R(ob)’s Comments (group member since Jun 21, 2021)

R(ob)’s comments from the The Video Game Forum group.

I'm leaning towards a no too on PS5 Pro. In the announcement video Cerny really didn't get across the improvements - they appeared minimal. I would hope in real life with a PS5 Pro hooked up on your own TV the difference would be more noticeable - pretty solid 60fps and sharper images (hopefully above 1080p). However, I very very much doubt they will achieve 4k 60FPS native and they'll rely on PSSR upscaling. Compared to what we got with Jedi:Survivor and Space Marine 2 (for example) that's gonna be a lot better than the 720p and very flaky 60FPS. That's the big disappointment for me this gen - flaky 60FPS at 720-1080p seems to be the norm and looks awful. The main put-off for me is that it's £700 + £100 for a disc drive and then you will only get 3 years (4 at a stretch) before PS6 arrives. It's just not worth the money for such a short life span if you're a day one next gen gamer.

Anyone getting the PS5 Pro at £700 and no disc drive? It does have 2TB of storage though.

A rare bit of midweek gaming for me on Space Marine 2. I’ve completed the intro mission and the first main mission. Pretty good so far in terms of game play but the performance is pretty bad. It was chugging during the protect the antenna part in the first main mission and actually spoilt the game play. And I wish in speed mode (60fps mode) that the graphics weren’t so soft, as they must be sub 1080p at times. It’s defo a AA game but it is fun so far. Also played the multiplayer which is good old school fun. Got a 5 kill streak in my first game 🤣.

PS5 Pro reveal tomorrow at 4pm uk time.

https://www.eurogamer.net/sony-announ...

Equinox80 wrote: "OK thanks mate.

It's all still a bit odd though given that today is the actual release date. Can only assume its some timezone thing."

Yea it releases at 5pm but it's downloaded for me ready to go - after I did the pre-download options stuff it asked for.

I think for pre-orders you need to go onto the console. In the store where is says purchased after paying for it (or pre-ordered, I cannot remember) once you click on this it will take you to a console options menu to download in advance on a specific date (the day before, if I remember correctly).

Yea it's downloaded for me. It's on a countdown timer until I can play which I think is 5pm. Albeit I'm not going to have much opportunity to play much for a good week or so.

Another few hours on Astro Bot. Onto the third system The Serpent. This game has really gone up in difficulty, especially in the second system with the Octopus. The missions which you have to complete in one life are getting very difficult. I was going for the plat on this but difficulty is a few levels above Astro’s Playroom. I dread to think how many times I’ve died on certain sections - must be a ridiculous number. I’m enjoying it still but sad the plat looks beyond my frustration threshold.

I don’t think I could cope with six. You’re too hard core for me😉.

I’ve just played a good 4 hours of Astrobot. Of course it’s absolutely superb. Enjoying it a lot. Not perfect but not far off. Sometimes the camera angles are awful but not too often. Fully completed the gorilla area. And on to the next where at the first planet there is a boss fight at the end where you climb a pirate. Frustrated the hell out of me and I had to repeat it to get all the collectibles. First time I beat the boss must have taken 10 or more attempts. I can do it first time now I’m familiar with it.

Yea Equinox I enjoyed the first two Spider-Man games but they’re good but nothing special. Not gonna pay for spidey 2.

And just to prove I talk out of my arse I’ve bought Astrobot. It’s raining, I’ve got nothing I want to play in the backlog so I’ve gone against my usual gaming financing guidelines. And just to justify it even more pathetically I rarely buy new games like I used to when I was more of an addict. This means I’ll have two games on the go over the coming weeks which is fine as Astrobot is more pickup and play.

Yea the campaign can be played in CO-OP - they said that in one of the reviews. I think the cheapskate release (standard price) is on Monday but I won't get around to playing much before Friday (and then I've got visitors next weekend so I won't be able to play much anyway). I might try the first mission in the week. The reviews did say it was a bit tricky in parts but I'll play it on easy ;-). And if I love it I might play it on normal :-).

Yea Astrobot will no doubt be on PS+ at somepoint but maybe not for a good year or so. I'm still waiting on Spiderman 2.

Yea Space Marine 2 reviews are glowing. ACG (on youtube) especially loved it. And by all accounts a 12 hour campaign which is good for a linear campaign. One review I saw said the separate CO-OP missions were good but didn't look to have any real replay value. They never said that about Left4Dead back in the day - you'd just play them over and over as they were so good - so perhaps SM2 might be of the same ilk. And nobody reviewed the PvP from what I watched on youtube reviews due to not enough players.

Astrobot looks really good too but I'm like you guys. I loved Astro's Playroom - enjoyed it a lot and probably a 9/10 for me - but for some reason I don't want to spend £60 on Astrobot. I'll get it for Crimbo or my Birthday instead ;-), or when cheaper. If I'm going to spend £60 on a game it either has to be a big expansive game that will last 20-30 hours, or has some form of multiplayer that I'll get a lot of hours from. I know that doesn't support the devs but it supports my finances.

If you struggle with the 5 kill streak you can kill me 5 times in a row. No charge. 😁

It might need private lobbies to do that assuming that’s still a thing nowadays. Used to be.

Yea and wasn’t even a bug ridden mess and actually quite polished. Just very very dull.

Concord to be taken offline and refunds issued. That didn’t last long. Sony are exploring what to do with the game going forward. I think that latter statement could mean anything, including just binning it.

Getting a kill streak of 5 will be relatively easy. I think most multiplayer games I play my maximum kill streaks have been above 10, at least. And I'm a bang average at multiplayer generally. I must admit on X-Defiant becoming MVP in three games I struggled with and still haven't done - only 1 MVP so far. Bang average players don't tend to be MVP.

Yea the 20000 and 40000 might be easy too if it's in campaign or CO-OP. You'll probably kill a thousand enemies in one mission. If it's human enemies in PvP then yea could be a bit of a grind :-).

I'm playing the game for fun, I always do. A platinum is only ever considered if I get close to it by default and then I might put in the effort to go for the plat if it doesn't take over my life.

Yea both really good games for a small dev. I platted both too but I probably only very slightly preferred Terminator.

I think even if Concord went free-to-play it has still missed the hero-shooter boat which sailed years ago. And other recent hero-shooters have equally missed the mark/boat. Massive failure. From what I played of the beta it was completely uninspired and unoriginal but otherwise competent. I can only see Sony supporting it for a year then pulling the plug on further updates, or putting it on PS Plus (or free to play) and hoping it picks up a larger audience - it's probably doomed to fail now.

I think the only new multiplayer shooter to stand a chance on console (which is not currently one of the big hitters) is Delta Force.

Just pre-ordered Space Marine 2. Only went for the standard edition saving £5.50 with ps vouchers bought from cdkeys.

Morning all. Still not playing anything after Sniper Ghost Warrior. I did try the Blops 6 multiplayer beta on XBox Game Pass Ultimate. I didn't think it was possible to make a COD even faster (twitch shooting wise) but they have managed it yet again. Still not sure what my next game is, my gaming mojo is shot to pieces, but I'm eyeing Space Marine 2 most likely.