Everything to do with our favourite pastime! Reviews, recommendations, sells/swaps, problems etc. Whether they are on the latest consoles, arcade or retro classics. It's not the winning or losing, we came to play!
MattyP wrote:
Finished off The Medium on the Xbox not a bad effort by Bloober at all. Around 10 or so hours long.
So game length then. I'm currently chipping away at Assassins Creed Valhalla and as with previous Assassins games, I'll no doubt get 100+ hrs out of it and enjoy it thoroughly.
But it really is too long. It's not that I find it 'grindy', it is that I can't dedicate that much time to one game when there are so many other games to play.
Forza Motorsport 3 on the 360.... forgotten how good some of those tracks in this are. Especially the point-to-point ones. Shame this was never made backwards compatible.
Think I'm getting old seem to enjoy playing older games more these days! Even on shiny new console hardware...
Certainly don't seem to make arcade racers like they used to... Dirt 5 is OK but lacks something I can't put my finger on....
A light that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
Steam/Xbox/PSN User Name: CypherQ Switch - 8177-9514-5116
It's great fun, there seems more longevity than other Supergiant titles I've played, the sheer amount of content in terms of characterisation & their lines is pretty staggering and it just has that "one more run, just one more run" about it, even after just over 50 hours in [still only a single clear, I'm not really very good at it].
Combat mechanics I'd say aren't a mile away from something like Bayonetta, that kind of "insane button mash but with a semblance of skill".
Soooo many different buffs & so on that combine differently each time to make every run unique.
There is a lot here for the money, excellent value.
MattyP wrote:Dirt 5 is OK but lacks something I can't put my finger on....
Agreed on Dirt 5.
I think it's maybe a little too forgiving early on.
I'm not getting a massive must-have another race feeling.
Graphics in racing games have always been among the best in recent generations so there's little incentive to buy the latest version just for a graphical upgrade and very few driving games offer anything beyond that now. Many use the same tracks and cars, and offer little difference gameplay and feature wise.
While sims obviously have limitations, there is still so much that can be done in the arcade and future racing genres, but devs don't seem prepared to take the risk. All the good IPs like Burnout, Motorstorm, Wipeout, F-Zero etc seem to have been abandoned.
Despite a large backlog I have gone back to Diablo . I picked it up for the PC along with the remaster of Diablo2. I have played it on xbox, PS4 and switch at this point. Bit weird going from controller back to mouse and keyboard but after the initial adjustment got back into the swing of it.
played seasonal hero (necromancer and enjoying the post campaign mucking about with bounties, etc.
Have been a big fan of gauntlet and find Diablo 3 is basically the same albeit on steroids and more detailed stats (but then it's not an arcade game).
PC is a few years old (i7 3440k + gtx1070) but still more than enough for Diablo.
will play through it again as one of the other classes to see what , if any , real differences there are.
"England is funny, but sometimes she scares me"
Tony Wakeford
I'm currently engaged with a couple of games but one of them I think should appeal to some others here as well. It's a little retro Breakout/Arkanoid game by Vector Hat (free/name your own price). Many balls at once and new bricks appear continuously with lots of flashing and crazy sfx.
R-Type Final 2 was out a couple of days ago to mediocre reviews, especially on Switch.
So I bought Darius Chronicles CS on Steam instead. It's on sale at the moment for the cheapest I've ever seen it (£11.99). Lots of fishy shooty goodness. It's not quite as pixel stretchingly brilliant as Darius Gaiden on the Saturn, which had not only fabulous graphics but a bitchin' soundtrack, but I'm enjoying it muchly.
It came out on Vita too. I've playing on a 4K monitor and it's not always easy to see the detail when the game is running in it's native a 32:9 aspect ratio. Must have been super challenging on that OLED postage stamp.
I went back to GTA IV recently and have really gone further into the story this time. A new GPU does help as well.
The difficulties I had with controlling the car are completely gone and can enjoy zooming along full blast without
any slowdown whatsoever even using the mouse and keyboard. The fights are no longer awkward and can at last
see what all the hype was about.
Regarding Diablo, I always thought it was just a well-made but sinister version of Moria, lacking any of the humor and pixel-art style
of the Amiga version. I couldn't get into it, just too dark. The real-time also put more tension but left less time for thinking
before a move.
venusian wrote:R-Type Final 2 was out a couple of days ago to mediocre reviews, especially on Switch.
Didn't look at the reviews, but jumped in anyway on the Xbox and I am downloading it now.
It's a pretty expensive £35 standard and £55 for the deluxe with all the DLC. HOWEVER, if you are prepared to put in a little effort, it's £10 (R$80) /£16 (R$120) on the Brazil Xbox store.
Seemed worth a punt at that price.
Buy some BRL gift cards from somewhere like CDkeys, use a VPN to switch to Brazil (I use tunnelbear which is free for this kind of thing) and then buy in the store. Took a few minutes.
venusian wrote:R-Type Final 2 was out a couple of days ago to mediocre reviews, especially on Switch.
So I bought Darius Chronicles CS on Steam instead. It's on sale at the moment for the cheapest I've ever seen it (£11.99). Lots of fishy shooty goodness. It's not quite as pixel stretchingly brilliant as Darius Gaiden on the Saturn, which had not only fabulous graphics but a bitchin' soundtrack, but I'm enjoying it muchly.
