So what're you playing nowadays?

Three more demos:

Sideway: New York (PS3)
-An interesting 2.5D platformer where you play as living graffiti on the sides and roofs of buildings.  The catchy music is the best part, but they censored the lyrics which takes some of the flavor away.

NBA Jam On Fire Edition (PS3)
-Not terribly interesting when playing alone, but I could see it being fun with other people.  The commentary is as outrageous as ever.

StarDrone (PS3)
-A nifty action/puzzle game where you use grapple points to propel your spacecraft around mazes to collect gems and stars, I enjoyed this one more than I expected to.

Five more demos:

FAST Racing League (Wii)
-Developer Shin'en gives us the closest thing to F-Zero for the Wii in this halfway decent WiiWare racer.  The graphics are dated and the controls lack depth, but it's decent for what it is.  I should also mention that the game has an unusual Ikaruga-inspired color flipping mechanic requiring you to be the correct color to acquire boost fuel or use jump pads.

Forza Motorsport 4 (360)
-This series continues to impress me, mostly because it's so much more accessible and fun than the GT series while still having all the ridiculous simulation stuff for those who want it.  Being able to fully customize the traction, steering, and braking assist options along with the racing line allow you to play it as either an arcade or sim game, depending on your preference.  The only thing missing is an option to enable powersliding.

Guardian Heroes (360)
-The Saturn classic makes a comeback on Xbox 360 and (surprise!) it's still fun.  If you like old school beat 'em ups, they don't get much better than this.

Space Channel 5 Part 2 (360)
-I have never been able to get the timing down quite right in this series, and the memorization-heavy gameplay has always irked me a bit, but I love the utter camp on display here, and this port seems to be pretty solid.  The FMV scenes are still 4:3, but the gameplay portions are now 16:9.  The biggest surprise is that the 360's mushy d-pad didn't ruin anything for me, at least not in the easy demo stage, but who knows how it will perform when the routines become more complicated.

From Dust (360)
-A god game where you must terraform the environment in order to help your people advance and avoid natural disasters, I wanted to like this one more than I actually did.  The concept is cool and it has a certain charm, but it's just not that much fun to play.  Sorry, Eric.

Idolores wrote:

And customizable controls. What kind of weirdo decided face buttons should be used for shifting gears and the triggers for accelerating and braking? Fucks me up on every turn.

Agreed.  I didn't mention it because I don't know if the full game has the option or not, but that's a definite flaw if it doesn't.

Last edited by XLord007 (Oct 15, 2011)

I was trying to play the (recently acquired) Saturn version of Mega Man 8 but it seems the internal battery in my console is dead. So until I get that switched out (or eventually break down and buy a memory card) I can't save. I really don't (i.e. can't and/or lack the will power) to play and finish it in one sitting - with my luck the power would go out. Probably shouldn't mention I don't like Mega Man 8 all that much... it and Mega Man 7 are a bit to cutesy for my taste (oh bless the graphical limitations of the NES!). Also, for those that are interested, I can't say the Saturn version of the game is really worth the extra green... the game store just randomly got it in and I gave in to my weakness of buying anything remotely interesting.

Anyway, in lieu of the Saturn I busted the Genesis out with Sonic 3. Gearing up for the soundtrack release I guess....

Wanderer wrote:

Beat Xenoblade yesterday (at 85 hours) and I'm moving on to Arkham Asylum. I have a little over a week before Uncharted 3 comes out and that consumes my entertainment time...

Arkham Asylum is certainly do-able in a week.  The main campaign, at least; the Challenge Rooms and Riddler Challenges are a different story.

Ashley Winchester wrote:

Decade and a half later and I still can't beat Eggman on Sonic 3...

Wow, does that mean you've never heard that weird ending credits song (noted for being one of the most convincing arguments that Michael Jackson composed the soundtrack for this game) and that you've never played Sonic 3 & Knuckles all the way to the end either!?

Amazingu wrote:

heard that weird ending credits song (noted for being one of the most convincing arguments that Michael Jackson composed the soundtrack for this game)

Just listened to it. That's uncanny.

Wanderer wrote:

Angela wrote:

Wanderer wrote:

Beat Xenoblade yesterday (at 85 hours) and I'm moving on to Arkham Asylum. I have a little over a week before Uncharted 3 comes out and that consumes my entertainment time...

Arkham Asylum is certainly do-able in a week.  The main campaign, at least; the Challenge Rooms and Riddler Challenges are a different story.

Yeah, but I've played the first hour or so of Asylum and I know how addictive finding the Riddler Challenges are. :p

(And of course, there's Arkham City, which I'm leaving to pick up now...)

Arkham City is insane so far.

I think I've put in about 7 or 8 hours, and I'm at 15% in the story and about 14% overall.

Definite GotY material.

Ashley Winchester wrote:

I've never seen the game's ending sequence, so no, I've never heard the credits music. I guess I could look it up and listen to it on youtube but in a certain way I'd rather earn it. Regardless, I don't think I have to say the game's music is one of it's main charms - it's pretty obvious.

