What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Blinge]

Sweet Home. Man what a cool game, You can easily see how it influenced resi.

[Squire Grooktook]

Just 1cc'd alien vs predator on stream. Will probably say more (and bump the beat em up thread), but I gotta go to bed now lol.

replay: hereand here

[iconoclast]

Until Dawn
This is basically an interactive movie. A group of teenagers go up to a cabin in the mountains where they are then hunted by a murderer. You make choices throughout the story that affects whether each character lives or dies, but no matter what you do, the story never changes a whole lot. I played through it 2.5 times - once where I just went with whatever I felt like (which I streamed, and that definitely made it more fun), once where I made all of the 'right' choices to keep everyone alive, and once more where I killed everyone. It was fun, and the story is actually pretty decent with no major plotholes or instances of bad writing that I can think of (unlike Heavy Rain). This game's basically the perfect rental since you can platinum it in 15~ hours or so.


Resident Evil: Revelations 2
Mechanically, this is a big step back from RE6. RE6 has a whole mess of problems, but you can make a case for it being the best TPS out there if you just look at the core gameplay (ie. combat mechanics + enemy design & variety). Revelations 2 is more simplistic and a little gimmicky by comparison.

The campaign has two different scenarios, one with Claire & Moira (great name) and one with Barry & Natalia. Claire & Barry are essentially your combat characters while Moira & Natalia are there for support. You can swap between them at any time if you're playing solo, and frequently swapping back and forth is generally how the game is meant to be played. It took me some time to get used to that. Moira only has a crowbar and a flashlight, which can be used to blind and stun enemies if you aim at their face for a few seconds. That's when Claire can run in for a melee attack or line up a head shot. Natalia basically has wallhax since she can detect where every enemy is within a certain range, and she can identify their weak points. She can also pick up bricks from the floor and toss them at enemies, but it's usually not that useful.

There's just enough enemy variety to keep the game from feeling too repetitive, but I wish there was more. What's weird is that Claire/Moira and Barry/Natalia generally fight totally different enemies - there's very little crossover between each of their campaigns. Some enemies were designed around Natalia's abilities, but they could have easily made it work with Moira too. That would have helped. There are only a few boss fights, and one of them is pretty shitty imo. The other ones are fine, but nothing memorable.

I don't like how the upgrade system works, though. In RE4, 5 & 6, you were rewarded for killing enemies with some type of currency that can be used to upgrade your weapons or buy new skills. In this game, enemies never drop anything. Instead, you can find some "parts" to modify your weapons with (higher ammo capacity, a charge shot, burst modification, faster reload, etc) and purchase new skills with BP you earn from completing each level, picking up the occasional gem, or completing achievements. Previous games made combat rewarding, but this game makes it a chore that you're probably better off avoiding whenever possible. A bad choice imo.

Level design is pretty good, aside from some tedious backtracking in the final episode that just makes me think they were trying to pad the length (the game is relatively short, probably 8~ hours for your first playthrough). There are usually a couple sections in each episode where you have to use your partner to solve a puzzle or navigate an area, and I don't think they every recycle the same idea throughout the campaign.

Once you beat the game, you unlock Countdown mode and Invisible mode. Countdown mode is basically Speed Run mode. It's locked to hard mode (I think) and you start with 3 minutes on the clock. You can extend your time by killing enemies or by reaching checkpoints, which will either give you an additional 60 seconds or reset the clock to 3 minutes. That's all there is to it, really. You don't really have time to explore and pick up every piece of ammo and gem you can find, in fact you're better off just running through as much stuff as you can and only fighting the necessary battles. I thought it was alright. In Invisible mode, all of the enemies are invisible. You can reveal them for a few seconds if you shoot them or point at them with either Moira or Natalia, though. So it's not as hard as "invisible enemies" makes it sound. Still, both modes are decent extras, I think.

