What Have You Played This Week?

It was another race when the news was fairly consistent, with a couple of peaks. I got a few more hours in with Final Fantasy XIII, and certain “mini-games” in Naruto took a lot of time, through retrying, to get the last Single Player achievements. I would like to have played more, but overall it was a good week.

Football Manager 10 – PC – I Finished the season just outside the play-offs. This new season has bough up some interesting challenges. My Assistant Manager has been snapped up, plenty of contract renewals also this season but they are wanting twice to quadruple the amount they are currently getting. I have the money to offer twice, maybe a couple on 3 times as much (2k-3k), but those wanting more are going to have to be sold. Currently solidly in the play-offs as I head into December.


Final Fantasy XIII – PS3 – only played a few more hours this week. Still don't see the point in using other weapons than those i've upgraded. Combat difficulty seems to have plateaued a bit but I still have to keep an eye on health and make sure I have the right paradigms. The story is fleshing out slowly and there's been some interesting twists that weren't that obvious. I'm interested in playing, seeing where the story goes. The only shame is the repetition with enemies, they're the same just stronger and a different colour. The story doesn’t feel as cut/edited as it did before.

Naruto: Rise Of A Ninja – Xbox 360 – Finished. I knew it was going to be a short game, and I was fine with that. The issue I have is that the side missions were pretty pathetic. I fully understand that Naruto wouldn't have important missions, but these lacked some originality. Combat against more difficult opponents started to get annoying with their difficulty set pretty high. The named enemies were a significant leap in difficulty and sometimes you have to attack the same person twice, which means you'll need some moments spare. The “mini games” you can do for a little extra health and popularity were mostly fine and their difficulty increased really well...until you get to the last one on each. For each it was a case of try, try, try again. It wasn't just combat that I felt some lag in the controls, the camera was the main problem, but also when you learn to sprint I found jumping was inconsistent. I do recommend you play the game if your a Naruto fan, but understand its short, and while it may look great and ooze charm...it has issues. Looking the game up online, its clear that you should only play the game if your online as it needs an important patch. Also, over 300 points worth of achievements require you playing online matches. There are plenty of people playing the game, its just they are very good and the Naruto you built up in the game is not the one they give you.

Quantum Theory – PS3 – Demo – I was curious about this game, I wondered if it could differentiate itself from games like Unreal Tournament. I'll admit i'm disappointed. The game looks very dark, very Unreal Engine, and like Gears/Unreal Tournament with a different skin. I also found the controls alittle obtuse and difficult to grasp during the demo. The demo does offer situations to learn the controls, its just they don't offer a lot of time to adjust to them. The enemies are bullet sponges and head shots appear to be hit or miss. Then I came across a giant boss enemy...and I couldn't defeat it. I spend nearly a hour trying to defeat this boss, but no matter how hard I tried and followed the instructions...i always ended dead. I will not even consider getting this game for rent.


Did you manage to play more games than I have over the week, or do you have any comments on my experiences or questions about the games i've played? If you do, feel free to add them in the comments section.