What are you playing now?

[GeneticJen]

I just finished Heavy Rain. I fucking love it. I can see why it's a marmite thing, love or hate, but fuck that was brilliant. It's one of the few games I desperately want to replay instantly, as opposed to years later for nostalgia or not at all.



I don't think I've been so involved in a game before. I don't get overly excited during actions games, I don't really get emotional during most story-driven games, but I can admit my heart was pounding at times. I love how the game forces you to make physical actions. I tended to not notice so much during the actions, but afterwards I often found myself feeling a little like the character would have felt (I could feel my muscles had been working, for example). If you get it, you'll see what I mean.

Regarding the way the story works, this takes the replay value of Mass Effect 2 and shits all over it. As a test I did play a single chapter differently and was treated to entire scenes that I wouldn't have seen, and big plot developments. The best thing is that you never feel like you've done something wrong. Actually, it often feels wrong, due to what the decisions often are, but what I mean is that you don't make a decision and then really fuck the game up. No matter what you do, the game continues. Get a main character killed? The game continues. Kill all the main characters? The game continues. And while you're playing it, they've set everything up so it really feels like one solid story where what you've just caused was meant to happen. You do sometimes regret decisions, and wonder if it was the best idea, in the same way that you would worry if it was the best idea if you had made the decision yourself in real life. The game is really designed to tug at your morals and emotions. You have some pretty horrible things to consider.

[Animavore]

I'm playing Darksiders (demo). Its a really good puzzle game along the lines of Tombraider but with the fighting style of God of War 3, I will probably rent the full game.
Speaking of GoW 3, I have the demo of that loading right now.

[tattuchu]

I just finished Heavy Rain. I fucking love it. I can see why it's a marmite thing, love or hate, but fuck that was brilliant. It's one of the few games I desperately want to replay instantly, as opposed to years later for nostalgia or not at all.



I don't think I've been so involved in a game before. I don't get overly excited during actions games, I don't really get emotional during most story-driven games, but I can admit my heart was pounding at times. I love how the game forces you to make physical actions. I tended to not notice so much during the actions, but afterwards I often found myself feeling a little like the character would have felt (I could feel my muscles had been working, for example). If you get it, you'll see what I mean.

Regarding the way the story works, this takes the replay value of Mass Effect 2 and shits all over it. As a test I did play a single chapter differently and was treated to entire scenes that I wouldn't have seen, and big plot developments. The best thing is that you never feel like you've done something wrong. Actually, it often feels wrong, due to what the decisions often are, but what I mean is that you don't make a decision and then really fuck the game up. No matter what you do, the game continues. Get a main character killed? The game continues. Kill all the main characters? The game continues. And while you're playing it, they've set everything up so it really feels like one solid story where what you've just caused was meant to happen. You do sometimes regret decisions, and wonder if it was the best idea, in the same way that you would worry if it was the best idea if you had made the decision yourself in real life. The game is really designed to tug at your morals and emotions. You have some pretty horrible things to consider.

Well I love Marmite, so I think I'll give this game a try. In fact I just finished Bioshock for the 2nd time, and wondered what I'd play next while waiting for The Last Guardian...

[GeneticJen]

Nearly everything in this game affects the plot, so it's hard to mention cool things without spoiling the story. The control system allows the game to be so much more than just one thing... you could be hurtling down a freeway, dodging traffic, shooting people, trying to escape from something, or just doing everyday tasks... and the control scheme has been used in really intelligent ways so that what you are physically doing emulates what is happening in the game. I remember one part where the character is upside down and the controls were upside down too, which led to a bit of extra confusion and caused me to make mistakes and then start to panic, just as the character would.

The characters are quality. I won't mention what they're all about though, as getting into the minds of the characters is a big part of the game. One thing that instantly makes me approve of the characters is that they're all flawed. No movie-like perfect heroes anywhere here. Everyone's got their problems. Top score too. Proper orchestra, no MIDI stuff.

Far more important: It's good boobs.

Some pics to drool over:





























When a chapter is loading, you see the face of the character you are about to be controlling. It looks like this, with absurdly realistic movements:





If you think some guy's nose suddenly looks gorgeous, wait until you see the ladies.

