Friday 7 March 2014

Week 3

   So, I actually had 2 days off, not the 1 I had anticipated, however, it will be just 1 this coming week. Sorry this is a day late.

   I got Metro: Last Light completed then. It's a game I touched upon last week, and just finished 5 minutes ago. I wont go into the setting again, because, as mentioned, I covered last week. There's plenty to it though, with varying game styles, and it's a good job I got it off PS Plus, because otherwise I would have never played it, which would have been a shame. If you do have a ps3, ps4 and/or ps vita and don't have PS Plus, you need to sort your life out.
   Carrying on from where I got to last week then, it's got a journey feel to it, like Half Life 2 (not THAT good though) where you are making your way through different environments (sort of, there's only so much you can do in an underground rail way system, but there is some stuff on the surface, but it's all been nuked so it all looks pretty F'd up) and going through the different game styles. The getting captured really sets the scene for the game, as this is what starts you on your Journey to find the dark one an get back to Polis to warn them of what's to come.
   Early on through your travels, you get to see a sort of variety show, which is a pretty poor standard (I kept expecting to see Tracey Jordan walk on stage (but as it's in Russia, he'd have to somehow be white). Speaking of things you encounter that are unusual, you also get the opportunity to get a lap dance at a strip club, and I'll tell you this much, GTA V's was better (though they both make you feel pretty sad inside that you're looking at video game boobs (also, there's more boob later in Metro)).

I think we can all agree, that sure is a variety show.

   Not Long after this, there is a massive plot twist, which I wont ruin, but it leaves you on a race to get back to Polis (the capital of the metro) and warn the rest of the rangers (your guys) what's going on. There are some tricky bits to come from there though, an exceedingly difficult and infuriating wave defence (I hate these, why do people like horde mode and such so much?) twice in fairly quick succession (there was nearly a broken controller). But there are also some scary bits when you're running around underneath the city, being attacked by massive spiders, and plenty of stealth action when you get near a station, inevitably get captured and have to escape (this may have only happened once, but it seemed like it happened way more times). From there, the story goes a bit weird when you are reunited with the dark one, and mutually hep each other out, and you find out some things you didn't know about yourself, which makes you feel bad for what your character had done in the first game (not that I played it, also, if you did, you had 2 choices anyway, but Last Light decided which ending is canon for you). You get led to a boss fight (urgh) that seems to go on forever, but from there you're led to what promises to be an epic final battle (I was thinking like going in to the final Oblivion gate in Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion) but it turns out, it lasts about 5 minutes, and is really easy. Also, I found out after I had completed it and was reading a synopsis of the plot so I could remember then names of things to write here, that there was a hidden morality system that the game never told you about and I got the bad ending! Thanks 4A games.
   I feel that I've just made it seem unfairly poor, but it isn't, sure, there's some issues, but it's worth ago, but there is one additional thing that's bugging me. When there are different faction, one being a Nazi group (the Reich) and one being a communist group (the Red Line), then why does the leader of the Red Lin have a Hitler moustache a not the leader of the Reich???


WTF!?

   I've played another game this week though (discounting the many hours I put in to FIFA this week as I got back in to the career mode in a big way (yay, Wolves qualified for the UEFA cup/Europa league) and that game is Toy Soldiers: Cold war, another sequel to a game I never played, and another game that I didn't pay a penny for. (This was an Xbox 360 'game with gold' (I suppose I did pay for both of these really as I have to pay for PS plus and Xbox live gold, but I'd have gold to play online anyway, and PS Plus is so cheap that you feel like you're making money from it)).
   So, it's tower defence, so not the most exciting game, except that you actually get stuck in to the action, you can jump in to the turrets and control them, as well as getting access to talk, helicopter, fighter jets and Rambo style commandos. The game came with a good degree of difficulty too, even on normal difficulty, as the further you progressed, the harder it got (obviously) but without ever feeling like you were being screwed over (which is something I tend to find a lot in games).
   Another extra treat this game came with was it's setting. The idea behind toy soldiers is that you play as toys, defending the toy box from incoming enemies. I can only assume that you're playing in the mind of a child playing with his toys, after all, there's nothing that a child enjoys more than a Soviet invasion. This leads to a special turret type, that varies as you upgrade it, and has things like a magnifying glass (to melt the plastic). As it's the cold war, it also has a very 80's feel to it, and the sound track made me think of top gun and other 80's style army films (and I don't mean like full metal jacket).
   As with most tower defence, it's all about the tactics, and earning enough cash to upgrade your turrets (earned by slaughtering enemies) and killing the bonus enemy that scores you a barrage, like a commando or nuclear strike. The environments are destructible too, so if you want to destroy the Eiffel tower (in toy form) then go for it. Plus, it has a cute moment, whenever a single soldier fires a rocket launcher, he falls over.


   I was trying to find a picture of that happening so I could put 'awwwwww....' but I couldn't, so here's a random screen shot.

      A final thing to add, is that when each level ends, the game goes stat crazy, which is something I love, but something went horribly wrong. During the first or second mission, iIwas hit with the red ring of death. Now, it's not the first time it has happened to this console, back in November when I was playing Xcom: enemy within it happened then, an I think it happened another time since, but as I barely use the 360 these days, it doesn't matter too much. It does mean that for all my remaining last gen (is it last gen now that xbone/ps4 is out? I suppose so) games, they'll have to be played on PS3. Now, I have no problem with that (except for that there's some DLC I'll have to get on 360), i re-ordered South Park the Stick of Truth to come on PS3 (it should be here when i get home from work tonight!), but the fact is that the 360 has always been my go to console for that generation, and the PS3 was just there for exclusives, so it's weird to have that big switch. Also, the dual shock sucks, but the 360 controller is great (maybe my favourite ever). Anyway, this meant I didn't want to risk spending time reading all the stats on cold war in case it happened again. But...

   Something else I played this week, on 360, was the walking dead season 2, episode 2. Now, I'm not going to count this as a game, as it's more like DLC, but it did take a few hours, but it was great, and has given me a great idea of how to store alcohol, Jam Jars (genius!). It also made me question that, whilst there's probably not enough time and resources to spend shaving your face in a Zombie apocalypse, so most of the male characters have beards, how come some of them have such finely kept moustaches? And how come there are so many people with said Moustaches, sure, it's not loads, but it's way above the normal moustache to non moustache ratio. I don't want to spoil the story, so I'll just leave it here, and just say you should go play season 1 and 2.

   Also, I never played Grid 2 This week. so...

Finished: Mark of the ninja
              Donkey Kong country, tropical freeze
              Crimson dragon
              Toy soldiers: Cold war
              Metro last light

Under way: Grid 2




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