So what're you playing nowadays?

I played the Catherine demo on PS3.  As expected, the story is interesting while the gameplay is not.  It's really a shame, but that's how it is.  Also, I'm not sure why the controls in the tower climbing sections are so touchy, but they are.  You pretty much have to use the dpad and quickly touch the direction you want to go and release lest you overshoot.

Qui-Gon Joe wrote:

Wanderer wrote:

This'll probably be one of those "break out and play when I have a little time to kill" games.

...you will be playing it for the next fifteen years then. 

Yeah, I'm getting a very lengthy vibe from it. That and it supposedly takes up a full school year and the first month has taken me five hours to get through. :p

I just finished Radiant Historia. Was very pleased about how the ending was presented and how Atlus wrapped up the story. Story was great and I really enjoyed jumping back and forth in both timelines.

My main reason for playing the game however was the music, which is just excellent (especially for a DS game). Yoko Shimomura ftw!

I'm now returning to finishing the Arrival DLC for Mass Effect 2 (which is probably only going to take me a few hours) and then I can finally come back to Xenogears (I paused some months ago when switching to disc 2).

Taking another stab at Sora no Kiseki SC.

Soooo much text. Two hours just to get through the intro.

Enjoying chopping up werewolves in Ninja Gaiden 2.

I beat the regular part of Child of Eden, and I enjoyed it, but it's not as good as Rez.  I'm working on the challenge level, Hope, but it's pretty challenging.

Also, eight more demos down:

Chick Chick Boom (Wii)
-Feels like another smartphone port.  Nothing special, but not bad either.

Urbanix (Wii)
-Really terrible action/puzzle game about bulldozing.

Rage of the Gladiators (Wii)
-Punch-Out clone with mythological creatures.  Mediocre.

Madden NFL 12 (PS3)
-It's Madden.  This year's version seems to have some different camera angles.  I know they have to save space on these demos, but cutting out pretty much all of the audio makes for an incredibly boring demo.

Driver San Francisco (PS3)
-I think this is the fourth game in the last year or so to use Agent Smith style mindjacking as a gameplay conceit, and it does that part pretty well, but the driving controls are frustratingly touchy and the game simply isn't fun.

Galaga Legions DX (PS3)
-It's been a long time since I played the demo of the original on the 360, so I can't say how this upgrade compares to the first one, but it's reasonably fun and contains some interesting risk/reward mechanics for scoring.

No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise (PS3)
-One of the Wii's best games jumps to PS3 with sharper graphics and more control options.  Using a Dual Shock 3, I found the gameplay to be somewhat faster since using the sticks to do the motion stuff is quicker than swinging your arms, but also less visceral (I found the wrestling moves to be particularly fun on the Wii).  It's a great game, and I highly recommend it if you haven't already played the Wii version. (It's also kind of strange that Grasshopper isn't even listed in the opening logo roll; they've been replaced by AQ Interactive which did the port.)

Fast Draw Showdown (Wii)
-The FMV arcade "classic" comes to the WiiWare with all the cheesiness a man could ask for.

Last edited by XLord007 (Aug 15, 2011)

These three mark the completion of all of the WiiWare demos I downloaded, and I'm already caught up on PSP, DS, and PS3 demos.  360 is next!

Tonight's trials:

Monsteca Corral (Wii)
-Very poor RTS game in the vein of Pikmin.

Jam City Rollergirls (Wii)
-I have no idea what the rules of Roller Derby are, but I managed to beat the demo by doing a bunch of laps.  Not very interesting.

Soccer Bashi (Wii)
-Arkanoid on a soccer field with the added element of being able to clear the course instantly if you get a goal.  The design is pretty good, but the required motion controls are a little too sensitive.

Last edited by XLord007 (Aug 17, 2011)

Alright, broke into the 360 demos tonight.  Off to a good start:


Bastion
-A critically acclaimed Action/RPG with "live" narration from a deep voiced, Western movie sounding guy.  Pretty good, if I may so.  I'll probably pick it up when it goes on sale.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
-A Metroivania style game where you control a UFO that uses a variety of tools to negotiate the environment.  I really liked this one.  It's old school is the sense that they give you the tools, but you have to figure out how to use them to succeed on your own.  I'm definitely going to buy this when it gets below $10.

