What Has Everyone Been Playing This Week? 4

[Dogg Thang]

I finished Doom 3, main campaign. It's good! I like it. A strong game that is too long and yet, personally, I find it less repetitive than the more recent Doom outing. The hell bits are somewhat disappointing but mercifully short and then the game really picks up from there as it builds towards the end. Having the torch available at all times is a big change from the original and now I can't even imagine what it's like going back to the mechanic of it being either the torch or weapon. That was such a weird choice back in the day. Anyway, a strong game. I'll leave it sit for a while before starting the DLC stuff.

So now I have started something very different. I just finished rereading an old scifi short story by Harlan Ellison who passed away last year. Called 'I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream' it tells the story of one of only five people left alive, kept as almost toys by the AI who now rules over the planet and torments the final survivors in horrible ways. A really great short story that can be read in probably around 20 minutes or so. Back in 1995, a point and click game was released based on this short story, expanding on it and giving a story to each of the five characters. As far as I know it was also written by Ellison and instead of just retelling the short story, it gives context to it and fleshes out how the characters got there and builds on it so it apparently was a really good companion to the story, even if the point and click stuff was reportedly not always brilliant.

I had never played it and finally went looking for it and it turns out it got an iOS rerelease a few years ago and still works so I got it and I'm now playing it. I'm still very early on and the dialogue feels overwritten and yet also repetitive but it already feels very unique and interesting. So I'm going to play through this and see what I missed all those years ago.

[prinnysquad]

Sniper Elite 4.

Just get outta town, man. This is such a great gam.

I’m playing it properly - not the Juan Rambo SupermanFalls way. This means I’m strategically sweeping the map in zones, flushing out enemies, tagging, flanking, taking cover. I’m trying to find as many secrets as possible and really enjoy the flavour of the gam.

Unlike Quarterly Chump, I’m not all waggony about the killcams either. They’re mildly amusing for a bit, but I couldn’t give a toss about them. They needn’t even be there. No, this gam is far more than that. The maps are huuuge and there’s so many paths and nooks and crannies. It’s immensely satisfying to infiltrate an area through a sneaky pathway or entrance, cause bedlam, then creep out. That’s what the gam is all about. It’s nice to find alternative routes that you could have taken, too, when you’re looting the area.

I’ve met varying degrees of success in respect of being strategic. On the first map alone, with its multitude of different paths, heights and methods of completion, I managed to take control of the first area with some beautiful flanking manoeuvres. I even managed to get spotted deliberately so the enemy concentrated their attention on that area, while I flanked the poor saps and nailed them from the side. Poetry.

The second section was a total disaster. I blew my cover in a self-inflicted bottleneck and ended up having to ‘stick to the main quest’ of killing all with a Thompson. Very Supes. I was successful but annoyed. It was totally unsatisfactory- I felt like such a lame spenk for messing up.

The second mission I’m close to completing. It’s got a different feel to the first - all Mediterranean buildings and fortresses.

Great stuff.

[Neon Ignition]

It wasn't long ago I dabbled with the Sniper Elite V2 remaster and I definitely miss the linear approach, can't see it returning though after how SE4 was received and thinking on it I imagine we might see the fifth game next year, I think I'd enjoy it if they manage to get level design that marries the two approaches. SE4 felt too often like I was skirting the map picking people off so it got boring quickly and I just dashed through it instead, more complex linear environments that you initially have to infiltrate from an open map would be a nice blend.

[prinnysquad]

Ha ha - I didn’t even know you’d played it! I just surmised that that would be how you’d play it if you did :-)

I suppose it all comes down to preference. There’s no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ design - just preference. I prefer these open maps with dozens of paths and possibilities. I like the way that, if I mess up one route, I can try to be radically different next go. That can involve map circling, but it can also encourage challenge and danger. On the third map I’ve cut straight through a cave to the viaduct and ended up taking fire from all sides. It resulted in some gripping exchanges. Partridge: ‘and move and fire, and move and fire.’

I am less favourably disposed these days towards the bottlenecked and linear designs. It is more streamlined but less forgiving. I really enjoyed SE and V2 at the time. Crawling through the ruins of a town square with a tank circling, and snipers taking shots at me from windows, was undeniably a great gaming moment for me. But I’ve done that. I’m glad Rebellion have been flexible enough to go for large, Operation Flashpoint-style maps. Some of the routes around are fantastic and when you clock how well the level design is integrated, it makes for a nicely alive, well-devised world.

[wakka]

Partridge: ‘and move and fire, and move and fire.’

[fallenangle]

I liked Sniper Elite on the Xbox but it was a massively flawed and contradictory game IMHO which put me off even trying any of the sequels.

It made a big thing about shooting and relocating but if you did the Germans or Russians would find you almost immediately anyway. They gave you loads of trip wire bobby traps to mitigate this but that is telling in itself. However it was the other things that annoyed me more: the very obvious trigger points, sometime stupidly obvious or just stupid. The stealth element was often rendered redundant by such design crudity.

Too often you were forced into a firefight no matter what you did and it seemed to me that overall the game was just paying lip service with the more authentic elements of its gameplay. It was actually a fairly ordinary WW2 third person shooter with a better than normal sniping engine attached.

[prinnysquad]

I find linear maps tend to have trigger points. By their nature, there’s only one proper route through. From what I’ve seen, SE 4 doesn’t have trigger points. They get alerted to noise from a shot (unless you camouflage it), the discovery of a body, or the player being too brazen with their location. As such, I’ve conquered vast areas of the maps without alerting any enemies, through careful shot choice, hiding bodies, masking shots and staying undercover. It’s why I get so annoyed when I mess up. I want to beat a level without getting spotted and I’m positive it’s possible.

