Isolation: Any Gamers? Even Old Ones?

I'm proud to call myself an Xbox gamer, but I think the Halo franchise in general's massively overrated.
 
I'm proud to call myself an Xbox gamer, but I think the Halo franchise in general's massively overrated.

Why 'proud'? Aren't all consoles much the same these days bar the odd exclusive?

I only play on PC now, but do use the Game pass, which was Xbox GP but now switched to PCGP - best of both worlds - I'd like to see Sony do a similar cross over for PC, they have a few exclusives I'd like to try like the latest Ratchet and Clank, or platformers like Little big planet

I grabbed the freebie Shadow of the Tomb Raider from Epic last week, got a €10 free voucher along with and used it to buy Kena: Bridge of spirits, a basic 3D adventure platformer but it is very pretty, really shows off on a decent display with half decent Gpu, I'm sure it looks just as nice on the latest consoles.
 
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I got the latest Halo game for Christmas. I’m working through a campaign. I’ve always loved the Halo series of games.

Never been the biggest Halo fan, tried a couple on the 360 way back but for the most part found the gameplay a bit .... empty ... :/ A lot of the areas looking the same, and many of them just filled with nothing but grass and rocks. I can grab Halo infinite for PC on Game pass but don't know if I'd give it much time, how's the single player mode?
 
Never been the biggest Halo fan, tried a couple on the 360 way back but for the most part found the gameplay a bit .... empty ... :/ A lot of the areas looking the same, and many of them just filled with nothing but grass and rocks. I can grab Halo infinite for PC on Game pass but don't know if I'd give it much time, how's the single player mode?

So far very similar to the first two games, so you might not like it.
 
So far very similar to the first two games, so you might not like it.

It's 'free' for me, well, I pay for the Game pass but atm I have 3 months for €1 after cancelling the 9.99 p.m sub, so I might just give it a go at some point. When I stop being lazy about gaming that is ... it's not like I don't have the time, after work in the evenings I have hours to spare and end up watching loads of junk on youtube
 
Started playing Chernobylite this evening. Taking some getting into.

Picked it up cheap in the hope it would evoke memories of the old s.t.a.l.k.e.r games which were brilliant and terrifying and put me on until the new ones comes out.

You can see where they have taken inspiration from the original s.t.a.l.k.e.r games but it’s got a load of team micromanagement/camp building guff similar to Fallout 4 in it which is just annoying.

Beautiful game visually though, very atmospheric and scary in parts.
 
Finished Halo Infinite campaign last night. That's quick for me, Halo 1 took me around 20 years :D

Very enjoyable and a nice addition to the franchise (i.e. if you like Halo you'll probably love Infinite - if you don't like Halo don't bother :) ).

I still think the Open World stuff is a bit dodgy. Not particularly well done (I can teleport back to a base to get more rockets in the middle of a fight....) and then it sort of gets abandoned. But I guess if you see it as a very long training mode it has some merits. The "indoors" stuff is classic Halo and lovely though though I agree with @wyx087 spoilers above.

Started looking at Mass Effect on @ali_surf 's recommendation. It seems heavy going ATM with too much complexity and lots of cut scenes. Does it settle down?
 
I'm proud to call myself an Xbox gamer, but I think the Halo franchise in general's massively overrated.
And you took a dig at me the other day for only mentioning a Sony product, calling me a fanboy. Ironic is an understatement.

Consoles are all but the same these days, you pick the one with your favourite games on, simple to have a preference because of brand is silly IMO.
 
Hitman 1-2-3 are all coming to Gamepass and Steam on 20th Jan. The update also includes VR mode for the whole campaign with VR control support. There will also be ray tracing later this year.

I'm excited to try this out in VR before my £1 Gamepass expires in Feb. Best £1 I've ever spent!
 
Hitman 1-2-3 are all coming to Gamepass and Steam on 20th Jan. The update also includes VR mode for the whole campaign with VR control support. There will also be ray tracing later this year.

I'm excited to try this out in VR before my £1 Gamepass expires in Feb. Best £1 I've ever spent!

When it's up, cancel the sub and try re-join using the same offer. I had this offer to start then it went to €3.99 p.m, then shot to 9.99, wasn't using it much so cancelled and was able to re-join for the €1 offer.
 
Hitman 1-2-3 are all coming to Gamepass and Steam on 20th Jan. The update also includes VR mode for the whole campaign with VR control support. There will also be ray tracing later this year.

I'm excited to try this out in VR before my £1 Gamepass expires in Feb. Best £1 I've ever spent!

I'm going to look out for the VR version, hopefully it's been done well.

Bought VTOL VR and it's a whole new experience to flight sims on the PC with a fair learning curve. Graphics are ok but then I saw DCS World and holy crap I thought I was looking at real footage at first! lol The VR controller isn't the best as a flight stick though as you can be looking down to flip a switch and accidentally nose dive.
 
I've never actually tried VR, looks like fun but I feel it would get nauseating for me real fast [I get nauseous during short car trips ffs!]
 
This may not be the right place to ask but does anyone know where twist ever got to? He helped me so much in setting up my gaming rig last year and he's not been on here since last Feb :/ weird ....
 
This may not be the right place to ask but does anyone know where twist ever got to? He helped me so much in setting up my gaming rig last year and he's not been on here since last Feb :/ weird ....

Have not seen him on here for ages sadly.
 
Have not seen him on here for ages sadly.

I'm not one to be worried usually about other members, but when it's one you've interacted with for as long time [we used to kill one another at one point, then when it came to me looking for PC tips we formed a friendship - he helped me so much] - it looks like he's not been on here since Feb last year, @twist ... :(
 
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I've never actually tried VR, looks like fun but I feel it would get nauseating for me real fast [I get nauseous during short car trips ffs!]


