What have you been playing lately?

[Ajar]

I'm completely hooked on Gears of War. I haven't been this captivated by a game since WarCraft III, which I still play from time to time. However, I have a good group to play it with -- the few times I've played with random Xbox Live people haven't been nearly as much fun.

Before I got Gears, I was playing Okami (about 10 hours in), Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (I'm at the final battle), and Homeworld 2 (mission 9 or so). I imagine I'll get back to all of those eventually, though I have my eye on Viva Piñata and Star Trek: Legacy.

 

[Joe]

I've been rocking FIFA 07 lately. I started my own team and I'm cruising through MLS because EA didn't bother to implement the salary cap.

So far, the game's pretty cool, but not all of it make sense. A team member's morale contributes to the team's overall chemistry, but they don't bother explaining how to improve a specific person's morale. I've managed to figure out giving them more money and playing them more raises it, but when someone is sitting at a 0 on a 0-100 scale, you can't do much to improve that.

What's also weird is my team was rated 4.5 stars out of 5. After I sold off a defender, it miraculously went up to 5. So I managed to add by subtraction.

God, this thing needs a 1980s manual, stat.

 

[David Miscavidge]

Final Fantasy 12. Interestingly tweaked variant of the same old flavor, I'm very much enjoying it.

I'm finding the whole gambit thing fresh and fun, a whole new way to grind. And, of course, wrapped around the system are the same poofy, preposterous aesthetics that we have come to know and some of us will even admit to loving.

 

[ReedRichards]

I really like the gambit system and the ADB as well David. It really adds a cool new strategy element while basically being the same old system we are all used to.

I keep waiting for the story to break from the political intrigue and take off on a "party must save the world from imminent destruction at the hands of great magical evil" that I know and love.

 

[David Miscavidge]

I keep waiting for the story to break from the political intrigue and take off on a "party must save the world from imminent destruction at the hands of great magical evil" that I know and love.

It'll get there, Stretch, I bet.

Still, the schzophrenia of the scenario is pure Square--cutscenes of brooding, somber wartime subterfuge, interspersed with battles with little guys whose heads are giant onions.

 

[Goofonian]

Its interesting that noone here has mentioned zelda yet.
Is that because fewer people are playing it than I originally thought might, or is it just a given that almost everyone is playing it, so it doesn't need to be mentioned?

Personally I'm only taking breaks from it to completely dominate my non-gamer housemates at wii sports. Oh and go to work......

Speaking of which, wii sports is seeming to be a game that just about everyone can have fun with. Ssshhhh don't tell nintendo, but I think they may be onto something. I don't reckon a single person has called by my place without making a mii of themselves and having a crack at tennis. The only game that has even attempted to garner that level of participation in the past was guitar hero and it didn't even come close.

That said, despite the enthusiasm for it I can't see any of these people rushing out to buy a system of their own just yet. As much as MS/Sony/Nintendo might try and expand the gaming audience, I think its gonna be a while before games can become phenomena like movies and books can. Simply because a couple hundred bucks (or more depending what way you look at it) is way too much for someone to spend if they have no interest in gaming beyond perhaps one title they played at their friends house.

 

[ReedRichards]

I was debating getting the gamecube version of Zelda myself.

XII is pure scizophrenia isn't it? I'm just glad I have the strategy guide (I know shake your heads at me, but I already know I will get stuck and want to throw my controller, but alas it cost me 30 dollars so that will never happen) because it runs back what happened in the cutscenes. This is good as they get confusing.

 

[Nobodies15]

Im playing sonic the hedgehog 2 a little too much. Specifically the first 6 levels. Also playing the legend of zelda on my DS
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!RETRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[randomizer9]

DS: Elite Beat Agents - I'll play it until there is an indentation of the stylus in my thumb and forefinger
PS2: Not much, but I really should finish off Dragon Quest 8 before God of War 2 drops
Xbox 360: Geometry Wars - Must...get...1 million...points...-eyes twitching-

 

[luminousshadow11]

I'm glad I finally have the chance to do some gaming since the term is over. I'm playing Shadow of the Colossus (I'm on #10) which I can't believe I missed out on for so long, FFXII off and on, and Ocarina of Time though I'm not terribly familiar with the N64 since I never had the chance use one until recently.

I'm trying to get my paws on Okami and ICO sometime soon as well.

 

[uk_john]

Mostly Space Rangers 2, a little bit of Oblivion, and on portable consoles a mix of Daxter (PSP) and New Super Mario Bros (DS).

