What Was The Last Game You Played?

[BFTD]

Picked up Bridge Constructor for a couple of quid with some money I had in my Steam Wallet. Remarkably dull dad game and it's depressing how shite I am at physics.

Resigned myself to being old and suddenly finding the concept of Euro Truck Simulator fascinating. I've already got it in my library somehow. The joys of Steam.

[Replays]

5 hours ago, BFTD said:

Picked up Bridge Constructor for a couple of quid with some money I had in my Steam Wallet. Remarkably dull dad game and it's depressing how shite I am at physics.

Resigned myself to being old and suddenly finding the concept of Euro Truck Simulator fascinating. I've already got it in my library somehow. The joys of Steam.

It will take over your life. The deliveries MUST be made! If it makes you feel any better, I’m in my twenties and love Euro Truck Simulator 2 dearly.

[BFTD]

6 hours ago, Scott-Replay said:

It will take over your life. The deliveries MUST be made! If it makes you feel any better, I’m in my twenties and love Euro Truck Simulator 2 dearly.

*sigh*

I remember when I used to play games about shooting things.

[BFTD]

Rediscovered Skyhill today. Janky 2D indie roguelike with...functional...graphics. You play a lad who wakes up on the hundredth floor of a skyscraper after the other residents have mutated into monsters, and you have to make your way down to escape the building. It's more than a little shonky, limited, and has a "my first proper game" feel to it, but it's a wee bit moreish. You learn strategies about the best ways to work your way down, how to maximise food, craft weaponry, and hole up your apartment to rest. You accrue XP to level up, with turn-based combat that's dependant on your basic skill point allocation. There are also collectible clues about what's been going on, places to go, things to do, etc. Nothing terribly elaborate, but it's a nice touch.

Only costs about a quid, feels a bit shit to start with, but draws you in after a few quick deaths. Would recommend if a casual roguelike with crafting elements sounds like your cup of tea. It got a more expensive 3D sequel last year, which doesn't look like the same kind of game at all.

[AJF]

Started Kingdom Come: Deliverance on PC recently and enjoying it so far. The movement and combat feels a bit clunky though, and I am getting absolutely destroyed if I am fighting more than 1 enemy at a time but I am assured this will become easier as I level up my combat skills.

Open World RPG games are usually my go to and I'm liking it's vibe after 3 or 4 hours play thus far.

[J_Stewart]

Just finished God of War, what a truly fantastic game. Great story, and for once the tag along character (Artreus) not only made sense, but was also useful as opposed to the usual hindrance. There was plenty to do without ever being overwhelming and the combat was varied and strategic enough to keep it fun throughout. Was actually just a shame it wasn’t even longer, but guess the next parts will be included in next years sequel.

Mimir is the boy.

[Miguel Sanchez]

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (PS4, 2019)

Despite being an long-running, popular and generally well regarded series, I had never heard of Ace Combat until the free to play instalment of Infinity was released in 2014. I ended up playing it a few years later still with no knowledge of the series. I loved it. There was a brief single player mode but the main focus was multiplayer co-op missions which all involved destroying an assortment of targets to achieve an objective. I enjoyed it so much I started paying attention to the development of Ace Combat 7, although not enough attention to realise it wouldn't have an online mode anything like Infinity.

Since this game carries at 7 at the end of its name, you might imagine there's 6 games' worth of story preceding it. You'd be wrong, because Ace Combat Zero is in there somewhere too. It's no matter though, because Skies Unknown is a new story and after finishing the game from beginning to end at least six times I'm still not entirely sure I understand it. The game world exists in an alternative version of Earth called 'Strangereal,' with the same things you'd expect on Earth - some continents, lots of people, and a seemingly endless desire to spend lots of money on wars. 

Most of that money is spent on aircraft. Judging by the amount of aircraft you shoot down and the amount of missiles your planes can carry, this world must bankrupt itself on a weekly basis. At the start of each mission you pick a plane, its parts and weapon, then you go up and carry out the mission. Planes and parts are unlocked from the Aircraft Tree, you earn money to buy them from doing missions and playing online. Most of the planes are real, but there are some concepts you can unlock once you get far enough and there's lots of DLC if you really like the game. This all works fine. Honestly, I've played the game so much I can't really describe details like this objectively anymore, they're just so commonplace to me I'm struggling with detailing how it all works. 

Since this is Ace Combat 7 there's a lot of information from previous games that's just sort of assumed knowledge not only on behalf of the player, but the game world itself. Locations and characters are included which I only tangentially recognise from my time with Infinity, and even when I've played the game several times there's still a lingering sense of familiarity which I don't quite get. It's not helped by the way the game's story is actually presented. There are cutscenes between missions which tie together different characters and their narrative threads, but none of these are brought up in missions. Missions themselves feature the other pilots talking over the radio and there's personality there if you look hard enough, but it's quite a strange way of story-telling to try and get used to. 

The missions themselves don't help with this as there seems to be very little relation to anything in the world that you're told about. You're shown maps of Strangereal and told you're fighting here in order to do this, you go up and... you shoot at planes. Or you shoot at ground targets. The war's raging, then the war ends. You did that. Perhaps there's a contemporary social commentary about how detached aerial warfare is in here. Destroying dozens of targets you can't see or properly understand starts, perpetuates and ends a war, against an enemy you never see. Again, it takes the several playthroughs I've managed to actually feel as if what you're doing has any impact or significance, but thankfully, it does. I suppose it feels like a game and a story which actively rewards both repeated plays and the player really trying to engage with everything they're experience.

I'm not really sure how to describe the experience of playing the story without just recanting all of it as it happened. I realise too that my previous paragraph doesn't really sound like a positive reaction. I don't know how to explain how that format can produce numerous characters, situations and personalities that are completely unique and memorable, but it does. Since playing Skies Unknown I did some digging online into the fan community and this helped me realise how good the story and characters were. Missions where you're fighting against an old man with twelve names who's in a plane with a railgun on it and he's bragging about how "there have been pilots like you in every generation, and I've felled every last one," how stupid does that sound? And yet, how cool is it? Don't forget the DLC where the commander of a submarine that sat at the bottom of the ocean for two years surfaces and wants to end the war by destroying the countries that are actually fighting.

The game looks and sounds amazing throughout. A lot of the detail in close quarters fighting can be lost given the speeds you're moving at, but when you get close up flashes of hitting a target with a missile it feels all the more real and impressive for it. For once, saying the sky looks good in a game is actually a legitimate compliment. Flying in and around clouds is a genuinely immersive experience, and I think this graphical realism helps you forget you're in a plane that's carrying 150 missiles. Music has always been a big part of the Ace Combat series too and here it's... well, there are extended 30 minute versions of each mission's soundtrack on YouTube and I'm pretty sure I've listened to them all. Several times. If you think you've watched or played something with an epic orchestral score adding to the sense of occasion, you've not played this. I would have liked a photo mode, or more in-depth controls with the post-mission replays, to show this off a bit better, but this doesn't detract from the experience as it's happening.

Reading back what I've written so far, I think I've undersold the story a bit. Although the characters and setting can feel confusing at times there's a consistent underlying sentiment to the story which I think has become more relevant in the years since the game's release. Whichever one of Osea, Usea or Erusea it is you're fighting against have been developing automated drones to do their fighting. They've been gathering information from a top pilot and putting that into these small drones which are launched from containers or from the massive Arsenal Bird aircraft which occasionally show up in missions. Nobody likes this. All the characters repeat how bad drones are, how planes are meant to be flown by humans. 

In a lot of the online discourse and reviews for this game (I'd recommend 'An Incorrect Summary of Ace Combat 7' on YouTube much more than anything I've written) the Arsenal Birds and the AI drones are jokingly compared to Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, but I think there's a legitimate comparison to be made. Consider how much the world has changed since early 2019. Consider how dependent you probably are on technology. All of that's only going one way. Maybe I'm cynical, maybe I'm scared, but I have enjoyed my time with a game which champions human individuality and capability over mechanical, automated, technological output.

Thinking about it, I suppose Ace Combat games are quite the unique niche. How many games are there about aerial warfare? Tom Clancy tried it and failed. Project Wingman exists but from what I gather the missions are quite repetitive, although it's a first time effort from its creators so you can give them some leeway. Skies Unknown is the sort of game that lots of people would say they want to play. It looks great. The gameplay is challenging enough to feel properly rewarding when you master it. The music, dialogue and characterisation all combine to make everything you do feel genuinely epic and important. You can play the full campaign as many times as you like and never really get tired of it, and if you do that while trying different planes and loadouts you'll discover some new details that make you appreciate it all even more. 

The best praise I can finish on is that I'm invested enough in this as a concept now to actually consider buying Ace Combat 8 as soon as it releases. It's fantastic. Give it a try if you can. 

