Happy Monday Duders - Welcome to Miami Edition 03/16/15

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I played some really cool stuff last week and want to get into it quick, but first, I watched my first F1 race ever on Sunday after I had to DVR it at 3 AM and immediately then purchased F1 2014 from Steam. It was great and something that I had never given a shot before Alt F1 started here on Giant Bomb, so I have to say thanks to Danny and @drewbert for turning me on to something new.

1. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

THOUGHTS: It’s more of the same and I love it. I was ready to jump back into this crazy, drug infused romp through insanity after playing the original solely on my Vita a few years back. This time around I picked it up on Steam and started playing last Wednesday. I bashed and sliced my way through the first number of chapters and fell in love with the gameplay and lucid nature of the characters almost immediately.

VERDICT: It is amazing. I don’t really have a ton to say about it because I am more interested in playing it. So, if you haven’t played the sequel or the original then I recommend fixing that as soon as possible, they’re wonderful.

2. F1 2014

THOUGHTS: This is my second ever F1 game after playing a little Nigel Mansell's World Championshipon the SNES back in the day and I bought it after I saw that it went on sale Sunday after the first race of the new season. I read some fairly negative reviews saying that it was essentially just Codemasters copy and pasting F1 2013; that didn’t affect me in the slightest because I didn’t play F1 2013 so it was a total win for me. I’m not a huge fan of racing games but I have dabbled with them in the past, mostly playing the Need for Speed and Burnout franchises with a little Gran Turismo thrown in, but I have to say that F1 2014 is pretty good.

I started a career and went through a ton of practices and maybe 2 races and I thoroughly enjoy the feel of the driving. It seems to be precise without leaning too heavily on the simulation aspect unless you jack up the difficulty which as a casual racer is something that I will never do.

VERDICT: It’s accessible for casual racing fans and if you like F1 racing then you should enjoy seeing all of your favorite drivers included.

3. Helldivers

THOUGHTS: I really wanted to like this game. I completed a number of missions and enjoyed the feel of the gameplay even though it did get extremely tough for someone who was playing solo.

Then… I lost a ton of progress. I was upset. Very upset. 3 hours were lost because of a bug that erases your progress if your controller dies while you’re playing. Mine did because I paused the game while I grabbed a snack and when I returned the controller was off. I placed the PS4 into rest mode and when I came back, I was back at square one. I played a little after that I just lost a lot of the motivation to keep going after losing my character. I'm not saying that I will never return to it at some point but it may be awhile.

VERDICT: It’s fun but not fun to lose a bunch of progress.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Well, I had some good times last week and I had a not very good time so this week let us hope that all of my (and your) gaming experiences are excellent. I’ve been eyeballing a couple of games in my backlog for a bit now and while there is nothing that I plan to spend too much time on this week, except for more Hotline Miami 2, I’m going to try to knock a couple of them off.

• Finish Far Cry 4
• Gods Will Be Watching
• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
• Max Payne 3

OPINION TIME

I’m really excited for E3 this year because every year when we start to get close to the show I run through all of the games and reveals in my mind that I would love to see and this year there are a lot of things that I’m thinking may be great. I believe that Microsoft will show off some footage from a new Gears of War, a series that I never fell in love with completely but always enjoyed, I think it could be a graphical showpiece for an XBOX One system that hasn’t truly came into its own yet and needs something to set it apart from the super successful PS4.

Nintendo seems primed to unveil a new console this year and while I am hoping that it is some hybrid handheld and home console I am not sure that is what we will get. The recent release of the “New” 3DS XL and hype for the upcoming Zelda may be enough, in Nintendo’s mind, to hold fans over for another year and they just may be right. Everything that I have heard has said that they have a TON of money in reserve and can afford the commercial failure of the WiiU so we may have another year with that gamepad. I’m fine with that because I still play a ton of stuff on it but it would be cool for the big “N” to shock the world with some new and hopefully innovative hardware.

All I want from Sony right now is more of Uncharted 4. I know it has been pushed back into 2016 but I can't wait for what is sure to be an awesome adventure. Two and three were a couple of my favorite games from the last generation and I am super excited to see what Nathan Drake gets into when the next entry finally releases. I am a tad bit hopeful that they show up with something really surprising though like a new Crash Bandicoot, a rebooted Syphon Filter, or an inventive take on the PaRappa series.

COMMENT REQUEST OF THE WEEK

What are you hoping is unveiled at E3 this year?

GO PLAY SOME GAMES

Thanks for the views and support that all of you have given me since starting this series. I really appreciate the great discussions that I have had with everyone and look forward to having even more. Have an extremely Happy Monday Duders!!!!

Oh right, there was an F1 sale on Steam. Whoops.

