Triple post FTW.
I've put in a few hours on NFS:MW and it's pretty much what I expected, Burnout Paradise with a NFS makeover, crossed a little with Hot Pursuit. It's okay and there's loads to do, but it's nothing stunning.
My biggest issue (and generally with open world stuff) is that it's too undefined. You keep finding cars, but there's no real guidance on what events you can enter with what cars, or what upgrades are available where and when and which are shared and stuff. If you actually want to work through the game, there's too much in the way distracting you. I've had this moan before
The biggest issue is that you have events that are tough, REALLY tough mixed in with stuff that you absolutely walk. It turns out that the car you have makes a difference, but you never really spend enough time in a car to really understand and there's just no guidance. So you spend half an hour in what you think is the best car (the fastest say) on an event, only to discover that you needed a brute. Or maybe you didn't, but the yo-yo AI changes in a slower car and because you're slower, you don't crash as much.
Actually, Burnout always suffered from that. It was thrilling to fill the Burnout metre and go full whack, but in reality, it punished you more for going faster as the real word wasn't compatible with driving quickly. You were best putting on a flat cap and doing 5 MPH below the speed limit and still winning the race
So yeah, lots of game, but it's all stuff I've done before for many years, so the problems really stand out for me.
Mafia II was good (only put in about three hours so far). It's not as much fun "sandboxing" as GTA is, but it's a much better story game than GTA IV was. I'll eventually complete this one I think as long as it doesn't through in too many distractions.
MMF loves having Lego Lord of the Rings on the Vita, but he's finding it hard not having me playing alongside him to help.
Did WVA work for you on the PS3 Pierre? I notice that Sony do a "PS3 with cross buy" version of most games, then also a "Vita only" version for a little less. I guess it's the latter?
I did get a bit bored and wanted something different. I also had just over £10 which has been sitting on my PSN account for ages (I just don't buy things from PSN any more) and decided to get Playstation All Stars.
It's an odd one. I played the Beta and didn't like it. I played the demo and didn't like it, but people do seem to like it. So I read a review to see if it was worth £11.
Turns out I'd missed the point completely. I was playing it as Super Smash Brothers (which it definitely looks like and when you first pick it up it plays like). It's not though, the basic win mechanic is completely different. That explains why I couldn't get the hang of it.
So I picked it up (cross buy too, so I could play on the Vita when the TV is in use). It's fantastic for £11. It's got a very simple gameplay system that you can pick up and start to play with (Kratos is particularly easy for n00bs), but a massive depth of complexity. The range of moves and strategies is incredibly diverse. It's much more calculated than SSMB, waiting for the prime opportunity, the right move or the critical mistake by an opponent to get the win. It can be frantic like SSMB, but if you pick the right character, it can be quite a calm and brooding experience too.
See, it's all about gaining special moves to kill another player. You can only use a special move to make a kill. There are three levels of power moves to boost up to. They can be blocked and their effectiveness is very varied. Some like Kratos are powerful at low levels and easy to use, but the most powerful ones are much more difficult. Others have really awkward low power moves, but if they can pull off a level three, it's unbeatable.
You gain the special move powers by hitting your opponents. You can also have your move power drained by scenery events (the scenery stuff is very cool) or by being battered in certain ways, with certain characters and certain moves. Other characters (Like Parappa the Rapper) can generate power points using moves.
It means you can find yourself getting battered by one character and losing a couple of lives, but then with your powerful third move, claim three kills in one hit by killing all opponents. You're constantly thinking about the overall strategy, while actually building power and avoiding dying if you can.
It's much better than SSMB which always seemed to be a bit of a random button mash. You can button mash this too, but learning the moves reaps massive benefits to help you win. You can't lay out your strategies without knowing the moves that give your character an advantage.
So yeah, once you forget you're not playing SSMB, it's a great game and brilliant for the £11 it is on sale at the moment. Though no doubt it'll be free on PS+ next month now :lol: