What games are you playing now?

Well, I finally bought Red Alert 3, giving my money to Evil Arts - but it's not like I swore to boycott them or something. Not yet, anyway.

I finished the Soviet campaign, and I'm leading the Allies now. I'm almost at the end, I think. I gotta say I'm enjoying the game, only... it is so easy! Too easy. It's like they moved the diffuculty levels one level down. Hard is Medium, Medium is Easy, and Easy... well, I haven't played on Easy, but I can only imagine that your co-commander (AI) can win the whole game by himself, while you read the manual, sipping tea, or something. :thinking:

Oh right, the co-commander. I suppose the idea in itself is interesting, but I think it could've been implemented better. I mean, he/she plays the role of cannon fodder, constantly sending waves of units to their deaths, but exhausting the enemy in the process. In a few missions this resulted in a situation where my forces encountered almost no resistance at all, obliterating the enemy base without any losses on my side. Not fun. Too easy. You can give your co-commander some orders, which is nice, but what I really miss is a "stay put in your base and don't interfere while I have my fun killing the enemy" order. Instead, I have to order him/her to send their forces to the middle of nowhere, but that buys me only a few minutes.

Despite my initial fears, I like the various units in this game. Some of them are more reminiscent of the Tiberium series than of Red Alert. Unfortunately, some of them are also unbalanced (some Soviet units in particular), which only added to my feeling that the game is too easy. Build a couple of overpowered units of your choice, and you've won the mission (well, I must admit, not always). And anyway, I barely got to use some of the units, because they appeared too late and/or weren't useful at the time. I built 20 Apocalypse tanks, just because they looked nice in front of my base, but they didn't get much action, 'cause my choppers had already crippled the enemy ten minutes earlier when that darned co-commander rushed into battle. *sigh* Same goes for the support technology. Some of it was unlocked so late in the Soviet campaign that I didn't get the occasion to use (or even see) it. Maybe that was meant as replay value, I don't know.

Another thing which makes the game too easy is the fact that the enemy almost never rebuilds or repairs destroyed or damaged structures. I've only seen it happen three or four times. What the-? It's really strange, and probably the biggest reason why the game is too easy.

So I played through the whole Soviet campaign on Medium difficulty, annoyed by how easy the game is, but enjoying it nevertheless, when suddenly :idea: I remembered that there is also the Hard difficulty setting. Now I'm playing Allies on Hard, and... wow, there seems to be a world of difference! The game became a lot more challenging and satisfying. I actually have to plan my attacks now, though the enemy still refuses to repair damaged structures. I should have played on Hard from the start.

I liked how during most of the missions there is a moment - usually when you complete a goal - when the battlefield is expanded, sometimes becoming even twice as big, and you receive new objectives. Very nice.

The movies are nice, although I wouldn't mind if there were more movies full of tanks & explosions and stuff. ;) The actors who play Cherdenko and Krukov do a particularly good job. Oh, and I thought it was rather funny when I noticed that Tanya has permanent wave... I mean, with her swimming and all? Heh, it could be a commercial: "Even after blowing up a Soviet base, my hair stays perfectly permed!"

Overall, I think Red Alert 3 is a good game. It has it's flaws, but the gameplay is so good that those issues did not bother me *that* much, actually. :)
 
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Never liked the C&C games. I like the artwork on this one tho, and i heard about some battle bears or something that sounds kinda cool (are they really in the game?)

Im halfway thru Fallout III and Left4Dead, and enjoying both.
 
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Yes, the Soviets have trained armored bears. Using another unit you can shoot them into the air, and have your bear-infantry paradrop onto the ususpecting enemy. It has to be the craziest unit I've seen.

Apart from that, they are pretty useless. They are strong against infantry, but won't impress a tank, naturally. Oh, they can also detect enemy spies, but I don't think the computer actually uses spies. I trained a few bears and put them around my base here and there for... heh, roleplaying value. Perhaps they are more useful in online play with their detecting skills.

