What are you currently playing? 4.0

[Foggle]

So I started playing Max Payne 2 again... this game is a lot better than I remember! The shooting feels much more fluid than it did the first time, which I attribute to Windows 7 having smoother compatibility than Vista. The writing is brilliant, and so far the atmosphere/level design are hitting all the right notes earlier and more often than the first game did. The graphics are still excellent, too, if you ignore the horrifyingly uncanny valley-esque female faces.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I haven't played the game in ages, but I at least like how peoples' faces in that game didn't so blatantly look like they were cut directly out of a comic book and pasted onto them like in the 1st game. That just came off as really fucking awkward.

[Spark Of Spirit]

This month's Club Nintendo games are out:

3DS - Pictobits (150 coins)
Wii - Snowpack Park (150 coins)
3DS - 3D Classics: Urban Champion (150 coins)

I've heard good things about Pictobits, so I'll look into that one. And I knew Urban champion would be up there one day. Friggin' knew it.

[Foggle]

Damn, Part 2 of Max Payne 2 drags on for far too long. Part 1 is great and Part 3 is absolutely brilliant, but Part 2 is just boring. Especially the chapters where you play as Mona. Ugh.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Its been ages since I played MP2, but I remember one really frustrating part in the game when playing as Mona where Max got injured and you had to give him cover fire and snipe out guys who were coming after him before they killed him. I'm not sure if that part was just frustratingly hard in general or if I just sucked way too much at the game back then (to be honest, its probably the latter, since I did suck as shooters at that time), but its probably my least fond memory of a Max Payne game.

[Foggle]

It's not really "hard," but it's extremely bland and drags on for about 30 minutes. I mean, you're only actually sniping for around 1/4 of that time period, but the whole thing just runs together. Five straight chapters at an abandoned construction site; quite possibly the blandest environment in the shooter genre's repertoire.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The Green Stars in Galaxy 2 are sooo boring. Some of them are placed in annoying to reach spots, and some are too hard to see, but none are particularly fun to get. This pretty much the definition of "filler".

And I still have like 38 to go. 

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, I still need to replay the game regardless. I do like how Rockstar isn't going in that gameplay direction with MP3, though, unless they have some surprises in store that I'm unaware of. I'm honestly one of those gamers who generally dislikes having mandatory character switching in the middle of a game, even if it doesn't really change the core gameplay in any significant way. I suppose I just like the feeling of seeing a character through an entire game from start to finish without any interruptions. Its one reason I always detested the addition of Rachel in Ninja Gaiden Sigma. She actually actively made the game worse for me, since she forcibly broke up the perfect flow and pacing of the core game and her actual gameplay was far weaker and less interesting than Ryu's, and to me they are by far some of the most bland gameplay segments in the entire NG series (to be honest, they are probably even worse, mechanically, than Ninja Gaiden 3, which is saying A LOT).

Anyways, on the point of Max Payne, I really feel Max is the only character I should be playing as, and I like that MP3 seems to get that and isn't throwing any character switching gimmick at us.

To be fair, the character switching thing isn't always bad. I particularly liked switching from Nero to Dante in DMC4, for example, but then I got pissed when I had to switch back from Dante to Nero....and immediately go into fighting a series of bosses that I had already fought TWICE before in the game up to that point!

[Foggle]

Well, I still need to replay the game regardless. I do like how Rockstar isn't going in that gameplay direction with MP3, though, unless they have some surprises in store that I'm unaware of. I'm honestly one of those gamers who generally dislikes having mandatory character switching in the middle of a game, even if it doesn't really change the core gameplay in any significant way. I suppose I just like the feeling of seeing a character through an entire game from start to finish without any interruptions. Its one reason I always detested the addition of Rachel in Ninja Gaiden Sigma. She actually actively made the game worse for me, since she forcibly broke up the perfect flow and pacing of the core game and her actual gameplay was far weaker and less interesting than Ryu's, and to me they are by far some of the most bland gameplay segments in the entire NG series (to be honest, they are probably even worse, mechanically, than Ninja Gaiden 3, which is saying A LOT).

Yeah, I agree with you. I like how in RE 6 there are 3 playable characters, but the game doesn't jump around between them. You go through one story, then move onto the next one.

Anyways, on the point of Max Payne, I really feel Max is the only character I should be playing as, and I like that MP3 seems to get that and isn't throwing any character switching gimmick at us.

