h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

'Finished' both mark of The Ninja and Assassin Creed 3 over the weekend.

Well I say finished, there still a plethora of side-quests and submissions and achievement bonuses to keep my occupied until march when Tomb Raider shall arrive. And there's always then outside chance I might boot up LA Noire in the interim as I never did finish Homicide / start the Arson missions....

Finished Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Whilst the gameplay remains top notch, it's the storytelling that has me coming back each time. They've crafted two sets of characters I actually care about: I really like Ezio and I adore Desmond and his little gang.

There was a little moment near the end where Shaun and Rebecca are doing their cute snarky thing and the shot pans to Lucy who looks sidewards at Desmond and *rolls her eyes* - it was a piece of character development you don't normally see in computer games, a depth to the characters and I loved it.

LA Noire gag reel:

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news/news-14013-LA-Noire-Gag-Reel-Features-Fluffed-Lines-Aplenty.html

Am playing a really old game, refurbished and sold for pennies on steam - Divine Divinity. I like the fact that they make it quite hard - their elite orc sneakily looks the same as a standard orc, at least for the second or so till he renders you into little bits...

It's similar to but not as pretty as NeverWinterNights 2, but it's crucially much less buggy...

sprout

I've had to pause my run through of the Assassin's Creed series - my best mate wants to hold onto AC3 for a while so I'm stuck.

Started on Mass Effect series and, for all its flaws (boring, repetitive dungeons and no run option) I loved it. Rare to find a game with such a powerful moral choice system. The easy choices are rare, the hard ones are properly hard. Brilliant stuff.

Replaying Portal. I decided to find out what messages you get if you don't destroy the companion cube straight away.

I'm playing Guild Wars 2 again, now on a German server. They made a lot of patches during the last few months and the game got a lot better becaosue of that. Many bugs fixed, stuff added, graphics improved etc
Many people complain about lags but I can't see any so I think the problem must be on their side.

Had a bit of a saga: order Tombraider from Tesco who sent it off last Sunday via Royal Mail - and the theiving barstewards still haven't delivered it.

So I cancelled my order and got a refund.

Meanwhile I rented the game from Blockbusters (who in my neighbourhood are still trading) on Wednesday - and had completed in by Saturday Evening.

It's very good - and quite possibly the most cinematic game I have ever played. Very good, but too damn short.

It's not open-world like either AC3 or Arkham City (or for that matter Skyrim). It's sort of hard to explain, it's linear but doesn't feel like it, becuase the environments are so expansive and there isn't a mission per se, it's just stuff to do in each new environment. (Oh the command centres bust - you'll need to climb the tower to patch in manually, then zip line down to the fuel depot to start a fire to attract rescue...) But you can't 'go anywhere by any means' as in those other games it is more constrained but you hardly notice. And you can play it guns blazing or sneak n creep....

Add to this the very cinematic quality of it, so cut scenes blend pretty much seamlessly with game play that makes use of angles and camera moves, a few quick-time events and so I would say it compares in the amount of work that has gone into it is obvious. It is, without question, a very good game. But it isn't open world like those other two, so you can't spend time 'exploring' or doing side missions (riddler puzzle-rooms / AC3 district challenges as there are none) What there is is lots of little collectables (rather analogous to AC3's - famous landmark skit) and in each sector there are some unique things to do like (light all the temple buddahs - though it is unclear what this is supposed to achieve)

Also there are the Tombs. These are FAR FAR FAR too short (and really easy to find as the game tells you where they are!) Consisting typically of a single puzzle that once you've solved the correct sequence to turn the handle / light the candle / open the canal gate - takes you straight to the 'prize' which is usually enough XP for a single skill point , slavage and an occasional a weapon upgrade part.
Compared to the dungeons of Drauger in, say, Skyrim - this is wasted opportunity.

