Currently Hurling Controllers / Mice At… – Easter Edition

All of us at Splash Damage are passionate gamers and we thought it would be fun to share with you which games are being played around the office at the moment and what we can’t wait to get our hands on this week. And with the Easter weekend coming up, what better time to stock up on some games, gorge yourself on chocolate eggs and get your frag on?

Anyway, let’s dive right in:

Richard ‘Fluffy_gIMp’ Jolly (Media Director):
Just finished up Apollo Justice on the DS, normally I’ll only play the DS to cull the boredom of the commute but found myself wanting to continue once I got home. Great fun if you, like me, still yearn for the old school graphic adventures of yesteryear.

Also played through Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune on the PS3, what a great game! The demo really sells it short, as it gets so much better later on. The one downer is the ending sequence – man, that was frustrating (thank goodness I had some help from Smooth).

Eagerly waiting for Mario Kart Wii next month along with GTA 4 of course, in the meantime there’s Army of Two to play co-op with Steve (lets hope for his sake there’s achievements to be had :).

Jared ‘jRAD’ Hefty (Senior Programmer):
I finished up Call of Duty 4‘s single player campaign on the 360 last week. Loved it. The variety of missions, the pacing, the weapon feel, the voice acting, even the achievements… all spot on.

I’ve also been playing a decent amount of Burnout Paradise lately. The crashes are spectacular, and I especially love bouncing my car down the road, causing as much damage as possible in Showtime mode.

On the PC side of things, I just finished up Sam & Max: 204. The series carries on like usual, with plenty of quirky, deadpan humor and challenging but not too-obscure puzzles.

Tim ‘spacemonkey’ Appleby (Lead Character Artist):
Army of Two absorbed several hours of my and my co workers life upon the purchase of the office copy! I think co-op is really the only way to play it and being dragged to safety while blasting bad guys is far more fun than I’d previously thought.

I have also been playing the demo of The Club on PC. The idea of timed trials and points for head shots is an interesting reflection of old arcade game mechanics, but I was disappointed with the feel of the controls on PC. I am willing to try it again on console – hopefully it plays much better there.

I am really looking forward to Viking: Battle for Asgard. Hack’n’slash, vikings, monsters, strategic battle decisions that affect how a mission plays out… what’s not to like? 🙂

Steve ‘badman’ Hessel (Community Relations Manager):
I’m still ensnared by Guitar Hero III‘s magical shredding powers. I actually finally managed to beat coop career the other day, so that’s another achievement to cross off the list.

I’ve also been playing Burnout Paradise, which is turning out to be quite a lot of fun. I don’t think there’s ever been a game with car crashes this great looking (an odd thing to get excited about, I realize, but once you see it for yourself, you’ll understand).

Finally, I’m looking forward to picking up Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 this week. I mainly want it for the coop mode, though their multiplayer stuff looks to be quite fun as well. Rich also keeps prodding me to play Army of Two with him, so maybe we’ll finally get around to that.

Gordon ‘digibob’ Biggans (Senior Programmer):
I loved the first three Phoenix Wright games, and whilst the latest incarnation has a new man at the helm, it’s still the same fun, over the top courtroom action. Being the first game in the series to be made straight for the DS, it’s cool to see the cool new mini-game features they’ve been able to add.

I finally got around to playing Civilization IV this past week. It’s been a long time since I played the Civ series, and I’m glad to see it’s still the same game at its heart. That said, there’s a lot of new stuff there, the introduction of culture and religion is pretty neat, as is having control of more aspects of your government.

I’m hoping to be sinking my teeth into the latest Sam & Max ep some time this week. Also, rabid Square Enix fanboy that I have now become, I’m also really looking forward to Rings of Fate on the DS, though I fear I may need to find someone else to play it with to really enjoy it.

Matt ‘Anti’ Lowe (Production Assistant):
Recently I’ve actually been back to a few older games. I re-installed the fantastic (and free!) Trackmania Nations which I’ve not played in ages. It feels like Wipeout on wheels, the custom tracks make it one of the craziest racing games out there and I’d forgotten just how much fun it is.

I’ve also been playing Day of Defeat: Source. I’ve not played DoD since the old Half-Life mod was around, thankfully the Source version is as good as the original, the Kar 98 still feels like a Railgun in disguise and I can still bash people on the head with my shovel!

Next week I might buy Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath. I didn’t really enjoy C&C3 but I loved the Scrin and their excessive use of laser beams (pewpew noises included) so I’ll try it out.

Tim ‘Huntle’ Rose (Production Tester):
One game to sate my hunger for mindless violence and has been No More Heroes, on the Wii. From the intro’s gratuitous use of “F*ck Head!” to its school-girl assassin bosses this game fully exploits the gap between GTA and Sailor Moon. There’s nothing like driving back to your motel, on Akira’s spare bike, a hard day’s killing behind you and playing with your pet cat surrounded by otaku tat.

While on the PC, my time has been devoted to Sam & Max’s latest case, Chariots of the Dogs. I have really enjoyed the humour in this episode. It’s been a while since milk came out my nose (rogue enemas aside) and I’ve got to say it’s a great feeling. Banaaaaaang!!!!

I can’t wait for Viking: Battle for Asgard to continue my virtual slaughter-fest and the re-release of Sega Bass Fishing, to relive those exciting morning trout raids.

That’s it for this week’s installment. What have you been playing recently and what are you looking forward to?