What We’ve Been Playing: 8/17/13

Ever wanted to know what the Sega Addicts staff do in their off time? Or know what games they play at the very least? That’s right… it’s back! For new readers this section runs for a short time every once in a while and gives you guys a chance to discuss the games (Sega or not) that we, and you, have been playing.

So while we let the engines of The Sega Addicts Speakcool down lets divulge into the wonderful universe of general videogame talk! Hit the jump to find out our games of the week in the first all-new installment of What We’ve Been Playing!

Anthony Pershkin:
I’ve played a bunch of games this week. Since I’m still trying to deal with my ever growing backlog, I’ve gone back to Metroid Prime 2 Echoes since it’s pretty much the only Metroid game I didn’t finish. And honestly I think I like it a lot more than the original Prime. Prime 1 was very raw in terms of exploration. It was way too easy to get lost in it. Prime 2 has a more linear approach. Something more similar to Metroid Fusion or Zero Mission (my favorite Metroid, btw). It’s not that I don’t like exploration, I just don’t like to feel like I’m wasting time.

I also picked up WWE All Stars. Probably one of the few good wrestling games of this console generation. All Stars plays more like an arcade fighting game with ridiculous special moves. It’s very fast, arcade-y and just fun. I play it all the time between my Dragon’s Crown sessions. Oh, and Dragon’s Crown is just magical. Vanillaware never fail me.

Of course, the main event of this week for me is The Wonderful 101 demo. I don’t think I’ve ever played a single demo so many times. And you have to play it several times. It becomes a completely different game when you actually know what you’re doing. Hideki Kamiya was right when he said that the first playthrough is just practice. The real game starts when you master all of your sick moves. So yeah, I’m super hyped for The Wonderful 101. UNITE HYPE.

Alex Delia:

I’ve have been playing iOS stuff mostly, as I usually do these days. I’m loving Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded on iPad. It really takes me back. Even though I prefer the original VGA remake of Lounge Lizards, the existence of Reloaded is enough to make me smile.

On my iPhone I’ve been playing Sonic Dash almost daily and I also cracked open the original Doom in light of the recent John Carmack news. Nothing beats Doom in my opinion, and having ultraviolent satanic imagery in my pocket is a great feeling.

Scott Morrison:
I’ll get the non-Sega stuff out of the way first. I’ve been enjoying Tales of Xillia with one of my roommates, and it’s a pretty nice addition to the Tales’ series as it does a few things differently, but still has the same charm I’ve grown to love since Symphonia. The cutscenes are also beautifully done and the game overall is so vibrant that I catch myself just staring at the world sometimes.

Thanks to the ridiculous PS Plus Rayman-related sale, I snagged the first Rayman for my Vita and have been enjoying that on breaks at work. My Vita is slowly turning into a portable PS One. Regardless, Rayman still makes me laugh with its quirky humor and fun characters.

Lastly, I started playing Resident Evil on Sega Saturn again after watching a playthrough of the Battle Mode only available on the Saturn version. My intentions were to finally conquer the Battle Mode only to find that my save files had become corrupt. I used this as an excuse to play through the game again. As I’ve said in the forums, I can’t recall how many times I’ve played through the first RE, and was somewhat surprised with how many little things I remembered in the game. However this discovery soon turned into cockiness and I ended up dying way more times than I should have. Let’s just say that the close range shotgun is not the best weapon for vomiting zombies. That in mind, I forgot how challenging that game was with the item management, but it makes me miss old-school survival even more. It also makes me more anxious to play Mikami’s new game The Evil Within.

So there you have it. I’m traversing anime worlds, while punching baddies with my invisible limbs, all in hopes of determining why Wesker is such a douche bag.

Kris Knigge:

I’ve been alternating between my Saturn and arcades this week. I picked up cheap copies of Panzer Dragoon Zwei and NiGHTS to go along with my white 3D controller, and they both hold up quite nicely. NiGHTS is really meant to be played with that controller even the HD port doesn’t quite have the same feel (it looks much better though). Panzer Dragoon Zwei is really tough, but the chaos is well handled since you can turn the camera to face enemies coming at you from any direction. I wonder why we don’t see that in more rail shooters…

In the arcades, I’ve been playing Guilty Gear Xrd and Persona 4 Climax in their loketest incarnations. Xrd is basically already the best sequel to Guilty Gear XX I could have imagined and P4C is definitely the followup to the game that made me stop playing fighters for a while (it was okay).

Stevie Grant:
This week I managed to finish Little Big Planet Vita. It was a neat little game except for the fact that it kept interrupting itself to demonstrate the Vita’s features nearly every level. The core gameplay works and there’s really no need for the touching stuff in that game other than the fact that they wanted to show off the Vita’s touch screen. I guess that’s the fate of launch games though.

Otherwise I played a bit of Mario and Luigi: Dream Team Bros and as a big fan of the series it really saddens me to say that this one just does not capture the same spark that was in the previous 3 RPG’s. I don’t know if it’s because the opening 4 hours are basically one big tutorial, or the fact that the writing just isn’t as funny, or even the fact that they really squander the dream premise, it just doesn’t feel up to the standards of the other Mario and Luigi titles. Maybe I just need to keep playing but so far it’s just a tad disappointing. You almost had a complete, perfect series Nintendo… almost.

And that’s all for now, but what have you guys been up to? Why don’t you let us know in the comments! That not your bag? Maybe you disagree with us on a game? Well now’s your chance to complain! Otherwise I’m off to play some more games for next week’s installment of What We’ve Been Playing, see you then!