What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing? ARCHIVE

Game night at Todd's!

We finished up CASTLE CRASHERS on XBLA--that game is a ton of fun, people. From the makers of ALIEN HOMINID, it's basically GOLDEN AXE with leveling and a sense of humor. About 10 hours to beat.

Todd broke out the Sega Saturn and we played some RADIANT SILVERGUN. That is a damn fine shmup right there. This kicked off a shmups yearning and we followed it with IKARUGA demo on XBLA and demo-to-purchase of GEOMETRY WARS on XBLA.

IKARUGA looks so sexy in HD. If you've been living under a tree, that's a bullet hell shmup with blue or red bullets and you can flip your ship from one color to the other to absorb bullets of the appropriate color. The screen is just filled with bullets, but assuming you're the right color, you only have to dodge half of them. It's wild.

GEOMETRY WARS is ROBOTRON in the TEMPEST universe with better particle effects. A blast though.

We rounded out the evening with me fucking Todd up in the SUPER STREET FIGHTER 2 TURBO HD REMIX demo. You gotta have sticks to enjoy this--the little control pad is so shitty. The developer of the HD game has some excellent blog posts about balancing SSF2THD , check them out.

Aarontu wrote:

I'm enjoying Planescape: Torment so far. I NEVER thought I would enjoy an RPG based on D&D, (I've tried many and they all end up being tedious exercises in frustration) but the game is actually fun in spite of its D&D 2nd ed. mechanics. I suppose its because the game's emphasis is on figuring stuff out and talking to people and not on combat, and also because the setting is pretty dang cool. The whole game seems to take place in one huge interdimensional city, or something.

Planescape was underrated and underutilized by TSR/WOTC.

jeb wrote:

Game night at Todd's!

We finished up CASTLE CRASHERS on XBLA--that game is a ton of fun, people. From the makers of ALIEN HOMINID, it's basically GOLDEN AXE with leveling and a sense of humor. About 10 hours to beat.

I played the demo of Castle Crashers and it was a blast. It's on my list of XBLA games to get along with Shadow Complex, Magic, Penny Arcade Adventures, etc.

Lately I have been playing a lot of Battlefield 1943. Its VERY addictive for a downloadable game. It has all the classic Battlefield elements and it plays like a charm. No clan support and limited options but it's great as a snack game. Since I often don't have time for endless matches that makes it perfect.

Furthermore been playing Dawn of War 2 on the PC. It's great and getting me in the Space Hulk mood. However after a while it gets really repetitive. Going in the same map over and over again and then killing a boss monster. Also plays fast so therefore great.

And for the Playstation 3 owners here. If you like boardgames. You MUST play Valkyria Chronicles. It's been out for quite some time now. But this game plays almost like a boardgame. Turn based, RPG influenced, rock paper stone combat. Specially since the price on this one is dropping since it's getting old but it is really a beautiful brilliant game.

LilRed wrote:

And for the Playstation 3 owners here. If you like boardgames. You MUST play Valkyria Chronicles. It's been out for quite some time now. But this game plays almost like a boardgame. Turn based, RPG influenced, rock paper stone combat. Specially since the price on this one is dropping since it's getting old but it is really a beautiful brilliant game.

That's the one game that has me interested in the PS3. There's a real lack of SRPGs on home consoles.

what's an "S" RPG?

Strategy RPG's since that's not saying much and I'm not that good at explaining I present to you this link .

VIDEO GAME QUESTION:

Ok, so I don't play too many, but am starting to play more. Looking for a good FPS that doesn't end to quickly. Just played through the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare missions and it only took a few hours (maybe 6)? What are some meatier games out there (for the 360)?

Are we talking shooters only? Are you specifically asking about FPS or can I recommend 3rd person shooters too? Ah, what the hell, I'll recommend my very favourite shooters for 360. I can vouch for all of these.

Ok, in order of preference (they're all good tho)

1. The Orange Box - you are simply not going to find a 'meatier' shooter than Half Life 2 with expansions. It is frickin' brilliant. 6 hours for Modern Warfare? You won't believe how long this game is. PLUS, you get Portal which is a really fun mini puzzle shooter

2. Bioshock - a beautiful atmopsheric shooter. You have to play at night with the sound up. It's terrifiyng and brilliant. AMAZING game

3. Gears of War - 3rd person shooter which is the staple of what a cover system should be. SO much fun. Great great game.

