What We Played #491 – It Takes Two, Black Legend & Monster Hunter Rise

Monster Hunter Rise Header

What a week it’s been! I’ve finally been able to talk about Monster Hunter Rise, and it’s been consuming all of my gaming time (and a little bit of time that should have probably been spent eating or sleeping). It’s fair to say that it’s another amazing addition to Capcom’s series, and while it can’t match up to Monster Hunter World’s incredible graphics, it’s easily one of the best looking games on Switch, and, for me at least, Monster Hunter needs to be taken on the go. Besides all the monster hunting stuff, I’ve snuck in a heap of It Takes Two as well, which is tons of fun, even if the game forces you on occasion to be the worst parents in the world!

Steve was first this week and he’s been playing Lust From Beyond to continue his deep delve into the ‘erotic horror’ genre. He told us. “It was actually pretty good (leaps and bounds ahead of Agony) but the interactive sex scenes continue to be a bit embarrassing”. He also picked up Murder By Numbers on sale for the Switch which is “a lovely little Picross distraction”. Aside from those he messed around with a tabletop arcade box (the Powkiddy A12) and died a lot on Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts. Then he started a secret game that he cannot talk about for review and failed to have any willpower so bought Monster Hunter Rise for some multiplayer action with us lovely people. He also might have to spend some time sorting out his Vita to work with an sd card so that he can back everything up before the PSN store shutdown makes that any more complicated.

Tuffcub played Untitled Goose Game, which seemingly wasn’t for him; “it’s just horribly mean. What a nasty goose. Would not recommend. 2/10.”

Meanwhile, Jim crossed two more games off the backlog. He tells us, “Having made a spreadsheet, that’s somehow made me more motivated to power through!

“I blitzed Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath which was a great expansion with some awesome additions to the base game’s character roster. I also went back and replayed Crash Bandicoot 2 from the N. Sane Trilogy. I want to get those three remasters done and dusted before finally moving onto Crash 4 on PS5. Crash 2 definitely had some brutal platforming sections. Shame that the final boss is ridiculously easy.” He continued, “The outlier in this week’s playlist is Uncharted 4, or more specifically the multiplayer from Uncharted 4. Easily one of my favourite online games from the PS4 era and I was delighted to see there’s still an active community. As much I want to keep playing, I’ve promised to set aside multiplayer games so I can crack on with the backlog!”

Aran played Black Legend for review, as well as Spacebase Startopia. More on the latter next week. “I have also played a bit of It Takes Two with Tef which was very fun, though I was kept up past my bedtime. Also played some Void Bastards which is strangely cathartic even if enemies are swearing at me. Capped it off with Stellaris where I keep having border wars with a neighbour, and they haven’t learned that every time they go to war with me they lose.

It was at this point that Jim remembered he’d also played the last two hours or so of It Takes Two. “Remotely, on my phone, using an Xbox controller. Was great, even if I could barely see what was happening.”

Nic B has had a weirdly busy week, which means he’s just played Pokémon Go and Magic. He wondered as well if language apps count, “Dunno if Duolingo counts, but I finally hit platinum rank in that, too.”

Jason finally reached the end of Nioh 2 on his stream playthrough and immediately jumped into the DLC, telling us, “This may be marginally heretical, but it might be the one of the best Soulslikes of all-time. Every hour played makes it more enjoyable, and the systems in place are a little overwhelming at first, but ultimately a lot more player-friendly than in most other games.”

Finally listening to recommendations people have made, Reuben has mostly been play Jedi: Fallen Order and Tetris Effect the last week. He seems to really be enjoying them too, saying, “Both of these are excellent games I should have gotten to far sooner. I’ve also jumped back into Bloodborne as of yesterday for the Return To Yharnam community event, which is running until April 7th.”

Gareth played precisely three games. “One of them is Cold War’s multiplayer, which I’m actually doing pretty well at now, teenage me would be proud. Another game is Dragon Quest Builders 2, which is about as weird and quirky as games get, but in a charming way, and you get to build buildings for people.

