What are you currently playing?

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

SPIDER-MAN 3 (PC)

The 10th anniversary to what I considered for the longest while to be my favorite Spidey game is coming soon, I decided to play it again to see if I might feel any less about that entry, and I still view it an underrated game. It's nothing more than decent as a product, it's average at worst, and lots of fun in gameplay and mechanics, so I feel all the critique bashing on it are too harsh.

That New Goblin boss fight remains one of the most entertaining ones I played to date, I can take him anywhere in the city, launch attacks him from a poleswing, see him get hit by a train, strike him with web balls as he circle jerks on the glider not striking. Even the tedious QTE segment is fun, one reason cause it sort of reminds me of the aerial battle of Squall against a Galbadia soldier from Final Fantasy VIII, that was fun.

I thought strengthened appreciation for Spider-Man 2 from the same developers, and more love for the main Web of Shadows game might make me view this game as a lesser product and rank it lower on my list of favorite Spider-Man games, it still tops the list for me, and I'm still waiting for a Spider-Man game to topple it as my favorite. I'm certain the Insomniac game will be more entertaining than Beenox movie tie-ins, and that it will give us rein to actually perform acrobats ourselves instead of letting it move on autopilot, but I wonder if it will be the one I long awaited.

[paurru]

What Ive been playing is Pokemon Sun recently for the past couple of days. Game is ok. The online is crappy due to the odd Festival thing. I still prefer the simpler online for Pokemon X/Y and Alpha Sapphire.

The whole Trials thing on the islands in Pokemon Sun/Moon its pretty cool so far. Im on the second island and just beat the one Captain that uses grass pokemon. Now Im just wandering around catching a few pokemon here and there and trying out the Lapras surfing gadget.


Then later tonight Im planning on getting back into playing Tales of Graces F in the beginning. Im still in the beginning or middle of the young kids chapter or whatever it is

[Kevinroc]

I'm making my way through the last of my Christmas games, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse.

I've also got Resident Evil 7, but I haven't played much of it.

[Derek Metaltron]

Just finished Broken Age for PS4 by Double Fine, wonderful puzzle old school style game with two interesting stories and characters merging nicely into one over the course of a beautifully rendered art style and great humour. If you liked Lucas Arts games I can't not recommend this one more.

Speaking of which, going to have to go and play Day of the Tentacle at some point, since I never finished it as a kid when it was out on PC.

I still have lots of Christmas and Birthday games to get back to or start. Metal Gear V, Fallout 4 and Skyrim SP especially.

[byrd156]

Just finished the Mass Effect trilogy with all the DLC being used. Such a perfect trilogy, Bioware can do no wrong in my eyes. I can't wait for Andromeda, that's the next game on my playlist.

I'll just play some Overwatch and Rocket League to pass the time till it comes out.

[CraigTheCylon]

Two more down.

Shadow Warrior - The 2013 remake/reboot/rethingy. Man I loved this. Dripping in Japanese stereotypes but with a tongue-in-cheek attitude so you know it's in on the joke, you fit snugly into the prick-lookin' loafers of Lo Wang, underworld hitman/collections agent, and are tasked with securing a magic sword called the Nobitsura Kage. This proves challenging as the sword is so much sword it's actually THREE swords, and also there's an otherworldly titan after it and he won't stop siccing demons on the human world until it's his. Naturally, this situation takes gunfire to resolve, but honestly the guns are...not that great? There aren't many of them, and some are just worthless (the shotgun's pellet spread is hilarious and renders the thing unreliable even at point-blank range) or only become useful with a bunch of upgrades (SMGs). Also the fine-aim option is mapped to either clicking one of the sticks like in BioShock or half-holding down the trigger button without firing, neither of which are ideal. But it doesn't really matter because it's all about the blade. Sword combat is chaotic, especially against enemies with armour or blocking facility since it's not always clear where you should angle your hits to get past their guard, but mercifully Wang recovers from a flubbed hit so fast they barely matter. Strike angle can be determined by where you're moving and looking when you hit the button, and enemies are built to be dismembered in all kinds of horribly bloody ways. They'll split down the middle, pump veinjuice like a fountain when decapitated, feebly try to limp away when they lose an arm...and that's before we get into special attacks. The sword can also throw out cutting shockwaves for range attacks, or deliver a Zelda-ish spin attack, plus Wang can use his ki or whatever to Force-push dudes back amongst other things. There's a lot of options to play with, and a very organic learning curve. This all takes place within a striking world, too, with grimy industrial backgrounds contrasting with flashes of vivid colour from magic and cherry blossoms, and it runs hella smooth even when everything's kicking off. On the sliding scale of retro update shooters, this isn't quite DOOM but is a worthy runner-up. Can't wait for the sequel to finally reach consoles...

