What are you playing at the moment?

[Haly]

Originally Posted by Streeteh

To add to this they've screwed up what made Bioshock so amazing; the atmosphere. As Haly said it's just like any other shooter now with a novelty skin applied to the levels.

I'll repeat myself again by quoting this

Just completed Bioshock 2. Perfectly reasonable FPS but not a patch on the original which is such a shame. I had a PC review copy and was considering getting hold of a cheap 360 copy if the PR firm involved couldn't find me one, but I'm not so fussed now. At least it's saved me money I guess.


Oh and Plants vs Zombies rocks

[NokkonWud]

The more I hear about Heavy Rain the more I feel that I could wait longer for it, the only reason I'm getting it day one is so that I don't have it spoiled.
I'm sure you all know Alan Wake is my most anticipated game .

On BioShock 2... You're complaining about the monotony of planting traps, but the first game was absolutely no different, plant traps around Big Daddy and take sister... Why is that suddenly not good enough now?
The atmosphere isn't as good, but from a design perspective, many of the environments are actually 'better'. It was always obvious you wouldn't get the same thrill entering Rapture a second time, if you thought you would then you were kidding yourself.

For me BioShock is definitely the better of the two games, but there are things that BioShock 2 does better than its predecessor such as the hacking, research, game balance, sharper visuals, surround sound, secondary story delivery and it also takes some rather brilliant game direction, especially later in the game (which I won't spoil for anyone.) It also has multiplayer which I found great fun and actually delivered something for hitting level 40 which I really liked, as well as rewarding level advancement throughout via audio diaries for the characters which detail them spiralling out of control, from human to splicer which I felt was a great touch.

As for games that made you feel 'heavy' Streeteh, interesting choice with Killzone 2 as it's a game that required a patch to remove floaty movement. Did you mean Operation Flashpoint 2, or the original? Never played the first, but the second I turned off after 10 minutes due to the atrocious atrociousness of its atrocity.
I do agree that you should have felt heavier, but you're also the most nimble of Big Daddies that were made. If you were lumbering around levels then you'd have lost a lot of flow to it.

[Belmit]

I'm currently alternating between AvP and Bioshock 2. Both are great so far and I've only played as a marine/got to the part with the research camera (respectively)!

Much prefer the far less laborious hacking system in Bioshock 2 and am enjoying being a Big Daddy! Playing it on hard is making it fairly challenging. Would be good if there was more revisiting places from the first one, even if it was just looking in from the outside, but you can't have everything I guess. Maybe there will be a little of that later on but I'm not holding my breath. Reminds me a little of Opposing Force for Half Life in premise.

[Aboobie]

I've had a few weeks off. I think I was a bit burnt out and every time thought about playing I couldn't muster the energy to actually put anything on.

All quite natural I'd imagine and something you've all probably experienced.

Anyway, now that's over I've got right back into Mass Effect 2 again and what a game. I'm nearing the final quarter now I think and really looking forward to seeing
As my first game saves wouldn't import (due to me moving 360 and HD since finishing it!) I'll definately do a second run and I might as well have a go at Insanity difficulty. I think I'm looking forward to it.

Also dropping in and out of Dirt 2. This is probably the best looking game I've played; quite sublime and a great distraction.

I've put Borderlands on the back burner for now. I can't quite put my finger on why but it's not quite doing it for me and I do find it a bit of a chore to play.

[Garp]

Originally Posted by Garp

I've been playing Dragons Age Origins... and loving it. Great to be playing an in-depth RPG again

The more I've been playing this the more I've been plagued by crazy long load times. Found a solution though, in steam, right click on the Dragons Age icon, select properties, go to launch options and add "-dx9".

You get dx9 only graphics, which are still damn good, plus <10 seconds load times on most maps compared to anywhere between 1 1/2 minutes and 3 that I've been suffering.

[Admiral Huddy]

BioShock 2 and MW2

MW2 is a bit too cinematic for my liking and the "follow me" makes a mockery of the whole thing. Good game though, stunning graphics on the PC.

Bioshock 2.. Only done the first level or so. The dual "weapon" controls are a little awkward but I know I'll enjoy this.

[Streeteh]

Originally Posted by NokkonWud

On BioShock 2... You're complaining about the monotony of planting traps, but the first game was absolutely no different, plant traps around Big Daddy and take sister... Why is that suddenly not good enough now?

It wasn't good enough then either, i've said many times i felt Bioshock had rubbish gameplay. What annoys me about Bioshock 2 is that they've taken away what made Bioshock and interesting title, the atmosphere etc.

The atmosphere isn't as good, but from a design perspective, many of the environments are actually 'better'. It was always obvious you wouldn't get the same thrill entering Rapture a second time, if you thought you would then you were kidding yourself.

The level design was abysmal imo, corridor after corridor and very little to distinguish one room from another. I found myself checking the map all the time to figure out where i'd actually been before. I never expected much from Bioshock 2 so i wasn't kidding myself, i just expected more than what i got.

For me BioShock is definitely the better of the two games, but there are things that BioShock 2 does better than its predecessor such as the hacking, research, game balance, sharper visuals, surround sound

I agree with all of those apart from visuals, on the PC they were actually inferior to Bioshock 1.

As for games that made you feel 'heavy' Streeteh, interesting choice with Killzone 2 as it's a game that required a patch to remove floaty movement. Did you mean Operation Flashpoint 2, or the original? Never played the first, but the second I turned off after 10 minutes due to the atrocious atrociousness of its atrocity.

Actually, they patched it to tone down the weightyness, not to make it less floaty. It was too weighty for the CoD4 lovers. The original op flash is what i was referring to, the second was horrendous.

[Haly]

Just completed Heavy Rain.
Loved every second of it As I was discussing with a workmate, there's bound to be loads of copies getting traded in because of people/teenagers moaning about the slow pace and the lack of action (as in action you can control through something other than QTEs) but I'll just want to call them shallow idiots

Brilliant story driven game that provokes so many great emotional connections with the characters. As someone who prefers a strong storyline over anything else in a game, I couldn't have asked for more.

[Davey_Pitch]

Like Jen, I finished Heavy Rain (last night) and also thought it was exceptional. There are so many choices in the game that you don't realise you're making, I'll definitely be going through it again to consciously change things and see what effect it has on the ending. I know there are several endings, and I definitely want to see all of them.

[Aboobie]

That's Mass Effect 2 complete. 1015/1015, insanity run finished, done.

I cannot throw enough superlatives at it; I came out of my gaming hibernation only to become obsessed finishing my insanity run in a week. I'm really looking forward to the big free DLC dropping at the end of March now.

Next RPG... seriously thinking about Divinity 2...