What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[maxlords]

Painkiller is quite outstanding....so is Battle Out of Hell (think that's on the Black edition too). Just amazing. Painkiller: Overdose is AWFUL though. Not sure about Resurrection and Redemption.....I DLed Redemption but haven't even been able to get past the first area of the first level. Bleah.

I'm playing Dead Space 2 right now...most of the way done and it's not near as good as the first one Also just started getting into Pixeljunk Shooter, playing Picross on the DS off and on , and playing Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together at work on my breaks. Yay for PSP's sleep mode

[Evilmaxwar]

Im playing Devil may cry IV. Thats about the only non shmup game i played in the last 3 months.

Before that i played Starcraft 2 exclusively from launch date to end of November, i reached Platinum in all leagues but finaly said to myself:"Screw this ... lets go back to shmups."

*Edit : Since some of you talking about painkiller, a couple years past. I spent a whole year playing this game Hardcore style: Nightmare difficulty, no saves states allowed, you die you start over. Just the way i liked to play DooM back in the days, haha. I consider painkiller the best FPS of the Decade. Those COD fanboys can go wank themselves.

[RNGmaster]

Why the hell were people saying Thor was hard? I beat him in like two turns. Oh, and managed to freeze Orthrus with a lucky shot and kill him by holding Triangle.

OH SO DIFFICULT

[PainAmplifier]

Painkiller is quite outstanding....so is Battle Out of Hell (think that's on the Black edition too). Just amazing. Painkiller: Overdose is AWFUL though. Not sure about Resurrection and Redemption.....I DLed Redemption but haven't even been able to get past the first area of the first level. Bleah.

I'm playing Dead Space 2 right now...most of the way done and it's not near as good as the first one Also just started getting into Pixeljunk Shooter, playing Picross on the DS off and on , and playing Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together at work on my breaks. Yay for PSP's sleep mode

Painkiller:Overdose is very good for something user-made...but as a retail release it's merely adequate. It has a few too many bad design/graphic issues to be anything more than average. And since all the other PK releases were so good, PK:OD's failings stand out greatly in comparison. The most redeeming feature of PK:OD has to be the standout levels/design for select maps, the others being average to good (most) and one truly poor one. (Desert) The Standouts being Animal Farm, Loony Park and Air Combat. A few of the others are borderline, but not quite good enough to be great.

Overall I'd say that PK:OD feels more like an solid but unpolished Alpha release and less like an amateur MOD pack. Although speaking of PK, I haven't taken a look at PK:Ressurection yet, but reviews on the PK fan sites say it's got some flaws like OD does.

[mortified_penguin]

painkiller is fucking awesome.

After a few hours of playing it, I couldn't agree more. I was actually looking at getting PK:Redemption since it's only $5 but I guess it's a real stinker, glad I chose the original and I can't wait to play Battle Out of Hell. The only down side to all this is now I really want to try Bulletstorm but I flat out refuse to pay $60 for a standard edition PC game.

[sjewkestheloon]

Playing Torchlight on the 360 and it's bloody addictive. lvl 100 here I come, and then VHHC will own me.

[Aquas]

Still Shenmue 2 and Super Street Fighter IV. I recently learned Chun Li's bread and butter combos. Another zoning character, hooray! (With Rose and Dhalsim in my repetoir)

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

Right now I'm up to stage 5 in Pocky & Rocky. Quite anxious to see how the final level compares because seriously, nothing brings out the endgame feel like entering a place called "the forbidden castle".

[captpain]

painkiller is fucking awesome.

After a few hours of playing it, I couldn't agree more. I was actually looking at getting PK:Redemption since it's only $5 but I guess it's a real stinker, glad I chose the original and I can't wait to play Battle Out of Hell. The only down side to all this is now I really want to try Bulletstorm but I flat out refuse to pay $60 for a standard edition PC game.

Painkiller and Battle Out of Hell are both good. Don't even bother with the others....

but those games! They are SO much fun. I love that kind of FPS style. Helps that they have some of the coolest level design ever. The final level of Painkiller is perfect.

[PainAmplifier]

Painkiller and Battle Out of Hell are both good. Don't even bother with the others....

but those games! They are SO much fun. I love that kind of FPS style. Helps that they have some of the coolest level design ever. The final level of Painkiller is perfect.

