What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Marc]

Thief 3. I know the PC crowd hated it, but for me it's a much more tightly designed game than 2.

Also Pure. Picked this up because I found out it was a BlackRock game, the same team behind the superlative Split/Second. It's equally as brilliant, and it's such a fucking shame that the team are now disbanded. Apparently, some ex BlackRock and Bizarre Creations are involved via Sumo with the new Sega kart racer type thing. Should be interesting.

[BIL]

Fuck me, Splatterhouse 3 (JP)'s highest difficulty is brisker than I'd expected. Now I remember, it was the crappy US version I cleared at maximum difficulty years ago. Truly a castrated localisation (funny that the gameplay that got boned, not the horrific graphical content). Best run in JP put me on the penultimate stage with wifey and junior safe but I couldn't trigger any bonus stages along the way. This compared to four easy bonuses in a row on the previous difficulty.

I'm really liking this now - using judicious bursts of meter to tear through the tougher, more numerous enemies quick enough to enter bonus stages (which yield extends) has an almost Yagawa "bomb as weapon" feel, and the combination of time trial and nonlinear level design adds an additional layer of strategy to the very satisfying fighting engine.

Even though there's only ever three-four enemies onscreen at once, the beefy sprites, confined spaces and vicious backstabbers still make things feel crowded. It's so satisfying to clobber the fuck out of a would-be sneak attacker with a perfectly-timed roundhouse. Only complaint I have is the lack of impact on slamming moves - better SE and a little camera judder ala Natsume's Ninja Warriors Again would've made this aesthetically perfect. I can practically feel enemies' bones breaking when I fling them into the ground as that game's monstrous grappler character. OTOH, SH3 gets one over on the brilliant NWA by enemies getting visibly torn apart as you whoop 'em.

The scrub enemy in this game is a headless corpse with dismembered hands that stabs Rick with its jagged wristbones. ROVELY STUFF

edit:





Got the best ending, but only the first bonus stage. Only came close to getting the second, no idea about the rest. A max difficulty no-miss with all bonuses could be an interesting little project and would definitely take some figuring out. Probably some more screwy setpieces lurking around the corners of the maps too.

[JBC]

Good job man! I never realized the US and JAP versions varied in the gameplay dept. I used to rent the US one repeatedly when I was a kid and still fire it up in Fusion every now and then to this day. Next time I'm going for the JAP release.

I really wish the new Splatterhouse had kept the spirit of the original series a bit better :/

[BIL]

Yeah, the JP one is awesome - it can really back up the gore-crazed aesthetic that creeped me out as a kid. Actually it was mainly the last stage, and now I see why, it's a total HR Giger copycat. The difficulty isn't as brutal as the typical arcade beltscroller, but it does demand you master its entire moveset (both regular and roid-raging Rick), giving it a nice rewarding feel. The US one is like Final Fight without a health penalty on bombing!

The nonlinear time trial aspect is very cool too. I'm not sure if you're even meant to get all the bonus rounds on max difficulty (you can still get to the last boss with six lives in reserve even if you miss all the bonuses) but it's fun trying.

[Icarus]

Playing Botanicula (Mac) at the moment. For a simple puzzle point-and-clicker, it's really fun to work your way though, and the audio-visual style is really absorbing.
Likewise the simple but deceptively fun Windosill (iOS).

[stryc9]

Just got an NTSCJ Megadrive 2/CD 2 combo with a few of the essential games, ie the Bare Knuckles (first 2), Alisia Dragoon, Super Shinobi 2 etc.

Devil Crash and Contra the Hardcorps have been the ones stealing my time though.

Contra must be in the top five titles for the console, surely. And I've got it's companion piece Vampire Killer on the way too.

Actually I found the Konami J MD games to be really expensive. My wallet really took a pounding with those two, damn

[JBC]

Damn fine picks! However, I much prefer the PC Engine version of Devil's Crash over the MD release. Ever played the lesser known third entry for Super Fami Jaki Crush? It's really an under appreciated gem, I even prefer it over Alien Crush.

[stryc9]

Damn fine picks! However, I much prefer the PC Engine version of Devil's Crash over the MD release. Ever played the lesser known third entry for Super Fami Jaki Crush? It's really an under appreciated gem, I even prefer it over Alien Crush.

