What Are You Playing Now?

[papalazeru]

BRUTAL LEGEND KICKS ASS!


Seriously, you need this game, it's funny, it's fun, it just needs to be in your collection.

It's a Metal GTA people! And the cameos are insane.

I'm so getting it.

I loved Psychonauts even though it took me years to come round to getting it, one of the best games made so this looks like it could be real fun. I've seen the track list and that alone is the price of the game for me.

[King Of Nowhere]

Picked it up today.

I'm just getting to the RTS section, so i can't say much about it. I spent most of my time playing just driving around looking for solos, dragons & those things you look into that give you a bit of legend.

I like the laid back, sorta GTA approach to the game. Unlocking songs is a pain in the arse though, i played for 5 hours or so & still haven't heard King Diamond.

[Wolfpack]

Beat XBox 360's Prince of Persia and Beyond Good & Evil, now starting XIII, on the original Xbox. XII is a cell-shaded first person shooter with a comic book style presentation.

[travis-dane]

Beat XBox 360's Prince of Persia and Beyond Good & Evil, now starting XIII, on the original Xbox. XII is a cell-shaded first person shooter with a comic book style presentation.

And it's a good game, I had lots of fun with it. XIII is based on an French comic book series, which is good too.

[King Psyz]

Picked it up today.

I'm just getting to the RTS section, so i can't say much about it. I spent most of my time playing just driving around looking for solos, dragons & those things you look into that give you a bit of legend.

I like the laid back, sorta GTA approach to the game. Unlocking songs is a pain in the arse though, i played for 5 hours or so & still haven't heard King Diamond.

completing missions unlocks songs for the most part, even the side missions (black markers on the map screen)

free tip, dont pay for nitro... Complete the Cletus levels and you get the 4x nitro

[King Of Nowhere]

Yeah, i completed it at the weekend. The King Diamond songs are unlocked about 2 missions from the end of the campaign. Buried metal also unlocks songs.

Apparently, there's an extra cutscene when you 100% the game.

[King Psyz]

I was stoked to find dethklok on there, I dont know if it's coming to 360, but I guess next week there's more MP content and a new axe DLC for free.

[Doc Holliday]

Brutal Legend looks great, though I'm going to pick it up on the cheap when it appears in the pre-owned bin. In the meantime, it's Draon Age :Origins I've got my beady eye on. It's out, but I can't buy it for another four weeks. Bah.

[Leckomaniac]

Brutal Legend looks great, though I'm going to pick it up on the cheap when it appears in the pre-owned bin. In the meantime, it's Draon Age :Origins I've got my beady eye on. It's out, but I can't buy it for another four weeks. Bah.

Dragon Age: Origins is certainly on my radar. But I need to play through MGS4 before I think about buying any new games. And I have a bunch of other expenses since I am moving into a new apartment.

[stereosforgeeks]

Brutal Legend looks great, though I'm going to pick it up on the cheap when it appears in the pre-owned bin. In the meantime, it's Draon Age :Origins I've got my beady eye on. It's out, but I can't buy it for another four weeks. Bah.

Dragon Age: Origins is certainly on my radar. But I need to play through MGS4 before I think about buying any new games. And I have a bunch of other expenses since I am moving into a new apartment.

I am playing dragon age origins. I'm already 20 hours in since tuesday! Im loving it but the inventory system sucks. Great characters and interesting story so far. I feel like Ive barely scratched the surface.

[Wolfpack]

Finished XIII last week. Now I'm playing Gun on the Gamecube. It's a Western-themed action game. This genre has been woefully neglected in the video game world. I can't wait for Red Dead Redemption to be released.

[SilentBobX]

Got EA Replay the other day w/the following KICKASS games from yesteryear:

Desert Strike
Jungle Strike
Mutant League Football
Road Rash 1-3
Polterguy
B.O.B
Ultima 7
Syndicate

Oh to the fuck to the yeah.

Mahalo

[Pacino86845]

I recently finished the Half Life 2 series on Orange Box... pretty awesome, very atmospheric FPS, the only one I've played so far that successfully instilled a sense of paranoia and persecution in me. It's not all perfect though, I would've liked better graphics upgrades from one to the next. I know they upgraded some of the physics simulations they were using in the series, maybe the AI improved too, I had a feeling the enemies were smarter and more fearsome in episode 2. One major drawback though were the controls, specifically movement. It was nigh impossible for me to move from one room to the next quickly, or backwards. Always got caught in doorways or walls, it was pointlessly frustrating. Also ladder interactions were annoying as fuck. But as far as shooting stuff went it was all ok. Vehicle control wasn't great either but you sort of get used to that, and it fits in the sense that all the vehicles you get to pilot are clunkers.

