Playing? (R)Ocktober 2011

[Steve T Power]

This fall will be the death of me:

Rage - About 7 hours into this wonderful, wonderful game. Id is back, I missed them greatly. Technically, it's a beautiful looking game that runs smoother than it has any right to, design wise it's brilliant: a wonderful mix of driving and classic Id FPS action. It's never boneheaded, never pandering, and always uniquely "Rage". Fantastic game, and my vote for Shooter of 2011.

Dark Souls - Sequel to the incredibly awesome (and notoriously difficult) Playstation 3 action-RPG Demon's Souls. The game design is basically more of what made Demon's Souls amazing, with a bump in difficulty (gasp!). I will be playing the shit out of this - very likely right up to Skyrim in November.

[mavrach]

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS) - Since I got my DS at the end of last year, the only two games I've really been able to enjoy are this and Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Everything else has been time-killers instead of actual great games that I'd enjoy.

Both of these are copies of the formula established in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Not much originality, but if you're going to copy a game, that's a great game to copy.

[The Butcher]

Dark Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls...

don't get turned off by the difficulty warnings, it's hard, but it's not unfair, and does not rely on twitch skills, instead it's patience that must be used, something that I, as a bad to average gamer, can embrace.




though it can be a little evil

[alexwagner]

Red Dead Redemption: Still working my way through this as I've been playing in small chunks. Really enjoying it though...I'd love to get 100% on this one!

Dark Souls intrigues me! I'm also counting down the days until Uncharted 3.

[Steve T Power]

Dark Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls...

don't get turned off by the difficulty warnings, it's hard, but it's not unfair, and does not rely on twitch skills, instead it's patience that must be used, something that I, as a bad to average gamer, can embrace.




though it can be a little evil

Over 16 hours clocked now, this game is just ridiculously HUGE! I'm completely enthralled by it. Much like Demon's souls before it, it's tough, but it's fair. You'll die a lot, but you'll feel like an idiot for doing so.

[Attrage]

Battlefield 3 – I’m about midway through the single player campaign (I don’t do online multiplayer) and I’m reasonably impressed. Pro’s - The first mission, where you are literally “on rails” was a nice intro to the game mechanics, the mission where you have to dodge a sniper’s bullets while trying to track his location was nice and tense (note to self – it’s not a good idea to stand up to try and look for a guy who’s popping .50 caliber rounds at you – that fairly moronic decision had me reading a nicely condescending “Mission Failed – You have died” on screen message). The mission where you’re the gunner in an F-18 Hornet fighter jet was just beyond cool – heart racing stuff popping flares and launching missiles at bogeys, a nice change-up to some ground attack stuff – all in all a nicely atmospheric and well-done mission (I liked the little touches – like how the sound gets slightly muffled when your character puts her helmet on)

Quick mention of the gunplay – it’s pretty damn good, but I think Dice should have used whatever mechanic they employed in the 2010 Medal of Honor in terms of giving the guns “weight”, that game has yet to be beaten in that regard.

Cons – Not too many at this point, although I can’t help but mention that a lot of the time when you’re the marine fighting street-to-street the game feels like a cross between Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (although at least you’re not a Ranger – that constant “Hua!” thing in MW2 drove me freakin insane).

One last con – a console-freezing, game ending bug was present that was so terminal I had to return the game to the store and swap it out for another one. The guy at the store told me that the game is really buggy, PC version especially. So, something to watch out for. So far, my second-version seems to be holding up OK.

[Attrage]

Modern Warfare 3 - Halfway through single player campaign. I wish I could say I'm blown away. But all I get really is a sense of deja vu, it's much of the same. Okay, granted, it's less "Michael Bay crossed with Roland Emmerich" than Modern Warfare 2 (in this one, you actually feel as though the World War Three scenario presented is actually plausible), but again, the action moves way too fast, the AI is STILL the same old "retreat to cover when player advances", and "wait long enough and they will pop their heads out of cover for a nice clean headshot" variety, and the guns still have very little weight to them (again, I say, freakin LEARN from Medal of Honor!!).

All in all, so far Battlefield 3 and MW3, enjoyable, but for my FPS money, I'm still eagerly awaiting Far Cry 3. If it's even a shade as good as Far Cry 2 it will kick butt over both these games.