Painkiller is fun yes, but I can never tell if the secrets in that game are awesome or diabolical! Example: http://painkiller.maledicted.net/secrets/c5l1/4 The video here makes it look easy, but after thousands of tries I still can't get around that corner to get to this secret. I've even tried the alternate launch yourself off the minarets with speed card trick and I can't do that either.

And that's not the only secret like this. Secret #2 of Snowy Bridge is another crazy one. Having to madly bunny hop around the back of the tower along a tiny sloped edging?!?!?! Insanity I tell you. I have to ask myself how absolutely crazy people where to find these things without using a map editor. (Hell is it even possible?)

Of all the games I have ever played, Painkiller has the most batshit crazy secrets I've ever had the misfortune of trying to get. My vote goes to the "Docks" level for the absolute nuttiest, sanity fleeing, unobtainium searching that I have ever had the shock of seeing done!

[Obiwanshinobi]

Finished Gitaroo Man on Normal, the first game of this kind I've beaten (i.e. cleared all stages necessary to see the ending). Wanted to verify if working on my sense of rhythm will help me to get better at action games where I feel I should be less trigger happy sometimes.
Gitaroo Man is one rad game and I wish I had somebody to play it with. Well, maybe I have, but it's not something I'd like to force into anybody.
Among other rhythm games not requiring any special controller to get the most out of them, which one would be good for a beginner? Vib-Ribbon is quite experimental by nature, thus working out which songs would fit my current skill level best might not be easy at this point. Parappa looks good (even though I sucked at it last time I played it), so do Frequency and Amplitude. I also get a good vibe from Technictix and Technic Beat videos, but those, being originally coin-op games, may be pretty hard.

[Drum]

I hate the genre, but Rhythm Heaven is good times.
Same folks who did Gitaroo Man also did Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents so maybe try them?
I like Vib Ribbon - the songs it comes with are fine and varied, don't need to dick around with CDs.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I thought about the first Rhythm Tengoku as well.

[The Funto]

GTA IV. I recently did all the necessary stuff for the Petrovic achievement, but it's glitched and I'll probably need to do all over again until I find what's wrong. Sometimes I play CoD Modern Warfare multiplayer as well (that will keep me busy untill I have CoD MW2 and Black Ops).

The last non-shmup games I finished: Bioshock and Condemned 2.

[Drachenherz]

Assassins Creed Brotherhood - PC collectors edition just arriverd in the mail today...

That means, I'm probably take a long break from shmupping, playing the game in STEREO 3D on my PC-rig... *drools*

[Jon]

Almost done with world 8 on Donkey Kong Country Returns. The rocket barrel levels make me want to walk into oncoming traffic.

[BrianC]

Berzerk on the Atari 800 XL (prototype reproduction). Very nice port of the arcade that has much of the voice intact.

[1up]

Just/Finally finished The Balad of Gay Tony DLC for Grand Theft Auto 4. Liked it a lot. Felt like GTA San Andreas with the Vice City theme

This means im going back to finish Red Dead Redemption now. And Ive also just started on Deathsmiles for 360. Over on retroleague I joined their tournament and this week we're playing Wizard of Wor

[BulletMagnet]

Mentioned it briefly on the RPG thread but I'll reiterate how hooked I am on Radiant Historia at the moment - no way I'll be done with it on time to dig into Monster Tale once that's out.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Trying to beat the final boss of Silent Bomber again. I'm fed up with the game of chess. Looks cool but overstays its welcome and there's too much of doing nothing but running around to it. Then there's no checkpoint and I face Benoit, and before I can develop some tactics, it's game over for my dude and I must play the game of chess AGAIN. On top of that, FAQs told me that I should have more E-chips handy than I have. So what am I supposed to do, start from the beginnig? Actually I wouldn't mind since it was fucking awesome, but does the game even tell me how many chips I missed after every mission? Somehow game design went south near the endgame.

[Kaiser]

Trying to beat the final boss of Silent Bomber again. I'm fed up with the game of chess. Looks cool but overstays its welcome and there's too much of doing nothing but running around to it. Then there's no checkpoint and I face Benoit, and before I can develop some tactics, it's game over for my dude and I must play the game of chess AGAIN. On top of that, FAQs told me that I should have more E-chips handy than I have. So what am I supposed to do, start from the beginnig? Actually I wouldn't mind since it was fucking awesome, but does the game even tell me how many chips I missed after every mission? Somehow game design went south near the endgame.