Battleborn - Remember that? The thing 2K put out before Overwatch that looked so much like Overwatch we ignored it in favour of Overwatch? Well, I still haven't played Overwatch because Blizzard pumping all that money into nice CG movie adverts does not begin to compensate for the total and utter lack of any worthwhile single player modes. Meanwhile Battleborn does in fact have a story mode, so screw it. It's not bad either! I mean, narratively it's hodgepodge in a deliberate sense; each level is more like a one-off story built around the concept of your multi-species mercenary squad screwing with overly-polite megavillain Rendain while he plots to end the last habitable star system in the galaxy, which does undercut the drama of the finale as there's no real build-up to that point (your C.O. Ghalt just sorta decides "okay, I guess we can do the final boss now" out of the blue). The substories are fun enough though, and the combination of bonkers writing and very enthusiastic voice acting basically overrides my other issues with the story. Gameplay-wise, behind the stylized designs and candy colours there's a strong whiff of COD to how everything feels, unfortunately right down to the borked and mostly useless jump (and levels are vertiginous enough that I really missed the mobility of something like Titanfall), albeit with RPG-flavoured enemy hordes and more specialist gear. Every character has a primary weapon plus 3 extra abilities, potentially a few passive ones, and a skill tree that resets for each battle. You level up fast in-game and each level gained lets you pick 1 of 2 (sometimes 3) perks that can drastically alter any given character's playstyle. As far as said characters go, I wanted to like Marquis because he's steampunk robot Jervis Cottonbelly and that's pretty much my aesthetic, but he's fragile AF and thus poorly suited to solo play. I had better luck with Oscar Mike, the generic clone soldier who plays and sounds like a COD fanboy (ADS assault rifle, airstrikes, calling everyone n00bs and asking them to ragequit), though eventually settled on Galilea. 90% of enemies prefer to get up in your face, so a melee bruiser felt wise, and Galilea seems to be the only one wise enough to bring a shield. Plus she's an overzealous power-armoured warrior maiden so it's kinda like being an Adepta Sororitas up in here. I approve.

Giving Killing Floor 2 a chance at the mo. Not sure how well it works for solo players but, we'll see.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

I'm bouncing between Spider-Man 3 (I finished again recently), Web of Shadows, and [PROTOTYPE], three games from three consecutive years from Activision, and I'm having lots of fun with all three of them.
I'm not sure why I had such strong hate for WoS for years, it felt disappointing, but I certainly overdid it with the hate.

[MikeP]

Tried playing Watch_dogs. Eh, it bored me, but I might try again later.

I'm playing MGSV now. It is a great game, but it has the same issues I have with every Metal Gear. The grounded stealth action is fantastic, but then the drugs kick in and the over the top scifi elements completely lose me.

[Sardorim]

Super Robot Wars V.

Finally SRW games are English text again.

I also have Moon Dwellers.

[Jackmando7]

Total War: Warhammer

I got it with the Humble Bundle monthly. So far it's been pretty fun.

[CraigTheCylon]

Done with Battlefield 1, so...good for you, DICE, you finally put a good one of these together. 1 has the typical qualities of DICE's previous attempts - interesting mission variety, actually-welcome vehicular diversions, bloody gorgeous visuals (I have never been more impressed by mud than the mud in this game) (yes that's important) - but manages to weld those aspects to a well-written campaign for a change. Or, more accurately, several well-written campaigns. Rather than try to cram the full WW1 experience into a single soldier's story - a silly prospect in general - 1 puts you in the shoes of a multitude of warriors in varying regions all bound up in the Great War, each one broadly tied to a slightly different game style. A Brit tank driver and scumbag American pilot cover the vehicles, a Bedouin lady takes most of the stealth, the Italian chap offers the closest to COD-style noise and chaos, while the Australian ranger...actually, I don't really know what he does differently, but I still liked those missions. Apart from slight differences in play style, every character has their own little arc and feels properly developed, though the downside to splitting the game's focus between so many POVs is that you're only afforded limited time with each. The Italian in particular only has 2 missions, and neither is particularly long. Still, it's generally a good sign if my main complaint with a game is wishing there was more of it. Beyond that, this Battlefield weirdly feels more 'fair' than 3 or 4 did, with death always a risk but easier to see coming, and no more goddamn impossibly-accurate sniper fire picking you off from 300m through a thick cloud of smoke. There's also the period-accuracy and tone to contend with, which are...mostly successful. 1 takes great pains to be respectful of WW1 and those who fought in it, but the demands of also being a fun videogame sometimes overpower that, and result in the most horrific and morally-bankrupt conflict in human history starting to feel like the safely unambiguous actions of WW2 instead. Can't help feel we missed out by not having a chapter where you play as a soldier for Germany or one of their allies, just to more clearly establish that these guys weren't Nazis, just guys fighting for their country due to the same boneheaded decisions that motivated the war on the other side too. Still, given how tricky the balancing act must have been, 1 succeeding as much as it does is worthy of note.

Swapped it out for Zombie Army Trilogy. Speaking of unambiguous morality, here's Adolf Hitler turning the entire population of Berlin into zombies just to spite the Allies as they close the net on him. WELP.

[Lee Stone]

Zork I: The Great Underground Empire
Tales of Maj’Eyal
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes

[cc008]

Mass Effect 2! Played 1 last week. One final playthrough (somewhere in the upper 20's) before Andromeda drops.

[FluffySheep]

Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS

[Iron_Legion87]

Horizon Zero Dawn on PS4 Pro

Zelda Breath Of The Wild on Nintendo Switch