Gaming Lounge

[Goemar]

Titles available at launch are launch titles, ports or not. Doesn't mean it's not a bit lame mind.

[Koh]

I'd usually recommend letting the new consoles marinate for a year or two, then not only will you have more stable consoles and lower prices, but also a larger library to work with. Getting systems at launch labels you as the beta tester, and the one who spends the most money on a beta product.

[Kriven]

I really don't like this trend where platformers are zoomed out so far you can barely see your character.

[Gwen]

Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed, and Need for Speed came out for the 360 and PS3 so they really shouldn't be counted as launch titles, though, should they? And Knack was apparently pretty mediocre. And Killzone was apparently hit or miss.

They were made for the next gen consoles in mind. The 360, and ps3 versions were slapped together.

[AuraLancer]

I typically wait for one game to be out and a few others that I want to get on the way before I buy a system. Games I can get on a system I already own don't count. It took a long time for the PSP to reach that point, and the Vita hasn't hit it yet.

The 360 never reached it because the only exclusives I ever wanted were Fable 2 and 3.

[Koopaul]

Oh man The Wonderful 101 is the first game in a long time to make me sweat! Some of those bosses are ridiculous!

It's main flaw is that it's constantly throwing outrageous things for you to do without giving you much of an explanation or even visual hint. You have to die a lot before realize "Oh! That's what I was supposed to do!"

This game is the opposite of hand-holding. It doesn't give you a break!

But you know what. Its worth it. Its just so over-the-top and creative in it's action that you forgive that fault. How many games do you fight a robotic hydra and take control of one of it's heads to rip off the other? Simply put the game is very entertaining, even to just sit there and watch someone else play.

[Koh]

Ugh, Trial and Error gameplay is the worst. It's like many of those old quarter-pouring arcade machines and early NES games. Guide Dang-It also makes the game's quality suffer.

[Koopaul]

Well it's mostly that way for the bosses which have very specific ways of beating them and almost no hints how. Also the beginning of the game doesn't have much of a tutorial. You're thrown into the heat of the action almost immediately.

The rest of the game feels much better once you get the hang of it. After the first boss, you become used to what you need to react to.

Very important to know that you can counter attacks based on their color. Like Wonder Blue can reflect blue lasers with his sword. Or Wonder Green should shoot green targets and so on. The game is so fast paced and has so many colored enemies, you have to think really fast about how to attack who and when.

But yes you are right to compare this game to an NES one. It's classic Nintendo Hard. But just like classic NES games, once you know what you're doing, it seems pretty fair.

[Marth]

I don't see difficult and misleading gameplay as a flaw. I see it as a learning curve, much like you said with older games. If you've played Dark Souls you know exactly what I'm talking about, because stuff there literally hits you out of the blue and the weakest of enemies can take you out within seconds even if you're properly equipped. I've been looking at Wonderful 101 and when a price drop hits I'm so gonna get it, I'm glad to hear it's difficult because difficult games just suit me better and feel like a better investment to me because I spend much more time with them.

[Koh]

Don't get me wrong, I like challenging games too, but not when the challenge is based around the game withholding information that's absolutely imperative to progress or survive. Makes me think of Milon's Secret Castle on NES, where you needed Nintendo Power to even get STARTED with the game.

[Goemar]

I really don't like this trend where platformers are zoomed out so far you can barely see your character.

I thought the trend was to zoom in too close Sonic 4 style?

[Kriven]

Sonic 4's camera was great.

[Koh]

What about a camera like Terraria's. The bigger the window, the more you can actually see. So if you have a super huge monitor and maximize....you can see a pretty large chunk of the world

[Goemar]

Sonic 4's camera was great.

Wha? I could hardly see where I was going. Generations had a far better camera because you could, you know, see the actual level.

(Though god knows why you can't just say, click an analog stick in to zoom in if you want to).

[Goemar]

Giant PSN sale on people! Includes some damn good bargains such as:

Ni No Kuni - £6.59
Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection - £3.99
Jet Set Radio - £3.24
BioShock - £2.87
Dishonoured GotY - £14.99
Okami HD - £7.80
Crysis 2 - £3.99
Crysis 3 - £5.99
Dead Space 2 - £5.39
Dead Space 3 - £6.59
Mass Effect - £3.95
Mass Effect 2 - £5.39
Kingdoms of Amalur - £5.39
SSX - £5.39
Space Marine - £6.59

and more!


There goes my Christmas money...