Last game played...

[shaolin_monkey]

Talking of Resident Evil games, I invested in the PS4 VR mega bundle the other day, and picked up RE7. Oh my good lord, I will never be playing that on my own at night ever again! I’m used to the horror genre, and usually find those films and games more amusing than scary etc, but RE7 in VR shit me up good and proper!!!

Here’s a quick breakdown of the VR experience so far:

Battlezone - a great entry from Rebellion, but when the action got frenetic it made me really motion sick! I’ll be playing that in small bursts.

Skyrim VR - technical limitations means its in lower resolution than I’d normally like, but it has to be said, wandering the mountains and exploring dungeons in VR makes it well worth yet another play through.

EVE: Warzone - ok I guess, but not the space flight combat fix I really needed, and again with the motion sickness. 

Star Wars Battlefront free VR level - this IS the space flight combat fix I was looking for! Just beautiful, especially when giving the rebel capital ships a fly-by. We need a whole game like this! I really got the feel of sitting in an XWing cockpit and looking around at the empty vacuum of space, and then having to suddenly deal with a frikkin Star Destroyer and a million TIEs out of nowhere!

Batman VR: A real showcase of 3D gaming, but just a bit short, and probably would have been better if I’d had the Move controllers at the time.

Creed - great fun, and you get a hell of a workout playing it. I had picked up some Move controllers by this point, and they worked brilliantly as your boxing gloves. However, while the boxing mechanic is fun, the game is missing out on a solid story mode. It just seems to be fight after fight.

Now for the REALLY good stuff.

Moss - Simply beautiful! Guide a wee sword fighting mouse around more and more complex areas. Totally charming, with fantastic presentation, and a sweet story. Great use of the VR to peer around corners and look up or down at things, and figure out what’s in nooks and crannies, or how to crack the puzzles. Recommended!

Beat Saber - Holy heck! This is the closest you’re currently going to get to dual wielding lightsabers. It’s a frenetic rhythm game where your Move controllers turn into sabers, and you chop at blocks in time to the music.  Starts off simple, gets complex quickly, and like Creed you get a hell of a workout. My partner is a natural at it, as she has grace and rhythm. That said, her exuberance did send a mug of tea flying.

The absolute best game though, goes to:

ASTRO BOT: RESCUE MISSION!

This is like Mario on steroids and in 3D! Incredibly clever, innovative use of the full 360 degree arena, as you guide a robot around incredible 3D structures looking for your Robo buddies. Not just clever, but totally charming, with some wonderful laugh out loud moments, and epic boss fights.  It’s crammed with all kinds of other things to play with too.


Overall, I’m really impressed with PS4 VR.  It’s an awesome bit of kit. I wasn’t going to get it initially due to the cost, but won some vouchers in a work competition, and then found a sweet deal in Argos. £500 quids worth of games and gear for £230.

I have always loved 3D stuff, and this kit just completely scratches that itch! My first impressions are up there with my first ever plays on that Tomytronic Tron rip off, and the Nintendo 3DS.

Highly recommended.

[NapalmKev]

I've just finished the second scenario for the Resident Evil 2 remake. Amazing game! A more than worthy update of one of the best horror games of all-time. The graphics are stunning and the game has some of the best lighting effects I've seen on a console title.

Horror-wise, it ranges from 'I'm very concerned' to 'Fuck me, sideways! What am I going to do?' Seriously, this game is steeped in tension. Even when you think you're safe you can sometimes get a nasty surprise, such as a crowd of zombies crashing into the room. There are no magic doors in this game. Except for the Save-Rooms

I could ramble on but I've unlocked The 4th Survivor so I'm going to have a go on that.

Cheers

[Theblazeuk]

Literally just did that. I did find the second scenario a wee bit of a retread with not quite enough difference to sustain, though I was glad when I saw the back of bloody Mr X.

Just had my first go with Hunk now and got as far as the East Office before running out of bullets and health and died. Next time - more dodging, clever use of health. Didn't realise I wouldnt be picking up anything at all at any point (and got a bit complacent with my knowledge of the map)

[Smith]

Pathfinder Kingmaker.
To this day Im not sure how armor class works.

