It’s hard to believe we’ve been on here jabbering about our gaming feats and stories for 200 of these now, but that appears to be the case as we return once again for What We Played, our own little piece of video game tomfoolery where we share what we’ve been up to for the past seven days. Let’s pop the proverbial cork on this thing and get rolling, shall we?
Aran was the first to check in this week, and he’s been playing a variety of games for both the site and his own leisure. He completed and reviewed Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, and he’s also been playing Space Colony, which you can expect to see a review of next week. Aran also took the time to check out the PlayStation Now beta with both Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Papa & Yo. He noted that Now seems to be a pretty good service but he did see a degradation in quality at certain points, even with a very solid internet connection. As for the games, he enjoyed the cheesy 80s vibe of Blood Dragon and he referred to Papa & Yo as a decent puzzle game that looks really nice.
Jim was up next and didn’t have much to report, but since he seemed to feel bad about it I’ll go ahead and pass on his story.
Well, isn’t this just my luck. WWP is celebrating its 200th edition and here I am, for the first time ever, with absolutely nothing to report.
With it being the last week of my degree, you can imagine there’s been little time to frolic around with games. That said, not wanting to miss out on the 200th celebrations, I did manage to get my hands on a “New” 3DS XL to pre-emptively reward myself with. Haven’t set it up yet, but it will no doubt get some usage as soon as I import my Monster Hunter 4 data!
Dom reported having a very good week, which started with Affordable Space Adventures on Wii U. He spoke very highly of it in his review, noting it includes some of the best use of the Wii U gamepad he’s seen yet. He’s also been checking out State Of Decay: Year One Survival Edition on Xbox One, as well as Mortal Kombat X, Codename STEAM, and Forza Horizon 2.
Next up is Mark, who had a bit of a busy week so he’s been specifically looking for games he can drop in and out of quickly and for short periods of time. That, and his love for F1 racing, brought him back to Driveclub this week, which he says is amazing now that all the kinks have been worked out. He’s also been playing a bit of the Raid game mode in Resident Evil Revelations 2, as another game that’s easy to pick up and put down.
Gareth took the time to play some Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor this week, which he completely lost himself in for the second time.
The storyline is far from being part of the Lord of the Rings but the atmosphere is dead on, due in no small part to the Orcs and Uruks being just so well done which, in turn, is down to the Nemesis system. I hope to see it cropping up in other games. When I find someone who’s afraid of fire I never get tired of throwing them into the flames, but I think that may say something about me.
Stefan got to fulfill his wish of pretending to be a piece of bread this week, as he played and reviewed I am Bread. He wasn’t entirely thrilled with the controls, but he still gave it a 6 out of 10 and praised its nonsensical premise. Next he tried a bit of Knights of Pen & Paper 2 for a preview, which he noted has “plenty of light humour, that unique tabletop RPG-styled gameplay pastiche and lots of genuine improvements over the first game.” He finished his week with Driveclub and Destiny, the latter of which should have him prepared for the House of Wolves expansion next month.
Then there’s Blair, who spent some of his week playing a different kind of game, a board game. He told me a story about a game called Betrayal at the House on the Hill, which sees a team exploring a house in the beginning, yet at some point one of them becomes a monster and apparently goes after the rest. It certainly sounded interesting and he said he’s definitely hoping to check it out again soon. As for the type of game we normally hear Blair talk about, he did make time for a bit of Super Smash Bros, and said he’s excited to play the new Mario Kart 8 DLC in the near future.
Finally there’s Tuffcub, who made his normal trip into Destiny this week, as well as Metro 2033 Redux, which he said he’s been enjoying. He also played Never Alone, a game he called “utterly charming” but said it lost steam at the end for reasons that would spoil the game if he shared. He also visited Far Cry 4 for the first time, which he talks about just below.
Created by the Ubisoft Game Making Committee it takes the “trapped in remote region with psychotic bad guy” story from Far Cry 3, the “unlock towers to see the map” from Assassin’s Creed and the “hunt animals to craft” from both series. I’m quite surprised there isn’t a hacking mini game swiped from Watch Dogs. Also you don’t get to play the bloody game for ten minutes after starting it due to un-skippable cut scenes. Tired, generic and generally dull, thank god I only rented it. Tomb Raider did much the same thing but was much better two years ago.
Coincidentally, I also played Far Cry 4 for this first time this week, but I came away with a very different opinion than TC’s. I’ve enjoyed the villain again this time around, though I wish he played a bigger role in the first half of the game. I’ve also enjoyed the plethora of side objectives, hunting, and scavenging the game affords you in its absolutely massive world. It leverages just the right amount of side tasks that you really need to do without making you feel like you have to do all of them. Granted, this isn’t the type of game that’s going to hold your hand for a six hour experience, and we’ve certainly seen tighter narratives, but I’ve enjoyed my time with it.
So that’s 200 of these things in the books now. If you’ve been with us since the beginning and you’re up for a bit of nostalgia, click here for the first ever What We Played. Whether you have or haven’t been with us since the beginning, remember, this is a two-way street, and we need your input as well. So head to the comments and let us know what you’ve been up to!
WalkingP
I found it kind of interesting that Aran was playing Far Cry 3 on PS Now, because I fired up my PS3 last night and started the the same game myself in an attempt to knock out some more of my backlog games.
Eldaveo
DOTA2. So much DOTA2… :/
dirtiestturnip
I have mainly been playing Dragon Age Inquisition on hardcore mode. I’ve also dabbled in abit of beyond two souls via PlayStation now. The first two times I played it, it was flawless, unfortunately the last time I played my internet had a paddy.
Playing PlayStation now made me want to dust of my PS3 and finish of heavy rain, so I have got one of the endings, now I’m going back through it trying to get the other endings. I’ve also played uncharted 2.