The "What are you playing now?" Thread

[Jack Brickman]

Metal Gear Solid V impressions:

I'm not really sure if the open world adds all that much to the game. The world is pretty big, but there's not a lot in it, so you just spend most of your time running or riding your horse from place to place and dodging the occasional patrol. One thing I don't like is that there are no actual people in the game world. It's just you and hundreds of Russian soldiers.

I do like that you can do multiple missions in one go, though. When you finish one, you just bring up the menu and select another without having to leave the game world. I also like that you can call in supply drops pretty much whenever you want to replenish your ammo and items. However, it is kind of annoying how little ammo Big Boss carries around for his tranquilizer pistol given that it's the most useful weapon in the game, which means you're forced to call in supply drops constantly. Your silencer is also next to worthless. You get about ten to fifteen shots with your tranq pistol before the silencer wears out, and if it wears out somewhere where you can't get a supply drop, you're fucked. I really hope this is something you can upgrade later, as it doesn't make the game more fun.

I also like that you progress organically. Want to open up a chopper drop point closer to your current location? Find the enemy's anti-air relays and blow them up. You can also prevent enemies from calling for back-up if you destroy their communications equipment. It's a nice touch that rewards you for being proactive. The game rarely tells you to destroy those things and doesn't mark them on your map, so it's up to you to find them and take them out as you see fit.

The whole Mother Base system is pretty cool too. I like being able to decide what I want to research. I also like seeking out soldiers in the field with good stats to knock out and fulton away to Mother Base. You get a nice feeling of accomplishment when you find a guy with awesome stats and successfully get him out of the field.

The gameplay is solid. If you've played Ground Zeroes, it's more of the same, albeit with a lot more weapon and equipment options. The only buddy I have right now is the horse, so I don't really know how the others impact the game. I did find the puppy, but he's not big enough yet to accompany me in the field. No sign of Quiet yet either, outside of the hospital section at the start of the game (pretty sure that was her that tried to kill you, at least).

Hard to comment on the story at this point since I haven't really been exposed to much of it. The intro was cool, but since then there hasn't been a ton of development outside of a brief appearance by Skullface.

Overall, it's a fun game. It's cool to just kind of be handed the keys and told to accomplish objectives however you see fit with whatever equipment you like best. It's also great to know that you'll spend the game unlocking tons of cool new things to play with.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Also, a couple quick tips for Phantom Pain:

1. Do the Russian interpreter side op as soon as it's available. It's invaluable because, from that point on, you're able to interrogate Russian soldiers to get information from them. This is extremely useful for many missions where you don't have an exact location on the person you are rescuing, as it allows you to grab a Russian soldier and get that information from them. They'll also tell you other things, like the location of supplies, diamonds, or even elite soldiers that you can fulton out to join your team.

2. If you want to get Quiet, just wait until the side op to meet up with Emmerich becomes available. Follow the road to the power plant where you are supposed to find him and you'll go through an area where you run into her. Once that's done, that area she was in becomes a chopper landing point, so you can just head right back to where you left off and continue on to the Emmerich op. Oh yeah, and might want to pack a sniper rifle unless you feel like getting creative and beating her how I did (I'm sure there are a ton of other ways as well).

Spoiler: Quiet Spoilers

I scoped out her location with my binoculars and then called in supply drops right on top of her. You have to keep her engaged afterward by peeking out and letting her see you or she'll move (my first drop missed because of this), but it was otherwise pretty effective. Two drops and she's out. This, by the way, is equally fun with any random enemy, especially stationary guys manning guns or spotlights.

 

[Chris]

Your impressions are always so subdued. Glad you like it though. Been so busy with school this week. Hoping to play it tomorrow.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Good god the dog is so much more useful than the horse in Phantom Pain. He basically signals out whenever an enemy, wild animal, or flower/herb that you can pick is nearby. Only the wildlife and enemies actually appear on the screen, but holy shit is it useful when you missed a guy when you were scouting prior to sneaking inside of a building.

I also unlocked the bipedal robot thing but haven't taken it out into the field yet. It's hard to imagine it being more useful than the dog. It seems like it's just a more useful version of the horse. Still waiting for Quiet to be able to join me. I've got her at the base and there was a cut-scene where she almost came with me, but it was just a tease. Quiet seemed pretty damn useful in the videos I watched, although I'll probably still lean toward the dog just because getting those enemy notifications is clutch.

After each mission, the game has a little meter at the bottom that shows how closely you've bonded with your buddy. I shot the dog with a tranq dart on Mother Base to see what would happen and it said, "Your bond with D-Dog has weakened."

The best unlock for the dog is a knife. He literally pulls the knife from a sheath on his chest, holds it in his mouth, runs up to an enemy, and slits their fucking throat. It's the most hilariously absurd thing I've ever seen in a video game.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Apparently they finally released a patch to make Arkham Knight playable on the PC. Unfortunately, they released it right after Phantom Pain and Mad Max came out, so effectively no one cares about Batman any more. According to the patch notes, the game still doesn't have SLI or Crossfire support. I have no idea how you can port a big-budget title to PC and not include that, but of course the whole thing was incredibly half-assed so I guess we shouldn't be too surprised.

Also, bonus props to MGSV and Mad Max for both shipping on PC in a perfectly playable state. That shouldn't deserve an award, but sadly these days it feels like it has to.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Fuck the haters. Mad Max is a really fun game. Finally got around to playing it some more today to take a break from Phantom Pain and had a great time. Where Phantom Pain is tense and requires patience and planning, Mad Max is just pure fun. Both games have entirely too much to do, though.

