Currently playing...

[venusian]

No longer player as I have just completed HORACE in Switch. Go me.

Very good and very annoying in equal measure.

[MattyP]

Some things I've been playing over the last week:-

Knights and Bikes (Xbox - Gamepass) - Cute co-op platform puzzler published by Double Fine. Lovely visuals and a nice chill out game. Not that taxing.

Man of Medan (Xbox - Gamepass) - Horror story game - bit like a David Cage game (Think Detroit : Almost Human). Interesting thing is story can be played co-op online and the actions of the other player has an effect on the other player. Not tried this aspect yet as working though solo mode. Also has a movie night mode where you can sit on the sofa with upto 4 other players and play together.

Hotshot Racing (Xbox - Gamepass)- Great little racing game - style of the old Sega classics. Lovely smooth framerate. Nice retro modern gaming.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered (PC-Origin) - Never played this back in the day! Love it! 60fps, long draw distances, great big open roads, cop chases has it all. Great game.

Golf with my friends (Xbox - Gamepass) - Great little crazy golf game been playing this online with my son (he doesn't live with me) and been having a riot with it. Fun little easy to pick up game.

These are the main games I've been playing on a cycle depending on my mood over the last week. Making great use of my GamePass sub... fantastic value. Also really enjoying the new Xbox hardware. Load time and the quick resume feature are great. Visuals look lovely too - tried FH4 and it just lovely.

Oh and also got one one those 35th Anniversary Mario Game & Watches through the post at the weekend, which I pre-ordered back in September when they announced and addicted to the original "Ball" game on it which I play on those long boring committee type meetings at work....

[MattyP]

Little Nightmares... nice little game. Arty physics platformer puzzler. Camera angles sometimes frustrate but lovely art style. Demo up of the second one on Steam at the moment.

[VNVObit]

Just finished Greedfall on PS4

Overall a reasonable RPG with some nice touches (being able to shop/craft while new areas load was a great idea).
Not as polished as some of the Bethesda games but had an interesting story to it though didn't necessarily feel my actions had as big an impact on the factions as I would have expected. Story requires bringing a number of factions together (pretty hard not to ) though possible for them to join you but be sceptical about your approach.

Graphics were pretty good but some odd choices (e.g. not all areas available to you until you advanced the stories but you could see them on the local area map. Some of the fetch/talk quests were irritating as required a lot of running back and forth between NPCs (not all possible with quick travel) but had some where it was automatically done for you.

overall enjoyable but wouldn't have paid full price for it (was waiting for discount but was happy when it appeared on PS+)

[Rhythm]

I've considered that a couple of times after really enjoying Vampyr. Will add it to the backlog :-)

[VNVObit]

Started Sleeping Dogs definitive edition
Played the original on PC and enjoyed it
Open world game with reasonable story
Fair amount of unarmed fighting (quite simplistic so fairly straight forward to get the hang of)

GTA in Hong Kong (albeit character is an undercover cop)
Some nods at Hong Kong Cinema (slow mo leaping gun play and stunt work)

Current £3.74 in the PlayStation store so very cheap at the moment. Have only covered on section of the city and less than 30% of all missions completed. Fun game

[rowan]

Started Sleeping Dogs definitive edition
Played the original on PC and enjoyed it
Open world game with reasonable story
Fair amount of unarmed fighting (quite simplistic so fairly straight forward to get the hang of)

GTA in Hong Kong (albeit character is an undercover cop)
Some nods at Hong Kong Cinema (slow mo leaping gun play and stunt work)

Current £3.74 in the PlayStation store so very cheap at the moment. Have only covered on section of the city and less than 30% of all missions completed. Fun game

I was pleasantly surprised by Sleeping Dogs which I picked up cheaply on 360 2nd hand, a few years after it first came out.

I also picked up Definitive Edition on PC when it was in some sale, for peanuts, and I was surprised how badly it seemed to have aged [same with most GTA games although not 5].
It was still fun but felt very, very clunky. The dev story's quite unusual on that, I think they remade the game 2 or 3 times a bit like Duke Nukem Forever but for something that was in "development hell" they managed a surprisingly good result!



I'm currently playing Mad Max which I got cheaply through some Humble Bundle and that's similarish [driving around, unarmed combat, open world and a bit of shooting].
Enjoying that.
Also was playing Jurassic World Evolution a bit and that's nice. Kind of park builder / zoo management with dinosaurs.
I get nearly all my games for pittance years after release. Being old does have some benefits [not caring about latest greatest and having patience to wait]

[fog]

Started Sleeping Dogs definitive edition
Played the original on PC and enjoyed it
Open world game with reasonable story
Fair amount of unarmed fighting (quite simplistic so fairly straight forward to get the hang of)

GTA in Hong Kong (albeit character is an undercover cop)
Some nods at Hong Kong Cinema (slow mo leaping gun play and stunt work)

Current £3.74 in the PlayStation store so very cheap at the moment. Have only covered on section of the city and less than 30% of all missions completed. Fun game

Excellent game. Something of a cult classic, although as we never got a sequel I can only assume it didn't sell very well.

