Currently Playing

[Animalmother]

Shadow of Mordor
Got this on sale today. Haven't played much yet but so far it's not too exactly grabbing me like I hoped it would. It's an 8 year old game and plays like one. Controls are very clunky, one button does multiple actions but never the one that you need at the moment. Surrounded by orcs and need to run away, tap the A button to sprint and instead mount a nearby wall and get stabbed in the back. It's very easy to get swarmed by enemies and the combat is very messy unlike the Batman games that uses the same system. I'm only an hour or 2 in so it'll get better. The design of the individual orcs is great and the chieftains look amazing. I'll keep at it and hope it grows on me like the Mad Max game did.

[Raid]

I gave TIE Fighter: Total Conversion (a mod for the heavily developed X-Wing Alliance) another go, as the engine has been updated recently for significant performance improvements when playing in VR. It's a little easier to configure now; when I played last year, it took me well over an hour to set up my controllers (admittedly my flight sim rig is vastly over the top for this sort of thing). They have at least made it easier to see which button on the peripherals is which numbered button in the config, something that used to require constantly swapping to Windows' own controller setup window to see which button illuminated when pushed. You still have to select what that button does from a drop-down of about a hundred different keypresses, but at least you no longer need to spend two minutes loading the game and getting into a mission before the trial and error axes setup works to your liking. The only issue I've not managed to fix yet is the huge deadzone applied to each axis, which makes dogfighting far more difficult than it should be considering the quality of my flight stick.

I've probably spent significantly longer tweaking controls than actually playing yet, but it's nice to be playing what was a formative game for me again. It's basically a full remake of the game, so all of the voiceovers have been redone, and the missions rebuilt (if keeping to the same themes from what I've seen). The voices are a bit amateurish, but you can swap back to the originals if you play the original mission set, which is still available. The original game was hard as nails, and the X-Wing Alliance flight engine made significant alterations to how AI and bits and pieces like blaster and missile velocities worked, so apparently the remake was necessary to make the game palatable in 2022. I'll see how I get on with the remade stuff, but the temptation to swap back to the originals for the superior voice work is definitely there (the Briefing Officer's original voice is etched into my memory - it's hard to ignore the poor imitation).

[Lenny Solidus]

Borderlands 3 Psycho Krieg DLC

Now that I can finally play Borderlands 3 without my PC having a seizure I spotted one of the smaller dlc's on sale for a measly £2 I snapped that baby right up and got stuck right in.

What struck me the most playing this expansion was how much of its aesthetic looked like a direct asset flip of the sadly ill-fated Battleborn which I thought was the best game they had made in a very long time and still miss playing today. They made every bit of content for it completely inaccessible last year, the utter twats. This was a relatively short but fun enough ride I guess, although I do feel like I kind of sleep walked through much of it, so it can't have been all that great gameplay wise...it did have some nice design and surprises though tbf.

In the end beating the final boss all I came away with was one lousy gold legendary weapon...that I already owned a much superior version of. I guess that's all you deserve when you are as cheap as I am.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood

After good old Shill Up released a particularly scathing review of the game, I never had the intention of ever picking this up, that was until one day when I saw the deluxe version going for £3. As we've already established that I tend to scour for the cheapest games I can get I especially will never pass up the chance to try out a more modern shooter for the price of a few mouldy peanuts. And you know what, it's a fun at times extremely polished and well put together little pursuit. I've come to appreciate the game because it's just pure unadulterated balls to the wall fun and much prefer it to Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus especially, which I thought was a huge step back from their first game.

The distinct merging of both Machine Games and Arkane has really added flavour to the overall proceedings, meaning it's both a super visceral shooter and an ocd collecting nightmare and both are catered for very nicely indeed. The coins you collect scattered about add some nice upgrade touches and there are some beautiful looking maps - this is Arkane after all...

Spoiler

Sure you have to contend with the twins but having someone else who can both buff and revive you is always a helpful mechanic even if you do wish they would shut up with the dudebro shite from time to time.

[Snowy]

Shadow of Mordor
Got this on sale today. Haven't played much yet but so far it's not too exactly grabbing me like I hoped it would. It's an 8 year old game and plays like one. Controls are very clunky, one button does multiple actions but never the one that you need at the moment. Surrounded by orcs and need to run away, tap the A button to sprint and instead mount a nearby wall and get stabbed in the back. It's very easy to get swarmed by enemies and the combat is very messy unlike the Batman games that uses the same system. I'm only an hour or 2 in so it'll get better. The design of the individual orcs is great and the chieftains look amazing. I'll keep at it and hope it grows on me like the Mad Max game did.

It was the Nemesis system that made the game for me. Have you got some nasty little bastard that has your number now, and you dread showing up in a fight?

[Animalmother]

I'm getting into the swing of it now. I was really struggling with the captains but went on a rampage and managed to kill about 4 of them in quick order including one who randomly ran into a fire before I even realized he existed. There's some big fucker with a really rapey voice whose killed me a few times but always manages to run off before I can kill him, I really want to murder that bastard.

[Lenny Solidus]

Ah yes, there's nothing better or more all consuming than when one of them really gets under your skin. My own current murder mission on the game is to kill an enemy known as Torz Bag-Head, I hate this guy. I hate how he talks, I hate how he looks and of course how he keeps completely owning me and gaining power due to my failure to chop off his damn head. Glad the game started to click with you Animalmother, there's nothing else out there that offers what both Shadow and War provide. Nemesis truly is the shit.

[Animalmother]

The controls are still an issue as is the camera at times but I'm getting there. The Nemesis System is inspired, I'm amazed they've only used it in two games so far.

So I've managed to kill the fucker that was taunting me and 3 other captains. I'm really clearing out the ranks and haven't died in ages, should be interesting to see all the promotions that happen once I do die.

Spoiler

Gollum is very well done. The voice and personality are a near perfect copy from the films

[DjchunKfunK]

Railbound

A really good puzzle game that asks you to build tracks in order to connect carriages up with a train in the correct order. As you progress through the game it adds more and more wrinkles such as tunnels, points and barriers. There is a demo on Steam and your progress carries over to the full game. Highly recommend if you have any interest in puzzle games.

[Animalmother]

Red Dead Redemption 2
Giving this another punt after my last attempt fizzled out. The opening section in the mountains does it no favors and I believe this is where most people give up out of frustration or boredom. I persevered and am getting more into it now and just roaming the countryside and getting into trouble. Still struggling to make money and having a $220 bounty on my head doesn't help (I literally can't afford to pay that off..). It's a beautiful looking game I must say and aimless wandering brings you to some great locations.
I'm curious that if they do continue this series will it move into the 1900's or will they just keep the Old West theme. I know Red Dead is set in 1912 but will they go for a 1920's gangster era if there is a third game. Not that we'll find out for at least another 10 years anyway.

[Alan]

Rumbleverse
Its a wrestling battle royale from Iron Galaxy (Killer Instinct/Divekick). Instead of weapons you pick up moves and level up stats (stamina/attack/health). Its probably the most enjoyable BR I've played. Not sure on staying power but in the short term its quite ridiculously fun. They dont do a very good job of onboarding, they just toss you in so first match will be a bit "what the hell am I doing?" but you can pick it up quick. Might be worth watching a YT vid or two before hand.




Multiversus
The WB smash clone. I'm not into platform fighters but in the short term I like how it feels more than Smash. Its decent.



Street Fighter Vs Tekken
I bloody love this game and the PC version is so broken because of GFWL. Capcom delisted it maybe 6 months ago with vague words that they might fix it but silence since then. Theres two community patches, one removes GFWL and unlocks all characters (even console specific characters like the Playstation cat mascots) and the other is supposed to fix GFWL so you can still play online. Tried bloody ages on and off over the last few months to get the online patch working and it would always hang at "downloading profile"..... until a couple of days ago when it finally worked! So happy! I almost bought a 360 or PS3 just to play it because its not playable on any modern system other than kind of on PC. I dont even understand why GFWL still works. Its supposed to be shut down yet online still works and you can still earn achievements. I wish MS cared enough to patch the old system to work better. Feels great playing it again though! The community is surprisingly active (via discord) for a game people supposedly hate.

[Mantis]

Is Tekken vs Street Fighter still going to be a thing or did they can it after the frosty reception from the first one?

[Alan]

Is Tekken vs Street Fighter still going to be a thing or did they can it after the frosty reception from the first one?

Seems like. Harada said something cryptic about it maybe being canceled but he wasn't sure. I think Akuma in Tekken 7 is as close as we'll get for a long time.


Buuuuuut there seems to be movement on a new CvS or/and SvC of late which would be bloody awesome!

[Animalmother]

Death Loop
Now on Game Pass so gave it a go. It has that wonderful style that Arcane only seen to be able to do and it looks very pretty. The game itself left me completely cold though, just didn't grab me at all. The shooting feels very limp and impactless. I'm still very early in the game and haven't a clue what's going on so it might improve once I get the hang of it.

[Wrathbone]

Trombone Champ

Totally worth the entry price of £11. There are songs where I've been outright streaming tears from laughter, trying to hold it together enough to get to the end.

[Drarok]

I heard about that yesterday, and I'm 99% sure I'm going to buy it tonight (because Thursday is gaming night, and there will be drinking).