Recently Played

Umm, I havent been playing much of gamming recently... So shoot
me. Been to busy with work, work, work, work, work, and flying,
and more work.

BUT!

I do like Act of War Direct Assault. a-w-e-s-o-m-e GAME!
Oh, and I still have to beat Half-Life 2 so until I do, I recommend
that game as well :biggrin:

Well, in less than 12 hours, Republic Commando has come and gone.
It was really well done, especially the HUD, having a helmet and
all. It really put you in the game. However, when I
finished it at 10:00 in the morning (about 8 hours ago) I was rather
disappointed. First off, it was incredibly short. Secondly,
I didn't think they went as far as they could, they had a lot of
potential and should have added some vehicles to drive, maybe a
firefight between two ships orsomething, I just felt it didn't live up
to it's potential.

I need 2 things. BUT ONLY via the PM's system please.

As you all know, I bought both HL2 and Guild Wars. My problem is, I want to play online with my Son's but I only have the one number for each.

IF YOU ARE not currently using your numbers could you please let me borrow them for a while (indefinitely since I cannot really give them back :smile: )

I am not attempting to steal any copies of the games, but I do not feel that my rare use of them would warrant buying another 100 dollars worth of the game just to frag/play online.

Now, if you are currently using the numbers, I can work it out with you via the PM's to not be using them when you need to.

Thanx in advance, and please keep this private messages.

---

The best things in life, aren't things.

I picked up Painkiller today, and before I got to the first boss I was
quite unsatisfied. It was mindless, and not very rewarding.
But... the first boss, which is gigantic, made me finally go
"wow." I think I'll keep playing to see what else this game has
in store. It reminds me a lot of serious sam mixed with devil may
cry, but so far it seems to be way too mindless for my tastes.

Did anyone play through this game and enjoy it?

The cutscenes are really ugly too, by the way :smile:

I liked that game, yes. :smile: It's very mindless but I didn't mind 'cause of all the physics and violence. Plus morphing into a demon rocks. :biggrin: About the only brainpower you have to use is with the chapter endbosses since all but the first can't be killed by just shooting 'em randomly.

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One day you'll know what you're talking about, I can hardly imagine

Maps! - Audio blog!

I liked the puzzle early on where you had to make the demon step into the light.

How long does it take to beat the game?

I was interested in Painkiller cause of the whole setting. Played a
demo on my old comp and though it amazingly ran it was sooooooo slow.
May give it a try now got new comp if its going cheap, though HL2 is
only game bought in a year :razz:

Just finished the '95 Discworld adventure game, it was a blast. Smart
puzzles, great humour, interesting story, way better than those silly
overrated monkey pirate games.

I finished XIII the other day and I really loved it the story was brilliant. I love the cell shadedness of it and when you get a head shot with the crossbow bloody brilliant.

Just to top it off it only cost me ?5.

I got a hold of Vampire - The masqurade Bloodlines aswell and I'm really like it too does justice to the source engine I think and its nice that its a rpg

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Tinterweb site
Deviantart

Human knowledge belongs to the world

Sorry for taking my pretty time in responding, Morphine... Painkiller probably took me a day or two with cheats. I felt bad for cheating but the very first chapter endboss smoked me like 10 times in a row and the loading times were awful every time I died 'cause I have so little RAM.

I got Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow off of my brother's computer, it's a pretty sweet game though a bit easy once you get used to it. The main annoyance I had was on the super-covert missions (you're spotted, game over)... one guy sees me and is like "Hey!" and that apparently constitutes as everybody everywhere knowing exactly where I was. XIII had a lot better of a system in that regard because you had to stop the guys before they ran to an alarm system, which gasp actually would make sense. Still fun to play, though. :smile:

I patched painkiller and it stopped recognizing the CD. Instead
of troubleshooting I'm going to return it, since I didn't really enjoy
it that much.

Bought Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow the other day, and I gotta say
it was the buggiest game I've ever bought TILL I installed the latest
patch. Now it works fine. It's a pretty good game, though I'd love to be able to break necks and
stuff, not just give a whack with the pistol. I really bought it for
the multiplayer, for when my friends and I set up the old dodgy lan,
should be fun.

