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[Alec S.]

I've been playing the recent Shadow Warrior.  It's quite good in a lot of aspects, but doesn't quite go far enough with the "modern take on mid 90s FPSs" thing.  The levels range from linear but with short side paths for bonuses and secrets, to mostly linear, but loops back on itself a couple of times, so it feels less linear.  For a game that has so many blocking mechanics (keys to open doors, plus statues that you destroy to unseal color-coded magical seals), it really has a lot of doors and objects that you just can't interact with until you perform a certain action (usually clear the room of enemies).  The levels are really inconsistent in quality, both from an aesthetic and gameplay perspective, and the two oddly seem to match up.  Some levels (mostly exteriors) are absolutely gorgeous, and these also tend to be the more open areas that rely more on the locking mechanics than arbitrarily letting you interact with certain objects at certain times.  Whereas other areas are just grey corridors with arena rooms and a linear progression. 

It's also got the really annoying trope a lot of modern game have where it scatters small amounts of items everywhere, so you're just scrounging around for scraps all the time.  If you're going to put $100 in a room, put it all in one place, don't put $10 each in 10 drawers.

That being said, the game does have some pretty cool secrets and easter eggs, so that's nice.

The combat is pretty good, although it gets pretty repetitive after a while since its pretty slow to introduce new enemy types, so you get an arena with most of the enemies you've seen so far followed by another arena with basically the same enemies, followed by an arena with maybe one enemy switched out for a different enemy you've seen before.  Again, the level design is really inconsistent in quality, so sometimes these encounters will be made more interesting with a well-designed set-piece or some interesting level geometry that makes your approach different, but most of the time it's just a flat arena with a few obstacles and scattered explosives.  Also the sword seems to be the most effective weapon in 80% of situations, especially since, once you've acquired a few powers and skills, your sword has a charge attack, a ranged attack, and refills your health.

The bosses are pretty terrible.  They aren't that hard, they just take ages to beat.

The writing is surprisingly good, and there are some genuinely funny moments in the game.  Where Duke Nukem Forever completely doubled down on the "Duke Nukem is an Awesome Guy" conceit, Shadow Warrior understands how ridiculous its source material is.  Definitely in the same camp (so to speak) as Far Cry: Blood Dragon. 

All in all, I'm enjoying the game, but it does get a bit sloggy at some points.

[Slader16]

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

It's a pretty solid(pun intended) game, but so far it's not as good as MGS2 though.

[baconman]

Also the xbox controller suck, I had better input success rate on ps3 controller.

I'm not exaggerating - at LEAST 60% of your battle is this, right here. If you can find an off-brand 360 controller with an actually-digital D-Pad (I recommend PowerOne), and you use that, you'll do just fine. Thumbsticks SUCK for fighting games, and the official 360 "D-Pad" basically functions like a stick without a stick. No go.

That said - normals!

jf.MK is your cross-up. If you're jumping over/on top of your opponent, this is the one to go for. Mix in the OCCASIONAL Cannon Strike to keep their timing in check, or if they're ducking - but still, you should have your MK button ready for that, too.

jf.HP is your deep jump-in (from outside of sweep range; against fireballs). It's meaty, good damage, will give you time to land and follow up with your optimal c.MP.

ju.HK is your space defender. It's not gonna combo, but you have the most horizontal coverage, and the most damage with this. If you're expecting a lot of jump-in or rushdown, jump straight up and back them off. Make it scary to close in on you.

c.MP is going to be your best friend on the ground. Decent range/damage, fast startup, cancels to anything you want; or with a small delay, can link to c.MK or s.HP (and then to Cannon Drill). This will likely be your go-to for comboing. Plus, you can hold it, then push MK to simply cancel into focus/dash.

c.MK is your "comboable zoning/spacing move." Usually, you'll use this against grapplers, to keep your comboability while staying out of their grapple range. While Cannon Drill will combo off of this (and should be your combo if you hit a c.MP first, and THEN this), it's also a good cancel setup for Hooligan; which I actually WOULD recommend using against grapplers, ironically... and any chara with a fast-forward special attack (Blanka, Honda, Balrog, Bison, etc.).

If you're toe-to-toe and trading hits, ALWAYS go with LP, LK, LK, stand or crouch. JABS RULE SF4.

Hooligan/Throw: Once you're airborne and rolling, you'll need to hold back or forward, then push BOTH LP + LK (like an air throw). You can also Cannon Strike by holding down and pressing any K, in case you don't want punished for a slide whiff/block.

Spin Knuckle: Unless you're going to clear a fireball AND connect the punch, don't even bother. If you ARE in that position, it's worth using meter to EX - which then protects the ENTIRE MOVE, not just the start-up. (Unless that got patched, recently.)

