Yes. But it's on PC

Fez looked more interesting.

I think you mean 'Fez had better presentation.'

Nah. Fez is based on blocks and jumping and whatnot, this interprets the coloured display as platforms. Put a black object in front of a platform and it becomes a gap. Most of it's about leaving the guy "pinned" to walls while you line stuff up.

In other words, you spend most of the game as the first-person guy. So it's a first-person spatial puzzle game i.e. not Fez.

Except the times when it's Fez.

But Fez is Fez all of the time. So this isn't Fez.

Fez had a fez so Fez wins.

fez

I'm playing SILPHEED THE LOST PLANET which is another in the Working Designs Ultra series, like Gungriffon Blaze mentioned above. Silpheed is a shmup, a damn good one, but is unfortunately single player only. Fun as it is, I find the company that made it pretty interesting.

Working Designs was an American game publisher that saw a schism between the Western and Asian (but mostly Japan) game markets and sought to bridge the gap. Up until then pretty much any AAA Japanese game was either not released over here or given an awful, awful, awful translation job and spat upon the market to a collective 'What the fuck is this?'. This meant a lot of decent (at least at the time) english voiceover work and small tweaks to the game engine to adjust it for Western expectations. Typically they'd release a game in two formats; one just standard case and disc and another more expensive 'Ultra' version with holographic boxart, full colour manuals (at a time when greyscale was the norm) and lots of other little goodies. Unfortunately this system of dual, financially trying releases and a series of 'Two games for the price of One' games more or less bankrupted them. This is a shame, because they did a really good job of making games clearly intended for the alien world of Japan into something approachable and fun for stupid gaijin Americunts.

So if you see shiny games with boxart that says WORKING DESIGNS ULTRA SERIES pick it up, it's kind of rare and probably a good game.

If anyone other than me has a Kinect, the new Double Fine game Kinect Party came out yesterday, and is free. It's silly fun, but still fun.

Also, iPhone users, the new Double Fine game, Middle Manager of Justice, came out last week, and that is also free. Also fun.

It should be on iPod touch as well, so I'll check it out. The title sounds kinda funny. What kind of game is it?

Time Management. You manager super heroes. And yeah, it's on iPad.

I've been meaning to buy Mirror's Edge on the PC for a long time and today I finally decided to get it from the Steam sale since it was only a couple euros. I always thought the console version was a great looking game, but after playing the PC version I can safely say I have no interest in playing it on my 360 again. Damn. I played two chapters of the game, the controls feel quite good on the PC, might have to beat the game yet again later.

So THQ filed for bankruptcy, which fucking blows.

I'm playing Armored Core 2. FUCK Armored Core 2.

I'm not playing it right now, but I checked Steam and someone very generously gifted DOTA 2 to me as an early Christmas gift. I'm pretty sure that MeechMunchie wouldn't like me to publicly announce his niceness so I'll have to thank him anonymously.

Thank you anon, well chuffed.

I'm fairly sure he's gifted them to everyone by now.

Everyone important, at least.

They were starting to clutter up my inventory.

I think Valve is trying to make the shift to free-to-play as seamless as possible by first getting the game to the point that only four Steam users haven't been sent invites yet.

I like Armored Core 2.

I still haven't played the DOTA 2 that Meech gifted me. Feels bad. Is there some kind of deadline?

I like it too. It's a really well done game. But just starting out, not knowing how to pilot my terible unupgraded mech, and seeing sometimes 10,000 Digital Dollars going down the digital drain because I shot too many bullets/got hit too many times is like being given a piece of paper someone spat in instead of a report card.

I'm also playing Urban Chaos: Riot Response. It is the greatest video game of all time. You play as a supercop named Nick Mason (but really TORGO DAZZLER because the game lets you change it) who is called in to murder or tase the balls of a city full of arsonists, rapists, cleaver-throwers, fire rapists, cleaver firers, shotgoons, and anthropormorphic rapist cleavers. All you have is your trusty riot shield that can be used to pulp foes and a wide array of improbably accurate firearms. You are joined by wisecracking firemen, beautiful Paramedics and a squawking woman from New Jersey who serves as dispatcher. It's a surprisingly original FPS that is honestly more fun than anything, fucking ANY GAME this generation. It's such a good game it makes me vomit with rage because games are all shitty and everything has been done to death already except the supercop/punsiher genre which is sadly ignored in this age of shooting virtual brown people. Pick it up if you have a PS2 and five dollars. It's probably the best thing you'll ever do with your sad non0supercop life. I'm going to go cry myself to sleep holding this FBI badge I drew.

I picked up Arkham Asylum in the Steam sale and, well, I wasn’t expecting so many people to be right about it being good.

Asylum is such a great game. The combat is fun as hell and the puzzles can be quite clever.

