Red Mosquito

I'm a blades of steel guy

Reasonable choice of retro NHL game

I haven't owned a console since Gamecube, and I'm more of a retro gamer anyway, so a lot of stuff I enjoy playing are little flash games and the like. That said, there are a couple of full-sized games that I've really been into this year.

The first one is an indie platformer called Freedom Planet. It started life as a Sonic fan-game using Chinese fan-characters, which sounds like an awful premise on paper, but it had some promise. However, it evolved into something way beyond that. While speed still plays a part in the final version of the game, there's also a much greater focus on combat, with elements of Ristar, Megaman, and Rocket Knight being called into play. It's an enjoyable game, with an interesting story, but I've had to put it down a few times because I apparently suck at it, and have gotten stuck on a couple of the bosses.

The other, more recent game that I was obsessed with for a couple of weeks was a free, flash-based game called Phoenotopia that subverts all expectations one may have of a "free, flash-based game." It's basically a "Metroidvania" style game that has several homages to The Legend of Zelda as well. At times, the cliches are a little too much, but I found the atmosphere and the plot to be totally engrossing to the point that I put in over twenty hours of playtime to uncover every secret in the game and achieve beyond 100% completion.

Brett wrote:I haven't owned a console since Gamecube, and I'm more of a retro gamer anyway, so a lot of stuff I enjoy playing are little flash games and the like. That said, there are a couple of full-sized games that I've really been into this year.

The first one is an indie platformer called Freedom Planet. It started life as a Sonic fan-game using Chinese fan-characters, which sounds like an awful premise on paper, but it had some promise. However, it evolved into something way beyond that. While speed still plays a part in the final version of the game, there's also a much greater focus on combat, with elements of Ristar, Megaman, and Rocket Knight being called into play. It's an enjoyable game, with an interesting story, but I've had to put it down a few times because I apparently suck at it, and have gotten stuck on a couple of the bosses.

The other, more recent game that I was obsessed with for a couple of weeks was a free, flash-based game called Phoenotopia that subverts all expectations one may have of a "free, flash-based game." It's basically a "Metroidvania" style game that has several homages to The Legend of Zelda as well. At times, the cliches are a little too much, but I found the atmosphere and the plot to be totally engrossing to the point that I put in over twenty hours of playtime to uncover every secret in the game and achieve beyond 100% completion.

I find myself drawn more and more to smaller, independent games these days. I'll have to check these out.

Downloaded the kart dlc this morning before work. New courses look fun.

Also, my stepson is now full into the competitive super smash brothers melee circuit. He treats his controllers like they are gold. I've been having a hard time finding a protective "travel" case that I'd like to get him for Christmas. Anyone ever see a controller case?

E.H. Ruddock wrote:Also, my stepson is now full into the competitive super smash brothers melee circuit. He treats his controllers like they are gold. I've been having a hard time finding a protective "travel" case that I'd like to get him for Christmas. Anyone ever see a controller case?

i'll find one for you

Alex wrote:

E.H. Ruddock wrote:Also, my stepson is now full into the competitive super smash brothers melee circuit. He treats his controllers like they are gold. I've been having a hard time finding a protective "travel" case that I'd like to get him for Christmas. Anyone ever see a controller case?

i'll find one for you

mf wrote:

bada wrote:

mf wrote:I was playing Shadow of Mordor a few days ago and ran into an uruk called Dush....pronounced douche. After spending a few of minutes tracking him down and having the game announce his name repeatedly, it occurred to me that the internet must be having a field day with this one....turns out it is.

Game any good?

I'm enjoying it. Not a terribly lengthy main quest but if you do all the side quests and have fun hunting down captains and war chiefs outside of the main quests you can probably squeeze 40 hours out of it. Each target has their own strengths and weaknesses that you need to learn and exploit so it keeps it from feeling repetitive. There is likely a fair bit of replay value here. I've got too many new games to play after this one so i probably won't do a 2nd playthrough for a while.

I'm gonna add this one to the list. Thx.

E.H. Ruddock wrote:Downloaded the kart dlc this morning before work. New courses look fun.

Me too....waiting for the kids to get home to go through it. Really wanna play the Excitebike level.

bada wrote:

E.H. Ruddock wrote:Downloaded the kart dlc this morning before work. New courses look fun.

Me too....waiting for the kids to get home to go through it. Really wanna play the Excitebike level.

Yeah i haven't played yet either. My stepson would kill me. That excitebike level looks cool because it generates differently every time.

Just played Alien: Isolation for a few hours. The first 30-45 minutes were great; cinematic, atmospheric, exciting. Felt like a proper entry in the Alien series.

Then it became a video game. Sigh.

Heathen wrote:

This is misleading. I don't picture you ever laughing this hard.

I was not laughing, I was having a seizure.

Heathen wrote:

The ambiguity around the meaning of this post will haunt me to my grave.

I picked up Assassins Creed Rogue this weekend, which is the PS3/360 title that came out last week. I decided to go with the last-gen one because the sailing component is a core part of the gameplay which i don't think will be in AC Unity, and also because it takes place in the north Atlantic which is where i call home. I thought it would be fun to see what Ubisoft thinks my hometown would look like in 1755. It shouldn't have surprised me, but the towns are really only accurate in name/location only and contain some generic forts and buildings. Bummer. It's still kind of fun to sail around the area though. They put a lot more effort into the 'River Valley' and New York sections of the game and areas like Albany and a few other American towns have actual historical landmarks and buildings which makes me wonder why the Canadian locations didn't get that kind of attention.

I've only logged a few hours but the game itself is pretty much what i expected. It takes place between the events of ACIII and Black Flag and reuses a lot of the same gameplay mechanics from those games. There's the sailing and naval battles, the hunting and crafting, and the climbing/exploring. It lacks the excitement of Black Flag though. It's tough to pinpoint why specifically at this stage but i'm not terribly impressed yet. Feels kind of like an expanded DLC, and reading reviews this morning it seems that i'm not alone in that sentiment. And after playing Shadow of Mordor for the past few weeks and it's exceptional melee system the AC fight mechanics seems downright clunky by comparison.

Still, seafaring is a blast so i can't really complain too much. That shit is a blast.

How does everyone feel about the proposed Sexism rating they're kicking around over there in Sweden?

durdencommatyler wrote:How does everyone feel about the proposed Sexism rating they're kicking around over there in Sweden?

WE MUST STOP THE WOMEN INFILTRATING OUR GAMING ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Mecca wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:How does everyone feel about the proposed Sexism rating they're kicking around over there in Sweden?

WE MUST STOP THE WOMEN INFILTRATING OUR GAMING ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH