What You've Been Playing This Week

[Cepp]

There's a new bowling/bar/arcade place in Manchester called Tenpin at The Printworks, where The Hard Rock Casino used to be.

I checked it out today. They don't have a whole lot but they do have a few light gun games and racing games. Jurassic Park was a lot of fun. Halo wouldn't take my money sadly.







Mario Kart was fun as always,





Does Nintendo own the Cruis'n series? I had a quick blast and it was fun enough. There's no brake pedal for this game though, just an accelerator which felt odd.

[JazzFunk]

^DAS IST WUNDERBAR!!!!

Not quite as impressive but I'm currently ferreting away at the start of DISHONORED: DEFINITIVE EDITION on XB1.

It's a game I've owned three times before...360 phys...PS3 phys...360 digi via GWG...and I've always started it and spent a good four hours with it then have left it to fester. And I can tell it's a great game, I guess I'm always scared of the timesink that might be involved.

Anyway, this is probs my fifth start with this. It's still great, bit sad it's 30fps but it's nice and chunky, deffo nicer than 360, and ya get all the DLC.

Was only like £5 or summat so I'm not gonna be too harsh on it, I'm just enjoying exploring the world right now.

[phillv85]

I’ve just gone back to my save on Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (from August 2016 ) I forgot how beautiful this game is, and how fluidly it plays. A lot of people complained it’s super repetitive, which I understand, but I can see past it. It’s such a wacky game, but so much fun.

[dvdx2]

Being playing some half life 2 on the Xbox x in 4k. Totally amazing! Onto the master chief collection next!

[randombs]

Adventures in Game Pass this weekend:

Forza Horizon 4 (PC)

I tried this despite my Forza Horizon 3 demo shenanigans. Amazingly, it booted up first time. This was also my first time experiencing the Xbox One triggers rumbling. It had a clackety-clack sensation and I didn't like it.

Streets of Rage 4 (PC)

Unfortunately, the Windows Store version only supports XInput and my Saturn USB controller was freaking out with both Steam's XInput conversion and X360CE so I gave up and just used the XBO controller. This game also has that trigger vibration. Weirdly, it was only the left trigger. It felt rubbish and too strong even at 10% strength so I just disabled vibration.

Flight Simulator 2000 (PC)

I left it installing overnight on Saturday so I could have some relaxing Sunday morning flights. This game does not scale down very well! I had to drop to 1366x768 to get 60fps but it looked like it was even lower than that. Jaggies abound, even with anti-aliasing turned on. Can't wait to try it on the Series S.

Sunset Overdrive (PC)

This took me a little while to get into. The music and art style implied speed but my character's movement was slow and really floaty when jumping. Grinding was literally a grind. So slow! I persevered and the game suddenly became wicked once I'd been taught how to bounce around and boost.

It looks gorgeous and it's really funny. The audio levels are all over the place(cut scenes are LOUD), but the music is great.

I let my wife customise my character so I'm a sexy lady in a bra and pink pants, beating the crap out of monsters while grinding on my bare feet. Apparently I can change her later but she's growing on me

Halo wouldn't take my money sadly.

It's likely nonsense, but I find the machines take my coins if I spin them backwards by flicking down with my finger.

[Cepp]

Adventures in Game Pass this weekend:

Forza Horizon 4 (PC)

I tried this despite my Forza Horizon 3 demo shenanigans. Amazingly, it booted up first time. This was also my first time experiencing the Xbox One triggers rumbling. It had a clackety-clack sensation and I didn't like it.

Streets of Rage 4 (PC)

Unfortunately, the Windows Store version only supports XInput and my Saturn USB controller was freaking out with both Steam's XInput conversion and X360CE so I gave up and just used the XBO controller. This game also has that trigger vibration. Weirdly, it was only the left trigger. It felt rubbish and too strong even at 10% strength so I just disabled vibration.

Flight Simulator 2000 (PC)

I left it installing overnight on Saturday so I could have some relaxing Sunday morning flights. This game does not scale down very well! I had to drop to 1366x768 to get 60fps but it looked like it was even lower than that. Jaggies abound, even with anti-aliasing turned on. Can't wait to try it on the Series S.

Sunset Overdrive (PC)

This took me a little while to get into. The music and art style implied speed but my character's movement was slow and really floaty when jumping. Grinding was literally a grind. So slow! I persevered and the game suddenly became wicked once I'd been taught how to bounce around and boost.

It looks gorgeous and it's really funny. The audio levels are all over the place(cut scenes are LOUD), but the music is great.