Shame the story is so predictable, but meh, the gameplay and atmosphere more than make up for it.

I could go on for hours about how much I dislike the plot but fortunately holy shit did they ever get absolutely everything else right.

So, I'm playing The Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb.

It's really hard. Yet I can't stop playing.

Everyone on Steam will be able to play it in a few months. There's only a deadline for hipstery "I played it before it was free"-isms. Presumably people who used an invite will get a fancy item as well.

Decided to support JAW and bought Stranger's Wrath HD for PS Vita. It plays very well and for a handheld game it looks amazing. One thing I don't like though is the use of the rear touchscreen, it's so stupid and I don't even know why it's on the Vita in the first place. But yeah, it's fun.

I have ~9€ left on my PSN wallet and I'm considering getting Klonoa or Tombi, both seem like very fun games.

GET TOMBI. That game is so much fun. Klonoa is too, really, so you should be satisfied with either purchase.

I was actually going to get the Spyro trilogy but I'm 1 euro short on that so that sucks.

Two useful tricks that you will probably hate but whatever:

Reload after a mission if you didn't make a good enough profit. I for one love playing that game so it doesn't bother me, but I understand if that's a pain. A tactic you might appreciate more is going for energy weapons, since their ammunition is free. Though firing them does use up your energy, and they can't be fired at all if your capacity is recharging. A machine gun is very useful in the beginning because their rounds are very cheap and there is substantially less chance of expensive overkills. The EWG-MGSAW is my favourite, but there is also an energy machine gun. And it is fucking expensive.

The other trick takes advantage of the horrible debt you can get into. If you fail a mission 50,000 credits in debt, you get a bonus. Best I can tell, your body is sold of to pay the debt, and you undergo some horrible experimental procedures that somehow improve the performance of your AC (maybe you get wired into it even more severely, who knows?) upshot of this is that you get bonuses like a guaranteed radar function, reduced capacitor drain, increased emergency heat radiation and so forth. there are six such bonuses that can be acquired by repeating the process eight times, but the most important one is acquired on the forth attempt, enabling you to fire cannon-type back weapons while moving and flying even when using legged and floating-type leg parts (usually only the caterpillar types can do this, and the quad type when on the ground). This frees up a lot of viable combination options and generally makes the game more enjoyable.

The cost is that every time you do this, your pilot name, mission history and arena history is erased, setting you back to the start (though you don't have to do the test mission with Strung again). You do keep your AC and all parts, though, so if you have money just buy a load of things before you do it, then sell them back when you're done.


You might also want to check on-line for the location of parts that can be found in missions. They tend to be the most interesting ones, and is the only way to get them (like the famous KARASAWA Mk2 energy rifle, which is the one Ares uses. Really powerful, and no ammo cost!). If nothing else you can just sell them straight away for cash. There's one in the Garage's test room, though it's hard to get to. Shoot out the circle in the middle of the ceiling and fly up there if your build can get the height. It's a crappy radar, but you can sell it twice because it's a back part.

I marathoned Arkham Asylum and completed it over two days. Really good game, it never feels samey the whole way through. Not sure if I’ll try out Arkham City though.

I want to start on the Soul Reaver games—I’ve wanted to play them for ages and when they went on sale on Steam I snapped them up—but as it turns out, not every game made for Win98 is as compatible with modern systems as AO and AE.

So right now I’m researching and trying out various patches. Thanks for releasing a game from a bazillion years ago without fixing it for modern PCs, Square Enix!

I've been playing a lot of Fire Emblem games, which require a ton of replaying missions in order to avoid having my best (typically ungulate-mounted) units killed for stupid decisions on my part, so replaying goes right along with FE's 'YOU FUCKED UP DON'T DO IT AGAIN' based strategy. Your second point surprises me, the consequences make perfect sense but I never expected AC games to basically give you bonuses for going into debt. It's almost like I've been playing the game COMPLETELY WRONG. I will be applying these strategies as soon as I stop tasing arsonists to death . Any more suggestions you have I will be thankful for, I'm really lost in the world of (realistic?) mech combat games.

On that note, I've been playing Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. It's like Advance Wars except it takes place in a fantasy universe where Horse riding infantry are unbeatable badasses capable of mowing down infinite swaths of pirates and mercenaries without getting hit once. Unfortunately if they do get hit once (or sometimes, twice!!!!) it means an instant death and the loss of a character you've been stewing for a solid 3 hours or more. I used to overlook these games for the (relatively) easier Advance Wars series but what draws me in more and more is the story. It's fairly cookie-cutter, but still very entertaining and 'page turneresque'. I give it three Pegasus Knights out of a Zombified Dog.

Has anyone played Path of Radiance on the Gamecube? I'm considering investing in that (and a 5$ VGA cable which I lost) to satisfy my HOT 3D MEDIEVAL COMBAT ACTION OH YEAH BAY-BEE cravings but I'd rather not play it if it's a big sack of trash.

