The Videogames Tab

I grew pretty tired of the original AC fairly quickly but did see a trailer for the new instalment (swear there's a dozen or so now) and it looked pretty snappy. Yeah, loved RDR, never quite managed to platinum it (pesky online trophies), just could never bring myself to fork out the asking price for an add-on.

Tac- had Batters as an out soon, never played the first more than the demo so probably not high on potential investments but hear great things

Iro- not sure whether that's good it's got instant replay value, or a shame it's completion time is so short

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In all fairness, I powered through the game as fast as I could, clocking several hours at a time quite often. This is including a load of exploring and completing just about every side-quest as well. There's still plenty of other achievements to get on subsequent play-throughs (I'm sure trying to get through the game without killing anyone or raising any alarms will prove a lengthy challenge). That's not even factoring in the fact that I don't play like Sedai, whose earlier report stated he spent a lot of his playing time just exploring for the hell of it. It's not exactly Black Ops, I guess.

With Mass Effect 2, it's mainly an aversion to the insane levels of hype I've gotten about it, plus I don't care for it as much as I do for Deus Ex.

Did you play ME1, Iro? If not you might want to give it a blast (I think I sped through my last playthrough in 18 hours before the sequel came out because I'd deleted my old save) before tackling ME2.

In comparison to Deux Ex, I definitely prefer ME2 as a game but recognise that DX has stronger role-playing aspects. I think the writing in ME2 is stronger, it looks tons better and, while not up to the standards of a pure shooter, the combat is more fluid.

Then again, it's not got any stealth aspect so solutions to problems are always gonna be talk or fight.

I've heard that Bioware have responded to the dumbing down complaints about ME2 and will have a more complex levelling system for ME3.

I sincerely hope that's true because I was getting visions of Gears of War with conversation trees.

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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

I can recognise that Arkham Asylum is a great game but it's never engaged me enough to actually finish. I got it again for £3 in the Steam Sale but still have the same problem.

Oh man, definitely play MEII! Such a great game...

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I can remember once trying to sell a Range Rover to a rich business type and, while on the test drive, I looked across and could just make out his eyes (in profile) behind his shades.

They seemed to have little cylinders popping out about half a centimetre proud of the eyeball. He'd mentioned a bit about having had eye surgery and I was concentrating too much on the sale to shout "Jaysus, what the heck have you got in your eyes!" at him.

Whatever it was, his vision was good enough to have a driving license and, as I found out when I went to his house, two Ferraris in the garage. I really wish now that I'd asked him what precisely had gone on.

And if further/any proof of my prescience were needed: Dead Island apparently released to Steam as a dev build

Sheesh. That makes Bethesda look like Rolls Royce.

EDIT - They'll be releasing the proper version during the day, but still...

EDIT 2 - Further reading seems to indicate that the PC version is a pretty basic console port, which is disappointing, but has made my mind up for me to get it on Xbox. Provided that's not a buggy, broken mess.

I just beat Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. It's very addicting, even more so than AC2, which I didn't finish. I've never really understood the completest types, who go out of their way to collect every single feather, when all they get is a short cut scene with Ezio hugging his mom or something, but when it comes to burning Borgia towers, I get it. Shutting them down leads to more shops leads to more money and better equipment. In fact every single building you buy increases the income which is great incentive to go and have fun outside the story line. And it's pretty cool owning the Pantheon.

I don't particularly like the platforming. It's very strict, meaning that sometimes I would have to shimmy just a few inches to the side to be able to grab the next ledge. It's also quite difficult to determine whether you can make a certain jump or not and the game doesn't stop you from leaping to your death. Ezio sticks to stuff like a bloody magnet, which can be very frustrating when being chased.

The combat is fun but too easy once you get the hang of it; even the final boss proved no challenge at all which was rather disappointing. It's also kinda clumsy and not really built for finesse, in my opinion (but maybe I just suck). One tool tip actually said 'Attack an enemy MANY TIMES to perform an EXECUTION'.
The horsed enemies are a freaking nightmare, not because they're challenging but because they make the camera go out of control once you're locked on. They're everywhere in the city and they even charge in narrow corridors, making it absolutely impossible to see anything, especially when there's already five dudes in there.

As a stealth game it doesn't play very well. You can't take cover, instead you have to awkwardly break the line of sight with a plant or something. The thing that ticked me off the most occurred during the missions where I couldn't get detected. Sees a guard standing on a roof, throws two throwing knives in rapid succession, are detected when the first one hits and even though the second one kills him a split second later it's still mission fail. That's just dumb.

Regardless, I had a good time. 44% of the trophies, no way I'm going for platinum.

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The Freedom Roads

I've done two play-throughs of ME1 so far, so I have a fairly good idea as to what I'm getting into with 2. Like I said, I'm more of a Deus Ex fan, and was looking forward to the third game ever since I heard of its existence. So I may be a little biased in that regard.

That was the most disappointing initial aspect of AC1 for me, that it wasn't a stealth game. Once I realised that it was Crusades Raider I settled into things more easily.

Interesting you should say that you kinda blew out half way through AC2 and finished Brotherhood. I did the opposite.

Driver:San Francisco- I am not sure what to make of this game on one hand its fun to play and I like the whole idea of jumping from car to car but I don't see it in Driver if it was any other arcade racing game yes but Driver has always been you know just Driver. I am half way through the game and just out of curiosity want to know what the outcome is gonna be because it just looks ridiculous so far but still reminds me a lot like Need for Speed most wanted it has the same thrill of the chase without the pursuit brakers. Now all I care is about Dead Island on Friday and that's it

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I'm in movie heaven

I'm so not a completist type, but I did use a walkthrough map to collect all the vid 'symbols' in AC2, partially because the ending got my interest piqued (and you missed out on both the most tedious and the most fantastically insane boss fight ever if you didn't get to the end ), and partially coz I just wanted to eke out a bit more from the game, and a treasure hunt in that lovely architecture didn't miff me at all

It was also because the vids I had collected naturally were a fun jumble of 'what the ****' - and the completed version confirmed that....

