What are you playing on your computer?

Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition

Was watching someone play this and thought it looked cool, and decided to give it a go since it was only a couple of quid on Steam. So far I am liking it and have been comparing it favourably to the Grand Theft Auto games. Even the more recent ones, which to be honest I feel like still largely carry the same problems as the older games. But to be clear what I really mean is the GTA games haven't exactly been for me - obviously they are very highly regarded by a lot of people and that's fine.

I also can't make the fairest comparison to GTA 5 because I kind of forgot a lot about the game. But I think it not being too memorable for me is telling anyway.

Everything in Sleeping Dogs just feels snappier, with missions in particular flowing a lot better. Grand Theft Auto I guess goes more for 'realism' so there's a lot of tedium. I've also been finding the missions themselves a bit more fun. They're probably easier but there's a lot less waiting around, and less of a requirement for exactness.

Sleeping Dogs has a decent substitute for objective markers, which in a lot of modern games keep your eyes trained to a pointer on the HUD or minimap. Here arrows pop up as holographic signs on the road, which isn't exactly conducive to immersion, but it means you can more easily take in the sights of environment - which look quite nice - and also keep a track of where you're going.

I have got so much time for Sleeping Dogs. I think I've finished it 100% twice now, once on PC and once on PS4 and had a blast both times. There's something about the Hong Kong setting and the focus on melee combat that captivates me in a way that GTA doesn't.

Twice, damn. I was watching someone 100% it not too long ago too. The Hong Kong setting is really cool for an open world game. Is fresh.

I've been playing a little bit of Shining Resonance Refrain. Was only a quid so couldn't resist. Really liking the look of the game so far.

Not playing, but I just picked up an issue of White Dwarf which comes with a code for 12 games & 2 lots of DLC with some decent value due to Vermintide II being in it for instance.

I might give the first Total Warhammer a bash.

Vermintide is a pretty good game and I'm sure the sequel is good as well.

I have the first Total Warhammer and it's a solid Total War game. I tend to lose the energy to finish any given campaign as the win conditions are just a bit much but there's fun to be had there for sure.

Played a lot of Humankind, to see defeat in the end, a good 600 turns in.

It's more simple than Civ in some ways then more complicated in others as I couldn't launch my nuclear missile as the British had the 3rd uranium deposit which I couldn't buy off them as they hadn't unlocked mining of it.

Nickelodeon All Stars Brawl. Decided to get this on PC since at £22 it was by far the cheapest option, and physical console versions aren't out until next month.

I was initially not going to get this game. I'd been off Smash and fighting games in general for a while, but after talking about it with a friend it seemed like it'd be fun to give a go. There were also a couple of things I knew about it that I had found appealing for a while: an increased emphasis on competitive play compared to recent Smash games, and rollback netcode - which in layman terms is basically the best kind of netcode you can get for a fighting game.

So far I've been having a lot of fun with it, and as someone who grew up watching Nickelodeon shows I have a fondness for a lot of these characters. It's a melting pot that sort of recreates my experience with earlier Smash games but, of course, the main appeal for me is the gameplay and how it's communicated through the visuals - they may come off as a bit simple but they lend themselves well to the fastness and fluidity.

A lot of people have been saying the game is 'just Smash with Nickelodeon characters' which is understandable but very reductive. For a start there are a fair few platform fighting games now. Like how Street Fighter II inspired a genre of fighters that people may have initially dismissed as 'clones', it'd be nice if people could just see this game as another platform fighter. It's obviously very similar to Smash but there are a lot of mechanically differences and new things here that distinguish it enough to make it its own thing. For the record, I don't really have an issue with people calling the game a Smash clone, just the way they seem to use the term dismissively.

That aside, I can't quite recommend this game to everyone even though I enjoy it a lot. Even by modern Smash standards, the singleplayer is very barebones. It has an arcade mode that's basically each character fighting a set of characters. There are local battles with a few modes, and an extras section with unlockables which is like a big gallery. It's not quite a love letter to fans like Smash is, which also has items that celebrate the series history. Some people have also expressed disappointment at the roster of 20 at launch, but personally I'm okay with it. It's cool that they've gone for some unconventional choices like April O'Neil from TMNT.

It is an indie developer behind this game, but I can understand people not thinking this is worth the full retail price (as it will be on most platforms). I'm expecting the game to improve a lot over time however, and for the price of the physical copies to be pretty reasonable after a while (when they do come out).

On paper, there's a lot about NSAB that I appreciated - the implementation of some more advanced battling techniques, rollback netcode and devs that really seem to care about the platform fighter sub-genre. But, I think the lower budget look of the game is going to hamper it in the long run. The sound effects and hits are all quite low impact and some characters have some really ropey animations. There's also a weightlessness to the gameplay that makes the combat seem a bit floaty, which doesn't help with the low impact feel of the game.

