The light of yet another week is about to burn out, soon to be replaced by an even brighter and much more fun light called ‘the weekend’. This means it’s time for another edition of What We Played, the piece we put together every week to keep you informed of what the staff here at TSA have been up to. Without further ado, let’s dig right in.
Mark and Aran were the first to check in, so we’ll start with them. Mark has been on holiday all week so his gaming time has been limited to Fallout Shelter, which he says is horribly addictive and has “ramped up my excitement for Fallout 4 by another 200%.” As for Aran, he spent most of his week playing Beyond Sol, which he says is a good RTS game, so be sure to check out his review.
Dave also checked in with a quick update, noting that he’s been reviewing Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance, so keep an eye out for that in the very near future. He also awarded a mediocre score to Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash, which you can find in his review here.
Stefan has been playing a variety of things this week, starting with Minecraft: Story Mode’s first episode. He wrote a nice review of it and said it’s been the “clearest look at a Telltale game without the trappings of too much lore or too many characters from another universe.” He also reviewed Broforce this week, which you should check out if you’re in the mood for some “over the top 80s action film nonsense.” Finally, he’s been playing WRC 5, which he says doesn’t look amazing or perform all that great, but aside from that and the less-than-perfect co-driver, he says it’s a pretty good time so far.
Tuffcub has been a gaming machine this week, starting with Destiny, though he noted some technical issues with the last section of a raid he was involved with. He also played Unmechanical Extended, and a ton of Transformers Devastation (review here). From there, he moved onto Helldivers, which he didn’t seem to enjoy due to the manner in which the game makes you call in support drops. Finally, he picked up his Vita and went to town, but I’ll let him tell you about it:
On Vita I have gone back to the superb Super Stardust Delta, and also played quite a lot of Final Horizon. It’s a weird game in that it’s a tower defence game, but plays more like a puzzler rather than a strategy title. You can only place the towers in certain positions, so it’s a case of working out which tower to place on which spot, rather than having to work out the best locations for defence or attack. Also on Vita I played Super Meat Boy, which is annoying, and Kung Fu Rabbit, which is Super Meat Boy but slower. Very odd that Sony decided to give away two games with almost identical gameplay.
Elsewhere, Jim has also had a full plate, setting aside the backlog to focus firmly on reviews. First up he’s been playing Dragon Quest Heroes, an action game that looks to meld the series’ JRPG trappings with the hack and slash formula Omega Force is best known for. He’s enjoying the ride so far yet laments the lack of local co-op, despite some of the game’s stronger innovations. Aside from his prescribed dose of Rocket League, he’s also been playing Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut and Guitar Hero Live (which we’ll have more on next week). Wasteland 2, he says, is a lovely throwback to the RPGs of his childhood. Much like Baldur’s Gate and Temple of Elemental Evil, there’s a big emphasis on player choice as well as turn-based combat. Although the PlayStation 4 version is a little rough around the edges, it’s starting to grow on him rapidly.
Finally there’s Dom, who began his week with Tales Of Zestiria, and you can expect to find his review for that on the site today. He also played Tri-Force Heroes with Blair and Dave, Dragonball Z Extreme Butoden, and he rocked out with Rock Band 4, though his review fell a little shy of what he’d hoped to find in that game after the previous entries. Last, he pulled a page out of Tuffcub’s book and nabbed Transformers: Devastation to play over the weekend.
As for me, I continued to build upon my population in Cities: Skylines, which is a game I’ve become quite fond of in the absence of Sim City. I also checked out the Star Wars: Battlefront beta on PC and console, which were both fun but the visuals and extra frames the PC version afforded make it the platform of choice for me when the real game comes out. I also played The Stanley Parable for the first time, which was an entertaining puzzle game not quite like anything I’d ever played before.
And so ends our tales of video games for the week. But that’s not all, as I have a sneaking suspicion that if you’re reading this right now, you’ve been playing some video games as well. So how about you stroll down to the comments and fill us in on how your gaming has been?
R1MJAW
Still the usual Borderlands 2 co-op with Forrest and Pixel and Dying Light co-op with Forrest, Pixel and berzerka.
