What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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Air Master Burst
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Air Master Burst »

Mischief Maker wrote: As a fan of deckbuilder/tactics hybrids, have you tried Trials of Fire yet? It's like a version of Gloomhaven made with PC controls in mind that plays way better to me than the official Gloomhaven port.
Gloomhaven's combat system annoys me greatly, both because of the goofy initiative thing and because even the biggest monster in the game still only takes up one hex. That said, I've only tried actual physical tabletop Gloomhaven so maybe the digital version plays better? If I'm playing a tabletop dungeon crawler I usually go with Descent 2E because it's better across the board.

I will check it out, though!
King's Field IV is the best Souls game.
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Mischief Maker
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Mischief Maker »

Well I did not like Gloomhaven PC at all, but I very much enjoy Trials of Fire. Instead of Gloomhaven's goofy initiative system, in ToF the two sides take turns. And the biggest monsters do indeed occupy multiple hexes!
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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Air Master Burst
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Air Master Burst »

Mischief Maker wrote:Well I did not like Gloomhaven PC at all, but I very much enjoy Trials of Fire. Instead of Gloomhaven's goofy initiative system, in ToF the two sides take turns. And the biggest monsters do indeed occupy multiple hexes!
Fucking SOLD!
King's Field IV is the best Souls game.
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XoPachi
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by XoPachi »

Aero GPX got a demo and it seems it's KickStarter is blowing up which is nice.
BallisticNG perfectly captured WipEout in all it's forms from a design and aesthetic angle. Hoping GPX can be F-Zero's BallisticNG. And what high hopes they are because he's sure got a good feel going for it. It's amazing how many garbage AG racers were made in the time since the last original entry of either series. And Fast RMX was not a replacement for me, as great a game it was.

I hope he just nails the core design. Already have droves of people demanding mod support, track editors, custom ships, 30 player online, speedrun tech, and just a fuck load of other....stuff. I just want what he's got to be GOOD. The fluff can come later.
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guigui
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by guigui »

Aero GPX looks very nice indeed !

Will support if Switch version is planned.
Bravo jolie Ln, tu as trouvé : l'armée de l'air c'est là où on peut te tenir par la main.
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Air Master Burst
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Air Master Burst »

Burning through the RE games for Halloween season and I'm going through Code Veronica for the first time since like 2003. It's even better than I remember! Some of the backtracking is a bit much (moth hallway can die in a fucking fire), but everything else is pretty great. This is my first time playing the X version, which is a vast improvement over the original since it adds a bunch of dope Matrix Wesker scenes. This is definitely where the story jumped the shark hard and for this I will always adore it.

Steve is still the absolute worst RE character and it's not even close. I find it hilarious that it's been over 20 years since this thing came out and he's still the most Canadian video game character I can think of. The new haircut is somehow even worse than the original Leo look, too.

Claire is still the fucking best. Can't wait to try Revelations 2 for the first time, but I got a lot of crap to slog through to get there (4 and 5 and the non-ship parts of Rev1). Also looking forward to playing the RE2 and RE3 remakes, modded with the OG menu sounds and splash screens of course.
King's Field IV is the best Souls game.
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Lander
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Lander »

Air Master Burst wrote:Steve is still the absolute worst RE character and it's not even close. I find it hilarious that it's been over 20 years since this thing came out and he's still the most Canadian video game character I can think of. The new haircut is somehow even worse than the original Leo look, too.
"Steve is suffering." - easily one of the most poignant text prompts in the series.

Because sure, he's suffering in the literal sense after getting himself into a sticky situation.
But he's also the walking, talking, whining avatar of the player's own suffering. Whenever you think he's hit bottom, he pulls out another banger.

Indeed, Steve is Suffering :P
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Leandro
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Leandro »

I'm gonna play Revelations 2 too. Bought the game some years ago but never played beyond the first episode(when it was free)

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Sengoku Strider
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Sengoku Strider »

Leandro wrote:I'm gonna play Revelations 2 too. Bought the game some years ago but never played beyond the first episode(when it was free)
I had a fun time with both Revelations games. I kinda felt the second one outstayed its welcome a bit, but in general I thought having more action-focused RE games as a separate sub-series was a good way to go.
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Air Master Burst
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Air Master Burst »

Finished CVX, and now I'm up to the replay of Resident Evil 0.

Holy shit, this game gets a ridiculous amount of hate and I can't fathom why, because it fucking RULES!

I'm not deep enough in to remember if the puzzles are as good as the CVX puzzles (as in, actually make you think a bit and occasionally take notes), but it might be the second-best RE game after 2. Rebecca and Billy are my favorite protagonist combo, and Billy is actually shockingly likable despite being the proud owner of the hands-down worst tattoo in all of video game history. People like to hate on Opera Leech Marcus, but he's not any goofier than Matrix Wesker or the Ashfords or whatever the fuck that thing in the tricorne hat was in RE4 (haven't played it since it first dropped and kinda interested to see what my memory blocked out when I get to it next).

This game is also pretty hard by RE standards. None of the bosses are as bad as Mutant Steve or Alexia's 2nd stage, but the non-boss enemies are probably the most brutal in the series (monkeys and leechmen are both total bastards). The ammo scarcity is pretty refreshing after 3 and CVX gave you such a ridiculous arsenal, and the knife is back to being near-useless again as is good and true in RE.

The biggest failure of this title to me is the lack of a "This game contains scenes of explicit violence and gore." startup splash screen.
King's Field IV is the best Souls game.
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BrianC
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BrianC »

Air Master Burst wrote:Billy is actually shockingly likable despite being the proud owner of the hands-down worst tattoo in all of video game history.
I looked up that tattoo. It's supposed to be "Mother Love", but before I looked up what it really said, I couldn't tell if it was "Mater Love" or "Water Love".
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Air Master Burst
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Air Master Burst »

BrianC wrote:
Air Master Burst wrote:Billy is actually shockingly likable despite being the proud owner of the hands-down worst tattoo in all of video game history.
I looked up that tattoo. It's supposed to be "Mother Love", but before I looked up what it really said, I couldn't tell if it was "Mater Love" or "Water Love".
Somehow this makes it so much worse than just generic tribal. All he's missing is like Taz or Mr. Horsepower on the other shoulder, or an ex's lips on his neck.
King's Field IV is the best Souls game.
Gamer707b
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Gamer707b »

Ok, so I've been really in the mood for Saturn lately. Finished Clockwork Knight and the first Panzer Dragoon last weekend. Now I'm on PS4 New Super Lucky Tale. This game is actually much better and more polished than I would've thought. Good game. On the easy side, but a few of the puzzles and bosses offer a good challenge.
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guigui
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by guigui »

Currently playing the 16 first DLC courses of Mario Kart 8 on the Switch.

It's been a while since I 3 star-ed all the Grand Prix on the regular courses, and I must point out again that MK is definitely a very good racing game.
For sure sometimes you loose to RNG, especially online (remember that the red horn item can destroy blue shells easily). However 95% of the time I feel that if loose it is my fault, and I can even see the moment in the run when I made a bad decision or manipulation.
Bravo jolie Ln, tu as trouvé : l'armée de l'air c'est là où on peut te tenir par la main.
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To Far Away Times
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by To Far Away Times »

Air Master Burst wrote:Finished CVX, and now I'm up to the replay of Resident Evil 0.

Holy shit, this game gets a ridiculous amount of hate and I can't fathom why, because it fucking RULES!

I'm not deep enough in to remember if the puzzles are as good as the CVX puzzles (as in, actually make you think a bit and occasionally take notes), but it might be the second-best RE game after 2. Rebecca and Billy are my favorite protagonist combo, and Billy is actually shockingly likable despite being the proud owner of the hands-down worst tattoo in all of video game history. People like to hate on Opera Leech Marcus, but he's not any goofier than Matrix Wesker or the Ashfords or whatever the fuck that thing in the tricorne hat was in RE4 (haven't played it since it first dropped and kinda interested to see what my memory blocked out when I get to it next).

This game is also pretty hard by RE standards. None of the bosses are as bad as Mutant Steve or Alexia's 2nd stage, but the non-boss enemies are probably the most brutal in the series (monkeys and leechmen are both total bastards). The ammo scarcity is pretty refreshing after 3 and CVX gave you such a ridiculous arsenal, and the knife is back to being near-useless again as is good and true in RE.

The biggest failure of this title to me is the lack of a "This game contains scenes of explicit violence and gore." startup splash screen.
I like Code Veronica a lot too. I think it is fairly easy to "soft lock" the game if I remember correctly but I had a great time with it.
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Air Master Burst
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Air Master Burst »

There's no real softlock other than running out of ammo on a couple bosses because you left the wrong weapons on the wrong character. As long as you're not too careless with saves it's not a big deal, and honestly they give you a pretty absurd arsenal as it is. Also, the knife is borderline broken and absolutely wrecks basic zombies, so once you realize that you end up drowning in ammo.

Losing out on the magnum because you forgot you left the empty fire extinguisher back in the security box was always super annoying, though.

Also, the scorpion fight on the train in RE0 being so easily cheesable with the knife is hilarious, especially because you can then immediately drop the knife and never once need it again (unless there's some stupid obstacle that needs cutting later, I don't remember but it was a common theme in classic RE).
King's Field IV is the best Souls game.
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To Far Away Times
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by To Far Away Times »

Yeah, that was what I was thinking of. The earlier RE's were better about stuff like that.

I still like CV a lot though. The increase in difficulty is appreciated, and I think it's one of the scarier games since the difficulty is more in your face.
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vol.2
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by vol.2 »

Replaying the Space Quest series for some unknow reason. I made it halfway through 3 today, but I'm kind stuck in the middle. It's so frustrating when you get stuck in a Sierra Adventure. Most of the time it's something you've thought of, but you have to get the wording like super exact or it doesn't work.
Spoiler
I spent like 4 hours trying to remember that you have to use the word "rub" to get Roger to cover himself in the berries in SQ2. It's just not really fun when that happens.
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XoPachi
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by XoPachi »

The sound this creature makes is killing me.

https://imgur.com/yIaxguU
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BIL
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BIL »

Holy shit, that's great. :lol: Treasure boss intro intensity. :cool:
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XoPachi
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by XoPachi »

BIL wrote:Holy shit, that's great. :lol: Treasure boss intro intensity. :cool:
My thoughts exactly. I swear they were the perfect fit for a game like this. One of Nintendo's best decisions.
The fact that his mouth is just a fucking box and he in general does not look like he'd make a sound of that nature only makes this funnier.
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To Far Away Times
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by To Far Away Times »

Is it worth it to keep going through SOMA?

I played a few hours, and while I like the story, I'm not really digging it as a game. A few things have been pretty heavily foreshadowed in the first few hours, so I'm just waiting for them to reveal the twist.
Spoiler
You're a robot, right? The robot that saw itself as human, "I didn't know I had a flashlight", times you should have died due to lack of oxygen. I know you can transfer consciousness into a robot, and then there's everything that happened in the opening section with the doctor.
There's going to be more to it, right?
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drauch
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by drauch »

I personally dropped it. I found it a real slog, and yeah, the writing starts off interesting but then I came to the same, "that's it, really?" conclusion.
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Lander
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Lander »

To Far Away Times wrote:Is it worth it to keep going through SOMA?

I played a few hours, and while I like the story, I'm not really digging it as a game. A few things have been pretty heavily foreshadowed in the first few hours, so I'm just waiting for them to reveal the twist.
Spoiler
You're a robot, right? The robot that saw itself as human, "I didn't know I had a flashlight", times you should have died due to lack of oxygen. I know you can transfer consciousness into a robot, and then there's everything that happened in the opening section with the doctor.
There's going to be more to it, right?
From the sound of it you've got a solid grasp on the game's themes, so - treading lightly - I'll say that it does explore them beyond an otherwise fairly obvious twist and leaves the player with some challenging (-ish, depending on your baseline level of techno-philosophical musing) material to ruminate on come the end.

The degree of foreshadowing ramps up the further in you go, so you'll probably get a better idea of whether you want to see it through once the characters start asking their own questions in a few plot beats' time.

The gameplay doesn't change up in any particularly meaningful fashion, though there are some impressive set pieces in the back half if memory serves.
Ultimately, it all comes down to whether holding W to receive a decently gribbly horror plot is worth your time :)
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Air Master Burst
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Air Master Burst »

Had to take a gaming break for a couple days, but I finally handled the rest of Resident Evil 0. The Train and Training Facility together are probably the best areas in any classic RE game, so like the first 2/3ds, is an absolute masterpiece. But holy shit did they ever run out of time, because once you hit the Laboratory the puzzles dry up and it gets to be a fairly linear affair through uninspired industrial environments. It's telling that there were almost no descriptive texts written for the Factory or Treatment Plant, and the ones that do exist are mostly things like "There is nothing useful here." and "There is no reason to go that way."

Even so, it remains an absolutely gorgeous game, and the opening train segment is easily the best in the entire franchise. It also has my favorite version of the Tyrant, he's absolutely wicked looking! I'd put it just after RE2 for best in the series. It would've taken the top spot if the polish was consistent through to the end.

So far:

RE2
RE0
RECVX
OG RE1
RE3
RE1 Remake

RE4 is up next. I tried it for 5 minutes and found the camera/control scheme to be an unwieldy mess, and this is after binging 5 straight games of classic RE tank controls. Should be a blast!
King's Field IV is the best Souls game.
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vol.2
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by vol.2 »

Air Master Burst wrote:Had to take a gaming break for a couple days, but I finally handled the rest of Resident Evil 0. The Train and Training Facility together are probably the best areas in any classic RE game, so like the first 2/3ds, is an absolute masterpiece. But holy shit did they ever run out of time, because once you hit the Laboratory the puzzles dry up and it gets to be a fairly linear affair through uninspired industrial environments. It's telling that there were almost no descriptive texts written for the Factory or Treatment Plant, and the ones that do exist are mostly things like "There is nothing useful here." and "There is no reason to go that way."