[Animavore]

I just played the demo of GoW 3 and while I think the game looks absolutely amazing and I'm sure it'll be brilliant I was a bit disappointed with the demo itself.
I downloaded Darksiders earlier and it took roughly an hour and I got nearly 2 hours of play out of it (it was just over a gig).
GoW 3 took over 2 and a half hours to download and I got barely 20 minutes and it was in black and white!

Gripe aside this game looks really exciting. The moves come swift and hard. In the 20 minutes I fought a centaur, a manticore, took down Helios's chariot with a big arrow from a launcher, tamed and rode a cyclops and flew up a shaft ducking and weaving obstacles wondering how the fuck I got through it when I reached the top where I met this fucking huge monster who he charged into in a cut scene where it ended abruptly.

I'm definitely renting this one.

[Jumbo]

I'm surprised some of you (a surprising number) are only playing Oblivion now since it's been out awhile. Or are you replaying it?

Im not replaying. I never stopped playing it in order to start re-playing. My Oblivion mods folder is just shy of a gazillion GB now i think!

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I'm surprised some of you (a surprising number) are only playing Oblivion now since it's been out awhile. Or are you replaying it?

Im not replaying. I never stopped playing it in order to start re-playing. My Oblivion mods folder is just shy of a gazillion GB now i think!

I've clocked up 100s of hours on Oblivion. I still have loads of odd bits and pieces to finish. I play sporadically these days.

And once I have done EVERYTHING, I am going to start again with a completely different skillset.

[Tomi]

Too much of a history geek to endure playing the Total war games any longer I have just purchased HistWar : Les Grognards. A very detailed Napoleonic war game, apparantly its good but still has a few bugs, I haven't really had a chance to test it out myself yet.

http://www.histwar.com/

[leo-rcc]

I think I've played 1 hour of Oblivion, if that.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I think I've played 1 hour of Oblivion, if that.

Are you even out of the prison yet? It doesn't get going until you realise just how much there is to explore and that you can go almost anywhere, right from the start.

[leo-rcc]

I think I've played 1 hour of Oblivion, if that.

Are you even out of the prison yet? It doesn't get going until you realise just how much there is to explore and that you can go almost anywhere, right from the start.

Yes, and I've given the amulet to the monk and am supposed to go find the illegitimate son of the assassinated king.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I think I've played 1 hour of Oblivion, if that.

Are you even out of the prison yet? It doesn't get going until you realise just how much there is to explore and that you can go almost anywhere, right from the start.

Yes, and I've given the amulet to the monk and am supposed to go find the illegitimate son of the assassinated king.

Take your time doing that. Just talk to people, pick up quests, join some guilds, build up your stats. The main story is (relatively) short but there are dozens of other sub-plots and hundreds of quests to complete.

[leo-rcc]

I think I've played 1 hour of Oblivion, if that.

Are you even out of the prison yet? It doesn't get going until you realise just how much there is to explore and that you can go almost anywhere, right from the start.

Yes, and I've given the amulet to the monk and am supposed to go find the illegitimate son of the assassinated king.

Take your time doing that. Just talk to people, pick up quests, join some guilds, build up your stats. The main story is (relatively) short but there are dozens of other sub-plots and hundreds of quests to complete.

If I wanted to do all that I would have become a WOWtard.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I think I've played 1 hour of Oblivion, if that.

Are you even out of the prison yet? It doesn't get going until you realise just how much there is to explore and that you can go almost anywhere, right from the start.

Yes, and I've given the amulet to the monk and am supposed to go find the illegitimate son of the assassinated king.

Take your time doing that. Just talk to people, pick up quests, join some guilds, build up your stats. The main story is (relatively) short but there are dozens of other sub-plots and hundreds of quests to complete.

If I wanted to do all that I would have become a WOWtard.

It's like that without all of the 12 year old dickheads, muggers, geeks and hopeless n00bs. You just do it all on your own. I love it - need a rest after a couple of days playing though - been playing off and on for months.

[Sean Hayden]

Battlefield Bad Company - XBOX Live -