Games you are currently playing - Part 7

[Frankie Blueberries]

Bought Splinter Cell 1, Pandora Tomorrow, and already have Chaos Theory. They’re all on sale right now and it cost me $7 for the first two games combined.

Loved the shit out of the first 3 Splinter Cell games. Actually a little surprised that this series stumbled as much as it did after Chaos Theory. I played the one after CT, think it was “Double Agent”...whatever the 4th one was and it lost its magic. Maybe there’s just only so much you can do with that series before it gets stale.

Still, the online multiplayer for Pandora Tomorrow was some of the most intense fun I’ve ever had. Chaos Theory too. If you and a buddy were good at that game online it was a total blast.

Chaos Theory was one game I'll always be kicking myself for not getting into. You know when you miss a great game in its prime, and while you can go back to it and play through the campaign, you'll never be able to recapture the magic of playing the multiplayer during its heyday? That's Chaos Theory for me. I did play the very first Splinter Cell game on Xbox. Made it through a few missions and then realized I sucked at stealth games (although I was able to beat MGS 3) and stopped playing it.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

I started play Yes, Your Grace. It's a management game in the style of being a king in the middle ages. You have to form alliances, manage your gold and supplies while keeping your people happy. You can't make everyone happy, you have to make tough decisions, sometimes you get cheated. It actually reminds me a lot of Papers, Please in the sense that you're trying to help people but will get screwed by people you think are good and don't always have the resources to help those really in need.

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

Been playing Bayonetta.

Its ok. Combat gets stale quick. It’s basically just waiting for an attack to dodge to activate witch time.

Lots of enemies are cheap as hell and after almost every cutscene, you’re getting attacked instantly. So you basically have to mash dodge whenever you think the cutscene is almost over.

You can never really tell what parts of the map are accessible and the platforming is pretty bad.

All the things to buy in the shop are ridiculously expensive. There’s about 10 accessories of which I’ve bought 2 and I’m on chapter 12.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Bought Splinter Cell 1, Pandora Tomorrow, and already have Chaos Theory. They’re all on sale right now and it cost me $7 for the first two games combined.

Loved the shit out of the first 3 Splinter Cell games. Actually a little surprised that this series stumbled as much as it did after Chaos Theory. I played the one after CT, think it was “Double Agent”...whatever the 4th one was and it lost its magic. Maybe there’s just only so much you can do with that series before it gets stale.

Still, the online multiplayer for Pandora Tomorrow was some of the most intense fun I’ve ever had. Chaos Theory too. If you and a buddy were good at that game online it was a total blast.

I believe Ubisoft Montreal concurred with this statement, as Splinter Cell: Conviction was going to completely change the way the series approached stealth, something closer to Assassin's Creed's stealth mechanics than Metal Gear Solid. Alas, development issues and publisher demands forced them to go middle of the road and make something more action oriented.

My personal ranking for the Splinter Cell series, with the power of hindsight:

1. Chaos Theory
2. Blacklist
3. Splinter Cell
4. Pandora Tomorrow
5. Conviction
6. Double Agent

Blacklist is a great example of a sleeper. The "stink" of Conviction, coupled with Ironside's cancer forcing them to use a new actor, killed its hype. It also carries a questionable in-game economy added purely to keep up with the RPG-ifying trends of the time. What saves the game, outside of its fleshed out roster of characters and villains, is the excellent level design. We can argue on why Fisher now has the agility of a man 30 years his junior (a feature brought over from Conviction), but Ubisoft Toronto did a much better job of incorporating it into the levels for stealth purposes. Play it on realistic difficulty (the equivalent of Hard mode), and you should have a fine time; unquestionably a bargain at its current price.

 

[S E P H]

My personal ranking for the Splinter Cell series, with the power of hindsight:

1. Chaos Theory
2. Blacklist
3. Splinter Cell
4. Pandora Tomorrow
5. Conviction
6. Double Agent

Not sure if I played Blacklist, but the first three are the best games with Chaos Theory easily being on the top of that (with SC at 2 and PT at 3). Also agree that Double Agent is by far the worst and I would say that the game is pretty much unplayable. Terrible controls and very linear storyline which is an entire copy of the Bourne series.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Not sure if I played Blacklist, but the first three are the best games with Chaos Theory easily being on the top of that (with SC at 2 and PT at 3). Also agree that Double Agent is by far the worst and I would say that the game is pretty much unplayable. Terrible controls and very linear storyline which is an entire copy of the Bourne series.

