The Whatever The Heck You're Playing At The Moment Thread

[dmauro]

I played quite a bit of Dirt 2 when I was home last and I really enjoyed it. I would probably pick that up over Forza or NFS:S just because it's Rally anyways. But I should mention that Forza is running at 60fps for people like me that care about that. :/

I watched my roommate play Uncharted 2 for a while today. It's kind of awesome; I would totally watch the movie anyways.

[FortNinety]

Wait, isn't DiRT2 running in 60 fps? Isn't that the big thing this time, that they managed to bump up the frame rate? For the record, I prefer 60 as well, but in the age of HD graphics, its becoming hard, at least for me, to differentiate between 30 and 45 and 60, at least for the AAA titles. Also, I believe folks who say that it makes a major difference when playing the games to be somewhat full of themselves, but we all have our things. Though them saying people who dig games that dip below 60 are retards is fairly obnoxious.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I picked up Uncharted 1 today! Finally found a brand new copy that isn't the fugly greatest hits edition (though with the new package redesign, I should forget about any semblance of consistency on my shelf... sorry, but I'm one of those kind of people). Thus far its great! I love the pace and atmosphere, plus the lead character is extremely likable.

[dmauro]

Yeah, Uncharted 2 is making me think I'll have to borrow that one from you sometime after you finish.

Dirt 2 might be over 30fps because it did look pretty smooth, but it's not at 60. You could tell just from screenshots, it just looks too good to run at 60fps. Forza 3 looks great too, but it has a lot less going on in terms of effects and rendering I think.

[ryan]

WET would be much better if everything was toned down a bit. Unless you have a perfect run through every level, you come to realize how inadequate the exagerrated animations/moves are - I'm tired of overshooting a platform because she feels the need to leap everywhere.

[FortNinety]

Its fun listening to Katie play LittleBigPlanet in the background, cuz her range of emotions is typical to what most folks encounter when first trying the game...

"Hey, this is awesome! ... Well that's certainly interesting... What's going on here? What am I supposed to do? ... Enough with the stupid narration... WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THIS STUPID CONTROL?!?!"

[dhex]

finally beat diablo. dang. finding the expansion (lord of destruction) to be far more "well-plotted" for an arpg than anything that came before.

[drozdal]

At the moment I'm trying to finish the games that I had on my shelves for a while (but it most likely won't happen).

Managed to beat Blazing Angels 2 - arcade plane shooting game with WWII pulp / Indiana Jones "story line". Only two really frustrating missions (out of 18) - which is a good thing. Ace Combat 6 is another fun modern plane arcade sim/shooter, but it has the most horrible "plot" and cutscenes ever which made me hate it after 5 or so missions. I just could not make myself watch another one of those overtly dramatic JRPG quasi-intellectual 3 minutes mini movies with melancholic music that to be honest have not a lot to do with what's going on in real game (judging from mission briefing). I want to fly and shoot crap down, I'm not interested in a story of a woman who lost their child in a bombing and now she is wandering through war torn countryside trying to cope with her loss and having way to many inner monologues and constant flashbacks to happy old days.

Next are Il-2 and Project Sylpheed but I haven't really put any significant time into them. Il-2 seems way more fun that Blazing Angels for a WWII plane arcade shooter (but also requires more dedication and attention), and PS is just insane sci-fi anime space shooter (from Square Enix) with dozens upon dozes of rockets and multi color explosions filling up the screen.

Raiden IV is yet another game that I haven't set aside enough time to get into, but it feels a bit different (harder) than Fighters Jet. Other difference is that you have only one plane available at the beginning (and two more waiting for you as DLC for about a dollar each, which I do not mind at all, considering that game is $40). Manic shooter fans fans will find Dual mode really interesting - it allows you to play two ships with one controller (anyone remembers that insane Ikaruga video with double play?)

Battle Fantasia which I got after yet another price cut at gamestop (now, new for $20) is pretty fun fighting game with last boss reminding you of KoF last boss syndrome (aka. cheapness). For fans of wacky and cute characters (not as wacky as Guilty Gear). Interesting thing is that it looks quite similar to SFIV, not really in the art style, but in the 3D character models fighting on 2D plane way.

I "finished" single player career in Dirt 2 and I have to say this game is excellent. More arcade driving and damage model (over the one known from Dirt1), introduction of (limited) time rewind feature known from Grid, coolest user interface in racing game ever, lack of music during race (only in menus, and soundtracks has only one track that mildly irritates me - so that's a huge plus), mind blowingly good graphics and no frame rate issues (I had it happen to me once, but I think i was playing it constantly for six hours at that point) make this game really shine. On the other hand the game is WAY more forgiving than it's predecessor, introduction of X-games gives it more "american flavor" (as opposed to straight euro-tentric WRC known from part 1). There are no more huge trucks or Paris-Darkar challenges, damage does not carry over the races in one event and managing repair time feature was dropped entirely (i heard it will be in Forza, where instead of spending time, you'll have to spend money earned in career mode to fix your cars. I have to add that I never played Forza game before, but after seeing some of the footage from the new one I kinda want it). There is no rain, snow or any other weather effects. Dirt 2 has one other nice addition - in timed events start times between cars have been significantly shortened, so there is a possibility to catch up to and pass even other drivers that started before you. In short - if you like your driving games - you'll like Dirt 2.

