Not for the first time, I find myself questioning my sanity right now. I have just left a fine German bar, selling fine German beer, that was being paid for by my boss, to retire to my hotel room to write this article. It’s the latest in a line stretching back almost three years, that article is published on a Friday and spawns the conversations I enjoy so much in the comments below, often vicariously and days after they took place.
The closest I’ve come to gaming this week was having my PS Vita swabbed for a “random check” for explosives. It wasn’t a random check. Every time I carry it through London City Airport it is subjected to a “random check”. The first time, a couple of days after the console’s launch I thought it was because they hadn’t seen one before.
Since then I suspect that it is purely because the dense rubber lining of its protective case (one of these) is remarkably similar in appearance under x-ray inspection to plastic explosive – the density is about right – meaning that to the casual observer airport security bod my 3G PS Vita with its sim card inserted looks remarkably like a bomb ready to be triggered by phoning it.
But others have had more gaming fun. Stefan spent some time this week “waiting for his big mech to descend” which is apparently not a euphemism for having a turtle head poking out. Instead what he really meant was that he was waiting for around 50GBs of Titanfall to download before he could review it. He’s also quite chuffed to have completed his Battlefield 4 platinum on PS3 in glorious 720p.
Titanfall has also left Blair somewhat impressed as you will have noticed if you were paying attention a couple of days ago. He said, “It’s brilliant. It’s one of the most fun online shooters I’ve played, and extremely well balanced, with both play styles – Pilot and Titan – feeling as powerful as each other, despite changing in size and power. It’s surprising how they’ve managed such a feat at launch.”
He’s also been playing Oceanhorn (again, apparently not a euphemism) on his iPad. It is something like a Zelda game but “not as good”, though confusingly he goes on excuse that, since “it’s very impressive for the system it’s on”. Surely an iPad has the processing chops and graphical grunt to beat a DS, 3DS or Wii U which have all had us tapping away at touch screens in the course of our adventures with Link?
DanToo, when not busy with Uni work, has found time for some Thief on his PS4 which he is “really enjoying” contrary to the somewhat average reviews that the game has been receiving.
The controls may be clunky, and the story isn’t that great, but there is just something really fun about stealing and stealthily fleeing the scene undetected.
Dan’s also just picked up Killzone Shadow Fall and has been immediately impressed by its graphics declaring it the best looking game yet to grace his PS4. Of course we can’t talk Killzone without dragging Tuffcub kicking and screaming into the conversation. He’s been playing the series’ recent outings on both PS4 and PS Vita as well as LEGO Marvel Superheroes and Assassin’s Creed IV.
I also tried a bit more of King Oddball on Vita which I was meant to be doing a review for a few weeks back but I never got past writing “It’s Cut The Rope mashed with Angry Birds and the graphics are rather crap.” That’s it really, the physics are quite annoying but it does have a certain charm.
Aran says that if you’re a fan of South Park then you should find a way to play The Stick of Truth, “what is essentially an extended episode that also happens to be an open world RPG”. He gave Hawken a go in the lull before Titanfall’s arrival and certainly seemed to enjoy it.
“Enjoyable, if a little unimaginative” is how Dom describes Pokémon Link: Battle which he played through for our review. He also gave South Park The Stick of Truth a big thumbs up, saying that it is “awesome and genuinely funny”, before finishing the tale of our week’s gaming by saying that Final Fantasy XIV is “a very therapeutic game to play after work as it’s not too high-octane, but still involving”.
Which of your gaming adventures have you particularly enjoyed these past seven days?
McProley
This week I’ve been playing Ys: Memories Of Celceta on Vita and pretty much nothing else. Its a really fun little RPG and not too long either. I’ve finished my first playthrough now and have started my New Game + run on nightmare difficulty to get all the remaining items for the last couple of trophies. With any luck I could have it platted this weekend :)
McProley
Oh, and also managed to have a couple of goes on Ghosts Extinction on the Nightfall map with Youles, Tef and Wick. Goddamn its hard, but we will prevail eventually soldiers!
Youles
Yes it was! I’m uber addicted though…getting my fix in soon!
This week I have mostly played CoD Ghost Extinction, the Nightfall DLC. I’m world ranked 148 for solo run and hope to improve on that if I actually kill the Breeder!
Apart from that I’ve finished my first run of Lego Marvel on PS4 and Lego Lord of the Rings on Vita. Both require replaying on Free Mode next.
I also started Beyond: Two Souls with my wife. We’re really enjoying it and wish we’d started it 2-player as it would be quite fun not being in control of both “people”, and more fitting to how the characters’ relationship is.
Eldaveo
Shadow Fall again for me this week. Roughly 500 challenges completed now but still 30000 points away from the 1 million trophy. Still brilliant fun, even more so now my friends have copies of it.
