Another week has come and gone here at TSA, which means it’s time once again for What We Played, the little piece we write up each Friday to keep you in the loop about what your favorite TSA staffers have been playing, and to hear what you’ve been up to as well.
It was a week of fast cars and heists for most us, and Mark definitely participated in the former, racing along with Project CARS for a good chunk of his week. He made what has been a common observation thus far, that the first lap in qualifying on cold tires can be a bit of an adventure. He’s also been checking out the online portion, where he’s had mixed results, with a couple of podiums here and there, but a few bad runs as well.
Jim checked in next and preferred heisting to racing in his games this week. He originally owned GTA V on PS3, but it got lost in the shuffle of other games before he could finish it. His time with it on PS4 has been a different experience. He just completed it, and he had very positive things to say about the cast, the humor, and the side missions.
Aside from that, here’s what else Jim was up to:
I slipped back into PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale on my PS Vita. It saddens me how truly underrated that game is. Even after playing the new Smash Bros. it’s still my favourite brawler-type fighting game thanks to its sharp gameplay and super-based KO system. Please, please, please let there be a sequel on its way.
Robot Dom continued to plow through games with his son Noah this week, partaking in the finale of the first part of Lego Lord Of The Rings, and the Avengers story mode of Disney Infinity 2.0, with the Spiderman set next on their agenda. With the kiddo tucked into bed, Dom moved on to the latest remaster of Final Fantasy X, and Final Fantasy Type-0 HD. He also found time for Monster Hunter 4 and Killer Instinct, and even briefly considered starting Assassin’s Creed Unity, but quickly thought better of it.
Miguel had a bit of a busy week reviewing games, starting with Breach and Clear. Unfortunately, while not terrible, he didn’t think very highly of it and scored it a mediocre 5 out of 10. He then moved on to Not A Hero, which you can read his thoughts on here. Finally, he continued his quest to become a fashion extraordinaire in Style Savvy Trendsetters.
Stefan spent a good portion of his week playing Project CARS for review, which he says is a “great racing sim hidden behind awful menus.” From there he moved on to Knights of Pen & Paper 2, which he described as a “quirky mobile RPG within an RPG.” Finally, he returned to his normal stomping grounds in Destiny, and he held up a liquor store or two in GTA V.
Finally there’s Tuffcub, who decided to play through GTA V after much harassment from myself and a couple of other staffers. Turns out he’s mostly enjoyed it. He’s particularly enjoyed the bits with Michael and Trevor, while Franklin is his least favorite to play as. Here’s a few more of his thoughts, straight from the cub’s mouth.
I’ve never got in to GTA before, all the other games were rubbish but I’m enjoying this one. It is dragging on though, I must have been playing for thirty hours and still not finished the story and it’s becoming a little tedious. Also the game has a habit of shoving the next mission right on the other side of the map, just to prolong the game and make you drive for ten minutes.
At some point one of us should probably tell him about the fast travel option via the taxi cabs. Anyway, he’s also been playing the Unfinished Swan, and reviewed Ultratron this week.
As for me, I’ve also been playing the rubber out of Project CARS, and I agree with just about everything Stefan had to say in his review. The car handling is often spot-on, but there are a few bugs to deal with and the career menus are a pain to navigate at times. I also continued playing through the heists in GTA V, and my group has just the last heist remaining, which we should be able to tackle this weekend.
So now it’s your turn. Head to the comments and fill us in on what’s going on in your gaming life. Maybe you don’t have a gaming life? That’s ok, normal life is usually more noble. It’s just often a lot less fun.
DividSmythe
I’ve been playing the usual Rayman legends on both consoles. GTA V on Xbone. I’ve also been messing around with a few games on Ps Now beta I tried to pay and platinum Hunters trophy 2 America but it’s far too poor to get more than a hour in. Then I found Lego Batman 2 in Ps Now. Having only played the game on Vita in loving it as is the little one.
TSBonyman
I jumped back into Driveclub and unlocked the second round of the Startline Tour, had another few attempts at beating the Moon level and boss in Titan Attacks and somehow managed to find something new in Binding of Isaac.
Mostly though, Bloodborne, and back to the story. I defeated the Witch of Hemwick who was actually quite easy and then after a few solo attempts at Amelia i enlisted some help. My co-operator kindly allowed me to do the lion’s share of the work, stepping in when i needed to recover a bit and also staying back while i finished the job. Which was simply perfect – i don’t mind calling for assistance but i also don’t want someone to takeover and do the job for me.
Had a quick chat with Djura in Old Yharnam and then remembered i still had Hypogean Gaol to explore so i had a jolly old time there. Got Darkbeast Paarl down to 1/5 health before he swatted me but i’m going to risk confidence and say i’ll get him next time*.
And so on to Forbidden Woods, which was also fun until i ran into some giant venom-spewing serpents – thankfully the path which i and my Blood Echoes chose to run away led to the shortcut back to the lamp. :)
* But most likely i’ll get one-shotted by him within seconds of beginning the fight. That’s how confidence works in Bloodborne.
Eldaveo
Downloaded Witcher 1&2 off GOG this week so have started playing through them (£3 for the pair, crazy value). Truly excellent games, even if the original feels a bit dated by modern standards. Will definitely be picking up a copy of Witcher 3 at some point.