What We Played – Formula Legends, Atomfall & Rooftops & Alleys
As we get to another Friday and the weekend beckons once more, I get to annoy the whole team by asking them over the same question I ask every week: what have you played? I’ve played a few different things this week, though Rune Factory Guardians of Azuma keeps taking my time while I build up all my villages and try to make all the characters my friends. Other than that, I was able to check out Formula Legends, which looks like it’ll be a great arcade racer.
Firstly, a little note to say congratulations to Ade and Jim, whose Playing With History Kickstarter project achieved its funding this week! We can’t wait to read it!
Tuffcub played a little Destiny 2, lots of Death Stranding 2, and started Atomfall. Speaking of the latter, he says, “It’s not as shooty as I would like there’s a lot of wandering around and sneaking. Also I have a big problem with the way it gives you quests. It puts markers on the map where to go but you have to manually add a marker to track it when running about. Stupid game, either give quest locations or don’t!”
TC’s adventures in games continued, but he didn’t get on with Starship Troopers, telling us, “I just fired up Starship Troopers. And then turned it off again. Looking down your sights on a gun means the gun – and I’m not exaggerating here – takes up almost a quarter of the screen. Blocks out a huge area so you can’t see what your shooting at. Who on earth designed that game???” Here’s hoping he finds something he likes to play this week.
Steve has had a very nostalgic week, continuing his Metroid series run through taking in the “excellent” fan-made AMR2, saying, “It’s a worthy alternative to Nintendo’s own Samus Returns (although the latter is probably more akin to where they went with Dread) and the seminal Super Metroid.” He continues, “The SNES game is rightfully lauded, but there are a few too many crucial paths hidden in places that seem wilfully obtuse. I also finished a run of Lost in Random: The Eternal Die and may well carry on to try and unlock all the relics etc. Finally I finished the neat Crypt Custodian, started Recore as my daily Xbox Rewards game and got deep into the world of Gex for an upcoming review.”
Reuben has been playing pretty much only JRPGs, telling us, “They give me the happy brain chemicals that I’m not getting anywhere else! I’ve been jumping back and forth between the incredible Metaphor ReFantazio and the recent HD Remaster release of Bravely Default (one of my all-time favourite games).”
I think Nic is probably planning an intervention for Reu after hearing that, but maybe he’s been distracted by playing Final Fantasy MTG. He told us, “This set is sweet as hell. I’m going to be so sad when it’s not the current set in a few weeks time”.
Giving in and buying a Switch 2, Jason started off by working through the 50CC category of Mario Kart World to test out some of the new stuff and get a vibe for it all. He also showed off the free roam to his kids so they could see the dinosaurs. Besides that, he’s also been playing Cyberpunk 2077, and a bit of Atlas Fallen too.
Aran has been playing Chaos The Game, aka Strangers of Paradise Final Fantasy Origins. He says, “The combat has been fun but this game just throws loot at you and that can be overwhelming. The story is a bit mad too but I do like how Jack has no time for long speeches and spiels. Particularly liked when a villain was introducing themselves and he just said I don’t give a fuck who you are and punched him.” Top-tier Final Fantasy dialogue right there.
Ade finished Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 this week, and said, “Whilst the combat never quite clicked for me, the storyline was majestic, with some stellar plot twists that compelled me to see it through to its satisfying conclusion’. That’s not all because he also indulged in som sci-fi co-op action, “I also completed Revenge of the Savage Planet with Laura, and we enjoyed it! The balmy plot left us totally baffled but all the co-op metroidvaniaing was top-notch entertainment.”
Speaking of Laura, welcome to our newest writer, who only vaguely admitted to knowing Ade. She told us, “I started playing Atomfall this week, after watching Ade play it and getting itchy fingers when he didn’t play it the way I wanted it to be played! He told me I should get a baseball bat. So in true “independent woman” style, I levelled up and got myself a spiked baseball bat instead! I also completed my first TSA review, Rooftops & Alleys, in which I spent most my time doing flips and landing on my noggin. Good times!”
Jim has been chipping away at Split/Second, saying, “It’s still proving equal parts fun and challenging. Before moving onto the next big game from my backlog I decided to finally play through Limbo – I’m super curious what the team at Playdead having been making after all these years.”
And we’ll round things out with Tef as usual, who’s been able to dip back into FBC: Firebreak and continues to find it a rather unusual riff on the co-op shooter, shared some thoughts on Donkey Kong Bananza, and has had a sudden urge to rewatch the Stargate movie…
And finally, what about you? What have you played?
