What are you playing, stupid?

[max_cady]

Duke Nukem Forever - I played the demo a while back and I honestly could not stand more than 10 minutes of it. I picked the game recentely from 365games.co.uk, for dirt cheap(£4,99 with shipping fees already included). I've been playing the full game for a little while and here's the shocker: It's actually not as atrocious as it felt in the demo, it's playable and the controls are not bad at all. Nevertheless, what bogs down the game overall has more to do with technical issues and some game questionable game design choices.

A few days ago, I had finished up Bulletstorm and you guys know what I felt about it, Duke Nukem Forever started poorly, but it's been trying to win me over, at least it's trying. Both games seem to have a similar DNA, they are both meant to be massive action titles, featuring stupid brainless fun, awful dialogue and good set pieces.

Duke Nukem Forever is not as frenetic as Bulletstorm, it actually takes time, or rather forces you to do some puzzles and/or perform certain tasks such as driving a cart, platforming or manning a turrett. It's not a bad idea, in theory, but in practical terms, it's glaringly obvious that it's padding, because for a franchise built on brainless action, there doesn't seem to be all that much shooting during some of the stages.

The technical issues, yikes... When you zoom in to aim more closely, it can take several seconds for the textures to appear, we are left with a blur. Even with huge load times we still get mid-level loadings, occasionally there's some frame drops and some weird stuttering effects.

But all those issues aside, there appears to be some genuine attempt at doing something clever, even if the jokes are so poorly written. Here's hoping Gearbox can actually do something with the game.

[MadeManG74]

Max Payne 3.

It's really, really good. I was really taken unaware by this game, as I sort of forgot about it until recently, but it's really impressed me. As I started it and heard that familiar music from the old games, I realised how much I used to love Max Payne. They really managed to capture the heart of the series I think, and the bullet-time is as great as ever. Even though other's have done it, nobody does it quite like Max Payne.

It's great to see some old-school values that haven't been compromised too. No regenerating health for Max, he's still addicted to the pain-killers and they are usually in short supply. No Iron Sights, max can shoot from the hip just fine thanks. About the only major change I can think of is only carrying two weapons at once, but it's not too bad, if only for the fact that you can see Max carrying any rifles/shotguns in his spare hand while aiming the pistol with his other, it's very cool.

[max_cady]

Played a good chunk of Duke Nukem Forever.

I hate the water level...

[SOUP]

 I beat Professor Layton and the Last Specter last night. I don't think that I enjoyed it quite as much as Unwound Future, but it was still really good.
I started up Kirby Mass Attack on the DS this morning. Didn't even realize it was touch screen only. It seems  pretty interesting so far though. Kind of like Kirby meets Pikmin.

[max_cady]

Kameo: Elements of Power

The last great Rare video game or so I'm told. It's one of the 360's launch titles, it's from 2005... AND IT CERTAINLY SHOWS IT'S AGE. I've only played the opening stage thus far. But from where I left off, it's clearly something along the lines of a Zelda-type adventure... or so I think...

Duke Nukem Forever

Started playing it again, this time in Normal mode. Despite some bizarre difficulty spikes, I managed to reach the final stages in less than 6 hours. For some bizarre reason, the enemies are actually dummer in Normal Mode than on Easy. There's a second time you fight The Battlelord. When I played Easy Mode, I kept dying constantely, for some reason he was much tougher (not really, unlike the first fight, you don't have much room to hide and move around). I beat him on the second try.

Either I've gotten pretty good, or Normal Mode is the real Easy Mode.

[crackdude]

FIFA WORLD CUP 2010
It's fun. I love me some footy games, and this one's great. It has a great atmosphere. It's more "action-oriented" than regular FIFA, feels a bit more arcade without ever being unrealistic. It has some crazy late-goal algorithm going on I'm sure, cause fairly often there are turnarounds in scoring on the final minutes with epic proportions.


FALLOUT 3
This game's disturbing for shit. I love it.
I haven't got much into it though. I feel it really sucks you in, and I'm afraid of this cause I'm on a critical university period. This one I'm getting into in a couple weeks.


SKYRIM
Ah, yes.. The consumer of my sleep-hours.
Just cleared the main quest some days ago. It was very VERY anti-climatic. I wasn't even sure what was happening until I got the endgame achievement. But whatever, the best part of this game ain't the story. It's all about the lore, and the living thing. I just love exploring and setting straight my personal agenda of petty vendetta and gratuitous ass-whooping.
Just read that the new patch adds mounted combat, which is fucking awesome. Need to check that out.


F1 2011
THIS GAME. Oh. my. god.
It's a great time to be a Formula One fan. It's no Ayrton Senna races + Super Monaco GP era, but this season is rocking the F1 world (6 different winners in 6 races with 6 ex-champions on the grid) and this game complements it brilliantly.
It isn't mindless arcade and "casual"-friendly. Though you can dumb it out and turn every assist on and all damage off and stuff, the fun begins with full damage + tyre wear + 20+% races! It is balls-dripping-sweat incredible!


SKULLTAG (DOOM)
For those who don't know.
I'm having LOADS of fun with this thing. I've mainly been to the most populated Running servers. The concept is that one person is chosen at random and he is the Activator. He activates traps. Everybody else must evade these traps and reach the end of the map. It's fun. Very very addictive fun.
You can also go old-school Doom deathmatch. And there are so. many. mods... Worth an install.




Next games I'm getting are Super Hang On and Sacred 2.

[max_cady]

Duke Nukem Forever

Finished a couple of extra stages. I'm almost done with it... I just need to get past ... ***shrug*** the underwater stages. Seriously, they are the most dissapointing end stages ever... At least it's book-ended with an awesome final boss fight.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope

I have no hope. I feel sad for spending 120 hours on this. But it's always worth it when I get over a major obstacle.

[SOUP]

Just played all the way through The House of the Dead 4   .

[MadeManG74]

FALLOUT 3
This game's disturbing for shit. I love it.
I haven't got much into it though. I feel it really sucks you in, and I'm afraid of this cause I'm on a critical university period. This one I'm getting into in a couple weeks.

If you like Fallout 3, I would suggest getting New Vegas next, I thought New Vegas was better in pretty much every way (and this is someone who did enjoy F3 as well).
It's worth checking out the originals too.

I've just finished Max Payne 3, one of those games that just really sucked me in and I loved every minute of it. It just feels like old-school Max Payne, I adored it.

I could go into detail, but I won't, I'll just say I loved pretty much every aspect.

[max_cady]

Beaten Duke Nukem Forever on Normal Difficulty.

OK, I'm done...

[crackdude]

@MadeMan
thanks bro.

[Barry the Nomad]

Been playing the iPad on the iCade quite a bit. Frogger Decades and Atari's Greatest Hits mostly.

[MadeManG74]

Been playing the iPad on the iCade quite a bit. Frogger Decades and Atari's Greatest Hits mostly.

Does that thing come with the games, or just the shell?

[max_cady]

Played a little more of good ol' Star Ocean: The Last Hope.... God dammit, this game is killing me, I feel the need to keep fighting.

And I also played a bit of Kameo: Elements of Power. It started OK, but as I keep playing, I just find the experience so dull it hurts.

[Barry the Nomad]

Just the cabinet, no free apps. I was hoping the full Atari collection was free, but at the price I got it for I have no complaints. 90% off brand new.