[Gamer Diary] What I’ve been playing… September 2012

First off, my apologies for being so late with this edition of Playing!  I work in a university, and the arrival of freshers and term starting again has made everything a little hectic. My secondary reason is that of the two new games I was playing in September, I still haven’t finished either, and I didn’t want to give half-prepared reviews.  However, as time drags on I feel I must bring you something!

So I bring you a short and sweet look at Torchlight 2  and some interesting developments re: Booth Babes.

Torchlight 2 is an adventure RPG that has a slightly more cartoon-like presentation than big-budget rivals like Diablo III. Despite this, it’s been a huge success.  It allows a lot more freedom than D3 does when levelling up your character with skill points, and there’s character points to spend where you want, not just automatically assigned.  There’s a great variety of skills to play with to suit your play style and your character.  I’m currently playing through as an Engineer, and although long-range weaponry is an option I’m sticking with my two-handed melee weapons because I much prefer bashing my way through enemies.  That’s my example, but as I mentioned, I have yet to finish the game (or test the other classes out) so all I can do is advise you on what I know so far.

My favourite feature of the game is one’s pet.  There’s more choice in this game than the first as to what species of pet you have – I picked a ferret for the novelty – and being able to dump items in Professor Furzl’s inventory when mine is full is like a gift from the gods of gaming.  No longer shall you agonise over which rare item to pick up with only one space left in your backpack! Even better, you can send the pet to town with a bag full of junk, and he’ll return to you – wherever you are – with some lovely gold coins.  Best feature ever.

The final plus-side I’ll bring for you today is Torchlight 2‘s price: £15/$20, which is half (or less) than what you’ll be paying for the big-budget, AAA+, giant developer titles (I think I paid £35 for Diablo 3 on release).  The smaller price doesn’t give you any less enjoyment, I’ve found.  It’s a great title with brilliant features, and comes in at a decent price.

Now, a brief word on Booth Babes

 
You probably know what I’m on about here; you go to a show or an expo, and the companies bring scantily clad women to sell their games.  It’s insulting to the gamers and there’s a lot of bad press about how these women are treated, too.  Well, as of next year’s show the Eurogamer Expo here in the UK will be formally enforcing a ban on booth babes.  Frankly, I am glad, but I fear that those people who really don’t get the message will still try and sell their games with a little T&A.  We will have to see what happens next year, but from my point of view, and that of others I’ve spoken to on this topic, it’s a step in the right direction!

Hopefully by the next post I’ll have completed at least one playthrough with Borderlands 2… which, as I suspected it would be, is a secret feminist game.  More later!