What Was The Last Game You Played?

[Mordecai]

After completing AC Valhalla I can now fully focus on Spiderman and dip in and out of the odd world game. 

I thought there was a new Abe's Oddysee game for a minute there...

[Slacker]

11 hours ago, Mordecai said:

 

 

I thought there was a new Abe's Oddysee game for a minute there...

 

Is this a whoosh or are you unaware of Oddworld: Soulstorm?

[Mordecai]

Is this a whoosh or are you unaware of Oddworld: Soulstorm?

I was genuinely unaware it was out, I knew they were making one but had no idea when it was due. This is great news!

I thought they were just referencing Open World games in general rather than Oddworld...

[BFTD]

Saw Graveyard Keeper was on sale a few weeks back, so I figured I'd give it ago - been on my list for ages, as I heard good things about it. Didn't realise it was by the people who made Punch Club until it started up and the familiar art style kicked in.

It's a mild spoof of those Stardew Valley/Harvest Moon farming games. Your characters is transported to a mysterious agrarian land and is given the role of the titular graveyard keeper at the local church, which has fallen into disrepair. You have to rebuild everything and get to work on tending those corpses. You'll have to harvest wood and stone to build new buildings and items, in order to harvest more materials to build other items, in order to grow food and ingredients, to build more items...you get the picture.

It's very grindy, in a similar way to Punch Club; I get the impression that these boys would be right at home making those horrible base-building mobile games that drain people's bank accounts. I've been playing it for hours, and don't feel like I've scratched the surface of the story. I don't think that's really a good thing. It's also mesmerising; I've spent an evening or two just drifting off into performing autopsies, making alchemical ingredients, and mining for ore. I've also just realised that they produced an add-on that helps to automate a lot of the most common processes, and I can't believe that wasn't included in the original release. The grind would've been astronomical, and I'd definitely have got bored and drifted off if I had to keep chopping down trees and lugging the logs back to my house.

But...it is kind of enjoyable, and I do like the art style. I'm guessing there'll eventually be more whimsical encounters with colourful characters, like Punch Club, so that's enough to keep me going, for now. I just don't get why the devs have such a hard-on for tedious grind, considering they don't even sell those evil microtransactions that make games play how they should have originally.

Edit: another thing about this game - it tells you f**k all past a certain point. You'd think that, for things like alchemy, you'd be given a book that describes how to make things, or that the game would keep track of everything you've discovered. No, you're expected to just try combining hundreds of different ingredients in random combinations and hope it produces something worthwhile (it usually doesn't, and you've wasted the ingredients you spent time gathering). The game will occasionally store the "recipe" for certain items, but not for many of the minor (but still important) ones, so you're constantly looking at wikis to remember what you need.

Absolutely infuriating until you realise that this is a game in which relying on a wiki really isn't cheating, unless you love grind.

Edited April 13, 2021 by BFTD

[madwullie]

For no reason other than boredom I picked up PGA tour 2k21 Golf yesterday. 

Been a long long while since I played and enjoyed a golf game, but this is really nice. Not too difficult to play, but clearly hard to master. A nice relaxing change of pace from some of the titles I've been putting time into recently. 

[madwullie]

On 13/04/2021 at 15:20, madwullie said:

For no reason other than boredom I picked up PGA tour 2k21 Golf yesterday. 

Been a long long while since I played and enjoyed a golf game, but this is really nice. Not too difficult to play, but clearly hard to master. A nice relaxing change of pace from some of the titles I've been putting time into recently. 

Update on this - it's actually really really enjoyable and only takes about 15-20 minutes to batter through 18 holes. Would heavy recommend if you're into this shit

[SANTAN]

I'm back on city skylines. One of my mates was round at mine the other day and they're doing their masters for architecture and it was utterly fascinating to see someone play the game and actually plan ahead, I'm inspired to make a functioning city. Probably gonna make a Hamsterdam still. 

