Currently Playing chat thread

[Stuart]

Super Mario 3D World on the Wii U, super fun game. I finished it (beat Bowser) a few years ago but haven't yet unlocked all the remaining levels, it gets challenging.

[kazanova_Frankenstein]

I need to boot up my copy and see how much of the post Bowser content I cleared. I’m guessing not much.

[Cumberdanes]

I made a decent bit of progress in Ninja Gaiden Sigma on stream tonight. I beat the chapter I got stuck on and rage quit back when I played Ninja Gaiden Black on 360 and even managed to go a bit further by finishing the next chapter too.

I’m (quietly) confident I might finally be able to beat this frigging game

EDIT: Special mention for how the stream ended, I fought through a ridiculously difficult enemy gauntlet in one of the Rachel chapters only to be rewarded with a wig... a strawberry floating wig

[Clarkman]

Horizon Zero Dawn

Level 19 and maybe 12 hours in. I'm not in love with the game. The writing and performances feel very average and the side quests are broadly uninteresting. Killing humans is super dull in comparison to the dino hunts.

Why does every merchant have the same gear? And what the point in picking up all these upgrades if I can't unequip previous ones until the end of the skill tree?

I've never seen a more predictable character death than the one which kicked off this plot.

[kazanova_Frankenstein]

Started a replay of Deadly Premonition. The first 3 hours or so were... shaky, but when you get to the town hall meeting and meet the wacky cast of characters it all clicks, just like it did when i first played it.

I'm sure the Switch performance is worse than the PS3 verison though, and i have deffinitely has more glitches and crashes. I think i'm past the potentially game ending one now though, so thats a relief.

And i really wish they had sorted the non rotating map on the pause screen vs rotating map during gameplay out.

[massimo]

So I’ve finally gotten round to spending some time with Super Mario Odyssey as my son is now 3 and has gotten into watching me play games.
And I’ve got to say Mario Odyssey has got to be the least enjoyable Mario game I’ve ever played. Controlling Mario is difficult, the hat stuff is not for me, and the levels are really boring.
Was really hoping for something more akin to Mario Galaxy, but I’ve just found myself being annoyed playing through this.

[jawaX]

So I’ve finally gotten round to spending some time with Super Mario Odyssey as my son is now 3 and has gotten into watching me play games.
And I’ve got to say Mario Odyssey has got to be the least enjoyable Mario game I’ve ever played. Controlling Mario is difficult, the hat stuff is not for me, and the levels are really boring.
Was really hoping for something more akin to Mario Galaxy, but I’ve just found myself being annoyed playing through this.

Crikey, massimo! Sorry to hear that you're not enjoying Odyssey... I think this goes to prove that, whilst we are all gamers, we all have wildly varying tastes. Just as with music and movies, each of us like different things and that's all cool :-) .

[Prototype]

That's a shocker Massimo

Genuinely my favourite ever 3D Mario. Each to their own though!

[massimo]

Haha! I knew I would be in the minority. The main thing though for me is the controls. I hate how sensitive it is. I’m never able to land on a goomba properly, I’m always just off hitting the block. Just really annoying.

Edit: Finally convinced my little boy to let me play something else so just picked up The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Oh my God!
Exactly what I need.

[Squinty]

I don't like the jump timing in Mario Odyssey. Feels like he should hang in the air more.

[OrangeRKN]

The hat jumping is amazing when you get some practice in, you can chain together some great moves which are fun to execute and give Mario more flexibilty and capability in his moveset than he's ever had. There's definitely a learning curve to being able to hat throw/dive/bounce in midair with all the requisite timing but damn it feels good.

However you're playing Link's Awakening so all is more than forgiven

[Lotus]

Star Ocean: The Last Hope
I'm about 11 hours into this, and enjoying it quite a bit. The worst bits so far are some annoying characters and dodgy voice acting. Exploring planets and dungeons is enjoyable, although I could do with fewer battles in the dungeons. The plot still feels relatively refreshing in JRPG terms, which is good, and while the battles are fairly basic, they're not too annoying (unlike hearing the same lines over and over and over again at the end of a fight).

