posted
Based on the great reviews I preordered Halo 3 last night, and am looking forward to playing it. If Tilde added me as a friend, and Jimmy Big Nutz gets the game, we could play through the campaign on 3 player co-op. But sadly that won't happen, as Tilde has gone on record as saying he hates me, and Big Nuts probably won't get the game anyway. A pity.
-------------------- Now that you've called me by name? Posts: 2007
| IP: Logged
posted
no, I'll get it, and am up for co-op. I like co-op gaming, but sadly A)Tilde won't add me as a friend and B)Nathan Bleak is on xbox live only about once every two months.
Posts: 4376
| IP: Logged
posted
hmnn, halo3 comes out on the 26th and skate comes out on the 28th, I'm not sure I can justify buying both at the same time, that's £80...! I may buy skate first and play that for a while. Three player co-op sounds amazing though, I've just been playing a bit of halo2 multiplayer recently and I forgot how good it is when your coordination suddenly comes together, you grab the sniper, click zoom bang headshot, click zoom bang another headshot, doublekill, endorphin rush.
Posts: 1641
| IP: Logged
posted
I'm sure you've all been keeping an eye on reviews for Super Mario Galaxy and seeing all the 9.0, 9.5 and 10.0 reviews coming in and thinking "Wow that sounds like a good game".
Well, these scores are nothing. It has now received a score of 11/10. Which is quite impressive really.
Posts: 4934
| IP: Logged
Are we allowed to discuss it? TMO needs a spoiler function. It's probably going to be really boring to discuss, actually, isn't it? Because it's just as beautiful as everyone says, and the controls are perfect, and the level design is ingenious, and the music is adorable, and blah blah boring blah.
Only point of concern so far (about 15 stars in) is that certain levels are already repeating. For instance, once you've completed one particular galaxy and acquired its star, you're required to complete it again within a time limit to acquire a second star, which seems to me like a pretty cheap way of boosting the amount of stars you need to collect in order to prolong the game. But really, the galaxies are so creatively designed it's a delight to play them again anyway.
Also, it took me an hour or so to feel completely comfortable with the whole running-round-spheres thing. Dizzying, to say the least. Feels perfectly natural now. Anyone else addicted to attempting whole-orbit jumps around planetoids?
Posts: 1083
| IP: Logged
posted
I just sold Bioshock for £30, after finishing it for the second time, and took my money to the Game shop. Back when I had a 'job' I was able to buy any game I wanted, but for the first time in ages I had to make a *decision*. I felt like an eight year old. In the end I plumped for Assassin's Creed over Metroid or that Galaxies game. I've been enjoying it so far, although the free running seems a bit simple. I also keep tripping over people when I'm running away, making my escape attempts look a bit laughable; scrambling away from an failed picketpocketing only to fall over my feet and roll around in the dirt. I have enjoyed riding my horse into groups of travellers on the road to Dasmascus and making them cry and drop all their stuff. That's basically all I've been doing for the past three hours. Riding round Dasmascus acting like a nob.
Posts: 13758
| IP: Logged
posted
I recently found out that my grandparents have bought themselves a wii, and have been having great fun playing golf and tennis on it. We may have to start visiting them more often... Posts: 710
| IP: Logged
posted
I've been really enjoying Assassin's Creed. The 'future' parts are a bit annoying and detract from the immersive world that you spend most of your time in, but I'm sure it all puts together some kind of storyline. But really it's the game mechanics that make it so sweet. Free running is pretty simple, but there's a level of subtlety to the actions that make controlling Altair a satisfying and intuitive experience. But the best part I think is the combat. At first it's something you try to avoid, but once you get to grips with the counter attack system, it makes killing large groups of enemies really rewarding. Especially when they don't get a single hit on you then run off in terror after you kill the first few.
The graphics are, at times, pretty breathtaking too.
Posts: 12211
| IP: Logged
posted
Yeah, I completely agree with all that. Rescuing harassed citizens is great fun, especially when you open up with a hidden blade attack before the guards realise you're getting involved. The future stuff is pretty annoying, and I'd almost go so far as to say that it's pretty pointless - it seems to exist solely to place certain gameplay conceits in a semi-logical context, stuff like the missions resetting when you fuck them up. I don't know whether games need that level of justification, though. It's not like Grand Theft Auto was ruined by the fact you could go back and get the same mission every time you bodged it.
Mostly though, it's a tremendously atmospheric, immersive game that seems to mainly be about the recreation of a spectacular time and place, something driven home by the extent to which the game encourages you to explore and interact with the city. The assassinations give it a purpose and some structure but it really does seem to be more about its sense of history and location.
Posts: 13758
| IP: Logged
posted
until the virgin man comes and broadens my band on wednesday, i have mostly been playing solitaire and snake solitaire (is that what its called? i cant remember, my brain is macked) on My New Pc. i have one MAJOR issue with solitaire on vista- the addition of statistics. why in the name of all that is good and holy would anyone ever think that you want to know exactly how many games of solitaire youve played, and what percentage of those you have won? i mean, why? what added value do i gain from knowing that i played 74 games of solitaire yesterday* and that i won only 12% of those? what self- satisfied wretch of an unhuman came up with that? what is become of our world when an innocent pleasure like spunking your life away playing pc solitaire has been turned into some sort of mechanism for reflexive self- improvement? i dont play solitaire in order to compete with myself, or the computer. i dont need to use statistics as a means of improving my solitaire game. solitaire isnt about winning, its not even about doing- its a zen thing. really. isnt it. i resent that my meditative practise has been sullied in this way by fucking dialogue boxes apologising to me when ive lost. WHY IS THE COMPUTER APOLOGISING TO ME FOR DEALING ME AN UNWINNABLE HAND? that only makes me think that an unwinnable solitaire hand is something i should feel some sort of emotion about, rather than just a better way of filling empty time than staring at the wall with your finger up your nose.
