What video games are you playing?

[Arts Myth]

On a whim, I went into Toys 'R' Us on my birthday (aka Tuesday), and found that they had the Wii U deluxe in stock. I picked one up, along with a copy of Scribblenauts Unlimited, and spent much of that evening getting it to communicate with my wireless network, then nursing it through the massive update download, then figuring out how to transfer all my Wii data over to the U, then actually doing so, and finally tried a bit of Scribblenauts before calling it a night. It seems to be a good system, and I like the ability to play some games away from the TV. Mostly been playing "Little Inferno" lately, sorting out all the different combos, and having an occasional dark chuckle at some of the items in the catalogs, particularly "Kitty kitty poo poo plushie"...

[JoeBentley]

Spent a few hours this Thanksgiving playing Doom III: The BFG Edition.

The bulk of the game is Doom III remastered in widescreen HD. The game looks better then ever, the textures have gotten a good upgrade and the lighting effects are still among the best ever put into a video game, but the animation and some of the other graphics still remind you it's an 8 year old game.

You also get the Resurrection of Evil expansion pack and a new 8 hour or so side campaign. You also get probably the best version yet of the classic Doom and Doom II with all their add on campaigns.

Doom III was a game that I really thought was better then it was widely seen back in the day. I mean it was a decent hit but a lot of the hype for it seemed to attract more attention for its, at the time, groundbreaking graphics engine then for the game itself, with many calling it nothing but a game length tech demo. But I actually like Doom III as a game. It wasn't perfect but honesty for me it was one of the best examples ever of why good graphics can make a game better and more immersive. I think Doom III had the bad luck of coming out during a period of backlash against shallow, high gloss triple A games, but it was a solid game that actually used its visuals to its advantage gameplay wise instead of as a crutch.

The only real addition outside of the slightly improved graphics is an addition of the "Duct Tape Mod" that was created for the PC version that gives you the option to hold a flashlight and a weapon at the same time.

A few minor complaints. One the excellent quicksave feature from the earlier console releases have been removed and you have to pause the game and go into the menu to save. Second the controller layout is... well bad. The original console version of Doom III back on the original Xbox had a very well done weapons selection system using the D-pad that allowed you to quickly select any weapon you are carrying. In this version for some reason you can only cycle through your weapons. And it feels weird for grenades to be a selectable weapon instead of a stand alone weapon with their own button and because of this I really never used grenades. And this would have been a perfect time to revamp some of the originals lackluster sound design.

Still enjoyed it though.

[chillas]

Finished season one of The Walking Dead earlier today. I'm not going to spoil the ending in a specifc sense here, but regarding the tone of the ending ... if you like a tense story with a happy ending, well, this isn't your game. If you like a sad but hopeful ending - still not your game. If you like a downer ending, well, you're getting closer. If you like a story that kicks you in the junk and leaves you lying in a pool of your own tears then have we got a deal for you!

Generally, though, I wasn't thrilled with the gameplay. This episode was even twitchier than the previous one, but the story more than made up for it.

[Mr. Billion]

The final episode of The Walking Dead came out a couple days ago.

A game I haven't played but am interested in is Spec Ops: The Line. It's described as a game that focuses on the realistic aspects of the consequences of the action in a war shooter. You're going around shooting dozens of people. They're not orcs or trolls, they're people.

Spec Ops: The Line's lead writer on creating an un-heroic war story
And making a war game that's not just "spectacle-based entertainment."

Has anyone played this? What's it like?

[JoeBentley]

Spec Ops the Line is... deep. It really does turn the genre on it's head. I don't want to give up too much but it's basically Heart of Darkness / Apocalypse Now the game.

[firefighter_raven]

Finished AC3 and started playing Dark Souls.

[Morrigan]

Made it past the kayran in Witcher 2, which was the hardest fight since it was scripted, and it's been a long, long, long time since I've played a game that had any scripted fights. Once I figured out how to beat it, it happened almost right away.

[diddy]

Originally Posted by The Irreverend

I feel slightly silly saying this: I am very excited for Lego Lord of the Rings. I have wanted to try of the Lego games for years, but I just never got around to it.

I have played most of them and they are really fun - once you get over the silliness aspect that comes with the games. There is a lot of content in these games and I like to go for 100% - very hard to do that without the cheats which you have to unlock anyway so I have no qualms about using them.

I am too looking forward to the Lord of the Rings version. Should be fin.

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by diddy

There is a lot of content in these games and I like to go for 100% - very hard to do that without the cheats which you have to unlock anyway so I have no qualms about using them.

If the "cheats" are the red bricks, then getting 100% and all the achievements depends on unlocking them (and often using them) anyway, so indeed, no qualms needed. I'd like to see people getting 10,100,000,000 studs in Lego Batman 2 without turning on a stud multiplier. It would take forever.

I am in a good mindspace and am unlikely to fall off the games wagon for at least another week*, so I don't have to worry about buying Lego Lord Of The Rings, but after Assassin's Creed III it's the next game on my list too...

* (meaning I'm moving flat in less than a week, still have to sort out my papers and pack, and am therefore unlikely to want to get any new games before then...!)

[BringTheNoise]

I'm continuing my Fallout obsession, by going back and playing the original. I've never actually played a 90s RPG before, but I'm getting my head around it now. What I'm struggling to remember is that there is no Autosave function and it's starting to drive me a little crazy. How many times am I going to end up back in that bloody Radscorpion cave?????

