This week, the Non-Fiction Gaming crew have been playing a huge variety of games. Beat’Em Up, Craft ‘Em Up, Shoot’Em Up? So much choice, we hardly know what to pick!
The Forest
Aidan
Imagine if Minecraft was scary. That’s basically The Forest.
Survive and build on this island while crazed cannibals try to kill and eat you. It’s only an open alpha at the moment but it shows a metric tonne of promise. Sure it’s annoying that many of the features are blocked and it’s riddled with bugs but it is actually incredibly fun.
The survival aspect has enough complexity to keep it interesting while resources are simple enough to acquire so it is not insurmountable. Construction is a bit bare-bones at the moment so until more flexibility gets added you’re stuck with building just house.
It could be scarier; and there needs to be either a clearly defined objective or the difficulty needs to be turned up. But for a game in alpha, The Forest is a refreshing break from some of the slower-paced horror titles.
Dragon’s Crown
Wilson Tang
So I’ve been waiting for a price drop for Dragon’s Crown but since it was made free for PlayStation Plus members, I downloaded it and enjoyed finishing it. It’s unique art style (though I personally found the art a bit exaggerated and objectionable at times), mixed with the music is a nice treat for the senses.
The game has taken an RPG spin on the old side-scroller beat’em up genre and I continue to play through the game, especially if I jump online with some friends for hectic action and shenanigans.
I’ve also been honing my skills at hadoukens and hurricane kicks. As a Dead or Alive player, I’ve never really dabbled in old school fighting games except SNKs King of Fighters, which in all honesty I’ve just only been a fan.
So when Street fighter 4 Arcade Edition came up free to download and keep (one of the perks of being a Xbox Gold member), I knew I had to jump at the chance and give it a go.
Warframe
Senior Stiv
Well, to be honest haven’t playing much this week other than what have been playing for the past couple of weeks. But, let’s start with some of the new things I’ve been trying out.
I’ve recently been trying out the free-to-play action game Warframe. It’s an intriguing enough game with levelling up your character, called a Tenno, your weapons and such, but I wish there was a better tutorial system for getting new items. As you would expect with a free-to-play title you have to purchase most of your new items. You supposedly can craft new items, but you need blueprints which I have yet to find.
I’ve also been playing the FTL: Attack of the Clones expansion. I have yet to experience any clones, but the new difficulty level is ruthless. I could barely even get through some of the first sectors before my ship was destroyed. Then again it wouldn’t be FTL if it wasn’t difficult as hell.
Finally, I just downloaded the Orcs Must Die!: Unchained beta so I’ll be trying to get some time in to play that this 4th of July weekend, along with celebrating my country’s birthday. Cheers! Enjoy the weekend folks.
Saints Row IV
KRS 2
A few weeks back I picked up Saints Row IV on a Playstation Network sale but hadn’t gotten around to playing it due to other commitments. However, I finally got some time and started it just last night. Saints Row the Third is one of my favourite games so I have mixed feelings towards Saints Row IV.
I love the super powers your character can use. It actually changes the game from a third-person shooter, to a surprisingly good platform game. I have a lot of fun leaping around exploring the city, and climbing tall alien constructed towers. I also love how they parody a bunch of games and movies, the intro being reminiscent of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Armageddon (seriously).
It even mocks itself in the opening chapters and is quite funny from what little I’ve played.
However, because the Earth has been invaded by aliens and your character is shoved into a simulation, the city looks much blander than Saints Row the Third. It constantly seems to be night time, the sky is cloudy and dirty looking, so even though the civilians are just as unusual as the previous game (men and women in bondage gear as well as furries are often seen walking the streets casually), they don’t stand out as much.That being said, I’m still having a blast playing the game!