Double Agent is pretty much unplayable on PC, took me a week to make it work on release and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work at this point.

Blacklist encourages different playstyles with its scoring system and level design, if you have the itch I'd give it a go for sure. Doesn't feel "authentic" as the older games, but the gameplay is great.

 

[x Tame Impala]

I think if they’re going to “remaster” a game then any of the first three Splinter Cell games would be great. The graphics in them were groundbreaking at the time and the gameplay was so unique

 

[Frankie Spankie]

I started playing Bombergrounds yesterday. It's a Free 2 Play Bomberman style battle royale game that's surprisingly a ton of fun. Games are super short, only like 2 minutes tops, so you can pick them up here and there. They have a bat that you can swing quick to stun or charge up to kill people. I wish they'd get rid of the charge attack because it feels cheap, especially in the end game. Most people won't even drop bombs and just walk around with a charged up bat. It takes away from the spirit of the game.

Regardless of the charged bat though, the game's still a lot of fun. They have loot boxes but it's literally all cosmetics. There's no benefit to any of it so I don't really care about how dumb the in game economy is. It's apparently on all mobile devices and PC, I'm surprised it's not on any consoles. There definitely seems to be cross play though, you can tell some players look like they move like mobile players without much precision. There's not even many people on Steam, Steamcharts shows just like 200-300 but games load up quick with 25 per lobby so there's probably a ton of mobile players.

 

[NinjaKick]

I just started Dead Space!!! absolutely love this game and the visuals still hold up,,, the music and sound effects especially stands out... it's basically John Carpenter's The Thing in space... good times

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Tried playing Skyrim yesterday just to see if it holds up for me. Not sure it does.

But hey, I'd laugh if this became a reality.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Finished the Spider-Man campaign mode. I haven't gotten all of the hidden photo ops yet, but I'm almost at 100% aside from that. I picked up the Game-of-the-Year edition to get the 3 DLC's, looking forward to playing through that as well.

 

[S E P H]

Finished the Spider-Man campaign mode. I haven't gotten all of the hidden photo ops yet, but I'm almost at 100% aside from that. I picked up the Game-of-the-Year edition to get the 3 DLC's, looking forward to playing through that as well.

I never got to the DLC's personally even though I absolutely loved the game. The gameplay gets super repetitive and when the prisoners take over the city, my interest in traversing New York went close to zero. Then I found out that Blackcat is a secondary character that helps to start the DLC story, that even killed more of my interest.

 

[542365]

For about the 200th time I’ve started to play Destiny 2 again, this time with all of the expansions thanks to the Steam Summer Sale. I love the gameplay, but the gear grind gets pretty annoying when it takes hours just to move up a couple light levels after you reach the soft cap.

 

[Dolemite]

For about the 200th time I’ve started to play Destiny 2 again, this time with all of the expansions thanks to the Steam Summer Sale. I love the gameplay, but the gear grind gets pretty annoying when it takes hours just to move up a couple light levels after you reach the soft cap.

You're doing it wrong then if it takes you that long to move up a couple levels.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Just picked up Lifeless Planet a little while ago for free on Epic Games. It's a simulator of wandering by yourself on an alien planet that's basically one long, linear jumping puzzle in a low-res desert. Occasionally spiky things erupt from the ground and kill you to break up the monotony. Every once in a while, the jumping puzzles get much larger, and the game gives you extra juice for your jetpack. This runs out when it threatens to make the game slightly more fun. Did I mention it was free? Wouldn't pay a cent more.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Well after about 4 hours, I decided the Yakuza series is just not for me. The serious sections with voice acting were great but it's weird that half the game is just text even if the voice acting is all Japanese. I felt like I was watching a Japanese dubbed drama in some cutscenes while I was playing an out dated JRPG in others. I was enjoying the lightheartedness in the side stuff like helping out the "punk" band to be more punk and the mini games weren't bad, but I really want to just focus on the main story line. The problem for me is there's a lot of random filler in between and it's just too much for me.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Still working on Animal Crossing, fine tuning my island

Started Doom Eternal, probably about 2 hrs in, so far, so good

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is the best RPG of the entries I've played, but the gameplay has aged like an oxidized wine.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I never got to the DLC's personally even though I absolutely loved the game. The gameplay gets super repetitive and when the prisoners take over the city, my interest in traversing New York went close to zero. Then I found out that Blackcat is a secondary character that helps to start the DLC story, that even killed more of my interest.

I just completed the Story-Line last night and got the Platinum. I'm not much of a trophy-chaser, so this is actually only like the 2nd game I've Platinum'd.

