It’s been a musical week this week. I’ve started to practice again with my new/old band after a two year lay-off and I’m loving getting out of the house and making an absolute racket while we write new tracks and remember how to play Alice In Chains’ and Smashing Pumpkins’ tracks. It’s even seen me dusting off my Guitar Hero guitar, only to remember that I’d started to have rubbish connection problems with it about two months into its life whereupon it was consigned to the cupboard. Which is where it is again now.
Sure, rhythm action has seen better days, and the genre as a whole is literally played out, but it still does a decent job of putting you on a stage and making you feel as though you’re really playing a track, even with a bunch of plastic buttons and a weird strumming bar. Mind you, after picking up the remastered Parappa The Rapper it’s really been the remastered Patapon that has continued my restored love affair with the genre. Why on earth would you become a rock god when the alternative is to become a literal god to a tribe of excitable eyeballs?
Besides all that rhythmic stuff, I’ve also been playing Horizon: Zero Dawn, Madden 18, Telltale’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and a whole heap of Lego Lord of the Rings and Lego The Hobbit with my son.
Steve dropped in first to give us a rundown of his gaming, where he blasted through Persona 4 Golden “at the expense of sleep”. And we all know sleep is for the weak right? He’s now playing the delightful Yonder which is allegedly The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild without the combat. It’s also a lovely game to curl up in front of the telly with the kids. Once they’re packed off to bed it’s straight onto Nex Machina for something completely different.
It’s all been about GamesCom for Tef, who’s been playing all manner of games and already brought us previews of Call of Duty WWII and explained why Crackdown 3 needs more time in the oven.
He’s been out there with Dave, whose also had his birthday this week! If that’s not a good present I don’t know what is! His highlights so far have been DragonBall FighterZ, Sea of Thieves, Ruiner, I Hate Running Backwards and Keyboard Sports.
TC has meanwhile been playing Observer, which is apparently awesome – though it sounds pretty messed up – Uncharted: Lost Legacy and “CoD Infinite Halo Duty Warzone or whatever it’s called. I’m about half way through the campaign but it’s utterly devoid of any soul or spark of originality so I probably won’t finish it.”
Aran reviewed The Escapists 2, which is an improvement over the enjoyable original, as well as running through some more of the Horizon side quests. Jim tied up both White Day and Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition, neither of which left him particularly satisfied, while finishing up Knack was fun if a little underwhelming. Luckily, he’s had the solace of plenty more For Honor and testing out its latest heroes. The Gladiator had quickly become his go-to for its speed and versatility though, naturally, everyone is also playing as him.
Finally, Kris has been playing Sonic Mania which he describe as the “best Sonic game since the originals, absolutely loved it.” Obviously that’s not too hard as everyone knows Sonic is rubbish, right Kris?
Over to you, what have you been playing?
Andrewww
Fallout 4, and as awesome as it’s been for quite a while, it’s now getting a chore. I really want to finish the story, but it starts to leave me only half-baked options and forces me to choose between actions I’d never take. It’s time to just finish this off now to see at least one of the endings.
Oh, yes, and I’ve tried to give Sony feedback about the firmware beta. But, as usual, Sony websites suck, and on my current Android mobile, the forum does not work. Maybe they don’t really want feedback..?
TSBonyman
The PS forums don’t load properly on my iphone either but PS4 browser works fine.
TSBonyman
I’m still hammering away at Neon Chrome, getting there slowly. Played some more Robinson the Journey and got up close with some very large dinos – herbivores thankfully!
And the other 80% of my gaming time this week was spent in NMS.
ron_mcphatty
What are you up to these days in NMS?
