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

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

Mullet guys, come on.

I've not heard much about Roblox but I know JackFrags recently played a COD clone in Roblox which was impressive. So I think it's a platform where people can create their own games - some quite sophisticated like what you'd see in a AAA game but anyone can be a creator. So in that case anything goes in terms of game type. Whether it's suitable for children I've no idea.

Hi all. I’ve managed to put a good few hours into Horizon Forbidden West, around half way through the campaign. Actually really quite enjoying it. The world looks really good and I’m actually enjoying the combat. However the game is by no means perfect IMO. The cut scenes are so frequent and long they’re starting to grate. I’m constantly getting stuck on the terrain in the middle of combat which is annoying and the platforming mostly is fine and then some jumps just end up in failure even though it seemed straightforward beforehand. Anyway minor niggles and on the whole so far glad I gave the game a go.

Thanks Deckard. Yea I think I’ll probably go Forbidden West. I read some reviews on Ghostwire which hasn’t excited me. Plus I really want to see Horizon graphics on PS5. I’m also slightly drawn to Death Stranding but I’m really not sure on the game play but I do love Kojima’s craziness.

Hi all. I’ve been having a break from work this week but did manage to complete Atomic Heart. A real mixed bag of a game with bioshock type combat, a really pointless and frustrating open world, the game shines in the below ground more linear levels but then suffers from being too OTT with enemies coming at you relentlessly. And the story is ok, nothing special but told in such a way it just goes on and on and on with voiceovers, and the dialogue is childish at times - if I hear ‘crispy critters’ again I could lose it. Difficult to score on the r-score-o-meter but it would vary a lot, but probably somewhere around a 7/10.

Not sure what to play next but I do have PS Plus Extra now after it went on sale. I’m thinking either Horizon Forbidden West or Ghost Wire Tokyo. If you guys have any thoughts on these, either way, good or bad, that would be great. I did play the first Horizon game and for me it was a good game but nowt special and in the latter half of the game I found it monotonous but I do like nice shiny graphics 😀.

Happy birthday Glass.

Played some more Atomic Heart last night - a good 3 hours. Some pretty tough areas to get through including dozens of enemy in small spaces - used all of my ammo - and a boss fight that was a little tricky at first. A very puzzle heavy level though with loads of gravity related puzzles - which were quite good and not tricky at all, but lots of them. There were some really left-field puzzles though which you have to complete to progress - a caterpillar game much like old Nokia phone game that got faster and faster and another where you guide a ball through a 3D maze tilting and spinning a table which was slightly annoying. All in all the atmosphere in the below ground levels is really good. Still enjoying it but I feel like I'm one step away from being too frustrated. It's not hard just sometimes I literally use every piece of ammo, boss health bars wear down very slowly but fortunately the melee in this is quite strong and the powers help but not always in the boss fights.

Morning all. Not much gaming again for me at the weekend. Bloody DIY instead - which I don't enjoy but unfortunately needs to be done. I did manage 2 hours on Atomic Heart. I got through the open world part to get to the next 'dungeon' level. The openworld is a bit meh. You can be spotted at any point so you have to be super slow and stealthy and if you are detected you're then inundated with robots coming after you. And the open part felt a bit lacking in interest - plenty of buildings, and buildings to go in to but I didn't feel it was a interesting place. Also not clear on what the game wants you to do sometimes. And then had my first boss battle (Hedgy) which was visually impressive, but a tad annoying as the boss was so fast I often lost sight of him. Not difficult but did consume a lot of resources. I think the game is best in the dungeon levels it seems. So far it's an 8/10 in the dungeons but a 5/10 in the open part - mixed bag in other words. Enjoyable but has its flaws.

Yes got snow here. I usually get the train to Manchester and back on a Thursday to meet with people in person in the office but today decided not to take the risk of becoming stuck on the train somewhere seeing as the route is through the peak district. I work from home 4-days a week anyway so no real impact on me. Very heavy snow here at the moment and settling. The cat is mesmerised.

Morning all. I didn't game much at the weekend but I did manage 3-4 hours on Atomic Heart. Actually pretty decent. The initial 30 mins I wasn't that impressed. Very restricted environments and graphics a little unimpressive (more in resolution than anything else) but once I got to the first underground area everything ramped up. Very good artwork - not a rip-off of bioshock but they've definitely gone for the same kinda vibe - but really atmospheric. Game play again similar to bioshock with powers and weapons. The combat was pretty straightforward - nothing too tricky so far. A lot of puzzles though, some mini-games to unlock doors but also some environmental puzzles. A good flow of combat, quiet moments and puzzles. Some sections dragged where the game play slowed down too much and then other sections where the limited ammo was depleted quickly as enemies were constantly coming for me - they went down easy but just lots of them. I crafted around 80 shotgun shells and must have used most of them in one game play section. I've just done the first underground level and back up to the surface in the open world area - and left it there so not really experienced the open world part yet. All in all though I'm enjoying it, and looking forward to cracking on some more when I get chance.

I'm with your missus on this one Glass ;-). Move your PS5 into your mancave and save a chunk of cash. Or does your basement become haunted at night? In that case get a second PS5.

Glassmoon - The Benny Hill of Plats wrote: "R(ob) wrote: "I did something similar on AC Black Flag. I got to the final mission or close to, after really enjoying the game, but needed to upgrade my ship to be levelled up enough to start a mis..."

Second PS5. Why would you need two PS5s? Don't forget most likely the slim will be out later this year too.

On games pass:
Somerville. By no means perfect but I like the atmosphere of the game and game play albeit not perfect is on the whole enjoyable.
High On Life: The humour will be hit or miss but the game play is decent and fun without being best in class or ground breaking.
A Plague Tale Requiem: For me one of the best games of last year.
Deathloop - enjoyable FPS, great world, sometimes confusing but it makes sense after a while.
Some smaller games I enjoyed - Omno, The Gunk, Recompile, Unpacking.
If you haven't played then worth a go: Back 4 Blood, Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Both easily playable solo or with randoms on lower dificulties.
PS5: Stray. Everything else I've played on PS5 recently has been AAA.

I did something similar on AC Black Flag. I got to the final mission or close to, after really enjoying the game, but needed to upgrade my ship to be levelled up enough to start a mission. I spend £1 something on MTs for resources to level up my ship just to get it done rather than grind. I don’t like the grinding in AC games as they seem to steer you to MTs if you want to main line the story. I’m ok with MTs in free to play games or for cosmetics but AC definitely is designed to encourage MTs to level up more quickly.

Morning all. I didn't start anything new over the weekend since completing TLOU pt 1 last week. Did some quests on Warframe, some decent missions and a boss fight that at first I thought was rock hard but in the end I just needed to learn the best way to approach it. Completed several more levels on Sackboy - some levels were cracking and others I found a bit of a bind/frustrating. And then wasted a couple of hours playing COD and BF5 multiplayer. COD I rarely do well on nowadays but my final game I had 20 kills 8 deaths which is good for me. Next weekend I think I may have to do DIY again - :-( - but I'm going to start a new game too if I can which I think may be Atomic Heart.

I've been keeping an eye on PSVR2 watching youtube vids of reviews and the games. As a piece of kit it looks great but not one game that grabs me at all, at the moment. I think Half Life Alyx may entice me, or more games like it.

Oh and I've been watching The Last of Us TV series - I've seen all released to now. It's pretty good. I think they've caught the essence of the game, the actors aren't bad - I think the Ellie actor is good. Pascal is not bad but I think they've softened his character a little. And I've noticed they've left some sections of the game out completely, and changed some story elements for example Joel falling on a spike to being stabbed instead. All in all I like it but I do think the game story/character/acting wise is better. The episode that fleshed out Bill and Frank's story I thought was great even though they changed the ending of that too. I suppose the game is the benchmark but there's no reason why they can't equal or even surpass it.

Glassmoon - The Benny Hill of Plats wrote: "R(ob) wrote: "I've been reading a lot of the reviews for Atomic Heart. Not sure I'm so keen now. The open world parts are under used and have no missions in them, frustrating to navigate through fo..."

Yea I think I'll give it a couple of months probably on Atomic Heart. Callisto didn't appeal to me after watching game play vids. Don't know why, perhaps it's the emphasis on melee. I'll play the Dead Space remake but it will be on EA Play eventually and as I played it back in the day I'm in no rush and I'll be able to play it for free.

I've been reading a lot of the reviews for Atomic Heart. Not sure I'm so keen now. The open world parts are under used and have no missions in them, frustrating to navigate through for getting from A to B due to the constant and wearing battles, there is platforming which is frustrating and not well done and many reviewers struggled to get enough resources to get more powerful weapons. The story is apparently lacking but the world and artwork is supposed to be very good akin to Bioshock without being a rip-off. It doesn't look a bad game, it seems to sit around a 7/10 but I'm really not into frustration - might give it a try but I have so much I can play at the moment it's slipping down the list. I don't like starting games and then binning them off later.

Morning all. Finally completed TLOU pt 1 over the weekend. Really enjoyed playing a second time after so long. The characters, story and world were as good as I remember. Game play was solid fun. I loved mixing it up with stealth takedowns, arrow kills and going in all guns blazing depending on what took my mood in any given moment. Some minor annoyances - still friendly NPCs moving in front of the enemy and being invisible to them. And the boss fight in the restaurant I found particularly annoying. Getting a game save with the boss right next to you needed special timing not to get inst-killed after reloading the checkpoint. And I'm not a big fan of excessive weapon sway as being a game play mechanic and upgrade - it's just not fun regardless of what it's trying to achieve (realism?). All in all though very special game and loved it. Will play Left Behind at somepoint. 9/10 on the R-score-o-meter. Atomic Heart next - looks really good, but you never know.

Finally completed High on Life. The last mission was pure childish humour - much like a lot of the game. I won't spoil it but I've not killed a boss before in the same way. Anyway a good game - nothing amazing but gameplay and some of the humour wise actually good fun. R-score-o-meter rating of 7/10.

Morning all. Another weekend of reduced gaming. Started some DIY (replacing rotten fence posts) which took a lot longer than expected and near finished me off - I ache now. I managed to put a couple of hours into TLOU pt1 and got to the Dam (I think it's called). Again loving this game and actually don't remember that much of it from last playing it 10 years ago. I remember the story but some missions feel like I've played them for the first time. I was distracted by a free to play game called Enlisted - free to play WW2 FPS. It's a bit clunky by modern day standards but I find it a bit nostalgic - feels like an early PS3/360 game but it's good fun, and big atmospheric maps. Also got to the last mission on High on Life so will finish it next weekend - the game has grown on me and a defo recommend (in a sale) if it ever comes over to PS. I've got too many games on the go at the moment hence why TLOU is taking so long.

Morning all. Not much gaming for me at the weekend. I did another couple of hours on TLOU pt 1 and it's of course superb. Did a couple of more missions on High on Life, and getting close to the end. And I played the big BF2042 update and it has to be said they've greatly improved the game since release. Had a lot of fun playing the Breakthrough mode. I do really need to crack on with TLOU pt1 (not even half way through yet) and High on Life as Atomic Heart is out in a couple of weeks - looks like one of the more original games to come out of late.