So, Mass Effect: Andromeda. The most recent game to create an internet furore – this time over its facial animations – has had the third biggest launch in the series history. That’s pretty disappointing when this is only the fourth game, and the first title only initially launched on the Xbox 360.
As I reviewed it, I didn’t find it particularly jarring in the context of the game, and I felt it’s an enjoyable, if imperfect adventure. However, how much bigger a launch would it have had if players hadn’t been able to get their hands on it early through EA Access and cover social media in hilariously badly animated memes? By focussing so single-mindedly on a negative aspect, how much did this alter everyone’s perception of the game as a whole? It’s more Mass Effect, with mostly better visuals, and while they’ve perhaps played it too safe I’d argue that it’s still worthwhile, especially for fans of the previous games.
Besides that I had great fun with Sumo Digital’s Snake Pass, less fun with Has-Been Heroes and have made a start reviewing Aaero as well, all the while still dipping into Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild whenever I get the chance. Jake’s also been playing a lot of Snake Pass and Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, while getting some of the new loot in the massive time-sink that is Destiny.
Tef has had a pretty good week from the sounds of it, apart from one particular handheld game;
I played the wonderfully abysmal Vroom in the Night Sky on Switch. It’s a bad game that’s been run through a second tier translation engine. There was also a bit of Battlefield 1 for its first major DLC pack, returned to The Walking Dead: A New Frontier for its third episode – alas an unusual save bug meant it’s gone unfinished – and then I’ve been at Rezzed, with one highlight being the classically styled FPS of Battalion 1944. If you liked Call of Duty 2, you’ll absolutely adore this.
Dave played the brilliant Persona 5, as well as steamrolling through Blaster Master Zero, tinkering with the final Dark Souls III DLC, and has also been at Rezzed. So far his favourite is Octahedron, a platformer with an amazing soundtrack, while he’s also been playing as much Sonic Mania as is humanly possible.
Kris has played Doom. Presumably he’s played some other things at Rezzed, but it seems to be mostly Doom aside from this. Tuffcub meanwhile has returned to Titanfall 2, and has been enjoying the latest improvements brought by the new patch, though has found it’s now rife with crashes and errors galore. Other than that he’s also played some Skyrim!
Besides having to play the pretty rubbish Old Time Hockey, Aran has upped the difficulty on Ghost Recon Wildlands to Extreme so he has no idea where the enemies are coming from anymore, and is working on his review of Thimbleweed Park. Finally, Steve finished Jak 3, a big improvement on 2, and is slowly downloading games to his Vita so that he can head off on holiday. One of them is the rubbish Silent Hill: Book Of Memories though, so it may not all be plain sailing.
So then, what have you been playing?
ron_mcphatty
I picked up Driveclub Bikes in the recent sale and have smashed it to pieces. It’s been a brilliant game, the handling was so fun and challenging and the events pitched perfectly. Evolution and Criterion can now proudly stand as the only two members of the truly-awesome-surprise-bike-addon club. Good job guys, can’t wait to borrow my mates PSVR and rip through DCVR.
Andrewww
Still hypnotised by Lara, cleaning up secret stashes and tombs with her, before continuing the main story.
MrYd
I gave FF14 a go, with the as long as you want trial. And it took forever to download (stupid in game downloads that don’t work like everything else). Not really getting it so far. Looks reasonably nice, sounds great, but is an amazingly generic mmorpg.
So I took advantage of another PSN sale instead. And gave TLoU another go, mainly because I’ve not actually played the DLC on the original version. Which is a lovely little tale and possibly better gameplay than the main game. Which I now need to go through again.
Oh, and The Order 1986, because it was cheap. As expected, it’s a perfectly average game, but it really does look stunning.
MrYd
And someone threatened to buy me a PSVR if I helped my niece get a decent GCSE maths result. So I’ve got to remember maths from almost 30 years ago, spend hours with her, and try and find a polite way to say “something else would be better than an expensive hat”.
Or maybe I’ll just say “sod it, buy me expensive hats”
tactical20
Had shitty tonsillitis most of this week, so not a lot. Just a bit more of The Division (single player), but it’s gone from being a challenge to really quite hard now. Away for the next fortnight too, so won’t be playing anything for a while.
Pixel_nme
The usual Golf and Steep Monday night and Battlefield 1 Wednesday night and tonight was GTAV,played lots of Horizon Zero Dawn and picked up the Platinum Wednesday evening what a fantastic game,also lots of Battlefield 1 solo after picking up the Premium pass enjoying new maps and that’s about it,enjoy your weekends people ;)
Eldave0
Thoroughly enjoyed the Splatoon 2 beta last weekend. Having never played the original, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was good fun. A definite buy for me when the full game comes out later this year.
Had a moment of madness and deleted my Zelda save to start again. Being far more thorough this time around and am finding a lot of hidden treasures, etc I missed on my previous play through.
TSBonyman
I’ve been playing ME Andromeda, usually starting shortly after i get home from work and ending shortly before bedtime each night. Minor quibbles aside, this feels like the game that ME 3 should have been.
I don’t know what my neighbours plans are for the weekend – i just hope it rains so i can avoid being distracted by gardening duties! ;)
freezebug2
Doom! When I can gather enough mental strength from the lack of sleep due to work related shizz and decide to switch on the PS4.
I want to retire now! :P