What are you playing?

[Loerwyn]

Stated playing Crysis 2 last night - very cool! The graphics are fantastic, and I love how you can cloak and/or strengthen your armour with the press of button.

Sounds just like Crysis 1, then

I've been playing The Sims Medieval: Collector's Edition (Thanks to Nickee for the swaying argument!) and so far I've quite enjoyed what I've played. It's not perfect, and could perhaps benefit from another coat of polish and tweaking (I've found the camera controls a bit tempermental, for example), but I do like it at this point in the game.

Oh, and my monarch is already married

Also got Portal 2 today, but I likely won't be playing it until I get my new card on Saturday, simply because I'm not confident in my current card's ability to run it.

[Loerwyn]

Also got Portal 2 today, but I likely won't be playing it until I get my new card on Saturday, simply because I'm not confident in my current card's ability to run it.

Actually, scrap this. I tried it out today (It ran beautifully. The Source engine is absolutely amazing) to the point of completing the single player campaign. Absolutely, without a doubt, the single best Valve title to date.

That said, I did have problems with it. The puzzles were not as inventive, nor as fun, as they were in Portal. It seemed to me that even to the end it was based on repeating the same few 'pieces' as necessary. Whilst some of the puzzles really did require a good bit of thinking at times, it mostly felt rather 'obvious' to me. Some of the minor puzzles could have been tweaked, too - I died maybe 6-7 times on the same section because I literally missed the jump by about half a foot, and it seemed to me that shortening the gap a little would have made it all the better. Still a bit of a challenge, but not frustrating, if that makes sense.

It is great, though. Completely went above and beyond what I was expecting

[Westsiyeed]

Playing Halo2 with a group of 8 people at a mate's place tomorrow - all 8 of us hooked up in a LAN. Will be good fun!

[Loerwyn]

For now, I appear to be back to Anno 1404, and I've spent a few hours on it this weekend. I'm slowly starting to get the hang of it, but I need to be much more efficient when building as my towns are all over the place. Had to rebuild a section of my nomad town to make way for a mosque so they could progress to the next 'level' :| Despite the immediate depth and complexity, I'm really enjoying it and it's getting my brain in gear, but I have a long way to go before I've even halfway mastered it.

I've not really touched The Sims Medieval this weekend. I like it, don't get me wrong, but I find it a little draining to play and it does feel a tad repetitive, which is worrying this early in the game. I made myself (Kinda) as a blacksmith, though, and named her after the protagonist of Black Blade Blues.

And, to top it off, I bought Patrician IV today. A bit like Anno 1404, I believe, but less fictional, more in-depth and possibly a bit harder. Anno 1404 has given me an itch that needs scratching, though.

[Violent Emesis]

For now, I appear to be back to Anno 1404, and I've spent a few hours on it this weekend. I'm slowly starting to get the hang of it, but I need to be much more efficient when building as my towns are all over the place. Had to rebuild a section of my nomad town to make way for a mosque so they could progress to the next 'level' :| Despite the immediate depth and complexity, I'm really enjoying it and it's getting my brain in gear, but I have a long way to go before I've even halfway mastered it.

I've not really touched The Sims Medieval this weekend. I like it, don't get me wrong, but I find it a little draining to play and it does feel a tad repetitive, which is worrying this early in the game. I made myself (Kinda) as a blacksmith, though, and named her after the protagonist of Black Blade Blues.

And, to top it off, I bought Patrician IV today. A bit like Anno 1404, I believe, but less fictional, more in-depth and possibly a bit harder. Anno 1404 has given me an itch that needs scratching, though.

Patrician 4 messed my computer up BAD! It crashed my computer just an hour into playing. Then everything went German language on me. Thank whatever for system restore. And a handy german/English dictionary!

[Loerwyn]

*Shrugs* Games screw up sometimes. I would have just uninstalled and reinstalled it rather than going to such an extreme, though. I had problems getting The Witcher to stick to Polish, but I changed 'edition' (I had the Steam version, so I bought the retail one) and it worked fine. No more language changing for me!

Anno 1404 does sometimes go German on me, but that's because (I reckon) something went a little wrong on their part. Luckily it only happened for a secondary 'task' rather than anything major.

[Loerwyn]

Talking of Germany, I've recently acquired a new German release, named The First Templar.

I'm having a few stuttering problems with it due to my PC, but so far it's not unpleasant. Actually, for a German game released by Kalypso, it seems pretty good quality. It's not excessively buggy, it's not crashing frequently and it's performing at a just-acceptable standard (When I get my upgrades, however, it should run much smoother). The combat is reminiscent of Batman: Arkham Asylum, the RPG system is quite basic but gameplay is a bit like Lego Star Wars crossed with Batman. It sounds a bit odd, of course, but it works really well so far. I'm also, rather unusually, playing it with my 360 controller, but as it's a Games for Windows release the switch between keyboard/mouse and gamepad is absolutely seamless and I'd even argue that a game like this is likely better on a controller. I was very impressed when one character warned the other not to draw weaponry in an abbey, because the game doesn't let you do so when you're there. Sometimes games tell you not to, yet never temporarily remove that functionality. Excellent minor detailing by Haemimont there.

The only problems I've had so far, really, are that you don't get enough time to counter attack dogs (You either stab them or they end up on top of you before you can counter them) and that the control prompts often come up with relation to the keyboard and not the controller, which can be a little confusing.

[Solaar]

While the PSN was down I went back to the brilliant Just Cause (the game GTA should have been and hammered it. It's like grinding in WOW or GW but fun.

Managed to pick up Brink, Lego Pirates, Little Big 2, Crysis 2 and GTA Episodes. They're all still on the shelf, in their wrappers unopen cos I can't stop playing Tiger Bloody Woods.

Solaar
fore

[Chuffalump]

Killzone 3.

Really liked Killzone 2 so getting this was a no brainer. Unfortunately I'm rocketing through it much quicker than I'd like. Part way through chapter 7 of 9 after only three sittings. Great fun but I only wish it was twice as long.

[Loerwyn]

I finally finished Bulletstorm today thanks to a trip to get some new components. What little I had left to do wasn't that spectacular, if I'm honest. They introduced a new enemy type for literally about 10-20 minutes of gameplay. Bit of a waste, in my opinion. Overall it was a good game, albeit one with a number of flaws, but I don't think it could ever live up to the hype generated for it.

Not sure what I'll be playing next. Depends what I feel like trying with my new upgrades.

[Chekhov]

Bayonetta. Awesome game. Campy fun.

I saw Portal 2 and it looked great.

[Loerwyn]

I saw Portal 2 and it looked great.

It is. It's also a bit of a paradox for me, as it's Valve's best game but it's not as good as Portal (Also by Valve).

[Solaar]

I am currently playing LA Noire, and if you aren't, you really should be.

I've also got Brink, Battlefield 2, Lego Pirates, Crysis 2, GTA Episodes and Dirt 3 which are all unopened because I can't stop Noire or Tiger Woods 12 at the moment!

Solaar
stacked up

[Loerwyn]

I am currently playing LA Noire, and if you aren't, you really should be.

Kinda hard when you don't have a console

[PeterWilliam]

The talk about an ASoIaF video game for consoles has me considering the XBox360. It will, coincidentally, provide me with the perfect excuse/circumstances to go out and purchase Batman: Arkham Asylum. Shhh, not too loud now - Mrs. PW has some sick hearing.