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

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

Yea I go through gaming funks too from time to time. Think I'm going through one at the moment. Sometimes I move from game to game like it's a job when sometimes I need to take a break and feel a bit more enthusiastic about the next game I play. After I complete ME1 - I'm near the end now - I'm taking a break too and I'm only going to play multiplayer for a few weeks.

Morning all. Played some more Crossfire X. Actually I got it wrong. It has both a classic mode and modern mode. Classic is no ADS, no sprinting, whereas Modern has ADS and sprinting. I actually quite enjoyed both albeit the shooting mechanics aren't quite as good as something like COD or Battlefield. Also played more ME1 and I still think it's definitely very much showing its age. It's a good game, an all-time classic, and the level of detail in the characters, world and story is still up there compared to modern RPGs but game play feels old school. No bad thing just that game has aged. Still one of my favourite games ever.

Hi all. Played some more Mass Effect 1. Played a good 6 hours. It's definitely not aged well. It's very much of its time. I'll complete it but I'm not too fussed about playing ME2 or ME3. Perhaps ME2 has aged better. It's still got a great cast, story and artwork but just lacks as the worlds are sparse and the combat feels like it's aged. Plus navigation is horrible.

I also played some Crossfire X multiplayer. Boy it's bad. They've decided to make it no ADS, no sprint like Counterstrike. The shooting mechanics generally feel bad and movement is like walking on ice. Saying that it's kinda fun - it's relentless, fast paced, spray and pay and hope for the best. It has no longevity but it's fun for a few hours. After the weekend I'll probably bin it off, but for now it's a bit of fun.

BTW. I too really enjoyed A Plague's Tale. It has some sticky moments with difficulty but otherwise it's a very well crafted game. Kinda feels like a Sony game to me in production values.

Yea I'm the same on Bioshock Infiinte. For me a good game but nothing special. The first Bioshock was a masterpiece but not Infinite. I understand the reasoning for moving away from Rapture - as Reapture could get samey over more than a couple of games. Apparently the new Bioshock in development is set in an ice city in the Antartic.

For me progressed a bit more on Mass Effect 1 remastered. Got to the use the Mako again lol. The game is good but yea 15 years and it's showing. I did get a little bit more pulled into the game - when the music kicks in, the environment feels atmospheric and you're in a good battle then I start to get reminders of why I liked it so much all those years ago.

Morning all. Was away most of the weekend but I did manage to start Mass Effect 1 Remastered. Can't believe this game is now 15 years old. Only played 90 mins but I think I need more time to get into it. ME1 is one of my favourite games of all time but I'm not feeling it currently. It's clearly a game of its time. I don't want to spoil my memories of it so I'll give it another few hours. I just don't get that feeling I had back when I first played it when I felt this pull into a mysterious compelling world that had me instantly hooked. I guess time, my gaming experiences over the past 15 years and progress in game development impacts this but I'll give it a chance. I'm in the Citadel at the moment and looking I'm about to go out to explore the galaxy so hopefully it'll click more then.

Glassmoon - The Benny Hill of Plats wrote: "R(ob) wrote: "Morning all. Completed Aliens Fireteam Elite. Cracking game. Loved the last mission - really intense. For a AA game a good 8/10 for me. Really does a good job of feeling like an Alien..."

I played it single player with AI team mates. It can be played CO-OP as well. It seems a bit nothing special at first but it does get better albeit the same formula is adopted throughout with only a few things mixed up - like new enemies and using the gun turrets seen in Aliens being added. You do get turrets as consumables but you also get in mission ones too much like in the Aliens movie. The environments are good though - a good mixture of what we've seen in all of the Alien films - Alien, Aliens, Prometheus etc.

Morning all. Completed Aliens Fireteam Elite. Cracking game. Loved the last mission - really intense. For a AA game a good 8/10 for me. Really does a good job of feeling like an Alien game in artwork, atmosphere, alien creatures, sound effects and the way in how the aliens attack. Simple throw away fun.

I know that feeling when you're close the end of a game and you've completely had enough. It started out OK, good enough to keep going, you start to get tired of it, however eventually you feel compelled to complete it even though it's turned into a chore. Borderlands 1,2, HZD, Arkham Knight all did it to me too. And probably others. Only game I gave up on the last mission in recent history is Destroy All Humans - it just got ridiculous and I thought I'm not putting myself through this anymore.

Anyway. Only one more mission to go on Aliens Fireteam Elite. Been a really good game. I was thinking of playing Mass Effect Remastered next but Crossfire X is out next week - might try that first. Multiplayer doesn't look my bag (I'll give it a go) but the campaign is by Remedy so defo worth a look.

DeckardCain's Sandals wrote: "Kind of hope both of them stop there and aren't tempted to buy up everything between them. Personally don't think a weakened third party sector would be good for gaming"

Yea same here. Consolidation is not good for consumers mostly. It won't have a massive impact on me personally as I generally get both consoles eventually. The only plus side, at least for Activision, is that MS should be a better employer at least.

Gaming wise for me only three more missions to go on Aliens Fireteam Elite. I've actually really enjoyed it. I really like the environments, they really do mix them up and have that alien movie feel. Each mission is fairly cut and paste copy the same but it hasn't taken away from the game at all for me. I like the enemies too - fighting synths as well as xenos. Hopefully finish it this week work permitting.

