Video Games

So I went to visit my family in Winchester at the weekend..

Knowing my brother was out of town and that there'd be an xBox 360 and bloody great TV all on their own I thought I'd buy a copy of Red Dead Redemption to play.

So I played. And played. And played. And probably to the detriment of my enjoyment of the game, I completed the main story line and maxxed out most of the challenges (Didn't try multi-player at all knowing I was on a time limit and couldn't bear to leave the single player campaign unfinished without knowing what happened to John)

Verdict. Good, but disappointing. I know I rushed it, but honestly, the amount of expository and travelling was just immense. I found any number of bugs and glitches which was a pain (not being a console player normally I didn't expect this) - I just assume that they release working content, perhaps naively. This is down to my only real console experience being sucked into Zelda and the Ocarina of time on the N64 while I was at university. In those days consoles didn't have internet connections and hot fixes and patches etc.

So anyway: problems were constant glitches and bugs, LOTS of travelling; seriously most of the game was spent riding a fucking wagon from one side of the map to the other while trying not to get shot by the same bandits spawning in the same place wearing the same clothes, or have my horse ripped apart from underneath me by a fucking cougar.

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Potentially spoilers

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First episode - great.

Second episode - good.

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Seriously - Big Red Dead Redemption Spoilers Ahead

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Third episode - weak - I understand they were trying to show development and evolution in frontier life to a modernised society but still - it only really picked up what the first episodes had when they stormed Dutch's fort up in Tall Trees.

Fourth episode/prologue - in fact I think this was my favourite to be honest. One thing I really loved about the first episode was herding the cattle with Bonnie so I thought the idea of him putting together his own ranch was a real reward both for the character and the player. The final conclusion for John was obviously a bit abrupt. I also thought it was a bit of a shock tactic - they sacrificed his character for the sake of it - I certainly don't think the game benefited in any way. Even with the clichéd prologue with Jack heading down to Mexico to seek revenge on Ross.

Enjoyed the many subplots/missions, enjoyed hunting, gambling, the honour and fame system was cool. Didn't enjoy getting mauled by cougars, didn't fare very well with duelling, loved the dead eye feature, obviously enjoyed the Rockstar* touch on dialogue/humour etc.

I'd love to try out the multi-player, and I'd like to dedicate more time to exploring - which brings me to another point. Despite my whining about how bloody long it took to get anyway, it still didn't feel big enough... It felt cheap how the terrain varied so wildly within such a short space.

I understand wanting to cram in variation but honestly, the snow-capped mountains of the Rockies, the great plains, arroyos and deserts, canyons, great rivers, great lakes, swamps of Louisiana - it just felt like they were shoehorning everything in. Each area was too small to really get a feel for and appreciate the scale of it. The Great Plains for example would have been fucking amazing - if it didn't take you thirty seconds to ride across the entire thing.

Basically, good but it could have been GREAT.

7/10

you finished it in one weekend and also maxed out most of the side missions..ive been playing that game with a friend nearly everyday for the past week and we still have a fuck load to do before we get 100%..and that is going from one side mission to another...so realy i think your talking a bit of poopy poo pah poo

that's nice for you.

nicer for you though init...seeing as you did all that in one weekend.

no.

it's not nice at all.

had you read the post you'd have noticed that i was a little disgruntled at having rushed it.

but ho-hum.

Although I has yet to read the spolier part, CYOA's review is sound, it's pretty hard to finish the games on 100% even if you done all the mission and the side mission.

I've not finished crackdown 2 which I bought on friday but have leveled up to around 50% of the powers available. (Got the first game for the halo beta that was bundled with it and loved it)

You're an agency hero battling mutant freaks and the evil 'cell' agents who are causing chaos in the city. Your task is to reclaim positions accross the city held by the cell and to destroy the freaks and their lairs. They come out at night in masses and can be mowed down by driving vehicles through the freak crowds. If you kill citizens you are punished by levelling down

what a game. a true sandbox game with no external narrative, only my own, and I choose to collect green orbs so I can jump higher and higher. It is just like the first game with less structure and better balance between the skill aquisition. Driving and melee is worth persuing this time and as you level up the repetetive nature of gameplay becomes more and more fun.

