What We Played #233 – Rise Of The Tomb Raider, SteamWorld Heist and Uncharted 4

Is that another week gone? Really?! Well depending on your religious bent that’s one week closer to celebrating Christ’s birth, one week nearer to feasting for Germanic goddess Frau Holle, a whole seven days towards a spirited remembrance of the Roman festival Saturnalia, we’re slap bang in the middle of Hanukkah or indeed, one week closer to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Whichever is the case, I’m sure you’ve been playing games, and so have we! Tuffcub, punctual as ever, was the first respondent this week, but it’s safe to say he’s become a bit of a negative nelly, because both the games he’s playing – Fallout 4 and Destiny – aren’t really doing it for him. He’s going through the motions, loading them up, pretending to be engaged, but “they are just… there”. He promises to do better next week, but perhaps he thinks that What We Played is the confessional. We don’t judge. We just hope he’s happy.

Jim is in “crunch week”. Apparently, that is not a heavy abs week at the gym, nor is it a Nestle endorsed diet, but rather a new thing that occurs at university when you have to do all the work before going on holiday. I’m not sure it’s a new thing, but it’s a lot snappier than the “Shit! There’s all this work to do!” week that we had when I went to uni. He has “squeezed” in some gaming – still sounds a bit like ab week – and has been utterly engrossed in the Uncharted 4 multiplayer beta.

“I honestly though the new sidekicks and funny-looking mysticals would dampen the experience somewhat, the same way excessive options began to weigh down Call of Duty. Instead, they give Uncharted 4 a welcome amount of complexity that shouldn’t scare away novice players”.

He’s also finally made his way into Batman: Arkham Knight, and though the story hasn’t grabbed him so far he’s ready for a twist. Is it really a twist when you know it’s coming?

It’s been a light week for Dave, working his way through SteamWorld Heist and StarPoint Gemini 2 for review, while also nearly having a premature end to his Fallout Gump series, though fortunately it seems he’s been able to make him run a little bit further. Or perhaps he’s found employment on a shrimp boat? He didn’t really say.

Mark made it through holidays in Edinburgh and the blackout in Lancaster while still finding time to complete Rise of the Tomb Raider on the Xbox One. Having really enjoyed it, he’s still clamouring for yet another sequel so that he can find out more about the shadowy Trinity organisation. Not only is that a bit of a mild spoiler, but this one has only just come out Mark! How greedy are you?

It’s tough at the top for Aran. Except this week it’s not, as his career on Football Manager 16 as Southampton is actually going swimmingly having reached the Capital One Cup final and made it through to the second knock out stage of the Euro Cup. This is a vast improvement over last week, but as we know it’s a game of two halves.

Tef was the last to reply. But then he’s El Capitan, so he can do what he wants. This week he shoved his head into a magical place while Katee Sackhoff whispered in his ear. What that translates to is playing EVE: Valkyrie on the Oculus Rift. If you thought it was something else, you have a dirty mind.

When not canoodling in space, he also played some Fat Princess Adventures, Fast Racing Neo and a smattering of mobile sniper games, all of which is healthily eclectic, even if he didn’t get to play any of them as much as he wanted.

I’ve been having an ‘interesting’ week which has included a trip to hospital for an insect bite – sadly the super powers are yet to manifest themselves but I’m hoping they’re more Spiderman than The Fly – and escaping the flooding but not the power cuts in Lancaster.

This did however prompt a pleasant evening of conversation, dinner by candlelight, and a short run at Uncharted: Golden Abyss before the batteries on my Vita started to run out. Meanwhile, since the lights came back on I’ve also played some Fast Racing Neo on the Wii U for a future review, and bought Tearaway Unfolded to tuck into over the weekend.

Anyway that’s enough about us – what have you been playing?