What are you playing today?

[gr4yJ4Y]

Bionic Commando (2009) is the most fun I've had with a contemporary game in a long while, I don't know why it got the flack it did.

I played multiplayer LAN of Bionic Commando back in 2009 at my cousin's bachelor party and it was a ton of fun. It made me even consider getting the game, but I figured that a lot of the fun had to do with it being a LAN set up (something I rarely get to do) and everyone being completely new to the game.

[Crisis]

I drew my own maps the last time I played Adventure of Link (and actually finished it!). Made the whole process a lot easier, especially the Death Mountain cave maze. I was actually surprised by how deceptively simple the Great Palace layout is once you've got the most direct route and all the pitfall rooms figured out.

I've become pretty interested in hard games lately. This began shortly after reaching a conclusion that challenge is probably the defining factor that separates games from other entertainment. How many movies would expect their audience to attempt basic cartography to understand them? This is sort of anathema to the current video game development zeitgeist, which is to actively try and dumb down the gaming experience to make it accessible to a mass audience, but I don't think that's too far from what we're seeing in the movie and music industries.

Anyway, Zelda II is definitely on my to-do list. I abandoned it very quickly after finding it completely inaccessible (I imagine most of us did the same thing), but I'm prepared to go back and give it a second try after hearing good words about it from a few game design aficionados.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

I was just playing Zelda II a few days ago (stopped short of Three Eye Rock Temple, though). Protip: don't actually finish any temple until you absolutely have to; setting a stone fills your experience gauge completely to the next available level-up, which can make max-leveling (and you'll need to max-level) tolerable when your up there in your sixes.

But yeah, I've been hoping Nintendo would revisit that style of game again, even without the Zelda property. It's oddly satisfying, obnoxious damage recoil notwithstanding.

Also check out Battle of Olympus if Zelda II is really your thing.

[Rob-Bert]

Zelda II's style would be infinitely more tolerable if they didn't take all your EXP away for getting Game Over...or even having lives in the first place.

[Delphine]

I finished Heavy Rain today. For a game that's essentially a series of quick time events, it was pretty intense.

Also, I finally got myself a PS3. My sn is Auguris, if you want to add me.

[Green Gibbon!]

I just started Infamous, which I would never have picked up of my own volition, but it was free and I already had all the good stuff, so.

To my surprise, there's actually a fun and compelling game underneath the third-rate comic book setting and charmless storytelling. It did take some willpower to sit past the first 20 minutes or so, but there are shades of Sly Cooper beneath the filth. I fear it will eventually get repetitive and I'm going to be tired of it before I finish, but I already got more out of it than I expected. The way the completely forgettable player character scuttles up buildings is awesome. You can literally scramble all over everything.

How is the sequel?

[Radrappy]

How is the sequel?

Nobody knows. it wasn't free.

[CM August]

Judging from the one review I looked at, it's slightly better than the first.

[Jingles]

Today I'm playing Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, and let me just say that pollen minigame is an asshole.

[Green Gibbon!]

Apparently Sega wouldn't let Mizuguchi make Rez 2, so he took it to Ubisoft and changed the title, because that's exactly what Child of Eden is. It's not a "spiritual successor." Is it Rez 2. And so far it's awesome, but I wonder if it can top the evolution/enlightenment finale of the original. We shall see!

Haven't tried it with Kinect yet. I have no air conditioner, so that would be suicide. Though now that I think about it, there probably aren't any better ways to go.

[Farmer]

Nethack on my debian-ified Kindle during a lovely day by the poolside. Ordinarialy I wouldn't be playing video games whilst on holiday, but it's 41 degrees C in the shade and I don't have the energy to move more than my thumbs.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Progressed further in Elite Beat Agents' 'Agent J' mode than I ever though I could've. I beat Canned Heat like it was nothing, which I found fucking insurmountable before... The I got to Jumpin' Jack Flash and proceeded to get my bitch ass handed back to me over and over. Who knows; maybe when I'm a decrepit old geezer I beat the whole game!

In other news, Remix 10 in Rhythm Heaven can stop being a persnickety little cunt I ONLY MISSED A COUPLE TIMES FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUCK.

[Radrappy]

Ivy the kiwi (wii). It's. . .good! Someone give Prope more money. Lord knows they need it.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

So I finally popped in Spirit Tracks. I wasn't expecting much due to a lot of flack it gets, and judging from how similar to Phantom Hourglass it appears that's not too surprising. But I ended up really enjoying it, to a point. The overworld is still a bit of a drag, but the rabbit hunt makes it mildly enjoyable. The musical sections aren't nearly as grueling as people were making it out to be, though I suppose my recent rhythm game binge helped me appreciate them a bit more. Deciphering music all by myself made me feel like Mozart, even if they're insultingly easy.

Then I got to a point where a broken bridge impedes progress. "OK," I thought. "I just met a bridge builder; I'll go talk to him about it." Whoops! Need someone else figure that out for me. This would've been par for the course had the game been insulting my intelligence up to that point, which it didn't. Screw you too, game! Lull me into a false sense of security like that, will ya?

[Isuka]

Recently got a 360. I'm going to quote myself from a very similar thread on another forum.

Ninja Gaiden Black - It's awesome, I love it. Not as hard as I thought it would be, I'm just Izuna dropping pretty much everything and doing quite well.

