What We Played #107: Prototype 2, FIFA 13 and Thomas Was Alone

In stark contrast to recent weeks it seems young TuffCub has plenty to say, beyond the fact that he’s “obvs” been playing Killzone 3. To be honest we’d be concerned if he hadn’t, that’d be like me not playing Mass Effect 3 for a couple of weeks…  Oh My God! Call the paramedics, I might have died!

Aside from KZ3, TC’s been playing the “enjoyable but buggy” Metro Last Light and PS Vita shoot ’em ups Velocity Ultra and Sine Mora. In the latter of those he is currently “stuck on a STUPID bit of level design” which he’s finding “horribly annoying”.

Over the bank holiday he made a concerted effort to get through a bunch of games he’s yet to finish.  The first three were Batman: Arkham Asylum, Far Cry 3 and Dishonored.  What he noticed about all of those is that the gameplay goes something like this:

Stealthy, kill, stealthy kill, make a small mistake, DEAD. Start again. Stealthy, kill, stealthy kill, make a small mistake, DEAD. Start again. Stealthy, kill, stealthy kill, make a small mistake, DEAD. Scream at game for being fucking annoying.

He implies that he didn’t manage to finish them due to those trifling annoyances but it’s not explicit. What is explicit, in more ways than one, is how his experience with the next game, Prototype 2 went…

KILL KILL DEATH EXPLOSIONS FISTS PUNCH TENDRILS DEATH TANKS EXPLOSIONS HELLICHOPPERS MUTANT FREAKS DEATH TENDRILS OOZE PUNCH EXPLODE KILL KILL KILL! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Recovering his ability to correctly use the English language, he continues his exposition with the brief but poignant “Such Fun!” And though normally such a reserved fellow his anti-stealth ’em up tirade continues.  “Fuck crawling about in the grass, punching mutants in the face with a tank is so much more entertaining.”

He goes on to say that having almost finished the game he’s found it “really good” with a “surprisingly touching story with the odd twist”.  In the final stages of the game the sheer volume of “bobbins”, by which he means people, objects, etc., on-screen is impressive and that Manhattan “looks lovely in a completely messed up way”.

Now we move swiftly on to what Peter’s been playing.  He swears that he can remember Remember Me but recommends we check back on Monday when he’ll have formed his recall into succinct nuggets of prose.

His iPhone’s been getting a firm tapping thanks to Prismadrop which is a “clever take on the ‘match colour’ puzzle genre”. Starting with a full board you tap groups of three prisms to make them disappear and gravity takes over to let the others fall. Le Grand Fromage’s verdict, “It’s quite simple but quite fun and satisfying too”.

I’ve also played a bit of FIFA 13 on Vita after getting a download code as part of a cheap Vita memory card deal from Amazon. Well, “cheap Vita memory card” is a bit of an oxymoron but it was cheaper than usual.

FIFA 13 is almost nothing like the current big console version and almost identical to last year’s Vita version (FIFA Football), which was much more similar to FIFA 11 than the contemporary console version at that time, too.

So basically, it’s like playing FIFA 11 on PlayStation 3, if you only had a tiny television and an uncomfortable controller. Which is okay by me: I quite liked FIFA 11 and this game was free.

Elsewhere, Aran’s happy he got through the difficult bits of the “mostly enjoyable” Rayman Origins so he’s trying to get a perfect run on Velocity Ultra. Zones 1 to 8 are in the bag but he’s having a few hassles with timing on 9.

[drop]If you haven’t already spotted his The HD Adventures Of Rotating Octopus Character review he sums it up as “a decent puzzle game with some fiddly control issues”.  Finally, there’s been plenty of knockouts in the few games of UFC Undisputed 3 he’s played against his brother, although they’ve mostly been of Aran’s fighter.

Kris notes simply that he’s finished the “great” Thomas Was Alone.  “It’s pretty sad in a couple of places, and as I’m sure everyone knows by now the characters are AMAZING. While I like the ambiguity, a sequel could be intriguing.”

For those of you hoping for the next entry in DanToo’s moving saga, as in a saga about moving, not an emotional saga, there’s disappointment in store as he’s made no mention of that and just told me about his gaming!

F1 2012 has been taken for a spin a few times and he’s now started a co-op season with a friend and is “currently on 8 points as opposed to his 0”. He excuses their low scores by explaining that they’re playing on the hardest difficulty.

There’s more co-op courtesy of some “really stupid” missions in Battlefield 3. “The other soldiers just sit back and wait for you to clear the way, even when they have a .50 cal on the back on their jeep.” [Flippant quip about American assistance to Brits in times of war redacted.]

Dan’s also completed another run through of Uncharted 3, a game I really must make the effort to play at some point.  He had forgotten “how good the game is” and goes on to comment that he loves the Uncharted series, particularly the character and dialogue, and can’t wait for his The Last Of Us Joel Special Edition to arrive.

He’s now working his way through Hunted: The Demon’s Forge “which for £1.98, was actually a good purchase”.  Not sure how much of a compliment to the game that is.  Dan prefers playing with Elara (I think/hope he’s keeping thoughts pre-watershed there) as he finds her bow makes “a nice change to getting up close and personal”.

Appropriately, Dan finishes with a “that’s about it”, so over to you to tell us what you’ve been playing.