Random Thoughts on Video Games

Yup, out of the three Transformer games this generation my favorite was the first movie tie in game. Maybe with lowered expectations I will like this new one, plan is to try and play it via rental.

Found another title to add to my must-buys:

Waiting for my order of "Sniper Elite V2" to arrive, I have been killing time by replaying a game with a similar setting: Velvet Assassin.

Obviously the graphics now feel dated (and weren't that spectacular even on the time of its release). I remember this game getting very little love on this forum at the time. I think it has its merits, but it has two major flaws that stop it from being great: very poor enemy AI and increasingly poor level design. The first mission is the only one not plagued by the latter. And the lacking AI becomes ever more noticeable as the missions and maps are increasingly designed more poorly. A shame, because both the main protagonist and the grim atmosphere might have made for a memorable stealth game.

They also force the player to turn this into a poor excuse for a shooter towards the end of the game. Either this is just the culmination of the increasingly poor design, or it's a ludicrous conscious decision.

Sniper Elite V2 is probably the best sniper game I've ever played. Not sure if that is high praise for Sniper Elite or just how poor I've thought other sniper focused games were.

This week really feels like the end to the summer dry spell. The retail releases of Darksiders 2 and Sleeping Dogs along with digital releases of Papa & Yo (PSN) and Dust: An Elysian Tail have all received solid reviews.

I don't really have high hopes for it, as many of the Bond games made post- N64 GoldenEye have been somewhat lacking IMO, but we'll see how it turns out I guess. I've just learned not to get my hopes up too much so as not to set my self up for disappointment.

In the meantime, I'm quite happy with this perfectly free game.

That looks awesome. Need to download it ASAP.

I seem to remember you being one of its critics at the time, yes.

I will not completely disagree with you. The final mission is especially embarrassing. But I always thought it started out interesting enough, in spite of the paltry enemy AI.

Sniper Elite V2 has arrived, and the gameplay is a lot of fun, though a bit repetitive. Still, the cinematics whenever you pull off a difficult shot is not something you tire off easily.

If you are looking to try out a Summer of Arcade game this year I highly recommend Dust: An Elysian Tail. The action is easy to get a hang of and feels rewarding, the story is solid, the RPG element doesn't have much depth to it but isn't overly shallow either, and the art design/characters are beautiful if you aren't completely jaded. This game is right up there with the other great Summer of Arcade games from previous years; GeoWars2, Castle Crashers, Braid, Limbo, Shadow Complex, and Bastion. And don't worry about getting your $15 worth, I've sunk seven hours into the game and sit at 54% of the main campaign complete with only about 38% of the side quests done.

anyone play the new man v machine on tf2? it's actually quite fun battling wave after wave and upgrading your weapons and stuff. you just have to hope you don't get stuck on a team with a couple idiots.

Been playing some "Ghost Recon - Future Soldier". Took me a mission and a half to get into its rhythm, but I'm really enjoying it now.

i completed it, i liked it but it's a little repetitive

Only a couple of missions into it, I stopped halfway through the Pakistani one. So far it's been a blast.

Started on the Russian mission. I like how they add new elements in each new mission to keep the action fresh. If I have one complaint it's that the story is very, very flimsy and (likely purposely) kept very vague.

Been playing Dishonored.
I found it rather fun, even though I had read reviews from many PC players who called it a poor port.
It's not as rich in customization as a Bethesda RPG, but there are enough choices in terms of tactics for the player to keep it interesting.

fifa 13 is a terrible game, i enjoy nba 2k13 though

Warfighter beta was fun, feel like the Sarajevo Stadium map was all that great but the controls felt good, I like the class types and two man squads. Very hopeful the game will be as good as the previous Medal of Honor. FH was just what I wanted from a racing game and is on my buy list.

I got around to playing Wreckateer and thought it was a great XBLA Kinect game, right up there with Fruit Ninja. Also played some Happy Wars and for a free knock-off version of Fat Princess it was alright. Only downside that I had with Happy Wars was how long it took to find a match to join, with it being a free game kinda surprised how few people were playing it.

I agree with you on both points about the previous MH. The campaign was really short but at the same time it was the first military shooter in quite awhile that I felt had a good mix of missions and an excellent pace. And yup the multiplayer was no where near as polished as most shooters today but I really loved Combat Mission and glad it'll be returning for the new one. I probably would have bought Warfighter if it was released in Sept. or early Oct but this close to so many other great titles it'll only be a rental.

The open world aspect is what I really dig. I am nowhere near a gearhead either but a friend is huge into racing games so I always pick up the new one to play with him and it took no time at all to get board with Forza4 since most of the tracks were from previous installments. The only downside I've seen regarding Horizon is that it sounds like the AI generated traffic is turned off when driving around in the open world in multiplayer.