TSBonyman
I’ve been dipping into the brand new story content but really i’m just enjoying continuing my journey as always, scavenging my way about as i explore the universe. For all the demands for more gameplay – i find NMS to be at it’s best when you are simply doing your own thing, a lone explorer in a vast universe of potential discoveries, encounters, mysteries, beauty and danger.
ron_mcphatty
Nice! It’s really good that you’re still enjoying it so much, it’s seems like a rare thing these days to remain absorbed by a game for over a year. What do you think about the new story? I’ll dip back in for the story but maybe not for a while yet. Also, this far in, are you stuck on one favourite ship and mining tool or do you still chop and change? I haven’t played since before the Founders update so sorry if they’re silly questions :)
TSBonyman
With all the new changes and additions you are in for a right treat having not played for so long! :)
I chopped and changed ships on my first playthrough but have stuck with a crashed S-class this time around, fugly as heck but it’s grown on me over time – despite – or maybe because of – having to pump a few million into repairs. (crashed ships now come with broken slots) I’ll expand my fleet once i pick up a freighter. (you can keep multiple ships on a freighter and there are some brand new ship designs). Haven’t played much of the story yet but it’s about 30 hours gameplay i believe.
ron_mcphatty
Sounds like you’ve got your own personal Milennium Falcon, she’s not much to look at but she’s got it where it counts :) I’m looking forward to dipping back in, thirty hours sounds insane and I get the feeling I’ll hardly recognise the game now.
JR.
Forgive me for the essay, I got a bit carried away.
Uncharted The Lost Legacy – I didn’t enjoy the first two chapters very much. Walking through a crowded market wasn’t fun in Uncharted 3, it was less fun in Uncharted 4 and it’s just plain ridiculous to have to do it again in Lost Legacy. If you’re listening ND, walking through crowded markets is NOT fun, ever. Thankfully, it’s only a short chapter but even the second chapter fell a little flat.
I think familiarity is part of the problem but another issue was Chloe’s re-design. It took a while for me to accept that this was the same Chloe I remembered from the earlier games and not an imposter or a pod-people clone. It kinda looked like Chloe and it sounded like Chloe but it just didn’t feel like the Chloe we knew. It felt like tuning into a new series of your favourite tv show but the main lead had been re-cast with a different actor/actress.
I also expected her to be super-agile, like Lara Croft in the recent Tomb Raider games but she seems kind of frumpy and cumbersome. Like they re-skinned Drake without altering the basic animations to make them more feminine. She’s perfectly capable of course but there’s something ‘off’ about her posture and general movements. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe they did this deliberately to make her more ‘real’ and to differentiate her from Lara, I don’t know?
Chapter three onwards however, was a massive improvement. I did roll my eyes a little when I saw the Jeep return from Uncharted 4, but this is where the game really started to grow on me. There were some interesting puzzles to solve, ruins to explore and I started warming to the characters. I spent a lot of time in this area, collecting the hidden treasures/tokens and taking out all enemies using stealth, which was a nice change of pace.
Overall, I like it so far. I absolutely understand some of the more critical opinions I’ve read online. This is ‘more of the same’ but more specifically, it’s ‘more of the same Uncharted 3 and 4’ (my least favourite games in the series). If it was ‘more of the same Uncharted 1 and 2’, I don’t think critics would mind as much.
The first two games were fun/exciting/light-hearted. From Uncharted 3 onwards, the games have been heavy/serious/dark. They need to bring back the fun and leave the heavy stuff for The Last of Us.
ADR1FT – I bought this game AGES ago in a sale but never played it. It’s basically a walking sim in space (a ‘floating sim’ if you will) but it was interesting enough to keep me playing to the end. There were areas of the game I thought could be improved – navigation mostly (I got lost at one point and almost decided to give up). I thought my game was bugged but I managed to figure it out by returning to every area I’d previously visited. It was frustrating and slow going but overall I enjoyed the game for the most part. It’s much more enjoyable once you unlock all of the suit upgrades and unlocking the upgrades is what kept me playing.
Outlast II – This is another one I didn’t enjoy initially. The game really does throw you in at the deep end with no arm bands and you either learn how to swim (fast) or you drown. I played the first chapter without any help but used a walkthrough (CHEATER!) for the rest and enjoyed it a lot more. I really don’t like chase scenarios in games and this game is full of them. I don’t enjoy the frantic running around trying to figure out what to do next and the game is no less scary when you know where you’re supposed to go and what to do next. Because of this, I actually enjoyed the game a lot. The chase scenes cool off for a while in the middle parts of the game and these are the parts I enjoyed the most. Overall, very good – I liked it a lot more than the first game.
MrYd
Started out the week with Bioshock. As it’s 10 years old and the remastered collection was on sale.
But now I have a new hat. An expensive hat. A VR hat. So that’s impressing me a lot.
Came with Farpoint, which is very impressive. Shouldn’t really stop to admire the views though, because things keep jumping at me.
And the VR Worlds thing. Which is a fairly nice set of demos, but they need to be longer. And I nearly fell over in the heists thing. Stupid bloke came in and I thought I’d just lean back in the comfy seat I was in. Which doesn’t exist outside the VR world. I can see myself doing that too often.
Oh, and the Playroom thing with the cute little robots? Surprisingly good, especially if you have a helpful niece/nephew or 2 around.
Tried some demos, so there’s a couple of things I need to get whenever the next sale happens. Got enough to keep me going for now.
And Polybius. It’s eye-meltingly great without VR, but strap on your expensive hat, and you just kind of get lost in it.
So yes, I’m totally sold on the idea of PSVR now. Sony will now abandon it in the next week or 2. ;)
It’s even quite good for watching 3d blu-ray discs you might accidentally own. Just wish it had more than just a big screen floating in the blackness to give you a better cinema experience. Maybe some annoyingly bright exit signs, people walking in front of you, and something sticky on the floor you don’t want to think about too much.
MrYd
And now I can add Dirt Rally to that for the weekend. The only VR thing Sony have on sale right now, so it’d be rude not to, surely?
But why do I only have half a car? The back half is nowhere to be seen. I stuck my head out of the window, and was quite pleased to find I could see the car. Stuck my head through the front of the car, quite surprised to find there’s actually an engine in there, for the idiots that would go and do that to find. But the back half of the car is missing!
VR makes driving games fun though. And easier?
TSBonyman
Good stuff, sounds like you are enjoying your new hat. I also had a narrow escape on one occasion when i almost put my drink down on a table that wasn’t there! :)
MrYd
I’m am indeed enjoying it. And nothing has made me feel unwell yet. Farpoint was in danger of it, so I stopped. Didn’t happen so quickly the next time. I guess you get used to it if you don’t push it too far straight away.
As for why I’m always facing about 90 degrees away from where I thought I was facing when I take it off, I don’t know. I just slowly rotate while playing.
It also makes a terrible mess of my hair.
Dan Jones
Started Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Visuals are gorgeous as always with Uncharted, as is the overall production quality, yet I’m finding it a little boring. Up to chapter 4 (only played around an hour and a half), hope it picks up soon.
Just bought F1 2017, online is completely broken. Everyone gets DSQ as soon as they finish a race, awful just awful. The handling isn’t great, the braking distances don’t match the corner driving lines either, and the cars swipe left on main straights randomly. Penalty system is rubbish still and collisions are still devoid of all basic laws of physics. Needs a patch ASAP.
Pixel_nme
Co-op sessions as usual with the usual,some Agents of Mayhem a little F1 2017 finished a play through of The Lost Legacy which I enjoyed an a couple of games of the WW2 beta which I’ve also enjoyed think I may like this CoD reminds me a little of World at War.
ron_mcphatty
A bit more Zelda for me. I’ve been faffing, enjoying exploration but ultimately only grabbing a few shrines here and there. I’m putting off the final plunge into the castle because I don’t want it to end and I’m afraid of the irrational withdrawal like I got from Horizon. Whoever reviewed it and said they are jealous of those who get to play the first few hours fresh, I get it :)
h6exx
Still slowly making my way through horizon.. but got a new job that will involve some train time, so will have to dust off the Vita for some commuter action..