Challenging me this week for predictable gaming monotony is everyone’s favourite man-bear Tuffcub. I’ve only played Mass Effect 3, while our own TC has stuck to Killzone 3 which he reckons he’s “quite good at”, despite being “hopelessly awful at every other FPS”.
The “super cute but quite tricky retro platformer” Life Of Pixel has been helping keep Alex entertained, mostly due to its “lovely Spectrum levels” I suspect. He’s been finding out what its like to be reborn in Tomb Raider, played most of the “really good” The Silent Age and finished off God of War: Ascension.
Dan chips in with a recommendation to help you avoid disappointment:
I played a lot of Bit.Trip Presents: Runner 2. As someone who enjoyed the original I went into this game with high hopes and it has not disappointed. If you’re someone who is fed up with FPS games or the same old titles being released every year I recommend giving this a try.
Having far too much fun with bows and loving the way the game creates “a very cinematic experience” but still concentrating enough to hit record on the button is Peter, who made you all a video about Tomb Raider.
He’s also been playing through Scribblenauts on the Wii U having started with the intention of writing the review. However with no UK release date forthcoming, it may remain under wraps. So for now you’ll have to make do with the all to brief “it’s clever and cute”.
Aran is closing in on the end of Far Cry 3 which will come as a great relief to the inhabitants of the various islands who have been subject to many cruel and unusual punishments. He’s also a few hours into Assassin’s Creed 3, and is still yet to play as the supposedly less interesting Conner and is wondering how that might affect his enjoyment.
What’s affecting his enjoyment of Halo 4 is that he’s yet to engage with the story. He says that “the way the game looks, the set pieces and opening cinematic” are great but so far he prefers Halo: Reach. Halo 4’s multiplayer Spartan Ops are “well done” though and he’s definitely liking those.
Last week’s surprising revelation that WWE ’12 has a story, its Road to WrestleMania mode, and that it’s not all that bad had some of us wondering if we’d overworked Kris again. But after wrapping it up this week he’s still “pretty pleased by the ending”:
Don’t get me wrong, the gameplay remained awful throughout, but what they were doing with the story in RtWM was a lot of fun and the whole thing fit together really well. I particularly enjoyed the way you triggered cutscenes at certain points in matches to give them more meaningful or controversial finishes, just like you’d see on TV.
Completing our roster this week is Blair who’s managed to become “utterly addicted” to The Simpsons: Tapped Out on his iPhone. He’s been having so much fun with it that its freemium proposition has actually managed to part him from 69p!
The “brilliant and action-packed” Metal Gear Rising seems to get the nod ahead of Metal Gear Solid 3 due to the latter’s “great cutscenes” failing to make up for the “less exciting gameplay”. Blair and his friends are also giving his Wii U a daily Nintendo Land and Mario workout contrary to all expectations which had it firmly labelled as just another dust magnet.
It’s Far Cry 3 that has sunk its crazed hooks deepest into his brain’s gaming centre though. Blair admits to inadvertently staying up well into the wee small hours “just hunting animals, unlocking towers and driving around while listening to Kavinsky”.
Apparently it’s one of those games “you can never get enough of” so join us here again next week to find out just why he has had enough of it.
While we wait expectantly for that how about telling us what you’ve been playing this week?
LTG Davey
Not a whole lot again this week unfortunately as moving house and unpacking boxes is still eating up most of my time after work :-(
Managed to find a bit of time however to play a bit of Tomb Raider and Uncharted 3, which has actually been quite cool given how similar the two games are. Both games are awesome but, from what I’ve seen so far, Tomb Raider has the better gameplay in terms of traversal, upgrades, exploration, etc, while Uncharted3 has better shooting controls, visuals, storytelling and multiplayer. Both are great and worth playing however.
Also ordered a load of cheap PS3 games this week (Killzone 2, 3, MGS4, Uncharted2) so I should have plenty to keep my busy until LoU launches in June :-)
JohnnyBoy
Getting to the end of the story missions in Sleeping Dogs (3 to go) – really enjoyed it, and will be a little sad when it ends. But I have Crysis 3 waiting to soften the blow.
R1MJAW
I was predominantly concentrating on Skyrim, but I’m back to 100% trophies after completing the Dawnguard dlc so the last few days I’ve been playing Tomb Raider. Really enjoying the single player and the multi player meet on Wednesday was a good laugh.
element666
I’ve been playing tomb raider which I’m loving,I’m hoping to join in a meet soon when I get a space,as it seems very popular! Also been playing Ni No Kuni which I’m throughly enjoying and it the best game I’ve played in a long time! And also have become addicted to simpsons tapped out,really cool little game :-)
Youles
Mate, I’m not sure how many people can fit in the Tomb Raider lobbies…if we can do 5 vs 5 then stick yourself down as a Reserve and I’ll include you in the Meet
element666
Awesome mate,I shall do that then :-)
BULLofDOOM
Tomb Raider Multiplayer, not even started single player. Great fun with Youles, Frost, McProley et al.
Sniper Elite V2, Dead Island and LA Noire running alongside and each to get Plat. 360 hasn’t been touched in ages and will probably be kicked out the house come April.
gaffers101
I finished Hitman Absolution Monday night, just in time for Tomb Raider to arrive. Just need to wrap up a few for the Hitman trophies this weekend.
ron_mcphatty
I’m slowly approaching the half way point of my Metal Gear-a-thon, having been dedicating a good few hours to MGS2 HD. It’s good looking, has more of the engaging plot and is quite funny, but I’d forgotten how awkward the controls are. I’m playing it on the PS3, anyone finding the controls any better on the Vita? I’m also getting a bit fidgety in anticipation of the monster that is Guns of the Patriots, hopefully I won’t be totally bored of the series by the time I’m ready to play it again!
TSBonyman
Completed retrieving all the content i lost when my hdd failed. Sadly PS+ didn’t back up any saved games i had before getting plus so i’ve started playing some of those again from the start, beginning with Shatter, which i’m enjoying all over again, it’s a superb ‘breakout’ game with some novel ideas and cool tunes and visuals.
Then Call of Booty (Tomb Raider) took over but i only have a few hours spare each evening to play so i’m looking forward to the weekend when i’ll be able to tuck in to it properly. Incidently, does anyone else miss the crouch button.. :)
And, even though i’ve played it myself a few times, i found time to watch someone else’s entire Journey playthrough on Youtube. I have to say, it was quite enjoyable to just watch someone else play while i could pay more attention to the music and how well it conveyed the tone for each level. (as opposed to whilst playing it, at times the music would be almost subliminal when i’m more focused on performing a task etc). There was also something quite lovely about the way two players would always wait for each other, or check back to see if the other was following, or going to their aid if they seemed a bit lost…. and mimmicking each other’s tone patterns back at each other to convey an understanding, agreement, or a moment of joy. Such a sweet game, i can understand why it won those online multiplayer awards.