What are you playing?

[Markies]

I started Shattered Union on the Microsoft XBOX this evening!

My friend works in the gaming industry and I am rather proud of all that he has accomplished in his career. He has worked on several games including The Walking Dead series and he has used his perks to get me a ticket to PAX one year. Unfortunately, being a sole Retro Gamer, I have not been able to support him. However, the very first game he ever was a part of was eventually ported to the original XBOX and that is one of the main reasons I bought the console. So, after many years, I finally get to play his very first game.

Shattered Union takes place in a strange place in the future where the country is divided, politics is violent and everywhere and America is broken into several factions. It is incredibly eerie that the game was made in 2005. Now, those factions are vying for control and it's up to you to build your army like Risk and engage in paper/rock/scissors hex based combat.

Honestly, I don't like the story. I play video games to escape real life, not bask in it. That is why I love fantasy games so much. Also, I think the interface is not very user friendly. You can't group troops on your faction screen, I can't figure out where the enemy will show up and I wish the stats of the units were a bit more clear.

Besides that, I was surprisingly liking it. The game very much feels like a Board Game and once I began thinking like that, then I began to really get into it. I'm not a RTS person, but the game is easy enough for a newbie like myself to figure out what is going on. There is a large amount of depth, I like the different factions as they at least treat everybody equally and the battles remind me of a Civilization version of Advance Wars.

I have mostly defended against attacks and sat in the corner while collecting money, but I am interested in going on the attack and seeing more about the game. But, so far so good and a surprisingly good game.

[Ack]

I started playing Starship Titanic last night, a point-and-click adventure that uses a text parser written by Douglas Adams. I have known about the game for years and have even read the book which roughly covers the plot, though I am only just now getting around to playing it. So far it makes little sense.

[Michi]

I started playing Starship Titanic last night, a point-and-click adventure that uses a text parser written by Douglas Adams. I have known about the game for years and have even read the book which roughly covers the plot, though I am only just now getting around to playing it. So far it makes little sense.

I literally found the guide for this, like, last week at a thrift store. Never heard of it before then. Thought it looked interesting. A quick perusal proved that it is definitely...different.

[Markies]

I started The Simpsons: Road Rage on the Sony Playstation 2 this evening!

So, it's basically a Crazy Taxi clone. It is such a rip off that Sega sued the company and the lawsuit was settled out of court.

The controls are rather fidgety and there is some clipping issues with the game running, but it is still enjoyable. I love Crazy Taxi and I absolutely adore The Simpsons, so I'm very happy.

I needed something to make me smile after playing something so political.

[Gunstar Green]

Got the Wipeout Omega Collection to feed my racing game kick. Good stuff. These games really look stunning on the PS4.

[Ack]

I started playing Starship Titanic last night, a point-and-click adventure that uses a text parser written by Douglas Adams. I have known about the game for years and have even read the book which roughly covers the plot, though I am only just now getting around to playing it. So far it makes little sense.

I literally found the guide for this, like, last week at a thrift store. Never heard of it before then. Thought it looked interesting. A quick perusal proved that it is definitely...different.

Different is a good way to describe it. It's an adventure game designed by Douglas Adams that included input from Terry Jones and John Cleese. Also, it features a talking bomb that you can accidentally start counting down from 1000, though if you interact with it, it loses count and has to start over. And there is a parrot. It's a bizarre game.

[akaMike]

I started a second playthrough of Fallout 4 for some reason. I plan to replay The Witcher 3 next, even though I have a ginormous backlog at this point. I have a bad tendency to replay the same games over and over again.

[Markies]

I started Kid Icarus on the Nintendo Entertainment System this afternoon.

Oh Boy, I forgot how hard Kid Icarus is. I got to Stage 1-3 and just hit a wall. That level went on forever and there are so many enemies and you have such a weak shot. After a while, I reset the game and did some grinding on Stage 1-2 to get 2 Endurance Levels, so hopefully that will make things easier. I probably just need to take my time and go more slowly through the game.

The enemy design is really unique and I like the vertical scrolling levels. It also is a very different concept with it being set in Ancient Greece in a way. The music is also catchy and it still is fun to play.

I just forgot how hard it is...

[prfsnl_gmr]

Cool game. The difficulty peaks early, and if you can make it through the first level, you’re golden.

[BoneSnapDeez]

That game never clicked with me. I even got the FDS original to see if it was more palatable. I would like to finish it, someday.