Currently I'm getting back into Chromehounds, arcade mech game on 360 (that still has a lot of people playing it on-line) and I'm reading Demon's Souls guide before I start playing it.

[FortNinety]

Thanks for the head's up regarding DiRT 2. Yeah, the interface gives me a gigantic hard-on... I'm so into such things, and it's amazing how Codemasters seems to out do themselves each and every time. It's almost to the point that I get their racers just for that. And they even managed to make me not mind the X-Game-like quality, which I normally abhor.

That being said, nothing other than desert? No rain or snow? That.... really bites, especially for an off-road racer. Hmmm...

BTW, there's a sale going on at Toys R Us; buy two, get one game free, anything. Was gonna maybe pick up this game as part of some package, but now might just wait.

Oh, I've asked Katie to pop in and talk about her playing Jet Set Radio Future. Though the most important thing is her constantly asking: "Are you sure this was made by the Japanese and not some weeaboo?"

[dmauro]

The rewinds in Dirt 2 are great. And it keeps your entire race so when you're finished you can watch it with slow motion and rewind, which is great for those exceptional crashes. My grandmother even thought it was kind of neat to see my car flip several times after hitting a boulder and then landing on all four wheels, in slow motion.

My brother says the physics aren't good enough in Dirt 2, but it feels fine to me. I think he might have been a little sore because I was doing slightly better than him and he's usually the racing pro.

I've been playing Scribblenauts too. It has plenty of levels, which is great, but maybe it has too many? You sometimes see the same basic challenge over and over again, but even very similar challenges will be approached totally differently by different people. Sometimes you'll just look at things so totally differently. I've been abusing tornado perhaps a little too much though.

[drozdal]

Dirt 2 has a lot of different locations actually. You start in Baja, so sand dunes and dirt all the way, London has more of the industrial feel of racing on asphalt / gravel of industrial area (quite similar to those events in Grid where you race in a shipyard), Croatia is mostly hilly terrain covered with gravel / dirt and patches of grassy mountainsides. Morocco and China - are dry, Morocco has more winding hill roads, China is all about flat country roads and sharp turns thru narrow villages anbd prett ysweet long bridges. Japan is quite similar to England - asphalt mixed with dirt and mud. There is one event in Japan that is setup in converted sports arena - pretty sweet. LA is again mix of England and Japan - mostly converted racetracks (F3 maybe?) so there are a lot of asphalt / dirt transitions changes. Utah - really flat desert / canyon terrain with occasional elevation change and a lot of dangerous rocks littering the side of the track. Malaysia is covered with mud and muddy forest roads - quite tricky epecialy when you race on them in the buggies.

I actually do not mind lack of weather and consider it to be something to improve upon when they release Dirt 3

[dhex]

man, baal is even more of an asshole than diablo was.

[FortNinety]

So I was passed along a copy of Katamari Forever, and if there's ever a clear-cut sign that the franchise has no life left in it. But that being said, I'm still moving forward due to the FANTASTIC soundtrack. Believe the hype. It also says something when the YMCK tracks are the weakest of the bunch (since they too are pretty phenomenal).

[isfet]

been debating picking that one up.  not really sure if there's a point other than "it's there."  it certainly looks and sounds pretty, though.

i guess my only reservations tend to stem from a weird sort of "allegiance" towards the creator.  he obviously had no real input on the game and has set his attentions elsewhere, so it's like, what's the point?

but is it relatively fun yet more of the same?

[scratchmonkey]

man, baal is even more of an asshole than diablo was.

Nah man, he's a pussycat, especially compared to fighting the Ancients and those horrible creatures that he summons before you go and find the actual dude.

[FortNinety]

but is it relatively fun yet more of the same?

Yeah, but there's just SO much annoying nonsense and clutter. The story and structure for one, which isn't particularly offensive, but just makes no sense, and not in a whimsical manner.

There's a new point structure at play, which makes the game more of a game, but it too is unneeded and somewhat goes against the spirit of the original.

The visuals now sports this colored pencil filter, which is neat, but again is completely unnecessary.

Oh, don't forget about the new jump move, which doesn't completely break the experience as I had originally feared, but mostly because it's so utterly useless.

At this point, I'm just rushing through the thing so I can review it on my site.