What game you currently playing?

[Chindie]

Incidentally seeing that the Amazing Spiderman has been mentioned, a couple of things.

Firstly it's not supposed to be that bad. Nicks some stuff from the Arkham games and doesn't do it quite as well (a lot of that is down to character differences) and has a fairly empty open world attached, but it's not terrible as you might expect it to be. I wouldn't rush out and buy it but a rent/sale purchase with a view to trade in might see you have some fun.

Secondly, if you're interested in the film, don't play the game first. Don't even read anything about the game. The game gives away some details about how the film ends.

[hogso]

Ahh yes, I knew I was forgetting a Lego game we I've played - Indiana Jones. I think the 2nd one is the only other one I havent played, except for Pirates

[PaulMcGrath_5]

I originally purchased God Of War 3 and after playing for a very short period of time I decided that I wanted to play 1 and 2 first in order to understand the story, so I went and picked up God Of War Collection.

I am just coming to the very end of God Of War and It has been excellent but I have felt it has dragged on a bit towards the end, the last hour or so feels like it's never ending, just when you think you're coming to the finale something else happens, 8.5/10 from me.

Once I've finished that I don't think I will go straight into GOW2 (Kratos gives you headaches), might have a second run through of a Batman game or one of the Uncharted, undecided yet.

[Ginko]

Got FF7 on my list of stuff to buy on the PSN. What platform you playing it on? How does it hold up graphic wise?

I'm playing it on PSN this time round, I do have an original copy of the game on playstation but I wondered if there might be any differences on the PSN version and it saves me changing discs and risking them getting scratched etc. No differences as far as I can see, but it's been a while since I played the game last. There's no improvement in the graphics but that's not really important. I also forgot how annoying it is that the Circle button is the action button as opposed to the Cross/X button which is generally used nowadays.

But yeah, no real differences, but I'm not particularly knowledgeable on that sort of stuff either with regards to technical changes.

I can see why you think that but for me it's more about puzzle solving than combat and just the silly funny things that happen plus hundreds of little nods, touches and Easter eggs all over the ace.

This ones got an open city to explore like Arkham city/gta and more vehicle based gameplay plus voices for the first time I believe.

Ah fair enough, like I said I only played the demo and it's just a level, no open-world traversing or anything like that. It's funny, I can understand that, I just find the gameplay a bit boring.

I suspect I'll have to play one properly, although the little I have played with the stud collecting and knowing my need to do collectible hunts in games will mean I'll spend the entire time destroying everything in every room.

That's exactly my problem with it it too. I'm a bit OCD when it comes to game collectables and in the lego games I find I can't move onto the next area without destroying all destructable objects first and I just get bored.

[hogso]

Got FF7 on my list of stuff to buy on the PSN. What platform you playing it on? How does it hold up graphic wise?

I'm playing it on PSN this time round, I do have an original copy of the game on playstation but I wondered if there might be any differences on the PSN version and it saves me changing discs and risking them getting scratched etc. No differences as far as I can see, but it's been a while since I played the game last. There's no improvement in the graphics but that's not really important. I also forgot how annoying it is that the Circle button is the action button as opposed to the Cross/X button which is generally used nowadays.

Changing the X and O button around is virtually the first thing I go - its in the config in the menu somewhere.

As for any differences, the PS3 emulator does have the same 'smoothing' option that the PS2 had, which makes things a tiny bit better around the rough edges. The FF games hold up pretty well though, given the static pre-rendered backgrounds.

The FMVs though...I think it must just be that now I'm used to everything being perfectly smooth, or maybe it's just that I can't remember specifics like that, comparing playing them on PS1 years ago to playing them on PS3 now, but...they look worse to me. Horrible jagged edges, and nasty pixelation.

[Davkaus]

Playing Space Marine, as it's only a fiver on Steam this weekend. It's alright, I guess, glad I didn't pay full price for it but can't go wrong for a fiver. If I had to pick one word to describe it, it'd be bland. It's the sort of game you get when every member of staff is told that innovation is banned on this project.

[Juju]

I picked up LA Noire for a fiver on Steam. - A midweek madness 75% off. I have to say, as a veritable newcomer to modern pc gaming, Steam seems utterly spendid. I'd never have bought LA Noire full price when first released at £40. Even £20 would have seemed a lot for a sort of "limited stories adventure", a genre I only have limited interest in - but at a fiver, it's not even worth pirating -just buy it. So the supply and demand curve met for me there. They got a sale of a game thats been out a while that they'd never have had, with the dynamic pricing they can do.

Another example is they did a mad 90% off Train Sim 2012 last december. it was a barking £2.99 or something. Ok, so I bought that, and fair enough, its not worth pirating at thatprice. But I am about tobuy a £25 dowload content from the makers for it - another example that Steam pricing will sell product, and it's really debatable if anyone loses out. Low price games kill piracy, and low price games can induce further DLC purchasing when the gamer can be "sure" of the quality of the content.

[Davkaus]

it's really debatable if anyone loses out. Low price games kill piracy, and low price games can induce further DLC purchasing when the gamer can be "sure" of the quality of the content.

Don't you know, Steam cheapens intellectual property with their massive sales.

Which is why EA will never do the same.

2 weeks later on Origin....

[Ginko]

I bought The Amazing Spider-man on 360 yesterday after reading a few reviews and being a bit of a spidey fan.

It's okay, but nothing special and there's plenty of things they could have improved on. The web-swinging in New York City is decent enough but you don't really feel in that much control of it, certainly not compared to the web-swinging in Spider-man 2 on the PS2. You hold down the button and he swings, as opposed to pressing the button to fire out a new web, which is disappointing. Also, sometimes you'll be swinging along and then let go to fall a bit, and you press the button to swing again but he just keeps falling and chooses the last possible moment to swing. There's just a distinct lack of control and I think that if a game made a generation before could get it pretty much spot on, then there's no excuse for this game not to at least match it.

Combat is pretty annoying too. They obviously tried to take cues from the Arkham series of Batman games, but it's just nowhere near as polished. Using your spider-sense to avoid attacks with a quick push of the counter button is just not very sensitive. Sometimes you'll think that simply jumping away from the enemies would save you, and sometimes you'd be right, but other times the enemies will swing and still hit you despite you being out of their range. As for attacking, it just seems like you button mash and hope for the best. You use the B button to unleash a special move after you reach a certain combo multiplier, but there doesn't appear to be any strict combination of buttons to perform certain moves so you'll just be spamming for the most part, which is a let down.

Another idea lifted from the Arkhams is the stealth play. I know stealth play isn't limited to one series of games of course and there's no gargoyles to perch from and no clever gadgets to use to dispatch enemies quickly and quietly. In this, you can move freely on the walls and the ceiling, which sounds cool, but the game camera loves making this difficult for you which is incredibly annoying, even more so when an enemy with a projectile spots you and you have to try and web-zip away again because it's hard to see where you're going.

Speaking of web-zip, it's a pretty neat little feature. Some may argue that it feels like the game itself is play it for you, and I know what they mean, but it's probably the most inventive addition to the game. I know past spider-man games have had a web-zip feature, but this one is a lot more detailed. The only problem comes when you're swinging around in the open area of the city. Then you get these yellow spider-man outline UI which shows where you can web-zip to and there's just so damn many of them. The UI also gets in the way when you're searching for the many collectables and when you're swinging high up amongst the skyscrapers and a flash catches your eye and you think it's a collectable, there are times when it's just a web-zip icon.

Lastly, I'd probably criticise it for level design. The open city is fun enough, but the building and sewer-based levels are pretty standard. They're not particularly thoughtful or inventive, and neither is the gameplay in these areas either. You can choose to be stealthy and crawl on the ceilings and walls, but then you run the risk of missing collectables, so often it's just better to walk around. It's not bad, it's just a bit boring. There's plenty of Quick Times Events too, which I personally despise. I just feel QTE's are what you use when you're not imaginative enough to come up with a better gameplay feature.

Perhaps I'm being a tad too harsh and I'm comparing the game too much to the recent Batman games which might be unfair, despite the fact that designers clearly looked to implement similar features in this game, but it doesn't come anywhere near. A bit of a disappointment in my opinion. Probably give it a 6/10 at a push. I will just say, I've only played it for about 5 hours and haven't completed the game yet. These are just my initial thoughts.

[Chindie]

Steam should be doing their (utterly mental, usually) summer sale any day now, worth keeping an eye out.