[NotThePars]

Back in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. I dunno if I just cba with open worlds this size at least when nothing's grabbing me. Managing to do a quest or location then switching it aff again.

[SANTAN]

1 hour ago, NotThePars said:

Back in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. I dunno if I just cba with open worlds this size at least when nothing's grabbing me. Managing to do a quest or location then switching it aff again.

 

[The Moonster]

On 13/04/2021 at 15:20, madwullie said:

For no reason other than boredom I picked up PGA tour 2k21 Golf yesterday. 

Been a long long while since I played and enjoyed a golf game, but this is really nice. Not too difficult to play, but clearly hard to master. A nice relaxing change of pace from some of the titles I've been putting time into recently. 

I downloaded this last weekend, it's fucking brilliant. I haven't played a golf game since Rory McIlroy's game in 2018 and I hated it, EA Sports seemed to have ruined that franchise. 2K Sports have got this spot on though. It's £16 on the PS Store just now and it's an absolute steal at that price. Thoroughly enjoying the PGA Tour Career, got the Arnold Palmer invitational up next which I hope to batter through tonight before the Sons game kicks off.

[madwullie]

3 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I downloaded this last weekend, it's fucking brilliant. I haven't played a golf game since Rory McIlroy's game in 2018 and I hated it, EA Sports seemed to have ruined that franchise. 2K Sports have got this spot on though. It's £16 on the PS Store just now and it's an absolute steal at that price. Thoroughly enjoying the PGA Tour Career, got the Arnold Palmer invitational up next which I hope to batter through tonight before the Sons game kicks off.

Yeah the career is great fun. Took me a while to qualify for the PGA Tour, but it's been about 10 years since I've played a proper golf game (not everybody's golf which is also amazing btw). 

Thought I'd check out the online last nigut just for a look to see if it would be a laugh. All the leaderboards have c***s at like -25 etc. Will just be playing offline then

[The Moonster]

4 minutes ago, madwullie said:

Yeah the career is great fun. Took me a while to qualify for the PGA Tour, but it's been about 10 years since I've played a proper golf game (not everybody's golf which is also amazing btw). 

Thought I'd check out the online last nigut just for a look to see if it would be a laugh. All the leaderboards have c***s at like -25 etc. Will just be playing offline then

Aye, that was a b*****d. I probably should've practiced more before jumping into the career but going through the Korn Ferry Tour was decent enough learning experience. 

I don't like online gaming for most games tbh, I find the ratio of good guys to wanks tips far too far in the way of wanks. 

Edited April 15, 2021 by The Moonster

[RandomGuy.]

20 hours ago, madwullie said:

Update on this - it's actually really really enjoyable and only takes about 15-20 minutes to batter through 18 holes. Would heavy recommend if you're into this shit

I've been desperate for a golf game for about 10 years now, so this sounds good.

Issue is I've not played my PS4 in about a year, and I can't be arsed finding it again.

[madwullie]

8 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Aye, that was a b*****d. I probably should've practiced more before jumping into the career but going through the Korn Ferry Tour was decent enough learning experience. 

I don't like online gaming for most games tbh, I find the ratio of good guys to wanks tips far too far in the way of wanks. 

Won my first tournament earlier. Fucking Mon . 

[SANTAN]

Really enjoying the new Abe Odyssey game. I dont think I ever managed to get far in the first one but have fond nostalgic members of it. 

[Cptn Hooch]

I bought Last of Us years ago for PS3 and only really played the prologue. When it was on PS Plus last year for the PS4 I downloaded it again and finally got round to playing it. I've since bought the second and I'm currently playing through it...such a great story across the two games with some outstanding gameplay. Looking forward to seeing how they put it across in the upcoming TV Show with Pedro Pascal.

