We got ourselves brutalised in some Starcraft 2 co-op, seen Ori re-embark once more on Definitive Edition of the awe-inspiring journey, and held a four-way holy-bloody-mess course in Left 4 Dead 2.
Brutality of the Void
Legacy of the Void‘s single player is almost surgically well built, but not without a couple of problems: it’s a prince to greatness of RTS campaigning in Wings of Liberty which it failed to dethrone, and an unfortunate nail in the coffin of Heart of the Swarm, the not-bad-but-still-weakest link in Starcraft 2‘s solo saga.
Legacy of the Void as a complete game though, is a slightly different story. By gods, we could play this thing until the end of times and probably still wouldn’t get bored with it! It’s largely thanks to its genius commander-character-based co-op, and we’ve been picking up the revs to tackle its ‘brutal’ difficulty. Here’s what happened to my beloved half (as Artanis) and yours truly (as Swann).
The warm-up round on hard begins...
Artanis' Solar Bombardment is to-hand when shit gets real. Shit got real a little too early in this game.
Siege Tanks turret-up behind us as we attack one of the Zenith Stones.
We get cocky. Before we get Shwifty(TM).
I like how Swann's laser looks ten times as badass as the damage it actually does.
The remains of AI's final push on hard. I'm somehow less sure about this brutal idea.
Ta-da! Warm-up round done. Bracing.
This is what the Zerg AI whipped up seconds after we destroyed the first Void Shard (out of ten total). Yeah. Looks like fun.
Regrouping. Stress Level Midnight(TM).
On our way to the second Void Shard, we run into this. I don't think I had a chance to fully realise what "this" was though.
We arrive at the second Shard. We've seen better days.
This is my base defense when a Whole Lotta Nonsense(TM) showed up. Note that there's not much left for the Science Vessels to repair but each other. In short, gg, brutal AI.
Return to the Blind Forest
The eye-wateringly beautiful, and not a tad less competent, platformer missed my last year’s GOTY by width of a hair. As little as I am a fan of Definitive Editions or other sorts of cow-milking re-release trickery, I found the added stuff, fair pricing model, and the sole fact that this is Ori reasons enough to grab the controller once more.
Yep, Ori and the Blind Forest is in my eyes still the best looking game of all time. That much I can spoil. A browse of all this – untouched, native 4K – eye-watering beauty however does carry a certain risk of story spoilers, mind you!
The Funfair Four: Dead
There’s no denying that we, all four of us, aren’t all that bad at Left 4 Dead 2. I mean, at dying in it. Yeah, OK, we do get through eventually, but never without moments of slight off-tune more often than not descending into utter cacophonous free-for-all that’d make headless chicken proud.
This week, we have taken the concerto grosso of our quartet to, where else, the carnival.
We kick off with verve. Yeah. We're gonna storm this one tonight.
A lone lady crying in a tunnel of love struck me almost heart-breaking...
... until this happened.
We've got incoming, AK's away!
A literal Fire in the Hole(TM). One of the few precious moment of synergy or, you know, co-op.
On the bottom of the coaster. Here we go.
Should've probably checked where my team mates were before I've done the Here We Go(TM) thing...
... oh, nevermind then, next time.
Ellis and Nick in the hands of my wife and a friend in a different time zone march bravely on...
... or not.
Mustachio(TM) rules. Your argument in invalid.
In front of that stadium gate, I felt like a popstar there for a while. I lived fast, died young. Same goes for everyone else...
... except this guy. He came back and died slightly older.
My feelings at big concerts in a picture. Not all the time, but most of the time...
... not all the time. I swear.
So. What's going on here is that two of our heroic survivors have decided to Cheese It(TM) and one has actually made it into the safe room. The Charger is one of the flaws in this plan though. Wonder what the guy is saying.
Bathroom mosh pits tend to be a bitch as I'm sure the other Cheese It(TM) dude would testify.
Fact of the matter is, we ended on a high note and with fireworks! Oh. Wait.
Whilst that’d be it for our WeekEndGame series premiere, do feel free to post your weekender virtual shenanigans down there in the comments. Next, in a week or two, we’re learning to play with the Steam Controller.
