What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Moniker]

Still playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown (360).

I think I'm coming close to the endgame on my normal-difficulty playthrough. Things have started heating up: on average I lose 1-2 soldiers per mission, and I've lost the support of the UK. Encounters have started getting pretty deadly - a group of mutons with a berserker in tow can really ruin your day. For the most part I accept the consequences of bad decisions, but I've reloaded a few times to keep the badass sniper who's been with me from day one.

Had a bit of a rough patch when I activated the hyperwave beacon before upgrading my airforce. I was tempted to restart, but forged on instead (like a boss). The council got pretty pissed that I lost track of 4 or so overseer UFOs, but eventually I got lucky and knocked one down. The Elders are a bitch to deal with; I'm still not really sure what the rules are governing their ability to reflect attacks back at you. I think you need to be either far away (my sniper is my main weapon against them) or in a flanking position, but since they never take cover, it's hard to figure when you've outmaneuvered them.

I still haven't used any tanks/robots, which may be folly. But since soldiers are cheaper to buy and upgrade, I don't see myself using them in the near future, even though enemy robots are probably the toughest things I've encountered. I've lost about 11 soldiers so far - mostly recruits, but some vets as well. From my original force, only the sniper and an assault guy remain.

Only complaint right now vis-a-vis the original is that you can't shoot the scenery (except with rockets/grenades) to open up lines of sight. There are so many better alternatives to grenades that environment shaping isn't really viable.

[null1024]

Jet Grind Radio [DC].
Nothing like having a helicopter fire missiles at a teenager for graffiti.
I still can't get used to the control, and the camera hates me.

[Leandro]

American McGee Alice.

Just killed the Mad Hatter

Funny how she morphs into Michael Jackson when you pick one specific powerup

[Ed Oscuro]

Well, I guess it's that time of year:

Leveling Hell '12: Chrome Apps

So the main two lessons from Gun Bros were: Vary the gameplay and don't reserve the most interesting items for last. Let's see how common this is on the Chrome Apps Store, taking a handful of games picked because they seemed promising:

Bastion - Attacking all the debris got tedious.

Muffin Knight - I don't think I'll be able to handle seeing a muffin for a while. Very obsessively-focused gameplay: Jump around the levels and avoid or kill the "Muffin Guardians" while picking up the muffins (which also randomly changes your character into another). Think you're going to play by killing monsters? Monsters normally give 1 or 2 xp, 4xp is rare. Muffins give at least 15xp and usually 30! You need that xp to unlock the cast of supporting characters and you need a long string of muffins to quickly unlock other levels. So I hope you like muffins...more than seems healthy.

It's really Snow Bros, if Snow Bros had been interpreted from a single cave painting by somebody whose only gaming experience is some clumsy mobile RPG. It is apparently okay to block jumps if you pretty up+left or right when facing a wall. Huh?

Some character designs: The ice-breathing yeti's attack merely freezes enemies into ice blocks, and it must freeze enemies repeatedly to kill them - almost as useful as it sounds. As you unlock characters, you'll notice that they start getting somewhat spotty near the end of the roster - some are pretty useful but a few are really questionable. The Zombie is easily the deadliest thing in the game, at the cost of severe constant recoil and the screen going bonkers. The wonderful Unicorn plops fragrantly magical dung mines through the level for you. The floating green Cyclops is very useful in the lava level for killing enemies while keeping your friendly burning boulders untouched: Its attack actually does no damage. Otherwise, it is somewhat too slow in its attack to be effective, and that's a common problem for the characters. Adding insult to injury are the characters that can stun themselves, and the stun period is entirely too long. There was a lot of promise for some depth to the game given the little touches like having the Cyclops do no damage, but what could've been more like the lost 2D installment of Snow Bros (with some Gain Ground mixed in) ended up terribly generic. Aside from a couple levels that have you doing something slightly different from the routine (dump bags in the chimney for Santa to get a muffin! Avoid cracking the rolling lava boulders so they hit the boss in the head!), it's all wasted. Did you beat the boss of the lava level? "Prince Mode" seems to be this game's idea of NG+, and I could see it if the point of NG+ was to do everything again with no changes.

