The Video Game Thread

[PujolJunkie]

Kane & Lynch 2 looks [expletive] HORRIBLE.

[cpebbles]

I've got another week and a half of vacation with nothing much to do. I've still got some crap to do in Crackdown 2, but I'm itching for a new game. Not sure about Madden because the Rams are sure to suck and invariably Madden games just come down to me finding the exploitable out patterns and using them over and over because no other plays work worth a damn. Kane and Lynch indeed looks like [expletive], and I don't really like shooters anyway. Ideas?

[Bo Hart]

Oblivion.

[PujolJunkie]

I've got another week and a half of vacation with nothing much to do. I've still got some crap to do in Crackdown 2, but I'm itching for a new game. Not sure about Madden because the Rams are sure to suck and invariably Madden games just come down to me finding the exploitable out patterns and using them over and over because no other plays work worth a damn. Kane and Lynch indeed looks like [expletive], and I don't really like shooters anyway. Ideas?

Dragon Age? Mass Effect (1 or 2)? Oblivion? Fallout? All of these games will take you an insane, insane, insane amount of time to beat.

[Michael]

I've got another week and a half of vacation with nothing much to do. I've still got some crap to do in Crackdown 2, but I'm itching for a new game. Not sure about Madden because the Rams are sure to suck and invariably Madden games just come down to me finding the exploitable out patterns and using them over and over because no other plays work worth a damn. Kane and Lynch indeed looks like [expletive], and I don't really like shooters anyway. Ideas?

I'd go through Live and DL a bunch of arcade games. There are so many great/different experiences.

Peggle
Defense Grid
LIMBO
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
Shadow Complex
Splosion Man

The list goes on and on,...

[Maclowery]

Even though I bought it on DVD at release, i'm re-buying Borderlands and all its DLC (20 bucks for all of it) through Steam, for ease of access. I pretty much love Steam.

Anyone remember when it came out? All these counterstrike players were booing it, saying it was a waste of a step just to play CS, cuz that's the only game that'd ever be a big deal on it, blah blah blah.

[clevername]

I enjoyed the heck out of Borderlands. I'm usually not into loot games, but that one clicked for me for some reason. Haven't done any of the DLC because I usually just rent games, but may eventually rent it again and try the DLC out when I run out of other stuff to do.

Just downloaded the new Tomb Raider arcade game off Live last night. I'm a Tomb Raider junkie, so I like it, of course. I'll eventually get Limbo, too, and have Braid sitting there begging to be played but I haven't gotten around to it. Live Arcade is starting to deliver on its promise, though, with the number of good games available on it.

Looking forward to actually playing my Wii for the first time in a year or so when Metroid comes out in 2 weeks.

Mafia 2 next week looks really promising, too.

[Swirls]

Mrs. Swirls and I finally got Super Mario Galaxy 2 off of GameFly, and so far it's not too bad. We had a big glob of puzzle/Bejeweled/Tetris-like games for a while there, because that's about all she'll play other than weird murder mystery type games.

[Cronos]

Any other Nintendo DS gamers out there? Ever since the advent of the R4 card, I've become a bit of a closet DS-er. A lot of quality games on there; developers don't have to shell out as big a buck for flashy graphics and can focus on story and gameplay to sell the title (which I'm usually more interested in anyway).

If so, a title I had literally never heard of provided a cool distraction lately: "Again", made by the same company that made "Hotel Dusk" (another cool puzzle/adventure title), is highly underrated and worth a look for anyone who enjoys the mystery/CSI genre. REALLY cool story, and for me it's rare that a story and its plot twists alone can carry a title and that was definitely the case here.

[Bo Hart]

Thinking about playing through Final Fantasy Tactics again. There's a patch out there (known as "Final Fantasy Tactics 1.3") that greatly enhances the difficulty in the game. There are two versions of the patch: 1.3 Normal and 1.3 "Easytype."

This is the sports analogy I was given to help put the new difficulty in perspective:
FFT 1.3 Normal is like playing against the New York Yankees (elite major leaguers).
FFT 1.3 Easytype is like playing the Pittsburgh Pirates ("the worst of the best").
FFT original/unpatched is like playing against a team of Little Leaguers.

This really intrigues me. I've been reading reviews of people who have tried it out, and it's been rave reviews across the board. A lot of balancing and little tweaks all throughout the game. Sounds like it's really challenging, even the "easy" version.