[Androgeos Exeunt]

Still playing Rally Championships, but this time, I'm finally starting to actually progress quite deep into the game, which is a first. Instead of wiping out after 2 or 3 races, I'm still going after 5 races, and because I decided to scrimp on fuel and repairs, I even managed to get enough prize money to purchase the most powerful rally car in the game (Porsche RS) and hire the best navigator. Everything from here on out depends on my driving, because I don't think there are any videos online showcasing the races after Snow Stage 4 (which is the race I just finished). It helps tremendously that I'm running the game on DOSBox SVN Daum, which has a save state feature.

...This is a game I've owned for 17 years, and I'm finally making good progress into it at long last.

[Colonol Dekker]

Elite dangerous.


I've got my mk 3 cobra.  And I like it.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I just completed Single Rally on Easy in Rally Championships. The mountain stage still trips me up here and there.

[Mammothtank]

SWAT 4. All my Problems have been shown to be fixable with sufficient flash bangs and gass.

[Det. Bullock]

I've finished Tomb Raider Underworld (PC)
I liked it but it has a lot of issues that take it down a peg.
First is the camera: it often gives a sense of nausea and in many cases is restricted enough to be an obstacle which often leads to an inordinate amount of "faith jumps".
Then the collectable system has been changed for the worse since Anniversary, while in it almost every collectable had its own minipuzzle attached here the collectables are either really easy to find or hidden so out of the way that searching for them is a chore and it's basically impossible to collect them all on the first run. The collectable themselves aren't even particularly useful since they only unlock a few extras which I personally don't find particularly interesting apart from the "orbs" which expand Lara's lifebar and those are the only ones that always have an optional puzzle to obtain them.
The controls and animations are often an obstacle, the bright idea of using the same button for melee attack and picking up object often leads to you keeping doing a Chuck Norris impression while instead you want to pick up the bloody relic/medpack. The new wall jump often interferes with the other moves, which is annoying in the first levels and rage-inducing in the last ones since the number of mortal falls is increased.
The level design is less open than in Anniversary, which leads to not being able to get back to search for collectables you missed (which is a pet peeve of mine, I like to collect everything on the first run), and even when it's technically possible sometimes getting back can be extremely hard, once even glitchy.
Speaking of which, after the buttery smooth and bug free Anniversary we get dodgy framerates (resolved by assigning core affinity with the task manager fortunately) and a few instances of getting stuck in the level geometry that can only be resolved by exiting the game and reloading.

That said, the game has also its strong points like a deliciously fantarcheologic plot that fortunately doesn't end on a cliffhanger, apart from the first level in which Lara Croft dives at -40 meters with a legless wetsuit that it's barely good for looking for edible shellfish (even in the middle of the mediterrenean in summer after the first three or four meters the water can get really cold) at the start of each level you are given an array of various clothing options of variable sensibility without needing to seemingly unlock anything.
Also the weapon you get in the last couple of levels is badass.

[BlueFlames]

I was going to jump back into MWO, but then I started another playthrough of FEAR, because sometimes it's nice to play a game that doesn't nag you to make microtransactions or buy DLC right on the ****ing main menu.  You remember the era when games were a product, instead of a "service" or "content distribution platform," right?

[deathspeed]

I finally finished ST:R, and am deciding what mod to play next.  I'm thinking maybe The Aftermath reboot.

[0rph3u5]

Since my PC is still out-of-order, I am making good use of the PS4 I recieved for Chrismas (well, it is second hand because my brother bought the new one)

Gravity Rush 2
The controls and camera take some getting used to but it is interesting fun. (Esspecially in time-senetive missions and challanges I struggle with the controls, however sometimes I am just my worst enemy there)

Destiny
*cough* *cough*

and I finished* a run** through Bloodborne which is very, very good - atmospheric, good design, nice art and the gameplay is very well done.
(*with the exception of two DLC bosses; ** "Childhood's Beginning"-ending)

Now waiting for Tales of Berseria to arrive...

[Androgeos Exeunt]

OpenRCT2. The latest releases are able to run without RCT2 installed, so I now have a fully functioning installation of OpenRCT2 without RCT2 itself installed.

Of late, I've been inspired by this Reddit post to mimic the same playstyle on the same scenario.

[Colonol Dekker]

OpenRCT2. The latest releases are able to run without RCT2 installed, so I now have a fully functioning installation of OpenRCT2 without RCT2 itself installed.

Of late, I've been inspired by this Reddit post to mimic the same playstyle on the same scenario.

Return to Castle Tolfenstein?

[Bryan See]

I've just played Warzone 2100 because of these events surrounding the rise of nationalism, particularly Donald Trump's win and inauguration, accompanied by distrustful comments about nuclear weapons and climate change, which make me think of the end of the world and, possibly, the future of Russia as predicted by Baba Vanga 38 years ago. The WZ2100 campaigns are structured just like the Star Wars saga, with the Campaigns 7 to 9 are "Regeneration", which are currently in discussion or development. I came up with an idea behind that, is probably the war with Russia as a world-dominating pre-Collapse nation headed by an authoritarian, traditionalist conservative leader who's a head of a mafia/syndicate.

I'll leave that idea to the WZ2100 forums later on.

[Scotty]

Hey, cool, I'm still a mod on this board!  Bryan, please take a several-days hike, and think longer about bringing your particular brand of insane bull**** into this particular sub-board.

EDIT: ****, I can't warn him, I can just split and lock topics.  Sad face.

[Novachen]

Since a few weeks i am playing Star Cruiser, a 1988(!) space-combat and first-person shooter, even with strafing, mix.

Actually i like it very much, except for the very basic graphics and bad performance in battles.
I am half-way through it now and i am in the Sirius system currently where i have to find and to hunt down 10 pirate ships in the system to get the loot back they have stolen to get an access beacon for a planet i have to visit to meet my friends there.

[0rph3u5]

Finished Gravity Rush 2
It's cool, fun-in-a-way and certainly a love letter to the fans of original, but unless you are really into experimental gameplay I would not recommend it. That's a shame, since what is holding it back are issues with camera (due to the gravity shifting powers you often change your frame of reference - i.e. where up and down are - and you have to reset the camera manually or wait some seconds for it adjust, which breaks the flow) and the controls.

However it also one for the "a cheesy ending can still make for a bittersweet epilogue" (which makes the prospect of an additional story DLC in March very inticing, even if the protagonist changes)

Spoiler:

First off the game was already marketed as filling the gaps in Kat's story from the first game and ending it. And it does in a fashion, though a small bit that seems important is shortened by the presentation of the ending, leaving the door open for aforementioned teasing as part of the epilogue.


Now come the major spoilers for the epilogue - you are warned.



0.) For the last, final-boss-defeating move Kat powers up using also the powers from her partner Raven and the townspeople Hekseville. On what represents her final journey with no return afterwards, she is shown to be accompanied by Raven's familiar.
However said familiar then return to Raven without an explaination.

1.) For the epilogue you play as Raven who has taken over Kat's role as protector of their hometown. As you check with all the secondary and tertiary characters you are treated to some who still believe Kat might return, including one who you would think knows better. More haunting however is how Kat leaving seems to have affected Raven - esspecially since as a duo they were better characters than alone.

2.) At the end of the epilogue Raven is chasing the sound of cat (Kat's familiar Dusty is a cat) to a dock. In the last sequence you are shown Raven staring off into the distance until the sound of a cat prompts her to turn around. In the last shoot you see her eyes widen and she clearly speaks Kat's name. However it is not shown what is behind the camera and prompts this reaction - it might just be an empty tease.

3.) Along the credits you are presented all the photos you made for missions and online play, mixed with a few which seem to be there by default. These include one last image, which appears to show the shadows of what could be Kat and Dusty standing at a pier.

(During the next PSN sale, I am probabily going to spring the money for the original game's remaster now...)

[Black_Yoshi1230]

The ROM Hack Metroid: Rogue Dawn. It's actually pretty damn good as far as NES Metroid hacks go.

[Wet Orange Ostrich Toilet]

After reading both HLP-X-COM Topics, I felt a great desire to dig out my copy of Xenonauts from the depths of my old laptop.
I love Xenonauts so much but it's so ridiculously hard at times and your soldiers die like flies sometimes.
But I like how you can snatch a dead alien's rifle after killing him.

[Nyctaeus]

Heroes of the Storm

From about a year. I got pretty decent collection of characters. For a lot of time I played mostly ranged DPS and mages like Kael'thas, and recently got switched to mostly close-range assasins like Graymane or Zeratul.
I hate one thing in this game - Nova. Not because I can't avoid her attacks etc. Retarded Nova players are my constant source of kills. I hate the fact that people play her so much, so there are one or two novas in each game. It makes lot of other characters which are w/o any chance like Valla completly useless.

If someone from EU server want to team up for few matches, find me up. I'm Nyctaeus#2848.

[FlamingCobra]

My first Tyranny(-playthrough) has come to an end ... I kinda feel it played very little of the game despite 26 houres playtime. But I didn't stray much off the beaten path, even left one territory completely untouched (access was governed by a dialgoue choice that didn't mesh with the tone of my "loyalist until act 3"-playthrough) - so going back and looking at the path not travelled might be a thing in the next years

Verdict: solid B+ cRPG

How good is the writing of Tyranny compared to Pillars and ye olde Baldur's Gate?

[Det. Bullock]

Since I had it bundled with the other WWII installments I've been playing Call of Duty World at War (PC)

It's almost like someone took the first two Call of Duty games (and expansion) and focus tested the **** out of them.

The american sergeant is a generic badass that doesn't wear a helmet because he's badass, the russian one has a Lenin-style goatee and talks bombastically of revenge against the fascists and praises you, the player, because you are an unstoppable killing machine and a badass.
They put actual hard rock music in a world war 2 shooter, because, you know, the orchestral music is lame bro and metal is badass.
Also the documentary-style cutscenes have been swapped with frantic animation justapoxed with the badass sergeant talking in the most badass way how dark everything is and how they'll continue fighting because it's badass.
Also there is a badass quick time event every time some asian enemy soldier tries to stab you, but of course they are so sudden that most of the times you will miss the prompts, no problem with the non-asian enemies since it seems they never used their bayonettes at all, perhaps stabbing them isn't badass enough?
Then there is some gratuitous gore that adds to the badassitude, because the understated violence of the first games in the series wasn't badass enough, especially without the hard rock electric guitar which makes everything more badass!

And to the inappropriate tone choices (*) I can say that the difficulty was weird, often you couldn't get up because you went too close to a wall that had something sticking out of it for a few centimetres, which usually happens when the bloody grenade danger indicator appears.
There were a few parts that were rage inducing, the reichstag was me reloading always the same checkpoints over and over again, especially the last one.
I sincerely wonder if there were so many nazis using panzerschrecks inside a building in real life.

* and the thing is that even games like the Wolfenstein series never gave me that impression even if they have Zombies and Jetpacks in it. Yes, they are absurd, but in a way that somehow fits something that could have been done at the time in a Captain America story, here there is just the idea of war of some teenager edgelord that listens to too many heavy metal albums and thinks ultra-violence is the coolest thing ever.

[LaineyBugsDaddy]

The ROM Hack Metroid: Rogue Dawn. It's actually pretty damn good as far as NES Metroid hacks go.

Might ought to link to the actual release thread for that one:
http://forum.metroidconstruction.com/index.php/topic,4221