What Video Games did you play this week? (2024 Edition)

[wonderfly]

What video games did you play this week?
1/8/24:



New Releases this week:

Momodora: Moonlit Farewell
(coming to PC)

War Hospital
(coming to Playstation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC)



​

So what have you played this week?!?

 

[wonderfly]

Man, my usual link wasn't showing any games coming out last week (and only a couple this week). I know it's early in the year, but I figured there's be more.

Looks like I need to glance at other video game websites, like this one and this one. Turns out there was some interesting indie/minor games that came out over the last few days after all (like, there was a "Boy and his Blob" Retro collection?!?). Still, the "major releases" resume next week.

 

[khuddle]

I'm playing "The Last of Us: Part 2" and its rocking my world. Sweeping winter landscapes, engrossing gameplay, and intriguing puzzles abound. And while still being a "survival horror" game, its seems somehow cleaner, classier than the first one. Recommended.

 

[the_joker]

I'm still playing the Legendary Edition version of Mass Effect, and I found another minor exploit for making money. However, it turns out there's actually no need to abuse those exploits as the game will give you too many items for you to sell off.

I should mention that the game (or at least the first one) has some minor technical issues such as some textures not immediately loading at a few points and teammates can sometimes get stuck in place. At least none of these affect performance, and stuck teammates eventually teleport to your location (or you could save and reload), but they can be a little annoying to see.

As for the game itself, I just got the High Explosive Rounds upgrade for the shotgun, and they're almost too good as they can knock enemies into the ground and make them more vulnerable than sitting ducks, and downed enemies also can't immediately retaliate. I went from occasionally using the shotgun to abusing it, even running up to enemies instead of taking cover. I guess it's just that fun to use, and I'd like to experiment with that upgrade for other guns.

 

[Classic Speedy]

Finished COD: Modern Warfare III story mode the other day. It felt kinda short, to be honest, but at least there were quite a few memorable moments.

I was bummed when I discovered that they removed the Lara Croft operator skin before I got a chance to buy it. Really hope they re-add it at some point, but I get the sinking feeling they're not going to and it was a one-time item. You snooze you lose. Grrr.

 

[wonderfly]

What video games did you play this week?
1/15/24:



New Releases this week:

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
(coming to Playstation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch and PC)

Another Code: Recollection
(coming to Nintendo Switch)



​

So what have you played this week?!?

 

[Classic Speedy]

Bought Gravel on PS4 because it was only $2. Not much to say, it's a rally racer, nothing special. But hey, $2.

 

[the_joker]

I'm actually curious about Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, though I admittedly have yet to play a "metroidvania" even though their style of gameplay seems appealing. I did play the demo of Metroid Dread, and I liked what I saw, but I never even got around to acquiring the actual game.

As for Another Code, I never even heard of it until now, and it's apparently a remake of two games from the DS and Wii. Simply breathing new life into a DS game sort of intrigues me, though I'd need to watch gameplay videos to see if it will appeal to me.

 

[wonderfly]

What video games did you play this week?
1/22/24:



New Releases this week:

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
(coming to Playstation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and PC)

Tekken 8
(coming to Playstation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC)



​

So what have you played this week?!?

 

[the_joker]

I finished up the Legendary Edition version of Mass Effect.

Spoiler

Apparently, I accidentally let the council die. There were 3 options: 1 to save them and sacrifice some of the Alliance fleet in the process, 1 to straight-up sacrifice them, and 1 to put more effort into dealing with Sovereign which may or may not kill the council. I chose the 3rd option, which I assumed to be a compromise. At that point, I thought I was choosing between 3 different endings. Obviously, Sovereign would always be destroyed or else there wouldn't be sequels to this game, so choosing to save them felt too easy. Instead, there were only two endings, and I'm somewhat wishing that I chose to save them instead. They weren't the most helpful figures around, and they were almost always questioning your actions and decisions, but there's no guarantee their replacements would be better. Ultimately, going back on that choice feels like cheating, so I'm sticking to my guns, and I'm curious as to how the sequel games will play out.

