PC GAMES thread - whatcha playin'? [NO SPOILERS UNLESS TAGGED] - Page 5

Grabbed a couple things over the last couple days. I haven't put considerable time into any one title, so here some first impressions:

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon - I like this a lot. A purely arcade flight shooty missle-lock glorious 1080p 60fps target game. Melodramatic cinematics bookend surprisingly varied gameplay - some fighter jets, some manning a turret, then flying assault helicopters. Great obnoxious radio chatter. Those that love flight sims need not apply, this is a dumb console game, and I mean that in a good way.

Ridge Racer Unbounded - better than expected. Great, gritty graphics, and lots of destruction of other cars and course/scenery, ala Burnout. But the game can be pretty hard and unforgiving, and there's no rubber-banding here - mess up and might as well start over. The "Ridge Racer" title is confusing because, like previous Ridge Racers, drift is the star of this game, but other than that and some blaring techno music (dubstep!), this bares no resemblance to RR of the past. The drifting/powerslides are hard to learn, and it doesn't' help that the first course recommends using the handbrake to powerslide, which I found isn't the best way to go. (For me, the better method is letting off gas, turn + tap brake, then accelerating at the end of the slide.) Not for everyone, but if you like arcade racing, destruction, and don't mind above average difficulty, it's worth picking up for cheap.

MUD - FIM Motocross World Championship - blech - absolute crap, couldn't wait to delete this from the hard drive. Thankfully, it was a part of a package with the two above, and I like those.

Mirror's Edge - I played through this on the 360, and this 1080p 60fps port is pretty close to a perfect game. The word "masterpiece" is thrown around, but I feel this is one example of a game that really deserves it. A new way of playing a 3D action platformer, with some puzzle-solving for good measure. The art direction is very effective, and the minimalist look actually enhances the game. The cinematics look a bit dated, but the story works well. I have high hopes for Mirror's Edge 2.

I also got Far Cry 2 for $2.50 but haven't play enough to form an opinion. I never played the PC version of #2, and surprised how much it reminds me of #3 - at least early on.

And a bunch of the Assassin Creeds because of the sale, but only installed and played a little of Assassin Creed 3 plus the "Hidden Secrets" DLC pack. It looks great, plays smooth and it seems all past bugs have been squashed by now. A solid port and clearly a AAA title from what I can tell.

Lastly, I nabbed The Cave. Cute, funny "single-player co-op" (sic) platform puzzle game. A nice, quality title, but "getting stuck" is not my favorite way of playing games. Something to slowly progress through before I head to work, in 20-30 minute intervals.

Next week is Bioshock Infinite!!!!

It's brilliant. Not graphically, but game design.

Remember the Parkour craze about 5 years ago? It's the game equivalent, a first-person maze of running, jumping, grabbing ledges, etc.. Sometimes while being chased. There's also some minor combat, but they take the wise route of encouraging disarming and *not* shooting. But if you want to blast away, feel free. Hope you don't mind dying - often. Also, if you suffer from vertigo or fear of heights, be aware you will fall great distances to your death.

The controls take a bit of time to get used to, especially on gamepad. But it's worth the adjustment. I'm hoping E3 will reveal Mirrors Edge 2 gameplay.
Edited by DaverJ - 3/19/13 at 5:13am

Yeah, this was fixed last week.