What were the last video games you played?

[Mega-Tallica]

Very late, but I still feel the need to say that Heavy Rain is a splendid game, glad I picked it up to enjoy over my last week freedom from professors and exams.

[Gowienczyk]

Very late, but I still feel the need to say that Heavy Rain is a splendid game, glad I picked it up to enjoy over my last week freedom from professors and exams.

Heavy Rain is more engaging then it has any right being.

[Lowlander2]

DmC: Devil May Cry

If you can accept that the combat has definitely slowed down and is a little less fluid, you'll have a good time. Mixing combos between different weapons is still as fun as ever. The middle of the game ramps up considerably in terms of difficulty and flair, and the game starts to get really good. It gets hard enough that I can almost forgive the stupid flashing enemies/weapons to telegraph attacks.

The story had its ups and downs. Dante himself is fine as a character; he has enough of the old stylings while having a bit more heart this time around, and without any "I should have been the one to fill your dark soul with LLLAAAAAIIIIIGGGGHHTTTTT!!!" to mess up the heartfelt moments. The most tense mission of the game is one where you don't even fight for half of it. Brilliant.

However, the backstory is explained way too quickly, the internal logic regarding Limbo is a bit inconsistent and the final plot twist is both out of nowhere and stupidly telegraphed. There's also a part where Dante somehow messes up where he's meant to be going, which is one of the most laughable moments in writing ever. That it can go from great emotions to silly contrivances pretty quickly is a sign of how the development changed over time, I imagine.

It was fairly short, but at least it didn't repeat any bosses this time around. In fact, there needed to be more. The last two, which should have been climactic, were pretty underwhelming.

Still, overall, I liked it. The essence of the combat is still there, the visual flair is astounding and circumvents a lot of the old UE3 traps and the writing, while inconsistent as hell, works when it gets it right. I'd put it above the demeaning DMC2 and the obtuse DMC 4, but it's still a ways behind 1, 3 or Bayonetta, and it'll be interesting to see how it stacks up to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance in a month.


Devil May Cry 2

Clunky controls, clingy camera, insulting difficulty and very short. Not just bad for a DMC, bad full stop.

[BohemianMatt]

So, I got three of my friends hooked on Skyrim. Two of them bought it, but on PS3, so I keep mentioning things that are in the various DLCs, and then remembering that PS3 still doesn't have them. My other bud is always asking me to play his file on my Xbox.

[afterstasis]

I'm normally not big on shoot 'em ups, especially "bullet hell" games, but Sine Mora is hitting the right buttons so far.

We're probably gonna start the new Borderlands 2 DLC tonight. Based on what I've heard and seen, I'm expecting more disappointment and validation that 99.9% of the non-HMX DLC being sold simply isn't worth my time and money.

[Witticus]

I've been playing The Ratchet and Clank collection... Well its more of a joint operation between me and some friends. We just kind of let the kids play together while we play Ratchet and Clank and relive our lost childhoods. This also reminded us we never used to be cool.

[Insane3]

Heavy Rain is more engaging then it has any right being.

I don't really agree, I think it has a superficial narrative and above all, poor gameplay. I'm not saying I hate it, but it's not a game I appreciate so much for those reasons.

The narrative is an unmemorable story of the investigation for an unmemorable character. It has no ambiguity, no depth and no originality. I'm repeating what many critics have said, but if this was a movie, it would have gone completely under the radar.

It's not a movie, however, it's a game, and therefore I shouldn't judge it the same way. However, the gameplay is so shallow and meaningless that it's hard to look at it as a game. The actions required from you are complex, as if the game simulated those actions, but they are only vaguely reminiscent of the actual actions. The gameplay itself tells nothing of the narrative except that it was meant as an interactive movie. Where the gameplay succeeds is when the scenario branches off when you make a mistake or when you do not succeed an action. However, giving the player a simple choice between a course of action or another and actually restricting the player to those choices with gameplay is limiting and makes the player aware of the underlying script; everytime you're given a choice, you realize that this story is not really yours, it's just one of the branches of a complex scenario. Of course that wouldn't be necessarily bad.

Cinema, theater, litterature and probably other mediums all have tools to make you realize that the medium is manipulating you into believing something and feeling a certain way. I know in cinema and theater they're called Brechtian devices. Those are very important and meaningful tools, but they rely on the asumption that the audience is completely absorbed in the narrative and therefore is not critical enough of it. A video game like Heavy Rain is not quite there yet, and I'd argue that the medium on a whole still has a lot of work to do before it reaches a point where Brechtian devices will be necessary.

[www1221]

So, I got three of my friends hooked on Skyrim. Two of them bought it, but on PS3, so I keep mentioning things that are in the various DLCs, and then remembering that PS3 still doesn't have them. My other bud is always asking me to play his file on my Xbox.

I really hope your ps3 bros don't also have a 360 or PC that can play Skyrim because if they do they made a horrible decision.

[Lowlander2]

Devil May Cry 4

There's a great game in here, but it's buried underneath some of the worst level design choices seen ever. Essentially having to play the same game twice, and fight half of the bosses THREE TIMES, should never have been allowed. Ridiculous even by DMC standards.

Dante's Inferno

For a game set in Hell, it feels more like Purgatory. There simply isn't enough variety between each Circle, or enough enemies, to make it feel like anything but a chore. The magic system, relic system and puzzles are all great, but the meat of the game falls victim to extreme repetition. And your Nick Chester apparently really liked it.

Bayonetta

WOOOOOOOOW. It took a little while for it to find its groove, but when it did, oh man. Definitely replaying this after Revengeance, and you can bet I'll be there for the sequel.

[SheSaidSheSaid]

Oh my effing god, Karen...I'm playing the original Mass Effect on my fourth playthrough (need that many to plat it) and this time when I got to the smuggling mission I agreed to carry the package but haven't yet gone back to do so. I then talked to the krogan customer, but not about the package.

What he said to me nearly made me piss myself in laughter. I dare not spoil it!