Looks like Sony are responding to recent MS acquisitions. They’ve bought Bungie for £3.6 billion.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...

No Destiny on Xbox. No COD on PlayStation. I think they’ll strike a deal to publish both on both consoles - who knows.

Glassmoon - The Benny Hill of Plats wrote: "Morning all

Strugling with Arkham Knight.
I truly dislike the open world structure of the game.
It feels like im constantly wasting my time. The side missions have a % to complete so im constantly..."

Me too. Arkham Asylum is one of my favourite games of all time. I still think it's the best Batman game. Some games don't need to be open world. AA was again much like a semi-openworld world where you go from smaller open map to smaller open map a bit like the new Tomb Raider. Some games are better off staying semi-open IMO.

Not been posting much this week but I haven't been gaming much either. I have now completed four missions of Aliens Fireteam Elite. Still enjoying it. Good to see they've changed up the environments too - I was half expecting to be going through the same environment for the entire game. Oh and I tried to play some more Battlefield 2042 - couldn't even find a game after 20 mins so gave up. Boy that game is F'ed. I mean it's not a good Battlefield, probably the worst ever, but already dead - that's really bad. And a waste of money for many.

"Not knowing if you should risk wasting those precious 4 bullets is what makes Resi Resi, imo."

This is why I don't play Resi games :-). I know it's fundamental to the experience but it's just not my bag scraping around for every last bullet otherwise the experience is a good deal more frustrating. The earlier Metro games were a little like this too but not quite as bad and then for the later MEtro games they gave the option of a more resource friendly experience. I was hoping Resi was going to be the same - looking at what Decky said Resi 8 doesn't seem to have the same scarcity of ammo as 4. Hopefully :-).

Glassmoon - The Benny Hill of Plats wrote: "R(ob) wrote: "DeckardCain's Sandals wrote: "I think you'd be fine with Resi Village R - Dead Space was a million times more tense than it, plus the story at times makes it hard to take too seriousl..."

Resi 8 doesn't have the controls of Resi 4 though does it? I tried Resi 4 but two things for me meant I couldn't get to grips with it. The controls for me - I played many years after release - just didn't compute with my brain, and the lack of ammo. The lack of ammo I know is part of Resi but I'm hoping Resi 8 is a bit more forgiving.

DeckardCain's Sandals wrote: "I think you'd be fine with Resi Village R - Dead Space was a million times more tense than it, plus the story at times makes it hard to take too seriously"

Yea I've watched a few streams of Resi 8 and it looks to be more up my street more than Resi 7. Resi 7 might be the better game for all I know but I'm not so sure about its setting and being followed around by some monster (from what I can understand).

I think games such as Alan Wake, Metro, Dead Space, TLOU, Control are my limit of dark atmosphere - but also all of them in my favourite games of all time.

Yea there something to be said about games that have a really very dark tense atmosphere. I love a game with a dark atmosphere but at the same time they do feel a bit oppresive and maybe a little stressful if they are very tense. That's why normally Resident Evil games don't appeal - although Resi 8 looks really good. To be stuck in some spooky house, little ammo, being followed by some creature in a tight corridor with the lights off and only a torch for light - kinda mixed how I feel about it. Love-and-hate it at the same time.

No Dying Light for me. If it comes on Games pass one day I might give it a go but not one I'll purchase at the moment as it's not hitting any of my 'I must play this buttons.'. I do fancy Resident Evil Village though at some point - so might give that a go. Resi 7 was/is on games pass so I have hopes Village will be on GP one day.

I love the Metro games but also really liked Exodus. I don't think it lost any of its atmosphere. Being out at night in the dark with a mysterious orb hovering around not knowing what it was going to do was spooky for me at least. It had a good mix of open world and linear for me - similar to a modern Tomb Raider in world presentation. I do plan to replay it one day - maybe.

Anyway. Completed Far Cry 6 over the weekend. For me the best Far Cry since Far Cry 3. None of this annoying super natural stuff, the map was beautiful to explore and the campaign at the very least good enough without being amazing. The engine needs to be updated for next gen really but a minor quibble. The 'vegetation' areas looked good but characters, buildings, man made objects in the environment very much looked last gen. I enjoyed it though. 8/10 on the r-score-o-meter. I took Sunday off gaming as I was hung over from a night out but I plan to play Aliens Fireteam Elite next, followed by Mass Effect 1.

It's definitely subjective. I loved TLOU2 because of its immersion and pacing - but it had some bad sections like a scripted boss fight where the outcome was set in stone and the ellie/abby sneaking around a room boss fight which IMO was awful. Again not enough to ruin it for me. I really liked TLOU but I found it to be less immersive due to things that brought me out of the game such as NPCs wandering in front of enemy and not even being noticed. Plus game play mechanics in TLOU (and 2) are run of the mill and probably done better in other similar games. TLOU game play is nothing new. Actually with Fallen Order the combat isn't best in class - although it wasn't bad IMO - but I've played games with better fighting mechanics. The parry system sucked in my opinion but again wasn't enough to ruin the game for me.