What You've Been Playing This Week

[Dogg Thang]

I fell through the map at one point, ha ha!

This happens to real park rangers.

I loved Firewatch.

There's actually a lovely book called "Fire Season: Field notes from a wilderness lookout" by Philip Connors. It just describes that job and the role of fire and the experiences. It's nice.

With my new PS5, I'm currently playing Star Wars Outlaws and Spider-Man 2.

Outlaws took a bit to win me over but, once off the first planet, I started to love it. It really feels like being in Star Wars. It's soooooo Star Wars. My only issue is that it has stealth sections and I'm just not a big stealth guy. But overall I'm really enjoying it.

Spider-Man 2 is much like the first and it's so much fun. It's bombarding me with controls, too many inputs that often don't feel intuitive - I had that issue with the first one and it's even worse here. But the swinging is perfect and generally it plays so well. It's bright and colourful and just enjoyable.

[Deuteros]

I started playing the SNES version of Wizardry V on Thursday.

I was happy with the characters I'd rolled by Saturday.

[egparadigm]

I’m deep into the nightdive FPSs. I’ve just finished Quake 2 and have started Turok. Powerslave Exhumed is in the queue!

[hudson]

Deffo need to get on Vampire Survivors at some point!

I know you have this now What you think?

[QualityChimp]

I know you have this now What you think?

I think you're a damn drug dealer for pushing this onto me and getting me addicted. You a-hole!

When I was about 11, I got a Game Boy for Christmas and I played Tetris all Christmas Day and when I went to bed and closed my eyes, I could see tetrominoes falling endlessly.

Apart from seeing giant wasps after a particularly intense EDF session, it's not really happened since.

Until this weekend...

When I closed my eyes, I could see an endless stream of XP gems flying to my character in Vampire Survivors.

So, this is a really basic-looking game with retro pixel sprites and chiptune music and a really basic gameplay - survive.
However, that simplistic veneer hides the moreish crackpipe of a game that lurks underneath.
It's the epitome of "Just one more go". I started making bad life decisions and not seeing friends because I wanted to clear a level.
Just say "no", gang.

I found it pretty tough at first, dying when certain waves kicked in, but realised you could spend the hard-earned coin to upgrade your gadgie, so that on the next run, they odds are slightly more stacked in their favour.
Then you get slightly more tactical, choosing which powerups to prioritise. Do you get one more projectile or do you increase the base damage to all of them?

At first you're running around, dodging tiny bats, but before long, you're a tank, letting them come to you to sacrifice their undead bodies to increase your XP.

Took a fair few attempts at the first level, doing slightly longer runs each time until I hit the perfect combo level of weapons after upgrading and just stomping through the levels. Next couple of levels were done easily, but I died a couple of times in the last 30 seconds on one as the golems overwhelmed me.

Now I'm working my way through the levels, but also going back to unlock new characters and bonus items like the map/item screen.

I even roped my son into playing a level of couch co-op and we smashed through the castle level as it's a vertical map and I'd just unlocked a character with an OP vertical attack.

So, yeah. Vampire Survivors is amazing but horribly addictive and I hunger for another session like a vampire thirsts for blood!

[hudson]

I think you're a damn drug dealer for pushing this onto me and getting me addicted. You a-hole!



So, this is a really basic-looking game

lol you nailed it. I'm so sorry I turned you and your son into gem junkies.

Basic-looking-game...

[QualityChimp]

At first, it's like "ooh, run away from these 5 bats!"
Next thing you know, you're drenched in the blood of chimeras, Frankensteins and triffids.

It's weirdly simultaneously relaxing and stressful.

What's your fave character?
Just unlocked the gunslinger, who is fun.

Fave upgrades?
Garlic FTW, but add Bibles and candelabras and you're untouchable.

[hudson]

My new fave characters since picking it up on PS5, something I wasn't aware of, are the Contra characters. Bill, Lance etc etc. So been using those mainly. I really just love to mix it up and level up weapons I've not really looked into before - the whole, this looks like a **** weapon, but maybe that's what they want you to think and really it's OP!

I hadn't played the game for a while so I'd forgotten which power-ups pair best to evolve weapons. Also I remember something about how to

->Open Spoiler<-

have a chance to kill Death using the freezing power-up and the out-in-the-field rings and I can't remember, maybe something else I never successfully done this yet though)

It's another one of those games I like to put on when I'm not in the mood for a big triple A or fighting game. Plus you can play one handed.... okay stop that!

[QualityChimp]

The Contra stuff is extra on PS4. Only £1.70 or something, but there's plenty of content without it at the moment.

Ironically, this "30 minute" session can last longer as you keep replaying levels or dying before the time out.

As per your spoiler, It scared the life out of me the first time I got to 30 minutes!
He did appear mid-level once but seemed to chase but bullets went though him.

My other fave game like this is One Finger Death Punch - I've played that and the sequel for hours when I've not wanted to invest a lot of time in a game.

[wakka]

I played the CoD Blops 6 open beta for a bit at the weekend.

Well, it's CoD, and if you like that you'll like it and if you don't you won't. I like it so found it fun - the new omnimovement system helps increase the frenetic pace of matches even more, since you can now run backwards and sideways as well as forwards, and also do dramatic John Woo style dives while firing in mid-air.

I played three new maps in total - one set around a video store and strip mall in an American town (I think the game is set in the 90s), one around an abandoned train station in the jungle, and one set around a giant dilapidated satellite dish in some kind of desert setting.

I also tried a mode that was new, at least to me, which was where players on each team take turns being the 'High Value Target', having their position shown on the minimap, and awarding extra points to enemy players who manage to kill them. If you're the HVT, you get extra credit for kills you accrue, too. That one was pretty fun, I enjoyed skimming around the edge of the map sniping people from afar while dodging being caught.

I think I might pick this one up when it comes out in late October.

[Neon Ignition]

I never ended installing the beta thanks to Astro. I'm pretty glad it's Game Pass bound as it makes it risk free, the common themes I've read are about how fast the gameplay now is (it needed slowing rather than speeding up) and that the map design is awful, so like MW3 it'll probably end up being a couple of nights and done.

[Blobcat]

Ive been slightly obsessed with playing Supermarket Simulator the past month or so. Its weird how satisfying it is

[CMcK]

Started Astro Bot on PS5 last night. More of the same so still bright and fun. Really wish there was a VR version though.

[QualityChimp]

hudson, I just saw this pop up on YouTube!

[Finsbury Girl]

Been finishing off the mission trophies in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. Some of the levels are absolutely top notch. The sniping one Recon by Fire bought back vibes from All Ghillied Up. It was excellent. Others however are pure trash, the section where you have to

->Open Spoiler<-

kill Graves in a tank was awful

. This game looks great, there is a significant improvement over the last one.

For some reason though Activision forces me to install 100s of gig of utter ****e and the UI/UX is some of the worst I have encountered. I have to scroll though many pages just to get to the game menu I want. **** tier stuff. I'll put upo with it until I play part 3 as I'm invested in the story now & want to see where it goes.

Why the fark didn't they get a Scot to voice Soap - his accent is gash ; petition: bring back Kevin! I also preferred Craig Fairbrass as Ghost

Multiplayer is multiplayer ; its loads of fun in small sessions ; I still prefer the modes with objectives but don't mind team deathmatch too much. It blows my mind how there are peeps whose levels are in the thousands (I'm level 20 )

It is impossible to get anyone to play co-op missions which is quite annoying