Bought XIII a while back on special, its a good game though a bit
annoying as far as weapon accuracy goes. Nothing like taking a hostage
or throwing knives into peoples faces though :biggrin: .

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Ham and Jam Contributor
http://www.hamandjam.org

'Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!'

For some reason, I never quite found Splinter Cell that much fun.
It was a great game and well done, but I just didn't see the fun of
slowly creeping through the game. So I turned on God Mode and
went ninja on their asses, kinda defeated the purpose of the game
though.

I'm still totaly hooked on Plan of Attack. I haven't played a
game of CS or DoD or DM since it came out. The fact that the game
is still fairly new keeps out a lot of yahoos and assholes.
Although there are a few glitches, and the second map blows, I still
find it the best mod out there (although that's not really saying much
considering there are hardly any mods out.)

I find the Hitman series to be much more enjoyable than the Splinter
Cell series because you are not restricted to stealth. You can go Rambo
if you want and still achieve the mission goals, and your given the
weapons to go rambo if you want.

Of course I still tried to finish the game stealth with nothing but the
garot wire, a silenced 9mm, and a bottle of chloroform. Good times :smile: .

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Ham and Jam Contributor
http://www.hamandjam.org

'Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!'

SC:PT multiplayer is a marvel. We played it a load on our LAN and it
really is such good fun. Not so good online, and I gave up bothering to
try on Xbox live - most people will leave when its their turn to go
merc, and when spy they just try and kill the mercs rather than do the
objectives. If you get a group of 4 good players though, it really is
excellent and quite unlike anything else. Can't wait until I get a gfx
card good enough to play Chaos Theory properly :smile:

I'm currently (and finally) finishing off Shadow Hearts on the
PS2. Its not a wonderful game and borrows a bit too heavily from Final
Fantasy in many regards, but the timing based "judgement ring" system
works really nicely and adds a bit of challenge to combat, puzzles, and
even shopping. The apparently excellent sequel came out in the UK
recently (Shadow Hearts: Covenant) so I figured if its to be my next
RPG, I might as well finish up this one first of all. On the downside
the game has really been a bit too easy throughout, and apparently I'm
at the end fight now and the final dungeon hasn't exactly been
challenging. I only died in there once, by getting into a fight with a
sub-boss that used loads of status effect/ring effect moves, while I
didn't have protective equipment equipped.

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

Dracula....dug it out of the archives for some unknown retro reason....and after ten minutes i remembered why i should have used the disks for coasters or ninja stars.. :/

Doc B... :dodgy:

Hitman 2 is win.

I also played a fun game recently. It's called "With Myself". The ending came too quickly though.

I started playing Return to Castle Wolfenstein. It would be better if it didn't suck so much.

ROFLMAO @ frenchie.....

Doc B... :dodgy:

Just finished NOLF2 and loved it! Something about the game's humor makes me think of Monty Python's productions.

Just the contrary for me. I enjoyed the humor, but the gameplay is very repetitive and tedious. I just can't finish the game. I am now in Siberia, going through the endless corridors of the Record Building. I got too bored.

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"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." -- Toulouse-Lautre, Moulin Rouge

Got through playing The Suffering a few hours ago (on easy) and it's one of the more f**ked up games I've played in my time. Observe.

• You're a prison inmate on death row for murdering your wife/two kids.
• You have voices in your head that tell you how to treat people; your wife wants you to be nice to them and your evil side wants you to "blow their head off." When you get angry enough, you can morph into a demon (or so you think) and literally eviscerate people with your bare hands.
• The prison you're at has the highest homicide rate in the state and the highest suicide rate in the nation, and it's on an island that features:

• An (abandoned) mental institution
• A witch burning site
• A (abandoned/sealed) WWII-era POW camp

Add 1 apocalypse and stir briskly.

The only thing that annoyed me about it was that the prison guards generally didn't care that the apocalypse struck and didn't want to band together to fight the more common enemy. For shame!

---

One day you'll know what you're talking about, I can hardly imagine

Maps! - Audio blog!