Aye I believe there is a small percentage of people who can get a little motion sick from VR, but from I can gather it is usually when the controller is used to rotate your view rather than actually physically turning.

As for the gaming side of it, I think in my opinion it's not really a replacement for traditional PC games but more a case of a different experience; the physical and immersive element of playing many of the games means it's more of a conscious effort to play if you know what I mean, rather than just dropping in and out for a quick game like you can with the PC. Also, mouse driven stuff would be more difficult in VR, so there's definitely a separate place for both.

Another plus is some of the games (in particular the boxing one) can be a pretty good cardio workout and like playing sports before you know it you are sweating away, unlike say a treadmill which I find incredibly tedious.

I think VR is going to continue to grow, but the Quest 2 having standalone capability and also being low cost is such good value at the moment that it's definitely worth a punt if anyone is on the fence about it.
 
So Microsoft just bought Activision for stupid money.

Our as I like to see it, the people that give me free games just bought call of duty.
 
So Microsoft just bought Activision for stupid money.

Our as I like to see it, the people that give me free games just bought call of duty.

I've just added another three months of free Game Pass to my account. Gotta love Microsoft Rewards. :) I wonder if MS will start cutting back on the points/rewards with all the money they are spending...

Also playing Okami on my Switch Oled. Utterly brilliant and visually stunning game, only 7 quid in the Nintendo store sale as well. This gaming on the cheap lark is great. :p
 
My wife and I are both gamers so we gameshare means we only need one Xbox live and game pass and have more games than we will ever be able to finish
 
The only thing I play from Activision is Hearthstone, which has always been free to play [though can be very pay 2 win at times]
 
Playing 'Max: The Curse Of Brotherhood' on my SeriesX now. Brilliant little puzzle/platformer that is fun and challenging without being frustrating. Nice, steady trickle of achievements as well for the reward points. On Gamepass.
 
I dug out my old PS4 that I had given to my brother years ago and decided to finally play through The Last Of Us.

Finished it and immediately shelled out for the sequel and played my way through that too.

Wow, what an experience both games are. I can highly recommend them to anyone who hasn’t played them yet. Simply brilliant. Hoping they bring a third one out.
 
Playing Horizon Forbidden West at the minute, easily one of the best games I have ever played and looks stunning on the PS5.
 
I'm sinking hour after hour into Crusader Kings III... Finally learned how to play it without cheating...
 
Some decent stuff for pc gamers here


Includes a couple of vr titles, a photo app and a good book on python.
 
Been playing a lot of Elden Ring, such a massive game, I think I'm about 70hrs in and doubt I'm even near half way [I do tend to wander/explore a lot though, in no rush]. Never played a souls game in the past so it's been a challenge - I understand some of the other DS games were tougher, but this is a proper challenge to me. Gorgeous game though, and even after dying multiple times, and you will! You just keep coming back for more.
 
I've got back into Cyberpunk 2077 with the release of patch 1.5 and the "next gen" upgrade. Its still broken but my god it looks absolutely beautiful now. I finished it before the upgrade but trying some different character builds on this run through. Also finding lots of side missions too which are nice as the main quest is well...crap actually.

Also slowly making my way through Horizon Zero Dawn, although I'm stuck so haven't played it in a good couple of months.

Plus my list of "started but not finished" games just keeps getting longer.
 
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So after a near 10 year hiatus I’m looking to buy another console. The last console I had was an Xbox 360 so considering a newer Xbox. Really loved the Forza games but it seems the latest Forza Motorsport can only be played with a physical disc, so that rules out the Xbox series s. Not sure if I fancy forking out £450 on a series x so considering a One X (around £100 to £150 on gumtree)

I’ve also seen a tip regarding game pass unlimited. If you load up a years worktop or more of Xbox gold then apply the £1 game pass unlimited trial, it converts all your gold to game pass unlimited, so three years for a little over £100 if you buy the gold from cdkeys.
 
So after a near 10 year hiatus I’m looking to buy another console. The last console I had was an Xbox 360 so considering a newer Xbox. Really loved the Forza games but it seems the latest Forza Motorsport can only be played with a physical disc, so that rules out the Xbox series s.

Are you sure...?

Forza 7 Ultimate was on Game Pass but got removed a little while ago. Forza 8 isn't out yet - but it's coming Day 1 to Game Pass https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/forza-motorsport and Microsoft say it will look amazing on a Series S. Meanwhile Horizon 5 is a whole lot of fun and also "free" on GP.
 
Are you sure...?

Forza 7 Ultimate was on Game Pass but got removed a little while ago. Forza 8 isn't out yet - but it's coming Day 1 to Game Pass https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/forza-motorsport and Microsoft say it will look amazing on a Series S. Meanwhile Horizon 5 is a whole lot of fun and also "free" on GP.
Forza motorsport 7 was removed from game pass and can’t purchased from the Xbox store - I am pretty sure that the only way to buy it is on a physical disc. If Motorsport 8 is due soon then I may get a series s instead.
 
Forza motorsport 7 was removed from game pass and can’t purchased from the Xbox store - I am pretty sure that the only way to buy it is on a physical disc. If Motorsport 8 is due soon then I may get a series s instead.
There's an announcement in about 3 weeks. It's possible the launch will be announced then

But either way, day 1 it goes to game pass.
 
Well I found a week old series x going cheap on Gumtree so am now browsing the game pass catalogue.
Ps The trick above worked, so have three years of ultimate for £109.
 
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