We have a special treat for you this week. Peter is too ill to record the podcast. No, that’s not the treat I was referring too, you might think that but I couldn’t possibly comment. The treat is that you get to engage your imagination.
Imagine the excitement as you watch the TSA podcast’s download progress finally reach 100%. Firing up your media player of choice, your finely honed gaming reflexes guiding the mouse cursor unerringly to the play button and clicking it in one fluid motion. Peter’s warm dulcet tones flow from your speakers as he describes his week’s gaming to you…
I played Madden 25, after a very late night watching a particularly one-sided Super Bowl on Sunday. The recent Madden games do a very good job of making themselves accessible to people who don’t know the first thing about NFL. You can just accept the suggested formations and plays and get on with running the routes it puts up on screen for you. It’s all so intuitive and easy to follow but if you want a bit more control, you can delve into the playbook yourself. Every time I did that, though, I had the commentators talking about what a dreadful call it was. So I stopped.
I also played some Surge Deluxe on Vita. That’s absolutely gorgeous and just as compelling as ever. Futurlab has continued to create some really tight, focused gameplay as they upgrade another of their titles that started as a smaller kind of game. It also has a really beautiful art style – all brightly glowing neon lines.
As well as that, I played Outlast on PS4. I started streaming it but quickly realised that watching a stream of someone else playing would ruin that kind of game if you intended playing it yourself. So far, it feels like proper survival horror is back with a vengeance. There’s no way to attack anything, so you feel completely vulnerable and tying the ability to see in the darker areas to the ever-depleting, finite life of your camcorder’s night light is a great idea because it means you have to constantly be aware of how low the battery is getting. You’re also focusing the view point down the lens of a camera, which makes you feel even more like your peripheral vision is obscured. I didn’t encounter anything too psychologically troubling but there were several really well executed jump scares in the first section that gives me hope for the rest of the game.
Tuffcub was initially somewhat vexed by Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition on the PS4 as it “started off looking quite shite” but things improved and apparently it “looks great now”, as he has got a bit further in. Don’t Starve is apparently still failing to capture mind share having been clumsily retitled to “Don’t Get Bored In The First Three Minutes Oh You Have Turn Off And Play Something Else Instead”.
His PS Vita has seen plenty of action too, having been outfitted with a 64GB memory card which promptly consumed the bits comprising a comprehensive selection of PS Vita, Mobile and PSP titles ranging from Velocity Ultra to Coconut Dodge via Killzone Mercenary. And then there was…
Also about 20 minutes of Outlast on PS4, late at night. Far to scary so I played a bit more today, in my brightly lit office via remote play on the Vita. D’ya know what? It’s even more terrifying that way, the occasional graphical glitches in the streaming give it the feel of a “found footage” horror movie.
So kind of like the graphics you’d get if you could play it on an Xbox One, then? /joke
Saturday Morning RPG, the love letter to 80’s cartoons and old-style RPGs, is “pretty fun and quite engrossing” according to Aran who has been busy gaming on a new laptop. He’s also in the process of reviewing War of the Human Tanks which he describes as “kind of like Battleship, but evolved”. Let’s hope it’s better than the movie ‘evolution’ of Battleship.
Dom’s “hugely enjoyed” completing Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. As in he enjoyed playing it, not getting it out the way. He’s dabbled with the multiplayer and liked that too so can see himself returning to it quite a bit as time allows.
There’s been a few bits and pieces exercised on his PS Vita too, with Final Fantasies VIII and Duodecim, New Little Kings Story, Persona and “some horribly laggy remote play” of Lego Marvel Superheroes. He notes that it’s the first time Remote Play has been any trouble so this was particularly annoying. Keep an eye out next week for his review of Inazuma Eleven: Team Ogre Attacks.
Kris has finally gotten around to picking up a PS Vita of his own so has “basically been using it to play loads of OlliOlli. Probably an unhealthy amount of OlliOlli? And by that I mean I nearly forgot to get off a train because I was playing OlliOlli.” He’s played a little of the “pretty good” Surge Deluxe too.
Stefan has also been playing “a bucketload of OlliOlli” mixed in with “some of the silly and fun Infected mode on Call of Duty: Ghosts with McProley and Youles”. The latter was the cause of much mirth so expect an all-TSA meet up to play that.
And finishing things off this week is Jim:
I’ve been playing Toukiden, an upcoming Vita title due to launch next week.
The best thing I can compare it to is a Monster Hunter, Dynasty Warriors, and Soul Sacrifice cocktail. You play as a custom-made Slayer, venturing through a fictional universe tearing down huge demon-like creatures known as the Oni. Using the parts you harvest in battle you can create armour and weapons, both of which are used as a progress marker.
After almost ten hours play, I’m really liking Toukiden though there’s no getting away from the ever-present comparison to Capcom’s Monster Hunter. It almost exactly the same in premise and most of the same mechanics. With no Monster Hunter title available on Vita I can’t complain, though Toukiden has also inherited the game’s flaws as well alongside its highlights.
