What You Played 19

Happy Starhawk week!
While my copy seem to have taken a detour through space and beyond, I’m looking forward to slamming some buildings on top of the helpless cannon fodder I’m sure I’ll be playing against. Watch me eat those words once this glorius week is over. I also had the pleasure of dipping my toes in Walking Dead, which was interesting. But this isn’t about me, this is about you. Or to be more precise, about three happy chaps from one part of the world to another.

Christopher from Pennsylvania
PSM: So last time, our victims of gaming-related questions were playing mostly older games. What have you been up to?
Christopher: Lately I’ve been playing Battlefield 3
PSM: That is the multiplayer game for me, so I’m happy to hear that. How long have you been playing? Since release?
Christopher: I’ve been playing it 5 days a week if not 6, about 4-5 hours a day with very limited breaks.
PSM: Wow, that’s dedication! What is it about Battlefield 3 that makes you come back to it?
Christopher: The multiplayer of course!
PSM: Of course! What sets it apart from its competitors?
Christopher: For the fact that it feels more simulated than playing a 60 fps based arcade shooter we call COD. The realism of playing, plus the choice of vehicles and aircrafts you get to use.
PSM: Do you only play with people you know, or do you join random games as well?
Christopher: I love joining random games. Different people give you different challenges, although I like playing online with family and friends. Battlefield 3 is the greatest first person experience ever, I suggest this game to anybody.

D. Adams from New Jersey (D. Adams PSMania profile)
PSM: Good morning, what’s cracking?
D: Skullgirls and Batman: Arkham City.
PSM: Are you a big fighter fan, and how is this compared to other fighters?
D: I’m more of a casual fighter fan, but I love the genre. Dating back to when I was a tot and my brothers would beat me down from the Street Fighter Alpha series to Tekken. I would say I’m pretty decent at best. I feel it stacks up quite nicely with the games that influenced it. It’s a Marvel vs. Capcom style of combat system with its own twists, and it feels great!
PSM: It looks quirky, fast and fun. Is it based on existing lore and is this something you’re familiar with. If it’s new and original, what made you wanna try it out?
D: It’s SUPER quirky! That lends to its overall charm. It’s all hand drawn and it’s a really nice looking game. The characters in the stage backgrounds could have been better, but it was supposedly a tech limitation. I started following this game about a year ago. I had seen some concept art that looked really cool, with the “Skullgirls” name attached to it. So, naturally I wanted to know everything about it. It’s a completely original title created by the lead artist of the game, with a lot of references to other fighters and video games in general.
PSM: How deep would you say the combat is?
D: The combat is pretty straight forward and easy to pick up and play. Even I know what I’m doing! :p It also has a tutorial mode that is pretty good at teaching you the basics and good techniques to use. I have to warn you though, no in game moves list for now. Got to wait for a patch.
PSM: That sounds awesome. Now, did you ever play Batman: Arkham Asylum?
D: To tell you the truth, I never really had any intrest in playing Arkham Asylum when it first came out. I played it over a friends house last summer, and I fell in love with it! So, naturally I had to buy Arkham City for myself. If you ask me which one is better… I’m playing through AC again, wishing it was the end of the month. The Harley Quinn dlc looks awesome! So I don’t know, I guess because I own AC it wins. :p
PSM: Harley Quinn is amazing, such a cool character. Any other characters in AC that you like in particular?
D: Besides all of the she should have been on the disc hoopla, I thought Catwoman was pretty cool. But seeing Clayface at the end was pretty sweet.
PSM: Have you done all the riddles or do you intend to?
D: I am proud to say I have collected all 440 riddles. And I only cheated to get one of them …
PSM: One out of 440? We’ll let that one slide. I for sure would like to see a more fleshed out dlc where you can play storyparts like Robin now, and others. Any characters you’d like to play?
D: More individual character driven story dlc would be great. That was the Catwoman stuff basically. Maybe something revolving around the Gordon family. Commissioner Gordon vanishes and there’s only one
person who can find him.. BATGIRL!!! It will never happen but, wishful thinking.
PSM: Where would you like to see Batman go next?
D: For the next Batman game, I would love to see them recreate actual Gotham City. And to integrate Robin better then they did.

Dark from Taiwan (Darks PSMania profile)
PSM: So what disc is currently spinning?
Dark: Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, a bit of Skyrim and some other games.
PSM: What makes the Mass Effect 3 mp fun?
Dark: Lots of different classes and choices. Each character has a max level of 20, so the challenge makes this fun. There’s also tons of unlocks too.
PSM: Nice! Do you play with people you know or just random games? Can you play alone with AI?
Dark: Mainly random players. There’s a co-op of up to 4 players, and you can start out with minimum two. No AI players though. Challenges are split into 3 categories: Bronze, silver and gold.
PSM: What difficulty do you prefer? Will you be completing all challenges on all difficulties?
Dark: Sticking with bronze for now, mainly trying out different classes. Tried some gold and silver challenges, but I can only last to round 10 in silver :D
PSM: Do you play the multiplayer to increase your readiness in the single player campaign, or just for fun?
Dark: Both! But mostly for fun. Readiness drops once you stop playing multiplayer.

That sums it up for this edition of What You Played. A big thanks to the nice folks up there participating. If you would like to tell us what you played, let us know by emailing team at psmania dot net or using the feedback-link in the top menu once you’re logged in. You can also share your gaming experiences in the comments below.

These games were mentioned:

– Starhawk
– Walking Dead
– Battlefield 3
– Skullgirls
– Batman: Arkham Asylum
– Batman: Arkham City
– Marvel vs Capcom 3
– Mass Effect 3
– The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim