WHAT PLAY YOU!? Version 3.0

[The Gaffer]

Saints Row 2 is my favourite GTA game. 

More fleshed out than the relative proof-of-concept that was the first game, but nowhere near the plasticky, curated-for-whackiness sleaze of The Third. It almost tricks you into thinking it's just an okay, derivative sandbox crime game until you realise you're doing that thing where you're driving taxis around in traffic pretending you live in the city. 

Its tone is like a mix of an open world Streets of Rage game and a pirate radio station. It's a weirdly comforting mix of run down, stoned atmospheres with huge mission and side activity variety where absolutely nothing reinvents the wheel or has been thought through too much, but it doesn't matter because it's all so breezy to control through.

It was enough to make me earworm on a dozen dubious dancehall tunes I never would have given the time of day outside its confines. Also the cockney geezah preset voice pretty much gives the game its main character. It's pointless picking any other voice option. Especially if you make your default walking style that lazy pimp lean. 

[Merzbow]

I definitely need to give SR2 another go, I had it on PC but it's one of the worst ports ever made so didn't ever even get far in it. 

Luckily it seems like modders have pretty much fixed everything and they're still updating the patches even today.

[Accident Prone]

I've got SR2 modded on my steamdeck, works brilliantly. It comes with the powered-up baseball bat already unlocked so as its my third playthrough I've whacked it on the hardest difficulty to compensate for the comically devastating baseball bat attack. Its an excellent game and pairs nicely with the more detailed, more dense, slower paced GTA4.

[LaGoosh]

15 hours ago, CleetusVanDamme said:

this thread can never go a few pages without Sleeping Dogs rightfully being brought up and praised

I still don't understand why games like GTA haven't copied it's excellent fight system. Instead they've stuck with ridiculous button mashing. The hand to hand fighting in Sleeping Dogs was so much fun.

[Arch Stanton]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

I still don't understand why games like GTA haven't copied it's excellent fight system. Instead they've stuck with ridiculous button mashing. The hand to hand fighting in Sleeping Dogs was so much fun.

The most satisfying melee fighting system of any game I've ever played (the Arkham games not far behind). In the latter parts of the game, once you've levelled up and learned all the Kung Fu techniques, I remember feeling near-invincible bowling up to a gang of thugs and just fucking everyone up. 

[CleetusVanDamme]

Though it's not a GTA-like, I love the look of the combat in Acts of Blood. It's from a small Indonesian dev, so can't expect the world, but I just want to kick people in the face. I reallly hope it's good.

It comes to PC in December, consoles next year. 

[Jazzy G]

I have Sleeping Dogs on PS4. I started playing it and liked the unique elements like trying not to get too deep in your undercover work, or appear too close to the police in case you blow your cover. Maybe I should sign my account in on Vicky's PS4 so I can have another play of it. Although I'd have to drag myself away from Borderlands to do that. 

[Merzbow]

Started back on a Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines save and it's such a shame that this entire genre of game is dead outside of the Indies, big budget Immersive Sims are my favourite games. Prey, Dishonored and the later Deus Ex titles were the perfect modernisation of it, they sold relatively well but because it wasn't Call of Duty like numbers publishers sacked any idea of more off.

[Carbomb]

22 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

Started back on a Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines save and it's such a shame that this entire genre of game is dead outside of the Indies, big budget Immersive Sims are my favourite games. Prey, Dishonored and the later Deus Ex titles were the perfect modernisation of it, they sold relatively well but because it wasn't Call of Duty like numbers publishers sacked any idea of more off.

I've been playing this recently. It also has the added bonus of being nostalgic as fuck - throws me right back to my early 20s and uni years.

It's got so much replay value, as well. The same game can be played so drastically differently depending on the bloodline you play as. I first played as a Tremere, which is a ton of fun for all the blood magic spells. Played as Ventrue, which isn't too different, but has its moments. Toreador is stupid but fun. I haven't yet got round to playing as a Nosferatu or a Malkavian yet - that's going to be bit mental. Might play as a Gangrel next, though. Least interested in Bruja, which is odd for someone of my politics. 

[Jazzy G]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

Might play as a Gangrel next, though.

Stat bonuses for eating cheese & onion crisps? 

[The King Of Swing]

Vaguely remember the hotel (I think it was a hotel) section, genuinely creeping me out.

Cracking game. 

[Jazzy G]

I picked it up for a couple of quid on GOG as part of a sale. I've got the second one on my wishlist as well in case such a discount comes along again. 

[Carbomb]

4 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

Vaguely remember the hotel (I think it was a hotel) section, genuinely creeping me out.

Cracking game. 

Yeh, that was bloody terrifying at one point. The bits where the ghost of the axe murderer shows up in particular.

[Merzbow]

More layoffs for a team that actually made significant sales, Sony have let 28 people go from Sucker Punch who just made Ghost of Yotei and it's DLC.

I feel like it's sadly the norm for game development now, instead of keeping teams together they just dispose of workers during "down time". It's all penny pinching while over worked and over crunched workers never have a stable job.

Edited 21 hours ago by Merzbow

[Jazzy G]

It's dreadful. The things these big companies will do to make it look like they're turning a bigger profit just so they can give their CEO a nice big bonus.