One thing that really bugged me is how dark most of the game is. I guess they wanted to make being able to see one of Moira & Barry's perks, because they're the only ones who get a flashlight. You can crank the brightness up to try and combat this, but the game looks awful if you set it too high. I had to fiddle with the settings on my TV for a while before I found something that looked kinda acceptable. The graphics aren't all that good either, so that doesn't help. The budget was clearly minuscule in comparison to RE5 & 6, but it looks alright for a mid-tier 360/PS3 game (I played on the Xbone).

Good game, but I was expecting it to be better. It doesn't reach the same highs as RE6, but it never gets as bad as that game can be either. I'd recommend it if you want more RE, but I'd say 4, 5, and 6 are better games overall (I never played Revelations 1).

I wrote a lot more about this game than I thought I would. I ain't proofreading it either.

[ACSeraph]

RE6 has a whole mess of problems, but you can make a case for it being the best TPS out there if you just look at the core gameplay (ie. combat mechanics + enemy design & variety). Revelations 2 is more simplistic and a little gimmicky by comparison.

I actually agree with you on this, but I absolutely hated 6 despite the strong mechanics. None of it really ever matters because the game refuses to let you play. For me Revs 2 is a huge step forward because it's actually a game.

Make sure you give Raid Mode a fair go. IMO raid mode, particularly the Code Red difficulty campaign, is the main course in Revs 2. It has a lot of enemy variety and potential combat situations since everything from Claire and Barry's campaigns are mixed in, and it also includes some enemies from Revelations 1 and RE6. The stage design is also quite good and has a huge impact on how you approach the combat in any given mission. There's a ton of character variety due to the way the skill system works (different from single mode), and the game can be really challenging and exciting. It's a huge step up from the old mercs bonus modes, and feels like a fully fleshed out game in it's own right. It's infinitely better than the campaign and has probably 10x the content.

Revs 1 Unveiled is also good if you enjoyed 2. The story and new characters are rather stupid, but the campaign itself feels like a much fuller experience than Revs 2's campaign does. The enemy designs and weak points are also some of the best in the series imo. 2 is better for Raid, whereas 1 is better for the campaign if you enjoy classic atmospheric RE.

[Obiwanshinobi]

OutRun 2 SP (Japanese Coast 2 Coast PS2 version). I read about wheel support and improved performance here and there, but for me - the major improvement (in 480i) is deflickering filter the original PS2 print was lacking. That, combined with the game's pretty low native resolution, on RGB CRT pulls one of those SDTV magic stunts on me, when detail seems even richer than I remember from PC. The Egypt in particular is Sega's grand comeback after the F-Zero GX' desert major disappointment.
A little bit of fogging comes a long way.

[iconoclast]

I played a little bit of Raid mode. I definitely prefer the more arcade-like structure of Mercenaries as opposed to Raid's RPG-like progression, though. I'm sure it's good for what it is, but I'm not going to commit to that since I only rented the game. It's kinda weird how all of the stages I played were ripped out of RE6, though.

[qmish]

It wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be, but it is still a thoroughly mediocre game. Being able to stunlock hordes of enemies with minimally charged attacks is hilarious. I may just finish it tonight but I think I've seen everything it has to offer already.

I was angry when i found out that you just fight the same guys over and over on flat circle ground without anything.

[KAI]

Been playing Densha de Go! Professional Shiyou the entire week (already 1CCed most of the normal and hard lines). I Can't believe how addictive this game is. Anyone else here into this series?

[quash]

It wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be, but it is still a thoroughly mediocre game. Being able to stunlock hordes of enemies with minimally charged attacks is hilarious. I may just finish it tonight but I think I've seen everything it has to offer already.

I was angry when i found out that you just fight the same guys over and over on flat circle ground without anything.

Yeah, it would have been nice to see some level design, lol. I can see and appreciate what they tried to do with the game but they really did not have the team/talent/combination of both to pull it off. Maybe some of those guys will go on to work at Platinum or Team Ninja someday and make a kick ass game, but I wouldn't put MKH on my resume if I were them.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Not only is Sigma a gimped version of NGII

Sounds compromised in some ways, but if it really performs better - that in action games has to count for something.

[iconoclast]

Sigma 2 does look & perform better, but it's also a completely different game. It doesn't have half as many enemies in each combat scenario, and lots and lots of battles were removed entirely. IIRC, Sigma 2's campaign has around 1000 enemies total between all of the battles; NG2 has 4500~ (on Master Ninja). You can free up a lot of resources to make the graphics pretty when you gimp the game that badly.

(the Vita port is complete garbage all around, however)

[Obiwanshinobi]

From what I read, Sigma 2's most pitiful omission for my money is the lack of local co-op. Having played Spartan: Total Warrior*, my tolerance towards framerates going south when there is crowd in TPP slashers has dwindled. If you don't have tech to make it fly, then why bother to begin with?

*) May not seem like much on screenshots nowadays, but when you get to play it, the framerate never seems to budge under no stress, and it was multiplatform from the start.

[Illyrian]

All I am playing is Metal Gear Solid 5. I got it last Friday night and haven't stopped since.

It's so fucking good.

[qmish]

Yeah, Sigma 2 killed the main point of NG2.

In original NG2 you are nearly always in danger from all sides. In Sigma version they removed half enemy placements, yikes!
Also, it's subjective to say "it looks better". Sigma overbrightened many areas.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Looking at screenshots, I don't think that much of either one's graphics (so I assume the animation is their selling point, which - again - should favour the one with better framerates). So I like the Sigma design of the lass a bit better, but... the costume & all is so very Team Ninja I suppose there are life-size dolls available by now. Cool blood effect on 360, but after Onimusha 3 I didn't even feel urge to play Shadow of Rome and now I'm feeling my videogame bloodthirst has been satisfied.
From the sound of 360 2, they envisioned more than the game engine could handle. If you ask Creative Assembly, that's the way you do it (he means it - 60 fps at all times is how it feels to me).

[qmish]

Most notable framerate drops were on that *staircase epic battle* though.

[Ed Oscuro]

Today in fails: Two of the three "walkthroughs" for Tales of Fate failed to mention Nightmare's weakness against Mint, instead saying something like "just keep hitting it and running away." That's a good way to get nowhere. Quite embarrassing - did these numbnuts think that they could get away with uploading FAQs without understanding the game?

[Jonathan Ingram]

In original NG2 you are nearly always in danger from all sides. In Sigma version they removed half enemy placements, yikes!

NGS2 sticks closer to the original Ninja Gaiden in terms of its gameplay philosophy - enemies come at you in fewer numbers, but they are a lot more aggressive and take more damage to die. It's quite a bit of an exaggeration to say NGS2 removes any notion of danger when you can be OHKO'd with a single grab or a fireball - something that wasn't the case in NGII. Also, Ayane's chapter on Master Ninja.

Yeah, Sigma 2 killed the main point of NG2.

Which is what exactly? Being half-baked and all kinds of broken? Not every change brought about by Sigma 2 was for the better, but at least it's a finished, fully functional experience.

[kaicooper]

finished MGSV already and played SOMA
but im back again to MGSV with hardcore Mode for PC
the plane to get Demonic Snake and no Buddies at all

[quash]

NGS2 sticks closer to the original Ninja Gaiden in terms of its gameplay philosophy - enemies come at you in fewer numbers, but they are a lot more aggressive and take more damage to die. It's quite a bit of an exaggeration to say NGS2 removes any notion of danger when you can be OHKO'd with a single grab or a fireball - something that wasn't the case in NGII.

I'm not sure if I agree with this. I'll have to play 360 NG2 before I can fully comment, but I don't think Sigma 2 is much like the first game at all. I can recall several large battles in NGB (the airship, the underground lair, etc.) that Sigma 2 never began to approach.

The one hit kills you mentioned are also a large part of the reason I don't feel Sigma 2 is on par with NGB. NGB never threw situations at you that you couldn't have reasonably predicted or prevented, whereas Sigma 2's one hit kills can happen under a variety of circumstances, sometimes for no apparent reason at all.

I also don't think Sigma 2 took a very graceful approach to changing the game. From the huge levels to the short charge time, everything about the game feels like it was made to accommodate more enemies.

Also, Ayane's chapter on Master Ninja.

I've only cleared Very Hard and have no intention of clearing Sigma 2 on Master Ninja, but I despised the Ayane chapter. Talk about tacked on. Momiji's chapter was marginally better, but I'd still prefer if the game didn't have it.

[Obiwanshinobi]

The port's quality notwithstanding, I'm afraid a "TV game" such as 3D NG is a particulary poor fit for a handheld. If the playable character is going to be flea-sized, your game's gonna end up against Ys, inevitably, which I doubt was the original intent.
Regardless of one's personal history with God of War, there's no denying its camera, "movie sets", lighting and the likes played a big part in the game's integrity. No wonder the Chains of Olympus devs talked about it as one of the trickiest things to get right with the PSP screen in mind.

[quash]

The Vita port of NGB is fine, though. The screen is large enough to work for that game, so I don't see why it wouldn't work for the sequel.

I guess I should also keep in mind that I played the original NGB on Xbox years ago, so I already had a lot of experience with the game, whereas Vita Sigma 2 was my first time playing any version of NG2. I do try to keep things in perspective especially when it comes to framerate drops because I know the 360 and PS3 versions are both significantly better on this front. I almost wish I had just waited to play NG2 on 360 but I don't have access to any other console right now and won't for awhile.

[Khan]

Alien isolation (xbox360)

Damn this game is pretty creepy, I really like the atmosphere its different from the other alien games ive played more specifically aliens vs predator. Its like every part of the ship is just dark and things keep going bump making you want to turn around and check your not being hunted, im only about 5 hrs in but enjoying it by playing it at night with the curtains drawn

[Immryr]

I've been playing towerfall ascension co op with my gf over the last week or so. I'm really surprised she likes the game as she normally only like falling block puzzle games. We just cleared all of the levels on hardcore, the last few levels took a ton of retries. I'm not sure we will ever get all the gold skulls. Fun game!

[kaicooper]

Alien isolation (xbox360)

Damn this game is pretty creepy, I really like the atmosphere its different from the other alien games ive played more specifically aliens vs predator. Its like every part of the ship is just dark and things keep going bump making you want to turn around and check your not being hunted, im only about 5 hrs in but enjoying it by playing it at night with the curtains drawn

Alien Isolation on PC with Reshade MOD..oh my my
this game is the best Alien game

[Some-Mist]

In original NG2 you are nearly always in danger from all sides. In Sigma version they removed half enemy placements, yikes!

Yeah, Sigma 2 killed the main point of NG2.

Which is what exactly? Being half-baked and all kinds of broken? Not every change brought about by Sigma 2 was for the better, but at least it's a finished, fully functional experience.

It sucks that Sigma 2 limited you to how many upgrades you can sink into a weapon. That seemed to make upgrades a bit more important.

[Sir Arthur ahf]

MGSV

115 hours and still some way to go...

Best MGS game ever. Shame the story is a little bit simple...

[qmish]

Which is what exactly?

NG2 was closest to "unstoppable action" while Sigma version was trying to make it closer to NG1, which was more action-adventure.

Back on topic.

Finally started System Shock 1 (recent rerelease).

[kaicooper]

MGSV

115 hours and still some way to go...

Best MGS game ever. Shame the story is a little bit simple...

it is not simple..its deep but somthing missing cus its unfinished game
u need to play this on PC with fov mod and Hardcore mod..oh my my

[discotroll]

once again I'am playing Ultima 7 ^__^