Something to do with the ball physics? I haven't played the PC Engine version.

I have actually taken Jaki Crush for a spin a couple of years ago on an emulator, I must check it out again soon. Talking about underrated, the psuedo-sequal Dragon's Revenge is actually pretty good, much to my surprise. You'll laugh, but I bought it accidently thinking it was actually a re-released version of Devil Crash or something, (I know) and then I remembered having hired the PAL version about 20 years ago. Whoops

Upon further investigation, it's not quite the train wreck people (including myself) originally thought it was.

Dude, do we have a dedicated Megadrive/Genesis thread? I couldn't find anything through the Search option despite several attempts and wouldn't mind indulging in some 16 bit chinwagging with some like minded fellows.

[BIL]

Contra must be in the top five titles for the console, surely. And I've got it's companion piece Vampire Killer on the way too.

Actually I found the Konami J MD games to be really expensive. My wallet really took a pounding with those two, damn

Yeah, Hard Corps and Vampire Killer are two of the more expensive titles on the system. So worth it for both though. ^__^

I love how their snapcase spines share the same black text on blood red design - they really do look like a matching set.

[Jason X]

I'm currently 140 points away from 100k gamerscore on my 360. I had been playing Dead Rising 2: Off the Record recently, so I decided to go back and get some easy Achievements on regular Dead Rising 2 that I had been putting off. All of the Achievements in DR games are worth 20 points each, so it'll be (relatively) easy enough to just keep plugging away at these two games until I hit 100k right on the nose.

At the moment, I have 27,000 kills out of the required 72,000 on regular DR2. Combine that with the 100k you need on DR2: OTR, and the 52,000 you need in the original Dead Rising, and it comes out to over 224,000 zombie kills between the three games. That seems kind of insane, when you look at it like that.

[Ed Oscuro]

Too much non-FPS talk! This town needs an enema, or maybe Laser Tag.

Odd game, Laser Tag - it's a budget game by Trainwreck Studios. Supposedly based on the Quake engine (1996-1998) but the version I played uses Q3A sounds. Could just be the nature of the fan update included, although GL mode crashed so I had to play with software rendering. Really ugly purply-blue levels with some interesting features like shooting ports. Some different modes of play. Just a few minutes and I think I've seen what this game has to offer - somehow I think Laser Squad is a better game.

Surprise, I actually wanted to talk about Okamiden for the DS. I got a new copy for like $10 (hooray for the thrift store) and after weeks of heart-wrenching inner debate about whether to follow my own advice and KEEP YOUR GAMES SEALED, I finally let the demons run wild and opened it. Good game, lots going on, decently paced story, but: Weak battle arena (I call it "the well;" it's also cool you can see the ground extending forever by peeking with the camera outside), terrible combat mechanics save the ink drawing aspect which redeems it slightly (but the actual button combat is skills-free and feels very laggy), and a few too many uninspired area designs (some will argue on that point, I guess; I counter with the terrible uninspired Thundercloud area map, which I suspect was something they couldn't borrow from older Okami games, which I haven't played yet). The real problem gnawing at my soul with this one is that it's essentially a jRPG. Does the (Japanese) world only know how to make one kind of game these days? It's supposed to be an action game, but it really isn't. The vertical nature of some maps is exciting enough, though. I really shouldn't bitch - I've just been playing the game straight, have only felt myself grinding lately (just put in an hour to get enough bones to get weapon upgrades), and the end probably isn't quite in sight with 41 hours down. Pretty good value for the money, in one sense. Given the hardware, it probably was a bit too much to expect better combat from this one anyhow - you can tell it's pushing the DS pretty far. This would almost be the perfect Zelda title if only there were some on-map enemies (i.e. it weren't a disguised RPG) and gameplay to match...so yeah, it's not holding a candle to that series. Cool music - in some areas I kept wondering if the composers were consciously taking off on classic Zelda field tunes. You've gotta love the Thundercloud music - more than makes up for the throwaway area.