Hopefully, the Dragon Age games will get some kind of remaster or at least a re-release for current gen consoles. I know Dragon Age: Inquisition is playable on PS5, but I'm still hoping for some kind of updated compilation re-release like the Mass Effect trilogy got, especially since there's a new Dragon Age game in production.

 

[khuddle]

I finished up the Legendary Edition version of Mass Effect.

Hey, how would you say ME: Legendary Edition compares to ME: Andromeda? Better, worse, roughly the same?

 

[Classic Speedy]

It's not new by any means but I played through Goldeneye 007 Reloaded recently. I know this is probably an unpopular opinion but I vastly prefer this game to the N64 original. Taking its game engine from Call of Duty didn't hurt, but it had a better narrative and score (c'mon, they got David freakin' Arnold to co-compose it!), and in general it was just more fun to play through.

 

[wonderfly]

I finished up the Legendary Edition version of Mass Effect.

Spoiler

Apparently, I accidentally let the council die. There were 3 options: 1 to save them and sacrifice some of the Alliance fleet in the process, 1 to straight-up sacrifice them, and 1 to put more effort into dealing with Sovereign which may or may not kill the council. I chose the 3rd option, which I assumed to be a compromise. At that point, I thought I was choosing between 3 different endings. Obviously, Sovereign would always be destroyed or else there wouldn't be sequels to this game, so choosing to save them felt too easy. Instead, there were only two endings, and I'm somewhat wishing that I chose to save them instead. They weren't the most helpful figures around, and they were almost always questioning your actions and decisions, but there's no guarantee their replacements would be better. Ultimately, going back on that choice feels like cheating, so I'm sticking to my guns, and I'm curious as to how the sequel games will play out.

Hopefully, the Dragon Age games will get some kind of remaster or at least a re-release for current gen consoles. I know Dragon Age: Inquisition is playable on PS5, but I'm still hoping for some kind of updated compilation re-release like the Mass Effect trilogy got, especially since there's a new Dragon Age game in production.

I have the Mass Effect "Legendary Edition". It's on my radar of games I want to play (eventually). This was 2 or 3 years ago, but I played the first 1/3rd of "Dragon Age: Inquisition", really liked it, but put it down to turn my attention to "Middle Earth: Shadow of War", and never came back. I've been holding off on going back as I hoped that BioWare would re-release the first two Dragon Age games (because just like with "Mass Effect Legendary Edition", I now want to play all three games in the correct order). Maybe they will do a collection since "Dragon Age 4" is coming up within the next year or so.

I'm also debating whether I like more narrative "Choose your own path" games like "Until Dawn" and "Detroit: Become Human" (or my latest favorite Indie gem: "Road 96"), or if I like full Action RPG choice games like "Dragon Age" or my love for the original "Fable". But that may be a separate discussion.

It's not new by any means but I played through Goldeneye 007 Reloaded recently. I know this is probably an unpopular opinion but I vastly prefer this game to the N64 original. Taking its game engine from Call of Duty didn't hurt, but it had a better narrative and score (c'mon, they got David freakin' Arnold to co-compose it!), and in general it was just more fun to play through.

Blasphemy!! You're gonna play that game with the clunky N64 controller, and you're going to like it!

 

[Classic Speedy]

Blasphemy!! You're gonna play that game with the clunky N64 controller, and you're going to like it!

I actually thought Goldeneye fared a lot better when it was re-released early last year with modern control schemes. I still prefer Reloaded though. Taking the whippings.

 

[wonderfly]

What video games did you play this week?
1/29/24:



New Releases this week:

Persona 3 Reload
(coming to Playstation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and PC)

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
(coming to Playstation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC)



​

So what have you played this week?!?

 

[wonderfly]

I thought about snubbing "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League". I heard it's not any fun.

But there's no good Nintendo Switch releases this week. And maybe the story for "Kill the Justice League" is good ("Evil Superman" in the "Injustice" video games was a fun story).

