It’s been a busy week here at TSA with the influx of news from the Tokyo Game Show, but we’ve all continued to do what we do best, play video games. And it’s here where we tell you what games they are and how they play, so let’s get right into it.
Aran leads the way this week with his review for Dropsy, a point-and-click adventure game about a clown that didn’t end up being quite as creepy as the trailers would lead you to believe, yet still turned out to be quite good. He also reviewed Mad Max and rewarded it a solid 7 out of 10 score, though he did note that the game is a bit too big for its own good. Finally, he checked out The Book Of Unwritten Tales 2 on console to see how it stacks up against the PC version he reviewed earlier this year.
Mark and Miguel both found most of their gaming time consumed by Metal Gear Solid V again this week, and both still say they’re quite impressed with it. Miguel also made a small bit of time for a couple of mobile games between his projects this week, School Idol Festival and Fate/Grand Order.
Like so many other gamers, Stefan dove head first into the new Destiny expansion, The Taken King. He hasn’t quite got the formal review ready just yet, but you can read his preliminary thoughts on it by clicking here. He also made time for Rugby World Cup 2015, though he didn’t exactly have glowing words to describe it. He said something along the lines of, “it’s hilariously bad, and not in a good way… unless you’re drinking with friends.”
Tuffcub is also a part of the Destiny machine this week, as he’s been joining the others for new adventures with the new expansion, though he says he’s trying not to get hooked on it again. He’s also played SOMA for review, but since he can’t formally talk about it just yet, he opted to recreate a few of the noises he’s made while playing: “Hmmm. Ah. Oh. Oooooh! Cor! Whu? AAARAGH! Phew. Sigh. ARRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!”
Dave put some time into Pumped BMX+ for review this week, but said it’s not quite as enhanced as he would’ve liked, despite being a good console port of a mobile game. Then he checked out the new Warlock deck in Heartstone and seemed to have a good time with it. Finally, he picked up Mario Maker on Wii U, but he’s still trying to get a handle on everything before attempting to create a “masterpiece ‘Kaizo Mario’ style level.”
Adam began his week by trudging through Call of Duty: Ghosts, but ended up calling it the the worst Call of Duty game in some time. After that, he checked out a neat spin on a Pacman game for Android, but I’ll let him tell you all about it.
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Pacman 256 on Android, which is an endless take on the classic pill-popping-puzzler from the chaps behind Crossy Road. There’s new mechanics by way of power-ups and even some new ghosts in the field which stir things up – but thankfully neither of these lead Pacman too far down roads previously untrodden, and the core game remains as tight as ever. A great little pick up and play time-waster, with wholly unobtrusive F2P elements.
Dom spent most of his week away for a new job, so that gave him plenty of opportunities to spend time with his 3DS. He mostly played Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, Zelda Triforce Heroes, and Etrian Mystery Dungeon, and you’ll be seeing reviews for all of them in the coming days. In the short time he was able to spend with his consoles, he played Forza 6, Disney Infinity 3.0, and (you guessed it) LEGO Jurassic Park.
As for me, I started my week with more Metal Gear Solid V, but after about the 40 hour mark I decided I’d had my fill and walked away, which I’d rather do with a good memory of the game rather than remembering the obnoxious tasks it was asking me to accomplish at that point in the story. From there I moved on to Mad Max, which I’m enjoying so far after about five hours of play. I also wrapped up a Halo game I’d been co-oping with a friend on Xbox One.
So that’s where we’re all at this week. Now we turn it over to you, as we’d love to hear what you’ve been playing and just exactly how much you love it or hate it. Head to the comments and fill us in on all the gory or censored details.
Youles
On PS4 – Tearaway Unfolded, Until Dawn, Battlefield Hardline (new Robbery DLC), Metal Gear Solid V: TPP, Project CARS and Call of Duty Ghosts (Extinction DLC).
On PS3 – just some Black Ops 2 (Origins DLC) on PS3.
This week I was mostly disappointed about how Until Dawn is turning out (I’m just a few in-game hours/chapters from the end), as per my long winded thread in the forums.
Kennykazey
I’ve been playing a lot of The Witcher 3, but hasn’t made much progress on the story thanks to the excellent side-quests. Oddly enough leveling up to lvl 10 feels like it takes forever, but past that it happens too quickly.