There is one other major point for the game - the ample dialogue. It's fun to find a partner that "shouldn't" be in some place and have him talk to everybody just for new reactions. By the time you get to do this, you hopefully will be past caring about some of the really terrible editing errors with the script that should have gotten somebody fired, like the description for the Laquerware: "Legendary dinner set to makes food better." The sight of garbage like that or some obviously needless script doctoring for the sake of "Westernizing" by the stooges at Capcom had me pretty furious earlier on, but on balance the translation is mostly more than serviceable. They even snuck in a "Ghosts and goblins" early in the game; about this I will say it is neither good nor bad, but just there. There are some other rough edges here, such as the "Issun's Masterpieces5" showing up as text for hovering over a found piece of the artworks. Overall, this doesn't really make me want to go out and get the PS2 game - I will have to read on that and find out if it has something akin to action, but even the thought of a real casual third person action game has me ready to feel asleep after this.

Instead I think I'll plug in my new (old) Xbox sometime soon and get back to Otogi 2!

[scrilla4rella]

Damn fine picks! However, I much prefer the PC Engine version of Devil's Crash over the MD release. Ever played the lesser known third entry for Super Fami Jaki Crush? It's really an under appreciated gem, I even prefer it over Alien Crush.

I've been playing that a bunch lately. I think I still prefer Devil's Crash though I really like Jaki. My JPN room mate gets majorly creeped out whenever I play it and leaves the room I love the start sounds, "jyaaaku kuraashuu"
It's a great game that can be had for super cheap. btw, is it my imagination or does it move significantly slower than Alien/Devil Crush? I also like Dragon's Revenge even though it's not developed by Naxat Soft. The Youtube Channel Mr. Gamesack was railing on Dragon's Revenge saying it was total shit but I don't mind it at all. I'm curious what other peoples thoughts are about that one

[xbl0x180]

Gunstar Super Heroes [GBA].

Why the fuck didn't this sell better?
It's really effing pretty, and it's pretty damn fun.

[also, the sexy reflection mapped title screen made my mouth gape a little]

I bought this when I got my DS Lite. It was one of the first titles I owned

[JBC]

btw, is it my imagination or does it move significantly slower than Alien/Devil Crush?

I believe you are correct, and there is also a bit of glitchyness. I recall my ball getting trapped on multiple occasions and having to pull a dreaded reset after lengthy top of my game runs. I still prefer it to Alien Crush, but not over Devil's Crush for TG16, which is my favorite digital pinball game of all time.

Too much non-FPS talk!

I feel just the opposite. Currently playing Goldeneye Reloaded and... not enjoying it so much. That's coming from a huge Bond fan. I'm just pretty tired of the same ole' FPS conventions and feel the franchise is better suited for third person. They also didn't do justice to the original scenarios and aesthetic. I just got it because it was the best way to get a complete Sharpshooter/Move setup to play House of the Dead IV, which is supreme.

Mega Man 8-bit Deathmatch is as far as I'll go with the FPS stuff lately, it is built off the Quake engine as well.

Instead I think I'll plug in my new (old) Xbox sometime soon and get back to Otogi 2!

NOW WE'RE TALKING.

[stryc9]

I also like Dragon's Revenge even though it's not developed by Naxat Soft. The Youtube Channel Mr. Gamesack was railing on Dragon's Revenge saying it was total shit but I don't mind it at all. I'm curious what other peoples thoughts are about that one

Well, for a start it plays a much faster game of video pinball than Devil Crash. The play area is wider and there seems to be some stuff off to the right side (as in another screen).

Along with the faster pace the actual ball physics are very elastic compared to Devil Crash and the ball can ricochet blindingly fast between bumpers and then down so you need good reflexes to successfully deflect it.

Music is weaker than DC but there is quite a bit of sampled speech (including several orgasmic sounding cries) and the graphics lack the polish of the original game, but the bonus levels look interesting enough and playability wise at least rival those in Devil Crash (multi-ball is a blast).

It makes you wonder why Tengen, after going to the trouble of neutering some of the objectionable satanic content with Dragon's Fury, basically replaced one risque theme with another (the orgasmic moaning woman) in their sequel

[scrilla4rella]

I also like Dragon's Revenge even though it's not developed by Naxat Soft. The Youtube Channel Mr. Gamesack was railing on Dragon's Revenge saying it was total shit but I don't mind it at all. I'm curious what other peoples thoughts are about that one

Well, for a start it plays a much faster game of video pinball than Devil Crash. The play area is wider and there seems to be some stuff off to the right side (as in another screen).

