This week has seen 2 remarkable releases on consoles and PC. First Headlander, the new game by Double Fine, Tim Schafer’s studio. The remarkable thing about it? It’s feature-complete and exactly what you would expect from watching the trailer and therefore not exactly what Double Fine is known for (maybe because Tim wasn’t responsible for this one?) It’s not ubiquitously great, so you might want to go through a couple of reviews first, but it’s fun enough for what it is.
The second one on the list of remarkable releases is Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (1&2). Originally released in 2006, Activision thought that 10 years on the market warrant a rerelease. First noteworthy detail: each part goes for $40 or $60 if you buy them bundled together. That’s quite a bit of money for a 10 year old game, but hey, it’s Activision (who still sell the original CoD: Black Ops from 2010 for $40). Second noteworthy detail: The PC port is up there with the worst PC ports of all time. Crashes, a main menu that doesn’t work half of the time, controller support that only works if you use a wired Xbox 360 gamepad (nope, standard Logitech, Xbox One or even a wireless 360 gamepads won’t work) and more. Now might be a good time to remind you of the price again. $40.
The Console version has its own problems though. Back when it was originally released on the PS3, the game already supported 1080p. One of the few titles that did. Only problem was, that it automatically defaulted to 1080p if your PS3 was set to support it, with no way to change that besides disabling 1080p in general through the system settings. But why would you want to do that in the first place? Well, because in 1080p the game ran at around 15FPS. That’s 15 frames per second. Movies work at 24FPS, the lower limit of what should simulate a smooth animation. Games usually have a minimum of 30FPS as standard. M:UA even struggled to reach that in 720p, but now with the rerelease on the PS4, the most powerful console ever, this must be a worry of the past. But is it?
25-40FPS at 1080p. And no, the game looks pretty much like the PS3 version. Well done Activision, well done. The worst console port, since Ubisoft managed to fuck up Tetris.
So, what is everyone playing over the weekend?
Tru: I've, of course, have still been playing Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009) for Game Club. I am still playing Sleeping Dogs and now that I have Steam, I have been diving head first (pun intended) into Subnautica. Yes, you read that right people, I have slowly started to transition into PC gaming. Fear not, I'm still a console gamer at heart.
Greywolfe: i installed windows 10. i might actually get to play some games this weekend. that is, if the stupid power in my stupid area stays up for more than five minutes.
Andrew: Ghostbusters. I've also been playing Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker with my son.
Scroo: I too have been playing Ghostbusters for Gameclub, really enjoying that. Other than that though it's been pretty hot around here (105-108) and I haven't felt like doing much else.
Cody: Well this weekend I'll most likely try out some Lawbreakers and see how that plays. Been pretty interested in it for a while now. I'll also be trying out Replica as I picked that up. We doubled our PS4 library over the week by taking advantage of GameStop's 4 for $40 sale, so I've been mildly enjoying Bound By Flame and will see how well that holds my attention lol
Thomas: If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a bit spontaneous with my selection. Also, weekends aren’t usually the time where I play games.
I’m still barreling through my 2nd play through of Dark Souls. With my knowledge from my first time through the game and and upgraded Quelaag’s furysword, it’s moving along pretty quickly. I hope to have it and the DLC wrapped up before No Man’s Sky launches next month.
In other news, I jumped back on the Destiny train, this time on the PS4. I haven’t played since before the first expansion dropped, so last night I spent time reacquainting myself with the mechanics and learning what I could of what’s new.
I’ll also devote some more time to The Last of Us. I think I’m about 2/3rds through the campaign if I remember correctly, and once that’s wrapped up it’ll be time to hit the Left Behind DLC for the first time.
Yeah i’m on the No Man’s Sky bandwagon as well. Didn’t start that way, looked pretty meh at first, but I’m interested in the exploration, trade routes, and combat. The kind of Minecraft stuff, making tunnels and getting ores etc doesn’t interest me in the least though. Still, it’s been a long time since I’ve played a good space game and I’m looking forward to it.
Everything in my experience tells me I shouldn’t have preordered. But my paycheck was inexplicably higher than it should’ve been so I burned the excess and ordered a copy from GoG.
there was a guy who managed to get a copy early (for ~$1300), and he wasn’t exactly blown away. If you’re unsure, GOG allows refunding your preorder
https://www.gog.com/support/website_help/money_back_guarantee
And he beat it in 30 hours lol
which still is 15 hours too long for my taste
fuck that guy. dropping $1300, and then crying about how it’s too short after utilizing an exploit.
I’m trying not to read too much about his exploits other than having viewed some of the news bulletpoints posted on fb about daemeeuhnor whatever the hell his name is.
lol. I still need to finish my 2nd dark souls rotation to the point where I can actually play the dlc. to be honest, I can’t even remember where the f)$$&) I’m supposed to go other than the fact that I need to beat 3/4 big bosses.