So I recently finished playing Xcom: Enemy Unknown a turn-based tactical role-playing strategy game. Such a freaking great game. Excellent story, sound track, game play and replay value. Only disappointment is the reuse of maps but overall its a great game. I would love to have this turn-based tactical role-playing strategy for Mass Effect or with their characters and even fantasy based games that uses magic. To me Xcom: Enemy Unknown is the game of the year for 2012. Right now I'm playing Valve's Portal 2. I have heard great things about it but watching some screen shots and game play on Youtube didn't look so interesting until I finally play it. This is such a fun and most originally brilliant game play that I have ever played. Hats off to Valve for coming up with this the most creative game. It's a bit like Mirror Edge and Bioshock(without the violent). I love the way it set you up and learning all the basic stuff and then throw you into the rabbit hole and you have to dig your way out. It's one of the game that you that put a smile on your face and would slap yourself in the back and brag how smart you all after finishing a level. Do yourself and get this game and play it! Also do not give up and Youtube how to get pass a level. I have fought on many levels and on a couple of levels I was about to give in and Youtube it but fighting through it and figuring it out yourself is pretty exhilarating at the end. Right now I'm stuck on chapter 7 on I think level 7. I so far figure out how to get up into this area with tubes/pipes going up to somewhere but not sure where to go from there. Such a great level that you learn how to apply the GELS. So if you want to play this game make sure to stay away from Youtube and watch people play because it will take away from the fun because it's more fun discovering it out for yourself. The only problem with this game is that the replay won't be any fun the second time around. The second time around would be just getting through the level must faster and finishing the game must faster if you remember all the moves.
I have heard about Xcom and it sounds pretty interesting. Might have to check it out, but I have so many games on the shelf to play right now. Portal 2: This game is awesome. I finished the first one when it came out with Orange Box. I got pretty far into Portal 2 and then made a big mistake when I thought the girlfriend might like it... I wanted to start from the beginning so she could go through the basics, but I had to delete all of my data (single and co-op) beforehand. Total regret after she showed the unwillingness to use her brain and make an effort to learn the controls. Oh well. I'm currently playing Halo 4 and BioShock 1. Halo 4 is your typical Halo game but BETTER. I love the new interface and weapons. Plus the new breed of aliens are hella awesome. BioShock 1 is proving to be a cool FPS, and quite creepy. I like it so far.
Hard to top the first Portal, but Portal 2 did just that. The immersion is absolutely incredible and I love how they flesh out the backstory through the environment. Still need to go back and play Halo 4 on Legendary. The campaign was awesome and the Prometheans were a refreshing villain after so many years of Flood. And for best bang for your buck, it's hard to beat. 10-12hr campaign with 50 more missions in Spartan Ops and then multiplayer. I just wish the online play matched you up with people at your own skill level and that it offered a free-for-all slayer instead of only team play. Just finished ACIII and it was really good too. Has some issues though. Connor is not as likeable as a protagonist as Altair or Ezio. And the ending was too short. Gameplay was fantastic though.
Still playing / competing in Counter-strike: Global Offensive. For those of you who haven't played it but liked Counter-strike or would like to try a pure fps, you should give it a shot -- the community seems to be growing steadily and the majority of pro 1.6 / source players (as well as CoD and other communities) are already playing. The game itself is still getting patched often, and it's often on sale for about $7.50 on Xbox live / Steam. Beyond that I've been playing my Wii U a lot (Nintendoland is GREAT). I still feel like the console has a lot of promise, but they do need to release some new games with the quickness. Rayman: Legends getting pushed back was a stupid mistake by Ubisoft and a huge blow for Nintendo. I beat the first temple in Skyward Sword a couple weeks ago -- man I wish this was in HD, the gameplay is incredible. I played some Spartan Ops in Halo 4 with my wife over the weekend; I'll take my moments when I can get her to play a fps. Beyond that I'm still playing Borderlands 2 (36 assassin/sniperrr), Far Cry 3, and I need to finish Max Payne 3. Oh and I tried out the Crysis 3 multiplayer beta. It seems like yet another Crysis game where there's no point to the multiplayer; I hope the single player is good...
Is Nintendoland enough to justify purchasing a Wii U now? I may wait for Wind Waker in HD or maybe something else of value. Borderlands 2 was my pick for GOTY. That game was refreshing and just flat-out awesome. Played with a few characters up to about level 20 and then finished regular and Vault Hunter mode with a Gunzerker (lvl 50). Unfortunately I have only played one of the DLCs though, so I plan on sometime playing through those with a new character.
My honest is opinion is I feel like it is. There are a TON of minigames on Nintendoland. The metroid ones are probably my favorite; very cool. To be frank though, you're going to have trouble finding other games to play for another couple months it seems. Mario bros wii u is pretty fun too. The only DLC I'm really interested in is the "Carnage" DLC...the rest seem pretty lackluster which is sad.
My roommate bought the game after I showed him some reviews and we both love it. The game can be frustrating (playing on Classic and above), but we enjoy the challenge. I would love to see more games like Xcom. Portal 2 is amazing. Being a huge fan of the first, I got it the day it was released. Played the co-op too; had a good time bonding with my younger brother. I just beat Dead Space 3 yesterday. Now, I'm going to give hardcore mode a try and accomplish some of the achievements I missed. Also, playing Xcom on the side. I'm waiting for the new Tomb Raider next month.
For anyone who saw the previous Xcom thread, I know I sound like a broken record, but... seriously, play the original if you haven't yet. $5 on Steam I believe. Graphics aside, to me it is clearly a better game than the remake. And that's saying something, since the remake is an excellent game in its own right. But it's not top 10 all-time material like the original. For myself, I did finally grab Crusader Kings 2. That's been pretty awesome. Playing that whenever I'm not obsessively trying to finish Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. Dang Monster Hunter games are like crack...
If you haven't yet played Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning.. DO IT. This game is incredible, excellent story, fun gameplay, and it's deep enough that you will still be learning things about the game well into it. And it can be had for cheap now too.
If you like first-person puzzle games check out Antichamber on Steam. It's only $20 and I found it awesome, it's a really unique game that challenges you to think outside the box. It's pretty hard too, I still haven't beat it. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aGsnm2nOnso" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>