November come and gone...

Wow, it's already almost the end of November!  Hard to know where it all goes, Well - this month it has gone into a few games specifically:

Dead Island - this has had a really mixed reception, which is in part I am sure due to the incredible trailer it released which had little to do with the game itself:

The reviews of the game have been equally mixed but I have loved playing it.  I am playing with friends and we are taking our time with it, exploring, trying to do all the quests, and just enjoying it.  I like co-operative games, far more than I like shooting my friends in the head (or in my case being shot by my friends in the head).  I think it has some really interesting features too - it's a zombie game where it's bright and sunny.  The island is in part, beautiful and scenic, there are some really different and quite expansive environments, some of which are quite unpleasant.  I think the character choices are interesting (they're all 'tainted' people in different ways, it's also a game that lets you choose from a variety of ethnicities which I think is interesting on a different level as well.  Gameplay wise it's interesting - it isn't as frantic as something like Left 4 Dead, but a bit more relaxed.  All in all I've really enjoyed it.

I've also been investing many hours into Batman Arkham City from Rocksteady which is absolutely fantastic, it's very similar to the first game but more - more gadgets, more space, more moves and more characters.  I'm still not finished with it, because I am playing it in a similar way to Dead Island and really savouring the experience.  The combat structure is one to be envious of - it's very fluid and variable, and the way they ramp up the difficulty is clever.  There are some challenges that are pretty extreme - I'm struggling with the flight ones - and the voice acting is superb taking as it does the talents of the animated series.  This has been the single player game that I have enjoyed the most in a long time.

 

On the PC I've played a little Dungeon Defenders, which is a co-op tower defence game, which has been quite a giggle although got a bit samey - I liked what they were doing with it though and the plethora of updates might mean that it's something I go back to at some point. 

I tried DC online, which is Free To Play and I wanted to be excellent...  Sadly the lag was just too much for me (and I suspect everyone) - it made it literally impossible to play with all my damage (being dealt) not kicking in until about 30 seconds after I started attacking, in the meantime my enemies were able to beat me up in 'real time'.  Boo.  Chat on forums and things indicated that this was only in the starting areas, but it was enough to kill it for me.  It's a real shame because I like the franchise but I just couldn't deal with the pain of it.

I moved on to Champions Online for a comparison which is also Free to Play - I haven't really delved into the Free to Play market before and it was an interesting venture.  Champions offers a  really good character customisation system in terms of costume and power IF you pay, and that was fun.  I am enjoying the game play and the way it all works, but not sure if it will hold me for a very long time.  It doesn't have that feeling of longevity that it would need for that.  Of course also The Old Republic comes out in about a month!  What's odd about Champions is that it's based on the old 1980s roleplaying game and it has stuck to that quite religiously, but that makes it feel rather dated in an odd way.  There are some interesting mechanics - you have to charge up your energy meter by using a power and then can use a tougher power, which is quite fun for a while, but there's not a plethora of abilities that you can choose from at any one time and so I get a little 'button-sore' after a while.  On the other hand it is free...

Naturally I played some more Sims 3 for a night or two!

I'm still playing Tomb Run on the iPhone, but my addiction to i-store games continues.  I am enjoying playing a bit of Scribblenaughts - it's a bit easy but it's a lot of fun and there's a lot of ingenuity in that game.  I enjoyed making a nuclear bomb the other day and getting an achievement of 'destroyed the world'.

And no, I haven't yet played Skyrim.  I will, and I know I will love it, but there's only so many hours in the month and Skyrim would eat them all, so I sorta plan to buy it when I have a bit more time and perhaps when it is discounted on Steam!!  I still have quite a few things I haven't yet finished so I am in no rush.  Until next time :)