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davejm

Member Since 12 Apr 2005
Offline Last Active May 08 2018 07:43 AM
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#287566 Thoughts on E3?

Posted by davejm on 15 June 2017 - 07:39 AM

This was the first E3 that I sat and watched many of the conferences (apart from Nintendo's; which I heard was strong).  I'm usually put off by all the fluff and cheesy moments they throw up when on stage.  It's usually pretty terrible.  It felt a bit different this time, with a focus on the games.   

 

Some thoughts on specific moments/games:-

  • Anthem had a bit of 'wow' factor; but not sure exactly what it is.  A co-op open world action-RPG with exo-suits?  I'll be interested in this if it has a strong single player story.
  • Looking forward to the Star Wars: Battlefront II campaign mode.  It seems to be more of a focus; rather than an afterthought.  I have no interest in the multiplayer.
  • Middle Earth: Shadow of War is a day-one for me.  I loved Shadow of Mordor.
  • Xbox One X looks cool; but being a PC gamer and the fact MS are releasing all their games on Windows 10; it's not a consideration for me.
  • Nothing new from the MS game lineup jumped out at me; apart from Ori and the Will of the Wisp.  This is my most anticipated game.
  • I liked the Sony conference focus on the games; and some of them look interesting; Uncharted, Days Gone, God of War, Detroit, Spiderman
  • The Ubisoft conference was a bit cringe.  The Mario & Rabbids game looked great though!! 
  • I heard that Assassin's Creed was getting a 'refresh'; but it didn't look any different to the other games!  Yes, it has a bird mechanic and the melee combat looked to be an improvement; but gosh it's going to be another icon-hoovering affair again isn't it?
  • Life is Strange: Before the Storm is a weird one.  A proper sequel is in the works, but this is a prequel (telling the story of Chloe) without the time travel mechanic (obviously).
  • Not sure how I felt about the Beyond Good and Evil 2 trailer.  It seemed to go against the feel/atmosphere/tone of the original game.
  • Metro Exodus looked good; but a scripted demo no doubt.
  • Dishonored (standalone) DLC is a day-one for me.  I like these games.

Feeling better about my intended PS4 Pro purchase based on what I saw from the Sony exclusive line up.  Lots of games coming up that appeal.




#286890 Life Status

Posted by davejm on 03 September 2015 - 08:14 AM

Wow Shend, that's stunning.  Lovely building.  Congrats!!




#285063 WRASSLIN!

Posted by davejm on 09 April 2014 - 07:25 AM

Watched it Monday night, and I thought it was one of the best Manias ever.

 

The HHH and Bryan match was really good, as a technical match.  HHH surprised me here, and he looked in brilliant shape.  He put Bryan over clean, which was good.

 

The battle royal was great.  Cesaro has shown that you can progress and become over for your in-ring ability alone.  Glad to see him with Heyman now.

 

Cena was pretty rubbish in his match, as usual.  His facial expressions don't look convincing, and the whole angle with Wyatt could have been stunning if... well... it's Cena.  Wyatts mannerisms and delivery of that match were great.  Cena was always going to win.  If the match wasn't at Mania I think they would have allowed Wyatt to win and then progress the story further.  But... well... it's Cena.

 

The end of the streak was a big shock.  I shouldn't have been as shocked as I was, because older guys putting over the younger ones is the way of the wrestling world.  It's the way it works, and the way it should be.  Still, this was a legendary streak so I did wonder whether they'd just eek it out and use it for the promotional material down the line.  Still, they now have the extra part of the story for Brock so they still have that.  I thought the match was dire, and the twist saved it and made it one of the most memorable moments ever.

 

The Bryan, Orton and Batista match was insane.  I can't remember the last time I was so emotionally involved in a wrestling match.  They played it perfectly, with the interference from the authority and the injury to Bryan I kept thinking his Mania moment wasn't going to come - and then it did!!!  Wow!

 

RAW was great too.  Lots of UK flags, signs, scarves and football shirts on show from the UK contingent.  Would love to go to Mania and RAW one year.




#284821 WHO THE DADDY?! SINGHO! POW!

Posted by davejm on 06 March 2014 - 09:14 PM

Congrats Singho!

I've been playing Borderlands 2 co-op with my lad recently, great fun.


#284621 The Fitness Thread

Posted by davejm on 04 February 2014 - 01:01 PM

I used to have quite bad Insomnia, but I've totally nipped that in the bud now.  One thing that helped was spending a decent amount on a new mattress.  The other thing has been to adapt my sleep patterns so I go to bed and then get up earlier.  Instead of spending too much time or gaming until the late hours, I get the PC turned off at 9:30-ish now and get into bed at 10pm with a podcast or a book.  I'm getting sleepy much earlier, and managing much better sleep overall.

 

FItness wise I'm starting to run again, and am still playing football on Sundays.  I'm going a '365 miles in 365 days' challenge (Boog is doing this as well), and although I've come to it late and may not catch up, it feels like a nice target.  I've only done 12.8 miles this year so far, but I'm gradually increasing my fitness so hopefully if I can start doing 6 mile runs around my local reservoir at some stage I hope to claw back the miles. 




