From Pandas to Protheans, video games keep throwing new characters at us to sate our thirst for variety. There is much to keep you entertained if you know where to look. It’s still that exciting time of year when we’ve got plenty to play, so let’s jump on in to what our staff have been playing.
Tunesmith
Its taken a few months but I’ve finally purchased WoW’s latest expansion, Mists of Pandaria and have spent the last few weeks levelling and gearing my resto druid, Tunesmith. I had pretty high expectations of MoP after a lot of people touted it as the best expansion pack so far. I really enjoyed Wrath of the Lich King and to a slightly lesser degree, Cataclysm before the LFR system took hold, so I’ve been interested to see what MoP can deliver. So far, there have been positives and negatives.
I felt the levelling zones lacked a bit of variety, but there is a detailed story and the raiding material is integrated nicely into the Pandarian scheme of things. The need for reputation progression before valor tokens can be spent on gear pieces is a little deflating, but there are several other mechanics to help and inspire you to grind out dailies. So far its been enjoyable, but now I will be looking to get into some regular normal mode raiding, and for me that will be a big indicator of how much I enjoy it. Until next time.
KRS 2
So when you last left me, I was playing Fallout 3. One month later, I’m still playing the game. The game is so ridiculously massive in what you can do, where you can go, and how you can play, it’s hard NOT to get addicted to it. I now understand why people raved about Fallout 3 when it came out. I’m half tempted to invest in Skyrim, but with university back on the way, I don’t think that would be very wise for me to do right now.
As for my Wii U, I have been playing Nintendo Land with friends and we recently completed the Pikmin mini-game and finished collecting all the collectables, so now we really just play for fun. My girlfriend’s younger brother screams like a banshee while playing the game, so invest in some ear plugs if you have any screamer friends. I also acquired Mario Brothers U and it is a massive improvement over New Super Mario Brothers Wii and feels a lot like Super Mario World way back on the Super Nintendo. It’s definitely classic side-scrolling fun.
Last but not least, I picked up my copy of the Hyrule Historia on the weekend, featuring development art from all of the Zelda games, and going in depth into the history of Hyrule. If you love Zelda, be sure to pick up your copy soon before they sell out! You can pick yourself up a copy from criticalhit.com.au.
Senior Stiv
Been a while since we’ve done “What We’ve Been Playing” and thankfully I’ve been busy playing games for the past couple weeks. First and foremost I’ve been having a lot of fun playing The Cave. I’ll admit it isn’t stellar, but its cartoonish art style, dark sense of humour and fun environments to explore keeps you coming back. In general it’s a fun adventure game worth checking out.
I’m also trying to wrap up another playthrough of Red Dead Redemption. I’m currently stuck trying to find skunks to complete the master hunter challenge. You can find plenty of bears to maul you to death, but trying to find one of those smelly rodents is probably the most difficult thing I’ve had to do in a game. Oh and I just got Star Wars: Battlerfront II on Steam. I don’t think I need to explain my need to play this game.
Mr Port
These last few weeks for been catch up for Mr Port; I finally got around to playing Halo Reach and Halo 4 and I’ve got to say, quite impressed with where the story is going. Great new weapons and items make this newest instalment and first part of the new trilogy a definite must play.
Keeping in trend with my love of RPG games, I have been trying to sit down and really get into Nier but a slow and slightly disjointed start are making it a struggle. Aside from that there’s the usual crack addition that is Heroes of Newerth (HoN). (Triple P knows what I mean)
What have you been playing? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter.