Cycloid
-It's basically an Arkanoid type game where your paddle moves around the edge of a circle and the blocks are inside.  Good idea, but the controls aren't coded properly and the speed of your paddle's movement changes unexpectedly.

Who is God
-An infinite jumping game where you play as a cartoony deity trying to get as high as you can. For a $1 game, you could do a lot worse.

Prismatic Solid
-A vertical scrolling shmup with music from Super Sweep.  It's kind of fun, but really tough.

Rainbow Runner
-Nice music and a cool color matching concept give this more depth than other "runner" games.  Seems fairly priced at $1.

This list is a mix of demos and full games, but I've tried quite a few things lately:

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (PS3)
-A Gears clone with greater emphasis on melee attacks and a small margin of error, I can see the appeal, but it's not my thing.

Kyotokei (Wii)
-A shameless Ikaruga clone, this one is just fair.

Beyond Good & Evil HD (360)
-I wanted to like this, and it seems interesting, but the lack of control options began to frustrate me (you can't invert the camera axes separately -- I'm used to having the X-axis be normal and the Y-axis be inverted, but this game requires both of them to be the same)

Blue Dragon (360)
-The story-free battles-only demo put me to sleep after a few minutes.

Tomb Raider Legend (360)
-Combat is clumsy and the controls are imprecise, but it was actually pretty fun otherwise.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES on 3DS)
-This is the only one of my Ambassador games that I've tried so far, and I have to say I'm not impressed.  I love Zelda II, but this version is pretty crappy.  The graphics are blurry and the there's no way to remap the controls so you're stuck using B and A when you'd rather be using Y and B.  I guess you can't expect much from a free game, and I know that the NES Ambassador games will be upgraded later, but as it is, it's not worth bothering with.

Tomb Raider Underworld (360)
-Combat is clumsy and the controls are imprecise, but it was actually pretty fun otherwise.

Dark Void Zero (DSi on 3DS)
-I like what they were trying to do with this one, but given the hardcore nature of the gameplay and the precision required, I don't really have the patience to play it seriously.

BloodRayne Betrayal (PS3)
-A mixture of old-school 2D Castlevania and Devil May Cry, Betrayal features stunning graphics and animation that actually get in the way of the gameplay since there's no way to cancel out of an animation during a combo, requiring you to plan more attacks ahead of time least you get badly schooled.  I really like the risk/reward blood-sucking attack that allows you to either refill your health or use enemies as bombs to destroy other enemies.  I ultimately decided to buy it to support WayForward, but I recommend you give the demo a try before you make that commitment since the game's unforgiving nature will not be for everyone.

Star Fox 64 3D (3DS)
-Did a quick run through the game and managed to fight Andross' true form (started on the Easy path but eventually made it to Area 6).  I'm really surprised that I have pretty much no memory of this game.  I didn't even remember that so many of the boss fights are in open world environments.  As with the N64 version, the highlight of the game is the branching path system which encourages multiple playthroughs and FAQ checking.  I still don't think the game is as good as the SNES one, but it is an enjoyable shooter, if overpriced at $40 (IMO).

Playing Starfox 64 3D right now and, given the time waiting for another game to hit 3DS, I find myself wanting to like it much more than I do. It's good but just not hugely grabbing me. I think, when it comes to this type of game, I preferred other examples, like Rez and especially Panzer Dragoon Zwei.

I'm going through the same thing, and yeah, it's almost literally a night and day difference.
Xenoblade is by far the more appealing game though, I think.

In a lot of ways, yeah. They're both time sinks but I find that Xenoblade's world is more what I'm looking for right now. The game obviously can't pump out the polygons like Deus Ex can but I think that the artistic direction is so terrific (Bionis leg? Whoa.) that it really doesn't matter.

Two more demos:

Liight (Wii)
-Mediocre puzzle game about blending the RGB colors of light to activate switches

God of War Origins Collection (PS3)
-Only Ghost of Sparta is included in this demo, and I'm pretty sure it's the exact same demo I played for the PSP version some time ago, but it's quite fun.

rein wrote:

So, it turns out that running up to a wall mine to defuse it doesn't work as well in Human Revolution as it did in the original Deus Ex.

On the topic of explosives in Deus Ex, I had forgotten how gory the original was. I launched a rocket at one of the hapless children in the second mission for shits and giggles and marveled at how he was reduced to a smoldering, bloody crater as what remained of him littered the ground around the area.