[VNVObit]

*snip*

I also picked up Definitive Edition on PC when it was in some sale, for peanuts, and I was surprised how badly it seemed to have aged [same with most GTA games although not 5].
It was still fun but felt very, very clunky. The dev story's quite unusual on that, I think they remade the game 2 or 3 times a bit like Duke Nukem Forever but for something that was in "development hell" they managed a surprisingly good result!



I'm currently playing Mad Max which I got cheaply through some Humble Bundle and that's similarish [driving around, unarmed combat, open world and a bit of shooting].
Enjoying that.
Also was playing Jurassic World Evolution a bit and that's nice. Kind of park builder / zoo management with dinosaurs.
I get nearly all my games for pittance years after release. Being old does have some benefits [not caring about latest greatest and having patience to wait]

Have it on PC (thanks to Humble Bundle IIRC) but mainly game on my PS4 now (PC is aging a bit)

Enjoyed Mad Max though found some of the driving tedious. The combat is very similar to the Arkham Batman games (no bad thing IMHO).

Have noticed being patient can mean you avoid having to deal with patches (Days Gone was certainly a better game for waiting). Was really looking forward to CyberPunk but the lack of reviews pre launch made me wait (and grateful I did now). Always look at the deals and see if there are games I wanted to give a go as don’t mind spending a couple of quid on the chance I’ll enjoy it. Also able to see reviews and not as harsh a judge on games if I am not spending too much on them (also have no guilt in not completing as find games take too long now to complete)

[Misfit]

So we have an Xbox Series X & One X, a PS5, a PS4 Pro, and a couple of Switches and what do the kids decide they want to play?

London Olympics 2012.

Possibly the only game not backwards compatible. So, as they never want to play together normally (Daughter 17, son 13) I dusted off the 360 and set it up. Surprisingly it all worked fine and the kids managed a couple of hours without shedding blood.

[VNVObit]

So we have an Xbox Series X & One X, a PS5, a PS4 Pro, and a couple of Switches and what do the kids decide they want to play?

London Olympics 2012.

Possibly the only game not backwards compatible. So, as they never want to play together normally (Daughter 17, son 13) I dusted off the 360 and set it up. Surprisingly it all worked fine and the kids managed a couple of hours without shedding blood.

Mine have long given up playing together she prefers puzzle games and it’s FIFA (currently 21) for him

[Misfit]

Mine have long given up playing together she prefers puzzle games and it’s FIFA (currently 21) for him

They sound similar, although the daughter is a bit more RPG too.

He's back on Fifa 21 with a mate (which has at least taken over from Fortnite again) and she is hogging the sitting room playing Fallout New Vegas (so using a Series X for a 360 now). Kicked me off playing, so I'm here...

[Misfit]

Had quite a gaming day today.

Played the Fenyx Rising demo through on the SX. Quite enjoyed that and it's very pretty on the SX. Pleased to see the demo as it did pique my interest, I won't buy though. I can wait until it's on Game pass or the bargain bin as ultimately I will only ever do a few more hours of it.

I also played the intro game on Madden 21 as that kicked in after about 20GB download of the huge amount it needs. Was just curious to see what the next-gen version looked like. We're pretty close to reality now, very impressive. (It's free to play weekend, but presumably, it will hit EA Access soon).

Then the rest of the time was spent playing The Medium. Nice. Again one I wouldn't have bought on day one but very glad to see it hit Game Pass.

Next episode of Wandavision and then the pain of trying to find a movie the kids will watch with me. (The kids don't need persuading to watch WV with me, a very interesting few episodes so far)

[Misfit]

@Deckard I presume you saw there is new DLC for Dead Cells, Fatal Falls.

Seems to be reviewing well and looks suitably cheap.

[MattyP]

Picked up Sine Mora EX on Steam and been playing that. Really impressive shooter with a time slowdown mechanic. Lovely game, visuals and sounds are great. Remember playing a demo way back on the 360. Not sure why I didn't pick it up then! Worth a look if you love horizonal shooters.

Finished off The Medium on the Xbox not a bad effort by Bloober at all. Around 10 or so hours long. If you like Silent Hill type games worth a try especially if you have GamePass.

Now playing Project Gotham Racing 4 again and having a ball with it again. This really needs a HD remaster or at least making backwards compatible.