Quite a bit of Super Meat Boy. Currently working my way through the dark worlds.
Finished off all the quick race and time trial trophies for F1 2015, doubt I’ll bother with the pro season or multiplayer stuff.
Started WRC 5, starts off a bit slow but it really picks up once you hit the WRC2 cars.
Also started The Talos Principle, fantastic puzzle game. Anyone who enjoys Portal style puzzles should definitely take a look.
Andrewww
Almost overlooked that one, will definitely put the Talos Principle on my list.
DividSmythe
Yes I would recommend it too I was chatting to R1MJAW and asked him what it was then I started watching through Shareplay and instantly fell in love with it. Although I’m far too addicted to GTA to play it properly at the minute. I will be giving Talos principle a good hammering soon.
hornet1990
Naturally last weekend was spent playing the slightly disappointing Battlefront beta… and I seem to be in the minority here with that view!
I then moved onto The Order 1886 which I picked up on a whim a few weeks back. And promptly wished I’d looked up more opinions before impulse buying! Feels like a glorified graphical tech demo rather than a fun game. But hey ho, 2 chapters to go apparently and then I’m done and it can get sold.
Carrot381
Bloodborne has monopolized my gaming time all week. A couple more bosses in the main story bite the dust but I found the Undead Giant fight in the chalice dungeon almost unbearably tough. Finally killed it today after countless re-tries. Still loving the game though and when TSA do the end of year voting thing I’m gonna struggle to choose between it and the Witcher 3 for my game of the year.
TSBonyman
Thanks to some of my favourite shows returning for the Autumn tv season i have less time for gaming at the moment but i found time to play some more of The Witcher 3, Driveclub, Broken Age and LBP3.
Avenger
Lots and lots of Battlefield 4 multiplayer with a dash of Forza Motorsport 6.
Finished Ghost Recon: Future Soldier with Blast71. Despite the game’s failings, it came off as enjoyable. We’re now onto Splinter Cell Blacklist, and enjoying the wave defense with countless dogs tearing us to pieces along with rafts of explosives drones after us.
Also another good TGMEM with the lads.
blast71
Them dogs can do one!
I’ve done a mission on splinter cell plus had a mess about on the plane, hopefully I’ll be able to buy some better weapons & gadgets to help our co-op.
Andrewww
Played some more of Virtue’s last reward, still being hooked by the riddles and the overall very special design of storytelling (or whatever you may call that…).
Then I started up The last of us for the first time (shame on me, I know…), and found the beginning quite horrible, as I wasn’t really aware it’s not the light entertainment type game as ND’s Uncharted series is. Was just too long ago I read the reviews, so I was a little unprepared for that.
But, of course, I’ll keep playing it, have to catch up here.
Kennykazey
Hey, I’ve been playing 999. Looking forward to jumping into VLR afterwards. Wonderful and quite thrilling storytelling.
Andrewww
I’ve just read you have to start from the beginning in 999 whenever you hit one of the endings..? You’ll love the dialogue tree and skipping in VLR then.
Tuffcub
I didnt get Virtues at all. Odd game!
Andrewww
Was that because you can’t jump over obstacles in the game..? ;o)
Odd..? Yes, definitely. But in an innovative and exciting way, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever played. For me, this is one of the surprising gems I’d never have tried without PS plus.
Eldave0
Played the Star Wars beta, which I found pretty enjoyable (lovely to look at too). Definitely some issues which will need ironing out before launch but overall a lot better than I thought it would be.
Got the platinum trophy for Farcry4, which was no where near as difficult as I was expecting. Bit annoying the co-op didn’t extend to the campaign missions but a lot of fun overall.
Moved onto Destiny which I’m really enjoying at the moment. On a bit of a tight budget this month so opted for the “vanilla” edition, but I can see myself upgrading to the Taken King before the end of the year.
Kennykazey
It’s been all about Witcher 3 Hearts of Stone and 999 (the DS game) for me. Both really good and come warmly recommended.
freezebug2
Just pissed around on the ipad during the occasional opportunistic moments between work/sleep.
Meh! to night shifts, should be back on track within weeks though!