What Are You Playing Right Now?

[frostface]

Finished Far Cry 5 campaign. Really enjoyed the game. Much better than the last one.

[The Benny (Macho)]

I started Rise of the Tomb Raider yesterday on Xbox One. The games are so very Uncharted now, with Lara having Drake's same luck when it comes to everything collapsing, exploding or being struck by lightning right as she's interacting with it, but seeing as Uncharted started out by evolving the Tomb Raider concept that's pretty understandable. I only really played one level (the tomb of the Prophet) but I liked it. It was almost all exploration and navigation though, almost no dude-killing, and I doubt the game will stay like that. I remember the previous game leaned heavily on big gunfights at the expense of the platforming.

[Spartan119]

Hopefully by this afternoon I'll be working on God of War. Sony had to send out physical review copy because they ran out of digital copies, and it's taking forever, but today should be the day *fingers crossed*

Other than that it's mostly been The Division. Up to World Tier 4 now.

I find it mad that they ran out of digital copies of a game they own. I'd expect them to run out of a physical copy (even that's a stretch on release week) but digital, how does that happen? Genuinely wondering?!

It's mostly my fault. Publishers like Sony only generate so many keys for digital review copy and I didn't think to ask our Managing Editor, Chris, to put in a request until about 10 days before launch. By that point they'd already exhausted all their keys and generating more is more expensive than you might think, so they just hooked us up with a physical copy, and mailing takes time.

I should have it by this afternoon and will be posting impressions later tonight.

[frostface]

I started Rise of the Tomb Raider yesterday on Xbox One. The games are so very Uncharted now, with Lara having Drake's same luck when it comes to everything collapsing, exploding or being struck by lightning right as she's interacting with it, but seeing as Uncharted started out by evolving the Tomb Raider concept that's pretty understandable. I only really played one level (the tomb of the Prophet) but I liked it. It was almost all exploration and navigation though, almost no dude-killing, and I doubt the game will stay like that. I remember the previous game leaned heavily on big gunfights at the expense of the platforming.

The no-dude killing doesn't last long ! Great game though. I need to go back and finish it.

I finished the campaign for Far Cry 5 last night and really enjoyed it. Started up The Surge when I was done and got my arse whooped. It was late and I couldn't take the defeat, so quit and called it a night.

[Spartan119]

I started Rise of the Tomb Raider yesterday on Xbox One. The games are so very Uncharted now, with Lara having Drake's same luck when it comes to everything collapsing, exploding or being struck by lightning right as she's interacting with it, but seeing as Uncharted started out by evolving the Tomb Raider concept that's pretty understandable. I only really played one level (the tomb of the Prophet) but I liked it. It was almost all exploration and navigation though, almost no dude-killing, and I doubt the game will stay like that. I remember the previous game leaned heavily on big gunfights at the expense of the platforming.

The no-dude killing doesn't last long ! Great game though. I need to go back and finish it.

I finished the campaign for Far Cry 5 last night and really enjoyed it. Started up The Surge when I was done and got my arse whooped. It was late and I couldn't take the defeat, so quit and called it a night.

Yeah the dude killing starts pretty early on and goes full throttle until the end. You should definitely finish up that game, because while I found the climax to drag on a bit too long, the last third of that game is overall freaking wonderful and should be enjoyed by everybody.

[The Benny (Macho)]

From what I remember Tomb Raider's combat was fun, so it's not the end of the world if that takes over. Still, I remember there was a point near the end of the first game where Lara approaches a monastery or something, and I was looking at it with classic Tomb Raider eyes like a navigation puzzle, looking out for climbing points and ways that you will steadily work your way inside. Instead she just went through the front door and into another murder arena. I certainly don't miss the days of somersaulting around like an idiot while trying to shoot bats, but I do like platforming.

[frostface]

I went back to Metro Redux, more specifically the first game, last night and forgot why I left it a long time ago. It didn't help that were I did leave off was right in the middle of a firefight. I managed to push through and then started really digging the game again. One thing I'll say about the Metro games is that they're some of the most atmospheric games , especially in the FPS genre.

[The Benny (Macho)]

Yeah, I enjoyed Metro 2033. The whole game was like those parts of Fallout 3 where you're wandering around ruins, except with better atmosphere, solid shooting mechanics and competent writing. I think I tried to stealth a lot of it, until you reach a point where nothing dies to silenced headshots and it gets too frustrating. Then I went full shotgun on everything.

[Spartan119]

From what I remember Tomb Raider's combat was fun, so it's not the end of the world if that takes over. Still, I remember there was a point near the end of the first game where Lara approaches a monastery or something, and I was looking at it with classic Tomb Raider eyes like a navigation puzzle, looking out for climbing points and ways that you will steadily work your way inside. Instead she just went through the front door and into another murder arena. I certainly don't miss the days of somersaulting around like an idiot while trying to shoot bats, but I do like platforming.

I feel ya. The new Tomb Raider games are definitely more combat oriented than they need to be, though I do think Rise does a better job of putting the traversal mechanics front and center from time to time. The optional challenge tombs are especially great for puzzle solving, and there are about ten of them throughout the game.

[frostface]

Stuck on AC:Syndicate tonight and I have to admit that I think I like it so much more than AC Origins.