[Fiend]

Since this has been raised from the dead.

I've been enjoying Timeshift recently. It is, without any possible deviation or originality, Half-Life 2 with bullet time, simple as that. Generic, on-rails, scripted bollox, in theory - BUT it IS actually a rather fun game. Enemy are fun to fight against, challenges are good but balanced, weapons all feel meaty and powerful. Graphics and animations are good, and it runs very smoothly on my 4 year old PC. Where it really shines is combining the "time-slowing" gimmick with the good graphics - watching slo-mo death animations and explosions is always satisfying. For some standard shooter fun, I'm rating it.

[Falling Down]

Thread back from The Dead.

Call of Duty 4 on the X-Box 360 - pretty amazing stuff.  There's a sniper stage set 15 years ago in Chernobyl that's just jaw dropping.

[fatdoc]

good resurrect...

assasins creed: gone off it, v pretty.... simple, dull gameplay

GRAW2: short near perfect single player ( good shooting / tactical balance, managing your team easy and only really necessary on the later levels on harder settings), i'll tell you about the co-op once my f8cking network is working again.

fall of man: short furious FPS, really liked the story. online real hard to get into - the standard is soo high!!

 i know this is a bit of an odd one; Wii brain academy!!! good group game, esp for the family, Wii sports is better for after the pub though...

slowly getting into Uncharted... not what i thought it would be, it's no tombraider... but it is a fine game indeed.

[fatboySlimfast]

Call of Duty 4 on the X-Box 360 - pretty amazing stuff.  There's a sniper stage set 15 years ago in Chernobyl that's just jaw dropping.

agreed, very good indeed
The online death matches are fuking insane, very claustrophobic and intense

[Duz]

don't get me started on duke nukem 

Ahem....."I'm gonna rip off your head and shit down your neck"

Duke Nukem delivers on his promises.

[Bubba]

A lot of people say there's too much autoaim on COD4 to make the online game skillful, but i'll reserve judgement until I play it.

Luckily with Halo 3 they significantly toned down the autoaim from Halo 2 so the actual shooting game has got more skillful, especially if you play MLG style settings. A few things need to be patched, but that's coming soon apparantly. Halo 3 is still the daddy of online shooters as far as i'm concerned. You can enjoy it as a noob or you can compete with some nasty good people as you get better. I got teamed up against a pro player the other day. He killed me. A lot. The other nice things around H3 are the way you can edit all multiplayer maps and share your own versions amongst friends or post to the web for anyone to download. You can also replay and edit films of any game you've played changing camera angles/player view/etc/etc and again share these online. Fantastic.

But recently i have been playing the rather marvellous Bioshock. It's rare for me to bother with a game that has no multiplayer these days but this game is a really worthy exception. It's an FPS, but is far more imaginitive than your typical run and gun shooter like COD/Halo. The weaponary itself is very imaginitive but the main thing is the drop dead gorgeous art deco style graphics and the immersive gameplay. A true landmark in console gaming.

Check out the number of 100% review scores here

[Bungle.]

But recently i have been playing the rather marvellous Bioshock. It's rare for me to bother with a game that has no multiplayer these days but this game is a really worthy exception. It's an FPS, but is far more imaginitive than your typical run and gun shooter like COD/Halo. The weaponary itself is very imaginitive but the main thing is the drop dead gorgeous art deco style graphics and the immersive gameplay. A true landmark in console gaming.

Check out the number of 100% review scores here

I agree BioShock is Excellent and although it is a big call is probably the best single person shooter i have played.

You can see the look and feel and check out some footage on the site below
http://www.2kgames.com/bioshock/


I am also currently still enjoying lego starwars on Xbox 360 however that may just demonstrate that i havent moved on as im sure these were my main interests in the late 70's as well .......

[Carnage]

I too have been very engrossed in Lego Star Wars on the Wii, particularly in co-op mode with the missus.

Courtesy of virual console, I'm also on a retro ride and am reaquianting myself with the controller smashing frustration of Gradius 3 and R-Type. Man those old shoot 'em were tough. The neighbours must think I've got tourettes! 

Bioshock looks to have got stiffed by Mario Galaxy in the Game of the Year stakes tho - Whilst I love Mario (and haven't played Galaxy) surely it can't be *that* good?

[squeek]

Bioshock looks to have got stiffed by Mario Galaxy in the Game of the Year stakes tho - Whilst I love Mario (and haven't played Galaxy) surely it can't be *that* good?

It's the best game on the Wii by miles and one of the best games I've played in a long time.  Some of the galaxies contain a lot more ideas than whole games.  The second player idea is good too because it makes it easy for a player of lesser ability to have a go (ie my girlfriend) with you helping them.  I'm currently on my second play through.

I've not played bioshock, which looks very good, but I doubt I'd think it was better than Galaxy.

I'm currently playing a bit of Guitar Hero III too, which is surprisingly fun online, I've not played any of the prequels.

