What Are You Playing - April 27, 2012

Written by GoozerNation Team Friday, 27 April 2012 11:00

Welcome to the first edition of our new weekly feature called, “What Are You Playing?” Every Friday we will post a new article where we discuss which games we are playing. This might give you some ideas on what to play over the weekend if you’re in a rut or you’re just looking for something new.

There is a thread in the forum where you can list which games you are playing. If you do that, then we will write about those games as well. If you want to write about the games that you are playing, then you can send your contribution to us here (you must be signed in) or you can simply leave a long reply in the forums.

Let’s get started.

Mike Rohde

I am currently alternating between The Witcher 2 Assassins of Kings and Modern Warfare 3. I think last Thursday I even popped in some Green Day Rock Band.

The Witcher 2 Assassins of Kings

The Witcher 2 is a pretty awesome game. It’s heavy on the cutscenes and the story is an integral part of the game. The combat is pretty fluid, but sometimes the camera can get wonky. I am having a lot of fun playing The Witcher 2, but it requires large chunks of time to play. It seems like everytime I load it up, I play for at least two or three hours and much of that is watching cutscenes or going through dialog choices. There have been a few moments in which I’m like, when can I go back to killing monsters? The answer to that is to go into the Arena, which is pure combat. I should check that out tonight, but part of me is thinking that I’ll save that until I finish the main campaign, which might be awhile before I do considering all the side quests. Overall though, if you like RPGs and a good story, then I’d recommend giving The Witcher: Assassins of Kings a try.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Yes, I’ve been bitten by the multiplayer bug once again and I can’t get enough of MW3. The maps are cool and with new ones becoming available each month through Elite, the action stays fresh. Kill Confirmed is absolutely my favorite game mode, mostly because it fits my run-and-gun style of playing. I always laugh when a sniper gets me and I run back to get my tags. I get extra points and the cowardly sniper hiding from far away is denied a kill. I also like to play Domination as well. Team Deathmatch has almost become boring now because there’s no secondary elements involved such as collecting dog tags or claiming a flag.

Green Day Rock Band Through the years I’ve slowly discovered that the band-specific Rock Bands are much better than the other titles in the series. I don’t know if it’s because it’s the music or the personalities of the band or because I feel like the gameplay is better, but I seem to enjoy the band-specific titles better. My faves are The Beatles, Van Halen, Aerosmith and AC/DC and most recently, Green Day.

Ryan Johnson

You haven’t seen me write articles for a few days because my PC is in the shop. With my internet setup, that also means my game systems are offline. I did just receive Metal Gear Solid 4 in a Goozex trade and I just recently got a PS3 on a bargain deal. Since I thought I’d never get to play MGS4, I kinda gave up on MGS3 six years ago. Knowing the importance of the story in this saga, I’ve dusted off my PS2 and re-started MGS3. When not infiltrating Soviet camps, I am also plowing through the snow in SSX.

Metal Gear Solid 3

I think I remember why I stopped playing this game. In MGS1 and 2, my default way of sneaking utilized the Soliton radar system to it’s limits. I’d slide just between two soldiers’ fields of vision like a pro. In this game, though, there is NO radar, and the whole “change your outfit every five seconds” mechanic is really getting old again. I just envision Snake in the grass with a guard advancing swapping pants to his olive drab because the tree bark didn’t blend as well.

There are much better ways to play this game now via the 3DS re-release or the HD Collections. I at least have "Subsistence," which allows me to click between traditional view and behind-the-back. When I played it the first time, it was original Snake Eater, and I don't know how many times I lost simply because someone off screen was able to see me. The ability to click back and forth is a Godsend for this game for me.

I am struggling with the start of this game, but everyone says it's the best one in the series, and I sure can't play the wrap up finale without seeing all that 3 has to offer.

SSX

If you haven't been paying attention, I'm a bit of a nut for SSX. I'm loving the new game, but pining for the classics. Which is why I'm hoping to scarf a PSN card to get the Classic SSX Characters and Mt. Eddie Pack, reminiscing Tricky, come May 1. That is, so long as my computer gets repaired and I can reconnect my system to the web...