I let my wife customise my character so I'm a sexy lady in a bra and pink pants, beating the crap out of monsters while grinding on my bare feet. Apparently I can change her later but she's growing on me



It's likely nonsense, but I find the machines take my coins if I spin them backwards by flicking down with my finger.

Oh I tried it mate, every which way haha. The machine was just being fiddly I guess.

[randombs]

Oh I tried it mate, every which way haha. The machine was just being fiddly I guess.

Did you try this?

[QualityChimp]

Mainly RDR2 this weekend.

I was hooked before, but the online version has added Skinner Box tricks to keep me coming back every day.

There's a set of 7 daily challenges.
Each one rewards you with gold.
Complete at least one every day for a week for a multiplier boost.
Complete all seven for another boost.
Complete all seven for a week and get another boost.

It all starts snowballing and it's a clever way to eat your time up, but also tempt you to spend real money.
So far, I've not spent any real money, but bought a snazzy camera upgrade (one of my fave moments of the solo game) with dollars and paid gold to start the new "Naturalist" role (not "naturist"...)

There's a £4.50 one-time offer for 25 gold bars that I'm so tempted to buy, damnit.

The Naturalist opens up three elements - logging animals you find (scan, track, photo, sedate and sample and skin) and freeing them from poachers for Harriet or hunting them for the new trapper character.

[Cepp]

Did you try this?

I should have, that might have done the trick

[randombs]

I should have, that might have done the trick

I like the idea of the coin bouncing off the Halo machine and landing in something you really didn't want to play, like one of those ticket-dispensing Space Invaders machines

[randombs]

Killer Instinct (PC)

Sweet Jesus and spicy Mohammed, this game is insanely good. I’m loving all these Xbox games I never really paid attention to on account of having PlayStations for the past ten years.

The graphics are great, the music is wicked, and there are so many nice touches(like ultra combos affecting the beat). I’ve played through Story Mode with Jago, Orchid, TJ Hooker and Hisako. I’m doing a lot of button-mashing and enjoying the spectacle.

The Xbox One controller’s dpad is lovely but I switched to my Hori PS4 pad to use the six face buttons. Again, Xinput so the Saturn pad is out

[QualityChimp]

Crying with laughter at last night's RDR2 Online session with my mates.

We stole a train and arsed around on it, trying to jump to our horses and back, which lead to a few fatalities.
I even ran someone over when we were barely moving.

Did some good story and bounty missions too.

I look forward to seeing what the daily challenges are and seeing how many I can do.

[Neon Ignition]

A mid-Paternity update:


Nintendo 3DS
Chipping away at Kid Icarus: Uprising, now on Chapter 18

Nintendo Switch
A couple of shines into Super Mario Sunshine, very early but so far it's easy enough

Playstation 3
Managed to finally crack two or three missions in Call of Duty: Black Ops

PC
I'm approach 70% of the way through Mafia: Definitive Edition. Forgot that it was a linear game in an open world so progress is swift and to be honest it's been really fun.

[wakka]

I've been fully on Tony Hawk's 1 & 2 recently, which I've enjoyed immensely. I cleared all the main objectives in both games a little while back, and since then I've just been noodling around playing for score in Single Session mode. Hugely playable game, with a great vibe. I really hope they do more.

I'm kinda reaching the end of my time with it though, so was at a slight loose end last night. Remembered that the sixth and final season of Modern Warfare has now begun, so I stuck that on for a bit. Hadn't been on for a while and got creamed initially, but then started to get my mojo back.

I really like one of this week's playlists - Killstreak Confirmed, which I've never seen before. Kill Confirmed is my jam anyway, probably my favourite mode. This tweak is a bit of laff. Basically you earn killstreaks not from kills, but from collecting the dogtags players drop when they die. The crucial thing is that your progress in collecting these and earning killstreaks rolls over when you die, so you pretty quickly start racking up multiple top tier streaks. Like all of my favourite weekly playlists, it's a fun, silly twist on the usual gameplay.

Playing it again also reconfirmed in my mind just how 'off' Black Ops Cold War felt when I played it during the Alpha. I didn't spend enough time with it to put my finger on it, but it just wasn't nearly as fun or as satisfying to play. I think it's a good thing though - I sunk 130 hours into Modern Warfare, which is enough for me. I'm happy to take a good long break now until there's another really strong entry.

Next on the docket is Mario 3D All Stars, which is currently sat still sealed on my shelf, having lost the attention war to Tony Hawk's when it first dropped!

[fuse]

I've been fully on Tony Hawk's 1 & 2 recently, which I've enjoyed immensely. [...] I really hope they do more.

Who wants to tell him?