Yeah that sounds about right. I think they redid FF7 for PC with a grand total of 4 new textures for full price, but maybe that was just in Canada moneys.

Path of Radiance is so much better than Sacred Stones it's unbelievable. Sacred Stones is far and away the worst of the four (Before Shadow Dragon) that got released over here.

I've beaten all of them on hard mode. You want any tips, I'm your guy.

It’s really starting to piss me off because it looks like all they’ve done is convert the cutscenes into a different file format, which doesn’t help at all.

And while there’s a few different fan patches that are generally accepted, none of those are working for me for some reason. I think it has something to do with being on a 64-bit OS, and all the patches and fixes were written around the time of XP.

Oh, also there’s a single .dll file included in the game which will make the game refuse to run at all on an ATI card unless you delete it. Why it’s there I do not know.

Firstly, when you go through the rigmarole of acquiring all the plus upgrades, save in a new slot. That way if you ever want to play the game again in the future (or a friend does, I've spent hours playing versus battles) you don't have to do it again.

While they don't seem especially interesting, investing in a good generator and radiator will vastly improve your performance. Heat management is a curious feature, but overheating is responsible for the Output Down error where you continually lose armour points (this is most often caused by flame throwers, lava, grenade launchers and machine guns, but all weapons impart heat). Basically, standard cooling is how efficient your cooling is prior to the error, making it less likely to occur, and emergency cooling counts when the error kicks in and ultimately reduces the damage you will take (assuming you don't continue to absorb heat from somewhere). Also a good FPS, which is your targeting system. Try to pick one with good synergy with the weapons you use, such as missile support and lock speed if you are focusing on missiles, or range if you like the sniper rifles for some reason. these ones are most important to test, because it isn't always apparent what effect they'll have if you're not used to the system and don't understand the stats. They can change the size and shape of the big targeting box on your screen. So do weapons, so they both count. A narrow FPS couples with a narrow cannon system can give your AC tunnel vision, which isn't very helpful.

Blades are much more useful than shields in my opinion, though you may have a different experience. They have no ammo cost, impart a lot of damage and have infinite uses. Some missions I can do entirely with the sword, and like to deal with disorder units with them. The legs influence the stroke: bipeds and floaters slash which makes for an easier hit, quads and tanks stab, which may do more damage. It's also lower down, at least with the quads, so it's easier to hit disorder units. The blade has good synergy with the back booster, an extension part (and my own preference) found in the mission in which you protect the train Black Tail. It's in the second to last carriage. I can't remember which button picks up parts, just mind you don't blow it up by mistake. That's an instant mission failure, btw but it can be sold for the same price as your payment would have been if you don't like it and it saves your on the additional ammo and repairs you might have suffered at the hands of Cruel Justice.

The arena is great for funds. You incur no costs, and the prize money increases which rank, exponentially towards the end. At rank one your will be a spoilt millionaire. Every ten ranks a corporation sponsors you with a unique part, and sometimes other Ravens you defeat or approach give you things. Sometimes arena Ravens show up in missions (the Frighteners aren't Ravens) where they usually die, often (not not always) at your hands. They disappear from the Arena (but can be fought again when you finish the game) and their place is taken at the bottom ranks by new entries. These guys get harder as their rank worsens, until you reach Matthias, an Almighty Janitor. He is without question harder than Ares, the rank one. Not least because his tactics counter all the assholey ones people like to adopt that take advantage of the AI.

One thing I recommend for Arena battles is to turn on the enemy ammo indicator in the garage's cockpit control. It lets you know what weapon your opponent has selected and how much ammo is left. If you're a good enough pilot you can tease your opponent until he's used up all his ammo before he kills you. This is especially useful on high-offence ACs, since the baddest guns tend to have least ammo, such as the grenade launchers. DO NOT GET HIT BY GRENADE LAUNCHERS. I'm serious. Anything that makes a big spherical explosion is likely to finish you off very quickly. Keep your distance, dodge the shots (they're quite slow) and let him run out. The alternative is pain. And watch out for large missiles, they're slow and enormous but they can still sneak up on you. It's hilarious to use a decoy on them but generally decoys aren't very effective.

Missile interception is very useful, but rarely do they have enough rounds to last through an opponent's entire arsenal in the arena, let alone missions. also they incur ammo costs (except for the laser one). Emeraude cores come which an in-built missile interception function (you may have noticed the white beams that occasionally flash in front of you when facing missiles?). It's free and infinite, but very limited in effectiveness and only works in a cone in front of you. And the best one seems to be the default core you start with. I actually prefer the Zio Matrix cores for their other stats and the general optional part slots they have. Optional parts have no weight or stat information so you have to depend on the descriptions. There's one that reduces the energy cost of firing energy weapons, another that increases energy weapon damage. The must-have part is the one that increases turning speed, it is a godsend.