#284527 Gaming Expenditure 2014

Posted by davejm on 23 January 2014 - 02:21 PM

January
Bioshock Infinite: Season Pass (PC) - £3.99
The Banner Saga (PC) - £12.06
Proteus (PC) - £1.40
Freedom Fall (PC) - £4.54
Bionic Deus (PC) - £0.00
Paper Sorcerer (PC) - £3.99

The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief (PC) - £6.24

Sang-Froid - Tales of Werewolves (PC) - £2.99

 
TOTAL - £35.21




#284504 Octodad... wtf?!

Posted by davejm on 18 January 2014 - 11:38 PM

That music is incredible.  I've watched this trailer about 10 times today! :D  wtf is wrong with me?




#284434 Birthday Thread

Posted by davejm on 07 January 2014 - 05:41 PM

Happy Birthday Boogs!!




#284417 Game of the Year 2013

Posted by davejm on 06 January 2014 - 10:10 AM

I assumed that due to there being no thread already, that we weren't going to bother doing a vote.  I guess the forum isn't busy enough to do that.
 
So here are my favourite games released in 2013...
 
1.  The Last of Us
 
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I'm marking this down as the best game I've ever played.  I don't think any game has ever sucked me in so much.  It starts very quickly, but then settles down to the point where you're essentially moving through the environments at a pretty slow pace, and you're just trying to survive against infected or humans looking to take you out.  The pacing is perfect, with moments of intensity as you're faced with a new area or set-piece but then you have downtime moments where you can reflect - and where there are often nice character building segments between the characters.  The combat is scrappy (intentionally so), but it's perfect in that sense because it adds to the intensity.  You never feel like an uber-god, and often find yourself in a fight for your life when your stealth goes to shit and you're spotted.  The combat as a whole weaves so neatly into the narrative, it's perfect.  It felt like an epic journey (helped my it's length), and felt so attached to the characters and their plight that I was sad to finish the game.
 
2.  Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
 
02.png
 
What a nice game this is.  It's a short (3 to 4 hour) journey where you're controlling two characters (two brothers) one with each analogue stick.  You control their movement with each stick, and then activate things in the environment with the bumpers.  It's a puzzle game, in that the older brother is good at some tasks and younger one is good at others - so you have to control them both independantly but at the same time.  I've never had to control a game like this before, and it was so refreshing.  It was wonderful to solve the (albeit simple) puzzles, but it was more about the joy of coordinating your movements and progressing rather than brain taxing puzzles to solve.  The characters don't speak English (they just utter something akin to sim-lish), so the story is told through the events as you see them on the screen and the reactions and facial expressions of the characters.  The story itself is emotionally touching, and does something hard hitting late on that is only possible with this medium.  If it wasn't for The Last of Us, this would be my game of the year without doubt - and by a long way.  These two games sit pretty far ahead of the other games in my list.  I urge anyone that hasn't played this to pick it up asap.  It's £3 on PSN for heavens sake, and has been really cheap on Steam and Xbox Live too.
 
3.  Bioshock Infinite
 
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This seems to be getting a caning at the moment.  I've seen it in many 'worse games of the year' lists, but I've also seen it in a lot of 'best games' lists too - and it finds its way onto mine.  I've never been a big fan of shooters, but I find the Bioshock systems fun to play as the vigours mix things up and give you different ways of mixing up combat.  I can understand the criticism it gets - the combat is simple (no cover mechanics), crappy AI etc - but it's fun.  Considering I find the combat fun, a game then needs to give me an environment that keeps me interested.  This totally did that.  It also needs to offer up a story that is engaging, and I was totally enthralled with this.  Was listening to Chet and Jon's podcast the other night and they mentioned it felt like a dream, and I totally agree.  It felt like I was somewhere else, and I loved being in this fantasical world.  I'll be honest, the story itself was a brain-melting and confusing experience, but I was captivated.
 
4.  Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
 
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Bit of a surprise this one.  I'd never played the AC games at the time of release, and had only dabbled with them in the months prior to this coming out.  But I'd played enough and quite liked how they controlled, to the point this appeared on my radar - in part, due to the pirate setting.  I haven't been disappointed.  There are problems with the controls, but the naval combat is brilliant.  I'm astonished at how good it is, and with fantastic graphics it's so satisfying sailing on the high seas with your crew mates singing shanties.  It's excellent.  There are more problems with it, in that everythings 'identikit' with no world detail.  It's a massive map, but once you've seen a few small islands with a chest on you've seen them all.  It'd be nice if it had anything near GTA level of detail - but even some NPCs to talk to, or random world events would have been nice.  The good thing, is that even though there's not much detail, I haven't felt bored because there are lots of gameplay systems and as long as you mix things up it stays very fun to play.
 
5.  Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
 
05.png
 
So very lovely.  Lovely graphics, lovely music etc.  A nice (albeit simple) combat system, and this was just so charming to play through.  I'll be honest, I got bored with it all towards the end because it doesn't really have any depth - but I was enjoying the setting so much that I ploughed on and I'm glad I did.  It's very much a 'by the book' JRPG yet with none of the depth of the best ones out there, but I had a really nice 'fuzzy' feeling when playing this and it genuinely cheered me up getting stuck into this in evenings after work.  Very nice.
 