 

[the_joker]

Hey, how would you say ME: Legendary Edition compares to ME: Andromeda? Better, worse, roughly the same?

I never played the Mass Effect games until now, so I also never played ME: Andromeda, and I only completed the first game in the original trilogy. I do plan on playing the sequels, but I'm taking my time with them. If I end up liking the trilogy, I may check out ME: Andromeda.

I thought about snubbing "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League". I heard it's not any fun.

But there's no good Nintendo Switch releases this week. And maybe the story for "Kill the Justice League" is good ("Evil Superman" in the "Injustice" video games was a fun story).

I've read some middling impressions of the game, which is unfortunate as the last major DC game Gotham Knights also got lackluster reviews. That actually doesn't stop me from being curious, so I'll wait for a steep sale, which is how I generally prefer to buy my games. That game is also features Kevin Conroy's final performance as Batman, so it would also be unfortunate that the project turned out to be lackluster.

I am actually somewhat curious about the Injustice games, but they're also fighting games, and I don't have much of an interest in that genre.

And to answer the question in the title of this thread, I've been playing Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on the Switch. It's my first Donkey Kong game, and I like it so far. There's a good variety of scenery to vary the levels, and the sawmill level was actually pretty crazy but fun. There was another level where you ride a rhino, and seeing Donkey along with his partner and the rhino stacked on top of each other was fun to watch, especially when they're all stuck together in a barrel and blasting out of it. Out of all the partners, Dixie feels almost too useful with her hovering ability acting like a "double jump".

DK's attacks feel rather limited. He can pound the ground, but that only stuns enemies instead of killing them. He can't attack while in midair, so he's completely vulnerable unless he jumps on someone. The range of his rolling attack feels too short, and tapping the roll button won't make him roll continuously. At least having a partner lets him keep rolling.

The boss fights would be the game's biggest weakness as they feel too slow and long. I'm often waiting to attack, which is how boss fights go in many cases, but the slow pace of the showdowns as well as their small scopes make them feel too long. They also have no checkpoints, so if and when I mess up, I have to "wait" to deal with them all over again.

 

[wonderfly]

I am actually somewhat curious about the Injustice games, but they're also fighting games, and I don't have much of an interest in that genre.

The "Injustice" games (like the Mortal Kombat games) have a well structured story narrative that I enjoyed, and I find the battle system to be simple enough (I learned long ago that I suck at Street FIghter and Tekken). I'm best at "Injustice" and the Mortal Kombat games, but I find MK too gory for my tastes, so therefore "Injustice" is one of my favorite fighting games...if not for "Soul Calibur".

"Soul Calibur" is still my favorite fighting game franchise, personally.

Speaking of fighting games (and as for what I'm playing currently), I actually recently returned to "Dragon Ball Fighterz". I've got all of the bonus DLC characters now. I'm going through the story mode again, which is just like a nice nostalgia "bonus story" for old school fans of the franchise (with a plot involving the Red Ribbon army and the Androids, it feels like I'm back in 2002). The Androids were always my favorite "villains" and the main villian here feel like a perfect addition to the Dragon Ball franchise.

I mean, the plot is silly as can be (and the tutorial sections are painfully slow) but getting to play as the Z fighters is fun and really scratches that memory of playing "Dragon Ball Z Boudakai" back in the early 2000's. The original "Boudakai" is possibly in my "Top 5" for fighting games.

(besides that game, I'm still tinkering with "The Messenger" and "Road 96").

 

[wonderfly]

What video games did you play this week?
2/5/24:



New Releases this week:

Foamstars
(coming to Playstation 4 and 5)

Helldivers II
(coming to Playstation 5 and PC)



​

So what have you played this week?!?

 

[wonderfly]

I guess Xbox and Nintendo are taking the week off (what a strange year this has been, so far, for new game releases)....

Actually, Nintendo is possibly preparing for a Nintendo Direct, with some "shadow drop" released games, like what they did with the remake of Metroid Prime last year. .....Well, I can dream, anyway.