[crocoduck_hunter]

Heh. I remember that problem. One thing to keep in mind while playing both Fallout and Fallout 2. You can save during combat. So if all else fails, you can win a fight simply by saving and using aimed shots- reload whenever you miss, save whenever you crit. It's slow, but it means that even a weak character with fairly low combat skills can take out tough enemies.

I didn't actually like Fallout all that much, probably because by the time I played it, I'd already played Fallout 2, so I was used to some of the improvements in that game, like better management of party members and being able to distinguish friend from foe in combat automatically instead of having to spend a perk to get it.

Oh, tip- if you're a melee user, you want to get 80% into Unarmed and get your Strength and Agility up to 8+. This is because those are the requirements to unlock the Slayer perk at level 27. Slayer causes every successful Melee and Unarmed attack to automatically become a crit- combine that with a Super Sledgehammer and you're just about unbeatable at that point. If your Luck and Agility are 8+ and Small Arms is at 80%, you unlock Sniper, which gives you an extremely high chance to crit with ever ranged attack.

And try to keep Dogmeat alive, just because he's awesome. Though not quite as awesome as Gorris the Deathclaw in Fallout 2.

[GenYus234]

Yeah, that no-autosave got me too. What I finally did is to save everytime I left a town and everytime I attempted a quest.

Also, a good build for your early life is to max agility so you have 10 AP (the trait that reduces your AP needed to shoot helps). That pretty much guarantees that you can hit/shoot anything, then get away from it far enough that once it runs up to you, it doesn't have enough AP to hit you. Continue the hit-and-run-away until it is dead. Boring, but it works.

Of course, this trick doesn't work with Deathclaws. But then, nothing does.

ETA: To get the above, I drop Charisma down very low. Since having a second follower just gives the first follower someone to shoot in the back, you won't miss them.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Which is funny, because in Fallout 2 it was almost possible to go the entire game without having to do any fighting yourself if you recruited extremely good followers like Sulik and Marcus.

Also, the trait that lets you fire faster is only useful at lower levels. At high levels, the inability to make aimed shots is too much of a liability. I typically found that Gifted was the most useful of all traits- the boost to stats easily offset the skill point loss. Sex Appeal was useful for a female character because there were so few important female NPCs to interact with that the penalty was negligible. Other than that, I typically didn't take any of the traits.

[Mr. Billion]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

Spec Ops the Line is... deep. It really does turn the genre on it's head. I don't want to give up too much but it's basically Heart of Darkness / Apocalypse Now the game.

You've convinced me. I'll probably be checking this one out.

[Bug Muldoon]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

Spec Ops the Line is... deep. It really does turn the genre on it's head. I don't want to give up too much but it's basically Heart of Darkness / Apocalypse Now the game.

I started playing it and liked the atmosphere a lot, but I felt the gameplay really let it down. It started to feel like a whack-a-mole gallery. Too bad because the story is brilliant and really well presented.

Can I take a second to recommend Mark of the Ninja? It's a 2D side-scrolling stealth game on Xbox Live and Steam and it's excellent.

[firefighter_raven]

My wife got me a years sub to Playstation Plus so downloaded a couple of free games - Resident Evil 5 and Infamous 2(currently installing).
Played a little bit of RE5 and it's alright but probably going to put it on the backburner for awhile. Mainly been bouncing between Dark Souls (hard but addictive) and MtG: Planeswalker 2013.
I figured I'd grab Infamous 2 while it's free before they change the offerings( I initially decided to get the Plus package because they had some free episodes of the Walking Dead series but was to late)

[Errata]

I finally beat my first playthrough of Borderlands 2. The ending was surprisingly easy. SPOILERS: Jack was a total pushover. The final fight felt pretty chaotic with the Warrior moving around so fast at a distance and occasionally tossing me around, and the lava. But pretty soon I realized he wasn't doing any serious damage to me, and the sense of peril faded. I don't think my shields ever got much lower than half depleted. I just pretty much stood still on high ground, rotating to find him when he moved, and kept unloading all my guns into him for several minutes until he gradually died. No real evasive tactics or special targeting except trying to aim for his mouth if it was open. The shotgun and a high fire rate sniper rifle felt most effective, though both ran out of ammo before the fight was over. I stopped bothering trying to make tactical use of my Thoughtlock as a distraction, because the Warrior barely seemed to even aim at me anyway, and the minor enemies seemed to mostly leave me alone. I felt like in some ways the fight against the Super Badass Loader in Hero's Pass was more difficult. It didn't take nearly as long, but there was some peril there. I died to the loader before I learned not to underestimate him.

[Lachrymose]

Originally Posted by chillas

Lizzy and I have been playing LEGO Lord of the Rings on the Wii and thoroughly enjoying it. I can't help but giggle hearing Sir Ian Mckellen's voice coming out of a LEGO fig.

Just started playing this.

I like it, but I wish it were like LEGO Harry Potter where the characters don't talk, just kind of grunt. It's so much funnier that way.

[General Redwood]

Just wrapped up my first game of Arkham City. I liked it a lot, but I wasn't crazy about it the way a lot of other people were. Unfortunately, I'm just not coordinated enough to be good at what is essentially a rhythm game, the combat is all about timing. Also, there are so many button combinations for the various gadgets and moves that 40 hours in, I was still constantly hitting the wrong buttons.

I'll come back to the game someday since I never collected all the Riddler trophies or finished all the side quests.

Right now, I'm playing Black Mesa, an upgrade of the original Half-Life using the Half-Life 2 engine. I forgot how long the original Half-Life was, and how little combat there is in the first few stages.

[Beachlife!]

I have been through Halo 4 three times, the last time on Legondary. I think this one is easier than past games.