite, or perhaps because of, being a “huge fan” of the original, Dead Space 2 failed to impress. “I found myself liking Isaac Clarke more when he was a mute, his new-found voice in Dead Space 2 only highlighting how shallow the game’s script really is.”

He says that the sequel “offers little in the way of memorable story beats or set pieces” and has left him unsure of what the third, more action oriented, game may have to offer.

He’s also finally broken the seal on his copy of Hunted: The Demon’s Forge having picked it up shortly after launch. “It’s an OK game”, he offers, “ and the genre-combining premise is a good one, but it lacks both the character and diversity of its contemporaries”.

And what of Alex?

This week I played through Aliens: Colonial Marines over a couple of nights for the review. After all the fuss and moaning (and ridiculous scores) I’m tempted to go through it again on Ultimate Bad Ass mode – no HUD and much tougher enemies.

Yeah, the AI will still suck and some of the levels are terrible, but there’s at least 20% of the game that’s as close to Aliens as we’ve had for ages, and I can just dip in and out of the good stuff now everything’s unlocked.

Apart from that? Very little. Metal Gear is still sat here wrapped and I’ve tried a few new iPhone games, but little of note. I guess I’m just looking forward to next Wednesday when hopefully this wavering passion for current gen can make way for the new shiny stuff we’ll be getting later in the year. Unless Sony’s thing is just a pink Vita, in which case I’ll probably give up for good.

And staying north of the border, if you happen to be up in Scotland and spot a house with all its lights blazing despite the unsociable hour, you may have just found Blair’s residence as he’s a little cautious of the dark following his time with with Slender: The Arrival. He also gives a big thumbs up to the “brilliant” Wreck-It Ralph. I assume the lights in the cinema weren’t down too low.

What’s your post-gaming emotional state been this week?  Scared?  Disappointed?