Currently Playing: Episode 1

Week of 3.9.13-10.9.13 

Games include: Saints Row 4, Magic 2013, and Torchlight II

                This is the first episode of Currently Playing and I hope to keep a pace of one episode a week even if it's short.  In these articles I will lay down an overview of games I played in the previous week.  I think I will consider a week Tuesday to Tuesday since, being in the U.S., our games come out on Tuesdays.  This should allow me to sum up some hands on with a game that releases the week before.

                For the first episode I have a fair bit to say due to the fact that last week was a very good productive week in gaming for me.  And by a good week in gaming I mean my wife was out of town so I had unsupervised time to play more hours than I should.

                To start off, I was a little over half way through Saints Row IV by the time that Tuesday rolled around. I powered through and completed the game late Thursday night.  The ending was fairly easy to see coming but it concluded well.  There is one surprise which doesn't seem to have anything to do with the end but was quite ridiculous, which I suppose fits in with the absurdity of Saints Row games. 

                The subtle and not so subtle references to the Matrix universe was my favorite part of the whole game.  From the very first escape from the first simulation world by defeating the town sheriff, who was very much a copy of Agent Smith, to running naked from my fluid cell to be rescued on my new ship while Haddaway's "What is Love" played on the ship's radio.  I also enjoyed following the white rabbit and the training program because of its Matrix feel.  My favorite nod to the Matrix was leaping  into a Warden's chest and bursting out of him as I absorbed his powers ala Neo bursting out and absorbing Agent Smith. 

Dive into the soul of the Warden

                I like the superpowers though I could not fly (only glide) nor could my powers contend well while I was being mobbed.  Every time I got hit it would interrupt my action (like super stomp or super jump) so I could never pull off that sweet fight scene where Neo takes on hundreds of copies of Agent Smith and explodes out from under their dog pile.

Bodies flying everywhere.  It never happens like this in Saints Row IV unless you keep the enemy at a distance.

                On the side of non Matrix references all the romance cutscenes were brilliant and my favorite had to be the one with my male character and Ben King.  I also enjoy the short snippets of an argument between my character, Kinzie, and Keith David (the Vice President)about a mech suit.  My character was utterly convinced it was a robot while Kinzie ( the computer chick) said it was power armor and all the while the VP tried to explain the difference between the two. 

                I play a male character with a British accent so for some reason him completely not believing the mech suit is anything but a robot is very funny.  I also get a kick that my British sounding Saint is President of the United States and actively bags on two of his crew for being MI-6.  In case you don't get the humour to be President of the United States you have to be born in the U.S. and MI-6 is the British equivalent to the C.I.A stateside.  That about raps up my summary of Saints Row IV.  It was a very fun game but it didn't have a lot of depth to it.  I give the game a score of 3/5. See my Score Guide post for further details on my score system. 

                The second game I played and only briefly mind you was Magic The Gathering:  Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013.  I only played a few hands in the campaign mode and I thought it was decent enough.  Since I got the game free from Games with Gold it was worth the try.  I will have to play some more as I don't really know any of the cards or what they do but from what I did play I'll give the game a score of 2/5 unless you are into Magic the card game, then by all means carry on.

                The last game I played which took up the bulk of my weekend was a co-op journey, with my best friend Cob, into Torchlight II.  Originally our plans were to delve into espionage with the co-op on Splinter Cell Blacklist, but due to my inability to procure a copy of this game we settled on playing Torchlight II.  I had yet to play this game while Cob has a level 100 character which is the highest level in the game.  The game is as Cob described a blatant rip off of Diablo II.  This may be off putting to some, but seeing as Diablo II was one of our favorite games growing up being a rip off is a good thing. 

My Outlander and his pet Parker the Badger

                We made it through Act I and Act II.  I don't know how far into Act III we are.  the game plays very similar to Diablo II and I like that.  They have made very smart improvements to the game that don't change the core play style but rather just make the games better to play.  Such as easier use of hot keys and potion use.  Also there are a ton of improvements to inventory.  You still have blocks of inventory but one item equals one block unlike Diablo where a spear was six blocks in your very limited inventory.

Terrible space options. Diablo II

Easy to mange and lots of room. Torchlight II

                Then in Torchlight II there is a separate inventory for consumables so they aren't clogging up your inventory.  The best addition was a pet with inventory space of their own and the ability to be sent back to town to vendor trash loot for you so that you can loot everything and not worry about going back to town all the time.  In Torchlight II there is a shared stash which is nice and this was also added to Diablo III so meh.  Anyway the game is fun if you like  Diablo II you will like Torchlight II.  I give the game a score of 4/5.   

    

                As I said big week of gaming for me which is not the norm.  Next week on Currently Playing may be a little sparse but expect Episode 3 to be a good one as I dive head long into Grand Theft Auto 5.

                Have you played any of these games?  What did you think of them.  Feel free to comment below.   See you next week on Currently Playing.