Cannon Spike as overhead: This is hard to pull off, but try to execute the command as a roll from up/forward and around, and hit HK on your way UP in the jump. It WILL take practice, and it won't always be consistent if you're rushing the command, but it's doable. But personally, I would just go for a low-charge Focus or LP Hooligan instead.

Cannon Drill xx Super/Ultra: You can just do a second CD command once the first connects, and it'll combo right to Super. Ultras - and I've noticed this with a lot of players/characters - tends to come out more consistently if you HOLD the 3P/3K button, rather than quickly tapping and releasing them. Not sure why, but it's like that.


COMBOING: You seem to know your tech - but you DO know you don't have to let punch/kick cooldowns happen before you do your special, right? As soon as your normal connects, it should "cancel" the rest of the punch/kick animation to begin your special if you've done the command. Likewise, any aerial attack will cancel upon landing - and characters by default land into the CROUCH position (hence, the jf.MK/HP > c.MP recommendation - if you were to try and combo into, say close s.HP instead - maybe you COULD, but you're wasting frames by "standing back up" first).

I'm only mentioning this because you're talking about having NO combos AT ALL; and that's kind of odd. Especially for a Cammy player!!

[baconman]

____________________

Oh, and I've been enjoying Lenna's Inception quite a bit, along with FINALLY scoring Shovel Knight (I beat the first level and Spectre Knight so far)... along with some Coin Crypt, Instant Dungeon!, and looking forward to some Contrast (once I can upgrade my RAM sufficiently - having more... difficulties than expected with that crap).

[gimymblert]

@bacon
What's your terminology I don't recognize them c mean cr? jf mean?

BTW the spinning knuckle is one of my better tool if I could use it consistently , I use it to evade some super too, change side and chain with a super, while I find way the low version too slow to be useful in the common case I can still use it as a kind of on spot evasion to surprise some opponent. The timing is tricky and the visual is ambiguous about the invincible frame unlike some other move.

Yes I know I can combo super and ultra from common hit, which mean I could lend them everytimes in a match if I master this.

Hooligan: damn I don't press fwd or bkw XD

I do go toe with shoto and use jab, else I'm in an awkward defensive position or some reason guile is the worst I used to main it in previous game version, hold input and close brawler is how I use to run. But since SF4 I'm more comfortable with cammy as the cannon drill various power allow for some spacing management which put in a position where I can close canon spike or kick jab, or just pause to make them input I can punish.

I'm disapointing in canon strike, it short and only FWD wtf! It limit the air game.

I'm awae of hold command, but I need more training it's not natural to me might help with the spinning knux (I tend to input the spinning while the character animate into another move or jump).

BTW I have no relex, I tend to plan my move ahead, my win depend based on my prediction, that's why beginner throw me up, but also fucking adon or character with fast movement that move all around the screen fast with variation of a single move (vega). Cammy look like a tank against them. Of course than mean that fail input put me in a kind of panic state where I input the same move 3 times until my mind replan.

[baconman]

c = crouch, jf = jump forward, ju = jump up (because you'll get different punches/kicks based on whether your jump moves horizontally or not.

You can combo super FROM CANNON DRILL. So, for instance, when you're close, you can:

c.MP > Cannon Drill (first motion) > Super (second motion) - this is the easiest way for you to land Super.

[JWK5]

Downloading Far Cry 3 for PS3 (+ all DLC), going to play through it before I get Far Cry 4. I loved Far Cry 2 so hopefully 3 measures up and makes me want to get 4.

[Fallsburg]

Just binged on Talos Principle.  It's essentially Portal but with metaphysics and philosophy in the place of humor.  Well, no portals, but the same kind of first person puzzle solving.  The ending was a touch cheesy, but the discussions with Milton were definitely worth it.

[Jondog]

Played Demons Souls on New Years Eve, spent a whole bunch of time just killing zombies in the first area because I had no idea where I was meant to go.

This morning I learnt that I was meant to actually run across the bridge that the dragon was flaming. So I did that and then defeated the Phalanx boss.

[Türbo Bröther]

Eighteen years on and I can still beat Fantasy Zone, Action Fighter, Choplifter, Double Dragon, Kenseiden and Alex Kidd In Miracle World. It's like riding a bike.

[shinygerbil]

  But since SF4 I'm more comfortable with cammy as the cannon drill various power allow for some spacing management which put in a position where I can close canon spike or kick jab, or just pause to make them input I can punish.
--
BTW I have no relex, I tend to plan my move ahead, my win depend based on my prediction, that's why beginner throw me up, but also fucking adon or character with fast movement that move all around the screen fast with variation of a single move (vega). Cammy look like a tank against them. Of course than mean that fail input put me in a kind of panic state where I input the same move 3 times until my mind replan.

