Planetside 2 and the Witcher 2. I love the Witcher 2 so much. I actually think it broke a lot of other games for me.

Tokyo Jungle
Tribes Ascend
Quantum Conundrum
Terreria
Zelda: Skyward Sword
Fez
Diablo3
Dragon Age Origins (yeah, still)
Solitaire

In Reply To #121

I really want Witcher 2. Will not playing the first one be a bad thing if I play 2?

In Reply To #123

Witcher I was very good concept-wise. But the gameplay didn't win me over.

XCOM - Enemy Unknown

Rather than break down what I think here's a little story:

I’d got in the habit of moving rookies forward first in case the aliens come from a direction I didn’t anticipate so they can be cannon fodder if they end up in the open. One mission I accidentally did this with my most upgraded veteran (the heavy that survived the tutorial). The aliens came from a direction that left him and a rookie completely exposed. Sure enough the aliens took out the hapless new recruit . . . but then something brilliant happened. My badass veteran of many missions panicked! Maybe you would if you saw someone blasted into a pulp and knew you were next! This may sound like a disaster but he panicked as a veteran should, by running around to the correct side of the cover and firing wildly at nothing. The aliens next shots missed him and he lived to fight another day.

Really enjoying this and will definitely keep me occupied until such time as I decide to buy Dishonoured.

In Reply To #125

Played the demo earlier, very pleased that the controls seem to work on the xbox (I end up playing games more on the xbox due to a) sofa and b) larger telly)

But I probably won't be buying it for a while because I resent their £40 price tag, the robbing bastards (games cost £20, or £30 if they are fucking brilliant, no matter what the distributor says)

Dishonored is pretty great.

Been playing quite a bit of Planetside 2(thanks Holliday for the key!). It's pretty fun if you get into a squad that actually communicates. My major problem is that there's no real sense of progression for most of the unlocks as they're really only side grades. There are a few, especially with Certifications for the vehicles that actually do feel like progress but by and large...

On top of that land capturing for your faction can be a very short term thing as areas are able to be recaptured immediately if an opposing force has the power to in the area. While this makes to logic sense it rather boils down to all the fighting taking place in a few areas, leaving most of the map untouched.

Thankfully so far it's been balanced to the point where it avoids Pay2Win, but I think it does it at the cost of any real sense your character or the world is progressing. The world progression will hopefully feel more significant once more continents open up. To be honest I think I might actually like the lack of true character progression as it avoids the "I can't play with my friends who just started" scenario. So...yeah that's some preliminary thoughts on PS2 at the moment.

On another note with all the Dishonored ads playing every time I want to watch a youtube video I decided to re-install Thief: Deadly Shadows as I never finished it. Been having a blast playing it and the gameplay is actually better than most games released in the last few years. Gonna try to find my copy of Thief 2:The Metal Age and see how that holds up.

I would try XCOM but years ago I played Final Fantasy Tactics and while I loved it, after playing it I decided I could never bring myself to play another game of that style ever. This is mostly due to the fact that while my save file said I had about 50 hours of play time, in actuality it must have been closer to 80 or 90 with all the failings and resuming from earlier saves to retrain my soldiers for a particular fight.

P.S. If you like Thief you'll love Dishonored.

In Reply To #129

I'm pretty sure I would but the $60 price tag just doesn't make it worth it, especially since I'll probably only play through it once.

Witcher 2 on Xbox.

I'm at the beginning part of the this game. It seems really cool. They clarly were thinking about controllers from very early on.

Warhammer 40k DoW2: Every time I've tried to play this before i've ran into technical issues, computer isn't good enough, computer breaking, computer overheating, something.

It's not as cool as Company of Heroes imo.

In Reply To #123

I didn't play past the tutorial section in Witcher 1 and Witcher 2 hasn't been in any meaningful way confusing. Like maybe I would have appreciated something more had I played 1 but I'm like 2 and a half hours in and it's not been an issue.

In Reply To #132

Excellent. Adding it to the to play list then.

Started playing Mass Effect 1 yet again. Engineer this time. Mako still sucks huge amounts of ass but the game is as fun as always.

In Reply To #131
I play it on PC but 1/2 of the time I use my 360 controller to play it, it is really well suited for that control style. Only the item interface is a little hokey (though it even is on the PC to be honest).

IRT Coyote:
I played the Witcher 1 in a marathon session when sick for 3 or 4 days a few years ago. I thought the game was fantastic and is one of my favorite games I've ever played. However, necessary for the Witcher 2? Not really. They give you all the main story points that matter within the prologue. If you import a save from witcher 1 it changes mostly conversation interactions in a few moments, and one person is friend/foe that you meet later on depending on his/her fate in Witcher 1, but it really doesn't have deep deep effects.

Being that the Witcher 2 is just so damned beautiful, deep and fun to play I'd go right to it. This is especially true with the Enhanced Edition since they add even more back-story details in little segments of the main game.

In Reply To #128
So far PS2 can go anywhere from feeling like playing a pick-up game of Battlefield to an amazingly cooperative and meaningful experience. Sometimes I'll jump on, find some fight or a squad where things are loosely organized and just fight it out like an MP shooter ala Battlefield. Other times I find a squad that has a plan, organization and some strategic notion of what to attack and why. Those times are great as we sweep through the map, go after remote objectives, send out scouts and eventually join with multiple squads in a large multi-front conflict at some huge intersection.

I think it might be the kind of game I always 'play' once a month or so. Making it free to play is ideal for this. You can jump on, see if what you want out of it is going on and then keep going or do something else. If there was a monthly fee attached I'd want that perfect experience more often but for free, i'll take casual pick-up fun mixed with some great evenings of real impact.