What You've Been Playing This Week

[Brad]

F1 22

This is absolutely amazing (graphically) in VR. A full grid in the pouring rain actually looks like real life. Waiting for a wheel setup to arrive because the analogue sticks on a 360 pad do not have anything like the finesse required!

[Atticus]

I found myself drawn back to MWII. Kill Confirmed and TDM ahoy! Sometimes it's good, sometimes I couldn't hit a cow's arse with a shovel.

Also been playing Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. Just on the first island and it's loads of fun. Combat is great and there's plenty to discover.

Finally I set up the old PSVR ... see how it holds up. Amazingly well is the answer. Yes, I just wheeled out my old favourites but they blow my mind every time (Rez Infinite, Tetris Effect & Astro Bot).

[wakka]

I've been playing MW II as well. As addictive as ever. I've just started using a marksman rifle, which is an absolute LASER. As long as you aim well. If you don't aim well you get killed.

I do not usually aim well

[endo]

Was ill last week so ended up with a bit more gaming time than usual, so finally got stuck into the campaign in Halo Infinite. It's... actually pretty good! I've played loads of multiplayer since release, but not touched the campaign till now (well, since it appeared - late - anyway). Only a few levels in and there's plenty of variety. Loads of weapons, satisfying gunplay, decent challenge (playing on heroic for now). All in all, good stuff so far.

Also been mopping up what's left in Trials Rising, which turns out to be quite a bit. Only hard and harder tracks left now, but I'm actually getting through them with some decent times and not too many faults. It's not as immediately compelling as the earlier games, which have been getting progressively more Ubisoft-ified, finally leading to this game, which features a messy, sprawling world map, ****ing "crates" of random ****e you win and are supposed to be excited to open, loads of paid extras, etc., but the core trials experience is still there and as brilliant as it ever was. Can they ever release a back-to-basics pure Trials game again? No idea and probably not, but this'll do for now.

[CMcK]

Just started Sonic Frontiers and after a bit of tweaking to the options, namely 60fps, look invert and camera follow, I was getting quite into it. Then my controller batteries died. Ah well.
On to the Switch for the updated version of Snow Bros. It’s very like the original but with smoother graphics and a widescreen setting. It’s a game I’ve always enjoyed and got it in the sale so wasn’t a waste of money.

[QualityChimp]

I fancy dipping into the PS+ games I've had but never played.

What would you choose from these and why?
Nioh 2
Yakuza: Like A Dragon
God of War
Ghost of Tsushima
Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 2 Campaign Remastered

[Atticus]

I fancy dipping into the PS+ games I've had but never played.

What would you choose from these and why?
Nioh 2
Yakuza: Like A Dragon
God of War
Ghost of Tsushima
Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 2 Campaign Remastered

I would recommend Like a Dragon ... just because it's something different. Not only is it a new gameplay direction with the turn-based combat, it's also a new chapter in the series so anyone can jump in. I had a great time with it for the 70 or so hours it took to complete. It was like a life raft arriving during the height of COVID.

[Neon Ignition]

I fancy dipping into the PS+ games I've had but never played.

What would you choose from these and why?
Nioh 2
Yakuza: Like A Dragon
God of War
Ghost of Tsushima
Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 2 Campaign Remastered

I'd say it depends on what you've last played. MW2 Remastered is more a palette cleanser if you want something short and straight forward after a lengthy title.

The others, it's wildly different experiences but I'd wade in and say... you've played Earth Defense Force: World Brothers already right?

[QualityChimp]

I'd say it depends on what you've last played. MW2 Remastered is more a palette cleanser if you want something short and straight forward after a lengthy title.

The others, it's wildly different experiences but I'd wade in and say... you've played Earth Defense Force: World Brothers already right?

I fancy something short, tbh, but then a mate has offered Elden Ring...

I've only got pauper's PS+, rather than the PS+ Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX + α, so no World Bros.

[Neon Ignition]

If you're considering Elden Ring then I'd set aside Nioh, Ghost and Yakuza as it's a lot of heavy, lengthy gaming. COD can break the experiences up and GOW is fine for that kind of thing too, best to alternate

[QualityChimp]

Cheers, man.
I have a habit of playing stuff like Fallout and Red Dead for moooonths on end, so a couple of shorter games would be good too.

[Neon Ignition]

Headed into the weekend I've had a fairly productive month finally and am now currently on:


PS5 - Paper Beasts
XSX - The Pedestrian and Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed
PC - Bayonetta 3
SD - Half Life 2

[wakka]

I finally tore myself away from MW II multiplayer and started putting some time into the story mode.

Judging by what's happening in the story and how long I've spent playing it (between 2 and 3 hours total), I'd estimate I'm halfway through now. And it's a mixed bag, honestly.

The gunplay, obviously, is solid. The graphics are good. It has terse cutscenes with four star generals in sunlit offices overlooking Washington videochatting with the usual gang of campy commandos (Ghost with his goofy mask and Soap with his 2000s era mohawk), which are slick and silly and that I enjoy.

But what's obvious with this one is that they've leant in hard on the most heavily scripted level format. For those that don't know, in the 2019 Modern Warfare reboot, there were a couple of levels were you worked as a team to breach a location. There's a really memorable one where you're clearing out a townhouse in London at night looking for a terrorist cell, working slowly and methodically from room to room.

It was a proper 'ripped from the headlines' segment and felt tense and realistic, nicely breaking up the more traditional COD levels where you're tasked with getting from A to B through a Middle Eastern war zone/bombed-out embassy/airfield, etc, shooting plenty of perps en route.

In this one, there's a lot more of that type of London townhouse level. Like, a LOT more. Most of the story so far sees you working through heavily scripted segments alongside an AI team mate, with plenty of dialogue guiding the action.

The problem with this is that it falls into that trap of heavily scripted games where you end up feeling not so much an elite commando behind enemy lines, and more someone acting in a play for which you don't know your lines.

Doing the wrong thing at the wrong moment - shooting someone when you're not supposed to, going the wrong way, taking too long to catch up with your teammates when they've moved forward, etc - results in a game over and a restart from the nearest checkpoint (which are mercifully frequent). You're very rarely given any latitude whatsoever in how you can approach situation, instead feeling like you're constantly waiting on a cue to do something, which is not always entirely clear to interpret.

I'm still enjoying it for what it is, but I really feel that this type of level should be an infrequent part of a wider mix of level types, with the emphasis placed on more free format action. I'd like to see levels where I'm given a briefing to get to a destination across a larger space with more optional paths, against snipers and infantry and so on, and given the opportunity to approach that how I want within reason. Some levels could even let you select your own loadout of weapons, from a limited level-appropriate selection, as you do in multiplayer.

That for me would be a lot more involving and fun, and crucially would actually allow me to deploy the skills I have to hone in order to play the multiplayer game. All the stuff you do there - anticipating where an enemy player might go or how they might react to something - is thrown out the window in story mode because the game is so rigidly scripted that it allows for no decision-making whatsoever.

So, a mixed bag, as I say. I can see what they've tried to do but it hasn't quite worked for me.

[dataDave]

DMC 5.

[Cepp]

Having my first go at Xbox GamesPass and went a bit download mad. Tried DOOM 64 while waiting for everything else but I just can't seem to get to grips with controls on a pad, so jumped back into Battlefield 1943 for the first time in years and had a blast. I love that game.