Mark Del Rio

I’ve been pretty busy the past few weeks dealing with issues outside of gaming. I’ve still managed to squeeze in a couple of hours of my favorite pastime.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

With the recent announcement of ACIII dropping this fall, I’m being forced to play through the last two AC adventures (which I missed when they were released). It’s a good thing I love the Assassin’s Creed. The reason I initially passed on Brotherhood and Revelations was because they were cranked out by Ubisoft under the direction of a different lead (from the two previous games). I figured quality went out the door in favor of making AC a yearly franchise (like sports games). When the overwhelmingly positive review came out, I was intrigued but not enough to pick up the game. When ACIII was announced I just had to play it! So here I am.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is more or less the same game as it’s predecessors but tweaked to perfection. So many sidequests compliment a beautifully written single player main campaign. The graphics are great and the open world level design feels more “open” than in the previous games. The only issue I have with it is that there are so many things to do in the game that I often find myself wandering around doing sidequests rather than sticking to the main story. It would be easier if all of the sidequests WEREN’T fun! But alas, they are (not a bad criticism I suppose).

My never ending backlog of games means that I’ll never be without something great to play. Trine 2 and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine are waiting for me on Steam. Hopefully, they’ll get touched next week.

Jon Morris

I am currently splitting my gaming time between Mass Effect 3 (SP and MP), Tribes: Ascend (look for a piece on T:A in the near future) and Battlefield 3. I also picked up Crysis 2 when Amazon had it for $7.50 and plan on playing through that soon. The CS:GO beta is on my radar when I get a chance. In addition to all of these, I have a massive backlog of SP campaigns to get through, notably Dead Space 1+2, BF3, CoD: Black Ops (yeah, I know, a little late now) and a few others.

Mass Effect 3

I am really taking my time with ME3, and I’m not interested in debating the ending. I just want to get there at my own pace. I’m a strict completionist who is trying to enjoy the journey. The multiplayer is fun enough to keep me occupied as well, and many a SP session has been cut short by the appearance of a few friends online that want to play MP for a few rounds.

Tribes: Ascend

Tribes: Ascend, which I will cover in more detail in an upcoming piece, is free to play and I intend to keep it that way. Therefore, I mostly grind CTF maps and try to be useful enough to get the required XP’s to open up the items that I desire the most.

Battlefield 3

As for Battlefield 3, I played about a million hours of it in the first few months. The current wave of negativity over the recent patch and a bit of burnout on the scene have dulled my fire for the game temporarily, but I do still play it and I plan to return it to my “very often” list in the near future once the whining gives way to playing again. All I’ll say for now on this topic is that if you don’t like the patch, think about that before you go insisting vociferously that DICE tweak your favorite weapons “or else.” Multiply this by 50,000 people and their individual desires for what should be changed to suit their personal style, and you have the setup for an endless series of tweaks that will never please everyone.

Other than everything mentioned above, I plan on another playthrough of Coloropus (it really is fun) and maybe some pseudo old-school renaissance gaming in the near future as well.

Colby Sorensen

Cthulu Saves the World

Although I’ve put in a couple hours on multiplayer for both Gears 3 and MW3, the majority of my time has been spent in Cthulu Saves the World, a JPRPG by Zeboyd games. Wondering what the P stands for in JRPG? It stands for parody, as Cthulu doesn’t take itself seriously as far as the dialogue and story go, often playing off of the troupes we often see in older RPGs. The dialogue is genuinely funny and will especially connect with those who are familiar with the genre. I’m playing on Hard Mode, so I’ve had to spend quite a bit of time grinding in order to be able to get through the side dungeons which contain stronger loot. For being only a couple dollars, it’s actually a great value and is a lot longer than I would have originally expected. I received Prince of Persia this week through Goozex.com, so I’ve got to add that to my already extremely long pile of shame.

Diablo III Beta

Additionally, I got to play through the Diablo III beta this last weekend while it was open to all. I played as the witch doctor class and really enjoyed his summoning powers. This is my first forray into Diablo-ville, so I didn’t really have anything to compare it to, but I did enjoy not having to put points into attributes, instead just picking powers and customizing those powers with runes. My little taste of Diablo whetted my appetite so I had to get through a couple hours of Torchlight, which I actually enjoy more than Diablo III. Pre-orders for Torchlight II are now available through Steam, but unfortunately no Mac version is listed. Also playing the Devil May Cry: HD Collection for review.