Wednesday 22 October 2014

Englishman no longer in New York, part 2

And... for some reason Emily's dad decided to buy a PlayStation 3. So, that's going to be staying in America so it doesn't paralyse me with yet another choice of games to play. Here's what we have for it so far.
  • Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed II - yes I know I already have them, but Emily's sister wants to see me play through the series
  • The Last Of Us - pack-in game, heard it's good
  • Batman: Arkham Origins - also pack-in, I've actually heard this is the worst one of the series so far, but it's a good introduction because it's a prequel and I'm not tired of the combat yet
  • Ico / Shadow of the Colossus HD - yessss
  • Heavy Rain - Emily wants to see it

OH MY GOD

Englishman no longer in New York

That's right, Emily and I are back from visiting her parents. I acquired a zillion games there. I'll post about them right now, and then write another post on events there. When I remember.

First of all, birthday presents!
  • Project X Zone (3DS) - had my eye on it for a while
  • Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS) - wanted to get into the series for a long time
  • Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS) - this is actually Emily's present, but I'm sure I'll play it eventually
Then, did some shopping of my own.
  • Earth Defense Force 2025 (360) - bought to play with Emptyeye, I thoroughly enjoyed 2017
  • Suikoden (PS1) - finally! been trying to get more of the series for ages
  • Suikoden III (PS2) - yay
  • Mass Effect 2 (360) - finished the first game sometime last year, want to continue the plot
  • The Lord of the Rings: Tactics (PSP) - heard fairly good things about this
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (PS2) - I like RPGs
  • Legion: The Legend of Excalibur (PS2) - like I said
Oh also free games.
  • Darksiders II (360) - currently playing through the first game
  • Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (360) - yep

Split into second post for tags.

Monday 6 October 2014

Mobile Mobile Gaming

Currently in America! I have eaten a bagel every morning and that makes me at least 5% happier than usual.

Before I left, I played through Deadlight, which isn't very long, but still quite fun. Gameplay is a simple mix of gunplay and platformer 'puzzle' solving, with a reasonably fleshed-out backstory. I collected a bunch of optional things, but not everything, so one day I'm sure I'll go back and look for them. Think of it as a smaller, less silly version of Shadow Complex. Also you get achievements for doing pretty much anything.

Google emailed me to say that the free store credit I got for buying my Nexus 7 was about to run out, so I bought a few games on Play to use it up:
  • Tales of Illyria: Fallen Knight - don't know much about this, but it has very good reviews
  • Warhammer 40,000: Carnage - more about this in a sec
  • QuestLord - a dungeon crawler, beaten this already
  • Dragon Quest - yes the mobile port of the original, trying to get mad RPG cred yo
  • Assassin's Creed: Pirates - actually free, but got it at the same time
QuestLord was pretty cool; not terribly complicated, but a fun romp, and definitely worth $2. Plot is simple but fairly well written, and there's a surprising amount of lore hanging around waiting to be looked at. The challenge ramps up at the end and necessitates different strategy, and the three different races have different starting areas, so I think once I beat all three I'll mark it as Complete. It does also have 'Quick Games', which are premade characters placed in random dungeons, but they seem unnecessarily difficult, I'll try again later. Might be worth speedrunning if I can capture Android video.

Warhammer 40,000: Carnage is a run and gun. It's competently made, but quite repetitive. I'm onto the second map right now and I'm definitely starting to get tired of the gameplay. I'm ignoring the pay-to-win aspect with it as I do with any other game of this nature, which makes some of the levels fairly challenging to obtain high ranks on, so there is that, but my tablet seems to be a little too old to play it optimally - the chugging often results in my getting hit or falling off a ledge. Also, touchscreen controls just don't work terribly well with action games; it's just too easy for your thumbs to slip slightly out of the button press ranges. I think I'll try to beat every level and then put it down.

Aside from this, GOG has a Ubisoft sale on right now, so I couldn't help but buy more games. This list is going to get a bit repetitive.
  • Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest
  • Heroes of Might and Magic II: Gold
  • Heroes of Might and Magic IV: Complete
  • Heroes of Might and Magic V: Bundle
  • Heroes Chronicles: All Chapters
Yeah, that's a lot of HoMM to play through. If you're wondering why III isn't there, I bought it a few days ago.