[Busta Nut]

On 14/04/2021 at 20:18, Stormzy said:

I'm back on city skylines. One of my mates was round at mine the other day and they're doing their masters for architecture and it was utterly fascinating to see someone play the game and actually plan ahead, I'm inspired to make a functioning city. Probably gonna make a Hamsterdam still. 

I play this on the PS4 I tend to build a big reservoir near the town then knock it down.  

[Miguel Sanchez]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered (PS4, 2020 - originally PS3, 2009)

Modern Warfare 2 is probably the most excited I've ever been for a game's release. While things like Gran Turismo 5 and BioShock Infinite were extended hype massacres where I followed every piece of news possible and imagined even more besides, for the two or three weeks before MW2's release I was completely beside myself. It feels almost quaint now to go back and watch the pre-release trailers and remember my excitement - although if nothing else, there's no question that Call of Duty games do presentation very, very well. When the time finally came for me to play it, the game was everything I could have hoped for. What an experience.

With that in mind, and with memories of the Modern Warfare remaster fresh in my mind, what to make of the Modern Warfare 2 remaster? Like last time you play in two campaigns simultaneously. You are Gary "Roach" Sanderson, part of the elite Task Force 141 squadron of soldiers who appear to be the SAS but better, who go around stopping bad guys. You're off flying around the world to try and take down Makarov, the apparent best terrorist in the world who's revealed as the true mastermind of the previous game's events. You are also Ramirez!, a Sergeant (I think) in the US Army who has to deal with a Russian invasion of the United States. 

When I played MWR (from now on: MWR and MW2R, I promise) the thing that surprised me the most was how heavy the gameplay felt, both in mechanics and sound. The weaponry felt substantial and the combination of sound and ambient music contributed to an impactful atmosphere which complemented the story. Maybe it's because that stood out so much, but I don't think it's there to the same extent in MW2R. The music isn't quite there and levels which in their original guise felt like fights to keep the world from imploding now just feel stale and lifeless. It's hard to really define why but it just doesn't feel very involving. The gameplay itself feels slightly more refined than MWR which is good - enemies aren't quite the bullet sponges they were and explosions now actually damage people, but the overall atmosphere is lacking, which is poor. 

The gameplay is an improvement on all the areas of MWR which needed improvement. The guns and grenades are better as mentioned, but the enemy AI is a massive improvement too. By that I mean there actually is enemy AI. Your squadmates are as useless as ever (the 141 guys are a bit better than the Americans) but there's actually a finite supply of enemies and they take up the sort of positions you would expect them to, so it's not so bad. The new weapons and equipment such as riot shields offer different approaches to gameplay which is a welcome change, but it can feel inconsequential - you're still achieving the same outcome in a way that's only slightly different.

When I played the Uncharted series last year I noted a complaint which contemporary reviewers had too - levels had been designed with grandiose setpieces in mind first, then had a plot shoehorned into them later. This is why in Uncharted 3 you have an hour long detour into a derelict cruise ship, for instance. MW2 feels the same in places. While MW's SAS sections were interesting because of their focus on stealth, one of the first 141 missions has you chasing someone through a favela in Brazil which is littered with an armed militia. Who are you chasing? A guy who knows Makarov. What benefit does catching him serve? It... does a thing, I suppose. Still, you get an exciting climb through a slum, with enemies popping up on roof tops and from windows to make trying to stay alive a complete nightmare. You even have another mission going through the other side of the favela, just in case you didn't have your fill of the setting.

While the US-based missions have a coherent story to them (well, a story you can follow) 141's just feel like a series of setpieces with nothing really connecting them outside of the cutscenes in between telling you they're connected. You go from a Russian military base in a blizzard to the favela, then you're on an oil rig, then you're in a gulag based on classic 90s action film The Rock, then you're in some woods and on a nuclear submarine base, it's nonsense. In the US campaign you're fighting through Virginia and Washington to get power back from the Russians. You're on the streets of D.C., you're destroying the World War Two memorial with a minigun mounted on a helicopter with barely a shred of irony, from the same series which brought you the aftermath of a nuclear bomb going off and a ghillie-suited romp through the remnants of the Chernobyl disaster. I'd say there's supposed to be a serious commentary on war here, but there are too many explosions for me to be sure. 