Along with the faster pace the actual ball physics are very elastic compared to Devil Crash and the ball can ricochet blindingly fast between bumpers and then down so you need good reflexes to successfully deflect it.

Music is weaker than DC but there is quite a bit of sampled speech (including several orgasmic sounding cries) and the graphics lack the polish of the original game, but the bonus levels look interesting enough and playability wise at least rival those in Devil Crash (multi-ball is a blast).

It makes you wonder why Tengen, after going to the trouble of neutering some of the objectionable satanic content with Dragon's Fury, basically replaced one risque theme with another (the orgasmic moaning woman) in their sequel

The digitalized orgasms are pretty amusing, and you also got those monster grunts. Yeah, what's up with that hidden board to the right? I've never been able to get over there. I think you need to free all of the heros to get there but I'm not sure.

All in all it's not a bad video pinball game. It's maybe not as good as Naxat Soft's pinball but stull good to have if your into the series

[iconoclast]

Playing Diablo III right now. The login screen is the most difficult boss I've seen in years, I can't beat it.

[Auddy]

I was thinking about getting Fez off XB Live. Has anyone here played it? I know I couldn just download the demo and try it, but a good demo doesn't always equal a good game.

[drauch]

Playing Diablo III right now. The login screen is the most difficult boss I've seen in years, I can't beat it.

Yeah, took me an hour and a half. Couple hours into the game and my screen went black and I couldn't even open up task manager. So far it's fun, but it's not Diablo. It's a pretty mediocre game, really, but it's enjoyable. Blizzard lost it years ago.

[iconoclast]

Yeah, I played all night with a couple friends. Got up to level 17 with my Monk and made it a decent ways into act 2. It's fun enough so far, but it's way too easy. They should have let you start in hard mode.

[drauch]

Exactly. What's the point of a hardcore mode when you start off with them holding your hand? There are tons of WTF moments so far. I really don't know what they were thinking--if they were, that is.

[sjewkestheloon]

Minecraft 360. Must find more gold. Then build a track into my mine to get all of my stuff out. Must clear out my mine to allow this. This then reveals more caves to explore. Which leads to more mining of minerals and general spelunking.

I haven't set foot above ground on the game for about 4 days of playing and so far have built very little.

I am having a surprising amount of fun, and find the whole thing compulsive and entertaining. I generally don't play PC games other than old rpgs on my laptop and so had ignored Minecraft beyond having a dabble on the mediocre version on my phone but I can certainly understand the success of the game and I heartily look forward to spending an inordinate amount of time messing around with some maps with the wife.

[Moniker]

Today I splurged and bought Max Payne 3 & Witcher 2. Gamestop didn't have Rhythm Heaven Fever used, so it'll have to be another time.

Max Payne 3 is much better than expected. Sorta merges Borderlands's mechanics with classic Max Payne's affinity for booze, bullet-time and headshots. I really like the fact that Max is in his late 40's/early 50's and remains a total badass. Witcher 2 makes me doubt my intellectual faculties with the most bizarre tutorial I've ever come across. Maybe I'll have a better impression when I'm sober.

[Ruldra]

Slowly progressing in Final Fight. Could've reached Abigail with both lives, lost them stupidly on stage 4.

[mrsmiley381]

BIL reminds me that I want to finish my hard mode run of Splatterhouse 2010 sometime soon. After that I'll probably take a crack at the originals again, especially since they're on the disc as well. That being said, BIL also makes the JP version of SH3 sound like gold, so I'll see if my Neo Myth Cart will let me play it without incident.

Finished Sonic 4 Episode I and started Episode II last night. The first had a lot of frustrating sequences in it and I blame Dimps for having maniacal level designers. I got through the first zone in Episode II, which ended with a really good troll of a boss fight. Definitely cool.

[JBC]

Just got Time Crisis: Razing Storm, House of the Dead: Overkill Extended Cut, L.A. Noire, and a new copy of Demon's Souls since I gave my old one to a friend who needed the experience. On top of that I'm not done yet with House of the Dead IV, Dead Space Extraction, and GoldenEye Reloaded.