 

[TyGuy]

Fuck the haters. Mad Max is a really fun game. Finally got around to playing it some more today to take a break from Phantom Pain and had a great time. Where Phantom Pain is tense and requires patience and planning, Mad Max is just pure fun. Both games have entirely too much to do, though.

Not every game needs to have top tier reviews to be enjoyed. A lot of people won't touch games if they don't at least get a certain score. I think in instances like mad max if you are a fan of the franchise, or that particular setting, or genre of game; there is a good chance you will enjoy the game. I like mad max and do like the batman style controls, so I will check it out eventually (hopefully). We are just spoiled with so many great games coming out these days that it's hard to find time for everything.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79EL0QDoJrs

 

[Adam]

Good god the dog is so much more useful than the horse in Phantom Pain. He basically signals out whenever an enemy, wild animal, or flower/herb that you can pick is nearby. Only the wildlife and enemies actually appear on the screen, but holy shit is it useful when you missed a guy when you were scouting prior to sneaking inside of a building.

I also unlocked the bipedal robot thing but haven't taken it out into the field yet. It's hard to imagine it being more useful than the dog. It seems like it's just a more useful version of the horse. Still waiting for Quiet to be able to join me. I've got her at the base and there was a cut-scene where she almost came with me, but it was just a tease. Quiet seemed pretty damn useful in the videos I watched, although I'll probably still lean toward the dog just because getting those enemy notifications is clutch.

After each mission, the game has a little meter at the bottom that shows how closely you've bonded with your buddy. I shot the dog with a tranq dart on Mother Base to see what would happen and it said, "Your bond with D-Dog has weakened."

The best unlock for the dog is a knife. He literally pulls the knife from a sheath on his chest, holds it in his mouth, runs up to an enemy, and slits their fucking throat. It's the most hilariously absurd thing I've ever seen in a video game.

In the demos d walker has some roller blades which make it fast and silent so you can get in quick with a tactical takedown. I think it also offers covering fire. So its for a more direct and aggressive play style than the dog

 

[Jack Brickman]

Not every game needs to have top tier reviews to be enjoyed. A lot of people won't touch games if they don't at least get a certain score. I think in instances like mad max if you are a fan of the franchise, or that particular setting, or genre of game; there is a good chance you will enjoy the game. I like mad max and do like the batman style controls, so I will check it out eventually (hopefully). We are just spoiled with so many great games coming out these days that it's hard to find time for everything.

I don't even think you have to particularly enjoy the franchise to like the game. I honestly didn't give a shit about Mad Max until the new movie came out and was awesome. It's just a good, fun game. Plus, when's the last time we got a game with car combat? It's been forever.

 

[TyGuy]

I don't even think you have to particularly enjoy the franchise to like the game. I honestly didn't give a shit about Mad Max until the new movie came out and was awesome. It's just a good, fun game. Plus, when's the last time we got a game with car combat? It's been forever.

Yeah, that comment wasn't aimed at mad max but games in general. A lot of people enjoy games that aren't critical masterpieces. Just like how you don't always have to watch movies that are fresh on rotten tomato; you can get great enjoyment out of games that aren't as heralded critically. It certainly helps if you are a fan of the franchise and can overlook some perceived flaws.

A lot of really shitty games were being released back in the day; especially if they were based on a movie franchise. Remember the ljn games that were being made for the nes? Holy shit:

Jaws
Karate kid
Back to the future
Back to the future 2 and 3(two shitty games for the price of one)
Friday the 13th
Beetlejuice
Who framed Rodger rabbit
The terminator

The list goes on and on. We should be thankful that a decent game is being made out of a movie franchise.

I think they actually made a really shitty games based off of the road warrior and called it mad max for the nes.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Right, but my point was that Mad Max should not be getting fives from any review outlet. Giving the game a five is ludicrous. It's not a masterpiece and I wouldn't expect it to be reviewed as such, but it's a competent, well-designed, fun game that released in a non-broken state. That's at least a seven, and based on the six or so hours I've played I'd say it deserves to be in the 80-90 range...good but not amazing. I honestly think most of the people reviewing it were pissed they didn't get assigned Phantom Pain and took it out on Mad Max.

Mad Max reminds me a lot of Watch Dogs, minus the hype and graphics controversy. It's a solid but not great game. Fun to play and does basically everything well, but not groundbreaking.

 

[TyGuy]

I didn't know people were giving it 5's. A game has to be pretty broken and/ or boring to get a score like that.

Interestingly enough the PC version is getting higher scores than console versions; which is usually never the case in multi platform releases.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I didn't know people were giving it 5's. A game has to be pretty broken and/ or boring to get a score like that.

Interestingly enough the PC version is getting higher scores than console versions; which is usually never the case in multi platform releases.

Polygon gave it a five. I just thought that was a totally ludicrous score for a game that is pretty well made. Games rated five or below should have something inherently wrong with them.

 

[Chris]

Just got the big MGS5 twist spoiled for me. Fuck.

 

[gourimoko]

Polygon gave it a five. I just thought that was a totally ludicrous score for a game that is pretty well made. Games rated five or below should have something inherently wrong with them.

To be fair, their review explains in detail why they gave it such a low score.

I haven't played the game, and based on that review, I probably wouldn't either.

The crux of their argument is that the game is "shallow" and "boring." I take it you disagree?