Currently Playing

[Shabbir]

Huh, we never had a currently playing thread, so that's what was missing from this forum!

I just finished playing Bully: Scholarship Edition on XBox 360 yesterday, and I'm not quite sure what to move on to next. I'll probably continue playing GTA Chinatown Wars on Nintendo DS until I finish that, and then I have Professor Layton and the Curious Village on DS to play as well as Fallout 3 DLC: Broken Steel on 360.

[Huxley]

Good idea!

Wipeout HD - Since I got my new telly I thought it would be a good time to give this a second chance. It looks glorious in 1080p and makes me wonder why more games don't have the option. It's a really good game too, it's aged much better than other racing games of the time like Ridge Racer and Daytona. I honestly don't think there's a futuristic racing game to match it...maybe Rollcage, but I'd have to play it again since they haven't released a new version since the PS1 :S

Folklore - Got this for £10 because I'd heard good things from people who've played it despite all the bad reviews. It's certainly got a lot more going for it than those reviews suggested. The monster design in particular is some of the best I've seen in a recent RPG, reminds me a little of Where The Wild Things Are. However the gameplay is fairly straightforward for an action RPG and I don't think it'll keep me interested for long.

Daxter - As technically impressive as it is to squeeze an almost PS2 quality free roaming platform game in to the PSP, this isn't a great game IMO. The boring level design really lets it down, as does the confusing structure and non-existent plot. It does have its moments though, so I'll give it another chance to see if it improves.

Coming up - Wipeout Fury, Valkyria Chronicles DLC, Stranglehold

[Huxley]

Stranglehold - Only played it for a brief time, but already it's easy to tell that this will become too repetitive far too quickly. I don't care though, because it's based around Jon Woo's best movie and has Chow Yun Fat in it. And guns. And mexican stand-offs. And doves.

You can pick it up for around £5 on 360 and PS3 these days, which an impulse buy if ever I saw one.

[Shabbir]

Wow, is it really a fiver now? I remember getting the demo and I had pretty much decided then that this was going to be quite repetitive but good fun nonetheless. I didn't want to pay full retail for it however. Where can I get it for a fiver from? I'm going to need to check my local Blockbusters on my way home...

[Huxley]

http://www.cex.co.uk/products/Gaming/Co ... hold%20(18)&mode=buy

Plenty of other places too. It's not a great game by any stretch of the imagination, but £5 so I can feel like Chow Yun Fat for a few hours? Yes thanks!

[Darke Raven 07]

Even with this being a rather slow budget month for game reviews I am still picking up content for review.

Nintendo DS
Wrapping up reviews of Hoshigami : Ruining Blue Earth Remix (probably will still play it until I get a better RPG for my DS... or just get tired of a game I already am giving a bad score to and go back to Shin Megami Tensei) and Shin Megami Tensei : Devil Survivor (still playing from time to time). Going back to CSI : Dark Motives to finish it, and thinking of what to review next.

Sony PSP
Just put the finishing touches on reviewing Luxor : Pharoah's Challenge (love the Luxor series, as a shooter puzzler it's very nicely done), and working this week on Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex (dear god it's trying to be the next Xenosaga in terms of cut scenes that never end) and the Greatest Hits edition of Final Fantasy VII : Crisis Core (haven't upwrapped it yet but will this weekend).

Microsoft XBox360/XBox Original
Reviewing DOOM 3 (so, what, the future of colonization on Mars means outsourcing all it's technological contracts to Raccoon City and it's human resourcing out Silent Hill?!?) and Pariah (take away the multiplayer content and you find out just how retardedly stupid this game really is... hint, the driving part seems to have been an afterthought since you usually have to run completely around the vechile to switch from driver to gunner... and I've managed to quite easily vertically "park" the vechile on most of the surfaces of the game, something you shouldn't be able to do if the game was made right) for the original XBox. Playing Gears of War 2 (XBox360) and probably write it up once I get ahold of the All Fronts Expansion and try that out.

Nintendo Wii
Went back to playing Super Mario Galaxy. Write something on that shortly.


Turning in content this weekend.

[Shabbir]

Out of all the games I had to play, I just got back into Fallout 3 with the DLC Broken Steel. It's been okay so far, more of the same, but hopefully it'll build up and deliver some more fun.

The latest DLC for Fallout 3 is going to come out soon, Mothership Zeta which, as the title suggests, takes place on an alien mothership. The trailer is available on XBox Live and all over the web, so check it out!

[Huxley]

Have you tried Point Lookout? I think that one interests me most of the current Fallout 3 DLC, when it finally comes to PS3...hopefully they'll do some discount bundle though so I can get them all

[Shabbir]

I'm on the DLC before that. Point Lookout is the penultimate DLC so far. Just so no one gets confused, here are the DLCs in order of release:

Operating Anchorage
The Pitts
Broken Steel
Point Lookout
Mothership Zeta

I'm working my way through them in that order as well, so I'm on Broken Steel at the moment. Point Lookout looks almost like a horror or survival action game! I guess the developers were just trying different things and mainly different settings and scenarios with the DLCs. The Pitts has so far been the most disappointing. Operation Anchorage was good fun although a bit short. Haven't finished Broken Steel so can't really comment on that.

[Steve the Pirate]

just played the arkham asylum demo... certainly seems promising!

