Currently Playing in 2019....

Fancied a bit of nostalgia from my Dreamcast days so I picked up Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack and H&D 2:Courage Under Fire from GOG for £12. I say Dreamcast because that was the first time I ever experienced H&D and I remember loving it even though it was ball-achingly difficult.

Anyway, I just finished the first mission on H&D. Once I got used to the somewhat clunky controls and, (after a few attempts), I found a natural rhythm I carefully made my way through said mission with my 4 man team intact. It's still damn hard, but with careful planning it can be plain sailing and completing a mission is as rewarding as I remember. The AI can be a bit erratic and does leave you frustrated at times, but given how much atmosphere H&D oozes and how much fun it can be you can forgive these niggles.

I've never played the sequel and the general feeling on the GOG boards is it's very much a marked improvement. I'll play a bit more of H&D however, before trying out Courage Under Fire.

Now going to fire up F.E.A.R. Again another game I only ever played on the consoles, so looking forward to trying out the PC version for the first time.

I did not expect The Witcher to turn into a fantasy criminal investigation sim. Chapter 2 has ballooned into an expansive and multi-layered investigation which all seems tied together in interesting ways. Unfortunately the game is slightly hampered by the same 4 or 5 character models turning up over and over again; the same 'old guy with a bag thing around his neck' is used for the gravedigger, hospital gardener, bootblack and various other shady types, same with 'fat merchat with neck bell thing' and 'heavy-set big thug'.

Fallout 4 - Nuka World
Mixed feelings about this so far. Just completing this before I finish with Fallout 4 for good. I'm over 200hours into FO4 so it's feeling like a bit of a slog. Having same issues as I had with main game. i.e. fairly mundane quests, over reliance on terminals (too much reading), still having slight issues with bugs (particularly with terminal-locked security doors not opening), inventory system is a pain in the backside (I've literally got half of my weight allowance going on accrued crud). Also, as I'm level 88 or something, character progression has really slowed down (which is one thing I really love about these types of games). The landscape is a little sparse, too. It's a shame as it has some good potential. The designers have done a great job on each of the areas of the park and it has a spooky ambience when you're plodding around at night in this derelict theme park. Also, the graphics in this have been patched really well. It looks great on PC Ultra. Much smoother than before (aside from a consistent skipped frame every five seconds or so). It's capable of throwing out some great vistas or striking action with heavy use of particle effects / god rays.

I feel FO expansions in general market really well, with appealing ideas promising new twists on the formula but, in practice, they're often quite dull and shallow. I'm a sucker and I often buy them, though. I would like it if Bethesda were quicker about turning the DLC around, too. This set arrived really late after the release of the main game. It's often hard to pick up again (in terms of where you've stockpiled your possessions, what your current goal is) when they release these quite long after initial release.

Have an extra day off today so earlier this morning I was playing...




Need I say more?

More Zero Time Dilemma



I swear I'll have PTSD after finishing this game.

I'm jumping between a lot of games at the moment, more than usual. (Winds up a friend of mine, who's a gaming completionist, something chronic).

Anyway, tonights game is Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines.

Been dipping in and out of this excellent RPG for some time now. I'll finish it some day, but no rush.

That's a great game, I got stuck very near the end and never beat it though.

Gemini73 wrote:Have an extra day off today so earlier this morning I was playing...




Need I say more?

Ha, I started playing this recently myself, for the first time believe it or not! I love Doom-style shooters so grabbed it for <£1 and modded it with 'Dark Places', it's so much fun Really is Doom in so many ways, though perhaps with less maze-like level design. I hate that enemy that's always shooting lightning at you though, gah

Playing a lot of these older games is the main reason I decided to opt for PC gaming as my main gaming platform a few years back. I do love my console gaming, but for sheer breadth, depth and quality there is nothing that quite beats PC.

Quake's reputation is well deserved, and it's as top drawer as it ever was.

Vampire: Bloodlines is a sublime RPG full of character. They just don't make 'em like this any more.

WWE: Legends of Wrestlemania on PS3. I picked this up for a couple of quid and it's a fun if pretty basic wrestling game. I like the Relive mode where you have to hit all the big spots from classic matches, I've not really tried many other modes yet.

Hotline Miami 2.

Went from 1 to 2 and the difference really is stark; they're both great but whereas in 1 the levels feel incredibly tightly designed in 2 there's some flab. The fact that you're locked to certain abilities, or lack of, in certain missions is also restrictive compared to the first's open ended feel. It also relies far too much on guns and the pinpoint accuracy they require. Playing 2 on the consoles much be a bloody nightmare.

It's still brill though.

PES 2017 (PS4)... still in Online Divisions. Currently in a phase of trying out weaker teams and not worrying about results and rankings.

Mario Kart 8 (U / Switch)... just in online tournaments wth other GRcadians; Mondays on Wii U and - new! - Tuesdays on Switch.

Splatoon 2 (Switch)... I have only played this for two hours so far - including the GRcade tournament last Wednesday - but it was fun and I'm looking forward to this week's session!