6.  Shadowrun Returns  
 
06.png
 
This came out of no-where for me.  I haven't got any knowledge of the Shadowrun games or its universe, but I liked the look of it (the art, the graphics etc) and once I watched a few videos I was sure I'd enjoy it.  And I really did.  I loved the turn based combat, because every combat encounter was so well designed (rather than the game just throwing mobs at you) and I really felt in control of my squad and felt comfortable with how the tactics of combat worked.  The writing was great too, and it wove a really nice story.  Very linear, but very well written.  Looking forward to the follow up campaigns, and there are also some publically created campaigns now due to the game shipping with an excellent editor.
 
7.  Gone Home
 
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I first saw this as a preview in GamesTM and instantly knew it'd be for me.  I wasn't disappointed.  Some would say this isn't a game, and is more of an experience.  I can't be bothered with getting caught up in debate about that.  It's a first person narrative led experience where you arrive home after travelling to your parents new house (so it's new to you) yet no-one is home, and you're not sure why.  It looks like something has happened to the family, so you have to interact with items in the house to uncover the mystery.  There are visual clues, objects that tell you things, and audio (diary) logs left by your sister.  So everything just unfolds as you work through the house.  I won't say much else, because it'd just spoil things, but I loved it.
 
8.  The Swapper
 
08.png
 
Ooooo, this is gooood!!  It's a side scrolling game where you create clones of yourself in order to solve puzzles.  The clones are created by dropping them somewhere, and they move as you do from that point onwards - mimicking your movements exactly.  So you can use them to push objects, each places that you otherwise couldn't - and so on.  It's such a simple and genius idea, I'm surprised it hasn't been done before.  As well as it playing really well, more joy comes from the way all of that is framed - inside a lovely sci-fi story set on an abandoned space station.  So as you progress you uncover the story of the old inhabitants.  Lovely stuff.
 
9.  Tomb Raider
 
09.png
 
Another surprise for me.  Thinking back, I'm unsure why I even bought it - but I'm glad I did.  It's getting some stick for being an uncharted clone, which is fair enough.  If you leave your brain at the door and want a spectacle to sit through, you can't go wrong here.  The way the action sequences play out is over the top (planes exploding around you, bridges failing etc) but it looks so good - and I admit to being a graphics whore at times.  The combat is fun, and although the exploration/platforming is more simple than older games in the series - I really enjoyed it.  It's well polished and put together nicely.  I also really enjoyed the female lead - with great voice acting and modelling (facial expressions, movement etc).  I haven't finished it yet (I shelved it as my old PC was too naff for it) but now I have a new rig, I'm going to go back to this when I've finished Black Flag.
 
10. Football Manager 2014 and FIFA 14
 
10.png
 
I didn't think either of these would show on the list, but I've been playing lots of both.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  The first being that my Son is a total football fanatic now - so plays lots of both too.  I've been playing co-op FIFA which is great fun, and the Ultimate Team mode is very addictive.  So we've been playing lots of the different modes and I found it to control really well.  I'm able to play in different styles, and adapt tactics on the fly and everything seems realistic and responsive.  So much fun.  Football Manager is a wierd one.  I played these games LOTS when I was in my teens, but I've never had the time as an adult.  I've also dabbled with FM-2013 but never go on with it.  But I fired up FM-2014 and started a game with Spurs, and it's been good.  I crafted a tactic that suited my squad, I adapted my training to suit - and it's felt like the game has picked up the way I wanted to play and that was reflected in the performances on the pitch.  I'm 3 points ahead of Chelsea in the Prem at the moment with 8 games to go.  So yeah, enjoying both of these games.



#283924 Steam Profiles

Posted by davejm on 27 November 2013 - 05:46 PM

dmoscrop




#283873 XBOX ONE - Launch...Hype (?) Thread! (!?)

Posted by davejm on 26 November 2013 - 04:17 PM

Great vid Hank, you should do more.




#283745 Birthday Thread

Posted by davejm on 23 November 2013 - 10:04 AM

Happy Birthday matey!




#283713 Skins

Posted by davejm on 22 November 2013 - 11:53 AM

Yeah, you need to edit the post but then switch to 'Full Editor' and then you can add the tags.




#283706 Skins

Posted by davejm on 22 November 2013 - 11:24 AM

Just messing with the 'Neat' skin, and have removed the social media icons.  But that led me to thinking, that perhaps we could use the space and have other type of icons on there.  So, my idea was to have tag logos for each console that link to a search for topics containing the relevant tag.  I've done so for Xbox One and PS4.  Let me know if this is something that you want to keep, and I will do the same for the other platforms.  It's not exactly a brilliant feature, but makes the forum a bit more colourful.




#283665 2DS/3DS Friend Codes

Posted by davejm on 21 November 2013 - 11:35 AM

Try that now guys.  The Field can be edited by the member? field was set to No.