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“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”


Sign me up. I'm sure this is going to be overpriced, but...


So I finally watched the Resident Evil 7 trailer. Right? I have literally read nothing, seen nothing, and my basic summary = Texas Chainsaw Massacre the game.



The People's Republic of Clogher
Read Only Memories cost me £2 max. It's been out on PC for quite a while and I picked it up in a sale.

It's cute but I didn't think it was any more than ok.

RE7 looks like a return to form, and by 'form' I mean actual survival horror and not an action game with tank controls (RE4 and onwards).
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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan



The People's Republic of Clogher
Just finished my second Hitman playthrough, using different methods to the first time, and it was as satisfying as ever. It's one hell of a game, whether on PC or console - The only real console downside is the horrendous load times.

Some might say, it's the game of the year.

Now to attack my backlog - I bought a number of PS4 games on disc in the post-Christmas sales and still have Watch Dogs 2 and Dishonored 2 in my Steam 'To play' folder.

In other news, I'm now a genuine E-Sportsm'n, having done a Pinball Arcade tournament in the latest Games Done Quick thingie. I was top 100, which pleased me immensely as I hadn't played half the tables before.

I think I like pinball even more now than I did when I was 25...



Finally getting away from the bash-style of play and made a Skaven team in Blood Bowl 2, the fast moving squishy ratpeople race. Immediately won my next 2 games.

The name of my team? The Garbage Can Elite. My poor Rat Ogre died, and hes one of the few pieces of muscle on a Skaven team. Halfway there to getting enough fake-money to buy another one.




Finished Just Cause 3. Just 28 hours, and that's after liberating every settlement and finishing the main storyline. I played the second game in the series for over 100 hours, so I dunno if I'm just better at efficiently plowing through those areas, or if they're a little simpler this time. It seems like a bit of both: I recall (accurately or not) a bit more variation in them last time, or at least a few more elaborate cities with all sorts of chaos objects tucked away.

It's a pretty great game, though, and if you had any fun with JC2, you'll love JC3. The story missions alternate between tedious and fun, to be sure, but they never go on too long even when they're on the tedious side.

I'll probably spend an hour here or there just experimenting and blowing stuff up, especially if I can unlock (in-game or through mods) infinite ammo and the like. And I'll keep buying the JC games if they're still generally like this, even though this one went by three times as fast as the last one. Weirdly, that's almost nice, since I'd feel obligated to keep going if it were larger and I've got plenty else to play.

Super fun, improved iteration on a winning formula, and one of the prettiest games ever made. Highly recommended.



So is anyone here planning on getting The Switch? My Wii U has been collecting dust for months so I'm gonna trade it in and all my games for it and that will just about completely cover it. It's crazy how soon it's coming out, it seemed like not too long ago that they first revealed the name.



I'm on the fence. I strongly suspect they have a hit on their hands here (maybe not as huge as the Wii, but certainly a big improvement on the Wii U), but with the Mario title not even launching alongside I might be able to wait.

That said, an open world Zelda game...oof. Hard to resist. But I've got lots of PC games still to play, so odds are good I'll wait awhile.



I'm on the fence. I strongly suspect they have a hit on their hands here (maybe not as huge as the Wii, but certainly a bit improvement on the Wii U), but with the Mario title not even launching alongside I might be able to wait.

That said, an open world Zelda game...oof. Hard to resist. But I've got lots of PC games still to play, so odds are good I'll wait awhile.
It's always exciting when a new console comes out, the launch titles are pretty underwhelming with the exception of Zelda of course but just that should keep me busy until the next game launches.

They really need to learn from the Wii U and make sure that there's not a huge shortage of games. It's a shame because I did think the Wii U was a pretty good console, but there just wasn't enough games to keep people interested!



The People's Republic of Clogher
I've cooled dramatically on the Switch since it was first announced.

It looks to me like they're concentrating on trying to replicate the path to success of the original Wii and are forgetting about the 3DS. In a product that's supposed to replace their console and their handheld I find that strange - Things I've read from people who were at the press launch indicate that that they weren't demonstrating the touch screen at all.

The party games look neat but so many of them seem to be based on sound recognition. So, quiet parties then?

At least there's one person who's ok with the teeny controllers...




“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”
So is anyone here planning on getting The Switch?
I doubt it. If anything I would get one for resale. Selfishly, I wish Nintendo would give up hardware and just make software.

In other news. For everyone that complains about the game trade in stores, I just made about $17 more selling a game on eBay. Then again, instant gratification is usually the most expensive.





Welcome to the human race...
Finished Doom recently. When I first started I thought I'd just play it through once without worrying too much about anything else but by the time I finished I felt like going back to collect the Doomguy figurines, beat the challenges, find and upgrade all the runes and weapons, etc. Not sure about playing it on harder difficulties but we'll see.

I was a little disappointed that...