This game was the laggiest in fullscreen of all those I tested by a large margin, although even the tiny screen of Run N Gun managed to show the firing cursor somewhat slower than you'd expect. Add in that it shows clouds (that warn enemies are about to drop into the level) anywhere from immediately before to a few seconds before the enemies appear, and it becomes unplayable at times. The default magnification level isn't very helpful for warning about enemies overhead, given that enemies can spawn into the level immediately as you're jumping up.

Private Joe - Into The Dungeons - the App Store entry would like you to know this is the latest entry in the famous Private Joe series! Because nothing gets universal acclaim like a really lousy 2D sidescroller with pretensions. The character graphics aren't too bad, and there is some funky kinda chiptune + voice thing for the music. Right now there's nothing but barebones training levels, a lot of awkward-looking popups and menus for everything (even switching weapons - I'm sure this worked badly on a handset, too), super bad hitboxes, and two extra modes. One of these modes is called "survival." It should have been named "try to stay awake while you die repeatedly trying to get coins for ammo." Also, you can buy a new life for 0 coins, so Survival Mode never ends!

Run N Gun - A plastic model of a hero crossed between Master Cheef and the birdguy from Alien Soldier, where you seem to get worse items later on, played in a viewport the size of a Matchbox / Dinky car package. Basically, shoot enemies flying around as you attempt to double-jump your way through vertically cluttered Canabalt stages. The spread type weapons were a good idea, but the pew-pew laser was not. The lowest-end of the games here by a wide margin.

Don't Starve - This game doesn't belong in with the others at all. A survival-themed resource-gathering RTS, basically. Collect stuff, put it together, and remember to get a campfire ready for each night. Neat graphical style. I wasn't able to find enough boulders to get stone for the Science Machine, alas, and I wasn't able to quickly figure out any other ways to get points for researching useful things. Also, death to spiders and bunnies.

Gravity Duck - Simple map navigation puzzle game. Easy enough to finish in a handful of minutes. Decent mechanics, although none of the levels is very challenging mentally, and a few are simply too easy. I guess it's not easy to go shopping when you're a tree.

In other news, the latest holliday-themed Killing Floor update. This year's theme...Redneck (Toxic Zombie) Rampage. I'll be honest, I would rather have seen the previous Holliday Zeds on Bedlam. This time, the new map is a big mess of an island, with 25 (or more, but that's the target) gnomes to shoot. Great. The new weapons are a mixed bag too, more so than in previous years. The Trench Shotgun sets enemies on fire, but other than that and having a big boom, it seems kind of off somehow. On top of that...it doesn't have a secondary fire function, yet secondary fire blocks going to the pistol flashlight (as would be normal for a weapon without secondary fire). I suppose something else is working here, though: In addition to the usual free new weapons, they've added four "community" weapons, and they're trying to pressure everybody to buy them at half-price...for $3.99. Four weapons...a scythe, tommy gun, flare pistols, and a crossbow which shoots sawblades - that's kinda neat. I guess everybody's gotta make money these days. On the good side, they've got some kind of cheesy music, including some violin music and a riff on Thriller

[Obiwanshinobi]

Got busy to Burnout 2 (PS2) and nope, it is NOT blasting the first one (GameCube) into oblivion.

Good - 2 is a looker. Not sure why, but maybe the light sourcing does it for me again. It's so lucid and airy...

Missing - heft (for lack of a better word). Cheaper boost and more forgiving collision detection make it feel somewhat "lighter" than 1. To put it bluntly, boost hardly feels like boost. 1 and 3 did it better for my money.

Bad - the sound is inferior to 1 in every aspect. After the roaring Jak X and Twisted Metal: Black, nearly as remarkable Burnout 3 and very solid 1, this here game sounds wimpy. At least the music is better than in 3 (worse than 1, though).

Marginal - the destruction is more showy, but then again, the "snuff" atmosphere of something wrong distinguishing 1 is gone. Not necessarily a bad thing. I doubt going further into the area would be good for games.
Also, not a biggie, but DualShock2's analogue stick feels weird after the 'Cube port of 1. I used to play 3 extensively with a DS2, but with the external view. Switched to the "bumper camera" in 1 and this view coupled with the PS2 joypad makes for a slightly odd experience in 2.