I'm getting into the DLC soon. I agree with you about the take-over. It's way too excessive with the amount of prisoners/Sable people taking over the city. I love swinging around the city, but I really don't want to be dodging bullets every 10 seconds.

 

[Ceremony]

Well after about 4 hours, I decided the Yakuza series is just not for me. The serious sections with voice acting were great but it's weird that half the game is just text even if the voice acting is all Japanese. I felt like I was watching a Japanese dubbed drama in some cutscenes while I was playing an out dated JRPG in others. I was enjoying the lightheartedness in the side stuff like helping out the "punk" band to be more punk and the mini games weren't bad, but I really want to just focus on the main story line. The problem for me is there's a lot of random filler in between and it's just too much for me.

I've only ever played Yakuza 4 but I got over that hump eventually. It's ridiculous, and it's not for everyone, but it was worth sticking with for me.

 

[Papa Francouz]

Yakuza is f***ing weird, man. I picked up the Yakuza games on Steam during the summer sale and started Yakuza 0 this weekend, so I know exactly where you're coming from @Frankie Spankie. It seems outdated at times, but the story has been engaging enough for me to look past the shallow combat so far. I'll probably end up playing through the entire thing because it reminds me a bit of the storytelling in Twin Peaks, and I love Twin Peaks. If I had different tastes, though, I could definitely see myself abandoning the game after only a few hours.

 

[Commander Clueless]

1) Final Fantasy VII-Remake (PS4) - Deep diving back into this one after acquiring a controller that isn't dead set on having me look at the sky constantly. At about chapter 6 or so and really enjoying it thus far.

2) The Long Dark (PC) - Figured I would jump back into this one, as I've been wanting to ever since they added the third chapter. Turns out they did some major overhauls to the game. I'm not usually one for survival games in general, but something about the quiet, slow, sinister feeling of this game really works for me.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Yakuza is f***ing weird, man. I picked up the Yakuza games on Steam during the summer sale and started Yakuza 0 this weekend, so I know exactly where you're coming from @Frankie Spankie. It seems outdated at times, but the story has been engaging enough for me to look past the shallow combat so far. I'll probably end up playing through the entire thing because it reminds me a bit of the storytelling in Twin Peaks, and I love Twin Peaks. If I had different tastes, though, I could definitely see myself abandoning the game after only a few hours.

I don't mind the combat or the weirdness at all. I generally like weird shit because I find it funny. I was also playing Yakuza 0 and the whole sequence to end chapter 1 was awesome. But then chapter 2 starts and they give you no sense of direction. The side stuff doesn't interest me at all. If I could literally just speed run to the next story part instead of running around aimlessly, I would definitely continue playing it. But I even looked up a guide on where to go and there was still a ton of stuff shoe horned in there. I just feel like it'd be the kind of game that I'd much rather watch a Youtube playthrough of where I can skip to the main story line rather than actually play it.

 

[Papa Francouz]

I don't mind the combat or the weirdness at all. I generally like weird shit because I find it funny. I was also playing Yakuza 0 and the whole sequence to end chapter 1 was awesome. But then chapter 2 starts and they give you no sense of direction. The side stuff doesn't interest me at all. If I could literally just speed run to the next story part instead of running around aimlessly, I would definitely continue playing it. But I even looked up a guide on where to go and there was still a ton of stuff shoe horned in there. I just feel like it'd be the kind of game that I'd much rather watch a Youtube playthrough of where I can skip to the main story line rather than actually play it.

Ahh, that makes sense. I just finished up chapter 2 last night and you're exactly right - they throw you into town and give you zero direction on where to go at the start of the chapter. I definitely got bored of wandering around the city after a while, but I got a little lucky because I found one of the NPCs you need to overhear as I was getting ready to shut the game off.

I actually have the same exact mindset that you have where I want to run to the next story mission as fast as possible, but the game slows you down and it's annoying as hell. That's probably the biggest gripe I have with the game right now, honestly. I'm hoping it gets better because as well-written some of the side missions are, they definitely interrupt the flow of the story. I'll probably stick it out to the end (or at least that's how I feel right now), but we'll see. The writing can only carry the game so far when it keeps interrupting itself to have me help a rock band be more badass or help a child find a video game.

 

[Jovavic]

I've never tried Yakuza, the first one looked like Shenmue, which I found boring, so I never bothered with the series.

Currently playing Civilization 6 on Switch along with Death Stranding and This Is the Police on ps4