I know it seems like a good idea, but using canon drill as a spacing tool is not good. Cammy has a good walk speed, and great normals, you don't need to risk your position on a drill which may whiff if they move backwards, get blocked and punished if you didn't space it *perfectly*, or just straight up shoryuken'd. It may catch a bad player every now and then but it's not worth it. Drill is pretty much only for use in combos. (Not even blockstrings)

Spin knuckle should also be used rarely, its startup is slow enough that unless you predict a fireball you will probably get punished for using it. Not worth using in combos - and maybe once in about 100 matches you could use it as a surprise blockstring ender.

As baconman has already gone into at length, learn and use your normals. Common practice for people trying to learn SF is to set their own goals during a match - for example "this round I will not use drill" our "this round I will not jump." By doing these things you begin to understand what you can do instead.

(Oh, and in case nobody had told you, jumps are bad. Don't jump.)

[gimymblert]

(low) Drill is when I'm in a distance and want to get close but just outside the reach of my opponent, drill is also the technique that connect the most with the opponent so they tend to try to have measure against it, so I threw them off as they try to punish and I can punish back, it depend on the enemy, some try to anti air and that leave them with big vulnerability as it open them for a throw or standard cr.HK , if they use jab (generally pro player) then I redo a drill. Don't work with character with high reach like chunli's cr.HK Useless if the enemy is a fucking shoto, while it's dangerous, I always try to get close to a shoto, drill sometimes is usefull to intercept if he in the air and I want to get close. Also very often I combo it into spike, I don't know what is the time of vulnerability between the two, but drill to spike is very quick and connect a lot. Well that's when I attempt a drill and it doesn't turn into a fucking spike that leave me dead open

Spin knuckles I don't abuse it, it's slow, tricky, but when it lend it confuse the opponent, it's always planned.

I don't jump a lot, but my character do, fiddly controller also it mess up cr.block and stand to, can't reasonably go from one or the other consistently. Maybe if I get a better controller.

I use normals too and I experiment a lot. I adapto the enemy. Fun fact when a match start with a pro, I don't move at all, in general they do nothing too, I do some jab in the air, they go in defense and then I get a true match until I made enough input mistake they understand I'm not at their level Once they discover that I can't win lol, but I do win as long as they play defensively.

BTW it's easy to win against me right now, don't let me think or analyze, rushdown obliterate me, I don't have the knowledge if I didn'ty experiement first. However do it long enough and I spot teh pattern and find a counter measure, but executing it is another problem XD. Those juri player use to rush me like mad, I have less problem now assuming I input correctly, I have even start to taunt them. Now some guild player why the fuck the flashkick is the focus breaker plus he have a natural overhead attack ...

Now if I could be consistent using the super, my win rate would be higher ... but I have hard time using R shoulders or using 3button at the same time, give me my saturn pad 

[shinygerbil]

It sounds weird (and I could certainly never get used to it, especially after using a stick for so long) but some people have more success with a keyboard than a gamepad.

The trick appears to be to *not* use WASD but instead to use ASD for left, down, right and then the spacebar for jump.

There are even custom arcade sticks which use this layout... See www.hitboxarcade.com - some people say it's the best way to play, better than any stick.

Obviously keyboard keys are nothing like arcade buttons but you might gain a little bit of accuracy!

[gimymblert]

I was raised on gamepad

Stick and keyboard are weird, plus my wireless keyboard is unreliable anyway
And right I don't have the mony so i'll stick to it, it might improve my rate when I shift to something cool. Any pad (link) you would advise to play pc game?

[baconman]

That controller is 60% of your battle, at least. Just find an off-brand with an actually-digital D-Pad, and you'll do better, right there. But def, learn to combo. And that CD > Super - you're really just doing the CD command, twice. The motion for the CD counts as the first motion of your super.

[Jondog]

Planescape: Torment has some of the best writing I've ever seen in a game, kind of a shame that the rest of it is a bit clunky and outdated.

[gunswordfist]

i am about to go to duke nukem 3d's first secret level for the 1st time.

[s0]

saints row 4 is entertaining as hell. kinda feels like the logical thing to play after all these n64 collectathons i revisited over the past weeks.

[rj]

yeah, god i love it

[Türbo Bröther]

Oh it is isn't it. You'd think that riffing on The Matrix and quoting Transformers would be old hat but it's suddenly cool again. SR 3 is longer and has more stuff but 4 has a better story plus you can punch a dude across the street and then run up a building. There's a Robocop gun skin for the SMG and an Aliens gun skin for the plasma rifle. Plus a Dub Step gun that's amusing every single time you pull it out. And a fucking Noisy Cricket. One of the DLC packs has a gun that shoots knives and another one has a gun that shoots loads of bullets and rockets at the same time and it has a flamethrower mode. Holy shit the guns in this are sweet. Keith David's mission is about the best thing ever. The final boss kinda sucks though.