Hitman - completed each mission but now I'm going back and trying the escalation missions, alternate kill challenges and trying to truly learn the levels. Such a superb sandbox and mechanics that work and feel consistent.

Final fantasy 15 - was really enjoying this and then the game just speeds up and whizzes through chapters so fast I lost track of what was happening and stopped caring. I think I'm on final section but since it's removed all open world elements I just can't be bothered to carry on as enemy levels have just sky rocketed and there's no longer any easy means to grind and level up.

Can't you warp back in time to before the boat trip? It's been a while since I played it but I'm sure there was option to return to the open world.

Tafdolphin wrote:Hotline Miami 2.

Went from 1 to 2 and the difference really is stark; they're both great but whereas in 1 the levels feel incredibly tightly designed in 2 there's some flab. The fact that you're locked to certain abilities, or lack of, in certain missions is also restrictive compared to the first's open ended feel. It also relies far too much on guns and the pinpoint accuracy they require. Playing 2 on the consoles much be a bloody nightmare.

It's still brill though.

Yeah I was disappointed by the increased focus on guns, I liked how the original encouraged the use of melee weapons. Was still frustrating of course but those A+ ranks felt more reasonably attainable, whereas with 2 the level design doesn't feel well accommodated for that playstyle.

So I'm one month in to my Pile of Shame challenge (for more info check out these articles Part 1 - http://grview.grcade.co.uk/articles/tac ... -of-shame/ and Part 2 - http://grview.grcade.co.uk/articles/the ... -of-shame/ ). Essentially I'm trying to go through the year only playing 8 games (with the option to swap out a game once it has been platinumed).

July has been about playing just 2 games.

Horizon Zero Dawn - I'm around 35 hours into the game and I reckon I'm probably around 60% completed. I've not been rushing the main quest line but I'm now slightly concerned I'll hit level 50 (I'm currently 35) without maxing out my skills which I think triggers one of the trophies. Still have a lot of fun with the game, the combat is astounding (aside from those strawberry floating Glinthawks, it's like Morrowind's Cliff Racers all over again), it looks incredible and, after investing in a decent headset, I'm finding out that the audio is unbelievable. The only negatives are juggling the weapons a little and the fact that the weapon tutorial mission targets only ping if that is the active mission.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate - This choice was a slight gamble as I've always gravitated back to Monster Hunter Freedom Unite after playing later versions. The newer ones never really clicked with me in the same way as MHFU. But putting MH4U in the list (and as my only handheld title at this point) meant I had to persevere. I'm now around 20 hours into my current game and have just hit the first real difficulty hump. I've only solo'ed all the missions up till now but the Gore Magala is kicking my arse so I'm thinking I need to boost my online HR and maybe craft some better kit (current got Tetsu armour with the Flick Switch Axe). I think I need a fire weapon so probably need to do some Kut Ku runs to get flame sacs.

Going forward, my plan is to play HZD to completion and then maybe switch to either Resi 7 or Stardew Valley as a palate cleanser before going back into something open world (either Witcher 3 or BoW). Still got 2 open slots on my list (one is almost certainly reserved for Everybody's Golf) and I did buy Steep in the recent Amazon promo. Haven't decided whether to drop that in as the other open yet, might swap it in for HZD but that'll mean I can't play the DLC until July 2018 (once a game is swapped out then it's gone for the year).

N++ on the PC. This is really damn good. I can't imagine I will be able to stick with it for a long time, there's a ridiculous amount of levels, and the game will probably get too hard at some point but yeah, I'm really enjoying it. Really fantastic platforming physics and there's no stupid physic gimmicks so far, it's just been a very pure platforming experience.

I'm nearing halfway through the second set of levels, I'm looking forward to getting a session in tonight.

I used to have an issue like that and not just games it was books and movies too, stuff mountain I called it. I'd buy anything I thought was a bargain and would potentially play at some point. It ended up with me owning perhaps 40+ PS3 games some unplayed, many started but not finished and several of which still in shrink wrap.

I planned at one point to play through them all in alphabetical order in something I called Project A to Z but it kind of fizzled out with Eternal Sonata. In the end I sold off the lot and decided to stop buying so many and try to play only one game at a time until it was done.

The Secret World: Legends.

I had been enjoying this game before in its previous incarnation, but it wasn't without its flaws. Huzzah then that visuals, interface, sound, character progression, pick ups etc have all been greatly improved for this re-launch. More importantly the frankly awful, and somewhat bizarre combat system of old has been completely replaced with a far more straight forward system more in tune with traditional MMOs. The overall result is that the game is not only more handsome, it plays a damn sight better.

The downside? The servers are very unstable at the moment. Whether that's due to the amount of folk playing the game since the update on Steam yesterday, or it's a much wider problem remains to be seen. As it stands the server died on me half a dozen times playing this evening, which is a real ball ache. Hopefully said servers will right themselves eventually, but other than that I'm thoroughly enjoy Legends.

Plus one of the benefits of having a previous account is that once you get to agartha you can unlock every weapon page

I loved The Secret World but hated the combat with a passion, so it's nice to be back.