WHAT PLAY YOU?

[KrAzY]

I bought UT3 and MGS4 today. Both Awesome games.

[Daniel de Soto]

I'm currently on mission 4 on 40k Squad Commander, how the heck do you not get blow to shit by the tank, about 2 turns in it turns up and then 4 dead scouts, which incidentally are the only ones carrying rocket launchers to destroy the damn thing...

[mattshutter]

I'm playing through Unreal Tournament 3. I played it for hours last night (campaign mode) then stupidly went and wiped over my saved game. So now I have to do it all again :(

[JLM]

The Club

 

The Dee-Jay is rocking, crowd's about to Max Out,

No tickets on the door, no luck from the touts.

Three months in advance the show was sold out,

Show's essential like water, but for most there's a drought.

 

Get to the door, Bouncer's built like T. Hawk,

Feels like if you messed up, you'd be outlined in chalk.

Gig starts at eight thirty, but outside at ten,

the queue's still long like Fei, people need to attend.

 

Girl on the door tries to give you a card

Plugging some night club, she's blocking the bar.

Holding your night up, desperate to shill,

you walk past and blank 'er like you're green from Brazil.

 

Get to the bar, you see some weird shit,

barman's arm's six feet long and he's chanting sanskrit.

Guy standing in front sees the look on your face,

"The Barman? That's Dhalsim, he's new to the place".

 

Woman orders Sambucca and asks him to light it,

Loses most of her hair as his flame breath ignites it.

Step away from the bar, you ordered a beer,

not sure if you'll go back and conquer your fear.

 

You're caught by surprise by a hulking great man,

he offers you vodka and sticks out his hand.

You take the handshake and he crushes your fingers,

You take a huge gulp but the pain still lingers.

 

The vodka is foul, the strongest you've tasted.

Spit it out, big mistake, you're about to get pasted.

"You insult me like this after shaking my hand?

You spit in my face, you insult the mother land!"

 

"Calm it down Zangief, that stuff tastes like crap,

plus it looks like you'd kill him with one or two slaps."

The Russian turns round to see who's stepped in,

He looks down and smiles with a menacing grin.

 

"Ken Masters, so cocky, such a big loud mouth

[Mikey Freedom]

A WARNING TO ALL.DO NOT BUY BEIJING 2008 FOR THE PC.I cannot state this enough. I've waited years for a decent olympics game. Finally get it and it's unplayable. Literally unplayable. Why? Because if you don't have a 360 controller, you might as well take the game back. The game actually uses the 360 control system, and to accomodate the keyboard users, doesn't even let you configure or even TELL you what the bumper/trigger keys are. At least the manual is helpful, saying that the game is made for a 360 controller(Would have helped if they said that on the box eh?) and showing you all the lovely gamepad controls.Oh but wait there's more. All you USB Gamepad users out there, including myself with a lovely thrustmaster that has all the 360 controls, including two triggers......NORMAL GAMEPADS DO NOT WORK!!!!!!!So in closing, fuck Sega and their evil twin Microsoft. Lazy moneygrabbing bastards.

[DJ Stevie C]

The Club

I'm guessing that isn't a tribute to the Sega game then?

[Astro Hollywood]

I think I've spent the last three and a half months playing nothing but the 2Fort map on Team Fortress II on the 360. It's my default before bed activity, and I probably haven't missed a day in the last six weeks.WANKER BY YOUR HEAD WANKER

[Chest Rockwell]

I downloaded the demo for Lego Indy yesterday... After playing it, my housemate and I immediately walked up to Sainsburys to buy the game.Man it's fun! I never played the Star Wars ones because I don't really care about Star Wars too much... But this game both makes me want to watch the Indy films again and play with Lego. And play the video game at the same time. Yeah. It's that good.

[Mitch]

Siren Blood Curse - episodic horror for the PS3. Good idea in theory, and while the game is excellent, a lot of people will be instantly put off my the 9GB download.

[Danny C]

I'm still playing Mario Kart Wii and Smash Brothers a lot.My main grip with Smash Brothers being no 1vs 1 online fights, opting for a four way each time. Its exactly the same with wrestling, you can't beat the psycology of a 1vs1 match.

[chunk3rvd]

Still to this day - 15 months after buying it - I still play Mario Strikers Charged more than any other game. It initially just seems like a fun arcade-style football game with some good mechanics and fun items, but the moment you realise the options that "tricking" opens up you see that this is one of the most diverse multiplayer sports games ever. For an idea of how tricking can be used, check out these videos. If you've played the game before but never truly got your head around tricks, you'll be amazed:

 

Bug's Trick Video

 

On a higher level, the stuff that's possible with Waluigi's special Wall move is incredible:

 

Wall-uigi Tricks

 

Online is filled with a variety of players ranging from shooters to tricksters - I sit somewhere comfortably inbetween so can adapt my game to take on most opponents. I'd say I win around 80-90% of online matches. There's still enough people playing too - you never wait more than a minute for a 1v1 match.

 

You can pick this game up now for

[klown]

currently enjoying the Arcade section over at OTTER, Mario games,and some fun little games like chopper.

