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

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

Never heard of it.

One game I am looking forward to playing is Planet of Lana. It's lined up for me to play after Ratchet and Clank. In the style of Limbo and Inside and has received great reviews. Included on Games Pass.

If I can do it, with my intolerance to frustration, it's not that tricky. That being said it does have it moments but not too bad. Defo worth it if ever on PS+ or picked up for cheap.

Yea some of the boss fight Glass are tricky. I played it on easy too and it still had some difficultly spikes. Honestly those two upgrades I mentioned earlier make it a lot easier. I died a few times on the same boss fight as you and later on one or two other boss fights were even trickier. Then some are pretty straightforward - but all a lot easier with the upgrades I mentioned.

Yea I’m still looking forward to AW2 but I might not buy it on release.

I’ve completed Jedi Survivor. Really enjoyed it. A definite improvement on the first game which in itself was decent. I liked the varied environments, the exploration (with fast travel) and combat. Characters were engaging. Probably one of my favourite games of the current generation. Only let down by poor performance and low resolution albeit with really great graphics and artwork otherwise. Probably a 9.5/10 on the r-score-o-meter but I’m knocking a point off due to the really poor performance so an 8.5/10 ;-).

I’ve started Ratchet and Clank: A Rift Apart. Probably played 2-3 hours. Really good so far. And ok it’s not as big scale wise as Jedi Survivor but the choices between Performance Ray Tracing, Performance and 120hz are really well implemented. No real massive hits to resolution like Jedi Survivor. A really crisp looking game whatever you choose.

Once you enter the open world for the second time - not the first part with the battle granny - after your first full dungeon level you can use vehicles and they’re just lying around to be used.

Yea it’s annoying glass. There are cameras everywhere. You can only really sneak very very slowly avoiding or destroying cameras before being seen. Or move fast, out run enemies and kill whatever comes at you and move on again. And you can use vehicles - do use them as it makes the open world tolerable - but they are very weak so if you crash into too many enemies the vehicle will explode with you inside it. The dungeon areas are really great but the open world parts they really shouldn’t have bothered.

I’m worried by Alan Wake 2. It looked impressive but apparently the standard edition is only £49.99 on console (£39.99 on PC) which to me suggests it’s a small short game, akin to American Nightmare. Like a dlc standalone game. I hope I’m wrong. I don’t trust this no physical version makes the digital version cheaper. If it was a full AAA game with 12+ hours of game play it would be £69.99 like most other digital AAA games but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s only 4-5 hours long.

I watched it. Not much for me. However, MGS3, Alan Wake 2 and Assassins Creed Mirage I’m excited for. Everything else although some of it look graphically very good wasn’t my bag. Marathon and Teardown caught my attention but need to know more. Considering most games were cross platform quite a disappointing showcase. Spider-Man looked good but again I played 1 and Miles Morales which were graphically impressive but were pretty run of the mill otherwise.

Good game Forbidden West. I wasn't a big fan of the first one but the sequel for me was the better game. I'm still only just half way through Jedi Survivor but next for me Is Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart - quite looking forward to it if only for the excellent graphics (so I believe) and the fast load times in game transitioning from one world to another super quick during game play.

If I would recommend two upgrades in Atomic Heart it would be Sleazeball (take no damage whilst doing dodges) and Second Wind (which allows two dodges in a row, so two back-to-back chances to take no damage). Made a big difference for me when really getting battered as it meant I took less damage. And you can reset upgrades at any vending machine so you can reassign upgrade points whenever you like. These upgrades don't seem that enticing on paper but they help a lot.

I enjoyed Atomic Heart. It’s basically a Bishock-esque game with a bit of an open world but the game shines in the more linear underground levels not so much in the open parts. It’s a decent game but probably a 7-8/10. Quite hard in some boss fights but there is an upgrade that helps a lot - can’t remember what it’s called but it allows you to take no damage whilst dashing.

I'm not sure games run worse on series X. I think there were some very early in the generation but since I think it's more like comparable with PS5 and with a slightly higher resolution on X in some cases from what I've seen reported by Digital Foundry. Although generally I think it's splitting hairs.

Anyway. Over the weekend I progressed a bit further on Jedi Survivor - still loving it. The recent "performance patch" basically did very little - slightly improved but still a lot of stutter due to the frame rate. I started Humanity too. Initially impressions are it's an excellent puzzle game, with very chilled music, but then I got further into it and found it got a lot more difficult - especially rescuing the golden big fellas with the humans - and I found it kinda stessful lol. You can pause the game to plan ahead but still you're up against time before all of your humans start to fall off the edge if you don't put your direction markers down quick enough. A cracking game but not sure it's my thing - I'll give it more time and see if it clicks.

BauerRAT wrote: "R(ob) wrote: "Perhaps we like different games but I've played loads, most have been on my wishlist and have come onto games pass on release day. Some examples of what I've played on games pass:

So..."

