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

[GundamGuy_UK]

Basically, there's a weird alien invasion going on, and Ecco is chosen by this God thing to go into space and kill the alien queen with his mind.

Shit you not.

The game begins with Ecco as he and his pod are swimming in their home bay. One podmate challenges him to see how high into the air he can jump. When he is in the air, a waterspout storm forms and sucks up all marine life in the bay except Ecco, leaving him alone in the bay. Upon leaving the bay to search for his pod, he contacts several dolphins from other pods, who tell him the entire sea is in chaos, and that all marine creatures had felt the storm. After talking to an orca, Ecco travels to the Arctic to find a blue whale named The Big Blue. The Big Blue tells him such storms had been occurring every 500 years and directs him to the Asterite, the oldest creature on Earth. He leaves the Arctic and travels to a deep cavern where he finds the Asterite. Although it has the power to aid him, one of its globes is missing, and needs it returned. However, this can only be achieved by traveling back in time using a machine built by the ancient Atlanteans.

Ecco travels to the sunken city of Atlantis, where he discovers the time machine and an ancient library. He learns the cause of the storm; it was a harvest of Earth's waters that was conducted every 500 years by an alien species known as the Vortex. The Vortex had lost their ability to make their own food, and so every 500 years, they would harvest from the waters of Earth. Learning this, he activates the time machine and traveled 55 million years into Earth's past. Ecco locates the Asterite in the past but is immediately attacked by it. Forced into battle, he manages to dislodge a globe from it. This opens a time portal and he is sent back into the present. After receiving the globe, the Asterite grants him the power to turn his sonar into a deadly weapon against the Vortex, as well as the abilities to breathe underwater and to slowly regenerate lost health. The Asterite instructs him to use the time machine to travel back in time to the hour of the harvest. This time he manages to be sucked into the waterspout with his pod. Once inside the waterspout, Ecco makes his way towards the Vortex Queen, the leader of the Vortex race. Eventually the Vortex Queen is destroyed and Ecco rescues his pod.

This post has been edited by GundamGuy_UK: Sep 18 2008, 08:08 PM

[NiteFall]

I'm really enjoying Gundam ZAFT. It is a lot like Gundam Battle Chronicle, just a bit shinier and a bit more polished.

[GundamGuy_UK]

I'm really enjoying Gundam ZAFT. It is a lot like Gundam Battle Chronicle, just a bit shinier and a bit more polished.

That'll be because Gundam SEED's just a rehash of the original series and Zeta, with more explosions and flashier designs.

There's Gundam Battle Universe out now, which is Chronicle but with more levels. Has campaigns based on ZZ, Char's Counterattack and F91.

[NiteFall]

I'll just be off to definitely not download that, honest, right now.

Also the Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law game is a worrying amount of fun as well.

[GundamGuy_UK]

I'll just be off to definitely not download that, honest, right now.

The only reason I don't have it is because I don't fancy working through 0079, 0083, and 0087 AGAIN. Why it can't read the Chronicle data I don't know, as those sections in Universe are literally the exact same game.

Still, it's got over 200 MS in it, which by my calculations is awesome. Though a lot of those will be those stupid ones that appeared for about 5 seconds (or not at all) during the Gryps Conflict, when it seems all the designers were on something pretty strong.


EDIT: So it turns out you can select what era you start from (according to this video). Damn it, now I have to buy it...

This post has been edited by GundamGuy_UK: Sep 18 2008, 09:24 PM

[fatseff1234]

It's a mammal actually.

I know...but what does it eat? Exactly .

Fallout 3 is looking the shit, and I've heard that Force Unleashed is a mahusive letdoen...is it true? Bare in mind I'm not much of a star wars fan...

This post has been edited by fatseff1234: Sep 18 2008, 09:36 PM

[maian]

Basically, there's a weird alien invasion going on, and Ecco is chosen by this God thing to go into space and kill the alien queen with his mind.

Shit you not.

Long recounting of Ecco's plot

I remember when they turned that into a story for the UK Sonic the Comic, it was pretty good and the Asterite creeped me out.

[GundamGuy_UK]

I've heard that Force Unleashed is a mahusive letdoen...is it true?

I played the demo, it's a Devil May Cry clone, and not a very good one.

Me and my friend are huge Star Wars fans, and both of us taking turns couldn't be arsed to finish the demo.

[fatseff1234]

I played the demo, it's a Devil May Cry clone, and not a very good one.

Me and my friend are huge Star Wars fans, and both of us taking turns couldn't be arsed to finish the demo.

Well that sucks, maybe I shan't be picking it up then. Are there actually any decent games out at the moment or are they all over-hyped piss-pots? I get paid tomorrow is all and I haven't bought a new game since SC 4. I feel the itch.

[GundamGuy_UK]

Without sounding like I always do, all modern games are shit.

Hold out for Aliens: Colonial Marines though, that's going to be awesome.

This post has been edited by GundamGuy_UK: Sep 18 2008, 10:03 PM

[Omniscia]

But... but... what about Bioshock, or Civilization 4?

[GundamGuy_UK]

Do you mean System Shock 2 and Civilization II?

[monkeyman]

Wipeout HD looks amazing, and it's out on Thursday the 25th.

Also will be trading in Mercenaries 2 for The Force Unleashed today, i finsihed it playing co-op with a friend and theres not a whole lot to draw me back into it as playing on your own is just rubbish compared to the hilarity of playing with a friend.
I'll probably then trade Force Unleashed for Fallout 3, the new trailer of that I downloaded form the PSN is awesome as well.

Has anyone tried the Fracture demo?

[Nonus Aequilibri...]

I watched someone else playing that Fracture demo, it actually looks ok. Not brilliant, because the story and characters seemed extremely generic, but the whole dynamic of raising and lowering the ground makes for some interesting gameplay. Not that it's exactly anything new, the game I made for my third year project at university 6 years ago did exactly the same thing and took me about 10 minutes to implement.

[monkeyman]

Cool, I'll give it a go when I get in. Also want to try the Elefunk demo as I was interested to see how it was but a demo wasn't released prior to the full game.

Got the Force Unleashed today, it's been getting ok reviews, nothing amazing though, i'm seeing an average of 7-8. I'll probably exchange it at some point down the line if theres really nothing to go back to it for.