Guess I'll continue just imagining what the tracks look like in my head from Drew and Danny's descriptions.

F1 2014 is technically out of date, right? They usually release the game in the middle of the current season?

What are you hoping is unveiled at E3 this year?

Anything that would make me say "Oh yeah, that's why I own a console". This generation has been the absolute worst. We're more than a year in and neither has anything to justify their existence. Nothing but re-releases and inferior versions of multi-platform games. Am I alone on this? Have consoles ever seemed more irrelevant?

I'd be really really surprised if Nintendo announces a new console this year. The Wii U is only three years old... Honestly if I figure it'd be 2017 or so before I'd expect a new one from them.

I'd love for a hybrid 3Ds/WiiU or something similiar like you are talking about, but I just can't see that happening. Nintendo always has a struck me as a company that is interested in dictating the terms of engagement with their games to others. Whether that's their customers or vendor partners. If you want to play Mario, you got to do it the way Nintendo wants you too, or well you don't get to.

And to be honest I think they would have to be reasonably concerned that if you combined the platforms they might halve their audience by combining them onto one platform. Anybody buying Nintendo hardware at this point is just buying it for their 1st party stuff anyway and probably is reasonably willing to buy a handheld and a console independently. I mean we've all jumped through that hoop for Nintendo for decades. It's their way to turn one customer into two. The people who aren't buying it now, likely aren't going to be convinced by Crossplay possibilities. That doesn't address the core reasons they aren't buying (lack of 3rd party software, interface, hardware horespower etc).

What are you hoping is unveiled at E3 this year?

At E3 I really want to see what people plan to do with VR in terms of software.

I got to see some stuff at PAX east and it VR is beginning to feel very very close to being the real deal this time. But the games aren't there at all yet.

I think VR's success or lack thereof will define this gen.

According to the release dates of the others, they seem to release in October. F1 2014 came out October 2014.

I'm with you... I haven't really paid much attention to the lack of stuff coming to consoles because I have done so much gaming on PC over the last year and I have played a TON of stuff on 3DS and Wii U. Both of which, I think, have knocked it out of the park in the last couple of years; especially when I compare them to what Sony and Microsoft have done over that same period.

A man can dream about a hybrid Nintendo console, haha... I play so many games on systems by the big "N" that it would be a blessing for me. I have logged more hours on my 3DS this year than any other platform, PC included. I don't think a hybrid system will happen, so I agree with you there, I think they know their place in the market right now and they are perfectly fine with it. What I do think will happen with them is that the next system will be another small step forward performance-wise like the Wii U was because it will be cheaper to produce.

I am so "blah" about VR. I think it is a cool concept with some major hurdles to jump over if it wants to be successful. There will be a ton of people who don't want to try it because they will be afraid of headaches, nausea, hypoglycemia, dandruff, etc. that they will have to really prove that it is side-effect free to make it something that a HUGE audience will want to give a shot. I can see it just becoming another peripheral that some people love and others don't care about. The software will make or break it though... a killer app can change everything.

Normally F1 games are released somewhere in October / November (when the season is almost over), the new one (F1 2015) will be released in June or July this year I think. Codemasters have been working on this one for more then a year, it will only release on XB1, PS4 and PC.

On the topic of Hotline Miami; I'm playing #2 on the Vita and have some problems with it (besides it crashing once). I just can't "see" far enough in this game; when I walk long corridors I stretch the view as far as possible and inch my way forward and then still getting shot by an enemy. The enemies can see further than the player it seems.
I don't recall having this problem with the last one, maybe there are more long hallways in this one?

I need to put some time into 2013. I bought it when it came out and then seemed to neglect it. I actually wonder why they release F1 games so far into the season. I mean, I know they do it so the teams can be accurately represented on the grid but, when your AI keeps the pack kinda together, it seems like a nullified effort.

That bug in Helldivers really suck, I feel bad for you! I can't even believe something like that made it through certification.
Losing progress like that can really be a huge buzz kill when you're on a roll in a game. I remember losing around 50 hours of Dark Souls because my xbox 360 HDD for some reason decided it was a good idea to wipe itself, good times.

@jbg4: Man you must precognitive

Nintendo's announcement today is huge!

I was right about theri next hardware though, they said it's code named NX and won't be revealed until at least 2016.

I read this.

I laughed at "it's a car!!!"

My humor is deep!

I'm starting a 1-900 number under the name "Miss Cleo" because I'm pretty sure it's available.

I didn't have any of those problems with the first one on the Vita so I'm not sure what's going on with the sequel. I'm playing it on PC though and haven't had any issues.

I spent a lot of time fighting "bugs" in Helldivers. "BUGS"

I'm mostly just trying not to crash right now because I turned on realistic damage. I am not a good driver.