“The third game and by far the one I’ve been playing the most, is Immortals Fenyx Rising, which is my favourite PS5 game so far (even though it’s cross-gen). It’s like they got Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, took out all the Assassin’s Creed and replaced it with Zelda Breath of the Wild, then set it in Greek Myth. It’s always upbeat and fun, often hilarious, and it’s pretty well written with good voice performances as well. Also, stunningly gorgeous. It’s really fantastic and I’ve barely been able to tear myself away from it long enough to write this.”

Nick P has had a quieter week, just continuing Yakuza Like a Dragon and Fights in Tight Spaces. Meanwhile, Miguel played the 2nd Doom Eternal DLC! He also played some Apex Legends and Fortnite. Then he tells us, “I’ve also been diving back into Fall Guys to try and get enough crowns to buy that Kizuna AI vtuber costume they’re adding to the game this weekend, but god…playing that game by myself trying to win shows is insanely stressful. I’ve also been playing a bunch of Hitman 2 to catch up so I can start Hitman 3! I played the New York bank location and that might be my favourite mission in the entire trilogy so far.”

And finally, we come to Tef, he put his marriage counselling hat on to play It Takes Two, taking on different co-op partners at different times in the form of Dom, Aran and Jim for our review. Alongside this, he’s been alternately continuing to make his way through the rather enjoyable Wolfenstein: The New Order and putting his own evil schemes on world domination into action.

Now then, what have you played?

Written by
TSA's Reviews Editor - a hoarder of headsets who regularly argues that the Sega Saturn was the best console ever released.

7 Comments

  1. Been playing alot of fast cheap/quick plats a few stackable and some repeatable such as PS4 and Vita or PS4 and PS5 lol
    I am now one platinum away from 600th Platinum!!!
    So I reckon the 600 will be Cyberpunk and that is my plan for this weekend ^^

    • Just bagged my 600th Platinum – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater on the PS5 version (Instant Platinum) ?

  2. Well, there was the incident with the PS5. How a PS4 game crashing can take out the whole system, I don’t know. One reinstall of the system software from a USB stick (and a lot of downloading) later…

    More Valhalla. Some Hitman 3.

    And a quick playthrough of Control, which is just so much better on a PS5, so another platinum there. (The PS5 makes a different noise for platinum trophies. Or did the PS4 do that and I never noticed? I’m sure it didn’t)

    Finished of 13 Sentinels and got the platinum there. Well worth a go. Just when you think there’s no way they can get 13 stories all coming together, they do exactly that.

    Oh, and WRC 9 was on sale. Which is the same as the previous games, but looks better and make great use of the Dualsense controller. Once you get used to it. Kept crashing all over the place, and ending up last by a substantial amount. The Dualsense triggers are very sensitive compared to the DS4. A lot more control over your speed, which might lead to smashing your car up every 3 seconds if you treat the trigger as only having “go fast” and “don’t go” and not much in between.

    And now I’ve got those free games to play this weekend.

    • And having downloaded some of those free games I just gave Paper Beast a go. I’d like it except for one huge flaw. Teleporting and turning in steps of about 10 degrees a time is just unpleasant. Yes, give that as an option for anyone who can’t cope with proper movement in VR yet if that helps, but don’t force that on people who find that incredibly unpleasant.

  3. A bit more Mass Effect Andromeda and figuring out how I’m going download everything to my PS3 (and install and update every disc game I have) before they shut down the store for it. An over abundance of caution maybe but sounds sensible in my head!

  4. I got the platinum on Far Cry 3 classic and quickly mopped up a 100% on Woodle Tree Adventures, which was a fun little game that was a couple of quid in a sale. Still playing Everybody’s Golf on Vita, I’ve also returned to Borderlands GOTY on PS4, which I’m aiming to be my 100th platinum! A ways behind Crazy Del but I’m happy with my progress!

  5. I turned on my PS4 for the first time this year and booted up Death Stranding, or as no one is calling it Metal Gear Deliverocalypse. My brain hurts from the brutal deluge of stuff to remember but the gameplay is already very interesting and the story gripping and pleasantly bizarre. Who knew walking with lots of stuff could be so much fun?

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