(I don't need to read tiny text either as the voice over tells me my objectives and gives me instructions so won't be offering this for swaps for a while @Crispin glover - you're still welcolme to rdr when we can get our act together and meet up for handover)

It is the best super hero game ever.

For those who didn't buy it when it came out (like me) Bioshock 2 is £7.99 at Amazon today on the Xbox 360

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Take-2-BioShock-Xbox-360/dp/B00175NQIA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1279012653&sr=8-1-spell"]Bioshock 2: Amazon.co.uk: PC & Video Games[/ame]

you finished it in one weekend and also maxed out most of the side missions..ive been playing that game with a friend nearly everyday for the past week and we still have a fuck load to do before we get 100%..and that is going from one side mission to another...so realy i think your talking a bit of poopy poo pah poo

I completed the story and a few side missions in 22 hours game play.

It could be done in a weekend, if it's all you do. I also waisted a lot of time playing poker, black jack, 5 finger fillet etc. could have got it down to 20 hours easily.

For those who didn't buy it when it came out (like me) Bioshock 2 is £7.99 at Amazon today on the Xbox 360

Bioshock 2: Amazon.co.uk: PC & Video Games

Worth buying?

Probably a stupid question but I've never played either of them before.

Red Dead is easily one of the best games I've ever played.

I've completed the single player (story) but just want to get on with the side missions and things done but the multiplayer keeps dragging me in. I think the online is pretty amazing as well.

You can get Bioshock via Steam download, but buy the first one before the second, believe me it's worth playing and the second one wouldn't be that awesome had you not know about Rapture from the first games.

I got the first Bioshock after the second one came out (I never buy games when they are just released). The storyline is pretty good and its very playable. Not the best game ever but certainly not a bad game. What I like is that there are puzzles/challenges that you know would be much more simple if only you had made a slightly different choice earlier on. So some parts can be more tricky for one person than they would be for another.

For £8 Bioshock 2 has got to be a bargain. I've just ordered it.

YouTube- Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Gameplay Trailer #2

looks a treat for any laura croft fanboys out there

Picked up from this great blog

for any steam users Alien Swarm has been released which is a free top down shoot-em-up (very much like lara croft right above this post) but in space....with aliens.
Check it out, its actually quite good.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/630/

for any steam users Alien Swarm has been released which is a free top down shoot-em-up
http://store.steampowered.com/app/630/

not really top down YouTube- Alien Swarm
really worth getting btw

*

looks a treat for any laura croft fanboys out there

Picked up from this great blog

Have mixed feeling toward this.

Love those kind of games, especially the Diablo series, but also love the Tomb Raider 3rd person puzzle/adventure games, that what sold TR for me, not her bosom, or her bum.

I'd very much rather another TR games following the classic 3rd person puzzle/adventure genres than this to be honest, as lovely as it look, it kinda missing the point of the whole concept.

Alien Swarm look super fun to play.

Anyone here play Quake Live? I'm too drunk to be arsed to read through the whole thread.

the most recent release of Prince of Persia (available through steam) is a good blast.
Nothing like the old 'Sands of Time', but a good one neverthless.

I seen the trailer, is it like the Tomb Raider games? (Prince of Persia), I mean puzzle based and all that.

Anyone here play Quake Live? I'm too drunk to be arsed to read through the whole thread.

the bane of my working day.

I seen the trailer, is it like the Tomb Raider games? (Prince of Persia), I mean puzzle based and all that.

yea, problem solving, none of which is actually very hard which is a shame.

Really? pity, I like having a good challenge, I love being able to spend age on one levels figuring out how to advanced to the next level.

Ironically enough, one thing I'm not fond of in Tomb Raider are gunfight.

Really? pity, I like having a good challenge, I love being able to spend age on one levels figuring out how to advanced to the next level.

Ironically enough, one thing I'm not fond of in Tomb Raider are gunfight.

Ed you may like limbo (Free demo on XBLA) which looks like a good puzzler and has interesting vibe (and i'm still stuck on a couple of Braid levels)... no gunfights in either Ed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-7dNw3v5c4

i just got splinter cell conviction. Well good. Any one else played it yet?

^ #734