4. Halo 3 - very meaty shooter. Nice and long, lots of fun.

5. Gears of War 2 - not as good as the first one but still a solid solid game.

6. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW for short) - the first one is SO GOOD. Really atmospheric and will make you feel all patriotic. Really fun tactical 3rd person shooter. I love it.

7. Geometry Wars 2 - an XBLArcade 'shooter' by definition. Really fun. Probably not what you're looking for.

8. Call of Duty 2 - a really underrated game. This game literally made me sweat. Very immersive combat WWII. Loved it.

9. Shadow complex - fun side scrolling shooter. Surprisingly deep.

10. Dead Space - absolutely terrifying 3rd person survival horror shooter. You will shit your pants.



those are my top ten shooters for you (purposely left out Modern Warfare since you've played it).

Let me know what you choose!

Playing TONS of iPhone games...just got MODERN COMBAT: SANDSTORM and it's pretty awesome, it's got the best control of any FPS app and it's surprisingly "complete" feeling...definitely a COD vibe to the whole thing. It was worth $7, which is the most I've paid for an app at this point. I've done the first two missions and I'm really digging it...I think it's better than any of the DS FPS games as well.

I also got SAMURAI, which is kind of neat...it's a little sloppy, but it's a pretty fun chanbara game that has you finger-swiping various combinations and cutting guys in half. A neat OKAMI/comic book style gives it a lot of personality.

MR. DRILLER is good but the controls are poor...you really need a d-pad for that one.

DOODLE JUMP...probably the stupidest game ever, but it's one you'll play over and over again just to beat your score.

MR. AAHH!- no, this is the stupidest game ever. You're this little man that swings from platform to platform against an 8-bit/chiptune backdrop. You have to time your swings right or you die. Hit in the middle and it says "Just!" As you go on, wind and gravity start messing with your rhythm and the platforms get smaller. It's brilliant, and I think it's one of the best games for the iPhone. But it is really, really, amazingly stupid.

ALIVE 4 EVER is pretty good, an arena shooter (SMASH TV, ROBOTRON 2084, GEOMETRY WARS) with a postapocalyptic zombie theme- no cute zombies here. A bunch of abilities, characters, and weapons make it more well-rounded than iDRACULA or MINIGORE.

FLIGHT CONTROL- finally got this. It's the hardest game I think I've ever played. Boring after a few minutes, but a few minutes is like three games for me anyway.

DS: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
I like it better than the 1st game because it seems like the puzzles have more to do with the story. In the 1st game, every random jackass NPC you ran across had to have you solve their puzzles. That doesn't happen as much in this game.

PS3: Batman: Arkham Asylum
If you liked Batman:TAS, get this game. It's got a story and dialogue written by Paul Dini, plus voice acting from Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. Oh, and the gameplay is an excellent mix of stealth, melee combat and detective work (puzzle solving).

360: Shadow Complex
It is as good as advertised.

Space Ghost wrote:

VIDEO GAME QUESTION:

Ok, so I don't play too many, but am starting to play more. Looking for a good FPS that doesn't end to quickly. Just played through the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare missions and it only took a few hours (maybe 6)? What are some meatier games out there (for the 360)?

Most shooters aren't very long. Most of the meat in them comes from playing online multiplayer matches. But that being said, I'm a 360 rookie so am looking for recommends too.

Been playing a lot of Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines. The very first of the series, which I still think is the best of the lot. Awesome missions. The AI is a bit dumb though, and some of the action is a bit unbelievable. I regularly use the Sapper's bear trap to kill enemies "silently" right behind his buddies' backs. These tough-as-nails Nazi soldiers apparently don't even scream when a nasty rusty bear trap clamps shut on their lower extremities.

Fun times.

Black Barney wrote:

2. Bioshock - a beautiful atmopsheric shooter. You have to play at night with the sound up. It's terrifiyng and brilliant. AMAZING game

This is a pretty long shooter, should take a good 30+ hours to complete.

Shadow Complex
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Valkyria Chronicles

I just beat those three game.

So now i started playing inFamous today. Enjoying it so far.

Online i still occasionally play Halo 3 and I try to get in matches of Battlefield 1943 when my friends are online.

Batman: AA is top notch. Maybe the best Superhero game ever.

Shadow Complex is Super Metroid/Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for this modern generation.

It's the best game to come out on XBLA this year.

Valkyria Chronicles was good, but has nagging issues in my book that keep it from reaching the level of "greatness."

We haven't had a "great" console turn based strategy this generation yet.