The "What are you playing?" topic.

**Warluster** · 03-20-2010, 23:48

pevergreen, would you recommend DoW2? I saw it for $30 the other day and enjoyed DoW1/CoH. Is it worth the $30 or should I just wait until Victoria 2/Red Dead Redemption.

As to what I'm playing right now; I am switching between Metro 2033 and BFBC2. Both games are great fun. Bad Company 2's singeplayer was okay, but its multiplayer is stunning. IMO, everything within it is high quality; the sound is one of the best features, the graphics and destructible environment adds to the experince and stratergy, the maps are the works of veteran mapmakers. My only problem is that the connection problems are common (as is lag) and within a game people usually spam a singe class (This is on the PC).

Metro 2033 is a good game. I've only played half an hour, and so far its the most scripted game I've ever played. Extremely linear, moreso then CoD or other games like that. Despite that, I still find it great fun (Though a one playthrough type of game, I suspect) and the atmosphere is entrancing and due to the linear nature of the game it can tell the story true to the book and still maintain the 'environment'.

**Prussian to the Iron** · 03-21-2010, 00:07

im not sure if i want to get Bad Company 2. i definitely loved the first one, but I got SOCOM:Confrontation a few days ago, so when my PS3 gets back I'll play that. maybe I'll do the same I did with Bad Company 1; wait a year or 2, then buy it when its $30.

**Hooahguy** · 03-21-2010, 05:32

get BC2, its multi is like no other.

**Prussian to the Iron** · 03-21-2010, 14:41

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

get BC2, its multi is like no other.

im sure ill get it eventually, but with the new house, the new paintball gun, the ps3 repair, i dont see that in my near future.

**frogbeastegg** · 03-21-2010, 17:37

Started Bioshock 2, xbox version. I've made it as far as Pauper's Drop. Thus far I'm not impressed; it's the first game minus the neat and unique and plus a handful of boring. Boring weapons, boring combat, boring level design, and a complete rehash of the opening sections of the original. The atmosphere is weak.

My hard/no vita chamber run of Bioshock taught me to appreciate my plasmids and fight in a creative manner, and here I am in the sequel feeling like my hands are tied because the melee doesn't work how I want, the plasmids feel weak, and the guns are not great. The first proper Big Sister fight wasn't very interesting. The two gathers weren't interesting either. Resource carrying capacity feels artificially limited as your item caps are lower than the original and yet there's resources lying around everywhere which I can't use or pick up.

I'm not convinced by the Big Daddy character at all - I make stomping noises as I walk and control in a mildly (irritatingly) clumsy way, and that's meant to make me a behemoth instead of a regular guy? Then I found a Little Sister and get a rehash of the first game's speech about "Go harvest, it's much better for you!". Big daddies protect the little sisters. It's what they do, are engineered for, and are brainwashed to live for. Why is it presented as so little of a deal to harvest one? They should have stuck to the original idea of having you play an ordinary surface man come to Rapture to search for his missing daughter.

Not fond of the tweaked controls either. Which bright spark decided to put the health pack hotkey onto the d-pad? The d-pad which famously doesn't recognise inputs that well. The d-pad you have to let go of more important buttons to reach? And all so I can have a lame, useless and unwanted melee attack stapled onto the B button instead. :sigh: Look, just give me a designated melee weapon which does an actually useful melee attack when I pull the fire button, ok? Then I won't get hurt so much, and when I want to use my health pack I get healed on the first press while continuing to fight effectively. It's not rocket science. :mutters about it being almost as bad as God of War's insistence on using the right stick for dodge despite it being a lot slower and more awkward that the 'hold block and push direction' command used by most other action games: Amazing how small things like this can infuriate!

They've even gone so far as to re-use 'how much is that doggy in the window?'

**Hax** · 03-22-2010, 11:36

//waits for that other rabid Thief fanboy to confirm

How ironic that I totally agree with Fragony. Thief is true stealth. It should be the bar for all stealth games, I think. But the game itself is quite stealthy and not widely known.

**Xiahou** · 03-23-2010, 04:24

Fragile Dreams
&
Infinite Space

Both promise to be excellent, based on some initial playtime.

**pevergreen** · 03-23-2010, 09:21

Originally Posted by Warluster

pevergreen, would you recommend DoW2? I saw it for $30 the other day and enjoyed DoW1/CoH. Is it worth the $30 or should I just wait until Victoria 2/Red Dead Redemption.

Hi Warluster, havent seen you around for ages! We should totally have an orgah meetup.

30 AUD? Yes. Get chaos rising as well, if you can afford it.

Metro, I've been told by one of my L4D2 friends, has the great atmosphere, but terrible shooty.

**Meneldil** · 03-23-2010, 11:38

I finished a second Mass Effect playthrough and despite the fact the game is great, I didn't feel like doing it a 3rd and 4th time (to get all achievements), so I switched to S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl.

I already played it when it was released, though I couldn't finish it because of job+university. It's kind of cool, and wow, it is actually difficult. Playing in normal (STALKER) mode, I often find myself dead when I'm facing a few opponents. Mutants and weird animals are okay, even when they come in pack, but people with guns and whatnot? I'm always outgunned, outnumbered, and have to find way to defeat them without wasting grenades.
Biggest disappointement so far is the plot, or rather, the lack of plot. Ambient is awesome and as spooky as one could hope, too bad it has the same issue as most sandbox games, ie. a lame and uninteresting plot.

