VideoGamer.com Plays Feb 16, 2013

What we've been playing this week.

Tom Orry, Editor - Football Manager 2013, PC

I keep telling myself that it's time to start over in Football Manager 2013, but I can't stop my current game. It's 2025 and things are going well at Barca. I did just lose to my old club Spurs in the Champions League final, but you can't win them all - and to be fair, the starting 11 there is essentially the team I built before moving on.

I've got a handful of youth players on the fringe of making it into the first team, so I don't feel as though my job is done yet. I'd like to go a whole season unbeaten, but given the somewhat crazy scores FM 2013 can produce, it's not going to be easy. Bring on the 2025/2026 season.

David Scammell, Deputy News Editor - Project Gotham Racing 4, Xbox 360

If you're in the mood for a racer this weekend, don't bother with Need For Speed: Most Wanted or Forza Horizon. Head out to your local store and pick up a cheap copy of PGR4.

A week ago, I would have never offered that advice. Though I've always been a fan of the genre - you've heard me banging on about Need For Speed and Forza for yonks - I remember feeling particularly underwhelmed by PGR4 on its release. Looking back on it, I don't know why. I think it may have had something to do with the game's aggressive vehicle handling, and its merciless determination to spin you off-track at even the slightest mistake.

But after years of playing racers where accidents don't matter because of rewind systems and rubber-banding, it's exhilarating to go back to a game where skill and concentration really does count. Pole positions feel like a victory, rather than a given, while balancing the throttle and wrestling with the wheel makes you feel like a driver, rather than a mere passenger.

It still holds up as well, if not better, than almost anything else in the genre today, then. The hazardous weather handling has yet to be bettered, in my opinion, and the thrill of the race is perfectly pitched between sim satisfaction and arcade glory. A disappointing reminder of the tragedy behind Bizarre's closure.

Matt Lees, Video Production Editor - Teleglitch, PC

Mostly this week I've been dipping into Teleglitch - the indie roguelike sci-fi horror top-down shooter that ticks too many genre-boxes to be conveniently explained. This week's INDIE FACE is a good place to start if you're interested in finding out more, and I've also made an extended video of me playing through the first section of that game. I still haven't managed to get past level 4, but thankfully I've worked out a couple of the basics: Crafting a nailgun as soon as possible is vital if you don't want to run out of ammo, and you can also use eight empty cans of tinned meat to craft some makeshift form of armour. It's hard to convey just how exciting this second discovery has made me feel, and I'm hoping it'll help me make it all the way to level 5.

I've not actually been playing any Aliens: Colonial Marines, but I've spent enough time watching Steve play it to know that it isn't something worth recommending. There's some cracking big-budget stuff on the way soon, but for now I'm happy to just revisit classics and spend my cash on some cool indie games.