What are you playing?

[Evil Gringo 279]

Played through the first two missions of Halo 5 and they are good fun, wonderfully rendered and it looks like the story could be taking an interesting turn. Still have 12 or so to go through though so we'll see how it turns out.

 

The intro to the game though, the cinematic as you enter into the first mission and first control the new character, Locke. Damn, it was good.

[Evil Gringo 279]

Still have Halo 5 to complete due to Fallout 4 taking over my world last month, the career mode of WWE2K16 to continue, Forza 6 to mop up on, Lego Jurassic World to actually play and Mad Max to actually install and play.

 

On top of that I got Star Wars Battlefront, Just Cause 3 and Destiny: The Taken King for Christmas and £50 of X-Box Live credit, which I will either use on Tomb Raider or NBA2K16 - haven't decided which yet.

[DC 536]

I too am working (GRINDING!!) through career mode on WWE 2K16, while also playing Gauntlet, Resident Evil Revelations 2 (chapter one) and The Walking Dead Season 2, which were all free on PS+.

 

Today saw me trade in Arkham Knight against Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Alien Isolation (£9.99) and Wolfenstein: The New Order (£5.99) - all from GAME.

[Evil Gringo 279]

It is a god damn grind isn't it? Took me two years of my career to win the IC, US and NXT titles with still the world and Tag to go and that's without hold a belt for a year and such to get in the Hall of Fame.

 

Plus those Authority objectives are stupid, don't add anything to the game regarding storyline or speeding up your passage to the top of the rankings (you'd think being liked by the authority would do that) but the new move download was fun, just a shame it cost money this year.

[DC 536]

It is a god damn grind isn't it? Took me two years of my career to win the IC, US and NXT titles with still the world and Tag to go and that's without hold a belt for a year and such to get in the Hall of Fame.

 

Plus those Authority objectives are stupid, don't add anything to the game regarding storyline or speeding up your passage to the top of the rankings (you'd think being liked by the authority would do that) but the new move download was fun, just a shame it cost money this year.

The new moves cost money last year too.

 

I agree with the Authority objectives, especially as they are random without taking into account your abilities or the match in question. I mean, it will ask you to do an OMG even if you don't have that in your move-set (same with opponent's finisher) and more than once the objective has been to win a match with green health, but the pre-match intro is one of the two wrestlers brawling, so you both start the match with yellow damage, thus failing the objective automatically.

 

As you said, there's also no benefit to having the Authority on your side as it doesn't make matches easier, they don't interfere in any way and (so far) none of the other wrestlers appear to have speaking parts.

 

Oh, talking about, um, talking. It's cool when you get to choose your dialogue during the backstage interviews with (a very creepy) Renee Young... until you have repeated the same stock phrases for the twelveteenth time.

 

There's a lot of good to this game and some improvements on last year (more positions to perform moves from, weak and strong strikes from more varied spots, etc), but some of it is illogical.

 

As for grinding through titles, I won the NXT belt rather quickly and then dropped out of that to join the main roster and vie for the US belt. After climbing the ranks (which real-life WWE should incorporate more often), I've now been #1 contender to that championship for the last 5mths without getting a title shot. I've even been in a rivalry with Cena that spanned two PPVs and still didn't actually get a title match against him.

[Evil Gringo 279]

I find that if you attack them, whilst you are below 3 in the rankings and enter a rivalry then you'll be given a random match with them on Raw or Smackdown, non title, in which they will reverse every move and your only hope is to reverse everything they try and do to you and maybe eek out a win at which point the game will end your rivalry - thus you cannot hotshot up the rankings, you have to grind.

 

It is not until you are number two and then they attack you either during or before a match that a rivalry over the belt starts, at least that is what I have found with the US and IC titles.

 

No one else bar Renee (who is completely creepy, you're right there) and your character has voice acting in career mode and the choices are a bit stunted but I expect them to build on these blocks bit by bit and make it better. Much like another 2K game, NBA 2K15, the career mode was a bit samey in that outside of the games in terms of vocal choices etc but it has got better in 2K16, no doubt helped by Spike Lee writing and directing it but it shows that unlike say EA, at least 2K will try and continue to expand the game engine and choices every year.

 

It is a good game, a bit of chore to play all the time in career mode but still verses and universe are fun and can be very varied, the community support and CAW making has been excellent this year as well and have you noticed some superstars have vocal elements to their taunts now as well (like Paige screaming this is my house) - better then 2K15, not perfect but I have high hopes for what they do with 2K17.

[DC 536]

The vocalisation with taunts is a great step up and should be expanded even more next year.

 

I guess, in a way, the grind and constantly fighting the same guy across the shows with little advancement IS what a standard WWE career is comprised of.

 

It'll be interesting if they can incorporate any of the elements from Showcase Mode into Career Mode (hitting specific spots, QTEs, more accurate commentary*, etc).

 

* With the commentary, they have at least tried to make it a conversation rather than single-line soundbites, with Cole, JBL and Lawler referring to comments made earlier in the match.

