The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread

[Yaxa]

Burned through the remainder of The Walking Dead. Great story, but ultimately I never got the feeling that my choices mattered much. Sure, they affected the way Lee is seen by the rest of the group. But as far as the story goes, I can't help but feel that even if I did the exact opposite, only details would change.

[Dramadon]

Burned through the remainder of The Walking Dead. Great story, but ultimately I never got the feeling that my choices mattered much. Sure, they affected the way Lee is seen by the rest of the group. But as far as the story goes, I can't help but feel that even if I did the exact opposite, only details would change.

That's the main criticism with that game. While it feels like a a choose-your-own-adventure, it's really not. Still, I immensely enjoyed the game and really thought they captured the feel of the series and comic very well. Every episode had situations where there was no "good" choice to make.

[Yttrium]

I don't play the fighting games to get good at them; same with FPS - I play for the main storyline. That means I get to enjoy them on the most reasonable difficulty setting, without worrying about honing 'l33t skillz and shit.

It's a fun way to see the gains and enjoy the play, without online vitriol

[Wool]

Burned through the remainder of The Walking Dead. Great story, but ultimately I never got the feeling that my choices mattered much. Sure, they affected the way Lee is seen by the rest of the group. But as far as the story goes, I can't help but feel that even if I did the exact opposite, only details would change.

Spoiler for spoiler:

None of the choices matter from the point of view we are conditioned to expect from games. Their only real purpose is to make you feel involved in the story. Big events are the same, small events change slightly in ways that personalize your story. I think the distinction does matter, but it will leave you disappointed if you expected Mass Effect or something.

[Yaxa]

Spoiler for what I expected:

I didn't expect the game to change in massive ways, or my choices to have a significant effect on the ending. But I didn't expect that none of my choices mattered at all.

There were opportunities for branching paths. You could have temporarily landed in a different location depending on choice. That's never an option, the game always forces you one way.

Saving people doesn't matter. None of them can make it to the end anyway. You can only choose in which order and in which way they die. So it's not even a matter of deciding whom you want it to make it through.

I guess I expected that at least some of the choices would have a permanent impact on the story.

[Yaxa]

I decided to cross another Telltale title off my backlog and play Jurassic Park: The Game.

Now, I used to be a huge fan of the movie, so I'm very probably biased. I even enjoyed the Sega CD adventure.

After playing through the first two episodes (i.e. half the game), I don't think the product as a whole is as bad as the reviews suggested. The main problem is that the "game" portion consists mostly of quicktime events, with all the (lack of) fun that entails, broken up by brief segments of very light adventure gaming that are not only lacking in challenge, but also often feel like they don't belong in a "serious" setting.

I'd call it a badly implemented interactive story rather than a terrible video game.

[Wool]

I'm terribly disappointed. Gamestop had Injustice as a flash sale for $10. I knew about it ahead of time, but their website couldn't take the load and crapped out. Jerked me around for thirty minutes before finally informing me that they actually had sold out 29 minutes ago before the price was even updated on the site to reflect the sale.

Pretty sure the entire thing was just a way to trick people into buying Collector's Editions that had been lying around.

[Mileron]

Doing a little STO to wind down at the end of the day. The Romulan missions are decent.
Also some Terraria (there'll be a new patch mid-summer for PC) a smidgen of Mech Warrior Online and some Minecraft.

And when I get more than 30 minutes to play, I'm on WoW.

This probably won't change for another two weeks

[Ninetoes]

Doing a little STO to wind down at the end of the day. The Romulan missions are decent.
Also some Terraria (there'll be a new patch mid-summer for PC) a smidgen of Mech Warrior Online and some Minecraft.

And when I get more than 30 minutes to play, I'm on WoW.

This probably won't change for another two weeks

Been playing ST:O myself. Throughly enjoyed the Romulan story (KDF side)

Sent from beyond time and space - because that's how I roll.

[Thwick]

I'm still playing DOTA2 off and on.

I picked up the Humblebundle 8 and have been playing through Thomas was Alone. It's so simple, yet quite enjoyable.

My friends and I picked up Killing Floor a while back when it was on sale because it's playable on mac and pc (one of my friends has a mac), and we were not really impressed. It was okay, but reminded me of a predecessor to the horde mode that takes place in Gears of War.

I also want to get to playing all of the Borderlands 2 DLC which i haven't had a chance to tear into yet, i've heard great things.

[Silke]

I just finished The Walking Dead myself.

Spoiler for My Thoughts:

I guess I was spoiled with Mass Effect where the choices do matter but in some ways it doesn't bother me that the choices don't really matter. I really don't feel the need to go back and play it again knowing that I really can't change the outcomes.

With that being said, I thought the story was excellent. I really liked how they tied that abandoned care at the end of episode 1 into the whole story. I chose not to steal the supplies since Clem thought it was a bad idea and I always wondered what the heck was going on with it.

For the most part I was fine with the ending. After I saw Lee get bit, I knew he wasn't going to make it out of Savannah. I really like how they put it all together. The ending was very emotional and I had Clem leave Lee behind. After everything she had just gone through I really couldn't ask her to shoot Lee in the head on top of everything else. I know the last scene is meant to be a bit vague but I choose to believe that the two figures in the distance were Omid and Christa and that Clem was going to go off with them. It makes sense in the context of the game I played and choices that I made.

Overall I was very happy with the game but I'm glad I didn't spend too much on it (I bought it a few months ago when it was on sale really cheap on Microsoft Live). It had an extremely satisfying and well thought out story. As a game, it wasn't all that much but I give it a pass. I don't really see it as a game so much as a medium to tell a story and it succeeds in that.

