šŸ•¹ Games I am playing at the moment

Heat Signature.

Got it last night, and have been thinking about it in my idler moments today. Itā€™s a game about nicking other peopleā€™s spaceships, and itā€™s a lot of fun.

Itā€™s Hotline Miami meets FTL. For the uninitiated, Hotline Miami is an impressive retro styled twitch murder simulator where you die quickly, and restart lots of times. FTL is a starship management game, featuring a pause mechanic where you issue orders and your dudes do their thing.

This has extreme violence, 2D stylings, and actively encourages pausing.

The overall effect is mesmerising. Your dudes are like bullet time heroes that swing from victim to victim. Itā€™s also as brutal in difficulty as Hotline Miami. Even with the pause button, thereā€™s a lot of shit that can go wrong, and it often does. Nevertheless, youā€™ll keep plugging away, because when it goes right, it feels so damn awesome.

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Sold at this, tbh.

Not had as much time as I would have liked to play stuff recently. In release deadline hell at the minute.

But when I do get a bit of time, itā€™s mostly been taken up by Mario + Rabbids: Battle Kingdom.

Itā€™s kind of like a Mario reskin of xCom. It does take a bit of getting used to seeing Mario and pals with guns, but itā€™s good fun.

My initial concern was that the game may get a bit samey, but Iā€™m on the third world and thereā€™s been plenty of variety and a good level of challenge to keep it interesting.

Itā€™s also doing a very good job of whetting my appetitie for the soon to be released Mario Odyssey.

A Zelda & a Mario game in the same year. What a time to be alive.

Thatā€™s my return to game on my PS3, is even more fun with the move controllersā€¦

@pap 's fave Stardew Valley is out on Switch, to rave reviews.

Been meaning to pick this up for quite sometime, but just havenā€™t got round to it.

Think Iā€™ll probably crack soon.

That said, I still need to finish Mario + Rabbids & Zelda, before Mario comes out this month.

Itā€™s a hard life.

Finally convinced my wife that the kids need a Switch for Christmas. Result. Mario Kart + Mario - living the dream.

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Been playing the Battlefron 2 beta for the last few days. Sounds amazing, looks great and plays like most other multiplayers. Iā€™ll be getting it.

I bloody love mine.

You wonā€™t regret this purchase.

Match Report, Old Dears Menu 4 vs 0 Rubbish, Sociable Soccer.

A packed house got to see a little bit of history in this ultimately one-sided encounter at The Pensionerā€™s Tuckshop, as Old Dears Menu played host to Rubbish. Old Dears Menu kept it in the family, choosing to play all four Sandwich brothers in the same side. Cheese was a commanding force in defence, Ham and Cucumber shored up the midfield, while Tuna proved he could be a big fish upfront.

Though individual players stood out, Rubbish were simply garbage. Fag Butt manfully tried to spark some life into his team with a couple of forward runs, but they simple couldnā€™t digest the irresistable Old Dears Menu, running out four nil winners at the final whistle.

During the post match interviews, there was a brief moment of confusion when three of the Sandwich brothers were asked about their brother Tunaā€™s hat-trick.

ā€œOhā€, said Cucumber, penny finally dropping. ā€œNo-one calls him Tuna.ā€

ā€œWe call him Turdā€, proffered Ham.

(* I realise that this review is not very Sensible. The game is though, and more)

Still playing this fishing game on my phone. Not much to add. It becomes more consuming the better I get.

Finally got round to downloading X-Com2: War of the chosen, essentially expands on the original campaign but ramps up the tension by about ten fold :scream:

Got some great new features, you combine forces with different resistance factions, can send seperate squads out on recon/sabotage missions, new soldier classes, loads of different research options, and loads more*

would recommend if you liked any of the other X-Com games :lou_smiley:

*including lots of great guest voice actors :lou_lol:

While I very much enjoyed doing my match report for Sociable Soccer, it wasnā€™t much of a review, more a celebration of the silliness that I loved from the original game, replicated in the spiritual successor. For the younger and more luddite scamps among us, Sociable Soccer has been directed by Jon Hare, responsible for seminal 90s footy games Sensible Soccer and Sensible World of Soccer. If youā€™re of an age, and played computer games, the likelihood is you played and loved Sensi.

You will also have been disappointed with efforts so far to revive the franchise. The turn of the century effort was simply bad, failing to capture the mechanics of the original and running like an amputee pooch on all but the most powerful machines. Another attempt was made in 2006, going for a big head style, and released unfinished on consoles that didnā€™t support patching. We Sensi fans have had our share of false dawns.

Sociable Soccer is very early access, so it does have some problems at this stage of development. The AI doesnā€™t seem good enough at the moment. Iā€™ve not been challenged in any vs the AI game Iā€™ve played. The goalies are also presently weak against balls with a bit of curve on them. As I said, early access. All of this can be improved, and forgiven for now, because theyā€™ve got so much else right.

Thereā€™s a sideways view on the action, which I jipped off immediately in favour of the traditional overhead view. Modern games such as FIFA and PES are more about close control; Sensi and Sociable both provide a wider view of the pitch which allows you to think more strategically, making long balls, sorry, I mean cultured distanced passes, much easier to achieve.

This is complemented with Sociableā€™s other big USP, after touch control. Itā€™s completely unrealistic. Even Messi doesnā€™t get to alter the flight of a ball after it has left his foot, but it works in a computer game, and feels so damn satisfying when you get it right. Beyond the short pass, nearly everything else in FIFA and PES feels situational. Itā€™s rare to use the lob button outside of a cross. Sociable opens all that up, the combination of wider view and a wider range of passing providing the keys.

In its present state, it wonā€™t be unseating the twin juggernauts of FIFA and PES as many folks go to footy game, but for me, it has already passed one of its biggest tests. Does it _feel _like Sensi? I can say that it does. If they can sharpen up the AI before the retail launch, itā€™ll feel like a winner.

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Which one is that, @cellone ? Not ā€˜Ridiculous Fishingā€™, is it?

No Ace Fishing Wild Adventure @krg_

Not seen that one, will give it a look.

Would recommend Ridiculous Fishing. Itā€™s a bit bonkers, but loads of fun.

Itā€™s made by Vlambeer, featuring Rami Ismail, who I have a bit of a dev crush on. Heā€™s a nice guy, too.

Today is mostly going to be spent refreshing amazon, tracking where my Mario delivery is at. So bloody excited, reviews look insanely good.

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This just arrived.

Itā€™s sat next to me on my desk. Not remotely distracting, honest :lou_eyes_to_sky:

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If you do play Ace Fishing stick with it. Thereā€™s a lot to it and not everything is straight forward. Also join a guild called Cellonista :wink:. Iā€™ll give ridiculous fishing a go after my move.

If you play Mario today whatā€™s the bets you get fk all sleep and are knackered for the game tomorrow :sleeping:

Downloaded Hellblade:Senuaā€™s sacrifice, last night. Looks visually stunning and i am hoping it has a different feel about it(delves into psychosis, they say). Iā€™m quite looking forward to it.

So has anyone played it and is it any good?

Why am I so addicted to Garden Scapes?

Ooh, thanks for the bump.

Been playing a lot of Civ VI, but abandoning most games. I am trying for a religious victory. I refuse to play on any other setting than Prince.

On the Switch, Iā€™ve recently found love for Pinball FX3, which wonderfully, allows you to rotate the view so that its more like the real thing. When I cannot be arsed thinking, I am farming Baby Park in Mario Kart for coins on 200cc. Ten coins a minute. Five minutes between each new upgrade. Itā€™s boring, but itā€™s worth it.