[Guest Yodahew]

With my recent aquisition of an xbox one I have got rise of the tomb raider, ryse son of rome, batman arkham knight, elder scrolls online, game of thrones a telltale game and tony hawks 5. I have mainly been playing tomb raider and the graphics and cinematography have blown me away. The game is really good so far as well I have done about 11% of the game.

 

Ryse is something I could play but not hugely bothered about. I think I need to get into the story a bit more.

 

Tony Hawks I may actually get rid of. I got it for the nostalgia value of growing up playing Tony Hawks games but it is terrible in comparison to TH4. I would rather purchase a PS2 and get the old games on that then play TH5. The gameplay is sloppy, the graphics arent anywhere near the level of what the xbox one is capable of and there is no rush. You can literally go to an area skate about a bit then do challenges. What happened to you have 2 mins do what you can in those 2 mins. Collect S.K.A.T.E, get the combo, high scores, secret tape/DVD. These are all there but skate, combo and tape and dvd are all in free skate mode. Zero challenge in what was one of the more fun aspects of the game. I also dont recognise any of the skaters? Its a Tony Hawk game where are the classic skaters?

[Evil Gringo 279]

It did get panned but the fact is skateboarding has passed both Tony Hawk by (he is retired after all) and his game series by. Hopefully EA make another addition of Skate soon, as that is best boarding game you can get now.

 

Was fun to play the remaster of THPS on the X-Box 360 arcade the other year and I still have THPS2 on the Dreamcast (the best version of Tony Hawk ever) which gives me all the old skaters, the old venues and of course the best soundtrack they ever had. Best £40 I ever spent getting that Dreamcast with House of the Dead, NIGHTS, THPS2, Crazy Taxi, Shenmue and Jet Set Radio.

[etz 78]

I was playing Metal Gear Solid 5 : TPP, but after the Skull Face mission just got a bit annoyed, so I've moved onto Just Cause 3 and it's beautifully bonkers! Also got GTA V and Deadpool for PS4. Played a bit of Deadpool, it's as nuts as you'd expect.

[Evil Gringo 279]

Your right about Just Cause 3 - I finally managed to get a play on it today and it is as wonderfully bonkers and chaotic as it previously was but it is actually harder then number 2 - which considering your one man taking on an entire army makes sense I suppose.

 

Not impressed with Star Wars Battlefront, I know the majority of it was going to be online based but there is next to no single player and I'm not forking out £40 for a season pass and then waiting for more stuff to arrive as well as download times. Seen as I got another copy of Destiny with Taken King I will trade in my old one along with Battlefront and see if I can get Tomb Raider.

 

Also waiting on Broken Sword 5 and NBA2K16 to download, I was given £50 of credit for the X-Box store and picked them up for £50 between them in the current festive sales.

 

Damn I have too many games to play at the moment, but given the fallow period that usually occurs in January and February I should get through it okay whilst we await some actual decent games to arrive - unlike Farming Simulator 2016.

[Omega 354]

I'd like to say H1Z1 but bought it for cheap after Xmas and the login servers haven't worked since then. Fuckin' Sony...

[dsrchris 190]

I've been having a crack at the demo for the new Amplitude that's been released on PS4.

 

It's a bit good.

 

And by a bit, I mean a lot.

 

[The Fury 65]

Finally got fallout 4 and metal fear solid 5. But time to play them have been minimal due to working 200 hours this month and getting ready for travelling on top of that!

[Guest Yodahew]

I sat down yesterday to play an hour or so of Rise of the Tomb Raider. Started at 36% completion at about 12:45. My phone rang and I looked at it and it was 4:15. I had gotten totally immersed in the game for 3.5 hours and hadnt even realised. I also got to 52% completion. Still so much to do. I love this game so so much.

[Guest Sparrow]

I'm still obsessed by FF14. If anyone plays, hit me up on the moogle server.

[Guest Yodahew]

Did the same thing again yesterday with Tomb Raider. God dam this game is intense in parts. 66% completion though so Im moving through it. Did a fair bit of storymode this time round.

[DC 536]

I'm working through Alien: Isolation and loving it. Thought I'd reached the end, but "something" happened and now I'm not sure where the story is going because...

 

[spoiler=Seemed like it should be the end]Waits had trapped me in a lab section of the space station with the Xenomorph and then jettisoned it into space. I was then tasked to pressurise an airlock and escape, which I did and thought would be the end as the Xeno is no longer a threat.

 

I'm now back on the station, with no alien hunting me, and after checking IGN, I'm only half-way through, so I'm intrigued where it goes from here.

 

[Omega 354]

Finally got H1Z1 working and I have to say it's probably an easier gaming experience compared to Dayz. Crafting system is a bit more arcadey with it's discovery method and the combat is no where near as tight as Dayz but it's easier to drop into. The Battle Royal feature is also nice as it lets you swapo to a death match style event from the slower survival. I think Dayz is probably the better survival game and the zombies are a bit more of a threat but H1Z1 is probably more initially rewarding to play.

[Guest Jayfunk]

Finally playing wwe 2k16 I have to say the graphics are great but the same itself is disappointing in nearly every other way so far it's a pity I wanted it to be great. Edited January 30, 2016 by Kam