[Theblazeuk]

Pathfinder uses straightforward bigger numbers is better, right?

[Smith]

Its more or less D&D 3rd edition with some tweaks,so thats a yes?
TBH,with D&D as a whole...I liked the setting(s) and stories but I HATE the mechanics.

[Keef Monkey]

Finished a second playthrough of RE2, this time with Claire. I'd forgotten how the scenarios worked back in the day so I played both characters' 'A' scenarios when it makes more sense to do Leon A Claire B and vice-versa, as then it actually plays as a 'this is what they were up to during your last playthrough' sort of deal. Playing both the A scenarios back to back a lot of it is identical (just with the characters swapped) but it also diverges in a few really cool ways so you do get chunks that are different.

The code locks and puzzles were interesting second time, I'd taken pictures on my phone of combinations during my first playthrough (before I realized they were saved in your journal) and it was fun to be able to pull up my phone and unlock things before I really should have had access to the solutions.

Still loving it, and have started the Leon 2nd Run now.

[Theblazeuk]

Well, so in Pathfinder then it's like in 5E. Which I think is a great, accessible version of the rules though alot of people seem to miss the heavy crunch. But anyway, I used to be like you. ('Till I took an arrow to the knee, etc)

[PsychoGoatee]

Still loving it, and have started the Leon 2nd Run now.

I'm digging this game a lot too, still have the original (Dreamcast version), and this remake keeps a lot of that classic spirit alive. Tough to top for a good Romero style zombie game.

[GrudgeJohnDeed]

Finished a second playthrough of RE2, this time with Claire. I'd forgotten how the scenarios worked back in the day so I played both characters' 'A' scenarios when it makes more sense to do Leon A Claire B and vice-versa, as then it actually plays as a 'this is what they were up to during your last playthrough' sort of deal. Playing both the A scenarios back to back a lot of it is identical (just with the characters swapped) but it also diverges in a few really cool ways so you do get chunks that are different.

I did this too, whoops! Didn't impact my enjoyment though, it was always a joy. A pant-shitting joy.

I've played all the scenarios now and the returning '4th Survivor' mode which was perhaps even more adrenaline inducing than the campaigns in places. You're Hunk on a timer trying to hot-foot it from the sewers to the streets (although the route goes round the houses a bit in places to make it longer). You have to make do with what's in your inventory at the start and the game really throws everything at you, the last section is intense, particularly if you've squandered your grenades earlier. I paced around my house a bit after beating it XD

[Keef Monkey]

Damn, that sounds insane! Something to look forward to. Seems like there's a lot of replayability in the way different runs vary, which is nice because that was such a feature of the original too.

[titchard]

Currently I am playing through the first Red Dead Redemption as it went past me the first time round and my friends haven't let me live it down that I haven't played it!

Loving it so far, I can see why everyone was so hype about it at the time, and how the new one has improved in the original!

[Smith]

Well, so in Pathfinder then it's like in 5E. Which I think is a great, accessible version of the rules though alot of people seem to miss the heavy crunch. But anyway, I used to be like you. ('Till I took an arrow to the knee, etc)

Okay,Im not a complete newbie,its more like I forgot how this works...and Im just coming off from Pillars of Eternity which uses a different system...
Yeah,Thac0 was stupid,Im saying it.

[Tiplodocus]

Five-a-side (actually six) up at the Powerleague in Townhead, Glasgow. It was great and we won.

[Keef Monkey]

Played through a PC game called The Eternal Castle Remastered, which is an homage to Another World/Flashback style Amiga games (it's pitched as a remake of a forgotten classic but I gather nobody has found any evidence that such a thing ever existed, still some neat marketing!).

They really go HARD on the minimal art style (to the point where it can occasionally be difficult to parse what a screen is supposed to represent) and the controls are authentically clunky and poorly explained (I discovered I could switch weapons just before the game finished), plus the difficulty is just as brutal as those old games. None of that will sound appealing to most people, but having grown up with Amiga games I loved it, so it might appeal to people with that aquired taste and the same nostalgia for that sort of thing. Only about 2-3hrs long, and with a banging old-school soundtrack (I cranked the final boss fight up to ear worrying volumes because it was so damn good).