PS3 recommendations

[Cuckooguy]

So I finally got a 46" HDTV about a week ago, goodbye CRT TV! Anyway now I can buy PS3 games and not feel like I'm missing out on superior image quality!

I'm in the middle of
Metal Gear Solid 4

Anyway, so far I've played and completed
God of War 3
Resident Evil 5
Uncharted 1-3
Flower
Red Dead Redemption
Tales of Monkey Island
Valkyria Chronicles
God of War 3 is visually very impressive, I remember when I was on this title I loved to stare at the backgrounds and normal maps and lighting and modelling and the grandiose environments, basically everything about the game is big. However, there's so much rage rage rage in it that I normally wouldn't have cared to play if it weren't for occupative reasons. I really loved playing Resident Evil 5 with my sister, my general opinion is that RE5 co-op is better than RE4 but RE4 is probably a better experience than RE5 solo. I played Uncharted 3 before Uncharted 2 and I feel 2 is the superior game mainly because 2's story makes sense compared to 3's, though the grandeur of the action scenes in 2 might've been diluted for me just because I played 3 first which was also packed with grand action scenes. I enjoyed Red Dead Redemption despite that I didn't find the story particularly compelling until the last 1/5~1/6 of the game, before then I wasn't really looking forward to anything and wondering what would happen next, which the last parts of the game did. Valk Chronicles was okay but the story was forgettable, causing me to become disinterested in the series. Monkey Island I played mainly because I was a huge fan of Monkey Island 1, and Tales didn't disappoint me at all.

I will definitely be checking out
LittleBigPlanet
Bayonetta unless I can be convinced that I should wait 'til I get an XBox 360 and I probably won't get one til the end of its lifespan

I will probably check out
LittleBigPlanet2
Ninja Gaiden Sigma (I'm never going to own an original XBox)
Child of Eden
Skyrim
Portal titles
Any cream of the crop Bioware titles I should know?
Though I'm interested in Skyrim and all, I'm also hesitant because there will probably be a bundle released later on like a Game of the Year edition or Anniversary edition that comes with patch fixes and add on content, which I'd prefer to own since that's when the game will be released in its "complete" form.

I'm not sure on
Braid
Heavy Rain
L.A. Noire
Batman: Arkham Asylum/City

I'm mainly craving for games-you-have-to-play-if-you-play-games kind of games like perhaps Mario 64 or Shadow of the Colossus, but high recommendations are welcome!

[Green Gibbon!]

Looks like you've covered all the bases. I'd suggest moving Braid from "not sure" to "definitely" and I'd also add Street Fighter 4 (though you'll need an arcade stick to play it properly).

I enjoyed both Heavy Rain and L.A. Noire, but they're not the sort of games I'd recommend to everyone. Try them, anyway, they're both unique enough that a "games-you-have-to-play-if-you-play-games" person should give them an evening, at least. (L.A. Noire is the only game I've ever actually eaten popcorn while playing.)

[Radrappy]

This is crazy, my roomates and I JUST bought a 46 hd tv too. I had been playing things in standard up until now. How are you adjusting to the change? I bought an lcd tv so the colors are blown out compared to my SD tv which is hard to adjust to. I miss the warm colors. Spagonia in Generations kind of looks. . .dead. I enjoy being able to read the text on my ps3 games, but am not sure this is an improvement in general.

[Yami CJMErl]

Borderlands is a fun game if you like FPS-type games with a twist.

3D Dot Game Heroes is a nice throwback to olden-stlye Zelda-type games and RPGs.

The Ratchet & Clank games are pretty fun and funny, too.

[Senbei]

On the Bioware front, Mass Effect 2 is very good -- there are notable flaws, but you'll have a good time.

Dragon Age Origins is significantly more flawed. My major problem with it was the difficulty of combat -- Normal is too hard and Easy is too easy. I found myself running out of potions constantly in Normal mode -- to the point where I would get stuck because I needed potions for the next encounter -- whereas in Easy I was stockpiling them up the wazoo. The unimpressive visuals and the inability to interact with the environment work against immersion -- I felt like I was playing a tabletop game run by an unimaginative, incompetent GM. The ending is pretty great, actually, but the journey there isn't worth it.

I haven't played DAII, but based on the demo it seems pretty shitty.

Arkham Asylum was my game-of-the-year. It's a genre piece, throughly rooted in stealth-action, and both elements work great. I really think everything about it -- gameplay, structure, pacing, immersion -- is nigh-on perfect. I haven't played City yet (lack of funds/time), but have heard that you should play the first first, as the second outdoes it.

