What I've Been Playing This Week (aka Pile of Shame Sunday)

Ah the good ol' Optiwand - reminds me of my SWAT 4 days...

The following post is part of a series of posts that are published every Sunday to update readers on what Mark G has been up to with respect to finishing off games on his "Pile of Shame". The games to target are picked by Choicest Games contributors Choona, Luke and myself. As I'll be talking about my progress through these games, there may be spoilers ahead, especially for games containing a narrative. Consider yourself warned.

Megarace 2

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 66%

Yes, I still haven't made progress since last week with this game! I'm still stuck on the Bayou level! This game is way too frustrating to the point I've almost given up; I have no idea how I had the tolerance, patience or skill back in the day to finish this game! I have come to the conclusion though that the Thunder does have the best handling out of the three starter cars (which is all I can afford, unless I'm lucky enough to get one as a prize if I place first in the first race) so if I'm game enough to give Megarace 2 a go next week, that is going to be my strategy. It's still way too easy for the AI cars to gang up on you, flip your car around and ruin your day though.

So one more go at Megarace 2 then I'm throwing in the towel.

Hand of Fate

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 91%

On hold while I'm playing other games. 😊

Stardew Valley

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 20%

On hold while I'm playing other games. 😊

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 25%

I haven't made any further progress on this – it's now on hold while I am distracted by… well… a lot of other games 😊.

Battlefield 1

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 10%

I haven't made any further progress on this – it's now on hold while I am distracted by… well… a lot of other games 😊.

Door Kickers

• Picked by Luke
• Percentage Complete = 6%

Now that XCOM 2 is out of the way, on to the next game picked by Luke: Door Kickers! Despite there being instructions on how to play the game, I still seem to be stuffing up strafing, so the game can be a bit fiddly when you're trying to learn the controls. I was also locked out of the single player campaign until I finished some stand-alone missions (to level up my squad) and I'm still not quite sure how you get three out of three stars on missions.

So far, the game feels like a tactical, top-down strategy version of Rainbow Six Siege or Commandos except with CTs versus Tangos.

Currently all my operators are now equipped with MP5s and Assault armour so they can withstand a few more hits (but are slower too). The game has some neat features like missions where you have sniper support from off the map or where you sometimes have to pick locks or use the sledgehammer to break down doors… speaking of sledgehammers, the weapons in this game seem to be ripped straight out of Rainbow Six Siege (or maybe Siege stole some of the ideas from Door Kickers): there's even Mira's Vector SMG in this game!

I'm having fun so far - it's not a bad little game.

Town of Salem

• Picked by Choona
• Percentage Complete = 100%

Man Town of Salem is addictive: I've now clocked over 17 hours and I'm unlikely to stop just yet. I've been meaning to try out The Coven expansion before I do a review but sadly only managed to get one game in before giving up on finding more than 7 players to play with in a match.

I did have one funny game this week where a Mafioso almost managed to convince the Medium that I was last mobster (even though I was actually the Sheriff). The other dead mobster (my wife) even argued with him to try and make the lie more believable. It almost worked too: I was voted to get lynched, but thankfully there weren't quite enough votes to put me up on the podium outright.

In another game (where I was playing as Sheriff again) I actually received quite a bit of help from a Lookout and Doctor, so much so that they were pivotal in ensuring the Town won. It's refreshing when you come across helpful allies amongst randoms.

Also, I don't know why I always get 1 out of 5 roles when there are so many - seems like the game is against me - either that or people have scrolls to increase the chances of them getting another role…

LINK:
[ The Pile of Shame ]