[Danny C]

Still to this day - 15 months after buying it - I still play Mario Strikers Charged more than any other game. It initially just seems like a fun arcade-style football game with some good mechanics and fun items, but the moment you realise the options that "tricking" opens up you see that this is one of the most diverse multiplayer sports games ever. For an idea of how tricking can be used, check out these videos. If you've played the game before but never truly got your head around tricks, you'll be amazed:Bug's Trick VideoOn a higher level, the stuff that's possible with Waluigi's special Wall move is incredible:Wall-uigi TricksOnline is filled with a variety of players ranging from shooters to tricksters - I sit somewhere comfortably inbetween so can adapt my game to take on most opponents. I'd say I win around 80-90% of online matches. There's still enough people playing too - you never wait more than a minute for a 1v1 match.You can pick this game up now for

[JLM]

No Stevie, just something I was linked to and felt like posting. The Club was disappointingly shit.

 

In other news, I've played some things in between Halo sessions.

 

Primarily, Soul Calibur IV has been occupying my time. It's everything number three should have been. Glorious visuals and sound (as ever, I'd recommend switching the voices back to Japanese, even if you lose Frank Oz), more unlockables and better presentation. Gameplay remains what you'd expect in terms of mechanics but they've added some twists here and there. The abilities/attributes attached to accessories and weapons are more pronounced and some of the special skills are nuts now. Also like the tower of souls mode. Character Creation is much better than before and, by the end, it looks like you'll have quite a big range of options. I have made an awesome recreation of Harley Quinn so far and I haven't unlocked much at all.

 

In terms of characters I haven't noticed drastic differences. Most have new looks and new moves here and there but are largely as they were. I like that they've made some changes to the "clone" characters to make them more worthwhile. For instance, Lizardman's style is clearly distinguished from Sophitia now and there are more differences between Rock and Astaroth than before. The minor characters you can unlock via story mode are also fun despite being variations on existing people. As an example, Angol Fear fights very much like Seung Mina but has a weapon that is different in such a way that it changes distinctly alters how you'd play with her. She also has cool anime stylings because she's designed by a guest artist who is a Mangaka by trade.

 

In terms of new characters, Hilde is brilliant. A totally new style to play with, excellent design and a great addition to the series. Algol is tremendous fun and one of the better bosses they've come up with. As for one of the key selling points, well, the Jedi are a mixed bag. The Apprentice fits in reasonably well apart from a couple of cheap Force-based moves. His style is quite cool and he displays some of that funky agility you expect from a man wielding a light sabre.

 

Yoda is both amazing and totally shit. To play as him is wonderful. So much fun, his visuals are flawless, the light sabre noises are perfect and he spouts Yoda-isms as often as you'd expect. So yeah, he's been captured beautifully and is everything you'd hope for. Pitting him against The Apprentice makes you wish they'd just made a full on Star Wars game using this engine.

 

However, problems arise when you have to fight against Yoda because, as an IGN reviewer rightly pointed out, he is fundamentally broken. Briefly, his size gives him a ludicrous advantage over everybody in the game because at least half of every character's offense cannot hit him at all unless he jumps up to meet it. Pit him against Astaroth and you'll see just how unfair this can be. Even Astaroth's upward/downward swinging vertical attacks are a struggle and you're reduced to using sweeps and other puny moves to try and hit him in the face. In addition to that, it's impossible to throw him. Every character's grab animation goes over his head, and when you do Yoda vs Yoda you can't throw him because his own throw is designed to jump up and grab regular-sized characters by the head. Considering just how much damage some of the throws can do, giving him the ability to use throws whilst preventing you from ever throwing him is totally unfair. By all accounts, Darth Vader in the PS3 version fits into the game a whole lot better. The good news there is that rumours are gathering pace that whichever Star Wars character your version is missing will eventually be available as downloadable content. I hope this turns out to be true.

 

The other significant negative with the game is the same one as ever: The Soul Calibur series is far too friendly to button-mashers. Certain moves that take half of your health are not only too easy to execute but too easy to hit even if you have no sense of timing. Also, characters like Maxi are so over the top with their flowing offense that you can unleash a continuous barrage of hits and look like a pro without having any idea what you're doing. This can presumably be overcome if you get really, really good at it but it takes a lot longer than Virtua Fighter or any 2D fighter for the gap between experienced players and novices to emerge. I've only played online against someone on my friends list so far, but I imagine being smack-talked by the usual obnoxious ten year olds when it's obvious they suck at the game is going to be a harrowing experience.

 

Speaking of the online play, I've not found it to be as strong as VF5 or SSF2T HD Remix so far. It's the worst kind of lag too. When VF is going wrong you see the picture freeze while it updates, or everythign goes in slow-mo. With SCIV, the action seems to remain fluid at all times, but your commands becomes less and less responsive to the point where you feel like you have no control over your character. Any moves that require double-taps or rotations are extremely hit and miss as well. Immensely frustrating and something I hope is being worked on.

 

Aside from that it's good fun. An extremely polished and accessible beat'em up and one that's good for someone like me who needs the likes of this and Smash Bros. to bust out for a quick burst when my more hardcore friends aren't about.

 

Oh yeah, and for anyone who cares about their gamerscore, it throws achievments at you with reckless abandon. 5G for pressing start on the title screen and making it to the main menu.

[tiger_driver]

Devil May Cry 4Tony Hawks Proving GroundPortal!!!COD4 - yes still.