[BFTD]

Finally bought Road Redemption on sale with some leftover money in my Steam wallet. Modern version of the old Mega Drive game Road Rash. You drive along a Mad Max desert highway fighting & racing other wastelanders from your motorbike. It's really good, but I'm incredibly shit at it. Hoping that levelling up a bit will help with that.

[GAD]

7 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (PS4, 2019)

Despite being an long-running, popular and generally well regarded series, I had never heard of Ace Combat until the free to play instalment of Infinity was released in 2014. I ended up playing it a few years later still with no knowledge of the series. I loved it. There was a brief single player mode but the main focus was multiplayer co-op missions which all involved destroying an assortment of targets to achieve an objective. I enjoyed it so much I started paying attention to the development of Ace Combat 7, although not enough attention to realise it wouldn't have an online mode anything like Infinity.

Since this game carries at 7 at the end of its name, you might imagine there's 6 games' worth of story preceding it. You'd be wrong, because Ace Combat Zero is in there somewhere too. It's no matter though, because Skies Unknown is a new story and after finishing the game from beginning to end at least six times I'm still not entirely sure I understand it. The game world exists in an alternative version of Earth called 'Strangereal,' with the same things you'd expect on Earth - some continents, lots of people, and a seemingly endless desire to spend lots of money on wars. 

Most of that money is spent on aircraft. Judging by the amount of aircraft you shoot down and the amount of missiles your planes can carry, this world must bankrupt itself on a weekly basis. At the start of each mission you pick a plane, its parts and weapon, then you go up and carry out the mission. Planes and parts are unlocked from the Aircraft Tree, you earn money to buy them from doing missions and playing online. Most of the planes are real, but there are some concepts you can unlock once you get far enough and there's lots of DLC if you really like the game. This all works fine. Honestly, I've played the game so much I can't really describe details like this objectively anymore, they're just so commonplace to me I'm struggling with detailing how it all works. 

Since this is Ace Combat 7 there's a lot of information from previous games that's just sort of assumed knowledge not only on behalf of the player, but the game world itself. Locations and characters are included which I only tangentially recognise from my time with Infinity, and even when I've played the game several times there's still a lingering sense of familiarity which I don't quite get. It's not helped by the way the game's story is actually presented. There are cutscenes between missions which tie together different characters and their narrative threads, but none of these are brought up in missions. Missions themselves feature the other pilots talking over the radio and there's personality there if you look hard enough, but it's quite a strange way of story-telling to try and get used to. 

The missions themselves don't help with this as there seems to be very little relation to anything in the world that you're told about. You're shown maps of Strangereal and told you're fighting here in order to do this, you go up and... you shoot at planes. Or you shoot at ground targets. The war's raging, then the war ends. You did that. Perhaps there's a contemporary social commentary about how detached aerial warfare is in here. Destroying dozens of targets you can't see or properly understand starts, perpetuates and ends a war, against an enemy you never see. Again, it takes the several playthroughs I've managed to actually feel as if what you're doing has any impact or significance, but thankfully, it does. I suppose it feels like a game and a story which actively rewards both repeated plays and the player really trying to engage with everything they're experience.

I'm not really sure how to describe the experience of playing the story without just recanting all of it as it happened. I realise too that my previous paragraph doesn't really sound like a positive reaction. I don't know how to explain how that format can produce numerous characters, situations and personalities that are completely unique and memorable, but it does. Since playing Skies Unknown I did some digging online into the fan community and this helped me realise how good the story and characters were. Missions where you're fighting against an old man with twelve names who's in a plane with a railgun on it and he's bragging about how "there have been pilots like you in every generation, and I've felled every last one," how stupid does that sound? And yet, how cool is it? Don't forget the DLC where the commander of a submarine that sat at the bottom of the ocean for two years surfaces and wants to end the war by destroying the countries that are actually fighting.

The game looks and sounds amazing throughout. A lot of the detail in close quarters fighting can be lost given the speeds you're moving at, but when you get close up flashes of hitting a target with a missile it feels all the more real and impressive for it. For once, saying the sky looks good in a game is actually a legitimate compliment. Flying in and around clouds is a genuinely immersive experience, and I think this graphical realism helps you forget you're in a plane that's carrying 150 missiles. Music has always been a big part of the Ace Combat series too and here it's... well, there are extended 30 minute versions of each mission's soundtrack on YouTube and I'm pretty sure I've listened to them all. Several times. If you think you've watched or played something with an epic orchestral score adding to the sense of occasion, you've not played this. I would have liked a photo mode, or more in-depth controls with the post-mission replays, to show this off a bit better, but this doesn't detract from the experience as it's happening.

