What We’ve Been Playing After E3 2014

After the excitement of E3, the Non-Fiction Gaming crew have been settling back into our normal gaming schedule. Some of us have been searching for something new to play with varying degrees of success finding new and old gems. Others have been inspired by what was on show at E3 this year and are preparing for games yet to come.

How To Survive

Aidan

In my continuing quest to find games with decent couch co-op, I happened upon How To Survive. While zombie-based titles can often ride the wave of the zombie apocalypse fad and lack substance as games, How To Survive breaks this mould. The premise is simple: you get dumped on a zombie-infested island and have to find a way off.

How To Survive‘s story mode introduces you to various odd-ball characters. They drive the action and keep players continuing through the quests that would otherwise be tedious. Kovac’s Rules, short clips that explain various elements of the game, are actually refreshingly amusing. The writing is vaguely reminiscent of Red’s dialogue from Penumbra: Overture.

The game provides blueprints that teach players how they can combine certain items to better their chances of survival. What’s refreshing, however, is that much of the combinations are common sense and the exploration/trial-and-error feeling of a surviving a zombie apocalypse is retained. Complex but streamlined, How To Survive is diamond in the zombie-fad rough.

Monster Hunter 3: Ultimate

Emma

This week for me has been all about getting back into the Wii U. After all the E3 hype and new release announcements from Nintendo my confidence in this console is somewhat at ease now. I’ve been playing Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. This is the first time I’ve played this franchise and for a game that seems rather simplistic on the surface; hunting monsters and crafting gear to boot it has got me seriously hooked.

The multiplayer aspect is fantastic joining three other hunters from around the globe to hunt all sorts of harder creatures. The single player is a nice change of pace and I’m still enjoying working my way through those quests and unlocking more features for the village.

Mario Kart 8

And of course the Wii U wouldn’t have received nearly as much attention lately if Mario Kart 8 had not been released. I’ve never been big into the Mario Kart games but this one seems to have more unlocks than previous additions which has made me wanting to race more and more. That and always trying to improve upon every single turn in every single grand prix means the Wii U in our household is on more than it is off.

 Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeros

James Wilson

I’ve been playing, and trying to fully complete Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeros in preparation for The Phantom Pain. What I saw of it at E3 was good (though I’ve seen most of the trailers before), and the 30 minute demo hosted by Kojima had me wanting to play the game now.

Everyone knows the Metal Gear franchise as being a series of tactical action games and that is true, especially so in the relatively short Ground Zeros, however I think we’re in for a different experience when The Phantom Pain releases as it brings in a new ‘open-world’ element to the game. Hopefully this doesn’t take away from the satisfying feeling of sneaking around in a box like a badass.

Destiny

I’ve also been playing the Destiny Alpha on PS4, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the game. It capped me at level 8, but I still managed to get all kinds of cool loot, armour and weapons. It’s a new type of genre in some ways, because I don’t think I’ve really seen any 1st person RPG-like games before that give you as much freedom as Destiny does.

Even so, exploring what is left of earth with friends or beating them up in the Crucible is incredibly fun, and it’s still months before release!

inFamous: Second Sons

Senior Stiv

It’s been great breaking in my PS4 the past couple of weeks. I can assure you I’m getting as much use out of it as I can. I’ve been playing through inFamous: Second Son like a…well, a guy with superpowers. The city of Seattle has plenty of places to explore and lots to do, while also looking stunning on the machine. The story could be a bit more interesting, but I’m enjoying it nonetheless.

Destiny

I also had the opportunity to play the Destiny alpha recently. I have to say even with it being a limited alpha Destiny is showing a lot of promise in the co-op multiplayer realm. And in general it was just a whole lot of fun.

I’ll be posting my impressions soon to the site, so stay tuned.

Transistor

I also recently downloaded Transistor which again is proving Supergiant Game’s ability to tell complex, rich stories along with great gameplay. You’re provided with cool abilities, a giant sword and a dark, brooding story taking place in a beautiful, neon lit futuristic city.

Can’t wait to dig into Transistor more this weekend.

The Puppeteer

KRS 2

In my quest to find a new game to sink time into, I’ve started poking my head through what free games I’ve downloaded from the PlayStation Plus service. I only had about 15GB free on my PS3 and thought if I were to delete anything, it was going to be games I haven’t paid for!

So here is a quick rundown of my experiences with 30-60 minutes of game play with each:

The Puppeteer: A 2D platformer with similar game mechanics to Little Big Planet, but featuring puzzle and platform challenges requiring the clever use of a magical pair of scissors. The visual aesthetics are pretty remarkable as the game is presented as a puppet show before a live audience. However I deleted the game since all the story cut scenes at the beginning and end of each stage tend to be longer than the time you actually spend playing.

DmC: Devil May Cry

DmC Devil May Cry: My first ever Devil May Cry, what little I played was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to playing more of it once I get back home this weekend.

It’s just irritating that lots of people didn’t play this game because, “Oh my God! This isn’t MY Dante cos he’s hair isn’t white!” Like a bunch of bloody xenophobic twats…

Dynasty Warriors Next

Dynasty Warriors Next: This one is actually for the PS Vita and I wasn’t expecting much since most of the internet rags on the series. But I enjoyed the hack n’slash gameplay and I’ll be getting back to the game after DmC. It also made me look forward to Hyrule Warriors since it’s by the same developers.

That’s it for this week. Be sure to let us know what you’ve been playing in the comments.

Remember, the Steam Summer Sale is on right now. Be sure to pick up a game or two and to tell us about it!

Join Non-Fiction Gaming on Google+ and Facebook