I've been playing the Battlefield 2 Demo nonstop for the past few days -> Oh god, is that addictive. The default map/scenario, "Gulf of Oman", is getting a little boring, but playing with people you know and camping on the hotel rooftop or the crane at the construction site, sniping anyone in sight, oh man. So fun~

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Personal Website - Black Mesa

I played Sanitarium a little while ago (half a year) and I was very fond of the experience. It's great if you enjoy solving puzzles that require knowledge of the surrounding area. It was made in about 1998. I really liked it and strongly suggest it.

Sadly, the company that made it, ASC, is gone.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I'm seriously getting sucked into BF2, and I just preordered it yesterday.

Last night I spent hours manning the gun in the chopper that spawns on
the MEC airfield. I paired up with this really good pilot, and we
spent round after round capturing CPs and slaughtering soldiers on the
ground. I was going to say that the weapon was unbalanced, but
then some competant pilots took to the air and killed us repeatedly...
that's why this game is so fun. You can be doing well with
a specific tactic, but inevitably someone will adapt and force you to do something
different. And while this is evident in almost all online games,
it manifests itself in BF2 in a dramatic way. Like tons of
rockets blasting me out of the sky.

I just played a bit of Rez and Skies of Arcadia on the Dreamcast, after
meaning to get them for years but never actually doing it. Rez is
probably the strangest game I've played in a long time, but I'm pretty
impressed by it. Its very reminscent of Panzer Dragoon but the gameplay
is simplified (not that panzer dragoon was complex), and it feels like
a very chilled game. First two levels (of only 4?! looks like there is
at least space for a 5th "hidden" one though) were really easy but its
definately the sort of game that offers its challenge through beating
high scores and the like. I love the presentation, and the way the
music develops and the sound effects fit in is really something.

Skies of Arcadia didn't initially impress me much but after about an
hour of playing its definately tweaked my interest more. Initially
combat seemed really standard with nothing that really offered much in
the way of tactics. It was almost like it wanted to be like Grandia,
but without the active turn based system it didn't really pull it off.
Fortunately, the shared "spirit" point system that makes all characters
use special moves taking from a shared party resource, and the "focus"
move that lets characters give up their turn to increase the amount of
spirit points available, really do force you to think a little more
about what each character does rather than just going on a move
spamming session. Also interesting is the way you can choose what
element to junction onto your weapon at the press of a button, and how
this in turn effects the amount of experience you gain with each
element, thereby making you think about whether you should use the
elements that are most effective against the current enemy, or put up
with the lower damage you'll dish out on a different element so as to
quickly gain more experience in it. I think once I get into it I'll
find out why it got so much praise, but for now, while quite a decent
game, it doesn't really live up to my expectations.

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

Just the contrary for me. I enjoyed the humor, but the gameplay is very repetitive and tedious. I just can't finish the game. I am now in Siberia, going through the endless corridors of the Record Building. I got too bored.

Siberia is nothing. You should see how insanely annoying the underwater base level is. Basically, you have to steal some info from a mainframe. When you FINALLY manage to get to it "error, does not compute; check user manual". Bla bla bang bang bang a few dead-end corridors and some running around and I get the manual after doing arons for some computer expert. "Beep! Error, does not compute. Imput procedure for version 1.0. Mainframe version 2.0. Consult version 2.0 manual." The computer expert is on a "potty brake" so bla bla bla run to the other facking side of the level to find expert and steal access card then run back to the other side and then back again after getting the data in order to get out. The records house is fun compared to this. :sad:

Freaking hell Reno, just how many consoles do you have!? :eek:

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Ham and Jam Contributor
http://www.hamandjam.org

'Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!'

Funnily enough, I just bought a gamecube to round off my collection :biggrin:
Just a cheap second hand one on ebay though - its more for legacy's
sake than for a huge interest in its games, and a bit for the
multiplayer too (gotta love the GC for 4 player madness). The trouble
is going to be finding a spot to put it! Only game I bought was Mario
Kart: Double Dash, but I already owned the Resident Evil remake and
RE:Zero, so thats a reasonable 3 game set to get me started. Gotta grab
myself a copy of the Wind Waker too - absolutely love the visual style
in that, and from watching my old flatmate play it it also looked like
fun :smile:

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

N64 is the only console worth owning. I don't like anything newer than that really.

Most of the time people who say that just haven't played the better
games on the new systems. What were your favourite n64 games?

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

I played Jungle Beat in a store recently. Holy s**t. So much fun. I thought it looked retarded as all hell, but it really impressed me.

Imagine Donkey Kong country with bongos. It's very fun, give a store demo a try (if you can). I hope I can pick it up soon. Reno, I have a feeling you'd like this game, for some reason. I don't know why.

Oh and some other games you need to pick up on GC: Eternal Darkness (go get it now, I found it for cheap, I'm sure it's cheap there too), Smash Brothers (duh), Four Swords (if you want a very fun multiplayer game, this is the way to go, bad part is you need GBAs with link cables, but it's well worth it.), Viewtiful Joe is a rentable game, buyable if you think it's really fun, most people think it's okay, I really liked it though. Metroid Prime 2 has MP as well, otherwise it's just more story. Tales of Symphonia is rather disapointing, it's the same old RPG. Paper Mario 2 (3, don't remember) is fun. It's a rather simliar to Mario RPG, but way better. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is fun too (had GBA link up MP as well). IKARUGA, get it on DC too (you'll have to find a rip, unless you get an Import from Japan), it's harder on GC, but such a wonderful game.

Some games to skip over: F Zero GX and Twin Snakes. They're both rather disapointing. Twin Snakes, is odd, because it can be fun or it can't. However, it's about 20x harder then Solid on the PS1. (They can easily kick you, knocking you down, and shoot you while you can't get up. Kicking you right after you're back on your feat ... and that's on Easy)

Of course, if you've played, own, or whatever these games, ignore me.

The one game on 64 that was really fun and I can never find, since the 64 was highly ignored and downplayed when it came out, is Paper Mario. It's really fun. Can't find it. Other then that, the only real fun games on 64 are Zelda and the second Castlevania (in its own light, not in comparison to Symphony of the Night). Goldeneye has nostalgic value and that's all. Everything else is either no longer that great or has better sequels (Including Mario. shut up)

---

Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I'm gonna pick up Mario Sunshine too actually, despite most people's
opinions on it. For some reason the bright, sunny style of it really
appeals to me - it just looks like a feel good game :smile:

I was considering Twin Snakes, but I really shouldn't considering its
apparently the worst of the newest 3 MGS games, and I haven't even
played MG2 or 3 (yes, shame on me).

I have Viewtiful Joe on the PS2 and reckon its a great game in many
respects, but it can be a bit infuriating. Some of the puzzles just
aren't logical in my opinion - such as jumping over the broken road
section on a bus by slowing down time to "power it up" then letting it
loose. There are just a few sections that I couldn't figure out without
a trip to GameFAQs, and I don't like when games that force me to do
that. Then again, maybe I'm just stupid :razz:

The Jungle Beat thing does look pretty interesting and strikes me as
one of these hugely novel things that you'll get just about anybody to
play. Its not top of my "to buy" list, but I'll definately consider it
when I get a bit more cash.

I watched my flatmate play Metroid Prime and its sequel quite a bit,
and since both of them are available cheap I might try and get into
them. The problem was that he just seemed to be wandering around most
of the time - loads of travelling and "being lost" seemed par for the
course. Multiplayer on MP2 had a few issues but overall was pretty fun.
I think man has some innate love of rolling around as a ball :biggrin:

Smash Bros is pretty much essential owning, but I got pretty tired of
it after we played it quite a bit in our flat last year. I think I'd
probably enjoy it again now since its been a fair while, and perhaps
playing with a different set of people who in turn use different
characters. I'll no doubt pick it up cheap somewhere down the line.
Mario Power Tennis is another one that fits this mould - awesome
multiplayer game, but I just played too much of it.

Four Swords and Crystal Chronicles are both games I'd love to play
multiplayer, but as I only know one person with a GBA, it just isn't
going to happen. No way I plan on buying 4 of them, and I can't see my
mates doing so either when none are all that into computer games (other
than my old flatmates, who are VERY into computer games). Does Four
Swords require all players to use GBA's? And what is single
player like, and does it need a GBA?

