What games are you playing now?

I just picked up a game called 'Plants vs. Zombies.' It's kind of action oriented but so far it's a very good game with excellent humor, very different.

http://www.popcap.com/games/pvz
Damn you, SM. Damn you! ;)

Simple, but tremendously fun.

edit- fortunately I had a vacation day already scheduled for today... I finally turned PvZ off at 3:30. Got out of bed and promptly fired up PvZ. Once again, these "casual games" have managed to capture the addictive gameplay we used to have in the old skool RPGs--simple to learn, hard to master, and numerous possible strategies to attack a given situation. The Biowares of the industry should be taking notes.
 
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How far along are you, Sir Markus? I played rather obsessively and have completed the adventure mode and the puzzle mode. I've got about half way thru the mini-game mode, but haven't even started survival mode. My zen garden is pretty small at this point.
 
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Despite my best efforts, I've yet to finish any of the games I've been playing for the last, oh... half a year, or even longer.

Still, I started playing another one: Devil May Cry 3 for the PC.

And what can I say, this game sure is fun! :) I've found myself drawn towards games with mindless slashing/shooting action ever since the miracle that was Bloodrayne, and I finally decided to give the DMC series a try.

The only catch is, there is no mindless slashing/shooting action in this game. The moment you start playing this mindlessly is the moment when you get your demon-blood beaten out of you. Sure, the combat is lightning fast, but there is a lot of combos and room for creativity, and not actually using them is a bad idea. I couldn't beat the second level until I learned a trick or two. I've been told that one shouldn't approach this game without a pad, but what the heck, I'm using the keyboard, baby!

I haven't even played the first two games, but that doesn't seem to be a barrier at all. The (skippable) lenghty action-packed cutscenes are mostly kinda cheesy, but they don't pretend to be too serious, so they are actually quite funny and enjoyable.

Long story short: slashing an enemy, throwing them into the air, shooting them, then slashing them in mid-air and slamming them into the ground and landing on them to shoot other enemies is fun. It really is. :) It's just not the I'm-tired-and-I-need-to-relax kind of fun. My hand and wrist hurt after some of the more intense moments.

PS: The replay value in this one is... interesting. I'm not even halfway through, and I've already replayed the first missions several times (it's actually a good warm-up).
 
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Just started Mortal Kombat Armageddon last night. Didn't get to the game itself yet because I was so foolish to start with the kart race...
 
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Took a break from Drakensang after Grimtooth Castle, and thinking to push for the finish now. Dabbling with Europa Universalis 2 - my first - I'm still a virgin with EU...*blush*

Never got Spage Siege originally, coz of the bad reviews, but couldn't resist getting it for $8 :p I'm tempted to just install and try it out.

...but I STILL have not finished ME or NWN2.. :'(

Also got Warhammer DOW2 and Empire : Total War lined up.

Hmmm...then I'd better finally play Call of Juarez - love 'em Westerns, and COJ2 is on the horizon, as well as Red Dead Redemption, which graphically looks verrrry purty.

Being a Sherlock Holmes fan, I've also got SH vs Jack the Ripper lined up.

I see you guys mentioned Mistmare - hmmm, I got that one from a bargain bin sale, and it's been lying in my closet for a long time now.

Hey, purpleblob, since I rather enjoyed Jade Empire, which was dissed by many, I hope you enjoy it. I had only found out, after finishing the game, that a lot of the hate came because of the actiony combat system (which I loved) and the soppy 'romance' themes (which had gone completely over my head). Heh - it seems I completely missed all the love scenes and never even realised the game had them... :biggrin:
 
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I bought DVMC3 for PC too. I thought it was an awfull port. It didn't remembered the keys I said strangely enough.
Also the voice actor of Dante, well I have played the first one and there he was cool, tough, with that bit of a loner. Now he sounded like a surf dude.
 
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I tried DMC3 and DMC4 and didn't like them one bit. I found the characters shallow as hell and the voice-actors are horrible. I'd recommend getting some real action/adventure games like the Legacy of Kain series. :D

Yeah, well, DMC3 seems to be a sort of "Plot? What plot?" game so far, ;) the characters are simple (though Dante cracks me up at times), but it just doesn't matter that much. I know Legacy of Kain, I'm a huge fan of the series :) (regrettably, I still haven't played BO1). However, to me LoK was always about 1) plot and 2) riddles, not about the action. The combat there wasn't very dynamic, but that was ok, since I didn't see that as the focus of the game. Well, Defiance was more combat oriented, and all those combos and telekinesis and whatnot made the battles very satisfying, but I don't think it was as dynamic as DMC3. At least that's what I can tell so far.

titus said:
I thought it was an awfull port. It didn't remembered the keys I said strangely enough. Also the voice actor of Dante, well I have played the first one and there he was cool, tough, with that bit of a loner. Now he sounded like a surf dude.
I wouldn't know, as I haven't played any of the previous installments. It was the same actor, though, yes? And I agree, it is an awful, lazy port in some regards, but on the other hand this gives me that feeling of playing a console game which I sometimes miss. I think I may be a little masochistic. :p ;)
 
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Yeah, well, DMC3 seems to be a sort of "Plot? What plot?" game so far, ;) the characters are simple (though Dante cracks me up at times), but it just doesn't matter that much. I know Legacy of Kain, I'm a huge fan of the series :) (regrettably, I still haven't played BO1). However, to me LoK was always about 1) plot and 2) riddles, not about the action. The combat there wasn't very dynamic, but that was ok, since I didn't see that as the focus of the game. Well, Defiance was more combat oriented, and all those combos and telekinesis and whatnot made the battles very satisfying, but I don't think it was as dynamic as DMC3. At least that's what I can tell so far.
True, Defiance is the only one that focused more on combat, and it did a good job at that. Sorry to hear you didn't play BO1. It was great. You play through many of the events you hear about in the sequels. I was fortunate enough to play'em all and they're all grand. :) Except maybe for SR1, which was cool and all, but the console-ish controls were nerve-wrecking. But it must've been good, since I put up with it for the sake of the amazing story and characters.

