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

Miraculously, you actually survive this explosion

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.

Wasteland 2: Director's Cut

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 49%

Okay, I've managed to clear the well of parasites in Rodia but the doctor told me to return later. I got another bag of cat litter out of it but don't think it's enough to develop the advanced rad suits just yet. So, I've gone around exploring some more of the Wasteland in the meantime.

I found a couple of shrines, a cache of weapons and also helped a farmer with a Honey Badger Badger Badger Badger Badger problem. I've now come across a group of "Evolved" synths that follow Matthias who are asking for help against Dugan's robots. I didn't let them catch on to the fact that we were actually the Desert Rangers since having two enemies to fight right now might be a bit too much to handle!

Fallout 4

• Picked by Luke
• Percentage Complete = 7%

Wow. Surprised I'm so addicted to this game considering it's just a post-apocalyptic version of Skyrim! There's a lot to like about this game, including the more advanced character customisation system, the great FMV intro that recaps the history of the Fallout universe, robots that actually use text to voice to say your name, the licensed music (despite many just being recycled from previous Fallout games), Inon Zur's original soundtrack, the ability to help settlements grow by building things and the fact the game is set in an actual place in the United States (which is pretty normal for Fallout but much appreciated by this particular fan).

There are some downsides I'm noticing so far too, like the fact the game seems very similar to Fallout 3, the graphics look a bit dated and the animations look wooden (but then again, Fallout 4 is 4 years old now). The audio is also buggy as I encountered an annoying glitch where a loud gunfire sample kept looping despite the battle being already over (I had to reload the game to fix it).

I'm currently helping out a group known as the Minutemen that are trying to make Massachusetts a better place: The Minutemen to Massachusetts are basically what the Desert Rangers are to Wasteland 2. At least so it seems…

Police Quest II: The Vengeance

• Picked by Choona
• Percentage Complete = 10%

Okay, so I've adjusted the sights for my gun and I think it's okay now (I hope), but not really sure if it was enough (I guess I'll find out later in the game if there's a gunfight). You eventually learn that Bains has escaped from jail along with a correctional officer as hostage.

I erroneously went to the jail without any ID. After closer examination of the keys I had, apparently one of them was for my desk drawer, so I obviously restored the game so I could open it. Turns out the drawer had my wallet in it (with the ID)! Anyway, after that was sorted, I was able to get into the jail, talk to the jailer get details on the correctional officer that was kidnapped, a new mugshot of Bains and the details of the correctional officer's stolen car (which coincidentally seems to be very similar to Sonny's old car). I'm now at Oak Tree Mall where the correctional officer's car has been found.

Gotta love the 80s cop show music in this game. Just can't get enough of that MIDI goodness. The game's definitely a step up from the AGI engine in terms of graphics and audio (but still ancient in the eyes of kids nowadays, I'm sure).

LINK:
[ The Pile of Shame ]