What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[mastermx]

I've been playing a lot of Metal Slug XX for the psp recently. This is effectively Metal Slug 7. It doesn't get enough love imo. It is one of the best metal slugs. Such a brilliant game.

[Mischief Maker]

Trine 2

It's bizarre how quickly I cycle between dropping my jaw in amazement at the beautiful artwork and stifling a yawn at the boring gameplay. If this had been an amiga game it'd be an all time classic. But nowadays gorgeous visuals and newtonian physics are crap you find in cracker jack boxes. I'm living in the future and not even appreciating it.

[CStarFlare]

Started Dragon Quest VII. Took two hours to get into my first battle, but I'm enjoying it now that there's actual gameplay.

I've also started in on Elemental Gearbolt. I really want a Master Mode clear, though I really should be grinding Normal when I practice. There's a sick 42 mil replay on Nico, but I'm sure 55 is doable on the US version thanks to the chalices. I wonder what the WR is... The winning entry in Working Designs' contest was 49, but after seeing the Nico run I'm sure it's far from optimal.

I do wish there was a stage select option. Stage 5 is incredibly epic.

[Mortificator]

Hellnight, or Dark Messiah. An article on HG101 about the game caught my eye, but it didn't get across how much Hellnight's like Enemy Zero. Simple corridors navigated in realtime first-person, dotted with prerendered rooms containing light adventure game elements.

Hellnight definitely has the stronger atmosphere and aesthetic, but its corridor segments are much lamer. You can't fight in Hellnight, yet games with impotent protagonists can still build interesting systems around escaping, like Demento. There's none of that here, you just run or go in a room (you're totally safe in all of them, and the monster will often be gone when you come out). The game ultimately boils down to crawling huge corridor networks looking for the next hotspot room, occasionally dodging an enemy less dangerous than a single Pac-Man ghost.

[ACSeraph]

I've been playing a lot of Metal Slug XX for the psp recently. This is effectively Metal Slug 7. It doesn't get enough love imo. It is one of the best metal slugs. Such a brilliant game.

XX is Metal Slug 7 isn't it? It's an upgrade to MS7 on DS, just like X was an upgrade to MS2.

I've been playing Project Diva F2. Yeah that's right, the Vocaloid rhythm game. Don't judge. I was actually introduced to Vocaloid by this series, and while I never got particularly into the music scene (though there is good stuff if you search hard enough) the games are like crack to me. I've been playing since the original though, and as a result I'm a little disappointed in F2. Over half the song list is reused from the older games, and it's still a bit lacking on the difficulty. I should probably be used to this kind of thing by now from experience with other rhythm game series but... /sadface

[mastermx]

XX is Metal Slug 7 isn't it? It's an upgrade to MS7 on DS, just like X was an upgrade to MS2.

Yeah, double X is basically metal Slug 7 but with arcade quality resolution. I actually played ms7 first on the ds, and this is why I also brought xx. Msxx is such a good metal Slug game. They should have brought it to arcades or consoles, it is one of the most epic entries. Psp version also has combat school just like the neogeo cd metal slugs.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Rev. Stuart Campbell was wildly enthusiastic about Metal Slug 7.

[Mischief Maker]

Rev. Stuart Campbell was wildly enthusiastic about Metal Slug 7.

Could someone tell me the details why? He never made that article available to the public and when I tried to subscribe to his site he refused me. Is it the coin collecting mechanic? The goofy characters like the one who kills soldiers by tossing them a foot in the air?

[BrianC]

Msxx is such a good metal Slug game. They should have brought it to arcades or consoles

It's on 360 via Xbox live arcade. I heard it may be badly filtered, though.

[mastermx]

Msxx is such a good metal Slug game. They should have brought it to arcades or consoles

It's on 360 via Xbox live arcade. I heard it may be badly filtered, though.

Geez, xbla had everything... PSN sucked by comparison. I've never had an Xbox. I wonder if the Xbox one will be so awesome when it comes to arcade releases. Because if that's the case, I might reconsider my ps4 decision.

[Doctor Butler]

Geez, xbla had everything... PSN sucked by comparison. I've never had an Xbox. I wonder if the Xbox one will be so awesome when it comes to arcade releases. Because if that's the case, I might reconsider my ps4 decision.

Xbone is steerig clear away from that, and focusing on mainstream appeal. PS4 is embracing more niche games, and is likely where imports, indies and ports will end up.

Oh, and Tekken Revolution, because I can't afford Tag 2 just yet

[Mortificator]

Indigo Prophecy. I'm late for the Quadratic Dream train, and they've since released another murder mystery and a Nail Ellen Page Simulator.

Starts out compelling, killings with a hint of mysticism. Then, more and more stupid elements pop up. Your choices turn out not to matter. You get assassinated by your couch. By the end, you're having Matrix kung-fu duels with ancient Mayan priests and throwing kamehamehas at sentient AIs. Stupid, and not in a good way.