Now he sounded like a surf dude.
That's exactly how he felt.

I've noticed that most voice-actors hired to do Japanese voice-work are usually awful. Or maybe it's just something I've encountered. Some of the English voices in Street Fighter 4 are atrocious. It's better to hear them in Japanese where they still hold some weight, even if I have no idea what they're saying.
 
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Damn you, SM. Damn you! ;)

Simple, but tremendously fun.

edit- fortunately I had a vacation day already scheduled for today... I finally turned PvZ off at 3:30. Got out of bed and promptly fired up PvZ. Once again, these "casual games" have managed to capture the addictive gameplay we used to have in the old skool RPGs--simple to learn, hard to master, and numerous possible strategies to attack a given situation. The Biowares of the industry should be taking notes.



Hey DTE. I can't believe it my save file somehow went to digital heaven, so I had to start over. I was really far into it I had about 8 or so plants in my zen garden. It's not a big deal, I'll just have to figure out where the profile/save is and back it up every so often so it doesn't happen again.

What's funny is that game was done by one (talented) person in his apartment, at least that's what I heard.

It's digital heroin, IMO and I usually don't even like these types of games.

Oh, and I think you can still play 'Adventure Mode' even after you get your silver trophy.
 
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I've continued to march on with PvZ. I'm a little ways into my second pass at adventure mode, done with puzzle mode, have 5 mini-games left to do, and won the daytime survival mode (a line of gatling peas with a line of torchwood is just awesome to behold).

I've got the daytime zen garden just shy of 1/2 full now. I've got a few non-marigold plants, but I haven't figured out if there's any real advantage to them--they seem to kick out coins/diamonds just like the marigolds. The tree of wisdom is a waste of money so far. I've dumped close to $30k into it, which would have been far better spent on a nighttime zen garden.

I sit down for a session of King's Bounty, or to finish up my UFO:ET run, and I end up playing PvZ. Perhaps this is another event leading to my demotion to "casual gamer", but I'm having an absolute blast with this game. So, even though I still curse you and your ancestors on general principle, thanks for the tip Sir Markus.
 
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Hm. This here gamer will never admit to having played any casual stuff, but.. psst, hey, have you tried out Samarost yet? :shh:
 
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danutz_plusplus said:
Except maybe for SR1, which was cool and all, but the console-ish controls were nerve-wrecking. But it must've been good, since I put up with it for the sake of the amazing story and characters.

Yeah, I seem to remember that walking around while holding a knocked-out vampire and trying to navigate your way to a fire or spike was a hassle. Thank goodness for the telekinesis later in the game! I think the controls in BO2 were also not very keyboard friendly.

danutz_plusplus said:
I've noticed that most voice-actors hired to do Japanese voice-work are usually awful. Or maybe it's just something I've encountered. Some of the English voices in Street Fighter 4 are atrocious. It's better to hear them in Japanese where they still hold some weight, even if I have no idea what they're saying.

I don't know many Japanese games with English voiceover, but it's a similar case in anime - most often the Japanese voiceover is great, while the English dubbing is horrible.
 
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Today I stumbled upon a short online article by the German mag "PC Games".

They give "Plants vs. Zombies" in incredible 90 % .

And that although the game's

- still only in English yet
- only exists as a downloadable version.

I played the demo and must say it's extremely addictive ! ;) :)
 
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What was that ... aw crap, I missed picking up a sun!

... back to it ...
 
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Locked into Runescape, good lord of the tigers... MMOs are so cruel. How did I let myself be seduced again??? I'm addicted!

Between my RS sessions, I'm getting in some Spellforce, the original game.
 
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I started earlier this week playing Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and finished it just a moment ago. I must say it's pretty good action game. It is a whole lot better than the reviews gave it credit when the game was released.

I didn't buy it back in the day, because people on the net said it was too much of a tunnel runner. But I guess I shouldn't have listened to others, since I enjoyed playing the demo version. "Tunnel running" or rather linear maps has been in these 1st person action games since Doom and the likes. By the way Dark Messiah reminds me of couple those old games, Heretic and Hexen.

On a hard difficulty it was challenging even for a FPS veteran like me. I have always had a knack for dark medieval settings and Dark messiah delivers in that aspect. Smashing action, some of the combat effects were pretty brutal. A few spells could have been more powerful though.

Xana's comments were really amusing and made progressing in the game more worthwhile from a map to another.

I couldn't help myself but to follow her advice and pick the path where I use the skull on the altar. But then it felt like a pretty natural decision to grab all the power for myself. :cm: Not just for the ego boost, but to keep Xana alive too.

The game had some nice scenery too. Quite nice views on the mountains. The towns were atmospheric and really reminded the art style of Heroes of Might and Magic V, which shares the same plot setting.
 
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Hm, I bought Dark Messiah almost for free recently, but I haven't tried it out yet. Maybe it'll be next in line after I finish some unfinished stuff.
 
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Picked up Mirror's Edge for $20.00 so figured I couldn't go wrong. I'm about halfway through now and the game is equal parts cool and frustrating. I definitely praise it's originality and would buy a sequel if they made it.
 
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I thought Dark Messiah was a pretty good game overall, played through it twice. It kind of bugs me it has the 'Might and Magic' name on it because it's about as far away from a CRPG as you can get, but still, it was well done, IMO.
 
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