Agreed. Though some ex-Remedy guys made an incredibly awesome mod where you play as Mona in between the events of Max Payne 1 and 2. Really enjoyed that one.

To be fair, the character switching thing isn't always bad. I particularly liked switching from Nero to Dante in DMC4, for example, but then I got pissed when I had to switch back from Dante to Nero....and immediately go into fighting a series of bosses that I had already fought TWICE before in the game up to that point!

Capcom should have just made the entire game about Dante. I mean, they could have easily turned the whole Devil Bringer thing into a style instead of a new character...

[gunswordfist]

Interesting that RE6 will handle the characters like that. I want to like character switching in one story mode but I can't think of any good examples, even if I don't actually hate Raiden that much. It was decent in Chaos Legion. That's all I got.

[Rynnec]

Well, I still need to replay the game regardless. I do like how Rockstar isn't going in that gameplay direction with MP3, though, unless they have some surprises in store that I'm unaware of. I'm honestly one of those gamers who generally dislikes having mandatory character switching in the middle of a game, even if it doesn't really change the core gameplay in any significant way. I suppose I just like the feeling of seeing a character through an entire game from start to finish without any interruptions. Its one reason I always detested the addition of Rachel in Ninja Gaiden Sigma. She actually actively made the game worse for me, since she forcibly broke up the perfect flow and pacing of the core game and her actual gameplay was far weaker and less interesting than Ryu's, and to me they are by far some of the most bland gameplay segments in the entire NG series (to be honest, they are probably even worse, mechanically, than Ninja Gaiden 3, which is saying A LOT).

Anyways, on the point of Max Payne, I really feel Max is the only character I should be playing as, and I like that MP3 seems to get that and isn't throwing any character switching gimmick at us.

To be fair, the character switching thing isn't always bad. I particularly liked switching from Nero to Dante in DMC4, for example, but then I got pissed when I had to switch back from Dante to Nero....and immediately go into fighting a series of bosses that I had already fought TWICE before in the game up to that point!

Having some experience with NG 3, I can definitely agree that yes, Rachel does in fact play worse than NG3. At least in 3 I actually feel in control of my character, with Rachel I'm just flipping around shit like an idiot. Rachel's gameplay had some good things going for it, but the execution leaves much to be desired.

Capcom should have just made the entire game about Dante.  I mean, they could have easily turned the whole Devil Bringer thing into a style instead of a new character...

I don't mind Nero personally. I actually like him as a character, his gameplay just needed to be a little more refined is all.

[Foggle]

I don't mind Nero personally. I actually like him as a character, his gameplay just needed to be a little more refined is all.

Nero was fine. Kyrie on the other hand...

[Rynnec]

I don't mind Nero personally. I actually like him as a character, his gameplay just needed to be a little more refined is all.

Nero was fine. Kyrie on the other hand...

"KYRIEEEEEEEE!!!!!"



On the bright side, at least there weren't any escort missions with her (unless you can't that minigame during the credits).

[Foggle]

I love those credits mini-games! They're pretty easy, but playing them is a lot better than watching text scroll on a black background.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Jokes intended to piss GSF aside........I don't mind Nero either.

I REALLY disliked how Capcom got lazy and decided it would be enough to make you play through the same areas again as Dante, though. Yeah, his gameplay is different, but playing through Nero's levels is just flat-out bland design. If they are going to make you play as Dante, he deserves to get his own levels. If they were going to go this route with the game, then IMO they may as well have made the entire game about Nero and just designed more levels for him. They could have simply just allowed you to unlock Dante and play through the game as him after beating it with Nero (similar to how DMC3 Special Edition allowed you to play through the entire game as Vergil).

Foggle's example of RE6 is a good one. To me, that is the proper way to handle multiple characters in a game. They should each get their own separate sections, rather than forcing the player to switch between them against their will.

One game which I wish employed that method between its 2 main characters is Halo 2, in which you played as either Master Chief or The Arbiter. Personally I would have much rather played through MC's missions first since it was really disorienting for me to switch to The Arbiter in the middle of the game and get used to fighting heretics (which was really confusing since they were also Covenant, but they just happened to look slightly different than you, but I still got them mixed up with my own guys, hence why they didn't last long ). Also I didn't like having to go through some of The Arbiter's missions which were mostly Flood and I would have at least like to have enjoyed MC's missions before having to do those missions, since on my first run through I really hated having to slog through the boring Flood levels just to get to the good stuff again.