I’ve also been playing some Forza 6 and Mario Maker.
double-o-dave
Well I ended up purchasing MGS & mostly enjoyed it, but similar to Matt, after I’ve reached episode 21 I think I may walk away too.
I’m not too sure it deserves all the high review scores it’s received – Don’t get me wrong, It’s been good & I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played, but it’s bloody tedious. Including Side Ops, I feel like I’ve done the same Mission about 20 times. In fact, I’ve probably spent more time jumping on helicopters to my base and sorting out combat missions than any real gameplay.
I’m not complaining though, I must’ve sunk about 30hrs into it, so I’ve got my moneys worth.
I can also see why Hideo probably put Quiet into the game the way he did. Just as I was becoming bored, she was introduced & kept me interested for a few more levels until the bikini clad novelty factor wore off.
Eldave0
Bloodborne again for me this week.
Blood-Starved Beast, the Witch of Hemwick and Vicar Amelia have all been defeated but I’ve met a bit of a roadblock in the form of the Shadow of Yharnam.
Not sure if I’m a bit under-levelled (level 45) but I’m struggling quite badly with that fight at the moment – navigating the Forest was a bit of a slog too but I feel that is by design.
To those of you who have played through Bloodborne, would you suggest tackling other areas of the game first before taking on the Shadow of Yharnam? I bumped into the Darkbeast Paarl when exploring and got close to beating him, so perhaps I should put my focus there first.
I want to get the Platinum trophy though, so am a little reluctant to deviate too much from the walkthrough I’ve been following, in case I miss a key item or NPC.
Carrot381
I got the platinum for Lego Jurassic World. Pretty straight forward if not a bit laborious mopping up all the collectables.
Finally started my first serious attempt at TLOU. I’d played a couple of hours some months ago then it got put to one side. Having a proper go at it now though – just got to the hospital so I’m hoping to finish it over the weekend.
Carrot381
Finished TLOU last night.
R1MJAW
More Borderlands 2 co-op with Forrest and Pixel.
More Diablo.
Small doses of Minecraft, Binding of Isaac, Golf Club, Leo’s Fortune and The Bridge.
Haf a brief look at the new Plague Knight dlc for Shovel Knight.
Mostly though I’ve been playing Mad Max, quite enjoyable so far although I can see that clearing the map could get quite tedious.
DividSmythe
I’ve played all sorts this week but my main memories are playing FIFA 16 via EA access yesterday and them PES dropped through the door. PES has blew me away I forgot football games were meant to be good and most of all fun looking firmly at you FIFA. Also has a go GTA today with WaxBull and this afternoon I went and got me a 2tb hddd and new Ps4 work Destiny but not had any chance to play it as I’m struggling to get the firmware on to thumb drive onto my new Ps4.
blast71
Mostly Driveclub and pes2015 again on ps4. Ps3 managed to 100% cod ghosts, with the last extinction trophy popping thanks to help from Avenger. Still need to get back to skyrim to mop up a couple of trophies, before having to start all over again if I want the platinum due to 1 trophy glitching on me.
Avenger
The two guys that joined us were a massive help for that last extinction game, especially as my concentration was split towards the end with reports that the Kitchen bulb had exploded, which is why I had to dash off. Strangely I don’t feel the urge to play extinction much nowadays. All the more reason for Infinity Ward to include a new version with the next Call of Duty.
blast71
Those 2 who joined near the end were an American who friended me on extinction, plus his mate I presume because I didn’t know him. Made it pretty easy with 4 instead of 2. I’m mostly on ps4 now, but I haven’t abandoned my ps3 so if there’s any more games you want help with let me know an I’ll make time over weekends. Still got a massive backlog I wanna get done anyway ;)
Avenger
That would be good mate, it would be great to return to GR: Future Soldier as we never did finish it and my save file is always left one mission behind (plus it’s boring on my own). I wanted to ask whether you had Splinter Cell Blacklist in your backlog as well, as I’d love to platinum such an awesome game but I need a co-op partner.
blast71
Blacklist is in my backlog so that’s another we can have a crack as well as finishing future soldier.
Nate
I recently Destiny MGSV and have been really Destiny, so much so in fact that I Destiny the Destiny while Destiny plays Destiny. *Twitches*