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I'm currently playing the new Tomb Raider. I've never played a Tomb Raider game before, but something about the trailers made this new one seem special. Lara's character seemed genuine and likable, and I was really excited to play through a game in which she slowly made the transition from an unsure girl to a total badass.
Unfortunately, that transition is pretty much complete by hour three. Lara spends the vast majority of the game as an action hero. That's not necessarily a bad thing as she actually makes a surprisingly great action hero, but the rushed character arc still feels like a missed opportunity.
Also, the body count is absurdly high for a game that spends so much effort on characterization.
BOOM! I am really happy we voted this our game of the year.
Are you attempting a harder difficulty or using the extra options in the patch?
Quote:
Originally Posted by frogofdeath
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS) - So far, so good. A different type of game that's good in casual spurts.
I don't own a DS but would be interested in hearing a little about it in the Finished Games thread if you ever finish it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Li-Ion
In case anyone isn't in the DOTA2 beta yet and wants to, I have 10 invitations.
If you don't mind, send me one please! I don't know if I'll play it but would play against bots just to check it out. We are friends on Steam, my user name is Chopper or something similar. Thanks!
I have spent the morning downloading MLB The Show 13 on PSN. The game is 10 GB and there is a separate download of 'Additional Content' which is 11GB
I wonder what that is. It has finished now so I must go and play. I believe hitting is easier this year and there is a Beginner mode. I said I wouldn't buy it this year but unusually it was on the European PSN this morning and I couldn't resist.
It'd have been nice if the forum votes got mentioned on the podcast. Feels like there's an antimatter dimension between this place and that one.
With so much discussion on the forums any given day, its difficult to keep track you know?
@Topic: got Knights of the Old Republic 2 since it's currently 3,40€ on Steam. Thought "just have a short look and create a character". Next time I look at the clock it's 3 a.m.
__________________ Currently playing: Bioshock: Infinite
I read that the development of KotOR2 was rushed, and man does it show... plenty of bugs and glitches. They range from unintentionally funny, like 3 identical troopers standing faced into a corner going in sync through the same looped animation like a boyband practicing, to annoying, like crashes mid-battle, to infuriating, like party members forgetting the orders I gave them the second I unpause and switch to another character and outright ignore the standing still-order and run into the nearest minefield instead, getting themselves killed.
Also annoying is some of the scripting, which feels rushed like most of the game, where stealth seems to be an option only in few specific areas. Walking into a trigger stealthed can trigger a mini-cutscene with the party - even if the party is still half a kilometer away since I went in solo-mode - leaving me uncloaked in front of a group of enemies with my party back where they were before the cutscene. Wonderful.
What I do like and which keeps me playing is the overall tone of story and dialogue. I always go for the "I'm no Jedi (anymore)"-options. "Grab the Jedi!" "I'm no Jedi." "Good, that makes things easier."
__________________ Currently playing: Bioshock: Infinite
I only ever finished it on the old Xbox, and I don't remember too many game breaking bugs, but I forgave the engine being weird & glitchy because it always seemed to me like half the Xbox library ran like a hyperactive child in socks on a freshly waxed floor.
Took a break from The Show to play the first episode of Kentucky Route Zero, which was very pleasant and, I would say whimsical, but the mood is quite sad and grim.
Not a lot happened in the first episode, but at the same time a lot of ground was covered. It's an adventure game with a rather poignant mood and great artwork and atmosphere. Very promising so far.
The Show is excellent, by the way. There are a couple of unlikeable things about it this year but at last they have included a beginner mode and I'm finally able to hit! Well, to the tune of about 2 runs per game, but still....
I was attracted to that title, Kentucky Route Zero, but it looked like it was going to turn into some tunnel crawling- which I'm not crazy about. Let me know how it develops.
Ive been playing with my new used PC.. been playing Prototype, Just Cause 2, XCom, NFS Hot pursuit, Doom3 BFG edition, Rage, GTA IV, etc
Big wtf- Anno 2070 has no option to adjust text size and the text is micro-fucking-scopic! I can't believe anybody is playing this game on anything smaller than a 50" screen.
wow! Tomb Raider on PS1 was, to my mind, the great leap forward of action 3D games.. it suggested so much possibility- more than it ever really measured up to, in fact.
But the sense of exploring these large mysterious open areas was such a joy. It had action but was meditative, too. It was lonely. And such great music-
I really could care less about the exhaustive backstory-ism that the series has brought upon itself. I was quite happy imagining it..
Make it a point to play a little of the Tomb Raider Anniversary game- that was a really terrific reboot of the original game
I think I will play that, thanks. The new Tomb Raider game left me wanting more (in a good way), and I was wondering which game in the series I should play next.
I was attracted to that title, Kentucky Route Zero, but it looked like it was going to turn into some tunnel crawling- which I'm not crazy about. Let me know how it develops.
I would recommend at this point. There is actually a 20-min segment spent in an abandoned mine tunnel in this one, but I'm hoping that it opens out when they eventually hit the highway.
Been thinking about it since last night and there is enough new and interesting stuff happening that would merit a buy.
There's a really interesting mechanic where instead of talking to a character and choosing what to say, you control the conversation from both characters - so the conversation becomes a thing where you decide what you want to talk about, and how deep into each character you want to get and what they reveal, to some extent.
For example, I had a conversation where I had one character taking the not-obvious approach and not demanding answers to the questions he had, while I decided to play the new character's responses as also very cagey and non-committal, changing the subject etc. I had just met this character and had no idea why I did that, but it ended up being a half-naturalistic conversation between two strangers where the we tiptoed around each other. I felt invested in both after that.
I also spent a large part of the game talking to my dog. There is no benefit to this that I could see, but it was great!
Unbounded should be called Ridge Racer: Unintuitive.
rather than having the drift be a function of letting off the gas and turning, there's a drift 'axis' that the car rotates on when you hold down the B button, that spins faster the longer you keep the car in a turn. It's so unnatural it doesn't even feel like a racing game. In addition there are obstacles you are expected to ram into to gain points, but there's no clear hierarchy of what's breakable and what's not. You can drive through a row of gas pumps and blow them up, but a garage door will stop you like a ton of bricks. A breakable object will be highlighted while you're boosting, but your boost runs out before you hit it, and when you hit it you explode... It's bizarre, non-sensical, and just not fun.
Assault Horizon is more tolerable, if overly serious in it's cutscene presentation, which remind me of the Hurt Locker, if it was directed by David Cage. Gameplay is the usual Ace Combat standard, however there is now a 'lock-on' mode, which you're expected to use, where you go into a high speed bullet-time close chase cam view where you have to get your nose aligned with the targeting reticle to launch missliles, but doing so puts you at risk for rear missile locks... so it's a system you're expected to engage and unengage on the fly.. whip-pan close ups to whip pan pull outs, back and forth. It gets annoying really fast. And more grievous- your plane is not allowed to do full 360 rolls -- I keep trying to roll to come around and get a better track on an enemy and I can't. And I'm in advanced flight options! Grrrr. Clunky, over cinema-fied fried turd. Avoid.
Feels like there's an antimatter dimension between this place and that one. 
Linear Mode