Before this turns into my Toukiden review, I suppose I had better tell you what else I’ve been playing. Well, now that I think of it, there’s isn’t much. The only noteworthy game has been [Assassin’s Creed IV:] Black Flag. As I’m sure many will be happy to know, Ubisoft has finally fixed the online problem some players have suffered with since launch. That platinum trophy is finally in sight!
All that’s left is for you to let us know in the comments about you own week’s gaming…
mrfodder
Completed AC4 campaign at weekend and destroyed one legendary ship and was then repeatedly destroyed by another. With all naval and assassin contracts done and plans found, I’ve gone back to BF4 multiplayer. Great fun and pretty stable now. Vita time was filled with Rainbow Moon grinding and testing a 4G modem I got a loan of to see how well Remote Play works on the train. Surprisingly well in the morning and for some reason complete rubbish in the evening.
R1MJAW
Completed OlliOlli 100% last weekend (only the 5th person to do so according to psnprofiles). Rad mode was actually a bit easier than I expected with the exception of a few levels which were an absolute pain in the hole (Junkyard Pro 5, Base Pro 1 and Base Pro 5 in case you were wondering).
Played a few more games of Fifa Ultimate Team (as it actually seems to work for me this year … both 12 and 13 on PS3 constantly disconnected me after every game thereby losing all coins won and contract points for every player).
I decided to delve into my backlog again and have been playing through Doom 3 over the past few days. I also bought Dust force and have played through the first few levels, seems like it could be good but difficult.
Just picked up GT6 earlier today so I’m currently having a quick shot of that.
ArrebatoTarugo
I have been playing Uncharted: Golden Abyss on the Vita. I just got it this last Christmas so I have to play all the classics. I am enjoying lots, like the good times with U3.
Yesterday I got a few hours for myself in the flat so I killed the lights, turned the dynamic volume off in the amp and I played Outlast for a couple of hours. Fuck me, I got scared as I haven’t in years. I had to stop and turn all the lights on…. I love it!
Taylor Made
Outlast that game is freaking awesome, so awesome I turned it off as soon as they told me to use my camcorder in a dark room!!
Tearaway think this game is glitches it’s not giving me 100% completion on every level even though I collected everything. Killzone the patch was nice touch bringing mics into games shouting at spawning fools lol same time I troll & just block the door ha! Standing there.
ron_mcphatty
Ah, the Tearaway glitch is worrying, I finished the game the other day and adored it but I’m not sure ill bother going for the platinum if I’m going to come across glitches.
I’m now battling my way through Urban Trials. Loving it, very addictive, although it might have to make way for SSX now that Sochi has arrived! Does anyone else feel uncomfortable rather than amused about the mistakes at the opening? I have a feeling someone’s gonna end up in a gulag over the broken ring.
Lyts1985
Polished off the platinums for Jak and Daxter and inFamous 2 early in the week, after leaving them close to completion for quite some time, and have been forcing myself through the Knack campaign for the rest of the week…
I say “forcing”, as I really wouldn’t bother if it weren’t for the fact that seeing the game on my trophy list with very few earned was so annoying. I’ll finish my ‘hard’ play through but doubt very much I’ll bother with a second run. Nowhere near as much fun as I’d hoped :-(
Probably give Outlast a go then, God help!
Avenger
Mainly just The Last of Us on the PS3. Though I’ve started Spec Ops: The Line and I’ve also started the wonderful Terraria on Vita to which I have racked up several hours already. I can’t say there’s been much else this week. Hopefully Terraria will keep me going for a while.
Eldaveo
Played through Tomb Raider Definitive Edition this week on Xbox One. Certainly a very pretty and enjoyable action game. Nowhere near enough puzzles for my tastes but overall I enjoyed it.
Was hoping to receive my PS4 tonight so I could fire up Outlast/Killzone, but it sounds like it is arriving tomorrow now. At least that’s my Sunday sorted ;)
hornet1990
Started tackling the backlog and completed my first playthrough of Spec Ops: The Line, which was pretty decent even if graphically it looks a bit meh.
Took me half the game to even start being remotely comfortable with the controls tho’… For some reason I just found them counter intuitive. Although I partially blame the DS4 for keep making my fingers drift to the triggers, which resulted in more than few accidental grenade throws!
Screwed up though and did it on normal, which means another 2 playthroughs for the platinum :/
matthangzhou
Outlast for an hour – really enjoyed it.
Then spelunky. Quite frustrating but only because I’m rushing it.
No gaming time this weekend :-(
TSBonyman
I thought Spelunky would have been perfect if it wasn’t for the ghost/timer making me rush through the levels when i really wanted to take my time with it.
salvodaze
Finished the Unfinished Swan. I liked the homage paid to that one game at that one point (staying spoiler-free is tough). Getting an hdmi switch really made my life easier (What was Sony thinking putting 2 hdmi outputs on brand new TV?) So I should be going back to my ps3 backlog more from now on.
Plundered a few dozen ships on AC IV and played some more Don’t Starve. Also did some solo Lego Marvel (do the missions with my gf) and explored NYC, which I found much more bland and clumsy than I expected. At least the humor is good. The missions are fun too though, it’s that the open world that disappointed me so far.
Got Terraria for the Vita just now, I think I might get hooked on that.