All Things Videogame Related: EXTREME VS!!

[Mommar]

I've been playing the new Tomb Raider game, and I'm not sure how to put this... Its a great game, but I don't like it. I've played every TR game going back to the first one on the PS, and there was that sense of wonder and exploration in each of the games, but there's none of that in here. Its like they went out of their way to make TR for dummies. There's almost no exploration with the maps being very linear going from point A to B with hidden items not so hidden. In the event you get lost there's a button for survival mode that highlights where you need to go, and what items you have to interact with to do it. The original Core Designs games were ball busting punishment difficulty wise pretty much leaving you on your own to figure things out along with wonky controls. The last three Crystal Dynamics games(Legend, Anniversary, Underworld) made it slightly easier and struck a perfect balance with vastly improved controls. I enjoyed them a lot more than I am enjoying this current one. People have told me it plays like uncharted, but I've never played it.

My other pet pev is that this is supposed to be Lara's first adventure(as opposed to the other 3 games that already covered that) so she's not used to killing yet. Its a little annoying hearing her scream "Please, I don't want to kill you! We can work together we don't have to kill each other!" All while 20 enemies are chucking molotov cocktails and shooting you.

This is Lara's daughter, that's why she isn't used to killing yet. They even reference her famed mother near the beginning of the game.

[Murphy]

Errr, I haven't even played the game but its suppose to be a reboot of the tomb raider series and it is Lara croft.

Edited March 11, 2013 by Murphy

[dizman]

A buddy let me try out tomb raider and it was fun. It is obviously based around uncharted's controls and action segments but that is not a bad thing. My biggest gripe about it would be that when you get the first gun the small amount of tension the game builds up to that point is thrown out the window. Could have used the survival aspect a bit better.

[Murphy]

So did anyone get Star Craft II's 2 expansion heart of the swarm? I'm not sure if I'm gong to get it, I did buy SCII but it didn't really draw me in like te original SC did, I guess I'm getting old. Anyone have input?

[Dangard Ace]

So did anyone get Star Craft II's 2 expansion heart of the swarm? I'm not sure if I'm gong to get it, I did buy SCII but it didn't really draw me in like te original SC did, I guess I'm getting old. Anyone have input?

Kerrigan is overpowered but I simply don't use her. Playing around with the evolution of the Zergs is fun.

[Kaldar5]

Anybody check out "Strike Suit Zero" yet?

Heh they even have a missile type designated as "MTAM-Circus"

This is now 40% off for the Steam spring sale... $12

If you don't mind off-brand transforming mechs with super packs.

[GU-11]

Finished Tomb Raider a couple days ago. Worth every cent. The boss battles were challenging but not frustrating (on normal mode, at least). Not the most original story, but it works.

[Chronocidal]

You know, I know a couple people playing that, and I got really unnerved by some of the more graphic ways she can die. I'm guessing some were just worst case scenarios, but how often did you find that kind of thing happening in the game?

[GU-11]

You know, I know a couple people playing that, and I got really unnerved by some of the more graphic ways she can die. I'm guessing some were just worst case scenarios, but how often did you find that kind of thing happening in the game?

You mean the impaling thing? LOL! I think it's only during QTE failures. If she dies in combat, the screen just gets bloody and you see the enemy cheering and whooping.

[mikeszekely]

So, here's the thing. While I played the original BioShock, I never finished it. Maybe because I'm weird, I even bought BioShock 2 at some point, and never even installed it. So all the coverage and hype about Infinite over the last year has been completely lost on me. Background noise. Didn't care that a new one was coming out.

Then the reviews started coming in. My, that's a lot of perfect scores. Suddenly, my curiosity is piqued. I kinda do want to play this game. But maybe not $60 want to play it.

On a whim, I look for it on Steam. I don't care how good it is, there's no way I'm playing it on a console. And I see that they have pre-order bonuses, some of which would only be available if enough people preordered the game. With three hours until launch, all of the bonuses were unlocked.

Bonus 1: some extra DLC junk. Meh.

Bonus 2: A Steam copy of BioShock. Well, I have a disc, but I guess a Steam copy is convenient. Maybe even the push I need to finish it, right?

Bonus 3: A bunch of crap for Team Fortress 2. Which I don't play, since I'm not really into multiplayer. So extra meh.

