The General Pooter Games Thread.

[Psychosplodge]

All that money wasted...

[Mr Mystery]

Quiet you!

[Mr Mystery]

It is beautiful!

Arkham Knight has moved some of the controls around which will take a wee bit getting used to, but it's worth it for the new innovations.

[Psychosplodge]

Quiet you!

[Psychosplodge]

Jigglypuff got mean

[Kirsten]

Jigglypuff has always been mean

I am playing Sunset Overdrive at the moment. Reminds me a lot of Crackdown, big, colourful world, lots of verticality and jumping, hordes of zombie like creatures. Similarly, it is reasonably entertaining, but not amazing. Some quite inventive weapons though

[Erik Setzer]

Not sure how many people play sports games, but after playing 2K's NBA 2K15, I'm more disappointed than ever in EA's treatment of the Madden NFL series. I got NBA 2K15 a few days ago with the Steam sale ($15), and have been enjoying the heck out of the mode where you play through a player's career.

In Madden NFL, you can do something similar. You make a player, give him a name and position and looks and number, select a team you want, and where you were drafter (which sets attributes). You can instantly make yourself a starter. Each week between games, you have a small bit of news items that might relate to you in the league news, and you can do basic training and spend XP. That's pretty much it outside of games. In-game, you see a sim of the game on a map of the field when you're not playing. Each game starts with similar intro and commentary (every season has the same opening comments), and the two commentators are pretty stale (especially if you've heard their commentary for years). The commentary is also glitched in that any first down you get after spending time off the field is likely to be referred to as "the first first down of the game," even if it's the 15th. Or if you run as a quarterback, it'll talk about the running back having good vision and all. They never use your name, even if it's a last name they have recorded for an existing player (a feature prior Madden games had). The halftime is just a few play highlights and showing stats. The end game is some highlights, show the player of the game and play of the game, hear the same comments.

But NBA 2K15? Oh no. They don't roll like that.

Let's start with out-of-game.

You make a player, select a name and nickname from what's available. A bit limiting, sure, but there's a nice selection to choose from. Then it starts up, showing your player in his apartment on draft night as the draft ends and he's not selected. The players gets upset with his agent, the agent dodges his angry glare and tells him, "It's good, you can get on a team you want!" Ha. You're a raw player. You have only teams that really need a backup at your spot, and you get 10 days to make them like you. When you pick a team, it shows a scene of meeting with the GM and he tells you what's expected. Scenes like this pop up all the time, whether it's other players celebrating with you after a game, getting advice from a veteran player, having the coach tell you he might promote you to starter, getting to do a press conference after your first game as a starter... often with a couple of dialogue options. Kind of like an RPG. There's also a "Twitter feed" that shows between games, where fans, players, and coaches might make comments about you, positive or negative. It made me feel more invested in the player and felt it sting even more when he was rejected by the first team he played for, then elated when the second team offered a contract for the remainder of the season after the 10-day trial.

In-game presentation... Yowza. I don't think I've seen the same opening twice, and they sometimes will do an opening like actual game presentations with shots of the two teams' players in games while a modern pop song by someone like Lorde is playing. The commentary is not just accurate to what's going on in the game, it actually tracks the game, and uses the last name and nickname you selected. In a game I was playing last night, I had a rough first half, but the second half was hot, and they actually mentioned that in the commentary. Scoring mostly in the paint? They'll say that. Grabbing multiple rebounds? They'll mention that. And you don't even hear the transition to splice in names. When your player isn't on the field, you can watch the game in first-person mode from the bench, or just skip to where you're in. When you come off, the coach will comment based on how you're doing. At halftime, they show a quick interview with a player heading into the half (if it's your player, you can pick a dialogue option), and then you see the locker room with the coach talking about what went right and wrong, and the second half plan. Heading into the fourth quarter, they'll pop up a brief commercial for an upcoming game. It all feels like an actual televised game, that you happen to be in the middle of playing, and it's very clean feeling.

And, of course, you can upgrade attributes with points earned, and earn badges giving you boosts.

Both games cost $60 when they're released each year. 2K develops their game for PC as well as XBox and PS. EA only does the consoles. Yet EA's games either remain stagnant, or drop features to pick them back up later as "new" features (sometimes watered down), and they change some things (I don't think the draft ever works the same from year to year) just to change them.

Even if you're not a huge basketball fan, I'd recommend checking out NBA 2K15 if you can find it cheap. I'm only a "minor" fan, having been talked into it by some former coworkers, but it's fun and I'm starting to figure out some of the rules just by playing.


TL;DR: EA is lazy, 2K is awesome, buy 2K's sports games if you like sports or even just want a fun game.

[Psychosplodge]

You mentioned sports games and then started talking about NFL and NBA?

- - - Updated - - -

Seriously though, they killed fifa years ago form what I've heard. And while I've played the demo of NHL 15, everything I've read online suggests it's not as good as 14

[Mr Mystery]

Never really 'got' sports games meself.

But I'm rapidly building up my PS4 Library.

So far? Arkham Knight, Alien Isolation, Stick It To The Man and Murdered: Soul Suspect. All surprisingly cheap!

[Psychosplodge]

Not bad for a console with no games