Ninja Gaiden 3 - I couldn't even get past the first fight! Only the MGS:R-style masochists need apply...

The Cave - seems a great little game (free for + users from tomorrow I believe), and the screenshots don't do it justice. Old-skool, 'I've got all the pieces, so what the fcuk...' sorta game

Injustice: Gods Among Us - just the demo, but it's bloody brilliant. DC characters slug it out, which should be silly but everyone's evenly matched from what I've seen, and the characterisation is perfect. Bats gets up close and uses crippling attacks, Luthor uses weak suit attacks that'll enable a massive boot into a nearby helicopter if that's what you want... the scenery attacks and animation really are well thought out. I'll be buying this eventually

Edit 409Mb demo, give it a go!

With our internet finally behaving itself (touch wood) I got round to reconnecting my consoles on the weekend to update them and see what demos were available...

I started off really wanting to find a demo for Bioshock Infinite to convince me I neededto buy the first two and play catch up... but alas, there isn't one, so I still have yet to fully explore the Bioshock universe - which is a pity s I've loved every demo to date, and I guess have just been too tight (or otherwise distracted by other games) to get stuck in.....

The other big one I wanted to get my (cheap) hands on was Remember Me - since I love the look of the Tron-esque, cyber-punk imagery, even if it does look like a button masher... but alas, no demo as yet.

So I settled on downloading and having a good old play of:

Forza Horizon - not bad, but the mechanics felt like NFS Hot Pursuit (which I alrady own) and the "story" elements tying it all together in a pseudo-sandbox setting felt it could old quickly. Shan't be buying.

Ninja Gaiden 3 - it was never going to be my kind of game, and I too couldn't (wouldn't?) play past the first fight. All it seemed a but puerile to me. I guess I should've expected that though.

Sniper Elite V2 (360) - I like sniping in games where I don't have to - but not sniping+sneaking in games where I have to - but I still wanted to see if the game was fleshed out enough. It's didn't seem to be.

Metal Gear Rising Revengence - Never got into Metal Gear, ever, and although the demo suggests it's a highly polished product - I just can't get on with 3rd person button mashers like this (I didn't once feel at risk, ever, during any of the "fights") so yeah, impressive, but it didn't impress me.

I AM ALIVE (PS3?) -promised so much in the early teaser trailers, but in reality it's a clunky Mirrors Edge... and what appears to be a low budget pre-cursor to that other game coming out soon that looks to be a game version of the movie "The Road". (which I don't think is the one with Ellen Page, which make it a third game going with the post-apocalyptic-going-it-alone-saga offering.

God Of War 3 - button mashing not really my thing, but I recalled enjoying the demo of previous excursions enough to give this a try. Still no feeling of endangement. Certainly not as fun a "third-person-over-the-shoulder-platformer" as the Force Unleashed felt. Pity, because the "classics" offer so much in their narrative than the Star Wars Universe. Yes, I know it was a demo, but it was all a little too set-piece/staged - I swear this all started with Goldeneye when you couldn't kill the guy until the game was ready for you to kill the guy. And that sucks.

Rage (360) - I meant to buy this the day it came out. But I didn't as Far Cry 2 was (and still is) keeping me busy - and both got swept under the carpet for Skyrim (which I haven't picked up in months) - and when it got a lukewarm reception, and Far Cry 3's release day loomed, and Borderlands 2 got released, I kind of forgot about it. That, and the price never seem to go down. Still, when I spied the demo was available, I jumped on it. And seriously, from the demo alone, I have absolutely no idea what any of the detractors were getting at. It is, easily, one of the best (pure) FPS games I've played (in terms of gaming mechanics) in a long time. And I own, and have had access to, all of the COD and Battlefields.... I've not even completed the demo yet since I'm playing it on nightmare at the same time as trying to reaquanit myself with the 360 joypad after a year or so away spent slaying dragons (Skyrim) and murking my housemates (Fifa) on the PS3 - so finding the weapon/ammo/equipment selection tricksy - but in a good (exciting) way. I was going to buy it straight out, but searching for a good deal highlighted DLC on it's way - so I'm going to hold off a little longer....

and finally,

Journey (PS3 only) WOW. Just WOW. I actually think this is more beautful than Ico. On a par with Limbo for immediate tears of joy playing it. I've read it will be boxed with it's predecessors Flow and Flower - so I'm trying to track that down. Pity it's PS3 only, I have a friend who I know would love this so bad - but she sold her PS3 recently. Stupid platform tie-ins.





Still, after all this...

I ended up buying Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3 and SSX (all 360) purely on the basis of their predecessors* merits!

*even if SSX doesn't have local multiplayer - but my mates tended not to invest as much time in the tricks as I do, and tired of being destroyed - so I've mostly bought it for late-night "switch-the-brain-off" gaming.

So with Skyrim and Far Cry 2 uncompleted, but not beckoning me back, I imagine I'm going to find myself pretty consumed by these three in the coming months. Silly really, the weather's getting better - I should really have treated myself during this arctic winter!

This one is vaguely interesting me too. Bit of Mirrors Edge, bit of Uncharted, bit of your DMC style combat mechanics... It's not out for about a month yet. There will be a demo though, saw an article today that quoted the producer as saying so.

Is the Rage DLC still happening? They've been having serious problems with Doom 4 if nothing else

Thought it already had...

Quite right

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rage_(video_game)#Downloadable_content

I hadn't heard of the December stuff or it had slipped my mind. It does make me wonder how long in development the DLC was (see day one DLC thread), and if the sales figures for the initial release were considered good. Is the DLC to recoup costs etc? So much is changing these days

Finished Bioshock Infinite this morning. Epic game, loved it

Dear Esther: very different and very atmospheric. Got it on a Steam sale.

Tomb Raider (2013) - really enjoying it so far, despite not being much of a fan of any of the earlier games.


I have to say, a couple of hours in and I'm not feeling it; even though the reviews suggest it's just my type of game.

Dear Esther is more like an immersive 3D story, and I love it. I've played it through a few times and still enjoy it.

Currently playing the Gods and Kings DLC of Civilisation 5

Devil May Cry - it's not bad at all but you spend most of your time in 'limbo', which is to say, 'the real world, but trippy'. I can't be arsed with that in games, and I dunno if I'll finish it. Everything else about it is great!

Empire Total War.
It is all consuming fun.





yours wecrookie

OK, you should only rent this game - you use what is effectively a grappling hook, right? Only the distance it works at is totally arbitrary, meaning you could spend ages trying to close a gap and failing, when all you had to do was stand on the ledge and fire it. I mean WTF! Oh, and whether you beat some of the bosses is nearly just blind luck in terms of their attack patterns. I reached the final boss and wound up just watching the end video on YouTube instead

Games are getting like Holywood films now, where you can see the bits where the director wasn't involved, good or bad!

Ok so they took a while but my new games showed up...

Haven't fired up FC3 yet (going to give that some serious attention tomorrow night I think) but have started a run around B2 - and it's feeling a lot like the original (in a good way) with some nice menu changes - I've only scratched the first few missions - so might start over with one of the other classes, as I'm not feeling Zero's swordplay.

SSX (the gamble purchase) hasn't blown me away so far - perhaps because I can't decide if I want to go back to Tricky's buttons, or On Tour's joystick, and as a consequence haven't settled on one, so keep fluffing up midgame between the two.... and the rewind button, when you accidentally catch L1 is a PITA - but it sure looks pretty, and feels really good when moving... just got to see if the "story" driven events keep things interesting (what's wrong with just having clearly delineated tiered-difficulty events to choose from these days?