Whatcha been playing lately?

[matrixman]

A colleague from work sold me his PS2. I've just begun playing Gran Turismo 3. All right, stop the snickering! I know I'm a little behind the gaming curve...

Since my 360 expired in dramatic fashion last weekend, I've been mostly playing Gran Turismo 4 again. It's a far superior game to Gran Turismo 3, although it is a bit frustrating that I have to finish a good chunk of the game to unlock the endurance events.

Sorry about your 360, Nav. That seems like rather short-lived endurance for a $400 machine (in Canadian currency).

Gran Turismo 4 is much better than 3, eh? I presume that also means it's more difficult to master. So, is it worth it for me to play GT3? Or should I skip it and go find a copy of GT4 (depending on the price)? I love racing games, but the ones I've played over the years have been more arcade-style with some passing sim qualities. I don't mind committing to playing a "true" sim like Gran Turismo 3 now that I have it, but I'm just concerned that I might be wasting my time on it if GT4 is a much superior product.

[Nav]

The 360 was actually given to me by a friend who got it free with a new phone contract (quite a sweetner, that) so I can't complain that much. I got the impression that they fail quite often and Microsoft's servicing department was very slick indeed. They sent a courier to collect it on Wednesday and then it came back on Friday and I didn't have to pay a penny. It was actually a different console altogether, so I think they just ship you a replacement straight away and then fix yours and send it off to somebody else later on. I made the mistake of shipping it to them in my retail box though, which I didn't get back.

GT3 is still a good game, but it never felt like the successor to the behemoth that was GT2, whearas GT4 does. There are far fewer cars and your progression through the game is lumpy, I found I really struggled to make it through the middle part of the game but once I unlocked my first open wheel car it became too easy. I think GT3 was a bit rushed in order to make it a near-release title for the PS2, whearas GT4 was delayed forever while it was polished up and it shows. Also, instead of the open wheel cars they have lots of Le Mans Endurance Series cars, like the Bentley Speed 8, Audi R8, Zytek 06S and Pescarolo Courage, which are pretty awesome.

[I'm Murrin]

Civ 4. Good game. I'm crap at it.

[Worm of Despite]

Been mixing it up between Doom 3 and Doom 64 (running it on PC; a much better experience than an N64 pad).

Also playing Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. Forgot how good it was. Some really stellar missions that rival or surpass Call of Duty. A much longer game, to boot. Then again: there's also relentlessly frustrating stuff, such as the sniper level.

[Nav]

I love Civ 4 but I'm pretty bad at it too. My games always end up the same: I spread out, meet my neighbours, play nice but still have a brief but pointless war and then the game ends with me 3rd or 4th most powerful civ and just starting to build my space ship. I think I'm probably not being aggressive enough maybe. I think I perhaps need to keep a continuous war effort going, as it takes me quite a while to mobilize my forces as things are.

I got Perfect Dark Zero the other day and I don't think I've been more disappointed by a game since Rise of the Robots. The bottom line is, it just isn't any fun to play. The controls seem twitchy and vague all at the same time and the 'cover' feature is horrible (although the excellent version in Gears of War may have spoiled me). Most of all I hate the fact that the enemy are so damn hard to see. I come under fire and I spend the next ten to twenty seconds standing around trying to figure out where the shooter is. I wouldn't mind so much if the enemies had the same trouble seeing me but their aim is unerring, even through 50 metres of dense undergrowth. To compensate for this, Joanna is a hell of a lot tougher and has some weird health regeneration system where she'll come back to 3/4 health by hiding behind a rock for 20 seconds.

The story as well, is infuriating. Daniel Carrington escapes relatively unscathed, only sporting a new kilt and a slightly less dodgy Scottish accent. As for Joanna herself, well now she's American and works as a bounty hunter with her dear old dad. In the three years that elapse between PDZ and PD, she apprently learns to speak BBC English and loses two cup sizes (by my reckoning). This game is a perfect example of why Microsoft should've left Rare the hell alone. I played through the original game countless times and I'm still trying to get through it on Perfect Agent mode. I'm about half way through this one and if I can stick it until the end of Agent mode (looking unlikely at the moment) I doubt I'll play it again.

[Cagliostro]

Been playing Battle for Middle Earth, or whatever. The first one on the PC. Fun stuff. I have the second as well, but the regular version wasn't all that challenging, although it had good stuff here and there. The older one is actually a little cooler, although not as much to do overall. I suspect the second will have a lot more playability, but the first is more wow inducing. And I don't go back and play games a lot anyway.
Saying that, I am also replaying Gabriel Knight 3. Fantastic game, and was my introduction to the stuff in Holy Blood, Holy Grail, as well as what later became Da Vinci's Code. I just wanted a refresher, as I thought Gabriel Knight 3 was 3 times the fun of reading Da Vinci's Code or seeing the movie. Which means a lot more than reading HBHG.

[Avatar]

Well, I'm playing Medieval II TW.

More on that in the relevant thread.

--A

[Nav]

I picked up a cheap 360 hard drive on eBay today, so I'm hoping to play Catan at the weekend.

[Worm of Despite]

Still slugging through Medal of Honor. On the fourth dungeon of Link's Awakening.

Will play Wario Land II after I beat Awakening. I remember always wanting to play it when it came out but never getting around to it. Had the same problem with Harvest Moon!

[Avatar]

Despite my wonderful MIITW, (which has not been everything I was hoping for), I spent this weekend playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl.

Interesting mix of FPS and limited roleplaying, done very well though.

--A

[Ghostrider]

I'm working on sports seasons all the time in Madden, NHL, NBA, and MLB.

But I'm also enjoying Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy XII respectively.

[Worm of Despite]

Beat Allied Assault; installed its first expansion, Spearhead. On fourth dungeon in Link's Awakening.

[Loredoctor]

STALKER, Company of Heroes, and Silent Hunter IV.

[matrixman]

I got Perfect Dark Zero the other day and I don't think I've been more disappointed by a game since Rise of the Robots. The bottom line is, it just isn't any fun to play.

This game is a perfect example of why Microsoft should've left Rare the hell alone. I played through the original game countless times and I'm still trying to get through it on Perfect Agent mode. I'm about half way through this one and if I can stick it until the end of Agent mode (looking unlikely at the moment) I doubt I'll play it again.

Wow, it's that bad, huh? And Microsoft interfered with Rare on the game? Tsk, tsk. I regret I never played the original Perfect Dark on N64.

On the racing front, well, I haven't touched Gran Turismo 3 since my first day with it. Maybe I'll play it again eventually...it's hard to get used to a sim after the flashier style of arcade racers. In the meantime, I picked up Enter The Matrix in the bargain bin. I've only just begun playing it and I'm already stuck; I generally suck at anything that isn't a first-person shooter, a racing game, or a golf game, so I'll see how many more times I get stuck in Enter The Matrix before I give up entirely. I only got this game because of the Matrix tie-in. Pathetic, but true. If they made a Matrix golf game, I'd probably check it out, too.

Also, I picked up Burnout Revenge and love it! (I was introduced tothe first Burnout on a friend's Gamecube.) Maybe all real-life aggressive drivers should play the Burnout games just to get all the road rage out of their system. It's evil fun to see your car launch off a ramp and into busy traffic, resulting in ridiculous levels of vehicular carnage.

[Cagliostro]

Pocketpool on my PlayBoy

[A Gunslinger]

I am in season 7 of a Madden '06 Franchise. I named my Rookie TE (275, 6'7") Mhoram. I am a such a geek.

[Nav]

I'm perhaps a little hard on PDZ, but I honestly think I'd enjoy a straight port of the old game from the N64, at least that was fun to play.

Anyway, I have a new love in the form of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. It's possibly the most playable game I've ever seen; push the left stick in a direction and you fly there, puch the right stick in a direction and you shoot there, press either trigger to drop a bomb. The graphics are deceptively simple, looking like empty shapes, but the explosions and weapons (the more powerful weapons really distort the 'grid' that you play on) look so cool, particularly when things start to get hectic.

You can also check your score on the leaderboard with everyone else in the world. I thought my 200,000 was quite respectable until I checked the top of the leaderboard. The world's finest Geometry Wars player has achieved a score of 304,000,000

[Avatar]

Too much time on their hands...

--A

[Nav]

And the reflexes of Anakin Skywalker, apparently!

[Avatar]

--A