What We’ve Been Playing
In the after-glow of big name titles like Hitman Absolution, Far Cry 3 and Assassins Creed 3 we now find ourselves being reminded of games we left not long ago. The rounds of downloadable content for some of our favourite games keep coming. We are eager to keep at it, throwing money at our screens for some extra missions and the ability to ride dragons.
Tunesmith
Almost 55 hours of gameplay later and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is complete. I enjoyed the experience overall, but I definitely found myself cutting corners towards the end (skipping quests) in order to finish it up a bit quicker. The desire to complete every single aspect wore away in favour of simply finishing the story. Alas, the final boss fight was disappointing, which is a shame.
Part of the reason I was rushing to the end was because I have finally purchased Mass Effect 2 and want to get into that as soon as possible. I’m loving it so far, the UI is definitely improved over Mass Effect 1, the story is already intriguing and there are new and familiar faces to recruit. At the moment I’m a little less pleased with the move towards the planetary scanning ‘minigame’ which I find utterly tedious and a nuisance. Even so, I look forward to once again exploring and saving the galaxy.
Senior Stiv
This week has been all about the downloadable content for me. I began my week working on Skyrim’sDragonborn DLC. Exploring the land of Solstheim has been a blast and fighting new enemies and earning new shouts is only making my character more of a badass.
I also recently started playing Dishonored’s new single-player DLC Dunwall City Trials. The DLC offers some pretty cool challenge modes using of the games different gameplay elements. From stealth oriented clue hunting, tests in speed, and of course testing your action skills in an all out brawl in the streets against waves of enemies.
I just noticed I’ve been playing a lot of the same games these past few weeks. Man, I really need to get on playing some new games quick.
Steve B
This week has been a mixed bag for me. I finished up the second DLC pack for Borderlands 2, which you can read my review of here. It was short and sweet, the way DLC should be. I’m looking forward to the next two packs, having bought the season pass shortly after the games’ release.
My friends and I also jumped on a deal of ‘Castle Crashers‘ on steam for 50% off. At less than $5 a pop, we figured it would be worth seeing what all the Xbox fan-boys were always going on about. PC gamers: Let’s just say you haven’t been missing out on much. ‘Terrible’ would be putting it too kindly. Look out for my scathing review next Wednesday.
Other than that? More Natural Selection 2. I feel the need to tell everyone how awesome and under-appreciated this game is at least once a week. Seriously. It’s easily my game of the year, and a game I see myself playing for many, many years to come.
KRS 2
Alright, we all know what’s coming. “This is the guy whose had an article published about the Wii U, and has been excited for weeks about that damned console. We all know what he’s been playing.” You are absolutely right, I have been playing…
The Binding of Isaac for PC, available from Steam. Yes, I have been playing Nintendo Land but since I wrote about that in another article I thought I’d show a bit of love to this gem. I just bought an expansion for the game, and it’s recently been revealed a new version will be released for console with co-op added, so I’ve been playing this too.
So what’s it about? A young boy named Isaac runs into the houses’ basement because his psychotic Christian mother was told by God to kill him. FUN! It plays like the old school Zelda games, a top down dungeon crawler, with you running around killing enemies with your tears. Such enemies include screaming severed heads, aborted foetuses or the seven deadly sins. You collect power ups for stat boosts, such as a dead puppies head, and items to assist you in battle, like your Mum’s used pad. This game sounds so appealing, right?
Well, put your sarcasm hat away mister, because this game is amazing. With over one hundred power ups and items to find (over 200 with the expansion), multiple characters and endings, you’re bound to be playing this for a long time. Did I forget to mention that the dungeons are all randomly generated, as are what items you collect along the way, and even what bosses you face? And when you die, you start the game from scratch with no power ups and a whole new dungeon to explore. If you miss the days of old Zelda games, or when dying in a game was actually a punishment, then this may just tickle you the right way.
You?
What have you been playing these past few weeks? Something off the pile of shame or perhaps revisiting some recent gems with the addition of DLC.