All in all Burnout 2 is a good game and I'm looking forward to playing it this evening. 1 and 2 are like two sides of the same coin. One is grungy and edgy, the other one - oddly uplifting.
3 is demented. Worked for me at some point, but now I almost fear to tread there.
Alas, rubber banding in 2 is a bit more blatant... The first one was more of a racer.

the birdguy from Alien Soldier

There's a character/costume looking like him in the PS2 Dynamite Deka remake. It can be a Shadow of the Beast reference for all I care; what I see is the Alien Soldier birdman. OH BUT REAL SEGA HAD DIED WITH THE DREAMCAST. All good (to say the least) games they made and released after that are NOT FAIR.

[VixyNyan]

Yesterday I was able to finish all 10 Revolutions with 50 Waves each in Gun Bros (WP7)! That took about 4 months to do (since I play other games or do other activities too). Spend most monies on protecting myself against giant enemies with green shield. Then today I "serviced" the last batch of the 50000 enemy targets I needed. Level 100 is the only thing I need to do, I'm currently at Level 82.

[Ed Oscuro]

the birdguy from Alien Soldier

There's a character/costume looking like him in the PS2 Dynamite Deka remake. It can be a Shadow of the Beast reference for all I care; what I see is the Alien Soldier birdman. OH BUT REAL SEGA HAD DIED WITH THE DREAMCAST. All good (to say the least) games they made and released after that are NOT FAIR.

That reminds me, I had another look at that game. It unlocked a few other weapons (homing rockets - too slow but the homing portion + good damage makes up for it), but now it doesn't seem to want to unlock much else.

The game does one thing which is rather interesting - you often feel like you're just falling off the screen, and when the scrolling has picked up speed (especially on the harder difficulty levels, where it goes faster) you spend a lot of time - possibly too much actually - paying attention to just being able to touch down. There seems to be an element of luck because you can be floating in the air for a few seconds while all the land underneath you changes a few times over, but there aren't gaps so big that you can't at least touch them momentarily.

It got me thinking that there aren't really many games that make this kind of skiddering, but not laggy (this game feels a bit laggy), rush to keep your footing or at least touch some ground. It's rather interesting. I think that one thing that platformers often settled into quickly was the idea that you could go your own pace, and the surprises and dangers came from having to gauge distances - well, once you've got the hang of that, there's no challenge. Making the terrain an adversary like this is a somewhat unusual idea and should be implemented in more games.

[null1024]

KOF 94-2002 [Neo Geo/MAME]. Played each game with some of my friends today. 94 is a bit crap nowadays, 95 is pretty good [it's 94 but better, and Iori!], 96 would be great if it didn't feel like it was a bit bugged [also, Leona], 97 is nearly the same as 98, but 98 has more characters and polish, 99 is a bit crap [why is backrolling gone], 2000 is quite good [fixes many of 99's issues, also, the striker selection is neato], 2001 could be a good game but isn't [the balance is ass, and the ratio system seems a bit off, but apart from the character art, I love the presentation], and 2002 is one of my favorite fighting games [but don't like the presentation]. We were going to play 2003, but never got around to it. 2003 is fun, but the roster is effing tiny, and Terry loses Rising Tackle...

We spent the most time on 2000 and 2002, and then on 95. I'm a bit surprised that for the most part, the games are pretty different from each other. Only a little different each time around, but SNK actually seemed to try to shake things up throughout. Except 97, they dropped the ball, 98 is the same game but better, and there's no masking it. Even 94 -> 95 changes more [and it's the same thing, 95 is pretty much 94 but better all around].

Having team edit not just be the default in 95 is so damn silly it hurts, even if I wanted to pick everyone on a team and selected yes for team edit, I can just select them all in a row. So glad that was fixed in 96, but I like 95 a bit more.

I like the stadium presentation in 97 though, it's probably my favorite styling in the whole series [and for a world famous tournament, it shouldn't happen in the middle of nowhere!].

[Obiwanshinobi]

It got me thinking that there aren't really many games that make this kind of skiddering, but not laggy (this game feels a bit laggy), rush to keep your footing or at least touch some ground. It's rather interesting. I think that one thing that platformers often settled into quickly was the idea that you could go your own pace, and the surprises and dangers came from having to gauge distances - well, once you've got the hang of that, there's no challenge. Making the terrain an adversary like this is a somewhat unusual idea and should be implemented in more games.

The staff roll minigame in Super Monkey Ball Jr. (GBA) does something along those lines. Then again, time limit in the main game is more strict than in, say, Super Mario Bros.
I keep banging on SMB Jr. for a reason. It really is that good.
Speaking of Sega, I revisited the first Super Monkey Ball (GameCube) and unlocked Monkey Golf. All those hours spent playing Burnout took their toll. Trying to near miss the letters and punctuation marks isn't great for the final grade.
Oh, as for the kind of platforming you mentioned, some vehicular games do it in a way. San Francisco Rush 2049 (home ports), F-Zero GX... Generally, games where you can send the vehicle flying and control mid-air - Twisted Metal: Black, Excite Truck, TrackMania, Hydro Thunder...
Last but not least, you must explore FAST in Shinobi (2002). "Rushed" platforming seems to be a thing of post-DC Sega. Also, wasn't Strider 1&2 about FAST exploration?

[dukenukems]

Still trying to beat the first level of space channel 5 on dc,man i am so terrible at this game.

[gameoverDude]

Two from Data East: Night Slashers and Psycho-nics Oscar (both JPN versions).
NS' theme fits well with Halloween. This is like the Splatterhouse of beat'em ups, with zombies/werewolves/vampires etc. that splatter into a mess when they die. You don't find lots of weapons, but there is the Stinger powerup that adds strong damage to your next hit.

Oscar I'd say is like Rush'n Attack meets Gradius, with a power bar copied straight from the latter. Your main shot at first is almost like using a melee weapon because the range is short. Get it up to Super Rifle 2, and it will just barely cross the screen and gain quite a bit of power. Once there, the game feels more like a run'n gun and a part of the inspiration for Turrican. There are some respawning lackey enemies ala RnA that could be leeched off of. It's a cool game, but later checkpoints are hard to recover from if you die.

After polishing off Deus Ex: Human Revolution (pretty good, even if the melee system is simplified) and then the first DX earlier, I just got finished with Invisible War. I sided with the Dentons at the endgame, but made a stop over at the Illuminati camp to kick some ass first. It's probably a little less than half the length of DE1. IW's universal ammo system is a double edged sword: if you have ammo you can use ANY weapon, but different weapons have a cost per round. Too much use of the rocket launcher or sniper rifle can deplete your stock quickly. That said, I liked the boltcaster against most enemies. Two or three darts usually KOs a lighter enemy. I found the Spy Drone fun to use, especially when it was powered up to level 3. It helped in dealing with some heavier armored foes.

KOF'94 may be a bit rough today, but it does have one of the better soundtracks in the series. I have to agree that 2001 really dealt the pain to KOF fans- even KOF XII is better than that. KOF XII offers some quality, but not with the quantity that XIII delivers. Here's hoping we get KOF XIV, which I guess would likely be a dream match.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Check out Night Slashers X (unofficial remake).

[CIT]

Super Metroid - because I actually never beat it myself, just watched my flatmate play it many years ago.

I didn't remember it being so low on action though, the fighting presents absolutely no challenge. Still a great game though.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Speedrunning is where the action's at. The end screen leaves no doubt.

[EmperorIng]

Some people think the combat is important in a Metroid game.

Those people are wrong.

Enemies are just another obstacle/puzzle to you completing that damn game as fast as humanly possible.

[Obiwanshinobi]

"Important" is too serious a word for just about any video game (as George Thorogood said, "liver transplantation can be important"), but then again, pleasing yourself now and then is, in a way, important...

[VixyNyan]

Level 96 in Gun Bros now. Not long now to 100. I stand behind the rock in planet BOKOR on the top-left corner to gain a level or two in 10-20 minutes. ^^

EDIT: I'm done yay~

[SuperGrafx]

I've been playing the Daily Challenge modes in the Windows 8 Microsoft Solitaire and Mahjong apps.
Strangely addictive!

[shmuppyLove]

American McGee Alice.

Just killed the Mad Hatter

Funny how she morphs into Michael Jackson when you pick one specific powerup

Nice, I played through Madness Returns when it was released last year and enjoyed it a lot.

It was a big of a slogfest through the middle, but generally has some very good action/platforming goodness.

There was originally some talk of a third Alice game, but McGee's been spending a lot of time in China and has been drinking too much of the F2P kool aid, so I don't think it's going to happen ...

[Acid_Rain]

Super Smash TV… getting my a** kicked.

[beatsgo]

Just got L4D2 on my PC. Okay, probably better if I had friends playing it still.

[arcade game]

I've been playing" THE PUNISHER" it's such a fun game + captain commando

[Obiwanshinobi]

I keep wondering what's peculiar about the looks of Burnout 2. There's some aliasing to be seen (not surprising in a PS2 game, even though I can name a few examples where it's practically gotten rid of), yet somehow it looks different from your standard interlaced RGB fare. Black (same developer, same engine) gave me a similar impression. As if the "true" resolution was higher than usual. I recall Burnout 3, pretty as it was, looking every bit PS2-grainy.
Funny how PS2, oft-ridiculed as the "lowest common denominator" of last gen multiplatform games, is the home of some of the best looking ones (exclusive and multiplatform alike). Early in the day too (BG: Dark Alliance - 2001, Burnout 2 - 2002). Even pouty former Sega kids must be glad that the "lowest common denominator" wasn't DC!

[BrianC]

edit: just received my own MD Super Shinobi rev1.00, featuring Batman, Spiderman, Rambo, Godzilla and Sonny Chiba in full unedited glory! Fuck the police! And as I'd hoped, the tiny, monochrome but unmistakably cool enemy illustrations from the Genesis manual are here in full scale and colour, plus cute animu-style Joe. Whoever took the screencaps made damn sure to get a lot of carnage onscreen too. <333 MD manuals.

I don't know how that rumor about Spider-Man being closer to the original in earlier revs got started (I know Video Games and Computer Entertainment said his color was changed to orange/blue, which isn't the case), becuase it's completely false. Spider-Man in later revs (aside from the newer downloadable versions) has his proper blue/red colors and is officially licensed. In the original version, he was red and black and actually morphed into Batman instead of leaving before the bat creature arrives. Still sweet you got the original rev, though. Crazy how the Sega Smash Pack for PC actually had the first rev of Super Shinobi with Batman in it.

I have been playing Mega Man 2 NES and some other stuff here and there.

[BIL]

I wasn't aware of that rumour - that's certainly not what I was saying. The original Spiderman enemy's costume being less accurate is immaterial; the point is that it's the original, unauthorised cameo. Cool points! The more accurate rendition in later versions is an edit just like bald Stallone and skinned Godzilla, albeit a copyright owner-authorised one that preserves the cameo.

It's also much cooler and scenario-appropriate to battle a shapeshifting foe who takes the guise of pop culture icons than to have Joe and the actual Spidey get into some half-cocked slapfight before the latter withdraws and... Satan himself barges in, apparently.

[gameoverDude]

Check out Night Slashers X (unofficial remake).

I watched a vid on YouTube and liked what I saw, so I'm DLing now. It looks amazing, and beside all the extra moves and effects there's even more gore than the arcade. Sadly the PSP version seems to be for PSP Slim only (I've got the OG PSP).

Thanks for the heads up.

[powersoul]

Booted up my surprisingly-still-working-when-other-friends'-have-already-went-to-heaven PSX and played Future Cop on Precinct Assault. Nothing like a good ol beating Sky Captain at his own game.

[sjewkestheloon]

Working my way through Demon's Souls still. Well actually I started a new character in Dark Souls and was having a jolly good time, was about to spend money on the DLC and then chastised myself when I considered the fact that I still haven't beated Demon's Souls. When will I learn to stop spending money that I don't have on things that I don't need?

Cleared 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, 2-2, 4-1 and now working on 3-1 and 4-2, alternating between them when I get frustrated. Those Mind Flayers are bloody evil but I think I have got them down now. If I can surprise them I can kill them with my only magic spell (magic missiles thing) before they can touch me.

I hope that they sort out the upgrade grind for the next Souls game. It is the only aspect that I actively dislike due to the really stingy drop rates and the annoying Crystal Lizards.

Edit: beated? Beaten obviously.

[null1024]

DJ Max Portable 3 [PSP]. Just started playing, doing pretty poorly. Good fun though, so I'll keep at it.

[gameoverDude]

Psycho-nics Oscar kind of is a pain in the ass at stage 7, if you die. There's no coming back if you lose a life that late. It's like R-Type's infamous Stage 7 trap (I'm sure you know the one). I turned the lives down to 1 with extend at 50K only, since a one-life clear is the only way to go. Having 6 extra lives on deck just extends the futility. I don't really worry about losing K items, since extends are worth dick in this one.