Bonus 4: A Steam copy of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Hey, wait a second, that game's pretty new. And it got really good reviews. And I didn't buy it yet. So $60 for an excellent game that's less than a year old and what could be the game of the year 2013? TAKE MY MONEY!

[anime52k8]

Never finished Bioshock, never played Bioshock 2, and bought Bioshock Infinite for a free copy of XCOM...

I'm sorry, but you are officially dead to me.

:edit:

BTW, Picking up my premium edition from gamestop... SO EXCITED!!!

Edited March 26, 2013 by anime52k8

[David Hingtgen]

I liked the first one *much* more than the second. The second was purely side-filler to expand a story that had already ended. Now, a prequel would have worked great. But a sequel? Nope, total re-hash of everything. Same places, same weapons, same plot.

[anime52k8]

Personally I liked the second game a lot more than the first. I found the characters much more interesting and I cared more about what I was doing and the consequences of my actions because I was more engaged by the people I was interacting with. I also thought the overall plot complemented the themes of the first game well. Extreme objectivism versus extreme collectivism and the illusion of choice versus the consequences of choice.

Also, the final act of the first game is really let down buy having a bunch of cool ideas that where executed really poorly and a lackluster boss fight that wasn't all that satisfying. The second game on the other hand manages to take those conceptually cool mechanics (i.e. becoming a big daddy and escorting a little sister) and make them work really well throughout the whole game.

[Keith]

:::Ahem::: A MWer personally tested this game for months, so ya'll better appreciate my hard work and go pick that sh!t up!

[mikeszekely]

Never finished Bioshock, never played Bioshock 2, and bought Bioshock Infinite for a free copy of XCOM...

I'm sorry, but you are officially dead to me.

Sorry, the first BioShock came out at an awkward time for me, when I was transitioning from console gaming into PC gaming. That made it really difficult for me to get into. I'm a lot more into PC gaming now, and I've got a better setup, so I'm all ready for Infinite.

[Gerli]

Disappointed with Simcity... in every aspect.

Everybody wants Simcity4 in 3D, nothing more... but no, let's go social, singleplayer is bad for business... well, f***.

[Shadow]

Disappointed with Simcity... in every aspect.

Everybody wants Simcity4 in 3D, nothing more... but no, let's go social, singleplayer is bad for business... well, f***.

I don't care for that trend either in new games. Don't need everyone else to know what I'm doing or what my achievements in a game are personally. Although, I've never played any of the Simcity games. (Was more into Civilization)

I only played the Bioshock demo but never played either of the full games of 1 or 2. I actually want to play Infinite though. Sadly, I don't have a PC powerful enough to handle it so I'll be opting for the console version when I finally get around to picking it up.

[anime52k8]

Sorry, the first BioShock came out at an awkward time for me, when I was transitioning from console gaming into PC gaming. That made it really difficult for me to get into. I'm a lot more into PC gaming now, and I've got a better setup, so I'm all ready for Infinite.

Admitedly, Bioshock kind of sucked on the PC when it first came out (shitty DRM, weird technical glitches, screwed up FOV when using 16:9 widescreen). That said, if you're getting it free on steam with infinite, take the time to play it, that version should have all the patches that make the game run better and it's still a good game to play, IMO.

[mikeszekely]

Admitedly, Bioshock kind of sucked on the PC when it first came out (shitty DRM, weird technical glitches, screwed up FOV when using 16:9 widescreen). That said, if you're getting it free on steam with infinite, take the time to play it, that version should have all the patches that make the game run better and it's still a good game to play, IMO.

Yeah, I downloaded and installed it. I definitely intend to go back and finish it.

That said, I'm playing Infinite first. Because it's awesome. The Skyhook might be my new favorite thing ever.

[anime52k8]

still going through the art book. I also need to redeem all these DLC codes. kind of sort of want to keep working on my pure survival DS3 run though.

[anime52k8]

Yeah, I downloaded and installed it. I definitely intend to go back and finish it.

That said, I'm playing Infinite first. Because it's awesome. The Skyhook might be my new favorite thing ever.

oh my god... it's so brutal.

also, watching someone you just possessed bash their own skull in with a baton... man.

btw, in the words of a great man... No gods or kings. Only man.

[anime52k8]

BTW, Elizabeth is totally awesome.

[Keith]

BTW, Elizabeth is totally awesome.

Yes, yes she is.

