After last week’s EGX, this week was always going to feel slightly subdued, but Forza Horizon 4 has at least injected some much-needed frivolity into proceedings. By the fourth entry in the series you’d think that the formula would be wearing thin, but I think that it’s going to really hit the spot, especially if you live in the UK. It is a genuine system seller for Xbox One, even if you can play on PC as well.
I’ve not really had much chance to play anything other than Forza, but I did make a start on Parkasaurus with my Jurassic Park-obsessed son and it’s so far a wonderfully colourful and enjoyable take on the park building formula. I’ve also got in a bit of Labo-ing with the bits of cardboard steadily taking over the house once again, and of course played Final Fantasy XV Pocket HD just to round out the XV world. I think I’m done with it now.
Jason was here first today and he’s involved in a thing called ‘Journalist Simulator”, where he wrote and wrote and wrote and yet somehow still has writing. He also played Wandersong “which was very pleasant” and Mega Man 11 which he says “is a gaaaaaaame”. It seems like he’s also got a broken ‘a’ on his laptop, which is going to make editing his reviews quite interesting.
Aran played NBA 2K19 for review. After last year there has been some progress made, but not enough, “The VC isn’t as in your face but it is still persistent”. He’s also started Metal Max Xeno for review with more on that next week. Ade meanwhile has been playing Fossil Hunters and Stay for review, some Onrush “which, I’m pleased to report, has a lot more people still playing it online than I’d have thought,” as well as going back and playing God of War 3 remastered. Unfortunately he thinks that “GOW 4 has ruined it for me… you can’t go back!”
Gareth has been playing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for review. He can’t say anything about it though and hasn’t played anything else due to reality getting in the way. Tuffcub has obviously been busy as he’s only played Hover and Destiny 2, and has also not provided me with any ranting or top bants. I’m sure he’ll be back to normal next week.
Steve has played lots of the “cute but slightly empty” Little Dragon Cafe though it might be his kids that are enjoying it more. Besides that he’s played a smattering of Dragon Quest VIII, Here They Lie and a bit of Dying Light. He’s now hoping the code for Insomnia has been fully updated to finish translations from Russian for this weekend’s gaming. That’s finish not Finnish. It’s confusing enough already.
Miguel has been playing the new Call of Cthulhu game, and digging into the Hot Wheels expansion in Forza Horizon 3 to relax after projects and hype himself up for Horizon 4. He’s also touched a bit more on Hyper Light Drifter on Switch.
Finally, Tef has sprinted through on goal for our FIFA 19 review, reviewed the fantastic first episode of Life Is Strange 2, and played a bit of Destiny 2: Forsaken to finally finish the end of Uldren Sov’s story. This weekend it’s all going to be party time, which he reckons is going to be “super”.
Now, then. What have you all been playing?
GeneralJeeb
It’s been non-stop Persona 5 for me all week and now 70+ hours in, I thought monotony would set in by this point but I’m hooked! Superb game with a highly intriguing story, and in particularly enjoying the side story’s and getting to know all the confidants.
Was at EGX on Saturday and had a really great time but I was slightly disappointed by the level of merch on offer this year…that said I got to play some great games. I’m now sold on Starlink (will get digital though I think as the deluxe edition seems a fair price), got to experience Dreams which is high on my radar, as well as the mighty Soul Calibur VI. Geralt Vs Geralt at Kaer Morhen just had to happen haha. And I got to play Diablo 3 on Switch which was just…well, let’s say come November my Switch will be going everywhere with me!
But probably the most fun was a quirky little game called Sticky Cats in the Leftfield Collection, the three of us had a right laugh playing that!
Crazy_Del
Firewall: Zero Hour
That is all!
As you were.
TSBonyman
No change from last week – more Gow3 and NMS.
MrYd
Lots of Firewall again. Managed to earn 1000XP from a single game, which is tricky to do (killing all 4 of the other team and personally hacking the firewall and laptop won’t do it). Then the next game it all went wrong and we got slaughtered in about 30 seconds.
I think that might be part of why I love it so much. One minute all your plans come together and you have an impressive win, the next it goes hilariously wrong. Then the next game you manage something ridiculous, like shooting 2 enemies coming through a door behind you. Without turning to face them. Not entirely sure you could do that for real without missing or breaking your wrist or something worse, but never mind. It was fun.
Also a bit more of Persona 5. Taking it slowly, no more than a week or 2 of in-game time at once. But it’s fun. And there’s a cat bus. This is a good thing.
Then there was (probably) the last episode of The Walking Dead. Shame it’s (probably) not going to get finished, but you can always guess at what would happen in the last 2 episodes I suppose.
