Welcome to the Next Level, a.k.a. The Video Game Thread Options

[Nonus Aequilibri...]

Well, I thought I'd make some attempt to complete Fable 2 last night, then I got to the Hero of Skill mission and the game has now completely soft locked. Brilliant.

[sweetbutinsane]

I'm liking the new Tomb Raider game, except for those scary-ass lizards (komodo dragons?) that crawl down the walls and attack me in groups of four or five.

[Miss Shazam]

I'm liking the new Tomb Raider game, except for those scary-ass lizards (komodo dragons?) that crawl down the walls and attack me in groups of four or five.

I'm always liking new Tomb Raider games. That doesn't stop me failing terrifically, though,

[sweetbutinsane]

I'm always liking new Tomb Raider games. That doesn't stop me failing terrifically, though,

Same here; I must have died about fifteen times so far. At least it doesn't stop it from being good.

[zeden]

Hah, Takeshi Kitano is awesome.

The man is an insane genius.

[Miss Shazam]

Same here; I must have died about fifteen times so far. At least it doesn't stop it from being good.

You'd think after about 10 years of playing I'd improve. But no. The games get harder and I don't get any good. BLEH.

[logger]

Finished Dead Space, definitely one of the games of last year.

I might see about getting some cheap games next week. Is Killzone 2 any good?

[Nonus Aequilibri...]

Finished Dead Space, definitely one of the games of last year.

I might see about getting some cheap games next week. Is Killzone 2 any good?

I hope so. I've been thinking of getting a PS3 as a blu ray player lately and on the games side, killzone 2 is the only exclusive on ps3 that even vaguely interests me.

[Jubei]

Same here; I must have died about fifteen times so far. At least it doesn't stop it from being good.

When you get the Hammer of Thor to use, you become a monster smashing machine! Personally by the end of the game I found the exploration to be the hardest part. The puzzles are generally fairly straightforward, and the beasties are killable, if sometimes a little annoying, but it's often getting TO the relevant switch or crystal lens or teetering boulder that's the hardest part. Good though, and the environments are in typical grand Tomb Raider/Indy style. I also wasted loads of time doing sonar blips from every angle to amass full 3d environment maps. I really don't know why, it was rarely useful.

[monkeyman]

Finished Dead Space, definitely one of the games of last year.

I might see about getting some cheap games next week. Is Killzone 2 any good?

One of the best shooters I've played. There isn't enough story exposition, and some of the dialogue is pretty poor, but the shooting is exceptionally solid, the enemy AI is incredible to battle against andthe first person cover mechanic is fantastic as well. Multiplayer has incredible depth as well. The game doesn't particularly do anything new (1st person cover system?) but wha it does do, it does to a very very high standard.

I've played about 10 hours of Dead Space now. It is fantastic, it is more an action game than a survival horror, but it does it so much better than Resi 4, and by that comparison, Resi 5. Theres a great weapons and armour upgrade system, it looks fantastic, has some interesting and challenging puzzles, brilliant gore, an interesting story (though having the main character not speak doesn't really work for certain parts of the game). I love dismembering enemies, it's great to cut their legs off and give yourself some breathing room when theres a bunch of enemies around.

[Nonus Aequilibri...]

One of the best shooters I've played. There isn't enough story exposition, and some of the dialogue is pretty poor, but the shooting is exceptionally solid, the enemy AI is incredible to battle against andthe first person cover mechanic is fantastic as well. Multiplayer has incredible depth as well. The game doesn't particularly do anything new (1st person cover system?) but wha it does do, it does to a very very high standard.

Cover systems are nothing new, from the videos on youtube it doesn't look much more than System Shock 2's (and other games) ability to lean around walls. It looks like it works well though, and some of the best games don't do anything new at all, they just stick to a tried and tested formula and execute it extremely well. I'm quite looking forward to Killzone 2 if I get round to buying a PS3 any time soon.

I'm still wondering what's going on with these rumoured price drops on the PS3. Sony flatly deny it, but then they would, otherwise people would stop buying until it happened. But then the people coming up with the rumours seem to be utterly thick, coming out with nonsense like "they'll make a new model without blu ray to make it cheaper". Yeah right. Blu Ray is probably responsible for most of the PS3 sales so far. And the games are on blu ray discs, so how on earth would you play anything otherwise?

[monkeyman]

I know that cover mechanics are nothing new, but I've never played a first person game that lets you stick to cover and pop out and shoot without going to a different perspective, and it's a bit more dynamic then just leaning around a wall. It's interesting because your vision is (obviously) severely reduced when ducked behind cover, so oftentimes the enemy will take the opportunity to relocate. I've had it a few times whilst reloading I would pop out to shoot where the Helghast last was, only to have him shoot me from the right, or melee me from behind.

As for the price drop, Sony are making a Playstation related announcement on March 31st. It may be a PS3 price drop announcement, but it could also be a PS2 price drop announcement


Batman: Arkham Asylum is looking very tasty.

[Atara]

A price drop will happen eventually. As they always do...with all consoles... ever

[sweetbutinsane]

The puzzles are generally fairly straightforward, and the beasties are killable, if sometimes a little annoying, but it's often getting TO the relevant switch or crystal lens or teetering boulder that's the hardest part.

Yeah, I've only died from being attacked by creatures/goons a handful of times compared to how many times I've died from missing ledges, letting go of my grapple or falling down pits. I know where I'm trying to get to, but sometime it's quite hard to control Lara's movements exactly the way I need to.

I must say that I was quite sad when Alistair died. He annoyed me in the last game, but I was sad all the same.

I'm in Mexico now and I keep getting distracted from solving the puzzles by the lure of riding my shiny motorbike.

[Nonus Aequilibri...]

A price drop will happen eventually. As they always do...with all consoles... ever

True, but I don't really want to sit around waiting months for it to happen. I just don't want to go out and spend 290 quid today and have them suddenly put the price down a week later.