WHAT PLAY YOU!? Version 3.0

[TildeGuy~!]

One thing that annoyed me with Yotei was they’ve been pushing the Watanabe Mode(Directer of Samurai Champloo) it basically provides a lo-fi soundtrack to the game, it only has 2 songs that just loop over and over again.

[TildeGuy~!]

Started Alan Wake 2 this week and although I love the story I’m just not doing a good job with the combat at all, any tips?

[The King Of Swing]

Still need to get around to playing the first game. 

Doesn't Alan Wake also share the same universe as Control? 

[FLips]

With the cancellation of my Gamepass I've used it as an excuse to match my mindset with retro and DVDs and return to physical media. There's never been a better time to buy physical games than now looking at the prices of them. We're in "4 for £20" Gamestation era of deals now and I'm not going to do what I did with that and take it for granted and find myself a decade later looking at just one of those games costing more than £20.

Did a quick mooch over to CEX this morning and got a few bits for Xbox. Me and a mate are heading out to do a few more stores tomorrow. Not looking to go mad with it, but just grab some games I know I like, or ones I've not played.

Got Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition for £6, Evil Within for £3, and Maid of Sker for £10. For reference, non-sale digital prices for those on Xbox are £15.74, £14.99 and £19.99 respectively. A saving of £31.72 on just 3 games. It's also cheaper than a month of Gamepass now so even if I blast through all 3 of them in one month, I've saved money. 
I had my eyes on DOOM (£3), Rise of the Tomb Raider (£3) and Halo: Master Chief Collection (£8) but for one reason or another held off on them.
I know I could get them for lower prices on sale, but then when I go to play it a few years from now and it's gone, I've shot myself in the foot. I dug my old 360 out recently and the amount of digital games that are suddenly missing from that is wild.

On one hand I feel like I've been mugged off with the move into digital consoles and digital games. They offered us convenience but the prices went up and up and we slowly started losing our rights when it came to access and ownership. On the other hand, I'm somewhat thankful because the decline of popularity of physical media means everything costs fuck all right now. Probably won't stay that way for long though, the lass in CEX said she also cancelled her Gamepass and started collecting again, and said she's had a few customers in doing the same thing.

[Merzbow]

4 minutes ago, FLips said:

I dug my old 360 out recently and the amount of digital games that are suddenly missing from that is wild.

It's the perfect time for that console to finally be easily hacked, so much is delisted and XBLA is all but dead. Luckily people are keeping up game updates too so even when all the servers are down you can still patch games through a modded console.

[JLM]

Been absolutely hammering Hades 2 since it came out. Not a revolutionary sequel and I didn’t want it to be. It’s another hundred or so hours of Hades for me to enjoy and I love it. Furiously addictive gameplay loop, killer soundtrack and the really fun use of the roguelike structure to drip feed story. Also packed with amazing little details and bits of incidental dialogue that make me glad I was patient and waited for the full release. 
 

Also just getting started with Absolum from the Streets of Rage 4 team. Doesn’t quite have the depth of SOR4’s combat and combo system, but balances that by adding in the replay value of a roguelike, with the buffs and builds opening up more possibilities. It feels like the survival mode DLC for SOR4 (which myself and a friend played to death) was their test run for this. Gorgeous art style, satisfying combat and a phenomenal soundtrack. Legendary composers contributing songs, with Yuta Kitamura, Motoi Sakuraba and this one where Mick Gordon is unleashing a new level of hell even by his standards: 

 

Edited October 11, 2025 by JLM

[The King Of Swing]

I've also been hitting CEX recently for PS2 games. Though most of the games I'm into were already on the pricier side. 

Noticed that Forbidden Siren 2 is over £150. Good thing I already picked that up years ago and never got rid of it.

Over the last few years I've picked up all of the PS2 era Shin Megami Tensei games other than Persona 3 and P3FES. 

Recently added Persona 4, Dot Hack Part 1 and Dragon Quest 8, to the collection. Having a blast getting back into OG P4.

My bank account is gonna be fucked?

[RedTwoster]

6 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

Recently added Persona 4, Dot Hack Part 1 and Dragon Quest 8, to the collection. Having a blast getting back into OG P4.

I worked my way through older games in the Dragon Quest series after playing - and loving - XI and Builers 1  2 on Switch. I’m yet to play VIII, which is kinda mad given its reputation. Your post has reminded me that I really need to do that.

While we’re talking DQ - the V remake on the DS is by far my favourite one. It’s mad that there’s no way of playing it on modern consoles, given how innovative and fun it is.

VII - which is being remade - starts off strong, then goes on about 70-hours too long, it took me 129 hours to complete and I was very, very fed up of it at that point but in too deep to just drop it. I needed to feel like the time I spent on it was worthwhile. It was not.

[FLips]

Picked up a few more modern discs today but that will be me for the foreseeable future as I want to actually sit and play through them.

Evil Within 2 - £3.50
Redout (Looks to be a Wipeout/Fast RMX/F-Zero style futuristic racer worth a punt) - £3
Rad Rodgers - £4
Balan Wonderworld - £4
Okami HD - £6
Rare Replay - £3
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - £8
Rise of The Tomb Raider - £3
Prey - £2.50
Biomutant - £4

So totalled with the 3 games I got yesterday (Maid of Sker, Evil Within and Tomb Raider) I've spent £60 for 13 games (way more if you count the individual games on the Rare Replay). These will last me well into the new year now. That's less than 3 months of Gamepass, and less than buying a new release which now are in the £65-70 mark. I almost feel stupid talking about the idea of pre-owned games as if it's something new. I just completely forgot how good we had it.

I've had a go of a few bits over the weekend. Tomb Raider is actually one I played on Steam a few years back and it's a perfectly fine action adventure game. It's in that sweet spot where you gather scrap but it's for upgrades and abilities and not just crafting ammo like every game makes you do now. It means it's worth mooching for hidden tombs and secrets because it makes you stronger and unlocks new abilities. I forgot how brutal Lara has it though, she dies in some horrific ways in this, especially during the Resi 4 style quicktime events.

I feel like I'm living in a fantasy world too but I'm actually enjoying Balan Wonderworld. It has flaws for sure, but the conclusion me and my mate came to earlier while playing it is that it's the kind of game that would show up if you looked for "underrated PS1 games" or "cult classic Dreamcast games". It's not Astrobot, it doesn't compare to modern examples of platformers. It's more in line with a Tomba, or a Billy Hatcher and The Giant Egg, or some obscure Japan-only Saturn release people all decide they like 20 years after it comes out when it was panned at the time.
It's weird, it's basic, but it has unique ideas and an odd classic charm to it. I wouldn't say it's worth the full asking price on release, but for £4? Absolute steal. 
Good music, the gameplay is perfectly fine, and it has an old school SEGA Saturn/Dreamcast vibe to it that's totally in my Q Zone with it's wonky cutscenes and temu Chao Garden.
I think it got a really bad rap at release and it almost became cool to dogpile on it. No joke but if you're in the market for a modern game right out of the year 2000 then give it a chance.

On a similar level I picked up Rad Rodgers because it's a spiritual successor to the Amiga game Ruff N Tumble. It's the same kid (now called Rad Rodgers instead of Ruff Rodgers), similar gameplay. It's not the same people developing it though, so it's a bit of an enigma. Did they get the rights to make this or did they just do it? I have no idea.
Again though for £4 it was worth a punt. We only played a couple of levels in couch coop but it seemed fun. They've game him a few new gadgets including a foul-mouthed console backpack. Came with a free upgrade too so you can play as guest characters including Duke Nukem and Shadow Warrior's Lo Wang.

Not that I plan on selling them eventually but seeing the price my mate has had to pay for some right unknown indie stuff to finish his Wii U collection, games like this, Redout, and Balan Wonderland I can see being those "nobody bought them so now they cost £80" type games 10 years from now. Better to take a risk on them now than leave it to when the only market for them is collectors and the price rockets.

Edited October 12, 2025 by FLips

[waters44]

A friend of mine is going through a messy breakup atm and was taking these to the tip. I said I’d take them off his hands even though I don’t have an Xbox or anything. I’ll try and find a cheap 360. What are the highlights? 

[Cousin Jim Bob]

There is way more highlights than lowlights. It looks a good collection albeit two copies of Too Human.

Highlights for me would be the Halo, Mass Effect and Gears or War games. Skyrim, Spec Ops The Line, Batman Arkham Asylum, Prototype, Blue Dragon, Singularity, Last Remnant, Dead Space, Lost Odyssey, Left 4 Dead, Dark Souls.

It's probably easier to say games to give a miss to tbh. I would sack off Alone In The Dark, Army of Two and Too Human straight of the bat but even some of those games have their fans.

[FLips]

Yeah that’s a really good collection. If I had to pick some of them I’d say

Blue Dragon
Mass Effect series
Halo series
Gear of War series
Left 4 Dead 1 & 2
Skyrim
Dead Space
Overlord
Army of Two (I’m one of the fans Jim Bob mentioned)
Kingdoms Of Amalur Reckoning.

Any you don’t end up keeping, find the time to sell them to CEX rather than toss them in the skip. They give decent prices for retro but also it’s nice to keep them in circulation as there’s buyers for 360 these days. 


 

[The King Of Swing]

From what I've seen online, Lost Odyssey is held in pretty high regard among some JRPG fans. Have it digitally but never got around to playing it. 

Blue Dragon is pretty decent from what I've played. 

[waters44]

14 hours ago, FLips said:

Yeah that’s a really good collection. If I had to pick some of them I’d say

Blue Dragon
Mass Effect series
Halo series
Gear of War series
Left 4 Dead 1 & 2
Skyrim
Dead Space
Overlord
Army of Two (I’m one of the fans Jim Bob mentioned)
Kingdoms Of Amalur Reckoning.

Any you don’t end up keeping, find the time to sell them to CEX rather than toss them in the skip. They give decent prices for retro but also it’s nice to keep them in circulation as there’s buyers for 360 these days. 


 

Yeah I’ll definitely either keep them or trade them in. I need to get a new PS3 Guitar Hero guitar so I could do with the CEX store credit to get that 

[RedTwoster]

On 10/13/2025 at 7:01 PM, The King Of Swing said:

From what I've seen online, Lost Odyssey is held in pretty high regard among some JRPG fans. Have it digitally but never got around to playing it. 

It’s decent, but it shows its age at times. The main villain looks utterly ridiculous and the voice acting for him at least is weak. That said, it’s a crying shame that it’s locked to the Xbox. I’d love to see it ported to modern consoles.