[Keith]

Has anyone beat Infinite yet? Opinions?

[anime52k8]

Has anyone beat Infinite yet? Opinions?

still working on it. need to backtrack a save file or two, I think I just royally screwed something up.

oh, and new avatar. yay for premium edition content:

[Keith]

still working on it. need to backtrack a save file or two, I think I just royally screwed something up.

oh, and new avatar. yay for premium edition content:

What'd you screw up? Or did you just skip something.

[anime52k8]

What'd you screw up? Or did you just skip something.

I was playing really late while tired and completely missed a bunch of gear/infusion caches between

when you get to the grand emporium and when you're looking for tears after you first fight lady Comstock

From what I've seen so far this is an absolutely amazing game. Elizabeth is the best AI partner I've seen in any game ever. she never gets stuck or wanders off; always stays out of your way in combat; never needs babysitting and gives you useful stuff during intense fights. I'm absolutely loving the combat in this game too, I was kind of worried based on the demo's how vigors were going to work, but it's really an improvement over the previous games. having the ability to quick switch between two at a time makes powers a lot more useful outside of supplementing your guns. For some reason based on the demo I thought they would handle it similar to the guns where you only were allowed to carry 2 at a time and had to find new ones in the environment every time you wanted to switch up your combo.

only real gripe is I wish they would give you more ammo for the guns you're using at any given time. It sucks having to ditch my badass shotgun for something junky because nobodies dropping ammo for that gun.

Edited March 28, 2013 by anime52k8

[anime52k8]

OH MY GOD... THAT ENDING...

Manly tears were shed.

besides being an absolutely beautiful bittersweet ending I loved the fan wank big and small:

going back to rapture and seeing it as it was in the first game was such a massive fanboy squeal moment for me.

I also loved that they snuck in alpha build Elizabeth in amongst all the alternate versions of her. really put a smile on my face...

Right before she killed me...

Seriously, that was sad and beautiful and painful and satisfying all at once. I think this may be my single favorite video game ending of all time.

Oh, and the after credit ending was such a vicious tease.

I want that happy ending dammit... they both deserve it.

Edited March 28, 2013 by anime52k8

[Archer]

Beat Infinite as well. It is as epic as the anime52k8 mentions...

[mikeszekely]

How'd you finish so fast? I've devoted all of my free time since Tuesday to it, and I don't think I'm more than halfway.

I just entered the reality where Booker is some kind of hero to the Vox so that Chen Lin would have his tools back

[anime52k8]

How'd you finish so fast? I've devoted all of my free time since Tuesday to it, and I don't think I'm more than halfway.

I just entered the reality where Booker is some kind of hero to the Vox so that Chen Lin would have his tools back

Spend 10 hours on it day one and 7 more hours the second day. (I'm on spring break, I've got free time.)

but yeah, you're about half way, prepare for the crazy half.

:edit:

BTW, if you haven't been doing this already, start doing it now: LISTEN TO THE VOXAPHONES! find as many as you can and listen to all of them because huge amounts of story are covered in the audio logs. basically, if you reach the end of the game and are confused by anything, it's probably because you missed an audio log that explained it.

Edited March 28, 2013 by anime52k8

[anime52k8]

you know, having played the game it's really cool going back and watching the really early gameplay trailers and seeing just how much the game has changed as well as all the elements that did make it through to the final product in one way or another.

(you know, I've watched that first trailer a dozen times before the game came out and I never noticed the painting in the bar change at around the 6 minute mark).

Edited March 28, 2013 by anime52k8

[Benson13]

I didn't really pay attention to anything I've seen about this game because of the massive disappointment BS2 was. I was completely blown away by that 15 min trailer.

[anime52k8]

yeah, the final game is a lot like that, but better.

short version is, if you like games for their story, you absolutely HAVE to play this game.

:edit:

Admittedly I'm a total fanboy who loved bioshock 2 even more than bioshock 1, but Infinite blows both completely out of the water.

Edited March 28, 2013 by anime52k8

[anime52k8]

you know, I just had a sad thought: if the previous two Bioshocks are any indication, we'll never get any character merchandise for this game outside of the already annouced NECA figures. And if every NECA figure relase I've had even a tiny amount of interest in are any indication, 90% will have horribly cacked up face paint apps and I'll never find a good looking one in person at a store.

Hot Toys, stop being a bunch of jerks...