[Neon Ignition]

*Cracks knuckles*

So, from tonight I'll be having a week off. Gaming time will still be limited but it will be higher than normal so I'm going to aim to capitalise by finishing some in progress stuff and clearing through short experiences that may take little time to revisit or complete but free up HDD space for other stuff, hopefully it'll result in a productive month in the Games Completed thread and a bumper update here. Going into it though:

Wolfenstein: New Blood
Nearly done and I feel it helps cement the impression that the franchise is in decline, it's been progressively worse with each entry and this is no different even if it's not a true WF3. You basically have about 4-5 areas and repeatedly go over them for A-B missioning, the co-op dynamic just adds nothing and if anything is symptomatic of what's wrong with the series in that it's always looking for a new spin on the gameplay without ever spending any time refining what worked so well about the first one. If a next gen third game doesn't course correct things then I can forsee the end coming for the franchise again, a shame given the lack of worthwhile SP FPS we get these days. Hopefully this will be done very quickly into the weekend.

What Remains of Edith Finch
I'm assuming the journal is a benchmark of how long the game is in which case I'm a little under half way in, won't lie - I went in fairly cold but it's very quickly won me over. Really liking how this is delivered and where it's going.

Call of Duty: WWII
This gets a couple of matches per night, I still need to spend more time on MWR but this is less familiar due to its age and is still holding up pretty well.

Kill La Kill
This got talked about on Era so I gave it a go, man, gonna give it one more punt but what a load of bobbins. Pure perv fuel which is ironic considering Era's usual stance.

Daytona USA
Got the PS3 fully up and running and the HDD full, I forgot how slow PS3 Servers are at downloading. This looks lovely and clean still, a couple of races last night on the Beginner Course so Intermediate and Expert to go.

After that I have immediate short stuff to revisit on PS3 like After Burner Climax and Outrun to launch me into getting through as much as I can on both the PC and PS3

[QualityChimp]

What Remains of Edith Finch
I'm assuming the journal is a benchmark of how long the game is in which case I'm a little under half way in, won't lie - I went in fairly cold but it's very quickly won me over. Really liking how this is delivered and where it's going.

Yeah, it's not very long, but that's not a bad thing. Quality over quantity.

Have a nice week off, mate!

[Neon Ignition]

Cheers

Yeah, walking sims have a particular shelf-life and if they go beyond it the experience falls apart, it seems really well paced so far and is varied enough in interesting ways. I have a suspicion about what the explanation at the end will be, curious to see if it pans out that way.

[JazzFunk]

More Saint's Row 4. Nearly done n' dusted now, just wanna get it finished. Done every side mission so far, all clusters, statues, hackings, towers, hotspots, character 48.5%/50, levelling wise.

Nearly done. No open worlds for a bit, ingame clock saying nearly 30hrs(!)

A sleeve of ace, linear 1p experiences to follow, I will compose a stack. That or polish off the 360 games I have on my Xbone, Ghostbusters and Splinter Cell Conviction and the like.

(Forgot about Gat out of Hell. Might save it for in a bit).

[Cassius_Smoke]

I finally 100% Resi7. Took me an extra run through because I thought I had all the coins and somehow missed the same one twice in a row! Once you get the circular saw it becomes a doddle.

[JazzFunk]

Last leg of Saint's Row 4. Done/found/upgraded practically everything, all side missions, only thing is a few text adventures in the Xmas DLC.

Very near the end, I'll have it done today. It's a great game. A big sadness for me, however, is how underused the open world is. You barely get chance to see it as you're floating across the city and running up buildings 95% of the time.

You never really WALK in this game. You barely even drive the cars, you fly much faster, anyway. They aren't even needed in the game. It's sad because the open world feels and looks lovely, quite organic, there are some stunning vistas and the lighting is lush. And that 'wet pavement' effect is in full force in this game and looks marvellous. It's a cool, hazy place. Although that constant 'glitch' effect is arse. I hope there's a cheat to switch it off (???)

Not only that, the frame rate janks when you're constantly blazing about but it's lovely and stable when you down in the streetz.

It's almost as though the flying mechanic makes the bulk of the game completely unnecessary.

Hmmm. It's a great, fun game. But wastes most of itself.

Is that bad game design? Hmmmm. Hmmmmmmmmmm. If it's great, it can't be.

It's a philosophical question.

[prinnysquad]

Had a blast on Snippa L8 fower earlier on co-op with Pebbly.

Conclusions.

He is Juan Rambo. He runs off firing from the hip, camps by explosive barrels, needs healing when bleeding out several times a mission, forcing me on kamikaze runs to his position (then has the audacity to moan at me for not using suppressed bullets), and yet it works. Because he had more kills every single time.

My shooting is either lamentable or superb. I nailed 48 headshots in 56 kills. Yet most of the time I’d feel like I was shanking easy shots.

The mission where 4 armoured vehicles descend on you when you’ve blown up a radar dish is intense and hard. It was a genuine challenge to marshall targets and survive.

The premise is very samey, yet the locales are so varied and designed with aplomb that it’s rather lovely to play.

[JazzFunk]

FINAL furlong of Saints Row 4. Part 3 of a mission called 'The Grand Finale'. Apparently about to fight Zinyak. Stressed.

Always get that if I play a loooong game. Put over 40hrs in then get scared I'll meet an insurmountable, cheap foe at the very end, scuppering completion of the game.

I hope that doesn't happen and I can report back shortly saying I've finished it!!!!