One more thing: the bigger the energy surplus you have, the faster your energy bar will recharge in combat.

I've been playing some QL duels the last few days.

I mean, I've been getting my arse kicked in some QL duels the last few days. I think I have to worst ELO of any regular Aussie dueler. I'm so bad at it, but I just can't keep away.

I'm finally downloading TF2 onto this machine, too. I have a Steam limiter to force the download from a local unmetered content server, which will hopefully mean that the 12gb doesn't come of of my 20gb monthly download cap.

Picked up a game in the Steam Sales called Intrusion 2.

My god.

I've been blown away by how amazing it is. The gameplay is so additive, it's basically a side-scrolling shoot em up in the same vane as Metal Slug and Contra only it's got a great physics engine that you use to manipulate the landscape (you can shoot boulders and make them roll into enemies) and it's extremely over the top action style to it.

The Boss fights, HOLY CRAP the boss fights are some of the best I've ever seen. They are hard, but not too hard and have tons of different patterns which you have to figure out quickly and they are really over the top. Pretty much what boss fights were all about back in the day. Lastly the game itself is really difficult, but not too difficult it makes you want to throw your keyboard across the room. it's just right. It has a lot of checkpoints so your never losing a lot of progress when you die and the enemies won't kill you in one shot which Is what I hated about Metal Slug and Contra. The whole game makes you feel like a badass and I seriously love games that do that.

Go check it out if you haven't already. I need to go see what Intrusion 1 is like.

I bought Klonoa: Door to Phantomile with my remaining PSN funds. It seems like a fun game to play on Christmas, I played the first level, it was nice.

And after all this, I stumbled on the issue in a Steam Community discussion – turns out the Steam overlay seriously messes with the game, and disabling it clears up all the issues I was having on the vanilla version of the game, no fan patches needed.

So after all that, the game is shaping up to be quite fun. First thing I did was set up a gamepad (because I really don’t think the developers intended for this game to be played on a keyboard).

For a game pushing 13 years it manages to hold up pretty well – gameplay is simple enough to not get tricky but not so simple as to be boring.

Voice acing so far has been stellar, which was one of the reasons I got interested in the series to start with (the series’ voice acting and story are often praised).

That said, the first puzzle I’ve come across has stumped me. No doubt I’m missing something though.

Prepare to...nope, not even going to spoil it a little bit. Klonoa is a trip though. A real trip.

I beat Ratchet: Deadlocked and decided to try and complete the challenge mode leveling up all of my guns to 99 and then trying the hardest difficulty on a fresh playthrough. All of the weapons evolve into a very sensible upgrade except for the Turret launcher, which I'd prefer remained PEW PEW PEW instead of BZAP.....BZAP. If you know what I mean. What I mean is that it should be faster.

I also started playing a previously forgotten copy of Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal, which was my first Ratchet game. Still lots of fun, moreso since I remember a lot of secrets and weapon usefulness and the like. My only gripe is that somehow my old save got erased and now I'm worried my memory card is busted (more likely: I deleted it to open up space for something dumb like Xenosaga.) I feel like the writing in the first 4 R&C games, while certainly not stellar, still worked within its own universe and didn't really force you to disbelieve much in an infinite scifi world. But from what I've played of the PS3 games that did not carry over and there's a lot of dopey "BUT WHAT IS THE LEGACY OF CLANK'S ROBOT FATHER" and "MY PARENTS ARE DEEEEAD" drama that doesn't fit in this happy-go-lucky constantly in fear of being destroyed universe. What I'm trying to say is the PS2 is still the best console, bar none.

How did you go about taking down Vox on the hardest difficulty? I had to change down to 4* for just that fight. The rest was doable, especially once I figured out that the sniper rifle was actually more effective as an off-the-hip missile launcher than the missile launcher.

I agree about the writing in the early games. Getting rid of that girl in A Crack in Time was the best move the series ever made. I played through Tools of Destruction the other day and just ended up skipping all of the cutscenes.

Speaking of ToD, the weapons in that game were dull and there were only a handful that were actually worth using. The two big boss fights felt harder than they should have because of weird camera angles in one, and counter-intuitive attack patterns in the other. I can't be bothered going through in challenge mode and finishing it off 100% as I've done with various others in the series.

I'm going to start A Crack in Time after Christmas. It was easily the best game and I'll probably stick around to 100% it again.

Oh, I phrased that awkwardly, I meant I'm doing the challenge mode right now (with my feet, as I type this). The 4* Difficulty is still pretty tough, though the bosses haven't given me much trouble but I'm not looking forward to the Eviscerator, I had a lot of trouble with that one on my first go through.