Other recommendations:
- Demon's Souls!
- Fallout 3 would crash about every half-hour as I was playing it. The fact that I have logged over 100 hours into it is testament to its enjoyableness.
- The Prince of Persia reboot is pretty, fun, and shallow. If you ignore the obvious and preemptive attempt to lead into a sequel, you have a solid game that's now pretty cheap.
- Dead Space is, like Batman, a very good genre piece, in this case action/horror.
- I've been playing Trine on and off over the past year and I'm nearly done with it. It's basically The Lost Vikings, but prettier.
- Dead Nation is good clean, zombie-killing fun -- in co-op. In single, it's more like a waste of time.

[Radrappy]

- The Prince of Persia reboot is pretty, fun, and shallow. If you ignore the obvious and preemptive attempt to lead into a sequel, you have a solid game that's now pretty cheap.

you better enjoy QTEs though.

[Xyton]

I thought Braid was a lot of fun. The later levels have some interesting twists on the initial concept, and the puzzles made you think without being completely obscure (at least most of the time).

[Isuka]

I'll second Senbei on Mass Effect 2. I managed to play both Ninja Gaidens on 360, and the second one's combat feels deeper and more challenging (I'd go around to places like TV Trope to say the first one is definitely not a challenging game at all as long as you buy potions, block and Izuna Drop everything in your path), so consider getting both.

For the love of God and everything that's good and right, please do not miss on Vanquish. Especially on PS3, unlike the 360 port it does have actual v-sync. Bayonetta, I wouldn't know, there is a patch that does away with much of the additional loading times, but doesn't bring up the graphics to 360 quality.

If you're into fighting games, go for The King of Fighters XIII and BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend when it shows up stateside. And before going into PS3 Skyrim, please take into consideration this: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... skyrim-lag

[Popcorn]

Seconding the Dead Space games, though both are far from perfect... if you like RE4 and Aliens you'll enjoy them (at least until the repetitive level design sinks in).

Portal 1 and 2 are two of only a very few games I believe are absolutely unmissable, essential, play-or-die games released in the last few years.

I consider Heavy Rain a fascinating failure. It is worth trying.

[Crisis]

If anybody still hasn't played Portal, I have 2 gift copies on Steam that are just gathering virtual dust. I think Steam even works on the PS3 now?

Valve has credited my Steam account with a whopping 5 copies of Portal over the years. One I bought stand-alone, one as part of the Orange Box, one as a preorder bonus for Portal 2, one as part of the Valve Complete Pack for getting the golden potato in the Portal 2 launch event... and one more that I can't remember. The Steam for Mac launch maybe?

I also played through Valve's titles in a weird order. Portal was my introduction, then Half-Life 1, then Half-Life 2 and the Orange Box, then the Left 4 Dead series. I also apparently have some pretty controversial opinions on their titles (in general I found their early titles and side-projects to be more interesting than Half-Life 2, their magnum opus).

[Popcorn]

No, I see a disturbing number of online opinions these days claiming that HL2 is a weaker effort. It's not that controversial to think so, it's just really fucking stupid.

[Senbei]

HL2 changed my perception of shooters -- that is, it showed me a shooter could be good, and not just good, but great. Everything Valve has made since is essentially derivative of HL2 but focused to a particular genre. Portal is a puzzle game, TF2 is an online shooter, L4D is a survival game, but Half-Life 2 is a milestone. It's avant-garde. Note that this doesn't apply to the Episodes, which simply repeated gameplay and themes already explored in the original and didn't really add anything to the experience.

Anyway, they're all damn good games, and Valve has been my favorite developer for the past half-decade, so it's almost not worth debating which game is better. What IS worth worrying about is what HL3 is going to be like. I can't even imagine where they might go to make it as progressive as 2 was, and the worst thing they could do is make another Source game. I worry it might end up in DNF limbo, the devs constantly trying to get ahead of the curve.

I'm pretty sure you have to have the disc to play Portal 2 on PS3. The Steam functionality is strictly for multiplayer. If you buy the PS3 disc (new, of course), however, you do get a free PC copy of the game.

[Cuckooguy]

I think I will save Bayonetta, Valve games, and BioWare titles for when I get a 360, since Mass Effect 1 wasn't released on the PS3 and it would itch the inside of my head if I started 2 without ever playing 1, and Valve seems more like a Microsoft developer than a Sony developer.

I have finished Child of Eden, Braid, Heavy Rain, and the Batman: Arkham Asylum/City titles though! I have L.A. Noire next and Rayman Origins lying around which I'll get into after Noire. I've seen the Demon Souls and I don't think I'd have the patience for those kind of games!

[Radrappy]

what about vanquish? It's fucking great.

[Crisis]

No, I see a disturbing number of online opinions these days claiming that HL2 is a weaker effort.

Not weaker, just less interesting.

If you're looking for a game that is a well-designed, challenging, single-player narrative then Half-Life 2 is the game for you. If you're looking for a game that totally subverts everything you expect from video games as a medium, look towards Portal (or to a lesser extent, Left 4 Dead, which in many ways is a purer gameplay experience than Half-Life 2, by taking the game's emphasis on storytelling through gameplay and running with it to its logical conclusion).

[Green Gibbon!]

Is Vanquish all that? I played the demo and didn't really like it, though I kind of respected what it was trying to do, or at least what I think it was trying to do, which was to kind of merge the bulky American aesthetic shooting schtick that's all the rage these days with a more fluid, off-the-wall Japanese gameplay style. It kind of felt like something didn't quite click, but of course my experience is limited to the demo. I'd love to hear some more detailed thoughts.

[Isuka]

I think I will save Bayonetta, Valve games, and BioWare titles for when I get a 360, since Mass Effect 1 wasn't released on the PS3 and it would itch the inside of my head if I started 2 without ever playing 1, and Valve seems more like a Microsoft developer than a Sony developer.

Yeah, the Valve head honcho Newell hated the PS3 to death for some reason or other, but then he pulled a 180° and now works alongside Sony. If you're not going to play Valve games on PC, I'd suggest you do get for 360 the ones released before this event and the rest (Portal 2, for now) for PS3. Same thing goes for BioWare games (the PS3 version of Mass Effect 3 isn't listed on Bink Video's site, which probably means it'll have higher-quality FMVs than the 360 and PC versions).

As for Vanquish, save for the surprisingly bad English VA (MadWorld and Bayonetta had pretty good ones), I wouldn't know how to explain it, but it's kinda the opposite of GG!'s experience: everything clicked for me, its firefights are more varied than Gears 2's (although at least one of them is blatantly plagiarized from it, but even that one had a little twist), controls are more responsive, less methodical or trite and more hectic. Just my cup of tea, I guess.

[Radrappy]

Is Vanquish all that? I played the demo and didn't really like it, though I kind of respected what it was trying to do, or at least what I think it was trying to do, which was to kind of merge the bulky American aesthetic shooting schtick that's all the rage these days with a more fluid, off-the-wall Japanese gameplay style. It kind of felt like something didn't quite click, but of course my experience is limited to the demo. I'd love to hear some more detailed thoughts.

If I had to explain it, and I don't know the extent to which you played the game having never tried the demo, it's a classic treasure game or shmup pretending to be a cover shooter. It initially comes of as a game desperately trying to appeal to a western audience at first. Heck I wasn't really interested in it when it first came out because of the way it was marketed. But as you delve deeper, you'll find a kinetic and charming arcady experience that is just plain old school fun. It really feels like gunstar heroes, metal slug, or any one of those crazy megadrive era games in 3d. It's a very pure experience. A game that doesn't forget that it's a game, not a movie.

[Team Mecha]

I gotta vote no on Mass Effect 2, at least for PS3. You miss out on a key element of the experience in not playing ME1 1st & having its save files transfer over.

[gr4yJ4Y]

Seconding the Dead Space games, though both are far from perfect... you'll enjoy them (at least until the repetitive level design sinks in).

I didn't really care for Dead Space 1 when I tried to play through it. Maybe I don't have the patience for survival horror any more. Or just wasn't in the right mood. I couldn't even bring myself to finish the Dead Space 2 demo! I'm the only person I know who doesn't like them.

[Radrappy]

Seconding the Dead Space games, though both are far from perfect... you'll enjoy them (at least until the repetitive level design sinks in).

I didn't really care for Dead Space 1 when I tried to play through it. Maybe I don't have the patience for survival horror any more. Or just wasn't in the right mood. I couldn't even bring myself to finish the Dead Space 2 demo! I'm the only person I know who doesn't like them.

Ive only played DS2 but wasn't crazy about it. While there's great atmosphere and the game delivers some fun scary moments, I think the combat is clunky and frustrating as hell. In fact I didn't even beat it. I quit once I encountered the regenerating invincible asshole that follows you around in the final segment of the game. It just wasn't fun.