One of my other flatmates bought all the big Gamecube RPG's but barely
played any of them. I probably should have given them a play when I had
the chance, but none particularly drew me in from what I saw. Tales of
Symphonia was probably the one that appealed most to me, graphically
and gameplay wise. Paper Mario looked interesting in ways but the
combat looked really pretty dull. Baten Kaitos looked a little boring
to me...couldn't really place why.

Thanks for all the suggestions by the way, much appreciated :smile:

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

ReNo said:
I was considering Twin Snakes, but I really shouldn't considering its apparently the worst of the newest 3 MGS games

I've played the new MGS for a while - as you'd expect the presentation is top drawer. It's well worth at least a rental. For me the only negative was, again, there is reams and reams of dull waffling dialogue to get through. It takes about a half hour just to get to the first section of gameplay!

I watched my flatmate play Metroid Prime and its sequel quite a bit,
and since both of them are available cheap I might try and get into
them. The problem was that he just seemed to be wandering around most
of the time - loads of travelling and "being lost" seemed par for the
course. Multiplayer on MP2 had a few issues but overall was pretty fun.
I think man has some innate love of rolling around as a ball :biggrin:

Just playing MP2 at the moment. Great game, although my only complaint
is that the save points are few and far between, and so it's a damned
nuisance going miles to get back to the point you just got killed at.
As for getting lost, it's quite easy to do, but you can switch on hints
if you get really stuck (a message pops up saying "chozo gear found"
and marking it on your map for example).

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My site

Well, Reno, personally, I think Mario Sunshine is the most fun 3d mario. I haven't played 64-DS. But, I liked it much more then 64.

I don't know if Four Swords requires GBA for single player, I don't think it does. But it does for MP because it doesn't split the screen. The TV screen shows the main party members (I believe) and it will show inside a house if everyone goes in, but if just you go in, it'll show up on your GBA screen and any other time it shows stats. It's pretty useful. You can also screw with people since no one can see what you're doing if you're inside a house you can do stuff like launch arrows out the door when you see someone walk past. It depends on who you play with, you could be playing with greedy people, thus you're always fighting for the power ups or you could be playing with other people and you all work together. It really depends on who you play with. But it's very fun. And I've never been able to play FFCC MP because I don't have a link cable and I only know a couple other people who have GBAs.

Oh and I suggested you try it out if you can. Not buy it, since you may hate it. Donkey Konga 1/2 look kind of fun, but they're more like a DDR or that other game with the discs and you go above or below ... never remember the name of it.

I think, lately some of the "innovations" Nintendo has been putting out are incredibly fun, even if they seem very gimmicky or just novelty. But then again, wasn't the top buttons on an SNES controller a "novelty" at the time? (Not implying touch screens or bongos will become regular gaming equipment)

Oh and you HAVE to get Eternal Darkness. Or at least find someone who has it. So awesome (If you like RE at all, you'll like ED. It's not a RE clone though)

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I saw my flatmate play a whole lot of ED, but it seems like it goes
pretty cheap on ebay so I'll probably pick it up. I am a bit of a
sucker for survival horror games :smile: Only real shame is that I'll
already know a lot of the "screwy" things that the game does to freak
you out, thereby kinda ruining the surprise. I'll maybe get my mate to
play through - it should be worth playing to watch his reactions, as he
gets pretty terrified at those sorts of games :biggrin:

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

Mario Sunshine was part of my procrastination during Senior Spring, and therefore always holds a special place in my heart.

I have Viewtiful Joe 2 on PS2, and I love the outrageous style and
story line. I thought I was pretty good at platformers, but I
guess not! The 52 Chambers (or whatever) thoroughly whooped my
ass, and I didn't have the patience to attempt to master them. I
got through 5 or so, and just threw in the towel.

Reminiscing about games has me remembering my neglected Saturn. I
would still play some games on it but there's something wrong with the
batter which wipes out all saves (and at this point I think I've lost
some cables...) so I haven't been able to play it. I still have
like 40 games downstairs. Two of my favorite games come to mind:

Burning Rangers (really really fun, please if you get a chance check it out).

Panzer Dragoon Saga (I think this 4 CD game was fairly rare, and it was quite a beautiful epic game for its time)

Has anyone played either of these games?