[Ed Oscuro]

"Finished" (very qualified - savestate and walkthrough abuse ahoy; didn't have to do a lot of backtracking) Blood Will Tell, aka Dororo. Haven't read the original comics yet.

Others might differ, but for me the difficulty curve was a bit U-shaped, though the tail on the right is much, much higher. The final boss is nuts. Everything immediately before it was a joke, though. I had a bit of trouble with some of the early bosses, but soon enough you'll get upgrades and start rolling over fools.

Interesting game concept, but feels underproduced in parts. The game's expansive vistas sometimes suggest it could have fared significantly better with the Xbox's power at its disposal, but still not bad. The end of the game has me feeling less enthusiastic than, say, Rygar (which I still need to finish) which has done a good job keeping the pacing and challenge respectable. I can't really say Dororo fizzles out - there's some neat stuff at the end and the final boss is truly challenging (partly for the wrong reasons) - but it doesn't feel quite right, either. I also wasn't super enthralled with all those cookie-cutter box areas near the end of the game.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

I've been trying to 1cc Strider and the last level is seriously pushing me. The anti-gravity section feels like nonsense; I have died there probably thirty times and never passed it once.

[Obiwanshinobi]

To have superior tech and more polished graphics, Blood Will Tell would've needed more funds. The licence could be venerable, but business is business.
Sometimes I feel it comes out for the better when such products get just enough funds to see daylight, but not enough to compete with best-sellers. See Hajime no Ippo games (also a cherished title, but with any more following and money involved, the anime adaptation would be filler-infested and we'd see more video games on more systems, yet not necessarily more substantial).

Oh, and you know THAT bossfght is here to stay in your memory for years to come, even if you resorted to one of the wuss-arse weapons (as I did) at the very end of the day.

[Ed Oscuro]

To have superior tech and more polished graphics, Blood Will Tell would've needed more funds.

Yes, in terms of getting rid of the construction-set villages or that crate house at the end of the game.

The textures and models are pretty decent and seem mainly hobbled by the system - they've clearly done a lot of work rigging and animating (including with mocap) the models for lots of realtime cutscenes, too. Gonna see how it compares to Shinobi's animation. BWT's almost got AAA-level production work done in a lot of it. I think that just moving up to a slightly more powerful system would've allowed some stuff to shine through better.

Unfortunately I didn't see how to really get the timing right on that final boss's rush attack, so more savestate abuse was the order of the day. And 48 slices? Egh, not only was that an insane amount (I'm just fast enough to get 20 if I really try, in normal gameplay), but suddenly referring to something which has just been a mostly-invisible gameplay component up to the present time is a good way to confuse me.

One of the reasons I had as much fun with the game as I did was because I stopped using the sword charge attack - having figured out I didn't need any more Jyukai's Medicine balls or other items - and started leveling up the arm swords instead. If I had been smart I would've figured that out earlier - as it is, the game does a rather poor job of highlighting what is important and what's not in terms of its game system. As far as I am aware, using the two-handed sword method instead of the arm blades isn't useful unless you need to use a particular sword (and can't do it with arm blades - that restriction disappears late in the game) or need items. That gameplay mechanic - switching weapon types - wasn't well-developed to begin with, and the mechanical change near the end of the game seemed to shatter its use entirely.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Well, Shinobi (2002) is ultimately a somewhat different kind of action game. One where you're not really given time to take in the Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V environments. Very arcadey in that you can't take your time dicking around.

If you desperately need to compare Xbox' prowess to that of PS2 in TPP slashers, there's Crimson Sea 1vs2 comparison to be made, or Dynasty Warriors 4 for that matter. Then there are LotR hack & slashers, Spartan: Total Warrior...

I'm under impression that while on Xbox those may look nicer (especially screenshots), in terms of ongoing mayhem PS2 wasn't really topped (see the old pal Spartan: Total Warrior).

[CStarFlare]

Dragon Quest VII is kind of extremely boring. I got through VI without growing tired of it, but VII is just mini adventures that up to now have involved very little fighting and a lot of aimless bullshit. My favorite to far was the town where I had to talk to everybody and collect my reward. They were all dead and there was nothing I could do. That's some hero shit right there.

I'm 10 hours into it and I feel like throwing in the towel. Does this game ever pick up (to whatever counts as normal Dragon Quest pace)?

I did hit 19 million in Elemental Gearbolt. Should have been 20, but I choked hard halfway through stage 5. I want to clear Master mode, and it would be neat to hit 40 million. It's totally doable.

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm under impression that while on Xbox those may look nicer (especially screenshots), in terms of ongoing mayhem PS2 wasn't really topped (see the old pal Spartan: Total Warrior).