[BIL]

BIL reminds me that I want to finish my hard mode run of Splatterhouse 2010 sometime soon. After that I'll probably take a crack at the originals again, especially since they're on the disc as well. That being said, BIL also makes the JP version of SH3 sound like gold, so I'll see if my Neo Myth Cart will let me play it without incident.

Remember that to do the JP crowd control move, it's just attack + jump. Like the Bare Knuckle games, an easy way to ensure it comes out every time is to keep attack depressed, then hit jump when you need it. I like to start the four-hit knockdown punching combo on an enemy, and if another rushes in for a cheap shot (as they love doing), interrupt the combo by holding attack and hitting jump - BAM, both go flying. Note that the JP version does virtually no damage, as it should - it's a brief but invincible dodge after all. Monster Rick's is exactly the same as US (command aside) and still does massive damage, but of course it eats up meter with each use.

Random observations:

-This is one of those MD games you actually want to play at high volume. Both the music and the sound effects (first boss-type enemy death sound: "BWAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR") are spectacularly meaty.

-There's an "instant kill" attack sequence for most of the weaker enemies. IE for the purple xenomorph-looking guys who stab from long distance, it's something like P,P,P, headbutt, headbutt + slam. They'll die as soon as they hit the floor, bypassing the game's slightly annoying habit of enemies falling mid-combo once they've taken substantial damage. Can save some time if you're going balls-to-wall for speed. Then again, sometimes it's nice to get a free knockdown when things get crowded later on.

-Rick's four-hit knockdown combo "remembers" where it was interrupted, if you stop midway. So if you land two jabs, the next standing punch you throw will be the long-range, higher-priority gut shot. If you stopped at the gut shot, you'll bust out the uppercut which of course sends whatever it hits flying. One way to make good use of those mid-combo enemy auto-knockdowns.

-The game's Fat Fuck Who Charges Across The Screen™ enemy's standing bite will instantly kill Normal Rick on Game Master difficulty. An easy way to blow an extra life if you're careless. Better to roid-rage when fighting two since you can afford to get hit once, and the fat fuck will drop either life or energy when it dies.

-When attempting to zero in on a boss as Normal Rick it's a good idea to keep the Attack button depressed, ready to trigger a roundhouse with jump. Most of them (actually, all) have a movement pattern involving circling around you, then busting out an instant-knockdown attack (Rick: "BEHHHHH") if you don't grab or punch them fast enough. The roundhouse will nullify this risk, as long as you're quick enough.

-The Evil One's "circle + shoot" pattern is fucking annoying, I can't consistently grab or hit him and end up relying on jumpkicks, which even when roid-raging are weak. I'll have to figure something out!

[mrsmiley381]

-The game's Fat Fuck Who Charges Across The Screen™ enemy type's standing bite will instantly kill Normal Rick on Game Master difficulty. An easy way to blow an extra life if you're careless.

In Streets of Rage the enemy that did that was named Heart. In Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage, Heart does not fit this trope. You'd think it would have come full circle by now.

I forgot to mention that I booted up Sonic Adventure and put a Chao on a VMU. My boss actively encourages me playing the memory matching game to max out its stats. It's a bit entertaining even if it is trivial.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Finished a deathless run on Metamorphic Force recently using the suckiest character. Working on 1ccing it on the Hardest difficulty setting now. Strangely, the bosses don't get any harder, it just increases the number of normal enemies.

Why the fuck did they bastardize the original version so much when it was brought to America/Europe? Turned it from a pretty fair beat 'em up into the epitome of a credit muncher. Ugh.

[Formless God]

Got Catherine and realized it's region-locked after I completely devastated the seal.

Difficulty is good. I'm at 4F Normal and I feel it's fun and challenging enough so far. Almost like an STG.
Design is good. The player needs to acquire the skills to keep going, and the game cleverly avoids repetition by constantly introducing new elements.
Pacing is good. Events are neatly sandwiched between 30~60-min sections of actual play, and they're not terribly drawn out like purse owner.
I only have slight complaints about the controls; they feel wonky. Why wasn't this the 2011 GotY again?