Lucky guy, owning Panzer Dragoon Saga. Pretty hard to get a hold of -
on ebay copies still go for around ?80 it seems from a quick look see.
One of the current ones up has a buy it now price of ?115! I haven't
ever played it, but I do like Panzer Dragoon so I'd probably like it.

Burning Rangers I played briefly at a friends house years ago, and it
seemed good from what little I saw. I'm still interested in picking up
a saturn sometime since they are so cheap, but it didn't really have
all that many exclusive titles worth picking up. Burning Rangers, the
Panzer Dragoon games, Athlete Kings, Shining Force, and Guardian Heroes
are the only ones that really come to mind.

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

Guardian Heroes!! I had completely forgotten about that game. I
never owned it, but it was one of the most fun side scrolling beat 'em
ups I've ever played. Outrageous cooperative and versus fun...

I remember one character had a Pikachu type pet that helped his attacks :biggrin:

I've already beat all the fancy 3D games I've got now so now I'm onto playing some NES ROMs, mainly the RPG ones... Dragon Warrior appears to be my favorite so far, though there's a bug (or something) so I can't get an item I need to win the game. Dragon Warrior 3's still running along smoothly, though, story continuity be damned.

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One day you'll know what you're talking about, I can hardly imagine

Maps! - Audio blog!

Could I buy those from you? Pretty please.

And to think, at one point in time I saw a Saturn with Panzer Dragoon 1-3 for sale for $120. Wish I had money at the time.

A really fun Saturn game that really no one has played is Astal. It's a side scroller. Pretty damn fun.

Magic Knight Rayearth is good. D is GREAT. and Nights is pretty fun too.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Been playing the FEAR Beta a bit, and the team deathmatch is great fun.
:smile: I'm not digging deathmatch though, it's a bit too easy to die when
you're on your own. The slow motion stuff is great as well.

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I Ain't Gettin' On No Plane, Foo'

Hey crono, I think I'm going to hold on to my games until I can buy
another Saturn system and replay them. I wish there was a way I
could lend them to you, because I'm not using any of my games right
now, but I don't want to part with them forever.

I've played Astal. It was a friend of mines and I had it for a
while. It's the cartoony one with a young looking hurcules on the
cover right?

Edit: I just went downstairs and checked, I still have Astal.

I also have this game I LOVED and almost forgot about... Dragon
Force. The game was so badass, with 200 soldier real time battles.

Oh my God, I hate you. All the Saturn games I can't find that are so awesome. cries

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

just played:

Medieval: Total War - undoubtely one of the best games. graphics are nothing special but other then that it is just amazing. rome total war kicks ass in graphics and variety but medieval was just classic. shogun total war was good but was too easy.

Dungeon Keeper Gold - another immense game. ancient but immense. its just so fun, and if if you havent played it yet you can get it for less then a fiver.

Champsionship Manager 4 - a good game but not at the top of my list. its just so fun when you get a ?400m budget and ronaldhino and win every trophy for years.

Starcraft - just good fun. i especially like the map editor.

Played some demos since I can now. :/

Hitman 2: Wowwie, I love it :biggrin: I'm glad there's at least one game that prefers stealth but doesn't screw you over if you want to kill everything (like Soldier of Fortune and their evil evil enemy spawning). Perhaps the only "problem" with it is that I found it really easy to go in guns blazing, and certainly less nerve-wracking than walking by 4 guys with SMGs. Theoretically that's because the demo levels are fairly early on, so I suppose I'll see when I somehow get the full version.

Rise of Nations: I like it except for when there's just too much stuff to keep track of, but maybe that's 'cause I'm not really used to it yet. The combat's becoming less annoying as time goes by so yes, it's probably my noobishness that doesn't make me <3 it just yet.

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One day you'll know what you're talking about, I can hardly imagine

Maps! - Audio blog!

God of War (PS2)

Wow, what a game. Set in ancient Greece, Ares the God of War and his minions are destroying Athens and you've gotta stop them. Lots of mythological stuff in there; Zeus, Poseidon, Medusas, Minotaurs, enormous boss creatures like Hydras, etc. The best graphics I've ever seen on a PS2 - in places the visuals are incredible. And the pre-rendered cut scenes are even better...quite stunning. It plays just as well, too.