Oh, and I gave Warface a try. Not a bad little shooter, really. Actually, I started last week but forgot about it after a quick game. It’s clearly either pay to win, or at least pay to not go mad grinding. Even with the PS+ bonuses. (Permanent double XP).
Almost forgot. Suddenly started playing lots of GT Sport again yesterday with the new update. It may have caught my attention because one of the new events is “The Passion of Dr Wankel”. Which I think might be the title of one of those “educational” videos you sometimes find on the internet. One of the ones where you’re thinking “He’s not a real doctor, that’s not a recognised medical procedure, and surely that counts as some sort of professional misconduct?”
I managed to not be tempted by any sales this week. Too much other stuff coming soon. (Cute VR robots next week, isn’t it?). But if anyone wants to be tempted by special offers, there’s a ridiculous deal on PSVR from Argos until Wednesday. Headset (with camera and VR Worlds), 2 Move controllers and Wipeout, Firewall or The Persistence. For £230. May or may not be available depending on where you are.
Crazy_Del
I wish it was best of 3 you know… longer gameplay instead of of one match and then players leave/host quits and the search begins.
MrYd
Best of 3 would still need to go back to the lobby and wait while people change loadouts. A signal jammer isn’t much use when attacking.
There’s definitely an issue with matchmaking when you’re in a party, which is supposed to be being fixed whenever the 1.03 update appears. Host migration would be nice too, rather than just kicking you back to the menu when the host leaves. Or even just a “ready” button could save time.
They did some server side update yesterday though, which has at least fixed one bug when your money disappeared or your level plummeted. It would come back eventually, but there was a chance anything you earned before then wouldn’t be counted. But last night that didn’t happen once. So it looks like that’s fixed. (The big issue there was not letting you pick certain contractors because it thought you were level 2, even though you clearly weren’t)
tactical20
I caved and bought Spiderman for the full £50 rrp. Still getting used to the controls, but seems just as great as everyone has been saying.
gernboes
I got the Platinum in Gravel, an offroad racer thats nothing special but fun nonetheless. The Plat got a bit grindy at the end, but not too bad, the multiplayer will probably be dead soon though, if somebody thinks of getting the Plat…
I also finished the story of Spider-Man and i will get the platinum this weekend probably.
And i also sticking to the theme of offroad racing from before got Dakar 18 as a kind of impulse buy… So far i havent really got a grip of driving in the sand, but it seems like a really tough and interesting experience.
ron_mcphatty
No games at all for me this week! Instead I’ve been watching Final Space which is an excellent little comedy sci-fi series with a set of intitally very generic characters that develop brilliantly into sincere heroes or villains that I really felt something for, both love and hate. Excellent show and totally worth 240 minutes of your time. I’ve also watched for episodes of Maniac, which I like a lot, it’s also done very well and utterly bonkers, hard to describe though, maybe nineties drug sci-fi melancholic matrix romance journey of self discovery?
MrYd
Yay! Someone else has discovered Final Space. It sat there on Netflix for ages looking like a childish cartoon with adult humour. But it’s so much more than that. If you liked Futurama (and who doesn’t?) it’s definitely worth a look. And almost impossible to recognise David Tennant’s voice. And a slightly longer second series coming next year too.
And if you’ve only watched 4 episodes of Maniac and think it’s utterly bonkers, you’re in for a shock. But to describe it (without any spoilers) you might want to add “70s” (when computers in the future would be massive with lots of lights), definitely a bit Philip K Dick, and some more recent things like Black Mirror and even the brilliant mad Legion. And from the man just announced as doing the next James Bond film? (I can see now that he’d be up to the job, but also probably shouldn’t be allowed to do it either)
Stefan L
I really tired of the pacing and plotting of Final Space by the end of it, and the humour really started to grate after a while. Just saw it through because I was mildly curious about the story and the shorter episodes made it good for bedtime.
ron_mcphatty
Oh yeah good point, Maniac is very Black Mirror!
Tef, I get what you mean about the humour, for me it grated for the first 3 or 4 episodes, then I realised I didn’t have to like Gary and it’s totally okay to think of him as a bellend. I went through a few more not liking him, then came that episode where he goes to help his dad and I went all soppy for him. That bits so well done, sentiment layed on thick but just stopping short of being vomit inducing. And all the characters’ reactions to the dad losses was so well done, perfectly sad, some angry bravado and a good bit of sincerity. Oh and the ending to the series is perfect! I guess it all just clicked for me, so I’m watching it all again. Get of my cheeks Hue!
marvzilla
Lots of Destiny 2, the Forsaken expansion is excellent and really reignited my love of the game. Started the ultimate team grind on Fifa 19, rivals is a great change.