Picture the scene… you’re on holiday with your family in Gran Canaria, the sun is glorious, the beach is fabulous and all thoughts of video gaming have been banished to the far reaches of the back of your mind.
Unless you’re Dom.
He’s busy hammering away on his PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS. Fire Emblem’s been his game of choice “simply because it’s amazing, and it’s not too hectic to play in the heat (first world problems right there)”. That’s right folks, in a hot country beware playing anything that gives your fingers cause to move too quickly, you know it makes sense.
When things cool down in the evenings though or a cloud briefly obscures the sun’s gamer-shrivelling death rays then, like Dom, you can take a chance on games that might cause your fingers to break out in a sweat. In those moments this past week he’s taken a chance with Soul Sacrifice Delta, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and Need for Speed Most Wanted. Tune in next week to find out if they took his finger tempo too high.
Blair is still writing about E3 2014 games rather than actually playing much. Somebody should teach him to type quicker. He has broken up some of his hunt-and-peck keyboard sessions with some Mario Kart 8 t’internet and couch multi-player though.
In some rare additions to my usual Warframe sessions I’ve played a small clutch of other titles this week. I fired up my Nintendo Wii U for the first time in months. If I’d left it any longer the cobwebs would have completely gummed the fan up. Rather than play anything new, even with a MK8 trying to tempt me in the eShop, I started a new game of the flaming delicious Little Inferno that I reviewed back when the Wii U had yet to gather any dust.
It’s such a delightfully charming little game but the frame-rate slow-downs when you get a really good conflagration going seem more annoying now than they used to be. It is good to read The Weather Man’s reports again though.
The other night I was in the mood for a bit of a sing-a-long and thought it about time I got around to trying Sing On on the PlayStation 3. How did I find it? Two tracks later I was back to old favourite SingStar where I warbled my way through about a dozen hits, new and old. D’ya wanna hear my rendition of Adele’s Someone Like You? D’ya? No, trust me, you really don’t.
Work kept me pretty much away from anything videogame-related during E3 week but somehow Entwined still managed to firmly ensconce itself within my psyche. There was something about the game’s aesthetic that really struck a chord so I just had to have it. I’m now a few levels in and what a beautiful game it is. Who knew Tempest could be improved by adding a story?
Stefan’s been to the races this week. The races where wheels are more important than legs and horsepower is counted using numbers greater than one. As far as GRID Autosport goes he says that “you know what you’re getting with a Codies game, so GRID’s an easy decision, or it would be were it not restricted to PS3/360”.
He found the two-wheeled racing of MotoGP 14 on the PlayStation 4 to be “fascinatingly different”. Graphically the “very last gen” track scenery contrasted with the “good looking” riders, bikes and weather effects. “The on track action is great, though, and there’s a ton of content in there.”
I’ll leave it to Aran to wrap things up with UFC for this week and I hope you’ll all dive into the comments section below to let us know what you’ve been playing this week.
I’ve been a fan of UFC for a good few years now and have played the THQ games. There’s differences here and not all are great. The career seems a whole lot easier. Within a few hours I’ve pretty much managed to max out all of my fighter’s stats, and even though you choose your style at the beginning it doesn’t really seem to have much of an impact on how you play.
Plus EA has got rid of sprinting in the octagon, taking away some of the excitement from the fight. Occasionally you want to sprint into a takedown but you can’t here. Also, though a minor cosmetic change, the removal of touching gloves before a fight is gone. It’s a good game but feels like a bit of a step back. Hopefully UFC 2 looks at what was so great about the THQ games and takes inspiration.
I also picked up The Wolf Among Us cheap in the Steam sales. I love the story and setting. It’s just such an engaging story that even if there wasn’t any player input I would continue with it to find out what happens next. I’m going to play episode 4 tonight and then wait impatiently for episode 5.
Steelhead
Only Final Fantasy IV this week. Just the final boss left to go but he keeps grinding me into a fine paste, so a spot of grinding is in order.
wonkey-willy
Been mostly playing with myself.
Seeing as wolfenstein . the new order hasn’t got a multiplayer.
It’s actually quite good.. My only gripe is that there is maybe a little too much emphasis on hunting down collectables
Which can distract you from the main game.. But saying that it adds quite a challenge to what is what I think a really good. First person shooter