Me too. Space Rangers 2 is, like, well, a drug! Such a shame this classic game will not even be nominated for any awards, let alone win any, purely because it's from an independent publisher and did not garner enough column inches! Any game that is compared to Elite, Star Control, Jagged Alliance (thanks for the update for JA - downloading now!) and Pirates, and yet gets ignored by the games media et al, surely shows the terrible state of PC gaming we have. Any long time PC gamer must surely be fearful for the future!

Edit: You also have to just look at this thread to see how many people are playing older games again or for the first time; seems an 'almost' total lack of modern games. The gaming industry should be worried when so many gamers are playing retro games or inde games, instead of their new titles!

 

[water_bearer]

Binged on Zelda TP for the Wii, 60+ hours later, finished and now mostly Wii Sports and Red Steel.

RS is a surprisingly fun game, I can see how people were disappointed with it as a FPS, it was really tweaked for just a 1-player experience, but just as that, it's quite fun.

Street Fighter 3 Third Strike in the PS2, get my testosterone fix when I need it, skillz skillz skillz

 

[heavyfeul]

Well, my long sessions of Call of Duty 2 multiplayer on the PC have been replaced by Gears of War on the 360. I switch between Co-op, Versus, and Single player. It is simply one of the best games I have ever played and is the best title, in my opinion, to come out for the 360 by far. We need more exclusives of this caliber.

My only problem is that the 360 is hooked up to the TV in the living room, making it harder to play a game when I want. For some reason my wife does not enjoy watching me play videogames?

 

[te2rx [deprecated]]

I played the demo of Armed Assault (unofficially Operation Flashpoint 2007) with a friend, doing a simple co-op mission where we try to capture a town. That kept us occupied for days, because the enemy AI is almost totally unpredictable. We've had plenty of instances where enemy squads would run out of town and dart into the forest, and much later on re-appear to flank us from the back -- Those sneaky bastards! After a while we more or less discovered we had to really spread out our squad, cover all our corners, and actively keep track of enemy movements to keep surprises to a minimum. I mean how many AI-heavy tactical FPS games force you to do that? I need to import this game from the UK as soon as it comes out in Eng (officially)... funny how there's no USA release date, despite being a game about the US army. Is there really that little interest in an infantry combat sim here?

On the total opposite end of the tac shooter spectrum, I plowed through Rainbow Six Vegas. The whole taking-cover aspect was done pretty well, along with the overall chaotic feel of indoor combat. Only SWAT 4 was able to convey that as well in recent memory. However the standard issue heavily scripted level design only served to cheapen the game... it soon became a game of memorizing where the bad guys spawn when you cross over what invisible line, so you can preemptively throw a grenade or whatever; the same old stuff you do in most FPS games. I'm still waiting for games with more "organic" combat like Armed Assault and (if it lives up to its hype) Bioshock to make heavily scripted highly linear FPS games a thing of the past.

 

[Echolocating]

Rocket Slime for the DS was a really pleasant surprise. It's a quirky little adventure game with a really inventive tank battle system. I wish they had added more mini-games to it (near the end, it was just starting the drag a bit), but what's there is well worth the ticket price. Clever, inventive, and pure fun.

I never died or reverted to a previous save (and I typically suck at action games), but the point of this game is not to challenge the gamer's twitch prowess at all. It's a steady progression that introduces creative rewards at just the right times to keep things feeling new and exciting. Some of the tank battles can get pretty hectic so you feel like you're still earning your rewards.

It has a monster and item collecting aspect to it that I didn't feel like completing because the actual act of gathering 30 or more of a particular thing is... very boring (thank God it's mostly optional), but the rest of the game doesn't feel tedious at all.

This is the most fun I've had with my DS yet.

 

[Ajar]

Lately I've gotten into Yggdra Union on the GBA. It's a turn-based strategy RPG that bears a little resemblance to the Fire Emblem games, but the strategy itself is very different. It's more like chess -- the positioning of your units relative to one another is absolutely crucial. It's fun so far.

I'm also still hooked on Gears of War multiplayer with friends.

 

[kr1shnak [deprecated]]

XBox LIVE Arcade has seen me playing:

- DOOM - was loving this but am now stuck at a BORING boss encounter (Cyberdemon). Still some great gameplay and fantastic level design.
- Lumines Live - a great game
- Bejewelled 2 - this and lumines live are really nice chill out games. Relaxing to play. Great.
- GOW online. Playing with friends, its a laugh.

In fact I'd say these LIVE ARCADE games are stopping me buying the BIG TICKET games (notably on my want list: Test Drive Unlimited and Viva Pinata). I was in the shop the other day, looked at the titles and how much they cost and thought "I could just get a couple of fun LIVE ARCADE games and save a tonne of money".