JoyPads Plays

What have the gang been playing this week? Lets see…

Darren Kerwin – This week I have been playing Metroid Fusion again on the Gameboy Micro in anticipation for Metroid: Other M. The game is a rather fun one, quite colourful. I have only entered sector 2 so far, and the evil SA-X is on the loose and looking for Samus. Samus is currently trying to work out what is going on in the station and is unlocking certain areas to progress further into the game. There is some excellent music so far and really compliments the areas well. It’s hard to believe that this game was released nine years ago; it’s quite amazing even today. I remember picking this up for about £10 and it has been a great purchase. I think this is the fourth time I have played the game and it never gets old.

Alex Duffy – This week has been a Tales-themed week for me mostly as I’ve been playing both Tales of Innocence and Tales of Vesperia. Tales of Innocence follows a boy called Luca as he gets caught up in a whole heap of business after discovering he’s an Avatar, a person who was from the mighty kingdom of Devaloka in a past life, with amazing powers. Tales of Vesperia, meanwhile, follows Yuri, a troublemaker from the lower quarter of Zaphias who meets a mysterious girl called Estellise and discovers more and more about the world such as about the blastia, ancient technology which powers a lot of the world. Both have similar yet different mechanics, yet both are good games with distinctly different characters. Tales of Innocence has characters such as the rogue bully Spada and the kindhearted yet slightly boring Ange, while Tales of Vesperia has people such as the aggressive Rita who likes burning people and the knowledgeable Judith. She bounces. Ahem. Anyway, both are good games with decent yet sometimes confusing stories; the same can be said for the mechanics. They’re not games for everyone, but they’re good games nontheless.

Scott Widdowson – This week I have been playing Halo Wars. I have completed the game with Ian in co-op. At first I was playing a lot of skirmish matches. I was just clearing up on the skirmish achievements and figuring out different playing styles to play against AI and non AI players. I know which areas to upgrade quickly, so it benefits me early on during the game. I had a fun time playing with Ian through co-op. Especially on the flood levels and Halo Wars definitely has the best cut-scenes I have seen on the Xbox 360. I brought Halo Wars for £9.98. Great price for a game which has plenty of replay value. I like my RTS games as I’m a big fan of Command & Conquer on the PC and Starcraft. I’ve also been playing Assassins Creed 1. Near the end now so it won’t be long till I will be playing Assassins Creed 2 and telling you my tales in the future JoyPads Plays, through the eyes of Ezio Auditore.

Ian Windram – This week I’ve been playing a mixture of games. Halo Wars Co-op with Scott to finish all campaign missions and find all Skulls/Black Boxes. Took us a while but we finally done it. I think I’ll take a break from Halo Wars now and focus on my other games…Such as Assassins Creed 2. I got this last week for £8 and I love it. I might only be on Act 2 but I’m really liking this game. Next week I’ll probably have Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition as my played game…

Cory Lee Dunn – Another week, another part by me with little to talk in depth about. I’ve been playing 3 games this week, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Batman Arkham Asylum GotY and Dragon Age: Origins. Starting with the 2 I spoke about last week, Bad Company 2 and Batman AA, there isn’t much I can add. I’ve only been doing BC2 multiplayer, which is at least 50x better than any CoD game as long as you have friends and Batman I’m still slowly making my way through an amazing story mode, even for me a person who isn’t the biggest Batman fan around, but likes it a lot more after this game! Finally my latest game, Dragon Age: Origins, for the Xbox 360. Baring in mind I’ve already completed the PC version twice, I have to say the 360 version is a lot better than I expected the graphics are very good compared to the highest PC settings and due to the different camera angle, I see details I didn’t notice on the PC, the controls work and they work a lot better then one would assume considering the game was made with a mouse and keyboard in mind.

Owen Chapman – Ok, so I’ve hardly been busy this week, but there’s not been that much going on with me in terms of games. I got my 1000G on Mirror’s edge, didn’t know what to play, and at random picked out Rainbow Six Vegas 2 to play. Frankly, and as with most other shooters, I don’t like it, but it’s about time after 2 years that I played it through or chucked it. I hope I’ve played the most of it. It’s been very dull, and my AI teammates are such bumbling morons that one tends to get in the way of the other and they get stuck in a doorway, right about the time when you actually need their help. I really shouldn’t subject myself to this rudimentary form of torture. Gaming is meant to be about having fun. Sigh.

Ben Stewart – The most recent and most interesting thing I’ve played is the Japanese Story Trailer for Metroid: Other M… because I’ve played sod all games this week. But anyway, it’s made me REALLY confident that this will be my Game of the Year. Here’s my verdict on what I saw.

The level of detail put into the movie clips, is staggering and instantly reminded me of Metal Gear Solid, which in a Metroid game is something I’ve always dreamed of! The voice actor for Samus sounds good! I have yet to decide about the English version, but I’m not that worried as I’ve seen some pretty good acting from other characters. Since I have a 190 word limit, I have been prevented from analysing the whole trailer bit by bit, but has allowed me to lay down all the points of interest. This game is the most cinematic Wii game available, with it having over 1hr of cutscenes in total. I’m also preparing for a really dark, cinematic story that grips me from start to finish.

Based on what I’ve seen, if you don’t buy this game, you’re really missing out.