I've never had access to Sonic and Knuckles either so I've never experienced playing as Knuckles which is sad. I dislike how he's nothing but a prop in Sonic 3; he deserved more than that.

You really should get down to that, my man.
You're missing out.

Last edited by Amazingu (Oct 24, 2011)

Tried a bunch of games:

Kirby's Return to Dream Land (Wii)
-It's old school copy ability Kirby in a very 16-bit experience.  It's fun, but as unoriginal as you'd expect.  Mass Attack is the Kirby game to get this year.

Sonic Generations (PS3)
-Played the second demo.  Modern Sonic's play style is pretty much autopilot, so Classic Sonic is definitely the way to go.  I found it a little bit easier to see what was going on than I did in the first demo, but it's still pretty hard to follow once you get up to speed.  I'd be interested in hearing what big Sonic fans think of this.

Payday: The Heist (PS3)
-Co-op FPS where you try to pull off a major bank job broken into mini objectives while taking hostages and holding off the cops.  I played with the CPU, and it was decent fun, so I imagine it's a lot better if you're playing with real people you know.

Resistance 3 (PS3)
-An FPS released in 2011 with med kits instead of regenerating health?  Now that's unexpected.  I wonder how much trouble those raised on Halo and CoD will have with this.  I never played Resistance 2, but this is a hell of a lot better than the first PS3 game and the awful, awful PSP game.  Still, I'm not much of a fan of this series and I wouldn't recommend it.

Need For Speed: The Run (PS3)
-Cruis'n USA meets Split/Second, Need For Speed: The Run is a type of racing game I haven't played in a long time.  It's one giant obstacle-laden cross country race where you methodically overtake opponents one by one.  I'm not sure how much depth the final game will have, but the demo is fun, and it looks beautiful thanks to the Frostbite 2 engine.  Note that the demo does not showcase any of the controversial out of car gameplay, so I have no idea how that part of the game is.

Daytona USA (360)
-Super crisp visuals bring back this yesteryear favorite.  The way the car controls is a little unusual for a racing game, but I was able to adjust.  It's somewhat fun, but more a nostalgia trip than anything else.

Sega Rally Online Arcade (360)
-Looks much better than older versions of the title, and plays pretty well.  Unfortunately, the demo for this one is incredibly short (they don't even let you complete one lap), so it was pretty hard to get a real feel for it.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane (360)
-Can you tell I've been on an arcade racing kick?  This was one isn't great, but there is fun to be had, and it's fully featured with many different race types.

XLord007 wrote:

Resistance 3 (PS3)
-An FPS released in 2011 with med kits instead of regenerating health?  Now that's unexpected.  I wonder how much trouble those raised on Halo and CoD will have with this.  I never played Resistance 2, but this is a hell of a lot better than the first PS3 game and the awful, awful PSP game.  Still, I'm not much of a fan of this series and I wouldn't recommend it.

I played through Resistance 3's single player campaign a month or two ago, and yeah, it was a pretty big culture shock having to rely on med kits.  Bordered on annoying at times, having to blindly run out into the battlefield with only slivers of health left, praying that a fallen Chimera held that kit you sorely needed.

I did appreciate the huge variety of weapons, and the campaign housed some pretty cool locales (the Pennsylvania and New York City sequences were particularly neat), but the game just felt lacking in overall polish.

Amazingu wrote:

except for the fact that I still didn't find it easy to see what was going on

Oh, I agree with you there, but I meant that I found it somewhat easier to see than in the first demo where I couldn't follow it at all.

Ashley Winchester wrote:

I have to ask, do you get this feeling more from Sonic 1 & 2 than Sonic 3? When I was playing through Sonic 3 I couldn't help but feel my main objective was to complete levels as fast as possible and nothing else, like there was an invisible hand behind me, pushing me through the levels.

Regardless of your answer, I need to play Sonic 1 & 2 and see if that feeling exists there as well. Sonic 3 was good but isn't quite what I remember it being....

Actually, yes, I'd say I felt that more in Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles.
Those 2 are more rewarding in terms of exploration than the first 2 games, since you have those big rings that lead to bonus stages now. Also, levels are designed in a way that some areas can only be accessed by Knuckles or Tails, but not by Sonic, for instance.

The first 2 games had slow moments, yes, (Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone in particular coming to mind), but not because of exploration so much as just more platform-heavy gameplay, which has been all but abandoned in recent games.

Ashley Winchester wrote:

Amazingu wrote:

The first 2 games had slow moments, yes, (Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone in particular coming to mind), but not because of exploration so much as just more platform-heavy gameplay, which has been all but abandoned in recent games.

Yeah, I remember the Marble Zone (which has awesome music btw) being a little more methodical in nature and it may be those types of levels I'm looking for. I'll have to head back into zombieland, er... Sonicland while I have the Genesis out.

I whipped out Sonic 1 the other night and it pretty much felt the way I thought it would. While the speed is there it doesn't feel like the only thing the game has to offer. I like how the game slows down in certain stages (Marble Zone) and speeds up in others (Spring Yard Zone). Still, the lack of the Spin Dash comes off odd as does the lack of Tales.