[Fiend]

Downloaded the Bioshock PC demo a while back. Only played a bit but it was pretty cool. I was struggling a bit getting the right gfx/performance balance though. I think I could get properly into it though (just been gaming other stuff). I was hoping it would be like Deus Ex in an art deco sub-aqua world, not sure how accurate that is.

Also downloaded the COD4 demo last night. Only played a couple of minutes (in some frantic middle east map) and it is also pretty cool but highly confusing. There's a lot of shooting going on, I have no idea who (in the distance) is on my side or not, nor where to go given there's smoke and shit everywhere. Which, I suppose, is a fair representation of war and shizzle!! Also seems to be millions of movement options I can't be arsed with. Again I think will reward a dedicated play. Not a fan of realistic stuff really, but maybe this one...

Downloaded Crysis demo, haven't played it apart from the intro. Faces look amazing. Don't know whether it's worth playing much given I don't have the hardware to really do it justice.

In the meantime.... part way through Dark Messiah of Might and Magic which is a nicely done fantasy FPS (a rarity in itself). Think that's the one for now...

[Fiend]

Call of Duty 4 on the X-Box 360 - pretty amazing stuff.  There's a sniper stage set 15 years ago in Chernobyl that's just jaw dropping.

Finished the demo level (on the PC of course). This is the one where you have to rescue a tank "Warpig" in the Middle East. Woah. Pretty damn cool. Got the hang of it a bit more this time. Very impressive atmosphere, the smoke and explosion effects in particular.  Reassuringly with most settings on, it still ran well on my aging machine. Seriously tempted.

[Bubba]

For the price of a good graphics card you can buy a console and forget performance woes forever

[Falling Down]

I agree - there's also something not fun about PC's... I don't think I could stand having to boot up Windows as it would feel too much like work.

[Drew]

Not really a game as such... but... well it only takes up 5-10 minutes of your time:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120034796455789469.html?mod=fpa_editors_picks

Download from here:
http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/

[Fiend]

HA the console vs. PC debate is wheeled out again!!

I wouldn't touch a console with a 20' clipstick. PC: Mouse and keyboard, far better gaming ethos due to more control/interaction options, far better choice of quality games, far more customisability, far better internet community. I will - grudgingly - grant that price (of the PC, obviously games are cheaper) and tech issues can be an issue, and slowly some decent games are getting onto consoles. Even so....

[Fiend]

P.S. Bubs, can we have this in the music art and culture section please?? Some modern games are more culture than a lot of so-called culture...

[Bubba]

Mmmm ok, I'm moving it...

As games become more and more advanced, and the development costs become vast, I predict that more and more big games will be released across PC and all the "next-gen" consoles.

It's already happened with the PS3/360 - a lot of big games are released on both consoles. Obviously things like Halo 3 which is controlled by Microsoft or Gran Turismo which is controlled by Sony will never be released for the "other" console, but many things will.

[squeek]

For the price of a good graphics card you can buy a console and forget performance woes forever

Until the next one comes out of course...

[Paul B]

I've never been one for consoles. Ages ago I bought a Sega Saturn, bit of a mistake there. A while ago my g/f bought me a ps2 for Christmas and I used it a bit and enjoyed it but its now sat below the tv gathering dust (probably sell it fairly soon if anyone's interested?). This week (after getting very bored) I wandered in to HMV and realized that I COULD just about operate an Xbox 360 controller with my hand (in cast) so I bought one. Jeez online gaming takes consoles to a next level. I've currently only got two games:

Halo 3 - Absolutely amazing, it's taken up hours of my time so far, however i'm still shit.
Assassins Creed - only put it in once, it looks stunning but seemed to take ages to get going no doubt due to the complex controls.

[lizzy]

I just got Assassins Creed, it's awesome! It's a bit tedious at the beginning though.

[Bubba]

Good man! Halo 3 is great

My tips are:
- turn down your aim sensitivity to about 3 or 4 rather than the default which is too high. Learn to use the Battle Rifle and then just learn the maps - have fun:)

[Paul B]

I just got Assassins Creed, it's awesome! It's a bit tedious at the beginning though.

thats what I was finding...he's a pretty damn good climber though 

Good man! Halo 3 is great

My tips are:
- turn down your aim sensitivity to about 3 or 4 rather than the default which is too high. Learn to use the Battle Rifle and then just learn the maps - have fun:)

ok..will do. I keep finding places on the maps which explain where various b*stards kept sniping me from.

[Fiend]

Games are good things when you're injured 

[Paul B]

Games are good things when you're injured 

damn right. Although as of yesterday i was discharged and hence I no longer think of myself as injured, just inhibited by PAIN! Seeing as though holding a kettle seems to be tricky it should be interesting to see how this 'climbing thing' goes, maybe it'll be back to xbox for a while longer.

Having worked out the maps a bit i'm not dying nearly as much on maps such as valhalla when it comes round to team snipers.

Bubba where is the sensitivity setting for the controllers on Halo 3? can't seem to find it.

[fatdoc]

Paul,

go on


you're the right body shape...

the cross training would help...



come over to leg shavers anonymous mate!!!

you NEED a road bike!!!

oh yes, another convert in the making..