If you're a fan of 3rd person hack-em-ups God of War is a home-banker purchase, nevermind rental. The numerous reviews would suggest so aswell...http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/919864.asp

Football Manager 2005 (PC)

I used to play the early Championship Manager games a lot in my teens with a bunch of mates but drifted away from football management games. Having played FM2005 a bit of the last few weeks, much has clearly changed over the best part of a decade and it's a great game, but the same old annoyances have stayed the same too.

"Supergoalies" are still prevalent; the AI seemingly deciding that for this particular match your team won't score whatever they do (like, having 20+ shots on target with Ronaldo/Owen against an opposing youth goalkeeper playing his first ever game, and not scoring any). And there are still super tactics to be found; I'm currently managing Liverpool and am on an 85 league game unbeaten run spanning 3 seasons - pretty unrealistic really (though I have got Ronaldo, Adriano, Ronaldinho, Gerrard and Vicente as my attacking line up though :smile: ).

It doesn't really get that much harder if you want to go Rambo each
mission, though it gets harder to go stealth, particularly if you can
refrain from killing innocents. The final level can really only be done
Rambo style, so the accumulated stash of heavy weapons that were
unuseable on stealth missions suddenly become very usuable.

I enjoyed the Hitman series much more than the Splinter Cell series, at
least so far. Can't wait for HM: Blood Money, looks great.

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Ham and Jam Contributor
http://www.hamandjam.org

'Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!'

I just got myself 3 games, not particularly new, but new to me :smile:

Battlefield 2, PC

Wow, what a good game! I downloaded the demo to test out my new 6800GT
and after playing it too much, I decided I really had to get the full
game. I've actually barely played it despite having had it for a week
or so, but some of the games I've played have been brilliant. Some of
the levels aren't as enjoyable as others but you're gonna get that in
all games I guess. Gotta love running around some of the built up maps
as a medic, getting revive scores left right and centre. Persistant
stats and unlockables is a nice feature, but not one I've played enough
of the game to appreciate just yet.

Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, Xbox

I was meaning to buy this for ages, and when Game had it on offer for a
measly ?10 I had to give it a try. Initially I wasn't hugely impressed,
but after an hour or so of playing you go through some really cool
sections. I don't recall playing another game that captures the wild
west atmosphere as well as this one, and some of the visuals are
absolutely breathtaking (first time you come out into the open water
factory valley...wow!). While I feel some of the third person action
could have been tightened up a little (things like being able to grip
ledges and climb up just make you feel more in control, but are sadly
missing here), the first person action is great fun and being able to
chop and change whenever you wish is very handy. Nice mix of sneaking
around, luring, and all out badass warfare too. Great sense of humour
to it as well, as expected from an Oddworld game :smile:

Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen 3, Gamecube

I'm a huge Naruto fan these days, so it was inevitable I was gonna
import one of the games sooner or later. The Gamecube series is meant
to be the best of the bunch, so I waited and waited until a good deal
came up on Ebay and then pounced :biggrin: Though Naruto fans would love it
regardless, anybody will appreciate that this is a very polished and
well balanced fighting game. Rakes of characters are present, and while
they do have very similar move sets, they all have their nuances that
mean they all have to be somewhat learnt to use them effectively (eg.
Lee cannot use ranged attacks, Kankarou has his lifesize puppet to move
around...). Graphically it matches the anime perfectly and has
translated to 3D marvelously well. It also features all the correct
voice actors for the characters, the same sound effects, and some great
stage music. On the down side, as it only got released in Japan, its
pretty hard to navigate and figure out what menu options do what. You
soon get past this, and while Naruto newcomers won't have a clue what
the storyline is all about without translation guides, series fans will
appreciate the reasoning behind the various missions. Another downside
for some (though I see it as a plus) is that you have to do a crap load
of playing in order to unlock everything, particularly characters. You
start with only 10 of the 28 or so - it will be a lot of playing before
you can get your mates round and play as all your favourites. Oh and
1-4 player battles....awesome. Enough said already though, I'm gonna go
play it now!

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Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net