Yea I don't disagree with you on Redfall - massive disappointment, even I've not bothered to play it, but there has been a lot of good games on games pass over the last couple of years. And on my game wishlist most have come onto games pass fortunately for me. You can get most of these games on PS5 but I find they either come onto games pass quite often on release, or relatively soon after (within the first year). PS+ extra doesn't appear to be as laden with such good games as early but there have been some good games on it too. So, I tend to wait it out, mostly but not always - I cracked on Jedi Survivor but that will definitely be on games pass within a year.

Perhaps we like different games but I've played loads, most have been on my wishlist and have come onto games pass on release day. Some examples of what I've played on games pass:

Somerville
Atomic Heart
High on Life
A Plague Tale Requiem
Gears 5
Deathloop
State of Decay 2
Unpacking
The Ascent
Aliens Fireteam Elite
The Gunk
Halo Infinite
Forza Horizon 5
Sniper Elite 5
Dirt 5
Back 4 Blood
Control
Maneater
Psychonauts 2
Doom Eternal
Zombie Army 4
Prey
Rage 2
The Outer Worlds
World War Z
Crackdown 3 (ok, I'll accept defeat on this one lol)
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
And quite a few hidden gems or released later to games pass such as Omno , Chivalry 2, Recompile, Metro Exodus, Destiny 2

Honestly nearly all of the above have been on games pass on release. It's saved me a fortune and most I planned to play anyway.

I've played loads on games pass for years and saved a small fortune. And I've played quite a bit on PS+ extra too now. I have a bit of back log of games I want to play across the two services. I would say if you still buy games on release, or soon after, neither service is worth subscribing to but if like me you wait for games to come down in price or to come onto the sub services I find I'm often suprised when I see I game I plan to buy come on games pass/PS+ extra. I've literally saved several hundred it not over a thousand quid. I don't even pay for games pass (use MS points instead to pay for it) and PS+ extra I got it with 25% off (which they seem to offer at least once a year).

Yea me too - I'm more dedicated to my work than back in Amazon forum days. In fact, it takes over my life a bit. It's fine though that we only post occasionally. I try to post a couple of times a week if I've been playing a game. I usually only game on weekends nowadays for 5-6 hours - back in Amazon forum days it would be every evening and every weekend day. The amount of money I used to spend back then on gaming was crazy - like £1000 per year, but I did do trade-ins some of which I regret now.

Me too. I messaged Hoopla when a certain person kicked him out of the forum the first time - he wasn't having any of it. And then for this new forum I messaged Hoopla again and no reply. I regret trusting said certain person as I always felt like there was a decent guy in there and he was genuinly interested in gaming - bar a few short comings in his behaviour now and again. The day the forum was deleted was like a wake-up call. Never again, not that he would ever would return even if he wanted to.

I must admit however I'm not sure I was a fan of the ShelfRot (US VGF) forum when the UK members joined. Some childish behaviour from a certain person whenever COD was discussed. And then I believe there were plans to move everyone to a new admin created website to bolster it in preparation to make it more commercial - if I remember rightly. I never wanted anything to do with that. Of course 99.99% of the members were great just one or two (UK and US) bad apples and decision making that made me feel like a pawn in a bigger plan. I see this forum, albeit with its small number of members, open for all, no agenda (other than discussing gaming) and several admins so no one person has authority - although I've just noticed someone has rescinded their admin status. There used to be three admins.

Phil, psn: p4tiny wrote: "R(ob) wrote: "Phil, psn: p4tiny wrote: "BauerRAT wrote: "Is Nessy still here ?

Ive been meaning to gloat over the failure of Google Stadia LOL"

No, and he still never sent me his old ps4-pro. He ..."

I have a Pro I'm not using but I'm keeping it ;-).

Glassmoon - The Benny Hill of Plats wrote: "R(ob) wrote: "I finished Atomic Heart a few weeks ago. Yea defo Bioshock vibe but not as good but not bad at the same time. The constant talking will become annoying trust me ;-). I liked the game ..."

Yea I played it on easy. It does have some difficulty spikes especially in some boss fights. On occassion I didn't know what the game wanted me to do next. I'd have a map marker and then I'd get there and little idea of what I should do - I eventually worked it out but it could have been a bit more clear.

I finished Atomic Heart a few weeks ago. Yea defo Bioshock vibe but not as good but not bad at the same time. The constant talking will become annoying trust me ;-). I liked the game but the open above ground maps are lacking something - just not that much of interest, I found, and tedious when spotted by enemy. The underground parts are much better. I didn't like the moments where they throw what seems like hundreds of enemies at you (probably less than hundreds but I found it OTT at times). Worth playing for sure, a solid fun game, but nothing special IMO.

Over the weekend I played some more Jedi Survivor. Really enjoying it a lot. Cracking game. Got to the moon which I really enjoyed and back on Jedha now. If only it wasn't let down by the poor performance - it really chugs at times, one of the worst game for performance I've known especially on next gen.