[Yaxa]

Spoiler for The Walking Dead:

The abandoned car thing actually pissed me off. I also chose not to loot it, but the hotel room guy still went off as if I did. The same is apparently true for all of the choices he refers to. Whether you take Clem on that trip or not, etc. No matter what choices you make. I get that he's supposed to be completely deranged at that point (he does carry his dead wife's head in a handbag, after all), but I think that scene is taking the whole "there's no right choice" thing a bit too far.

"Choice is an illusion."

Considering that the "game" part of the product is built almost entirely around choice, the fact that not a single one means anything is beyond frustrating.

I went into the story completely without spoilers and with the resolve not to look up where alternate paths would have taken me. It actually took me quite a while to realize how on-rails the whole thing really was. I'm not sure whether to credit the game's convincing smokescreen during the first half or to blame my predictable choices.

As for the final scene, I think it's meant to be as ambiguous as the rest of the game. I'd told Christa and Omid to go North, to find a boat, and to take care of Clem or find her a family (the topic came up twice). I'd told Clem to find Christa and Omid, and to stay on the move. I also thought the figures in the distance were Christa and Omid, but that "my" Clem didn't want to join up with them. Basically another example of the game not reflecting my choices. Although that one is undoubtedly up for interpretation.

Final thoughts on Jurassic Park: The Game...

After finishing the final episodes, I maintain my position that the reviews were overly harsh. I think part of it is that the original movie is old enough that the people who reviewed the game were kids when they first watched the movie, and thus have romanticized memories of it. The movie never had a great story, and it was extremely dumbed down compared to the book.

I'm not saying that Jurassic Park: The Game is a masterpiece. Far from it. But if The Walking Dead can be a "Game of the Year" based solely on narrative, even though it has little gameplay value, I don't think it's fair to summarily dismiss Jurassic Park as a failure.


Now, in keeping with my "episodic adventure backlog" theme, I played through the first two episodes of Doctor Who: The Adventure Games. I didn't really expect anything from it. Tie-in games are always iffy. And even though the BBC is behind this one, Doctor Who is no different.

On the plus side, the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond are both voiced by their respective actors from the TV series, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. Also (not always a given) there's nothing so far that outright contradicts series canon.

Episodes are short (maybe an hour, hour and a half play time for each of the first two), self-contained and require virtually no knowledge of the TV series. Though obviously there's little point in playing a tie-in game unless you're a fan.

Gameplay-wise there's nothing to write home about. You get to explore a handful of locations per episode, find and combine items, the stereotypical box-pushing, etc. In the first two episodes there was an awful lot of sneaking (avoiding enemies' scanner cones) and some supremely un-challenging mini-games. Exploration areas are more or less filled with items that reveal factoids about the series as well as collectible cards.

The question of whether or not these games are worth playing pretty much hinges on two things: Firstly, you need to be a fan of the series. While these games don't require intimate knowledge of the series, they do not serve as an introduction into the Whoniverse. Like most tie-ins, the context is part of the charm.

And secondly, while the games are free to download and play for people in the UK (the project was financed by the BBC and is covered by the UK's TV license), people in other regions have to shell out between $4 and $9 per installment. A price which I find hard to justify, even as a fan.

[Wool]

The ambiguity of the final scene makes more sense when you realize it isn't meant to be an ending, but a tease for another season.

[Silke]

The ambiguity of the final scene makes more sense when you realize it isn't meant to be an ending, but a tease for another season.

That actually does make sense. And if they do release another season I will, happily, buy it even with the flaws. In the end, it's a damn good story even if it's a weak game.

[Yaxa]

Rumor has it there's a DLC called 400 Days coming soon. Season 2 won't be out until next year.

[Wool]

Safe bet that the DLC will be a promotional link to hype up interest for the sequel.

If you guys like their style of games the next one up for release is based on a comic book and titled Wolf Among Us, or something.

[Yaxa]

I wish they'd make a fourth season of Sam & Max already.

[Yttrium]

I started Metro: Last Light. Talk about throwing you into the world without an explanation... Even after an hour, it was still tough to follow what was going on. I was reduced to "follow the guy in front of you, shoot anything that moves." Apparently, there's some sort of "Help others & nonviolent solution" options. Sneak up on a guy, have the choice to kill him or knock him out.

I might spend another 30-45 minutes on it. If it doesn't grab me, it's toast.

[Yaxa]

Maybe they assume you've played the first one? I've had Metro 2033 for a while and never got around to it. Maybe I'll give it a shot when I'm done with Doctor Who.

[Yaxa]

Finished Doctor Who, so I thought I'd post my thoughts on the remaining episodes.

Episode 3, TARDIS, is a joke. There's virtually no content to speak of. There are two areas of the TARDIS to explore, the control room and the Doctor's private drawing room, the latter of which is filled with Doctor Who trivia. Which you are later quizzed on in order to progress.

Episode 4, Shadows of the Vashta Nerada, is where I think the designers may have finally "got it". Environments in a PC game don't have to adhere to the production restrictions of a TV series. The whole thing takes place in an underwater city. Sneaking and mini-games are reduced to a minimum in favor of dialog, story and exploration.

Episode 5, The Gunpowder Plot, was supposed to be the beginning of a second series of games. I went into it wondering why they would let the game take on a historic setting like that rather than keeping it for the TV series. I was surprised. The story is exactly what you'd expect -- London 1605, Guy Fawkes and aliens -- and for the first time, the game actually manages to keep up with the show. I'm not saying it's up there with the best of episodes, but with a bit of editing, it certainly wouldn't have felt out of place on TV. The addition of "combat" (the ability to disable certain enemies rather than having to sneak around them) is an at times welcome addition, as is the ability to combine items in your inventory. Along with improved dialog (both in writing and delivery), the end result, while still not a particularly good game, is nevertheless one that's worth being played by fans of Doctor Who.