Also grabbed COD Ghosts for £13 from HMV this week after enjoying the recent “free weekend” on X1, but haven’t had chance to fire that up yet.
Titanfall arrived through the post this morning to complete the FPS trilogy. That’s probably me sorted for games for the rest of the year until The Order :D
Tuffcub
As soon as yout hit 50% of challenges (around the 750 mark) they really, really start to drag.
R1MJAW
Another relatively minimal selection this week.
Got the platinum for South Park on Tuesday night. Very enjoyable and a must play for south park fans.
Yet more EDF 2025 … mainly playing through the first 2 of the 3 available DLC mission packs.
More Diablo III. I’ve literally just finished my Nightmare playthrough with my wizard.
I’ve also been dabbling in a bit of Smart As on the Vita … it has a few problems but it’s not bad.
double-o-dave
BF4… again. Just reached 200hrs play and Rank 100. Seeming there’s nothing else for me in the pipeline ’til DriveClub, The Order or a new Naughty Dog game’s out I’ll probably be about 400hrs in soon.
Saying that I did complete Dead Nation. Might give it a go on Grim mode if I can be bothered. Anyone get any idea what next months PS4 PS+ freebie game is next month?
Stefan L
Impressive! What platform are you playing on? PS4? You’re in the platoon, aren’t you? We need to get a foursome together to gather a few points for that and rank it up a little.
double-o-dave
Yep PS4. I’m always up for a foursome :)
I’m in another squad too which I created with 2 members lol but you can make either one active so we should arrange a meet. I’m up for that.
hornet1990
Finally done with infamous for platinum number six! Only had to grind for about an hour to get enough xp to buy the evil karma upgrades so not too bad. Now deleted and I’m only 5GB short of being able to install infamous 2.
Switched it up and tried PS4 Battlefield 4 again but then ditched it after a few matches. I think it is beyond fixable now… then had to wait for that monstrous patch for Ghosts to download but got in some very enjoyable, and remarkably good matches for me. Think I’ll stick with ghosts for a change of pace until Second Son arrives next week.
blast71
Nearly finished Red Faction Armageddon, enjoying it a lot more now I’ve opened-up most of the weapons. Glad I stuck with it after the disappointing 1st few stages (well, disappointing compared to Guerrilla). Might try Guacamelee or Outland next.
ron_mcphatty
Guerilla was excellent, I don’t think ill bother with Armageddon now but it looked appealing back when it was just out.
This week I’ve played very little, som Flow on the Vita and also the Stanley Parable demo. It was good but I wasn’t hooked, I’m not writing off yet but might wait for a dry spell before buying it.
blast71
I got it for £3 new from Asda in the bargain bucket, it’s well worth it but not a patch on Guerrilla. It’s a shame they went down a different path with it, some of the weapons & gadgets would have been great for destroying buildings and bridges but you don’t really get much chance in Armageddon.
element666
This week I finally managed to bag the platinum on Account Liberation. I had left it for so long due to a save game glitch!
I also went back to tearaway to finish that up,but I fear it also has a glitch,so I’m not having much luck!lol!
I also tried a bit more on Dead Nation on PS4 but I am absolutely useless at it!
I may pick up the AC4 season pass as it’s reduced :-)
McProley
Oooh, Whats Account Liberation? :P lol
JR.
You are a hard working citizen with a cape, fighting against the corrupt, self-serving bankers who intend to destroy the global economy. You must transfer your savings to another bank account and kill an ancient goddess because someone thought that made sense.
element666
Haha! Bloody auto correct :-D
Kitch
I’ve finally started Tomb Raider. Absolutely loving it. I’ll be starting on the multiplayer next week so might be asking for help.
Also played through Two Brothers. Erm wow. That winded me.
TSBonyman
Thanks to Plus i’ve been enjoying a second playthrough of Tomb Raider and i’m also maybe halfway through the Brothers game, which is really a very pretty-looking game and utterly charming, although controlling the two characters simultaneously is a bit awkward at times. Occasionally there are benches along the route which you can sit on and the camera pans to give some lovely vistas, if only the PS3 had a share button.
And i’ve been playing some more Dead Nation Apocalypse, limiting myself to one mission per night so should have it completed this weekend before i start trying for the TSA points challenge.
Oh and i started up Home and received almost half (46%) of the trophies just for logging in and going to my apartment, so with that lofty achievement under my belt, i logged out again.
Lyts1985
Spent this week grinding out Family Game Night 4 for an easy but mind numbingly boring platinum. That’s platinum number 30 for me :-) really impressed with my haul of late but with a few new games on the horizon the backlog will have to wait for a while now…
Aside from that, I picked up Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed cheap so played a bit of that – not a bad game at all but can’t see me ever getting the platinum on it lol.
And now I’ve just started The Walking Dead Season 2 Ep 2 :-) been looking forward to this!!