HUMPERDOO

@Bad-MuthaAdebisi Do not get me started with the Partridge quotes!

As a goat with suicidal tendencies there's only one simulator for me.

@JoeBlogs As a writer, yes. I can't help it. I'm aware there are far more important things in this world to concern myself with, but the infantilisation of language, along with the hyperbole rampant on the internet are things that distress me nonetheless. Still, kudos to Robert for trolling me in such good humour!

@ShogunRok Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrghhh!!!!!

I only came here to beg you never to start headlines with 'Wait" again. I can think of few internet writing-style trends more infuriating at the moment.

Sincerely,

Me

@kyleforrester87 Agreed. The combat was great, cant argue there. The first time you fight the T-rex-esque machine (can't remember its name) was properly exhilarating, but I think it was about 30 hours in I bailed as well. Just too many cut and paste side quests and not particularly interesting characters or plot-points wore me down in the end. By contrast (and apologies for using the N-word here) Nintendo just barn-stormed with Zelda, which I'm currently 95+ hours into and shows no sign of flagging in any regard.

Never finished the main campaign. Visually amazing, but ultimately it just became way too repetitive, so I think I'll give this a miss.

Given one of the major complaints I remember from the last gen was that the DS3 was too small and gave people cramps (not that it ever effected me) this is an interesting twist. i wonder how they'll do.

Well that's another title that'll gather cob-webs I guess.

Gah! My eyes!

Although it's a nice touch that some of the camo shapes are tiny DS4s

Played That's You a few weeks back with mates while waiting for the Mayweather/McGregor farce, I mean fight, to start. Despite the annoying 'presenter' and his seemingly bottomless pit of terrible jokes I was actually pretty impressed. That you can create your own questions through the app is a huge plus as well. So definitely up for more of these types of titles.

Midnight Blue's the only quality looking one. The rest look tacky as hell imo.

Considering the game's strapline, I didn't see a whole lot of kung fu going on...

Quite liked the giant hand becoming a gun mime, though. Looks like it's got some unique ideas.

Well that's date night (trap) sorted for me and the girlfriend!

@ellsworth004 The more I think about it the more I like it. Just think of all the foreign bodies a character like Trevor with all his, er, vices, would need removing!

@Bread-Not-Toast Your family's still in one piece then I take it?

I don't know what special edition board game would tempt me. Maybe a Batman edition Scotland Yard? Crash bandicoot Hungry Hippos? GTA Operation, with Trevor on the table?

@THRILLHOU No, that's totally true. I think if that does happen and they start pulling in crap like that maybe we can at least hope they put a new spin on it? But will definitely be a shame if they do just start chasing the lowest common denominator trends.

@THRILLHOU I really don't see why this has you worried for TLOU2. What's your thinking there? I mean, it's different dev teams and writers for a start. Only one chapter's adopted an open world-ish take, so it's not like the whole game's like that. Plus, the series' linearity has been a problem for a lot of people lately - I don't include myself in that - so it sort of makes sense they'd throw those guys a bone here. Having a mix of linear and open world type levels is actually a pretty good idea, I think. With you on the Ubisoft tower mechanic introduced for that one level, that said, so hopefully that's just a fleeting moment of madness.

As far as Chloe and Nadine are concerned, they're definitely not my favourite characters from the franchise, but that's mainly down to a lack of connection fostered by neither possessing any proper backstory, something I'm sure will be addressed here. I know Sully's, Elena's and even Sam's, so it makes sense to me that they'd explore these two female leads.

PS - anyone claiming use of these characters is part of some farcical, imagined attack on men needs to grow the hell up.

Completely agree with you here, Sammy. New ways of subverting systems always appeal to me, not just in games but also writing, film, art etc. Without those attempts, even if they fail, these mediums will just stagnate.

Another great example of this was Eternal Darkness' sanity system. Worked to superb effect within the context of the game.

This sounds a lot more Portal-like than the opening paragraph lets on, and with the mention of muddy textures and frequent loading times sounds more specifically like the PS3 Orange Box version.

Still, Portal 1 and 2 have to be two of my favourites, and since there seems scant chance Valve will ever go back to that world I may well take this clone for a ride.

I dropped out of HZD around 2/3rds into the main story. A great start, but it just didn't hold my attention, so will probably give this a miss.

I know it's a small and essentially irrelevant thing, but I can't help being wound up by the mention of Battle Royale in the sub-header only for the concept then to be compared to Hunger Games, a BR rip-off. /grumblebyguywhocarestoomuchaboutthewrongthings

Here's hoping it corrects the media player's audio lag bug introduced a while back. That bozo is annoying as hell!

Isn't there talk of a potential TV series based on PS5? Maybe that's it?

I'd forgotten about Absolver. Remember thinking it looked/sounded kind of cool when it was announced. Will keep an eye out for the review.

Otherwise it's Hellblade and Uncharted 5 for me.

China rips off popular product in no-shock-whatsoever mundanity.

@BLP_Software Human logic has been dying a death for some time now sadly.

@DominicanGlory Outrage!!