I consider myself a fan of the C&C series, but when I say C&C, I usually have in mind Tiberian Dawn, and Red Alert. Tiberian Sun & RA2 were good too, I suppose.
Anyway, RA3 is closer to RA2 than to the first part, but what can you do, the first Red Alert was unique.
 
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On PC, I am playing mostly Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods and NWN2: Storn of Zehir, with a bit of Bond on the side ... and Arcanum on the netbook.

World of Goo
on the Mac.

Nothing on PSP.

Age of Empires: Mythologies and Chrono Trigger on DS, which is a nice change after a long string of crap for reviews.
 
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Playing Fallout 2 after having completed Fallout 1 during last weekend (damn that game was sweet but short).
 
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Just as a throw-in :

Just found in a poll in the forum of the German mag "Gamestar" :

Sam & Max: Ape Lincoln must die! (01/2008)
 
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Just a bit late in development, eh? ;)
 
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Glad you liked it too, Krzychu. And you see the same flaws I've noticed too.

I'm trying to play the Witcher again, but I just don't have the time and the patience I think. Still I don't like it that I would leave another title unfinished (Oblivion and Morrowind were the other two I never finished)
 
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I just finished The Witcher last night... It's worth finishing.
 
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I'm trying to play the Witcher again, but I just don't have the time and the patience I think. Still I don't like it that I would leave another title unfinished (Oblivion and Morrowind were the other two I never finished)

Trust me, there are many of us that never finished Oblivion and\or Morrowind.
 
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...Chrono Trigger on DS...

Someday I am *so* going to play that game! Someday... someday...

Bartacus said:
I'm trying to play the Witcher again, but I just don't have the time and the patience I think.

At what chapter in the game are you "stuck"? As Jabberwocky just said, it is worth finishing.

Between RA3 missions I am playing some of the freeware adventure games by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw and... wait, first things first.

I was playing The Art of Theft - a sort of stealth platform game. I found it very entertaining and addictive. Even though it's quite short, I just kept (and still keep) replaying some of the missions, just to unlock everything and prove to myself that I can do better. I even ejoyed the time trials, and that's saying something, because usually I *hate* time trials in computer games! Great fun!

Anyway, then I went to the author's page, and looked at the other games created by him. Of course the first one I downloaded was 5 Days A Stranger, if only because it features Trilby as the main character, who is also the main character in Art of Theft. A likeable character, I might add.

Disclaimer: You know, I don't play much adventure games. I don't really know why - I mean, I remember enjoying them. Actually, the last adventure game I played before this was a part of the Monkey Island series many years ago. If there was something else later in my life I don't remember it at the moment.

Now, 5 Days A stranger. I may not be an expert on adventure games, but what I know for sure is that I like this game. Very climatic. The whole horror thing and the feeling of paranoya are very good, even if I saw some of it coming. It's short and simple, but still good.
 
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How is Chrono trigger on, the DS?
I remember playing it a long time ago.
Did anything change or is it just a remake on the ds of the old game?
 
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How is Chrono trigger on, the DS?
I remember playing it a long time ago.
Did anything change or is it just a remake on the ds of the old game?

It's an exact port of the original game except a couple of bonus dungeons and an extra ending thrown in.
 
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It's an exact port of the original game except a couple of bonus dungeons and an extra ending thrown in.

Exactly - you can also play exactly like the SNES version or use the DS interface, choose turn-based or phased combat, and entirely skip the cutscenes. They make the point that it is a very faithful to the original.

I never played the original, so I'm enjoying it fresh. Hard to pull away from Age of Empires: Mythologies though ...
 
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what is the difference between TB or phased?
 
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Good question. I guess I never had the patience to try either one.
 
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Played Dead Space for an hour before joining co-op session in L4d. Waiting for Fallout 3 to arrive this week.
 
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Playing Far Cry 2 and Dead Space now.

I discovered a way to remap the movement keys in Dead Space, as well as a tweak to increase the mouse speed in aim mode (beyond having the slider at maximum). Those issues had kept me from enjoying it sooner, as I didn't care to play it with a gamepad.
 
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