Reading back what I've written so far, I think I've undersold the story a bit. Although the characters and setting can feel confusing at times there's a consistent underlying sentiment to the story which I think has become more relevant in the years since the game's release. Whichever one of Osea, Usea or Erusea it is you're fighting against have been developing automated drones to do their fighting. They've been gathering information from a top pilot and putting that into these small drones which are launched from containers or from the massive Arsenal Bird aircraft which occasionally show up in missions. Nobody likes this. All the characters repeat how bad drones are, how planes are meant to be flown by humans. 

In a lot of the online discourse and reviews for this game (I'd recommend 'An Incorrect Summary of Ace Combat 7' on YouTube much more than anything I've written) the Arsenal Birds and the AI drones are jokingly compared to Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, but I think there's a legitimate comparison to be made. Consider how much the world has changed since early 2019. Consider how dependent you probably are on technology. All of that's only going one way. Maybe I'm cynical, maybe I'm scared, but I have enjoyed my time with a game which champions human individuality and capability over mechanical, automated, technological output.

Thinking about it, I suppose Ace Combat games are quite the unique niche. How many games are there about aerial warfare? Tom Clancy tried it and failed. Project Wingman exists but from what I gather the missions are quite repetitive, although it's a first time effort from its creators so you can give them some leeway. Skies Unknown is the sort of game that lots of people would say they want to play. It looks great. The gameplay is challenging enough to feel properly rewarding when you master it. The music, dialogue and characterisation all combine to make everything you do feel genuinely epic and important. You can play the full campaign as many times as you like and never really get tired of it, and if you do that while trying different planes and loadouts you'll discover some new details that make you appreciate it all even more. 

The best praise I can finish on is that I'm invested enough in this as a concept now to actually consider buying Ace Combat 8 as soon as it releases. It's fantastic. Give it a try if you can. 

Good review. It's a great game folks, and it's always available in a sale. Defo try it out.

[Miguel Sanchez]

Game & Season Pass currently £13.99 on PS4. I've seen a lot of people spend a lot more on a lot worse on here.

[BFTD]

Changed my mind about Road Redemption - it's not just good, it's quite excellent. Slaloming about all over the road cracking skulls with a wrench and attaching sticky bombs to cars before accelerating off while cackling like a madman. Looks and sounds great, performance is terrific; just all-round good times.

I'm still shit at it, but I'm improving. The further you progress, the more mental it becomes, and you're pretty much guaranteed to see something amazing and/or hilarious happen. Best game purchase I've made in quite a while; currently about a fiver in the Steam sale, if anyone's interested.

[19QOS19]

Not completed but working my way through Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. I've never played any of these titles and after getting into this one I'm shocked that that's the case. Are they always as fun as this? Having a great time with it just now. Though cartoon based it's really impressive visually and I'm enjoying the controls as well. I'm only playing it because it came in the bundle but I think I'll pick up any subsequent titles.

[Cptn Hooch]

Downloaded the Batman: Return to Arkham pack in the playstation black friday sale at the weekend. £10 for the first two games in the series and I'm loving playing through Arkham Asylum again. Such good games.

[19QOS19]

Downloaded the Batman: Return to Arkham pack in the playstation black friday sale at the weekend. £10 for the first two games in the series and I'm loving playing through Arkham Asylum again. Such good games.

That's still my favourite of the series. I know City and Arkham Knight opened it up but I just love a good linear game. Go back to play Asylum quite often.

[Cptn Hooch]

11 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

That's still my favourite of the series. I know City and Arkham Knight opened it up but I just love a good linear game. Go back to play Asylum quite often.

Origins was decent too if I remember right but Asylum and City are definitely my favourite so getting the return to arkham pack was a no brainer when I saw the price tag

[Chris_the_rover]

Started Deathloop tonight so will see how it goes

Well worth playing,

I just completed it,

Really clever idea, took me a bit to get my head round how to work the loop in my favour, but loads to explore and do

Must play for ps5 owners

[NotThePars]

Why they never had a grappling hook in Halo until now is beyond me. One of those little additional features that feel like it should've been there since day one.

[Clown Job]

Not technically a game but I played that Matrix demo for the Unreal Engine 5 on PS5

It was really impressive 

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

Got Death Stranding for PS4 from CEX for £10 and purchased the ps5 upgrade for £5. Played it for a few hours today, my type of game so think I will be sinking a lot of hours into this one.

[Chris_the_rover]

Not technically a game but I played that Matrix demo for the Unreal Engine 5 on PS5
It was really impressive 

Yeah it was cracking