A true great of independent cinema. Few American filmmakers have achieved what he did outside the studio system. A massive influence on modern pop culture, and one of a small group who understood that unfettered gore is nothing without substance behind it. The Dead series in particular is only as great as it is because of its social commentary. I'm sure that's not saying anything knew to many folks here, but with the slew of generic zombie knock-offs being pumped out in recent years that fail to understand this it never really hurts to point it out again. Rest in feast, George, rest in feast.

@Dodoo Yep! Bring on the summer rains!

@Dodoo Yeah, I watched an off-screen of this a while back (IGN maybe?) and Bend were saying they get stronger in the cold, and when it rains have reduced vision.

Pretty underwhelming, I thought. Looks pretty and all, and I've no problem with changing up the gameplay in principle, but there wasn't anything unique there. Perhaps that's just the way the trailer was cut, though. It didn't have a very good flow to it and the final moment lacked gravitas.

@nathanSF Hah. Nothing, man, just being ridiculous, demanding you right the error of your non-FOTNS watching ways like some anime zealot Pay no attention, it's a slow day at work!

@nathanSF Repent, repent!!

@nathanSF

That's not just some guy, that's Kenshiro, the man with seven scars!! Do yourself a favour and seek out the original Fist of the North Star (in particular the English dub version, the first 12 episodes of which have the most badass soundtrack by Reinforced Records). You won't regret it!

Wipeout? Even a remote possibility?

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!

@Splat I bought it on sale earlier in the year but just couldn't get into it, despite being mad for Max. I know it's the nature of the franchise's setting, but the world was just too bland (i.e dusty, rocky etc) for me to enjoy spending extended time in. I thought maybe I was just sick of the samey-ness open world games are suffering from these days, but I'm playing Horizon at the moment and though it's still got a lot of those issues for me, the world is varied enough to have me invested in exploration.

Paperboy has to be up there with IK+ as one of my favourites from those long lost days of youth. Sigh.

@MadAussieBloke That looks pretty great! Might have to pick it up.

Interesting you guys have RDR2 as a tentative 2017 release but Spider-Man firmly in 2018. What's the reasoning behind that out of interest? If I'm remembering correctly Spider-Man was announced quite a while before RDR2, and we've seen actual gameplay of it, too. Or was there some release announcement I missed?

Can't wait. My favourite from last gen. The RDR vibe I get playing Horizon is probably the main reason it's one of the few games I've stuck with in recent months.

Also, looking very much like this is pre-RDR era, so maybe we will be getting the youthful tales of John Marsden...

Perhaps if Sony developed some kind of refund policy, i.e, if the dev's promises of certain specified updates aren't met by a certain date then the buyer's eligible for a refund, or partial refund.

But then they'd have to develop a digital refund for everything else too, I guess, which they clearly aren't keen on doing.

But yeah, generally I'm in agreement this route should be avoided. The culture of releasing unfinished games is bad enough already without further legitimising it with projects like this.

I actually thought the animations looked slightly better in this than the last video released, but maybe that's because IGN hacked the footage up so you don't get as much of a continuous run.

Nope, not for me. Been burned before and I'm all out of aftersun. I'm a narrative man, but without gameplay to go with it I just find it dull. Plus I find that how good a game's story is is hugely oversold. We tend to laud games with stories that have had even a smidgen of effort put into them, but there's a world of difference between good story in a game and good story in a film/TV show/book. It's only the interactivity of games that can elevate them to the level of more traditional formats. TLoU and Uncharted are great examples of this. I love both and enjoy the characters, but take away the gameplay and there's really nothing special about them. That's why neither will work if they ever do become films - at best they'll be mediocre adventure flicks.

Not to be a pedant @get2sammyb but shouldn't it be courted controversy rather than coveted? (sorry, I've spent the morning proof reading work and find myself in the zone)

OT - not sure I can resist this. I can stick it on after watching Hell Comes to Frog Town and be in my element.

Having declared my scepticism about Horizon a few times here, I finally gave it a go yesterday when I was off work sick....

7 hours later I realised I'd become so caught up in the world that I'd forgotten to deliver Odd Grata her food! Needless to say I stand corrected.

Aside from the obvious gripes about content amounts, I think one of my biggest bugbears with the first was how much time I just spent running from place to place. I never played the original series so have no idea if they're comparable in that way, but with this one the maps were so big (Hoth in particular) that having the jetpack was an absolute requirement - not great when you needed to level up to 13, I think it was, before you could add one to your loadout. Totally ruined the pacing for me, especially those times when I spent what felt like an age getting back into the heat of things after respawning only to get taken out by a sniper or something and had to do it all over again.

Anyway, I hope they don't repeat that. /moan

@johncalmc Yeah, I think there's just always been something up with that level, outside of lag. I remember having the same frustrations the first time around. Sometimes you can hear that you're nailing each hit but still get downgraded, then others you can blatantly balls it up but somehow get knocked back up to good. That's where the frustration comes in - the sheer randomness of it!

Not that this will make a difference to anyone - and it's obviously down to the lag associated with HDTVs - but I played through it via my projector last night instead of the TV and there was no lag to speak of. Murdered every stage...until the cooking show. Lag or no lag, that stage is just horrible and always was. Fortunately my girlfriend's away at the moment, though, so no humiliating laughter for me!