I would recommend to focus all E-ships on Shield (so you can stand a chance. I was able to stand a chance that way, if you have problems getting his pattern down. I recommend looking at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8-vk63yPd4#t=4m51s

I feel your pain dude, it took me over 50 tries to beat the bastard. It felt like trying to take down a shmup final boss during a 1cc run. lol

[Obiwanshinobi]

The thing is, with maxed shield and nearly maxed range I can plant only two bombs; that's how underpowered I reached the endgame. It's enough to beat the game of chess, but I don't feel like taking on Benoit with it. Instead, I started another playthrough and it was right thing to do as I find regular stages every bit as enjoyable as first time around. It's been a while since I played through the majority of Silent Bomber. Having beaten PS2 Shinobi on Normal last night, I thought I was on the roll, but Silent Bomber handed my gamer's pride to me on a silver platter all the same.

[EinhanderZwei]

Spent the whole last night playing Resident Evil 2... Everyone says that it's THE Resident Evil, the best game in the series, and... I agree It's the same deal as Evil Dead franchise - the first is classic and such, but it's the second that became a breakthrough installment, not to mention highest sales of all PS1 REs

[Ruldra]

Rented FF XIII and reached chapter 5 today. And well, so far so good, it's not the turd I was expecting to be. I'm enjoying the game for now.

I feel stupid for listening to the internet and not trying this game before.

[EinhanderZwei]

I feel stupid for listening to the internet and not trying this game before.

I felt suicidal for listening to my friends and teh internet and trying Fahrenheit...

[Obiwanshinobi]

I fuckin' FINISHED Fahrenheit. Chew on this. Bought it even (for peanuts, but still). In my defense, demo was quite promising. Not a fuckin' thing happening after that was worth it. It was just some Stephen King quality writing dressed up in... you know what.
As for Square (Enix), I couldn't give a fuck about the internet people's opinions anymore. Long story short, I enjoyed FFX undub more than DQVIII.

[Ruldra]

I bought Fahrenheit based on a couple of youtube videos. By the time I reached the part where the guy freaks out in the office, I was so damn bored I turned off the console and never played it again. Heck, my cousin was watching me play and he fell asleep at some point.

And yeah, I need to stop listening to the internet's opinion. Too many games out there are quite enjoyable but the internet is quick to say it's a piece of crap (FF X, Lost Planet 2, F1 2010 and now FF XIII).

[Klatrymadon]

My little brother's just lent me Vanquish, so I'm groping my way through the early parts of that. Bombing around at high speeds is lots of fun, the controls are great, and most of the areas and battles are designed pretty cleverly. I love the way some of the bosses fire loads of Bangai-O missiles at you, too! I've never spent any time with Gears of War, so a lot of the negative comparisons to that go over my head, but this seems like it could be a good game.

[RNGmaster]

Am trying to fuse a really good Daisoujou (this will probably last for the rest of the game if I do it right). I've been mapping out fusions, and fuck - even if everything goes perfectly all the level-grinding and fusion will take 4+ hours.

[rapoon]

My little brother's just lent me Vanquish, so I'm groping my way through the early parts of that. Bombing around at high speeds is lots of fun, the controls are great, and most of the areas and battles are designed pretty cleverly. I love the way some of the bosses fire loads of Bangai-O missiles at you, too! I've never spent any time with Gears of War, so a lot of the negative comparisons to that go over my head, but this seems like it could be a good game.

Vanquish is a great game that slipped under the radar with all the huge releases. controls are good. game is very fluid. action never seems
to stop. 90% of the negative reviews I read belabor on the fact it does not have multiplayer. Personally, I wouldn't want multiplayer on a game
like Vanquish. I love the the numerical scoring system. I personally think it drops a massive cleveland steamer on Gears of War.

I reinstalled Thief: Deadly Shadows couple days ago. Loving it. Still looks awesome. On my PS2, I got Vagrant Story loaded up. My very first
time playing it. Way of the Samurai 3 is in my 360. I'm trying really hard to get into this game but it's not sticking.

As always, I got Mount and Blade: Warband up and running almost daily. I know I've already mentioned it but if you haven't heard of it, check it out. It's so much fun.
There's something about charging into a massive 200+ troop formation on my horse, swinging a claymore around that sits really well with me. If I'm in the evasive mood, I load
up my long war bow and tear around the map plucking guys off. all the while, changing the formation of my cavalry, archers and infantry.