VideoGamer.com Plays Feb 9, 2013
What we've been playing this week.
Tom Orry, Editor - Football Manager 2013, PC
Nothing new here. It's getting to the point now where I'm not sure if I'm playing Football Manager just because it's the thing I do. I'm more or less unbeatable as Barcelona, given that I appear to own all the best players in the world, and a lack of quality coming through means there's a massive dearth of players who have more than 3 stars. Having said that, I did recently buy a 3-star winger for the bargain price of £7.5m - he's now valued at £18m.
Next up for me is the unlock for winning 20 cups. I'm currently at 19 and in the semi final of the Spanish Cup. Considering I'm averaging five goals a game and conceding on average less than one, I think I'm in with a pretty good shot of getting my 20th this season, perhaps more.
David Scammell, Deputy News Editor - Dead Space 3, Xbox 360
You've read the review and you've seen the score, but three hours into Dead Space 3 and I'm pretty impressed.
I've long been one of Dead Space 3's harshest critics. You've probably heard me discussing my concerns on the podcast. From that horrific bro-shooter reveal right the way through to its bizarre Phil Collins launch trailer, the game has been on the receiving end of a disastrous marketing campaign. But it didn't need to be.
See, the first few hours of Dead Space 3 - bar the rubbish opening 20 minutes - is very much the usual Dead Space. It still does the Dead Space 2 thing of trying to scare the player by over-running them with enemies, rather than relying on the fear of the unknown, and there are narrative elements that I think are totally unnecessarily (love triangles, in our Dead Space?!). But the rest of it - the claustrophobic space stations and spectacular galactic vistas in particular - has left me unexpectedly impressed.
I'm still concerned about what I might find when I eventually touch down on Tau Volantis, but as a fan of the original Dead Space, I've been pleasantly surprised by the majority of what I've seen so far. Except those micro-transactions. Whoever thought of those deserves a plasma cutter to the knee.
Steve Burns, Reviews and Features Editor - An upcoming game
Frustratingly I've been playing a game that, due to embargo, I can't actually talk about. The publisher has told me that doing so will be punished with death by EXTRA-TERRESTRIALS. All I can say is that it's not nearly as bad as some were expecting (so far), and that fans of the franchise will get a huge kick out of it. I can say no more, or it'll be game over man, game over.
User Comments
rbevanx@ reynoldio
reynoldio@ BC_Animus
Think they both claim to be tech demos, more art pieces than games for sure. I'd recommend Linger for a quick look for a couple of quid, but not really detuned unless you like turning a bloke into an elephant, colouring him purple and making multiple versions of him dance around a chair. And who wouldn't?!
BC_Animus@ reynoldio
detuned I don't really remember much of, except for a guy standing up and sitting down on a chair repeatedly. Seem to recall little aliens dancing around him or something as well? God its titles like these that makes me wish I smoke weed.
Njeezy
Mintyrebel
reynoldio
Linger in Shadows and detuned now they're (weird) experiences, but interesting nonetheless.
Didn't like the opening to Quantum Conundrum so that got deleted, F1 Race Stars was okay but not anywhere near as good a kart racer as others that spring to mind and it's certainly not going to keep me away from NFS:MW. That leaves Sleeping Dogs which I'm quite looking forward to but it's doing multiple gig updates and it's nearly bedtime, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow.
Clockpunk
Alas, spent much time trying to configure the drivers on my old partner-donated PC to get Don't Starve to work again, since the last update buggered it up somewhat. Alas... to no avail (after hours of trying). It is precisely THIS that makes me a console gamer... I just really want to be able to play the game again, especially with the plethora of new additions to the gameplay really changing the mechanics s lot.
Although, saying that, I have caved and ordered Dead Space 3, and preordered both Tomb Raider and Aliens: Colonial Marines (curse being a hardcore gamer and susceptible to the allure of the old hype train!!) (a.k.a. done a 'Wido' :p)
VG_Dave@ jeffyboy40
FantasyMeister
Anyhow, I've been sticking with Life is Crime, rooting out the spies from my friends list, taking out whole gangs at once, consolidating my existing territory, and getting whacked a lot more. It's a silly little game really, but it has thousands of leaderboards (me likes), lots of tick-based tactical strategy (me likes), ganking (me loves), always something to do (me likes), you can gain edges with a little applied intelligence (me likes) and goes on forever (me likes).
The XBox 360 did get turned on a couple of times, watched The Dictator on NowTV, Utopia on 4OD and got around to installing, but not actually playing, Resident Evil 6, because my tick was up and I had to take care of a thing. You know, the thing. In Life is Crime.
Pretty sure Microsoft didn't foresee their platform ending up this way in the hands of a gamer. Neither did I.
rbevanx
Not a great start already but hopefully it will pick up, but to make up for lack of AAA game I was expecting last night, I played a bit of Full House Poker as well as Perfect Dark which I have given up on the 360 as it's such a poor conversion and Sega Rally this morning for a couple of minutes
jeffyboy40
Wido
I have been playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 quite a bit over the past couple of days. I'm surprised to see so many people still playing the game! I have no DLC on the PS3 version, yet I did on the 360. Surprisingly in contrast.... The 360 version with the DLC I encountered less people playing the game. Playing on the PS3 with no DLC, a lobby of gamers! Fantastic for a game which has been out for 3 years now and still holds up very well! Clearly EA & DICE should look to the hugely anticipated title of Bad Company 3, no? ;)
Played some Killzone 3 and I am enjoying it. Not as good as Killzone 2 so far, though its more balls to the wall and fighting for hope. It is more over the top in the action, yet story purposes its a lot better!
Gave the Dead Space 3 demo another whirl and finished it to the end this time. The demo got better once I got further. I will end up getting the game sooner than expected. I was watching the IGN video review and it was stated that replaying the game over & over again for the better upgrades and RIG is 10x the fun. Replay value seems to be pretty good in that aspect. The crafting table is very good. Making new mods giving damage, speed and reload bonuses is pretty neat, and creating those important health packs and stasis packs too! Not only those vital items, but also ammo! Nice, I can see myself going through the game multiple times than compared to DS1 & DS2 which never screamed out to replay the game again, because it will be different this time around.
BC_Animus