Critical Acclaim +: Open Mic

[retroed]

I much prefer to use a controller when playing a shooter. I find it much more satisfying lining up a shot and pulling a trigger, as opposed to pointing on a dude's head and tapping the left mouse button.

And yeah, Galaxy is definitely one of the finest games of this generation. I loved every minute.

[spatular]

seems like we can't agree on fps controls, but we can agree on galaxy being ace.

[Craymen Edge]

I can see what's good about Galaxy and why people like it so much, but like Mario 64, and many other flagship Nintendo franchises, something about it just doesn't hold my interest. I can see what's good, but don't want to keep doing it after the first hour or so.

On PC shooters: the mouse is usually fine, the shitty part about mouse/keyboard control is the keyboard for movement. I still usually go mouse and keys on PC, although I found Dishonoured and Bioshock Infinite both felt much better to play with a 360 controller.

On TF2: I liked vanilla TF2 on xbox and PC quite a lot. I thought it was a really well made, simple online shooter. I love the art style, and all the external stuff Valve have done with the characters etc. It's really funny shit.

As they added more and more stuff, and changed so much about the game I found I had less desire to play it. Last time I had a go, I found it pretty impenetrable as someone who hadn't been following what had been going on with the game.

[DANGERMAN]

Dishonored isn't a fps though, I can get why that woul be fine with a controller, although I did play M&K.I agree with you on Mario 64 cray cray, I never really clicked with it the way the rest of the world did

regarding controls, Spatular came around my house the other week and I was playing a bit of Bioshock Infinite. Not only was he amazed by all the graphics, he openly weeped in awe at how quick and accurate I was playing the game. As his entire body shook he said, and I quote, "I could never headshot like that"

John Carmack did a great talk on controls at Quakecon the other week, not sure what part it's in though (he comes on stage at about 15mins). He talks about how inaccurate the thumb is for control, and how people tend to over/undershoot and then correct to get their shot rather than aim quickly

http://youtu.be/eNWAcEu1jpU

[Sambob]

Oh I missed fire emblem, my bad.

Best fps controls are the pc controls, but I dont subscribe to the argument that console controls are shit as a result.

Mario galaxy was awesome, just long jumping around a planet was good enough for me, but zooming from part of a level to another part was good fun too. It wasnt just the planetary idea that this game brought, the general level design was way better than anything before, which to be fair was massively helped by the mini planets idea. I didnt really like the hub, that just didnt click for me for some reason. Its always been a bit lacking, and made the game feel a bit lifeless, I think they could really improve that for a sequel.

[DANGERMAN]

Best fps controls are the pc controls, but I dont subscribe to the argument that console controls are shit as a result.

If that's how my post came across I didn't mean it to (not that I'm saying you're saying that that's what I was saying). I think most modern fps factor in the controller well, whether that's a good thing is another matter, but COD (for example) works on a controller

[Sambob]

Thats basically what you were saying, but you are such a long time hate figure that it doesnt really matter any more.

I actually prefer playing games with a contoller, it feels more gamey. I find I just dont get into a game as much with a Keyboard and mouse, I dont really know why. Keyboard and mouse are for porn really.

[Sly Reflex]

The Galaxy games are possibly my biggest disappointments of this gen. I just didn't like them at all. I really wanted to like it as everyone else was going crazy over it, but it just didn't do it for me at all. I feel the game felt really gimmick driven. Lovely music though.

RE Controllers vs Mouse and keyboard. Controllers are sufficient for almost every shooter other than very quick moving games. Unreal, Quake and TF2 are all stupidly fast games that require super accuracy to prevail. Consoles have trained people to pull left trigger to snap to target. You'll find that the same games that are played on PC are much quicker and more frantic due to the higher accuracy and less finger travelling. On average I use 4 fingers to use a controller. On a PC I use all 5 on the left hand and 3/4 on the right hand. Reloads weapons swaps don't interfere with aiming or walking.

Learning to use M+KB I find relatable to learning to play a musical instrument, learning to drive or even getting used to a new controller layout. You might get a bit of discomfort but once you're over that hump then you're laughing.

Might be worth a thread if we go any deeper than that.