* 74! 74!
-------------------- evil is boring: cheerful power Posts: 1655
| IP: Logged
posted
Having spent all of yesterday playing Assassin's Creed, I've got to say it's not without its faults. The combat, for instance, while pretty satisfying, is actually pretty easy after you get a few weapons/abilities. In fact once you can use counter blows, you can get through just about any fight without sustaining any appreciable damage. And because the enemies only ever attack you one at a time, it doesn't really matter how big a group you're fighting, as it just makes the combat last longer. Which for the most part is fine but the further you get into the game, the more you end up being recognised and getting into fights. It starts to get a bit irritating.
The format of the missions is also a bit repetitive and rely more on the context of the storyline to differentiate the various marks from one another. It's a minor complaint, and certainly not enough to ruin the fun. Were it not set in such a engaging world, it could be quite tedious, but exploring the richly detailed environments is enough of a distraction to avoid it ever becoming boring.
If I've one complaint about the game, it's that I think it could do with losing the futuristic elements as they add nothing. At the very least, there's no reason why you'd need to control the character when it could have been done as cutscenes. It took me a little while at first to work out that all I could do was get into bed or get on the Animus.
Other than that, I think this game is pretty much spot on.
Posts: 12211
| IP: Logged
posted
I enjoyed BioShock a lot more the second time around, much as I did with Half Life 2. I started to appreciate just how well the story was put together, and wound up using the more indirect plasmids, which made it feel more unusual. First time out, I never left a kiosk without Incinerate, ElectroBolt and Winter Blast, which I used in precisely the same way as I did the same settings from the chemical thrower. Second time around - playing on hard - I fell in love with Security Bullseye, which allowed you to take down an Elite Bouncer without firing a shot. I used the research camera much, much more and started unlocking a wider variety of tonics, including the Active Camo, which in turn gave me a whole new range of tactics. So the combat was massively more satisfying. Plus I started to piece together a bit more of the story of Rapture the second time around; everything seemed to make that much more sense. When it first came out there was a ridiculous level of praise heaped upon it, but that seems to have settled down a bit. Everyone seems to call it 'overrated' now, which means it can't possibly be.
Posts: 13758
| IP: Logged
posted
We have a few new games coming back from the USA on Sunday, Ratchet and Clank, Guitar Hero for the PS3 with wireless guitar, Skate and such like..
I'm looking forward to Ratchet and Clank.
-------------------- my own brother a god dam shit sucking vampire!!! you wait till mum finds out buddy!
posted
Skate is pretty good although once the objectives started to get hard, I sort of stopped playing it. The control system is both the best and the worst thing about Skate. It's hard to pick up at first and seems extremely challenging, which means you get a pretty good sense of satisfaction from popping even the most rudementary tricks. But when you start running into challenges which require you do a string of tricks in the correct order, the control system seems to get in the way. Like, I kow the control for a heelflip, but for some reason at least half the time it either comes out as an ollie or something else.
The graphics are also a bit disappointing. After seeing some other games which show just how nice next generation graphics can look, Skate seems pretty poor. It's like they took a game designed for PS2 and just gave it some fancy shading and bump mapping. The cars on the street in particular look like they've been lifted straight out of GTA3.
But it's still a good game, which will keep you amused for a long time even if you do get sick of the overly challenging objectives.
I'm currently contemplating Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Two that I'm really eagerly anticipating though are GT5: Prologue and WipeOut HD. I love love love WipeOut so very much. It was the first game I got for my Playstation.
Posts: 12211
| IP: Logged
posted
I think the extra challenge of hard might have made me use the plasmids more but I had a full canon of tonics and that from the research camera and like most level up games (I found morrowind guilty of this), there comes a point where you've levelled up to such a point that it doesn't really matter what you do, you're pretty much the incredible hulk. I did get fairly creative in my use of plasmids but there weren't -that- many interesting ways to kill bad guys, despite what people say.
Hmmm maybe I should have played it through again on hard, didn't really feel the need to though.
quote:90/100 The PC version of Gears of War is a welcome reminder of how much better PC gaming can be, and that it can do big, stupid action way better than the consoles that took stupid to the masses.
Good old PC Zone. I'm getting the game at the weekend. Hope it doesn't disappoint.
Posts: 14015
| IP: Logged
posted
Way behind the times as usual I guess, but I picked up a copy of Canus Canem Edit (Bully) today, and so far it's fantastic fun. Decent graphics, nicely intuitive control interface, and plenty of variation to the gameplay. Plus beating on the fat kid until he wets his pants has to be the best guilty lol I've seen in a game for some time Posts: 2337
| IP: Logged
quote:90/100 The PC version of Gears of War is a welcome reminder of how much better PC gaming can be, and that it can do big, stupid action way better than the consoles that took stupid to the masses.
Good old PC Zone. I'm getting the game at the weekend. Hope it doesn't disappoint.
A few thread titles from the PC version forum on Gamespot:
"GoW Making Computer restart"
"Stuttering problem"
"Anyone got the x-fi sound card to work?"
"For those of you still crashing..."
"Finally got it installed, but..."
"This game crashes every three minutes"
"I am stuck at software update"
"Game Freezing"
Obviously these are interchangeable with most other PC game threads on the site, so I'm not laying the blame at GeOW feet, just the crazed performance lottery that is PC gaming.
Posts: 13758
| IP: Logged
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic