So what're you playing nowadays?

Gaming for me in recent times has been PC-centric.

Blew through Portal 2's single player campaign this past weekend. Having avoided almost all of the pre-release hype (except for the Potato Sack shenanigans), I went in simply expecting a bigger, longer Portal. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with how far the plot and gameplay were pushed. Easily my favorite of the year, so far.

I went through a platforming itch last month where I played through VVVVVV and then immediately went into Super Meat Boy. Both were good "pick up and play" games for me. But where I couldn't stop until I had dominated VVVVVV, I felt that Super Meat Boy was better for me in smaller doses. Loved VVVVVV's soundtrack, as well.

Before that, I recall liking Just Cause 2 (for its environment and prettiness), Amnesia (for its spookiness) and Rocket Knight (because it's Rocket Knight).

I plan on trying The Witcher 2 and Terraria when I can manage the time, based on recommendations.

It's not often that I walk away from a demo with a sense of loathing.  Usually, the worst that I feel about a game after playing its demo is indifference.  Heavy Rain was one of the exceptions.  Before playing the demo, I gave Cage the benefit of the doubt and figured that he must be a mad genius to build a game around button prompts and QTEs.  Then the demo showed me that instead of transcending the limitations of the chosen gameplay type, the game is exactly the sum of its parts, button prompts and QTEs.  Having to follow on-screen directions to perform every action negated the possibility of immersion for me.

I played the demo a while ago, but I bring this up now because I recently bought the PlayStation Move and decided to try the Move version of the demo.  I did not think it possible for me to hold Heavy Rain in even lower regard, but waving and thrusting a wand to perform nearly every action is even less enjoyable than playing with a DualShock.

If Cage's hubris about being the future of gaming turns out to be even half deserved, then I need to find a new hobby.

Amazingu wrote:

rein wrote:

If Cage's hubris about being the future of gaming turns out to be even half deserved, then I need to find a new hobby.

I never understood the ridiculous claims that Heavy Rain is the "future of gaming".
All it does well is the atmosphere, and there's some really harrowing scenes in there that are made all the more powerful because you're holding the controller, but other than that it's (again) a long string of QTE's with a story that has more holes in it than a suicidal swiss cheese.

Considering how few have actually tried to copy it (or Fahrenheit) so far, I feel fairly confident in stating that this is NOT the future of gaming, and no one in his right mind would deem it to be.

"Heavy Rain is not a videogame anymore in my mind . . . we will probably have to find a different name for this type of experience."

Well, in fairness, I think that Cage's drivel about creating a new medium and "shifting paradigms" is evidence more of douchebaggery than of madness.

rein wrote:

"Heavy Rain is not a videogame anymore in my mind . . . we will probably have to find a different name for this type of experience."

Well, in fairness, I think that Cage's drivel about creating a new medium and "shifting paradigms" is evidence more of douchebaggery than of madness.

I appreciate that he's trying to tell mature stories, and he did succeed with Heavy Rain to some extent; too bad there were too many completely random and idiotic elements in the story.

But all this drivel about this being special as a game is complete nonsense.

I finally got around to picking up Red Dead Redemption. It's a good game, and I had planned to post more thoughts on it, but now I'm starting to feel indifferent. Great atmosphere, I like the Old West setting, the distinct characters and their voices, but it moves like an ol' grey mare at times. Normally I like the exploring in games just as much as the action (maybe more), but travel gets old in this one. Either that or my attention span is shrinking. Still, good game.

Tried two more:

NCAA Football 12 (PS3)
-It's football all right.  My problem with both this and Madden is that I have no freaking clue what I'm supposed to do on defense other than call plays, so I generally just let the computer take over after I pick a play.  I felt like Backbreaker actually gave you meaningful things to do on defense.  On offense, I find that I'm steadily getting better at these games, but I'm still not to the point where I'm willing to spend $60 on one of them.

Duke Nukem Forever (PS3)
-Sloppy is the best way to describe this.  It's not as horrifically terrible as some reviews accuse it of being, but it's not very good.  The only redeeming quality is that unlike certain modern shooters that deal with warfare, you are free to do things your own way instead of having orders barked at you constantly. Sadly, that doesn't make up for the subpar gameplay and performance issues.

Two more demos down:

Dungeon Hunter Alliance (PS3)
-Mediocre dungeon crawling loot game.  It's never a good sign when I get bored of the demo before it's over.

Gods vs Humans (Wii)
-Very similar to My Life as a Dark Lord but more complex and with different mythological motifs instead of Final Fantasy trappings.  Also not as good as My Life as a Dark Lord.

I just played through Portal 2. Totally loved it. Found it really funny, thought they got great variety out of the very simple mechanic and overall the game just worked great. I did find the middle section a bit dull, where it mostly seemed about just searching for that one section where a portal could be made, but mostly it was excellent.

Currently playing the original Half-Life. Not an easy one to go back to, to be honest. The locations seem pretty dull, the constant head crabs are an annoyance and the platforming bits seem really slippy. I can appreciate it in the context of the time and I do remember totally loving it but it doesn't quite hold up as well as I hoped it would.

Bought "Beyond Good & Evil" on the PS3 and am really enjoying it. For its genre, it's not up to most 3D Zelda games as far as dungeon design and depth go but it's much better at telling a story and characterization is good. It's my placeholder adventure game until Skyward Sword comes out.

Also tried the Duke Nukem Forever demo and wow, does it suck. OUTRAGEOUSLY long load times (40 seconds every time you die), bland combat and dull environments pretty much sunk the whole experience (and I've heard the full game isn't much better). There's some amusing one-liners in there (for the juvenile mindset, like mine) but I doubt they're worth playing through the game for.

Tim JC wrote:

I finally got around to picking up Red Dead Redemption. It's a good game, and I had planned to post more thoughts on it, but now I'm starting to feel indifferent. Great atmosphere, I like the Old West setting, the distinct characters and their voices, but it moves like an ol' grey mare at times. Normally I like the exploring in games just as much as the action (maybe more), but travel gets old in this one. Either that or my attention span is shrinking. Still, good game.

Well, guess I'll post a follow-up to this and say I finally finished the game and my opinion went back up on it. The middle of the game was losing my interest, but as I focused on the main story and let its slow burn build to the conclusion, it hooked me. The game has several good climactic moments, punctuated by awesome songs, and traveling those beautiful vistas began to feel like home. The gameplay was only intermittently engaging, in my opinion, but all the elements of the game as a whole grew on me. By the end I felt like I had lived through a legend. I just sat there staring through the credits, thinking back on the experience as I enjoyed the last song. Glad I didn't miss that. One of those games that are better to look back on, I guess.

Amazingu wrote:

Tim JC wrote:

The gameplay was only intermittently engaging

This basically sums up RDR for me.
I tried for about 10 hours, but it never really managed to entertain me with its actual gameplay, so I just stopped playing altogether.

The characters and acting are great, but it fails as a game, which sums up the entirety of Rockstar's oeuvre if you ask me (I'm intrigued by L.A.Noire though)

Yeah, I wouldn't want to play through RDR again, but it left me feeling pretty satisfied in the end, so I'm happy. Bought/sold it used, so it only cost $8.

Now I'm kind of just waiting until August 19. You know what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Working on Persona 3. Definitely a hit and miss game for me. The atmosphere is good, story is good, battles are generally good but the randomly generating dungeons are a drag and so much of the game is repetitive. This'll probably be one of those "break out and play when I have a little time to kill" games.