[Quick Shot II Turbo]

Pool Nation



A very relaxing diversion. Looks great, has a really realistic feel to it and is perfectly optimized for a 360 controller (honestly, it's better with a controller than a mouse).

Only downside is there is absolutely no one playing it online.
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[Quick Shot II Turbo]

I just finished Serious Sam 3: BFE and it was a damn well made shooter/crowd control simulator. I will probably play through the DLC Jewel of the Nile as well.

(Why didn't D3 hire Croteam for Insect Armageddon? Seems like a perfect fit on paper, and makes sense from a budget perspective.)

And Splinter Cell: Blacklist is also a pretty decent game if you like that sort of stuff. The game reverts back to a more traditional SC experience, doing away with most of the forced action Conviction had you dealing with and offering up some really tightly designed sneaking levels as an apology. The main campaign missions are mostly linear, but almost all of the side missions give you a wide playing field and a freedom to go from point A to B in any way you want. The levels themselves are not that big (way smaller than MGS:GZ for example), but are very tightly packed with ledges, pipes, ladders, windows and, of course, air vents. And none of these things are highlighted in any manner until you are right next to them and a contextual icon pops up. So discovery feels as rewarding as avoiding multiple enemies with timed movements.

The metagame does kinda ruin the experience, though. You get the option to sneak around and ignore enemies, take them out non-lethally, lethally or just shooting at everyone with an AK-47. This is all tied into a scoring system which rates your approach. As an example, you get 150 points for avoiding an enemy completely, and only 75 points for gunning them down with a (non-silenced) rifle. Various forms of knockouts and silent kills are all between those two. And at the end of each level all these points are added up and then you get money based off of that, which you then use to buy upgrades that help you become even sneakier or, conversely, a better bullet sponge.

It's all nice and functional, but makes no difference in the context of the game. You don't get any intel from the guys you left alive and nobody on your team cares if you just shot up 30 people like a maniac or spared every single soul. Just points, and money. So whether or not you are lethal is a purely pragmatic choice.

I hate metrics and I guess I hate Ubisoft for heavily integrating them into every single game they make.

Ahh, also, the game features a mission where you end up doing a moonlit extraction on the coastline of Cuba, right next to a certain American blacksite. The similarities to MGS:GZ were eerie.
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[Quick Shot II Turbo]