Even so, it remains an absolutely gorgeous game, and the opening train segment is easily the best in the entire franchise. It also has my favorite version of the Tyrant, he's absolutely wicked looking! I'd put it just after RE2 for best in the series. It would've taken the top spot if the polish was consistent through to the end.
It does run out of steam towards the end, and the inventory is a mess. The game basically encourages you to lug items around and drop them on the floor in strategic places.

Personally, I think the Training Facility is the better area because it has less of linear feeling. I was blown away by the train the first time I played it, but after 3 or 4 times, it started feeling like a chore. Not to say the rest of the game isn't linear, but the train is super claustrophobic and most of the difficulty comes from not being able to see what you are shooting at or running past(even more than in RE1 and 2 for this sequence), and it's just about remembering where things are.

The ending is a mess because the game got stuck in development hell for 4-5 years. It was an N64 game that got scrapped and then resurrected as a GC game years later. The team had an huge break before getting to finish it, lots of changes were made, and it wasn't even the same whole team anymore.
RE4 is up next. I tried it for 5 minutes and found the camera/control scheme to be an unwieldy mess, and this is after binging 5 straight games of classic RE tank controls. Should be a blast!
I wanted to hate RE4 so much because I was a die-hard OG RE fan and I was pissed at the change in gameplay. But I loved it. I agree the controls suck ass when you start, but I found they were something that I could adapt to, and they became totally natural fairly quickly. I think it maybe took a couple days.


Errr. Lists huh?

RE2 (not only because it took the first game and made it better, but for nostalgic reasons)
RE1
REMAKE
RECV
RE4
RE5
RE0
RE3

I haven't played 6,7 or 8 yet. I own 7 and RE1HD, RE2HD.
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Air Master Burst
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Air Master Burst »

I actually greatly prefer RE0's inventory system to the magic item boxes, because I can just drop crap I don't need for something I do instead of backtracking all the way to a save room to clear up inventory space. Most people don't seem to realize you can use the elevator to go back to any area in the game past the Train, so it's impossible to completely lose an item.

The last couple bosses are also a whole bunch of wasted potential. Apart from being absurd bullet sponges, they annoyingly force the AI partner on you instead of letting/forcing you to leave them behind like the earlier ones. If it wasn't for these two things, the first stage of leech queen has a pretty good arena by classic RE boss standards, even if it is basically just a figure 8.

ETA: I like how even though everyone has different preferences when it comes to Resident Evil, pretty much everyone agrees that RE2 fucking rules.
King's Field IV is the best Souls game.
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vol.2
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by vol.2 »

Air Master Burst wrote: ETA: I like how even though everyone has different preferences when it comes to Resident Evil, pretty much everyone agrees that RE2 fucking rules.
For me it was one of those games I was waiting for that totally exceeded my expectations. I played through RE1 for the first time with my buddy and we used to switch off playing areas while we were getting trashed lol. I feel like we had no reasonable expectation for RE2 to be even as good and the first game. But it was much better. So many iconic scenes (the gun store in the intro for example) and so many amazing areas. The police station was so detailed, and the rooms all presented interesting environments. I thought that Half Life really took a lot of inspiration from the scenes in RE2 for the Office Complex (not to mention so many FPS to come).

I can't say objectively if 2 is a much, much better game than say CV or 4 because I didn't have the same experience with those. The rest of the games I played by myself in a dark room lol.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Lander »

0 loses a point in my book purely for the monkeys. Hard-to-hit little bastards hopped up on goofballs :x
vol.2 wrote:I haven't played 6,7 or 8 yet. I own 7 and RE1HD, RE2HD.
6 is bizarre. The underlying gunplay mechanics are among the best in the TPS genre, but the campaigns nerf the player so hard as to make them almost unrecognizable amidst the hours of shark-jumping blockbuster setpieces. It feels like they built the systems around Mercenaries mode - where they really shine - then decided Shootdive Wrestlemania Extravaganza didn't fit the horror theme and buried it.

I thought 7 was a good time that managed to hit the classic RE notes despite the major style shift, but 8... 8 turns the jetski around for another run at the shark and plows right into it :(
Air Master Burst wrote:ETA: I like how even though everyone has different preferences when it comes to Resident Evil, pretty much everyone agrees that RE2 fucking rules.
Hell yeah it does. I put that down to it being the most refined non-remake version of the classic formula; it built new stuff out from the core while polishing it up and not making any major flubs or changes in direction.
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guigui
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by guigui »

RE fanboys here ! I want to troll : isn's Silent Hill 2 considered to be better ?
Bravo jolie Ln, tu as trouvé : l'armée de l'air c'est là où on peut te tenir par la main.
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