[Shabbir]

I need to wait till it becomes available for normal Silver users, should be in just a couple of days or so now.

[Huxley]

Yeah, it's well worth the download. By far the best Batman game I've played in a long time, and one of the few that actually makes you 'feel' like the Batman. In that regard it's almost as big a leap forward as Spiderman 2 was for Spiderman.

[Yung Burnout]

UFC Undisputed 2009
-but that was a couple days ago

[Darke Raven 07]

Microsoft XBox (Original) - DOOM 3

Microsoft XBox360 - Gears of War 2 (still have to pick up the All Fronts Collection)

Nintendo DS - Playing YuGiOh GBA games right now, as well as CSI : Dark Motives (for however short I can muster the evil of it all before going back to YuGiOh).

Nintendo Wii - Nothing right now, between reviews. Have to restock.

Sony PSP - Crisis Core : Final Fantasy VII... dang. Wish somebody warned me it was a new fangled revise ala Final Fantasy VII : Dirge of Cerbereus (only it's a button masher ala Pirates of the Caribbean on the PSP instead of a first/third person shooter). (Not that I don't hate the new game mechanics BUT it is abit limiting here and there, and I feel like I'm not getting as much depth from the insentive button mashing though I do like the new game all the same... even if at times it seems Zack/Cloud got a personality boot from Sora (Kingdom Hearts) at times with his excitable youth... OMG though, Yuffie's a little girl in this game!!)

Sony PSP Movies - If I can I so want to find someone to trade Resident Evil : Extinction with. Did pick up Men in Black though to watch (and did watch it a few times already).

[Steve the Pirate]

mostly playing fat princess!!!!

'GIMMIE CAKE' she cries... made me laugh.

[Shabbir]

I'm playing Fallout 3: Broken Steel properly now, and you could say I've gone through the first 'major' portion of it, which to be honest, felt like a complete grind. I was fighting the same monster (Deathclaws) over and over going through dull environments without much variation. I was over the moon when I saw an enemy that wasn't a Deathclaw, let's hope though that the environments change soon.

There was also an optional quest relating to this part, but it was very very disappointing.

[Darke Raven 07]

XBox (Original) : Now playing Chronicles of Riddick : Escape from Butcher Bay, Prince of Persia : Sands of Time and Sudeki (which goes to show unless Maxim is being told what the great games are then they have not actual tastes in video games on their own).

[Huxley]

Valkyria Chronicles DLC (Selvaria episode) - playing this again reminds me just how much I loved it first time around, and also how much I suck at it. It's almost impossible to win without a well formulated strategy, and I usually have to run through a level a couple of times before I figure it out. I guess that's what makes a good strategy game, though...

[Steve the Pirate]

Valkyria Chronicles DLC (Selvaria episode) - playing this again reminds me just how much I loved it first time around, and also how much I suck at it. It's almost impossible to win without a well formulated strategy, and I usually have to run through a level a couple of times before I figure it out. I guess that's what makes a good strategy game, though...

behind her blue flame is so fucking hard its riddiculous! but then, like all expansions there is no learning curve, you're right in at the deep end :'(

also the only way to unlock all the content is to get fucking A ranks! Impossible!

[Darke Raven 07]

Off this week to trade again for fresh review content (one of the lovely things about GameStop is that you don't always need money for new games to review, just trade ins to get credit from). Maybe go back to the DS since I already stocked up on the PSP abit. We'll see.

[Huxley]

behind her blue flame is so fucking hard its riddiculous! but then, like all expansions there is no learning curve, you're right in at the deep end :'(

also the only way to unlock all the content is to get fucking A ranks! Impossible!

Good...I'm glad it isn't just me who's finding it harder than the main game! I'm enjoying the challenge though, makes it seem like better VFM if you know what I mean.

Have you completed the main campaign? What did you think?

[Steve the Pirate]

not yet, i got sidetracked by other games... but i plan to go and give it another go!

i kinda dislike them trying to put her in a noble light! she was a BITCH! but yea, every freedom fighter is someones terrorist i suppose!

I do like her crazy ass death cannon though!

[Huxley]

She was annoyingly difficult to play against because she's basically a one-hit kill machine, but playing as her is very satisfying. She has the power of a shocktrooper with the range and accuracy of a scout. You can headshot people regularly from 400 yards away! Have you completed the DLC? Nice bonus when you do.

[Darke Raven 07]

Added review content to the XBox360
Bullet Witch - Yes, even extremely pretty games can be retardedly boring substandard crap (like this game).
Conan - I was deeply disappointed to learn I wouldn't be balancing California's budget as Governor Conan, or battling Sarah Palin for the Throne of Ameri-boria. Dammit!!
Perfect Dark Zero - What! It's like $5 so you can't get any cheaper than that!

See if I can't head off in some days for another trip through the bargain rack for content to review. What content I'm not sure, I'm still trying to figure that out (need to keep track of all my reviews and place priority on systems with low content).

[Huxley]

Ridge Racer 7 - Got this so I could get £4 off my order when I bought Batman. I'm enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would though..I didn't realise how much I missed this kind of simple arcade racing. It's maybe a little too sterile compared to the likes of Rage, but after the mayhem of Burnout and Motorstorm it's kinda nice.

It also looks astonishingly good in 1080p @ 60fps despite the jaggies. Why can't more racing games do this?