WHAT PLAY YOU?

[Casey V]

Time to wheel out an old schooler here - wheres the Twisted Metal love?

 

I dug out my playstation and filth encrusted copy of TM World Tour recently, and have been having a blast with it. Sure, the graphics were bad even when it was released back in early '97, there's folding everywhere and the vehicles in game have the most bizarre set of physics applied to them I've ever encountered, but theres just something about the whole game that feels so RIGHT.

 

Vibrant colours, big loud explosions, blisteringly fast gameplay with a deceptive amount of depth to it (Roadkills Boomerangs are a riot once mastered), and some of the most imaginative and often hilarious endings I've ever seen, the game is truly a timeless classic. I'm just pissed off that its spiritual sequel Head On was never released over here (not for the PS2 at least), and I can't find a Swap Magic anywhere so I could import it

[MRMIdAS]

Just download a boot disk, they're barely over 50mb, piss easy to burn, and remove region coding.

 

 

Got any linkage on one of those Midas? Is it just a case of ISOs being chucked on a disc?

 

I don't unfortunately, but all it is is a disk you load up, then swap for your copy/import, and away you go.

 

Most DC copies come as self-booters, but theres the odd few early/late games that need the separate disk.

[ajpiles]

Gears of War 2

 

I remember liking the first GOW, it had a bit of a different feel to it. That novelty has since wore off and it exposes the lazyness of the game. Take cover, aim, shoot... Over and over again. Choose a left or right path. Take cover, aim, shoot... Zzzzzz. I've never been a fan of having to fire fifty million bullets at one enemy for them to die. I'm amazed that I bothered to complete the game. Got positive reviews from critics though.

 

Resident Evil 5

 

There's been two problems I've had with Capcom and Konami games. The way you save your game and the gameplay. Games like Resi Evil and Silent Hill have always disappointed me because of these problems. There is checkpoint game saves in Resi 5, which is a relief. The gameplay is a bit dodgey though. Standing still and shooting? Weapons/items menu is a hinder as well. Most of the complaints seem to be because of your partner in the game. So far not much of a problem for me. Doubt she will ever reach the retardation of the chick from The Getaway.

Edited February 19, 2010 by ajpiles

[Mike Castle]

Not so much a full on game... but one people like JLM and the like would enjoy (based on an old thread a while back)

 

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=47365

[PunkStep]

still bashing my way through Arkham Asylum on the PS3, im slow at games and ive been on it sporadically since Xmas, great game.

Me too, I played it non-stop for a week but then I couldn't play the xbox for about a week. Don't get to play the xbox often at the moment, so I'm settling for New Super Mario Bros on the Wii. Excellent platformer. Have been playing the DS game as well (which is cracking). The DS is the best thing to happen to 'having a poo' since they started printing newspapers.

[Dillkid]

Modern Warfare 2 and Uno on X Box Arcade

[Lumber Jack]

Is John Madden 2010 any good?

 

Bear in mind I haven't bought a Madden game since '04.

 

Thanks.

Edited February 21, 2010 by Lumber Jack

[Tommy!]

I've been playing Wu-tang: Taste the pain and the first GTA, just because I can and I like them. The first GTA is somewhat forgotten now among all the others but is still a really ace game in my view.

[Loki]

Assassin's Creed 2

 

Now, look, once I got into the actual game, this became fun. The free running is cool, the graphics are stunning etc. It's clearly going to be a great game.

 

So why were the first 20 minutes so stunningly annoying? There was just a stream of annoyances that have no place in a major production nowadays.

 

- if you're going to have around half an hour of talking, make sure the lip sync isn't out on every single line. This continues throughout the game sadly.

- the first character I see, the woman, looks like her face has been drawn by a 10 year old. Her mouth is WAY too big and her eyes are too far apart. She's a freak.

- How do I run? Ah, I can pull the trigger. Except, wait, now for no apparent reason, I can't run. Oh, and now I can. Whoops, now I can't again. Why disable controls for no reason?

- I never finished the first game, so obviously this entire plot makes no sense to me. This first sequence didn't help clear up what was happening at all really.

- Why does Danny Wallace's character's voice sound completely different to everyone else's? It's like they recorded him in a fishbowl.

- Press Y to interact with the one object in the room you can interact with, and the thing you have to do to move on. But sometimes it'll just cut to a cutscene to move the exposition along regardless.

- the protagonist throws the worst punches ever. I think this may have been deliberate, but he looked like a spastic.

 

It was just so creaky and badly thought out, especially in comparison to how fluid the rest of the game was. There's a rule in game design that should be burned into every designers frontal lobes - the first 1/2 hour of any game is the most important. Everything that's great and good about your gameplay should be front and centre. It should be polished to a shine. This game broke that rule spectacularly. You got none of the trademark gameplay, none of the lush environments, you didn't even get to be the titular assassin! What you got was some really clunky combat, boring walk and talks, bad animation, ugly facial design etc. It felt like a bad demo for a Deus Ex clone.

 

Videogame producers tend to really fuck it up when they're trying to be all Hollywood. I remember Black having just the worst cutscenes ever, even though they'd spent a fortune on some Hollywood director to make them. You couldn't even skip them - you had to watch them EVERY TIME YOU STARTED THE LEVEL. Games are now capable of being so much more than films in so many ways, that slapping a bad intro on the front of such a labour of love as Assassin's Creed really annoys me.

 

/rant

Edited February 22, 2010 by Loki

[Chest Rockwell]

100% agreed. The whole opening is intolerable. It's a good thing I knew I was gonna enjoy it once it got going.

 

I understand that they want to gradually build up to all the cool stuff, but you need to at least get a feel for what the game is going to be offering you later on. I remember they dealt with this well in the first Prince of Persia where you play the beginning fully tooled up, but then lose everything after the opening chapter, and have to gradually get it back again as the game goes on.

 

 

Btw, I did complete the 1st one, but the story still doesn't make enough sense for me to care. I mean, I care about Ezio and his story, but I don't give a shit about anything that's going on outside of the world created by the Animus, and didn't in the first game either.

Edited February 22, 2010 by Chest Rockwell

[Loki]

That Prince Of Persia opening was possibly the best example of the 1/2 hour rule. I was totally hooked by that point.

 

I really wish someone at Ubisoft had had the balls to suggest dropping the whole Animus shit at some point during the development of the first game. If it had just been a game where you played an assassin, it would have been much better. Again, somebody over there thinks they're Ridley Scott.

[JLM]

Gave in and ordered Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo and Kazooie (or SASASRWBAK) today. The framerate in the demo was choppy but I still found it fun to play, even if it isn't as good as Outrun or Mario Kart. The final game is reportedly much improved anyhow, so I look forward to it.

 

Also, Just Me and a few others will appreciate this;

 

 

Then cry because we're not getting Shen Mue 3.

Edited February 23, 2010 by JLM

[Peeping Tom]

Just ordered Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing after playing the demo today, seems a really fun game just need to convince a few of my friends to buy it now for online shenanigans.

[Loki]

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 looks awesome online. MW2 with better maps and vehicles. I highly recommend it for tomorrow.

[Ron Simmons]

I've fallen victim to my own stupidity and pre-ordered Final Fantasy XIII. I'm hoping the story will be strong enough for me to actually enjoy the game, but ultimately my expectations are pretty low. When you've got a limited budget, blowing it on a game like this isn't the best idea. But it's Final Fantasy dammit, and I'll probably continue buying every game in the series based on the stregth of VII and VIII.