Most Anticipated Video Games

[Spark Of Spirit]

Devil's Third multiplayer looks crazy. Check out the crazy melee action halfway through the first video and the acrobatics in the second.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Multiplayer does seem to be the selling point of this game. Which is kind of a shame, since that's the part that will be free to play on the PC.

[Nel_Annette]

Yakuza 5 and Trails of Cold Steel will make a fine close-out to the PS3. 

[Foggle]

Reviews for MGS5 are out. Of the 16 I've seen, only one of them was below a 9/10, and it's gotten seven 10's so far.

Not that reviews really mean anything, but damn, this is simultaneously justifying and reigniting my hype. Why isn't the game released yet!?

[gunswordfist]

I honestly crossed my fingers and toes when I saw you post in this thread because I was hoping you would mention MGSV. Not a video but that is good news. I think this game might actually be better than I can imagine. That's...the ultimate compliment.

[Foggle]

Trying not to watch any videos unless they're officially released by Konami/Kojima, though I'll probably check out the GameTrailers review soon.

Anyway, just read this shit:

With 30 hours of nose-to-the-grindstone play, the game tells me I've completed around one fifth (19%) of the missions where the philosophically convoluted, drowning-in-acronyms story plays out. But that 19% isn't counting the barrage of compulsive distractions Team Kojima fastballs at you, including: photo gathering, luring and extracting animals to safety, and a daunting barrage of "side ops" you'll have to chip away at to accrue the resources and personnel necessary to shore up deficiencies (and advance the mainline missions) in The Phantom Pain's elaborate base building game. Taking everything into account, the game tells me I've completed a tiny 7% overall.

. . .

Even if you ignore the optional stuff, the physical space where the missions transpire is so vast, the dozens of enemies patrolling the areas so shrewd, and the penalties so severe if you lumber in guns-a-blazin', that pulling off your primary objective can take hours, planning to execution to extraction. Whatever intimidated Kojima about Grand Theft Auto V a few years ago, The Phantom Pain is no less sprawling than Rockstar's open-world opus.

But the label "open world" is all both games share. Rockstar's expansive Los Angeles burlesque may look visually denser, but it feels brittler, an ocean of urban beauty that collapses if you want to do more than harass its vagabond citizens or play hide-and-seek with the cops.

. . .

The stealth stuff isn't new, let's be clear about that. You're still doing the same basic thing you've been doing for decades in these games, sneaking around enemy haunts or in conflict zones, trying to creep up behind and dispatch your foes (ideally, as always, by knocking them out, not killing them). It's just never been attempted on anything like this scale, or when it comes to your opponents, with this much behavioral granularity. The Phantom Pain has some of the brightest, meaningfully collaborative, and thus relentlessly hostile opponents I've ever battled.

. . .

But some of the changes feel monumental in how they impact the design. Interrogating enemies can produce intel on both items or personnel of interest, as well as the positions of other soldiers. Day and night cycles prompt different patrol patterns and change the places guards tend to hangout. Sandstorms roll in suddenly, turning dangerously open space into advancement opportunities or escape routes. Tech upgrades eventually let you suss the abilities of potentially employable enemy soldiers, turning battlescapes into talent-scouting exercises. And as promised, the game tries to frustrate your tactical habits by adding little wrinkles, like putting helmets on enemies in subsequent missions if you're fond of headshots. (Word of your activities gets around, and you'll even pick some of that up in overheard soldier-to-soldier confabs as time passes.)

. . .

If I had to grade it now, 30 hours in, with 80% of the story yet to come, most of the equipment still locked away, my base still a nascent thing, and only a handful of the side missions complete, I'd give The Phantom Pain full marks, easy.

Hundreds of hours of gameplay, a truly satisfying open world with lots of things to do, tons of optional content, the smartest AI ever seen in a stealth game... it sounds so beautiful.

[gunswordfist]

 

[Peanutbutter]

Reviews for MGS5 are out. Of the 16 I've seen, only one of them was below a 9/10, and it's gotten seven 10's so far.

Not that reviews really mean anything, but damn, this is simultaneously justifying and reigniting my hype. Why isn't the game released yet!?

Yeah, safe to say reviews don't mean as much today because of the game reviewers being the AAA companies' pockets. It does at least indicate that those micro transgressions are minimal so I can't wait to get this game.

[Foggle]

Yeah, safe to say reviews don't mean as much today because of the game reviewers being the AAA companies' pockets.

Unfortunately, I think this has always been true, at least to some extent. What's important is that the content of the review matches what you can see for yourself in gameplay videos, which seems to be the case for MGS5.

[Spark Of Spirit]

New Star Fox Zero box-art looks awesome:

[gunswordfist]

It's a prequel?

[Spark Of Spirit]

Sort of a prequel/reboot/new game. Nintendo hasn't been clear about it.

[gunswordfist]

My head hurts.

[Foggle]

It's probably a sequel to the SNES and N64 games that ignores all the later stuff no one likes. Or something. At least, that's how I'd do it.

[gunswordfist]

Star Foggle.