PS the boss fight is...



The combat is def the biggest disappointment, and add the stealth into that. Just too easy. I tried a second run through without any armour upgrades, and was still a cinch to beat even the ramped up later baddies, so I just gave up on it.

The one thing I still occasionally dip back in and do tho is the random 'chase the messenger/thief' bits. They are actually fairly challenging occasionally, and really made good use of the fluid/easy side of the parkour. Nothing quite like catching the postie as he does a cunning double-back and rugby-tackling him off a roof

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here

I never really climbed the mountain that was the learning curve during AC2 and eventually got so mad at the game that I just never felt like going back. I got stuck in one of those templar dungeons; one that had a timer on the platforming, and that was it. They got rid of those in Brotherhood thankfully.

Golgot. I'm much more keen on looking story bits up on youtube than actually doing the work. 101 flags for a bronze(!) trophy and a costume, kiss my ass. Give me a ****ing jetpack then maybe.

I bought all the remaining shops and landmarks earlier today and discovered that the map icons are kind of flawed. It doesn't tell you which ones you've already bought. You're supposed to be able to see it but the icons for the closed shops are just a shade darker than the other ones and it's really difficult to make out what's what. Especially when you've already stared yourself blind on it. Baffling, that they opted for this instead of going with 'Closed blacksmith' and 'Blacksmith'.

Now I need a new game. "Deus Ex!" I know, but it's expensive.

Still not tried the new AC Beta, which I see is out on PS+ now. Just can't deal with the Dualshock 3 at the moment and the Xbox controller is pretty unusable too.

I need a new hand.

You've been playing too much Deus Ex :S

Is it arthritis from previous probs that causes the issues Tatty? Sounds like a real nightmare. It's not like carpal tunnel stuff or anything that can be alleviated a bit with exercises or anything? (I dunno why I'm asking, I'm sure you've tried everything).

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I loved me some BF2 on PC. If they can recreate that boots-on-the-ground yet arcadey insanity with the Xbox BF3 I will be sold sold sold...



And broke

It's arthritis around, if you can imagine it, the joint where the thumb meets the hand. I've got one of those supportive sports bandages which helps a bit but if I start caning my normal arthritis meds my hand/eye coordination is shot anyway so that's not much use in gaming situations.

The position of the Xbox left stick is far easier for me than the Playstation one.

Uff, I can see why it must flare up a lot with analogue sticks and that then. And the meds problem is pretty damn ironic. (Maybe we should start a 'playing under the influence' Youtube channel and 'monetize' ourselves? )

I'll keep an eye out for any other alternate controllers that are out there, but I know you've checked out most all of em it seems!

Deus Ex is sooooooooo the game for me. Just look at my apartment!



OK so I finish up the police station stuff, and while I am doing it I hack a computer with a user name R Deckard. Then I get called to go to my apartment, which is basically Deckard's apartment in a Deckard's building from the film... The kitchen is identical. I walked in, the shades slid up and I spent another 15 minutes just hanging around, looking at the detail and listening to the awesome music. I've done all the side missions in Detroit, so I have a feeling I will be leaving soon...

Thanks buddy. As I said, the Xbox isn't too bad in short/medium doses but I've been searching the earth for a PS3 controller with Xbox-style analogue stick orientation.

There are loads out there but they all share the same problem - dead zones. On the first-party pads you push the stick 1mm and you get movement (I think the Sony ones are even better than the Xbox ones in that respect) but on the 3rd party (I was gonna say 'cheap' but I've spent as much on some of them as on official pads) you can push them for a few mm and nothing, then half a mm more and all that movement comes at once.

Maybe I should try and use this accidental Xbox affiliation to my advantage ...

I've pre-orderd BF3, like a mug. Jumping on yet another bandwagon

But o'course I'm having to go Xbox, which won't be nearly as swanky as the PC version (24 player max on multiplayer too). But worst of all, for a game that's all about the online insanity, that means a heathen field of ****wit kiddies filling the airwaves... (I so hope they keep the comm shortcuts from BF2. Wordlessly joining up with crews and pointing out targets etc was a joy. You could totally bypass the numpties. Plus it had the added 'realism' of corresponding phrases being in Arabic when playing as the 'Internationally Anonymous Racism Quotiant' side - actually not making it feel like a 'beat the raghead' scenario, as I believe some war fetishm FPS end up)

Which is why I'm thinking getting a little Mofo collective to online would be class . If it's anything like as fun as BF2 that'd be a blast

Anyone else thinking of getting it? And on Xbox?

*EDIT* Anyone who hasn't played it should totally check out the ole PC BF2 demo that's still knocking around. I imagine some people are getting their retro on with it during the build up. I might even dip back in. It's got a mad mix of 'stop and think' strategy, 'paper scissor stone' class complementation, surreal 'I wouldn't want to go to war' 'realism', and breakneck arcade fun

Ach, I'm not really one for online shooters. Ain't played any of the BFs, even the girly pacifist one BFF.

Reached into my GAME credit stash yesterday and got Dead Island for 360. Problem is that I've not been remotely bothered about playing it. Maybe this week...

That's the problem with loyalty cards etc - I'd been planning to use my credit up on Skyrim but the appeal of a free new release turned my daft little head.