It came out on Vita too. I've playing on a 4K monitor and it's not always easy to see the detail when the game is running in it's native a 32:9 aspect ratio. Must have been super challenging on that OLED postage stamp.
I was looking at getting R-Type Final 2 and strangely followed the same route and ended up getting Darius also - still wanting some R-Type action though picked up R-Type Dimensions also in the sale. Have a proper arcade stick on the PC so always a bonus having the choice of using this or a pad to play.
As much as I love R-Type I wasn't overly convinced with Final 2 reviews looked a bit mediocre - although £35 isn't a huge sum it probably will be if it doesn't get played.
Not been on the Xbox for a bit - last thing I played through was Genesis Noir which is an interesting arty take on a point 'n click adventure. Odd game but nice audio visuals and currently on GamePass if you have that.
A light that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
Steam/Xbox/PSN User Name: CypherQ Switch - 8177-9514-5116
venusian wrote:R-Type Final 2 was out a couple of days ago to mediocre reviews, especially on Switch.
Didn't look at the reviews, but jumped in anyway on the Xbox and I am downloading it now.
It's a pretty expensive £35 standard and £55 for the deluxe with all the DLC. HOWEVER, if you are prepared to put in a little effort, it's £10 (R$80) /£16 (R$120) on the Brazil Xbox store.
Seemed worth a punt at that price.
Buy some BRL gift cards from somewhere like CDkeys, use a VPN to switch to Brazil (I use tunnelbear which is free for this kind of thing) and then buy in the store. Took a few minutes.
Turns out I had a few R$ left from some previous Brazillian purchase I don't recall which made it even cheaper.
Thanks for the heads up on this. £14 seems much more palatable so decided to mess around with VPNs etc.
I didn't end up using the web store to redeem the code though went through the Xbox and just changed country - redeemed the code and then bought it through the Brazilian store. Then flicked my account back to the UK store and it seems to have worked.
Looking back through my purchase history looks a bit scary though as it seems to have registered the $100 Brazian credit as £100 and the game cost as £79!!!! All looks fine though and nothing has been charged to any accounts other than what is expected.
A light that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
Steam/Xbox/PSN User Name: CypherQ Switch - 8177-9514-5116
noodles wrote:I went back to GTA IV recently and have really gone further into the story this time. A new GPU does help as well.
The difficulties I had with controlling the car are completely gone and can enjoy zooming along full blast without
any slowdown whatsoever even using the mouse and keyboard. The fights are no longer awkward and can at last
see what all the hype was about.
Regarding Diablo, I always thought it was just a well-made but sinister version of Moria, lacking any of the humor and pixel-art style
of the Amiga version. I couldn't get into it, just too dark. The real-time also put more tension but left less time for thinking
before a move.
Agree Diablo's imagery is very dark and it is more action than role playing game as the story really is just wallpaper for the action. Now played through it another 2 times (Wizard & Necromancer) and trying the Witch Doctor (Hardcore/Normal setting) which I'm guessing was the basis for the Necromancer class. Interesting to see they have a number of random dungeons across the various levels which don't appear in each game you play (not sure I'd keep replaying just to see them all)
Do want to get hardcore and multiple hero trophies (now playing back on PS4) but aim to do that over time
"England is funny, but sometimes she scares me"
Tony Wakeford
noodles wrote:I went back to GTA IV recently and have really gone further into the story this time. A new GPU does help as well.
The difficulties I had with controlling the car are completely gone and can enjoy zooming along full blast without
any slowdown whatsoever even using the mouse and keyboard. The fights are no longer awkward and can at last
see what all the hype was about.
I still prefer GTA IV over V, especially if you include the excellent DLC.
Rockstar obviously wants GTA games to play like movies now and too much is forced on you when doing missions, from having to swap characters when they say, to having to complete missions exactly how they scripted it. I much preferred the more sandbox nature of the older games where you had more freedom.
noodles wrote:I went back to GTA IV recently and have really gone further into the story this time. A new GPU does help as well.
The difficulties I had with controlling the car are completely gone and can enjoy zooming along full blast without
any slowdown whatsoever even using the mouse and keyboard. The fights are no longer awkward and can at last
see what all the hype was about.
I still prefer GTA IV over V, especially if you include the excellent DLC.
Rockstar obviously wants GTA games to play like movies now and too much is forced on you when doing missions, from having to swap characters when they say, to having to complete missions exactly how they scripted it. I much preferred the more sandbox nature of the older games where you had more freedom.
This is why I've mostly struggled with GTA games in general - the scripted missions. I understand why they need to be like they are but sometimes its a frustrating balance between success and failure. Get one thing wrong or a few seconds late and bang fail. Love the worlds that R* have created though a technical marvel and fantastic playgrounds to explore and experience. Think the only game that got the playground game right for me was Crackdown. Ticked all the boxes - power ups, take the enemy out how you want to by whatever means. Completely unscripted. In effect you make your own stories... Still one of the best games ever made IMHO.
A light that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
Steam/Xbox/PSN User Name: CypherQ Switch - 8177-9514-5116
Still one of the best games ever made IMHO.