[papalazeru]

Been playing New Super Mario Bros Wii.

This game really picks up where Super Mario World left off in terms of gameplay. I have happily spent 45 minutes saying 'Fuck' from the amount of times I've played the same level again trying to get all the coins. It really does a Mario number and requires great skill to progress.

It's almost like its saying, 'C'mon now, you've played the other games, you know what to do, just get on with it', and then just throws you down into a level full of fire and pipes and expects to you swim rather than sink. This game is not for amateurs or children.

Unlike previous incarnations in a Mario world, you are introduced to a usable object gradually before the reigns are taken off, here they throw it at you and just expect you to get on with it.

Awesome game, just, not for kids.

[Pacino86845]

Did you get a chance to try out the multi-player? I dunno, Mario games are the most welcome dead-horse-beatings in the video game industry, they just always seem like such classics, I don't know how the fuck Nintendo does it.

[papalazeru]

Did you get a chance to try out the multi-player? I dunno, Mario games are the most welcome dead-horse-beatings in the video game industry, they just always seem like such classics, I don't know how the fuck Nintendo does it.

I've played multiplayer in the main game briefly with my girlfriend, to be honest we had a blast trying to jump on each others heads, as for proper coop play, I can't tell you. I will play the multiplayer over this weekend so I'll get back to you.

It's not quite a classic as other Nintendo games are because there's just no that twist that each of the others had, Galaxy (spherical universes), World (Yoshi and being part adventure game), Mario N64 (Threeeeee Deeeeee Baby, and an adventure game) and Mario Bros original (first person shooter ). The Wii version is just more with little turns and tweaks but not enough to call a twist as such.

Still, it's kept me in Angry Video Gaming Nerd mode since I bought it, which must be a good thing - Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

[papalazeru]

Just bought myself the new cartoon styled Prince of Persia this Christmas because it was discount.

What a stinker of a game. The lush graphics does well to hide the poorly playtested controls and silly level design and fails to live up to the worst of the previous incarnations.

One of the most unbelievable features of the recent Prince of Persia game franchise was the camera angles, the sands of time was near perfect with being able to predict where you needed to go, which is version the camera gives me the worst possible angle for my Parkour Prince my make his next move.

The controls really are a joke. It's like one of the designers had a panic attack and thought it would be better to make the actions more user accessible by removing the ability to perform them. The Prince now runs like he's on rails with little more than the odd tap. Just to make sure that you know it's on rails, they even put scratch marks on the walls to show you where to wall run etc....How fucking stupid is that? Like everyone goes round with metal gloves practising free running.

Another flaw I find with this game is that the Prince was always pretty good at managing on his own, with a spot of bother it was out with the sand o time and boom, you get to do it again but only for a few times. This one, you can continually drop into a pit and never die!!! The girl comes in and pulls you back to a safe point over and over again.

Oh, and on a side note, why does a woman who has magic abilities, who can leap down chasms and pull you back to safety, who can jump a good 15 ft in the air, who can even fly at points, well why does she need to be carried across vine on the Princes back? Gee! You developers thought long and hard about that one didn't you.

As you meander through the boring drudgery of similarly looking levels and colour palettes, not being able to die, not fighting anything very different at all, you realise that the game is lacking Jeapary, there's nothing to attach you to the main character; even the story is a poor hash of previous games.

I'm not even going to go into how the Prince has been cursed by some wizard, forever to talk like a member of the friends cast and removing all trace of this previous accent.

Fucking Dur! What a way to kill a franchise.

I'm giving it a staggering 4/10.

Someone give me the sands of time so I can kill the makers of this game. You covered up a turd of a game really well with good visuals, shame people are smarter than that then, isn't Ubisoft.

[travis-dane]

ouch!

[papalazeru]

ouch!

I'm being nice too.

I mentioned nothing about the double jump facility which involved the girl materialising above your head and helping you jump that bit further. It's the most basic of gameplay mechanic and there was no need to involve another person in the equation.

Nor did I talk about how the original 3d games gave you a sense of satisfaction darting around using your well honed skills to adeptly move between one wall and the next trap, this game involves button mashing and also a button buffer, you press someting and it stores it up to use at the next button mash point. It's ludicrous.

Rubbish.

[/vent]

[papalazeru]

As it was on discount, I got myself Serious Sam HD: The first encounter, and it's a discernable treat.

It's almost exactly the same game as the original with a few modifications. Bear with me as the game has quite a few flaws.

The graphics have certainly been upped, and they look good. The character movements and weapons all look pretty and very crisp and it moves very fluidly.
Nothing has changed in the way of sound at all. That's not a bad point as Serious Sam's sounds are one of neccessity with jokes thrown in every so often to keep every geek amused - and they are funny.
The level design, as in previous incarnations, fails to impress. With it's nice graphics they are just sprawling hunks of nothingness. Everytime you enter a section, there's a few tree's, the odd destructible statue and that's about it, it's pretty flat. you'd think that as they were doing an HD version they'd incorporate more into the scenery that the bland lifeless colourscheme which they have.

Now the bad is out the way, it's time to get to the good.

No. Other. Game. Makes. You. Fight. So. Many. Enemies. AT THE SAME TIME.

With more modern technology the Serious Sam series shows more enemies on screen than any I've ever seen in my life. This really is the Rambo IV of the game world when it comes to body counts. Every last inch of performance saved on level detail or particles which makes all those 'other' FPS's so beautiful and photorealistic have been spent on sending as many Frakkin' enemies at you as contemporaneously possible. When they start coming, you'd better start praying. I mean it.

It's just you, your guns against millions of enemies. The game boasts humorously that it could have a million enemies on the screen at the same time, and it's believable.

You're given every standard game shooty weapon under the sun, from simple pistols to Rocket Launchers and their version of the BFG - it's a BIG portable old stlye Warship CANNON?!?!?!? and they squeeze every last pellet out of you. When the baddies start coming, you start using and you keep fighting until you're on your pistols fighting the unending sea of forces swamping you every step of your way. It's captivating and fills you with dread at the same time.

There will be times where you will have to repeat parts again, and again, and again, as you never EVER see the end of the horde coming for you.

It's not a perfect game but it's one of the finest balancing acts you can get. Out goes the complex puzzles and story telling, and in comes an infinite number of baddies - and it works. I love games that aren't ashamed to say what they are, and this stands proud above anything I've seen .

It's not an FPS, this is a straight Shoot 'em up. Drop your brain in a jar and let it rest as you give your eyes and fingers the working of a life time.

9/10

Love it.

One day, I'll be brave enough to try it on Hard but normal is making me feel hysterical as it is.

[Fievel]

One day, I'll be brave enough to try it on Hard but normal is making me feel hysterical as it is.

That's what she said.

[Maui]

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (on Xbox) - I spent 4 hours trying to kill 8 spaghetti tornados - mamma mia! The missions are a blast and the graphics are excellent. I haven't had this much fun since The Simpson's Hit and Run.

[Maui]

Well I finally beat the game. Last mission was to destroy the FLDSMDFR (Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator) which I succeeded in doing. I'm a bit disappointed the game is over. May trade it in for another game.

I'm currently playing Grid, Shift, Left 4 Dead 2, and GTA4. I need to get LIVE soon so I can mess with other people online.

[Bayouwolf]

I need to get LIVE soon so I can mess with other people online.

Me too! I can't believe I've had an X-box for over 3 years now, and have never played an online match...

Left 4 Dead 2 is great and all, but the AI characters are all but useless unless you need to be healed, or are stupid enough to allow a smoker to grab you and need assistance (those Jockey's are tough little bastards though...)

I needs me some real players...

[Maui]

I need to get LIVE soon so I can mess with other people online.

Me too! I can't believe I've had an X-box for over 3 years now, and have never played an online match...

Get the wireless hookup and the Gold membership already. I just have to get the USB wireless adaptor then I'm good to go.

[Wolfpack]

Playing Mass Effect. Damn there's a lot of yammering in this game.

[stereosforgeeks]

Playing Mass Effect. Damn there's a lot of yammering in this game.

Getting ready for the second one?

[Wolfpack]

Playing Mass Effect. Damn there's a lot of yammering in this game.

Getting ready for the second one?

I'm actually a Mass Effect virgin. I figured I'd better get my first playthrough in before the sequel hits.

[stereosforgeeks]

Playing Mass Effect. Damn there's a lot of yammering in this game.

Getting ready for the second one?

I'm actually a Mass Effect virgin. I figured I'd better get my first playthrough in before the sequel hits.

The game has its problems but overall its a pretty damn good. Im really looking forward to the second one.

[papalazeru]

Playing Mass Effect. Damn there's a lot of yammering in this game.

Getting ready for the second one?

I'm actually a Mass Effect virgin. I figured I'd better get my first playthrough in before the sequel hits.

The game has its problems but overall its a pretty damn good. Im really looking forward to the second one.

It did have some great moments. I thought the story was fun. Possibly the worst moments are having to trapse round planets in your buggy doing virtually nothing. The combat system wasn't great but the game has nice visuals. Some parts got boring walking around and it would have been nice to have a more bustling community of NPC's.

Also, the Galaxy was a lot smaller than I hoped for. I wasn't expecting planets and Galaxies on the scale of say Elite, but there were only a few which had space hubs and one some planets you could visit.

Still, it's an above average game and it had me playing to the end without too much prompting.

[Pacino86845]

I went to Electronic Arts yesterday and I got to play the Army of Two of sequel that's coming out next week. They were shooting this internet promo video, so my rise to stardom finally begins!

They also hired Kirk as an extra, he played "controller 2."

I told them the game was awesome, in reality it's "pretty good." They opt for a somewhat more strategic FPS experience, playing the campaign with a second player is pretty cool. We didn't play long enough to get really proficient and strategic, but we saw the potential (I was playing with a buddy of mine).

Story-wise I have no idea what's going on, you show up in China as two mercenaries, you start killing a bunch of Chinese people and buildings in Shanghai come crashing down. I get the feeling that the game has a twist and that you play as the "bad guys" actually, or the bosses of your characters are the bad guys and they're terrorizing the Chinese. If that's case then it's a pretty interesting twist IMO.

For my awesome performance as "promo video performer #5" they are mailing me a copy of the game next week. I should be able to say more when I play it then, I suppose.

[Peven]

you lucky, lucky bastard

[Pacino86845]

That's right, who wants to touch me? I said WHO WANTS TO TOUCH ME!?

[Peven]

you always make me wear gloves

[Leckomaniac]

They just probably couldn't believe that such a hot chick would be playing video games.

Hot chicks get EVERYTHING.

[magicmonkey]

Story-wise I have no idea what's going on, you show up in China as two mercenaries, you start killing a bunch of Chinese people and buildings in Shanghai come crashing down.

THAT WAS YOU??* Being Electronic Arts I wonder if it was Shanghai's Ubisoft building you were destroying...








*That building is literally 10 minutes from where I live!

[Wolfpack]

The best part about destroying Ubisoft buildings is that fewer Imagine games will be released for the DS.

[Pacino86845]

So unfortunately my video game commercial has been shelved. Such is the volatile nature of the cruel and merciless entertainment industry. The commercial director's bosses and the marketing team apparently loved the result, but it seems the executives couldn't see how the commercial would help sell the game. Well if you ask me EA has a lot of problems... I got my free copy of Army of Two, not sure I will actually bother playing it. But as a consolation for not using the commercial they are gonna send me another game from the EA catalogue, of my choosing.

I looked through the list, most of it doesn't seem that interesting. Dragon Age looks like it will eat my soul.

So right now I am debating between The Saboteur and Brutal Legend. Any suggestions? I've seen mixed reviews for both, with Brutal Legend getting more praise though.

EDIT: There's also that new Mass Effect game coming out, pretty sure that would also be an option.

[Hermanator X]

Funnily enough, I was just about to post that im off to play Dragon Age for a bit. Tis fantastic.
20 hours in, 30% of the world explored, and its still entertaining as hell. Go on, you know you want too.

Saying that, ME2 looks pretty damn good too. Heres the brand spanking new launch trailer for it. Click here for kool aliens, spaceships n splosions.

[Pacino86845]

Dragon Age does seem like a lot of fun, but these days I actively avoid long games.

The Mass Effect 2 trailer is fancy, I'm gonna look for game play footage though... one downside is that it stars Sam Worthington, although I admit he doesn't look as wooden here as he does in feature films.

[Doc Holliday]

Dragon Age will kill you - first playthrough soaked up around 55 hours, and that left a myriad of subquests uncompleted. I'm already about 25 hours in to the second playthrough, exploring different outcomes with a whole new character...and I can already see justifications for a third go as well. Its a lifeeater.

Will I learn? Hells No - Mass Effect 2 in one week and counting....

[King Psyz]

MAG

It's insanely addictive, time flies by too. It's the perfect gateway FPS for nerds. You get XP and unlockable weapons and abilities ala JRPGs yet in a sill tree that makes sense to the game type.

Fighting in Domination matches of 128 vs 128 is batshiat insane. Yet with a good comander, totally playable. Last night I played a match with no comander, yet we still won somehow we had enough of us who knew what to do. But this is a great game for beginers too because instead of having to guess what's the best thing to do your comanders will give out FRAGO orders for top priorities and completing those will double experience earned.

I also appreciate they value healing, repair, and sabotoge moreso than straight kills. Prevents the snipers and run and gunners from dominating.

If you have a PS3 and have even considered FPS games before you need this game... then join my clan

[stereosforgeeks]

Dragon Age will kill you - first playthrough soaked up around 55 hours, and that left a myriad of subquests uncompleted. I'm already about 25 hours in to the second playthrough, exploring different outcomes with a whole new character...and I can already see justifications for a third go as well. Its a lifeeater.

Will I learn? Hells No - Mass Effect 2 in one week and counting....

15 hours into Mass Effect 2 since tuesday. =/ Love it!!!!

[Maui]

15 hours into Mass Effect 2 since tuesday. =/ Love it!!!!

I have about that many hours into Truth or Square and it's equally as violent. Seriously though, I've been hearing great things about ME2, I might have to check it out.

[stereosforgeeks]

15 hours into Mass Effect 2 since tuesday. =/ Love it!!!!

I have about that many hours into Truth or Square and it's equally as violent. Seriously though, I've been hearing great things about ME2, I might have to check it out.

You really should play the first one and import your character. It makes a lot of difference to the story. Also, while the first had a lot of quirks all seem to be cleared up for this sequel.

[papalazeru]

15 hours into Mass Effect 2 since tuesday. =/ Love it!!!!

I have about that many hours into Truth or Square and it's equally as violent. Seriously though, I've been hearing great things about ME2, I might have to check it out.

You really should play the first one and import your character. It makes a lot of difference to the story. Also, while the first had a lot of quirks all seem to be cleared up for this sequel.

What about those drab planet/moon surface missions where you just drive around doing absolutely nothing for ages wondering why they even bothered because it brings the game down?

Are they still in it?

[stereosforgeeks]

15 hours into Mass Effect 2 since tuesday. =/ Love it!!!!

I have about that many hours into Truth or Square and it's equally as violent. Seriously though, I've been hearing great things about ME2, I might have to check it out.

You really should play the first one and import your character. It makes a lot of difference to the story. Also, while the first had a lot of quirks all seem to be cleared up for this sequel.

What about those drab planet/moon surface missions where you just drive around doing absolutely nothing for ages wondering why they even bothered because it brings the game down?

Are they still in it?

Not at all. Though they do have planet scanning mini-games which are boring but much better.

[Hermanator X]

Im 40 or so hours into a playthrough of Dragon Age, and definately want to go again. Im trying to stick by "whatever happens, happens" and go back to old save points to redo sections.
The amount of choice and the divergent paths in the game are pretty awesome.

But saying that, im looking to "maybe" pick up mass effect 2 today, as its an introductory lower starting price in a local store. Bye bye free time.....

[Maui]

15 hours into Mass Effect 2 since tuesday. =/ Love it!!!!

I have about that many hours into Truth or Square and it's equally as violent. Seriously though, I've been hearing great things about ME2, I might have to check it out.

You really should play the first one and import your character. It makes a lot of difference to the story. Also, while the first had a lot of quirks all seem to be cleared up for this sequel.

Will do SFG. I'll try to get my hands on a used copy.

[Wolfpack]

Mad World for the Wii. An extremely violent game. A very, very violent game. It's got a sleek black-and-white graphic novel style presentation. It also lets you throw enemies into meat grinders, repeatedly slam them into giant meathooks, and throw them into a giant hand which then crushes them like a paper cup. Among other things.