Bayonetta - Also awesome, but it has an excessively gentle learning curve. By the time the hard goons show up you probably have enough money to extend the witch time through various items and accessories, although that's optional.

Vanquish - I'm in love with this game, not even the occasional QTE can tarnish its flawless AR suit. And it seems the Platinum guys may develop a sequel... I can't possibly think of anything to make it better, the only thing would be that normal difficulty is too easy (I died less than twenty times throughout the entire thing, and this is the first third-person 3D shooting game I've ever played besides Dirge of Cerberus, obviously RE4 doesn't count here), but you can play it on hard right off the bat, unlike Bayonetta. Its length is just perfect too, it doesn't overstay its welcome like God Hand does.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger - Few characters, but they're all very varied, and I find most of them to be quite fun, except for maybe Carl Clover, he's kinda lame without taking into consideration the doll gimmick, thankfully ArcSys is coming up with an upgrade, at least on Continuum Shift II on Japanese 'cades and the PlayStation Vita port: http://blazblue.jp/ac/relius.html http://postback.geedorah.com/foros/view ... 307#p13307

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG™ - Man... this game is madness. Kind of like Vanquish, but not kickass at all, in fact it's the absolute worst I've played of this franchise (and even then, since it's based on the Adventure games' template, I'd take it any day before the Unleashed-like stuff, let alone the Wii ones). Are all Havok-based games like that, shit exploding and flying all over the place?

Add to that the freebie Forza Motorsport 3. It's quite fun, each difficulty level is almost like playing an entirely different racing game. The way some AI drivers fall asleep at the wheel is still really weird, and sometime down the line I started doing some 7-or-so super-long laps races that get quickly tiring, but up to that point it was all fun.

[Delphine]

Received L.A. Noire from Gamefly. The protag is, of course, the only honest cop, as opposed to the only honest crook. I'm only a few cases in but it seems like they really nerfed the open world concept of their usual games. Perhaps it opens up more later on.

The Truth/Doubt/Lie system is interesting, although it suffers from the same flaw as ME dialogue: hitting Doubt sometimes has Phelps say "I'm not sure you're telling the truth" and at other times tell a grieving widow "I KNOW YOU MURDERED YOUR HUSBAND" which, yeah, not what I wanted to happen there.

It IS intriguing, and collecting evidence and solving cases appeals to me. The facial animation is pretty damn good. Not Rockstar's best game, but it's worth a rent.

(Also, playing L.A. Noire and living in L.A. is a bit weird.)

[Green Gibbon!]

I've got that sitting on my shelf waiting for me to get around to it. I read that the map is based on actual 1930's Los Angeles street maps, which is pretty cool independent of whatever games happen to take place within. See any places you recognize?

[Delphine]

The game purposely points out landmarks -- it's pretty neat to see places like the Bradbury Building and the Chinese Theater in game. (I haven't gotten to it yet, but I guarantee the Union Station in game is cleaner than in real life.) But really, it's heading to a cross street for an investigation and having the distinct feeling that I've been there before that tickles me. Partly because that's the main way of giving directions here, which was brand new to me, being from pokadoke whitesville. It took me a while to get used to being told to go to Alameda & Main instead of being given the address.

[Green Gibbon!]

Man, I suck at interrogating.

[Green Gibbon!]

Probably a stupid question, but in Child of Eden, what is Lumi's Garden? I keep unlocking stuff for it, but I don't see any "Lumi's Garden" in the options or anything...

[Esrever]

I didn't get that at first, either! Lumi's Garden is actually just the menu select area. You can flip through the different unlocked backgrounds by pressing a button on the controller. (I forget which one.) The second and third unlockable things are just critters or other elements that appear automatically in the appropriate background environment.

I just finished deBlob 2 tonight. It was great! I know an entire game of just painting crap and collecting trinkets is not for everyone, but man... if that is your bag, deBlob 2 sure provides a charming environment in which to do it. The sequel fixes almost all the problems I had with the original -- hello, mid-level saves! -- and makes a few neat additions, too. And of course, it still has great animation and an awesome soundtrack.

My only real gripe is that all the most interesting levels are in the second half of the game. The first three or four stages are very similar to each other, and the original, so it starts to feel a little familiar for awhile, there.

[Green Gibbon!]

Somebody needs to tell the AI drivers in L.A. Noire that when you turn left, oncoming cars in the opposite lane going straight HAVE THE GODDAMN RIGHT-OF-WAY.

[Farmer]

I just finished deBlob 2 tonight.

Worth buying? Is it worth getting my Wii fixed?

[Delphine]

Somebody needs to tell the AI drivers in L.A. Noire that when you turn left, oncoming cars in the opposite lane going straight HAVE THE GODDAMN RIGHT-OF-WAY.

It's pretty accurate to real life L.A.

Interrogation can be a serious pain. If you think they're lying, just accuse them of lying; if you don't have evidence you can back out, no harm no foul. Once you hit Truth/Doubt you're stuck with it.

[Esrever]

I just finished deBlob 2 tonight.

Worth buying? Is it worth getting my Wii fixed?

If you're like me -- someone who almost loved the original, but was put off by the waggle jump, the lack of mid level saves, and other niggles -- then definitely! I think all the changes they made only improved the formula. If you thought the first one was kinda boring though, I'd stay away, as ultimately it is still the same core concept. (Just with better implementation.)

I actually played it on the PS3, but I hear all three console versions are pretty much identical. (Outside of the bump up to HD resolution.)