Currently Playing

[Animalmother]

Farting about on the updated 360 era Call of Duty games. It's a pure nostalgia trip tempered by how bad I am at the multiplayer. It has all the quick scoping, host swapping, camping, noob tubing, grenade spam, rage quiting and possible cheating from the good old days.

It's been so popular that 7 out of the top 10 selling games on Xbox market have been 360 CoD's, the consoles are seeing a sales boost and old 360's are in demand again. My friend's son who works in a games shop says that 2nd hand copies of Blacks Ops 2 are going for €45... for an 11 year old last gen game!!

[Lenny Solidus]

Well you guys have gone and made me buy it

The instant sense of guilt I immediately feel every time I see this kind of response will never end. Damn you ArcaniA!

[Sly Boots]

Well you guys have gone and made me buy it

The instant sense of guilt I immediately feel every time I see this kind of response will never end. Damn you ArcaniA!

I'd be lying if I said that didn't cross my mind as well

Can't really go wrong for £3 though!

[Lenny Solidus]

Remnant: From the Ashes

After owning the game for years and only having put in a little over 6 hours into it I am undecided if I am enjoying the experience or not. I don't exactly know what it is about this game that puts me off - something about the way the combat is purposely handled puts me off it a little. You are shut in with a room of enemies and unless you absolutely nail every single required shot from the get-go to get a kill on every target in a very timed specific manner you feel kinda screwed. That's the point of these kinds of games you say? Is it though? I feel like I'm replaying Time Crisis. Everything in the section I am in moves quicker, attacks quicker and even if you do pull off a supposedly upgraded evade you feel sluggish to the point that you don't have much time to turn and react to get a few decent shots in. And this is after I have bought new/upgraded all my armour and weaponry.

Sure my reflexes certainly are not what they once were against a room of advancing/tunneling ballsacks that pop up and take the majority of your health in an instant feels like a bad joke because responding to anything ie reload health up etc all take a fucking eternity to execute. Skill issue or game design issue? Perhaps a bit of both. I know I probably sound quite whiney but it all does feel as if you are significantly intentionally hindered rather than just lacking in any sense of reaction time shot placement or skill, and I can't say I enjoy that much. Again keep in mind that I have not really played many of these types of games so if it is indeed a typical kind of trait - I won't be all that aware of it.

Saying that I do feel it is one of those games that I shall persevere with and push on through, there is something there that is making me understand the passion many have for this kind of game and I feel almost desperate to finally become one of them. Push on through then I shall - because I know there is true reward in it for me if I do.

[DjchunKfunK]

Remnant: From the Ashes

After owning the game for years and only having put in a little over 6 hours into it I am undecided if I am enjoying the experience or not. I don't exactly know what it is about this game that puts me off - something about the way the combat is purposely handled puts me off it a little. You are shut in with a room of enemies and unless you absolutely nail every single required shot from the get-go to get a kill on every target in a very timed specific manner you feel kinda screwed. That's the point of these kinds of games you say? Is it though? I feel like I'm replaying Time Crisis. Everything in the section I am in moves quicker, attacks quicker and even if you do pull off a supposedly upgraded evade you feel sluggish to the point that you don't have much time to turn and react to get a few decent shots in. And this is after I have bought new/upgraded all my armour and weaponry.

Sure my reflexes certainly are not what they once were against a room of advancing/tunneling ballsacks that pop up and take the majority of your health in an instant feels like a bad joke because responding to anything ie reload health up etc all take a fucking eternity to execute. Skill issue or game design issue? Perhaps a bit of both. I know I probably sound quite whiney but it all does feel as if you are significantly intentionally hindered rather than just lacking in any sense of reaction time shot placement or skill, and I can't say I enjoy that much. Again keep in mind that I have not really played many of these types of games so if it is indeed a typical kind of trait - I won't be all that aware of it.

Saying that I do feel it is one of those games that I shall persevere with and push on through, there is something there that is making me understand the passion many have for this kind of game and I feel almost desperate to finally become one of them. Push on through then I shall - because I know there is true reward in it for me if I do.

Both games have been designed for coop so are rather hard solo. They added a pet class in the sequel which does make solo play more viable.

[Sly Boots]

Remnant: From the Ashes

After owning the game for years and only having put in a little over 6 hours into it I am undecided if I am enjoying the experience or not. I don't exactly know what it is about this game that puts me off - something about the way the combat is purposely handled puts me off it a little. You are shut in with a room of enemies and unless you absolutely nail every single required shot from the get-go to get a kill on every target in a very timed specific manner you feel kinda screwed. That's the point of these kinds of games you say? Is it though? I feel like I'm replaying Time Crisis. Everything in the section I am in moves quicker, attacks quicker and even if you do pull off a supposedly upgraded evade you feel sluggish to the point that you don't have much time to turn and react to get a few decent shots in. And this is after I have bought new/upgraded all my armour and weaponry.

Sure my reflexes certainly are not what they once were against a room of advancing/tunneling ballsacks that pop up and take the majority of your health in an instant feels like a bad joke because responding to anything ie reload health up etc all take a fucking eternity to execute. Skill issue or game design issue? Perhaps a bit of both. I know I probably sound quite whiney but it all does feel as if you are significantly intentionally hindered rather than just lacking in any sense of reaction time shot placement or skill, and I can't say I enjoy that much. Again keep in mind that I have not really played many of these types of games so if it is indeed a typical kind of trait - I won't be all that aware of it.

Saying that I do feel it is one of those games that I shall persevere with and push on through, there is something there that is making me understand the passion many have for this kind of game and I feel almost desperate to finally become one of them. Push on through then I shall - because I know there is true reward in it for me if I do.

Both games have been designed for coop so are rather hard solo. They added a pet class in the sequel which does make solo play more viable.

Did you play #2 yet mate? I thought I remember (maybe in one of your vids) you saying you were looking forward to it...

[DjchunKfunK]

Remnant: From the Ashes

After owning the game for years and only having put in a little over 6 hours into it I am undecided if I am enjoying the experience or not. I don't exactly know what it is about this game that puts me off - something about the way the combat is purposely handled puts me off it a little. You are shut in with a room of enemies and unless you absolutely nail every single required shot from the get-go to get a kill on every target in a very timed specific manner you feel kinda screwed. That's the point of these kinds of games you say? Is it though? I feel like I'm replaying Time Crisis. Everything in the section I am in moves quicker, attacks quicker and even if you do pull off a supposedly upgraded evade you feel sluggish to the point that you don't have much time to turn and react to get a few decent shots in. And this is after I have bought new/upgraded all my armour and weaponry.

Sure my reflexes certainly are not what they once were against a room of advancing/tunneling ballsacks that pop up and take the majority of your health in an instant feels like a bad joke because responding to anything ie reload health up etc all take a fucking eternity to execute. Skill issue or game design issue? Perhaps a bit of both. I know I probably sound quite whiney but it all does feel as if you are significantly intentionally hindered rather than just lacking in any sense of reaction time shot placement or skill, and I can't say I enjoy that much. Again keep in mind that I have not really played many of these types of games so if it is indeed a typical kind of trait - I won't be all that aware of it.

Saying that I do feel it is one of those games that I shall persevere with and push on through, there is something there that is making me understand the passion many have for this kind of game and I feel almost desperate to finally become one of them. Push on through then I shall - because I know there is true reward in it for me if I do.

Both games have been designed for coop so are rather hard solo. They added a pet class in the sequel which does make solo play more viable.

Did you play #2 yet mate? I thought I remember (maybe in one of your vids) you saying you were looking forward to it...

Yeah I've played a bit this week but various things have conspired against me playing much beyond the first area. It seems really good so far, bunch of nice improvements over the original.

[Lenny Solidus]

And you are right about my complaining about attempting to solo run really Nat, it doesn't feel all that viable as you said - nothing like I somewhat foolishly assumed it would be. It is a group game. The 2nd does look a huge improvement though, considerably so.

[Animalmother]

So I finished Arcade Paradise yesterday. It was good fun but it does kind of just drop off once you get rid of the laundry machines, there's nothing much to do anymore except pick up the rubbish from the arcade floor. Once you can afford an employee you don't even have to empty the coins from the machines anymore, so even less to do. I think my entire play time was about 24 hours so I got my monies worth out of it.

[Animalmother]

The Wandering Village
A nice little game about a village existing on the back of a giant creature that slowly moves through different biomes in a post apocalyptic world. You do the usual of mining resources, building structures and picking up new survivors to increase your population. I believe later in the game you have to deal with raiders and outbreaks of disease but it's pretty chill so far. You can zoom out to the world map of the creature plodding along and zoom in to see the lovely detail of the village. It's early days yet so I've no idea what happens when the resources run out or if the landscape changes somehow.

[Abs_McBain]

The recent Tomb Raider remaster collection made me revist Tomb Raider II again. I found a modded version for the PS1 with the additional Gold levels that the PC version got. It may have been a long time ago since I last played it on a PS1, but I got to grips with the controls again pretty much instantly. Considering the hardware, I always forget how good the lighting can look in PS1 games. Strong art direction really helps with the games atmosphere.
Which reminds me - Konami's upcoming MGS re-releases. I think MGS1 is going to be the Integral version, but then wait! What about the PAL European dub versions? The game was dubbed in French, German, Spanish, and Italian. If they are going to make a super collection of these games might as well make them complete? Bah of course not, its Konami, they won't.
So yeah i'm replaying MGS1, in François. On the PS1 via the PS Vita. The VA for Solid Snake is Emmanuel Bonami.

[Raid]

X-Wing: Alliance
I tried the fan-made TIE:Fighter remake last year, being as it's playable in VR and a VR Star Wars starfighter game is pretty high up on my wishlist. Unfortunately, while they have in fact managed to shoehorn VR support into the X-Wing Alliance engine (on which TIE Fighter runs), the remake creators are so adamant on cramming the missions full of hundreds of enemy ships that the engine simply can't take it. It's probably great on a flat screen, but playing cockpit sims on a flat screen these days feels quite dull to me.

Anyway, XWA itself hasn't been remade, so it's the original game's missions, just with a few new models and effects. It's quite janky looking, with the starfield backgrounds gyrating around in some scenes when you move your head, but in fairness it's a graphics engine coded more than 15 years before consumer VR was even a thing, but it does work.

...unfortunately you come up against one of the big problems with Star Wars' aesthetic - nobody designing a fighter in that universe has ever given a thought to cockpit visibility. The YT-1300 and YT-2000 you pilot in the prologue are fine, as the cockpits are basically small greenhouses, but the second the game plonks you in a Y-Wing you have to start bobbing your head around to see anything above you, and it's actually easier to clip your head through the cockpit geometry and just pretend you're a ghost. I feel like the modders designing the new cockpit models could have taken this into account and made small adjustments rather than trying to exactly replicate the films, but as with anything not designed primarily for VR, it takes a back seat to people playing on a monitor because, well, that's 95% of the audience. There are tricks you can use to move your head position, I'll give that a try and see if I can have my head lower in the cockpit and see if that helps.

I really wish Star Wars: Squadrons had felt any good to play. The X-Wing games were both exciting and involving, Squadrons lacked all of the nuance and precision in the controls making it feel lifeless by comparison.

[Alan]

Desperadoes 3
Finished it, finally. Lovvvved that game. At the start of each level I almost got a "not this again" when I would flick round all the overlapping cones but the moment I got my first sneaky perfect kills I was right back in it and engaged till the end. Excellent game, great ending too. I did overall slightly prefer Shogun but theyre both top tier.

Counterstrike 2
I hate this game. I used to like CS a long time ago but i just hate it now. I hate how it feels, I hate the shooting, I hate the lootbox focus. Uninstalled :p

[DjchunKfunK]

Lamplighters League

Played the first tutorial mission of Lamplighters League, hasn't made a great first impression. The stealth stuff feels clunky with characters not always going where you want as the grid system only comes into play when you are in tactical mode. Additionally the way you move people isn't great. They move as a group or you can ungroup them and move between them with tab, however say if you accidentally click on another character whilst moving the one you are controlling next to them the character you were moving will stop immediately leaving you rushing to try and take control of them again so they don't get spotted.Your field of view is very restricted when in the stealth portion as well with you unable to zoom out or move the camera other than to rotate. This caused me an issue a few times with one part in particular being very annoying and forcing me to go loud before I wanted to because I just couldn't move the camera to a place that I could see anything. Finally the stealth feels very forced as there are areas where you just can use it and ones that you can't so it doesn't feel like you get much freedom in how to approach things. If I compare it to Phantom Doctrine which did something similar in that you could, if you were careful, avoid going loud and stealth a whole level. From my initial impressions I don't think that is an option in Lamplighters League. (edited)

It's obviously only one mission but it doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence, everything feels very clunky, even the turnbased combat to an extent and the stealth stuff feels like an afterthought rather than integral to the game.

Just a bit more on the stealth. Only one of the three characters it gives you at the start is able to silently takedown enemies from behind and if the enemy is alert even they can't take them out. The other two have a charge that knocks enemies down and an electric mine that can distract enemies but they can only be used twice each per mission.

I might play one more mission but with so much other good stuff to play right now I'm not sure I want to persevere.

[Sly Boots]

I feel the same, Dj. And it's such a shame as I was SO looking forward to this one from the initial reveal trailer.

But then I played the demo a week or so ago and while it felt fine, I guess, at the time, the more I reflected back on it the more I realised that was me trying to convince myself I was enjoying a game I'd been highly anticipating. And actually between the control issues, reported technical issues (people having their saves wiped the most egregious of these) and generally just being a bit underwhelmed by it, I've decided to skip it entirely... despite being free for me essentially via GamePass.

Big missed opportunity. They should have made it basically a 1930s pulp-themed XCOM-like and gone all-out with the turn-based tactics, instead the mix of real-time plus turn-based battles in tiny arenas just didn't work for me. And that's despite it working for me in Mutant Year Zero and, more recently, Miasma Chronicles, which both did it a lot better.