Couple that with things like no character voices - seems like a big miss considering the source material - and the price of the game not marrying up to the feel of the game and you've got one that I'll be waiting for a sale.

I guess it would have been hard for them to put all the voices in there but it does seem like a big miss. Gutting not to have Nigel Thornberry shout smashing whenever he gets a KO, or do this whenever he taunts.

Still, it's good to see that there is a good game in there.

I've been playing F1 2021 on my PC. One of the few modern sports games that treads that line between sim and arcade quite well. The damage modeling in the game sucks, but the handling is pretty good and feels realistic enough to me, but there are plenty of assists to help keep you on the road. You can also adjust so much about the AI through sliders that everyone is bound to find a setting for them.

One of the cool yet underbaked features is voice recognition. You can ask your engineer for updates or whatever as you race instead of going through a menu. He always claims not to understand me whenever I swear but deep down I bet he does. It's just a shame some of the commands are dumb. There's one called "who are we racing?" which always just tells you about the guy in front and the guy behind you. It won't take into account different pit strategies or your position in the league table. It's still handy in a pinch though as you can tell your team what tyres you want to swap onto and things like that without taking your eyes off the road.  

I mostly just play the My Team mode, which sees you compete in the championship as an owner/driver. That gives you some very light management aspects to develop your car over the course of however many seasons you want to play. It's quite fun if you're into developing a team from the back of the grid. I think to really get the most out of this you want to play with 50% race distances as this will give you a range of pit strategies and enough time in the race for safety cars and other events to occur in a meaningful way. To do a full season would take a long ass time as there are 22 races on the calendar I think, but you can trim the calendar down to a small number of events. This lets you get a good mix of racing and developing.

I still prefer Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 2, but until I can be bothered to install Dos Box on my computer I guess this will do.

You seen rumors of a WB Smash Clone?

Any of you planning on playing AoE IV? I've not played AoE for years but IV getting good reviews, looks good and on Game Pass is very tempting. Will need a external HDD though as my internal isn't big and will be downloading FM22 soon (will uninstall FM21) soon etc.

Very jealous of AoE4, but I can't justify a PC just for that, so I will just continue to be sad.

What are you one of those Mac kids?

I only have a work Mac, but I do prefer Mac in general.

Always knew you were bad egg, Andy.

I had age of empires 2 on the ps2 which was a dreadful platform for it. I could potentially download it via gamepass pc if you want someone to play against one day Mas.

I feel that Mac really embraces my zero effort lifestyle...

The opposite for me, it's like another language to decode with stuff all in the wrong place.

I do think a Mac looks sleek but when I have tried to use one, I'm like where is things.

I did oddly own I want to say a Apple 2.

I genuinely like Macs. I don't like iPhones, which means I have the unhelpful combination of a Mac trying to talk to an Android 'phone - but I do like Macs. I have a Windows laptop for work, so I've seen both sides.

It’s not super easy to move from Windows to Mac. It took me a couple of weeks to get comfy with it. Love the integration with iPhone personally, especially the messaging app and AirDrop. Balla, I can’t imagine what Android phones have that would make it worthwhile to choose it over iPhone.

Not a fan of either Google or Apple btw, just think Mac is a good computer

Headphone jacks mainly. I still don't have Bluetooth headphones but I do have a bunch of wired ones, and Apple phasing out the headphone jack was the trigger that made me shift. Also more so than other 'phones, it felt like I was being asked to pony up more and more money for the same old stuff. I do miss the easy integration with my computer of the iPhone though.

You can buy a 3.5mm to lightning adapter for a few quid though!

Back when hang out with a mate who had a repair shop, always joked how iPhones more expensive than Android counter parts with them being behind the Android phone for features.

No idea now, as I've just got a cheap smartphone.

neil wrote:

You can buy a 3.5mm to lightning adapter for a few quid though!

You can, but (1) you can't charge and listen through headphones at the same time and (2) it became a bit of a matter of principle. Apple has always tried to suffocate people in their ecosystem, through things like having a completely different port to every other device: this felt like another step towards the same thing, trying to make me buy Lightning headphones rather than using all the ones I already had. No thanks.

How would you like to play Rain on your Parade on your computer? Well here's a code for the game and it's DLC on Steam for whoever gets there first.

Game code (Steam): 8CZLT-E7QHY-3Z9IY

DLC: 7K664-ARKI2-FN6KP

Might want to keep that to PMs Smurf, otherwise any stranger browsing the forum can pick it up!