[illdog]

Super Mario Galaxy had that special WIN feel to it, like when your dad comes in your room at night. Dangerman pretty much said what I would say about the controls, presentation and difficulty. If you were a kid and you just wanted to waggle Mario around you could, if you were an old school platform demon you could go for everything the game had to offer you and find a nice challenge.It came out in November but i was still playing it over the Christmas period so it gives me the fuzzies.

[Hendo]

Unreal, Quake and TF2 are all stupidly fast games that require super accuracy to prevail.

And that's why I'm fine because I don't like those twitchy type games.

[Sly Reflex]

Burnout 3: Takedown.

[Sambob]

'Daft Punk are playing at mah house, at maaahh house' huge powerslide around a corner and smashing a rival into some sort of whacky takedown I didnt intend.

This was awesome, it had that balance between challenge and fun down to a T. It was arcadey yet precise and it looked amazing and when you went into that super fast mode and everything went blurry but you could still drive well it was like some kind of nirvana, its easily my favourite burnout game.

[Craymen Edge]

It's a great game for sure. It was the first EA published one after Acclaim went bust and the extra money certainly shows in terms of extra polish, licensed music, and graphical quality. It looked amazing compared to Burnout 2, but it maybe lost a little of that rough charm - and gained that horrible DJ guy (Stryker?)

It played fantastically, although I missed the pursuit style races from the earlier games. The takedown mechanic was new and exciting in this and Road Rage mode was a lot of fun, but I think as the series has progressed, takedowns have made the games more like banger racing rather than driving dangerously as you dare while trying not to hit anything.

[Sly Reflex]

The thing I like about the Burnout games is how despite feeling like Burnout they all have a slightly different focus, Takedown took the phrase drive aggressively to new levels. We'd all done cheeky nudges to other drivers in Point of Impact but here it was actually integrated into the racing. It looked amazing and smooth for the time it was out, I don't remember any slow down or anything like that even at the most hectic points. The obvious injection of cash from EA sanded all the rough edges off the game which I think is both a good and bad thing. It was a bit like a local band you like getting picked up and having stylists and stuff assigned to them, it kind of ended up looking the same.

The downsides were really glaring though for me, EA TRAX™ have never ever being a good thing. For certain games a needs to be composed, throwing songs in no matter how cool and hip they are to kids doesn't make a good game soundtrack. There's only so many times you can listen to a song and no matter how much you like it eventually it's going to tarnish what you originally thought about said songs.

Stryker. He's a real person and he does indents and crossover announcements on Fox Sports in the USA. Apparently Americans like being really patronised by in your face personalities stating the bloody obvious.

My problem with EA TRAX™ is that all the games soundtracks sort of blur into one. Sambob provides the finest bit of evidence ever, LCD Soundsystem don't have any songs in Takedown.

Anyway, my complaints about the game are about a very minor part of the game. I got over that. This is one of the few games I played directly after recovering from having my detached retina. I probably shouldn't have done that and at times the flashes and explosions were quite painful. Still it was worth every session, because Takedown was pretty amazing. Not as good as Paradise mind, but still up there with the best of the best.

[Sambob]

Ha I was thinking about revenge too, had to actually check my shelf to see which one it was that ive got. Yeah everything I said but about revenge.

[Sly Reflex]

Panzer Dragoon Orta.

[spatular]

cool game. not as good as rez.

[Sly Reflex]

I'm really at a loss how to explain how I feel about this game, It's really good one of those games that is top tier at what it does. It's not like it has much competition as there's hardly any games made like this so it's sort of hard to get a yardstick as to what is good, bad or awful.

I've never met anyone who has played this game. Surely for that reason alone it's got to be underrated? I'm not really sure. It'd be nice if it had more fans because it is a good game, one that sadly got glossed over for reasons I have no idea about.

[DANGERMAN]

I loved it. I, maybe surprisingly, wasn't a fan of the first 2 Panzer Dragoon games, I didn't hate them or anything I just thought the idea was done better elsewhere. Panzer Dragoon Saga is incredible but it's a very different game, so when I got Orta I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did

I think a big part of it is that it feels like a game that was fully realised for the first time, like as much as I loved the Saturn there were a number of games that would have been better waiting for more powerful hardware. Orta being on the xbox (should have been a Dreamcast game really tbh tbf fwiw) meant it looked great, ran smooth, had nice effects, good draw distance, no pop in (that I remember) and played a bit faster.

[Sly Reflex]

Odd one today. Space Invaders.