Rolling (though slowly, I'd imagine) Gaming Thread

nomos

Administrator
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Ulala

Awkward Woodward
I'm looking to buy/play:

Bayonetta


in the near future.

Do it. Bayonetta is my favourite game of the last five years. Aside from the bizarre Japanese humour and eye-melting graphics, it is enormous fun to play and one of those games that you keep getting better at and hence wring increasing satisfaction from. So deep, too - each new weapon you unlock allows you to completely change your playing style and destroy enemies in new flamboyant ways. I've completed it 5 times now and still go back to it because it's such a joy to play. I know a few people who didn't get on with it but if you've ever enjoyed Streets of Rage or Devil May Cry then you need Bayonetta in your life. (Also, if you're a fan of buttocks then this is probably the pinnacle of computer-generated arse, which the camera is worryingly eager to show you. Those Japanese, eh?)

As for other 360 games, annoyingly the vast majority seem to be realistic first-person shooters or driving games, neither of which I care for. Other things I'd recommend, though:

Fable 2 and 3 - These are a bit too easy and there are glaring flaws in each, but they manage to be hugely endearing and hide all the dull stats-based grind of the RPG in the background. Uniquely British, with some excellent humour and voice acting.
Portal 2 - This has been eulogised upthread, and rightly so, it's excellent.
Crackdown - I loved this. As with the GTA games, following the story and doing the missions isn't really the point - jumping over buildings from a standing start and throwing lorries off bridges onto pedestrians is where the fun is, a city you can create amusing chaos in.
Prototype - You can run up the side of buildings like Billy Whizz. Terrible hackneyed plot but entertainingly OTT action, and you can jump off buildings and land on people's heads.
Red Dead Redemption - Grand Theft Cowboy. I know lots of people found it a bit long and dull, but I loved it, the hero is actually someone you root for rather than a swaggering prick (e.g. Gears of War, Saints Row) and the evocation of 1900's America is fantastic. Skinning animals and picking flowers got a bit boring, but hunting bears was wicked, as were all the side-missions for the agreeably strange cast of loonies.
Dead Space - This is basically 'Aliens - the game' and genuinely terrifying in an "Aargh! i've only got two bullets and there's something coming out of that vent and fuck me it's coming after meeeeee!" kind of way. Running around in a blind panic has never been so much fun.
The Orange Box - Half-Life 2 is still brilliant, and this also includes Portal 1.
From Dust - You'll have to download this from Xbox Live but it is stunningly beautiful and soothing to play. Fill rivers with sand or set fire to forests to allow your tribe of people to cross a continent. A modern 'god game', and my new favourite thing.

Get Bayonetta first, though.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I've completed (the story of) Fable 2, it was hugely endearing but Skyrim really makes it look ''hugely endearing'' by comparison.

I definitely want The Orange Box. Used to love Half Life on the PC.

Since you mention Dead Space I'll recommend you a terrifying PC game called Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It's basically a FPS style puzzle game where you're trapped in a mansion, unarmed, with loads of horrible creatures that you can only run away/hide from. If you stay in the light, they can see you, if you go in the dark for too long you go insane. I keep trying to psyche myself up to play it cos I've only ever played the first ten or so minutes and almost lost control of my faculties.

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slowtrain

Well-known member
I've completed (the story of) Fable 2, it was hugely endearing but Skyrim really makes it look ''hugely endearing'' by comparison.

I definitely want The Orange Box. Used to love Half Life on the PC.

Since you mention Dead Space I'll recommend you a terrifying PC game called Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It's basically a FPS style puzzle game where you're trapped in a mansion, unarmed, with loads of horrible creatures that you can only run away/hide from. If you stay in the light, they can see you, if you go in the dark for too long you go insane. I keep trying to psyche myself up to play it cos I've only ever played the first ten or so minutes and almost lost control of my faculties.

Amnesia-screenshot-1-590x368.jpg

Yeah, I've been playing this, its pretty badass aye.

I can only go for like 15 minutes before the shaking sets in and I have to quit.
 

Ulala

Awkward Woodward
Since I appear to be on Dissensus for the first time in months I might as well dredge up the video game thread before I have to get up early to talk to people in Hungary about .CSV files (no, really).

Good things I have enjoyed lately:

Metal Gear Rising: kinda Bayonetta again, very short and badly structured, but the parry mechanic is so intuitive and exciting and, well, badass that it transcends its other problems.

Tomb Raider (reboot): I never played the conical breasts PS1 Tomb Raiders to any great extent so have no beef with Terry Pratchett's daughter rewriting Lara's history. You don't get to raid many tombs but you can set fire to arrows and arch(?) them into the heads of bad men. I'm told it's a rip-off of Uncharted but I haven't played that either so this was quite fresh for me and the story is quite engaging for a videogame.

Animal Crossing New Leaf: my bag was stolen yesterday with my 3DS in it. I was upset, but mostly because my special animal friends were gone. A penguin wants me to deliver a t-shirt to a bear who will give me a xylophone for my trouble? I have to show a fossil to an owl in order to then sell it to an alpaca for cash to buy fortune cookies that give me furniture? An amnesiac seagull thinks I'm his mum? I am denied all these pleasures now. This is such a fun distraction - it's sort of like the Sims only Japanese and demented.

Frog Fractions - remember that your dragon can swim downwards.

I have also being buying copious PS2 games for £2 each but haven't plugged in my PS2 yet. The silliest is Pink Pong, which is a Japanese game, natch. The box says: "Ever secretly desired to challenge beautiful girls at ping pong? Then this might be the game for you!" Might? Like there are others?
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I was going to start a thread about a year ago when Black Mesa pt 1 came out (entirely fan-made remake of the original Half-Life using the Source engine to its full capabilities. Which a lot of people, justifiably, thought was just what Half-Life: Source had failed to do, being basically a straight port of the original game into the new engine without any new graphics or other features.

I took some screen shots at the time, which I might post later...it is breathtaking, seriously. Completely reinvents the original game. And they're making pt 2 which will extend the Xen levels into a whole new section, equal in playing time to the first part. Unfortunately I don't think they've set a date for its release yet.

Still no sign of H-L 2: ep 3, infuriatingly.
 
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