DiRT 4
I went back to this after a bit of a break, and immediately noticed that the framerate wasn't great. I must've just put up with it before without it really bothering me. Adjusted some settings though and it's much smoother now. I'm trying to finish off the ludicrous amount of events and stages, and while I'm not bothered about getting gold in everything, I'd like to at least complete each event. It's a good game for dipping in and out of though, so I may well end up taking another break in a week or two and then returning. The rallying is solid, so at its core it's a good game, despite any issues with the events and structure.

[fry87]

AO Tennis 2 (Switch) - picked this up fairly cheaply second hand having had a craving for a tennis game. It's early days and so far it's just okay. The gameplay is reasonable if a little slow, but the loading times are pretty rubbish. Makes me long for a top quality tennis game like Virtua Tennis, Topspin or Everybody's Tennis (the PSP version was a personal favourite). I wasn't a fan of Mario Aces (single player was lacking and the breaking rackets too gimmicky) so am really finding quality tennis game options in short supply

[Peter Crisp]

Orcs Must Die 3 on the xbox.

It's very much a continuation of the series and that's just fine with me as I love it .
I know it's not for everyone but the relatively slow pace and variety of traps is just right for me.
£25 and I'm going to get many many hours of fun and frustration out of it so a solid 9/10 from me.

[Cumberdanes]

I’m making good progress in Mario Odyssey. I’m about to move on from the Bowser Kingdom and have all the moons I can collect so far but I’m missing 3 purple coins in Bowser Kingdom, I’ll look up up a map later in the week.

[Clarkman]

Horizon Zero Dawn

Level 19 and maybe 12 hours in. I'm not in love with the game. The writing and performances feel very average and the side quests are broadly uninteresting. Killing humans is super dull in comparison to the dino hunts.

Why does every merchant have the same gear? And what the point in picking up all these upgrades if I can't unequip previous ones until the end of the skill tree?

I've never seen a more predictable character death than the one which kicked off this plot.

Finished the campaign on Sunday night at level 41 and at 38 hours. The story improved massively in the final third. Once you get powered up things feel much more satisfying. There was a stage where I got sick of relying so heavily on the sneaking around.

The Cores were the highlight for me and the low point were the bandits, who felt like they were doubling up too closely on the Shadow Carja to be interesting.

I'm not sure I'm going to bother with the Frozen Wilds stuff unless someone tells me it is essential.

[Buffalo]

I think ‘essential’ is probably pushing it seeing as though you weren’t too wild on the game (pun intended), but there’s no drop in quality. I really liked it but then again I pumped over 80 hours total into the thing.

[Gemini73]

Full Throttle Remastered (PC)

Conan Exiles (PC)

Days Gone (PC)

[Clarkman]

I think ‘essential’ is probably pushing it seeing as though you weren’t too wild on the game (pun intended), but there’s no drop in quality. I really liked it but then again I pumped over 80 hours total into the thing.

Thanks Buff. I really did enjoy the game and was compelled to play through to completion. I think it does player agency superbly, and the way the story expands as the stakes do is well handled. I think I've come away feeling it is an 8/10 - lots of places where the game is exceptional, but just a few too many weak points for it to be console defining or essential.

If I was in charge of Forbidden West, I'd focus on addressing the following:

- Get motion capture for faces
- More variety to spear combat / another close range weapon
- A skill tree that felt more meaningful
- Better rewards/stakes for side quests (integrate them more effectively into main narrative)

I know from the trailers that a few of the above seem to be priorities, so they know where their flaws were. Gliding will be a huge blessing also.

[ITSMILNER]

Horizon Zero Dawn

Level 19 and maybe 12 hours in. I'm not in love with the game. The writing and performances feel very average and the side quests are broadly uninteresting. Killing humans is super dull in comparison to the dino hunts.

Why does every merchant have the same gear? And what the point in picking up all these upgrades if I can't unequip previous ones until the end of the skill tree?

I've never seen a more predictable character death than the one which kicked off this plot.

Finished the campaign on Sunday night at level 41 and at 38 hours. The story improved massively in the final third. Once you get powered up things feel much more satisfying. There was a stage where I got sick of relying so heavily on the sneaking around.

The Cores were the highlight for me and the low point were the bandits, who felt like they were doubling up too closely on the Shadow Carja to be interesting.

I'm not sure I'm going to bother with the Frozen Wilds stuff unless someone tells me it is essential.

I loved Horizon (played through it earlier this year) and while not essential I throughly enjoyed the Frozen Wilds stuff just as much as the main game.