WARNING: "Doom" spoilers below
it ended with the fight against the Spidermind Arachnotron instead of having you fight the Icon of Sin (which I thought I glimpsed at one point). Between that and Mankind Divided, I'm getting a little tired of sudden and anticlimatic endings.
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I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



So is anyone here planning on getting The Switch?
My room mate wanted to when it was announced, but after the conference (and the lack of quality launch games) he's going to wait at least until the fall. Also it being $100 more expensive in Canada doesn't help.



The People's Republic of Clogher

In other news. For everyone that complains about the game trade in stores, I just made about $17 more selling a game on eBay. Then again, instant gratification is usually the most expensive.
And I'm guessing whoever bought the game paid less than they'd have done in Gamestop. Everyone's a winner.



I just started playing Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings yesterday, and it's already obvious it's going to take up a ridiculous amount of my gaming time. So good (don't let the arcade veneer fool you), so addictive.

I also played about 45 minutes of Mad Max. Pretty good. The incessant clicking during combat is a bit much, but I can see the scavenging and building being fun, and having a full-fledged car combat system is cool. I'll definitely keep playing and see how it feels after another hour or two.

Kinda wondering whether or not I should dive into something bigger soon. Leaning towards Hitman over The Witcher 3 next.



there's a frog in my snake oil
Hitman sounds like a good call. Going: Fallout / Just Cause / Mad Max / 'Nother Open World is probably asking for explore-fatigue.

(Plus I know you've got tangent-itis like me. I still haven't even finished the main story for W3 :/. Too many believable old ladies needing help with ghost horses...)

Are you not using controller for MM? Easier on the clicking. The foot combat is all very 'Batman in tatty clothes', but it does pick up a bit once they layer in the different character types. (Less said about the bosses the better :/). The car combat definitely starts to border on the epic once you're peeling apart the bigger convoys with the grappling hook tho
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Hitman sounds like a good call. Going: Fallout / Just Cause / Mad Max / 'Nother Open World is probably asking for explore-fatigue.
Yeah, I wonder about this. JC "feels" very different than the other open world games, and because it encourages destruction, it actually felt like a nice change of pace from F4. Mad Max might be too close to both, though, and The Witcher 3 probably is, too. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm not going to love The Witcher 3, at least not the way so many others do, simply because I'm not nuts about that quasi-arcadeish combo-chaining kinda combat, but we'll see.

Are you not using controller for MM? Easier on the clicking. The foot combat is all very 'Batman in tatty clothes', but it does pick up a bit once they layer in the different character types. (Less said about the bosses the better :/). The car combat definitely starts to border on the epic once you're peeling apart the bigger convoys with the grappling hook tho
I don't have a game controller, but yeah, maybe it's time to buy one. Just a cheap USB X-Box one or something, especially since the Super Mega Baseball controls seem more natural in that format.



The People's Republic of Clogher
I've got a friend who rarely spends more than a few hours on any game and he came to me eulogising about Witcher 3 the other day, saying that he'd finished it. Now, I suspect he'd dropped the difficulty and just blasted through to see the story but I felt kinda vindicated.

The combat's the game's weakest link, it's true, but there's nothing wrong with it unless you're one of those weird Dark Souls people who must compare every action rpg to their sainted baby. If you find it a bit wrote, bump the difficulty up to Blood & Broken Bones. You'll have to use signs, bombs and traps to get through some of the more difficult fights and it gives you a lot more variety.

My choice, however, would be Hitman.

Some might say it's the best game of 2016...



there's a frog in my snake oil
Yeah, I wonder about this. JC "feels" very different than the other open world games, and because it encourages destruction, it actually felt like a nice change of pace from F4. Mad Max might be too close to both, though, and The Witcher 3 probably is, too. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm not going to love The Witcher 3, at least not the way so many others do, simply because I'm not nuts about that quasi-arcadeish combo-chaining kinda combat, but we'll see.
Combat is my least favourite bit of W3, but it's totally serviceable, and kinda visceral when you add some buffs. The magic side does allow for more customisation and experimentation than the hack-n-slash. (And the way lore auto-accrues to give you hints about beastie weak spots is cool. As is guessing wildly what their weak spot might be )

I don't have a game controller, but yeah, maybe it's time to buy one. Just a cheap USB X-Box one or something, especially since the Super Mega Baseball controls seem more natural in that format.
I use an Xbox wireless with a cheap USB dongle. Works well (and it's got enough range to let me play if I link to the TV too). Most games seem to support these days and swap with M/K really painlessly. I've got a feeling the direct USB plug in may not work, but not sure.



The People's Republic of Clogher
I use an Xbone pad and wireless dongle. The first version had awful bumpers but the new ones have fixed all that plus are bluetooth compatible for wireless. It might very well be the best gamepad I've ever used on the PC and it's not the super expensive Elite controller either - I sold that and was able to buy two of the bluetooth pads and have enough change left over for a pastie supper.

Rumbly triggers!