I'm also playing Supreme Commander solo game. Just like with the original Total Annihilation, the game is hard until you're able to build the biggest stuff. As for the AI, it's completely scripted, which means you just have to build a dozen guns where it attacks you without ever bothering about the rest of your base. Then wait until you have enough resources to build artillery or nukes that can blow her up from afar, and bam, mission complete.

The game would actually be challenging if the AI was actually a real AI, and not a bunch of scripts. Game still doesn't feel nearly as fun as Total Annihilation. It gets a bit better once you reach T3, but even then, it feels blank.

**CountArach** · 03-26-2010, 11:34

Pokemon SoulSilver - Nostalgia is my friend.

**Secura** · 03-26-2010, 15:27

Originally Posted by CountArach

Pokemon SoulSilver - Nostalgia is my friend.

I want this... but my DS Lite's finally given up the ghost.

I bought it around... October 2006, and the battery's finally gone, doesn't last more than an hour of charge if that. I managed to complete Ace Attorney Investigations with it, but now it's useless, utterly gutted. Can't afford a replacement or new battery either. :<

**Warluster** · 03-26-2010, 23:18

Originally Posted by pevergreen

Hi Warluster, havent seen you around for ages! We should totally have an orgah meetup.

30 AUD? Yes. Get chaos rising as well, if you can afford it.

Metro, I've been told by one of my L4D2 friends, has the great atmosphere, but terrible shooty.

I mainly hang around the Interactive History forums.

I'm defintely getting DoW2 after Red Dead Redemption. I love the giant demons the Chaos spawn so much (Especially their animations. I remember one demon from DoW would pick up a space marine and hit him like some sort of gory tennis game).

One way to compare Metro 2033 is that (and I saw this interesting comparison in a review) is that it is similar to the Half Life series. Both games are linear, both games have extremely good atmosphere. While Half Life (2 especially) has better weapons and puzzles, Metro has some really good ideas (such as the need to check air, etc). The only way they can't be compared is that I think the characters of Half Life are much more interesting then Metro, but I have enjoyed both games for the same reasons (Metro is also based on a book so it is expected to have this approach to gameplay, they couldn't make it free-roam). Despite all this its more of a 'rent' game. The only reason to replay it is to re-experince the plot.

**frogbeastegg** · 03-27-2010, 23:10

Finished Bioshock 2 this evening. I think my boyfriend had the right of it when he said, "It's just a load of similar lookin,g bland corridors filled with the same few enemy types over and over." after watching me play through the final level. I would rather play the original game a third time than replay the sequel.

Next, no idea. I'm still trying - and failing - to muster the enthusiasm to continue FFXIII. I do feel like an RPG; I don't want to have two massive games on the go at the same time. Either I admit defeat on FFXIII or I keep on going ... or I play another short game to delay the choice.

**Alexander the Pretty Good** · 03-28-2010, 01:06

I'm really enjoying HeartGold, currently training for the Elite Four in Victory Road.

**frogbeastegg** · 03-28-2010, 18:09

I decided to start Lost Odyssey. It's only been sat on my pile for nearly 2 years, saving it for a rainy day I guess. That means FFXIII has shuffled onto my 'try it again sometime to see if I like it better' pile.

Lost Odysessy is so far excellent. It's everything FFXIII was not ... both good and bad. Some of the gameplay mechanics are outdated by comparison to FFXIII, others are far better. The characters, plot, attitude, soundtrack, voice acting, styling, pacing, and just about everything else are miles better. There are towns to explore, sidequests to do - all of those little things which were missing from FFXIII and made the linear nature of the game so grinding. It plays like a traditional final fantasy title, which is no surprise considering how many of the important names behind those games moved to Mistwalker Studio to make LO.

Kaim is another of those grim, "..." JRPG leads. He's possibly the first to have a decent reason for being that way. Over 1,000 years old, he's had wives, children, friends, lovers, and seen them die every time while he's stuck ageless and wishing he could follow them. The little tales from the earlier parts of his life show him to have been a warm, caring man who's now loved and lost so many times his heart is worn out. Those tales are one of the high points of the game so far. They vary in tone, from uplifting and warm to poignant or depressing. They were written by a professional Japanese author, and the result is that they arre a cut above standard game writing. You could bundle the whole lot up and sell it as a collection of short stories, and they would hold their own well. Aside from Kaim, I have the comedy character who is actually close to being funny, and the attitude chick who's fairly likeable. I've encountered a few others who will eventually join up and, shock horror, they're ok too. No squeaky people, no brain damaged people, and no animal-mutant people. That's nice, and all too rare for the genre.

LO's opening cinematic addressed that age old question of "Why don't they use [insert battle gameplay mechanic] on [insert cutscene problem]?", as in "Why didn't they use a phoenix down on Aeris?" and I think that's when I realised that was I going to enjoy this one very much indeed. There's a battle raging between two armies. One side has taken heavy casualties. So they roll up mage towers and start casting mass resurrection spells to bring their soldiers back fit and well. Then some crazy-bod cast meteor, and the entire plain along with both armies were swallowed up by the lava which pours from the sky as thousands of tonnes of rock burns its way down to earth. Everyone dies horrifically, except for Kaim. You start the game picking your way across the cooling rock, seeing the twisted and charred remnants of war machines protruding from the new ground level.