I'd like to take advantage more of Steam but my desktop is 6 years old now and slowly dying anyway, and my laptop isn't a gaming machine by any stretch (and is 4 years old itself), so I'm not really in the position to.

[GarethRDR]

Still playing Trials Evo. Best value for money game I've ever bought, methinks.

[hogso]

I am now in the proper final dungeon in Tales of Graces F (not including the post-game), and having played most of the game on 'normal' (the difficulty goes easy->normal->moderate->hard, then insane->chaos when you unlock them), I've now shifted up to 'hard'. Yeaaaaah. Having farmed alot of SP (which gains you titles, which gains you stat increases & skills) from Inn Requests, I'm making pretty light work of the normal enemies, and the sub-bosses too, most of the time. After over 50 hours of gameplay the battles still arent boring, which is some achievment.

I've also now unlocked all of the in-game non-dlc costumes, which includes everyones 'beachwear' and a few other Tales... costumes for various characters - including a Pirate outfit for Sophie! Which is awesome! I would dearly love to post a picture of it, but I can't find a proper decent one...errr so here's some Pascal cosplay instead

Toooooootally, like, bananas and stuff!

[hogso]

I finished the main story yesterday. Beat the final boss on hard at my 3rd attempt. Which sucked, cos on my first try I hit a 188 combo, and on my second I hit a 164 combo, but lost so it didn't count as a record (and therefore towards the New Game+ grade (you can continue the game in the post-game to level up, get items, do Inn Requests, collect Carta Cards, do the Cameo Battles and the EX Dungeon, or dive into the post-main game story and once you've done that to finish up the other stuff. Once you have a save where you've finished the game, though, you can start a New Game+ where you spend 'grade' to buy perks for your new playthrough. The amount of 'grade' you have to spend depends on how much and how well you did on that play through. It's a wonderful system that makes multiple playthroughs very tempting. wow that was a long bracket.), so had to settle for a measly 100 combo on my 3rd go v_____v

The story threw a bit of a curve ball at the end, which was kind of interesting, and not what i was expecting at all.

I've cleared the first level of the EX Dungeon, but had to move the diffiuculty down to Normal, as the enemies are craazy tough, as you'd expect. So much so I thought **** that, and went into the post-main game story instead (where the EX Dungeon is inaccessible).

It seems like it's going to deal with some pretty heavy issues, in regard to where the story was left at the end of the gaem proper. Only about half an hour into it, but the way it's headed is very interesting.

Probably my favourite game of this gen.

[nobler]

Just out of interest; Is this game series related to 'Tales of Symphonia' that was on the Gamecube? That was fantastic. I saw a brief video from Tales of Graces and it seemed to have similar combat.

[Ginko]

Yep, Symphonia is made by the same people, a subsidiary studio of Namco Bandai Games, that being the aptly named Namco Tales Studio.

They've done quite a few games you might recognise. They did Tales of the Abyss on PS2, Tales of Vesperia on the 360 and various others.

[hogso]

Yeh there are about 10/11/12 games in the Tales series, it's a proper 'franchise' like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. More like DQ though, a fair few of the games have never been given an EU or US release. The latest PS3 game Tales of Xillia, for example, hasn't been given even a US release date yet. Suuucks. Great games, if you like the art style. Which I happen to love.

[The_Rev]

Just finished Episode 2 of The Walking Dead game. It's a point and click but with a modern twist. It is absolutely fantastic, I highly recommend it.

[Chindie]

I had a go at the Walking Dead trial on Live the other day actually... I like some things, but it doesn't entirely grab me. The lack of a season pass (i.e. insta-discount) on Live also puts me off.

I finished Gears of War 3 yesterday. Perfectly alright, but I'm at a loss as to how that series became as big as it is.

I'm now more or less out of my back catalogue of titles. Dragon Age Origins I dip into and out of, I'll never finish Just Cause 2, and Dark Souls died entirely for me in Blighttown. I might have a clear out.

[hogso]

Just finished Episode 2 of The Walking Dead game. It's a point and click but with a modern twist. It is absolutely fantastic, I highly recommend it.

There's some issue with these appearing late on the PS3. No one really seems to know why, but Episode 2 merely has a TBA release date for PSN. Which sucks as I bought the 'season pass'.

[nobler]

Good news, Hogso

Tales of Xillia EU release confirmed