Ironically, the setpieces in the American campaign are the most memorable here, probably because they're recognisable. There is, simply, a visceral thrill in fighting through waves of enemies in the grounds of the White House to try and take it back before the entire city gets bombed. There's a stunned sense of awe as you go through the streets just after an EMP has been set off to take out all the helicopters and vehicles and power. The most visually impressive scene in the whole game happens here, with a thunderstorm pouring down onto a silent and seemingly deserted street against a backdrop of burning buildings. It sent the fan in my PS4 into overdrive but the entire level served a significant contrast to the previous few hours' explosions and shouting, so it stands out for that. 

For all of Call of Duty's faults as a series, I will always defend the characterisation in the Modern Warfare games. Price, Soap and Gaz were absolute heroes last time. Now Soap has the voice of a man who clearly takes no shit at all, and Gaz's voice is strangely transplanted into a new man called Ghost who wears a balaclava with a skull on it. The American campaign also sees Keith David, an actor who seems to exclusively play angry military types, telling you what to do, so there's attention to realism there if nothing else. 

Price and Soap will always be two of my favourite video game characters, and this game is probably the biggest reason why. I'm going to give you an example to back this up:

In Call of Duty games, quotes about war and liberty from famous people in history appear on screen to rub in the fact you've died. It's one of the series' few moments of subtlety, although there are some unattributed efforts in MW2 which I'm pretty sure were made up by the developers. One of them here is a quote from George Orwell: "We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us."

Looking it up however I've discovered that wasn't an Orwell quote at all, although as this link notes its foundations lie in a sentiment which was central to a lot of his essays on nationhood: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/11/07/rough-men/

Anyway, even if it is made up, the sentiment is understandable. It's why I love Price and Soap so much. Aside from the obvious confidence Price inspires with his voice and his hat and his moustache, their existence is simple. There is a job to do. It is a job which 99.9% of all the people who have ever lived could never imagine existing, never mind being able to carry it out themselves. They know that to fail is to not only lose themselves, but the justice of the world around them. That is their purpose. That is their enduring power. Their resolve is their biggest strength. It is immovable. It's a credit to Infinity Ward that for all the things the Call of Duty franchise is responsible for that they have characters as engaging as this. I played through this three times while I was trying to get all the trophies, and at the end of the third go I was genuinely moved as the final scene finished.

While MWR was in ways more than the game I remembered, MW2R was somehow less. Maybe it's because I was familiar with the modernised graphics and mechanics, maybe it's because the jump from original to remaster wasn't as severe since it's a more recent game, I don't know. For all their faults though I will always hold these games dear as a significant part of my gaming experience. It's nice to know that years later, I can do that objectively. Hopefully they get a move on with a Modern Warfare 3 remaster so I can be let down by that.

*Note: when I reviewed Modern Warfare Remastered recently I said it was set in 2019. It was set in 2011, MW2 was set in 2016. I don't know why I thought otherwise.

[NotThePars]

14 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

Keith David, an actor who seems to exclusively play angry military types

I always got the impression he played committed military types with a tint of resignation but I'm basing this on The Arbiter and Captain Anderson. Great VA though. One of the best.

 

Enjoyed the review mate. Agree with the tone but will say I far prefer the dumb but fun riff on 90s action movies over the snoozefest that was Modern Warfare 2019's attempt at doing Zero Dark Thirty.

You could maybe make a case that the shift in tone in MW games is indicative of how shite war movies have become as they started becoming self-serious Oscar bait.

Also I completed MW2 Remastered on Veteran earlier this year and it's a remarkably easy game. As is MW 2019.

Edited April 22, 2021 by NotThePars

[Miguel Sanchez]