What has everyone been playing this week?

[CMcK]

R-Type on XBLA. iPhone wise still playing Edge, Drop 7 and I.Force which is a bullet hell/Boss Battle shooter.

[Eight Rooks]

Started Resistance 2.

*snip*

To see people fawning all over it in reviews is sickening. It's an insult to the original (which I had a real soft spot for).

Now the first bit - I wouldn't say sickening, but hey, I agree the 8s and 9s are massively over-rating it... still, the second bit? Jesus, the first Resistance bored the life out of me. Couldn't finish it, it was just so sloooow, poorly paced, soulless and generally tedious. To me the sequel's a massive improvement even if it is largely due to a fresh coat of paint; looks much better, actually has a sense of size, scale and drama even if it never really does anything with it, actually has some story sequences that stick with you even if they're horribly presented. Neither is a particularly great game though. Insomniac have yet to really impress me with anything they've done - I've never understood the appeal of Ratchet & Clank, either.

[Charlie]

Mainly PGR3. Still.

[DANGEROUS-3]

Just finished my second game of 2009- No More Heros.

The graphics were pretty cool, but aside from that I don't see what was so great about the game. EDGE giving it a 9 was ridiculous. I'd say it was a 7. A solid game, but aside from it's personality it didn't do anything to a particularly high standard.

Next up is Fable 2.

[Spatial]

To me the sequel's a massive improvement even if it is largely due to a fresh coat of paint; looks much better, actually has a sense of size, scale and drama even if it never really does anything with it, actually has some story sequences that stick with you even if they're horribly presented.

Well it does sicken me that reviewers have been so sycophantic over something so blatantly rubbish. Those 9.5's etc for Killzone 2 are starting to get a more cynical look over.

At least the first game had the charm of being a launch title. Number two should be improving things, not stepping backwards. And it is a step backward (in fact several steps backward) in terms of visuals consistency and gameplay mechanics.

I just can't see how the second game can be classed as looking better. For me it's like a bag of sweeties mixed with dog **** - you put your hand in and have no idea what you're going to get.

And to put it in some form of context, I've just played through Legendary which was actually the better of the two titles (which isn't saying a lot).

[sj33]

I've just started the original Project Zero today. Me and my mates love a good creepy Japanese horror movie, and my mate pretty much worships the Project Zero series. I only played 5 minutes of it tonight, and I can tell I'm gonna love this one. Definately one to play post-midnight with the lights off though, and it's approaching daytime now... better save it for tomorrow night =(

[Darwock]

Rather you than me.. I couldn't get more than about an hour into the game before having to give it up.

This week I'm on one massive final push to try and 100% Wipeout HD before my girlfriend returns next tuesday... spending all my time in Zone mode attempting to reach Supersonic. I can see gradual improvement but I need to take breaks between attempts for the sake of my eyesight, so next tuesday looks optimistic. I wonder how the gf would feel if I called and asked her to stay in Canada for a few more days? :P

[kernow]

Started Resistance 2.

Great opening, great premise, but all told it's an insipid piece of ****.

The thing plays like it's been cobbled together by the work experience staff, the visuals are garbage (why is the water under the Golden Gate bridge made of black gloop?), all the nice little visual touches have been stripped out, the gameplay with it's awful insta-death sequences like something from the early 90's, and the main survival tactic in the game seems to be to circle around the bigger enemies like you're playing Doom for the first time!

To see people fawning all over it in reviews is sickening. It's an insult to the original (which I had a real soft spot for).

I agree with this 1000%

I am playing resistance 2 also, and apart from *very tiny* enjoyable parts, its not a patch on the original. I can't even be arsed to read the intel, and won't be playing it a second time through, probably co-op with a mate and thats about it.

it sucks pretty much.

I actually kept my R1 savegame because I heard the 2nd would be using it somehow, but I don't even think it does, I've had no visual indication of it anyway. I doubt it.

[Number45]

Have you guys tried out the co-op on R2 out of curiosity? Not that I'm suggesting it makes up for the relative poor quality of the single player campaign, but I know that co-op is where I got 99% of the value from.

Also, I'd say it's worth completing for the story. As I mentioned previously I prefer the delivery in the first (No Rachel in the second. ) but I still really like the story in the second, and you'll want to know what happens throughout the game and particularly at the end.

[Fargo]

Lots of Demos this week namely Resident Evil 5 and Killzone plus the odd game of Left 4 Dead.

[Eight Rooks]

Heh, well, I think Spatial would probably be able to guess R2's ending a mile off... I know I did. I still enjoyed the story on the whole, though, and I couldn't stand the voiceovers in the first game. One more reason it bored the crap out of me.

I agree the review gushing over it is blatantly unwarranted - but I'd read Edge's review first so I more or less knew what I was getting into.

EDIT: Oh, oh - and what "nice little visual touches"? Seriously, I thought the graphics in the first game were largely average at best. Bland, identikit corridors or snap-together building block levels with no fine detail at all. I remember playing the cathedral level and thinking "Is this it?". The second game still suffered from that - Insomniac really need some more talented designers - but it seemed far, far more immersive.

[Number45]

Heh, well, I think Spatial would probably be able to guess R2's ending a mile off... I know I did.

Yeah, it's pretty well telegraphed, but I liked it anyway and...

->Open Spoiler<-

I like the fact that you wonder what they're going to do with the inevitable R3

.

[Eight Rooks]

I did still like it, yes. It was one reason I found the game so frustrating - it's a cliched, yet still powerful narrative trope, something videogames really don't do very often (it breaks one of the "rules" I absolutely hated, in a book I read for my university dissertation) and Insomniac still waste much of the potential the idea gives them with cutscenes that last about twenty seconds tops, that cut out in weird ways, that don't go anywhere, that leave great swathes of (potentially) interesting detail missing. The storytelling isn't that bad, it's just... barely there. I think a lot of the gushing in reviews came from just reading too much into what was there, like the Eurogamer review talking about the bit in the cinema: I just wanted to scream "Stop, for Christ's sake - just look at what you're playing - no, don't fill in the blanks in your head - look. At. What. You're. Actually. Doing." (As in shambling, brainless, identikit enemies, bare walls, no visual detail, no background, glitches, over in about thirty seconds etc., etc.)

Still, even that was more than anything I got out of Resistance 1. Never did finish it.

[sj33]

Rather you than me.. I couldn't get more than about an hour into the game before having to give it up.

In a good way or bad way?

Played a bit more tonight, awesome stuff. As I say, I like Asian horror, so this is right up my alley. Also, playing the game with the lights off at night, it's genuinely scary at times. I've never really found a game particularly scary before, this puts Resi and Silent Hill to shame in that sense (and has further convinced me that Resi's step away from horror is one I don't like).

Shame there's no Japanese language option. Bloody weird having Japanese girls in a Japanese mansion in Japan, speaking in American English. Feels right out of place.

[Golgo]

finished megaman 2 on vc just now. thought i should complete at least one megaman game in my life. superb, tightly-designed game, but hard as nails and frustrating as hell in terms of checkpoints. ace music. glad it's over, though.