Did you never play Otogi 2? I'm not sure what "ongoing mayhem" means otherwise; I am pretty much staunchly disinterested in the Dynasty Warriors model and not really interested in Koei's barely-revved ports from system to system where they apparently did just the minimum from yearly release to release, let alone tweaking it substantially for specific consoles. In terms of the type of game, Rygar is closer to Shinobi and BWT than are some of the multi-plats, especially the Dynasty Warriors series.

Point taken about how Shinobi PS2 isn't playing the same kind of game, but then again I think it wasn't unreasonable for people to expect a bit better showing of the console's abilities. Given the date of release, doubtlessly Nightshade has a chance to close the time gap with BWT.

[broken harbour]

Been playing Final Fantasy 7 for the first time, it's been on my list for 17 years, finally got around to it. 5 hours in its interesting, I can see how this melted faces in 1997, battles are fun, story is decent so far. I figured this wouldn't have aged well, but everything except the graphics have. Can't wait to get out of Midgar...

[Obiwanshinobi]

Did you never play Otogi 2?

I did not. I just think PS2 really had what it took to render many baddies ganging up on TPP heroes in real-time 3D at decent framerates, to the point where similar games on other platforms didn't look any more crowded or busier. Spartan: Total Warrior being arguably the most impressive one of the bunch, considering its A.I. (So the dudes are low-poly and poorly animated, but it was a multiplatform game to boot.)

I also think such games were not too demanding to develop for the thing; see the sheer number of DMC- and DW-likes on PS2. According to the press of yesteryear, Ikusagami could display up to 65535 characters on screen, all busy at that, and it kept a rather low profile.

[eatdogs]

Don't touch the white tile on my galaxy note 3. It's an addicting phone game that's free and better than Flappy Bird. I like the nice piano music that goes with it.

[amdiggywhut]

X-Men vs. Street Fighter on the Saturn. Looks amazing on my "new" 36 inch Trinitron. Since most of my shmups are vertical so I haven't been playing much on it aside from fighters.

[KAI]

Initial D Extreme Stage [PS3]. Not liking it. I was expecting a hybrid between the prequel and Ridge Racer, but this game feels strange, slow and the drifting mechanic is dumb as hell. So dissapointing.

[trap15]

Yeah, Extreme Stage is to IDAS4 as Street is to 3 and Special to 2.
As you've akready found, IDAS4 sucks. Pretty much everything after 4 is similar, though 4 is considered the worst in the series.

[KAI]

I've heard DoubleAA Cross/7 went back to the roots and it's similar to v3. I hope it gets ported someday.
The thing I hate the most about Extreme is the lack of D-pad support. I just can't play racers with the analog stick.

[shmuppyLove]

Just got the Platinum on Tales of Xillia, my first ever!

Feels good, man.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Need just 2 more playthroughs of Symphonia to get the plat. need to pick Genis at Flanoir to get a title for him and Presea. Also need to pick Regal to get a title for him and his swimsuit title. I know I could do it with just 1 more if I reload, but I actually want to have every title at once, and it's under 15 hours of playing to speed through on NG+ now since I don't really know proper speedstrats. I'll definitely want to play a somewhat fresh Mania run sometime after I have the plat with Titles transferred(for the costumes) and maybe some other nongamebreaking stuff, just to actually beat the game on the hardest mode without NG+ advantages.

But I'm going to replay Dawn first as I need a bit of a break from the first game, so I'll try to get more skit and sidequest completion on that. 10x Experience Mania mode so I can quickly evolve monsters as it counts as a pact when you evolve into a different one. If I care, I can save Unknown for a somewhat challenging run.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I just can't play racers with the analog stick.

The key is to play racers with TWO sticks. Then it's bliss. OutRun 2006 (presumably 2 on Xbox too, but I wouldn't know) is the purest*) at that, since you don't use anything else.
When my flight stick (five axes) arrived, I had some fun times trying various layouts in OutRun 2006, but comfort-wise nothing beats pad with two sticks.
By the way, Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X works on PS3, so if you ever get to try it out, you might find some cars easiest to handle with twisting moves (it may not be neGcon, but it works).

*) Using AT of course. No need to worry; I found even Richard Burns Rally quite playable with automatic (at least on the tutorial level).

[Sparky]

Child of Light - Playstation 3

I purchased Child of Light yesterday and played it for about an hour. The gameplay has been very simple. You traverse through a forest with a character named Aurora. It begins with some platforming with an occasional puzzle. Throughout the first world are enemies that you can engage in a battle that follows a basic turn based battle system. There are few unique mechanics to the game such as using a sprite to slow down the enemies next turn gauge. A bit of it reminds me of Grandia II. I stopped playing a bit after receiving the ability to fly. I will resume my game tonight and see how it further develops.