In the 3.5 days I had the game, I had not only finished the main storyline (dying a few times but relatively easily) I'd also upgraded all my weapons and my skill sets in all the ways I wanted (so again to compare to skyrim, there is no specialising here to be a wizard or a two-handed swordsman) it's skills you build upon in the course of the game, and by the conclusion you are sufficiently badass and tooled up to take on whole screens full of badguys with relative ease. So I would asay the learning curve is quite shallow but it does have a good attempt at showing lara develop as a character - and this is welcome.

The graphics are extraordinary - and the levels well-designed for the most part. The Storyline follows the usual Indy/Lara riff of real history mixed with a fair dose of supernatural and other-worldly goings-on. And is overall quiet enjoyable.

I think I'd give it 9 /10 but maybe mark it down to an 8.

Definitely play it (if you can get any of the feckless winkers at The Post Office to stop stealing the mail and actually deliver it ON TIME for a change!)

Played through Dishonored last weekend and absolutely loved it. I thought it was a little short, but it's better than when they drag on. Also, definite replayability. I did sneaking/killing as few people as possible on my first play, might try again with full frontal attack/killing everyone to get a different ending. I ended up dreaming about the teleporting thing though, so cool.

Also played through The Cave recently, which was great fun but a bit too easy.

I'm love, love, loving Tomb Raider. I'm about halfway through and have totally fallen in love with new Lara. Rhianna Pratchett has done an amazing job with the story too.

My copy of Tomb Raider arrived a day late as well, I got the Collecrors Edition (I do for most things, cuz I'm a sucker like that) Not finished it yet, because I'm playing other things at the same time. Going back to games I've not quite completed, playing Epic Mickey 2 and Skylanders Giants with my son.

I love it as well.

Looking forward to Bioshock Infinite, so am also replaying Bioshock 2.

My Xbox is getting right bashing at the minute...

Played through the Mass Effect trilogy over the past few weeks. Games hold a special place in my heart because of their ability to tell a story in a way no other medium can and Mass Effect has been a great example of that. There's an immersion because of the choices you have to make and their consequences.

At a number of points across the trilogy there were truly upsetting bits because of the consequences of my choices: that's really cool. It helps the series was really well written: one scene in particular, where a character discussed what might happen if our heroes failed was a beauty. The choices weren't easy either and the easy/obvious choices were rare. Kind of the opposite of the Fable or Infamous games where the good/right choice was always painfully obvious.

I know a lot of people didn't like the ending of no. 3: I'm not sure why, I enjoyed it. It satisfied me after quite a long period playing the games and making choices, the climax worked.

Bioshock Infinite is "totes amazeballs"

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is giving me the flailing heebie jeebies.

Dune 2000....Gimme concrete, gimme lots of it now...OK?

Oh no!!!!!!!!!! A bloody worm...I hate the buggers.

More spice...need more spice, spice equals tanks+Fremen...nast buggers them Fremen.

>>Bioshock Infinite is "totes amazeballs"<<

Isn't it just?

Just recently finished playing Ni no Kuni, Curse of the White Witch.
I bought it because I enjoy an RPG and am a Studio Ghibli fan.
Enjoyable game but oh such a lot of grinding. Luckily I came across
a spot where a Totoro kind of(I think it's called a tokotoko)being
spawns. Knocking it out gives you 1000s of xp.
Started playing Tomb Raider, Great so far but does it really have to
be so gloomy? Hard to see things sometimes.

Iago - I think the version that you've played (and the version that I played) has been substantially improved from the original that caused all the fuss. I can still see why people are unhappy about it, but I don't think there would have been anywhere near the outcry if that version had been released first.

I've heard a lot of very good stuff about Bioshock Infinite. I've not played any of the Bioshock games before - should I go straight to BI, or would it be best to play some of the earlier ones? I've read one review which indicates that it's set somewhere completely different, but it doesn't say a great deal for fear of spoilers.

I'd play Bioshock just because it is a tremendous game that any fan of the medium would be nuts not to play.

Skip Bioshock 2 though it is terrible.

FB

I didn't think Bioshock 2 was terrible, just not as good as the first one.

They're both much more claustrophobic and eerie than Infinite, But I don't think it would ruin the first one if you *did* play Infinite first, just more put you in the mood for something very similar, but different