What games have you been playing?

[Rolnikov]

After much tergiversation I finally plumped for an Xbox One, and the first game I bought for it was Saints Row IV Reelected, which is as ludicrous as I'd hoped it would be. You become President, Keith David is your Vice-President, and aliens blow the top off the White House. My character looks like She-Hulk with red hair.

I quite like the Xbox One itself. Some nice continuity with the 360: achievements carry over, and some saved games can be transferred. The dashboard is a complete mess, clearly designed with the view that it would never be used because we'd all be summoning games via voice command, but I'm sure that'll be sorted out, and I like being able to use achievement art as the desktop background. I love being able to create screenshots at any time, which will be very handy for reviews. The snap screen thing is nifty but a bit daft; I've used it to keep an eye on the news or sports while playing a game, but novelty aside you could generally do that better with a tablet or your phone.

[Rolnikov]

Playing Alan Wake's American Nightmare, and I was enjoying it a lot until I realised it was going to loop back through the same three levels a third time. It's about a writer, a lot like Stephen King, who is stuck in a nightmare reality based on a the episode he wrote of a tv show called Night Springs. Combat is interesting, in that your torch is as useful as your gun – it burns away the darkness around the possessed townspeople.

[CraigLockley]

I gave this a try but hated the torch mechanic. Great premise but couldn't get past that.

I'm back into Lord of the Rings online and Star Trek Online after burning out half way through Fallout 4.

[Rolnikov]

Finished the original Alan Wake too, which I really enjoyed despite it's so-so gameplay. Probably for the same reason I always enjoy romantic comedies about writers.

Now I'm playing Fallout: New Vegas, which I'm enjoying even though (or maybe just because) it's exactly the same as Fallout 3.

[CraigLockley]

I'm currently giving away a copy of exceptional Indie title Her Story (on Steam)

If anyone's interested, you can comment on the blog for a chance to win

http://knifesedgeblogs.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/her-story-most-original-indie-game-this_4.html

[Rolnikov]

Just finished Ryse: Son of Rome, which despite the daft title was a great deal of fun, with some very gory battling against the British. Can't remember the last time I played a game, finished it, then went right back to the beginning and played it all the way through again.

[Rolnikov]

I've been playing Skyrim a lot, too much really, plus the Instant Indie Hits bundle on Xbox One, which was on sale and is very impressive. It includes Hue, a nice little puzzle game where you switch the colour of the backgrounds to hide and reveal objects, OlliOlli,a fun skateboard game, Nova-111, a neat turn-based action game, and Stikbold and Action Henk, which were great for multiplayer. A few games I haven't played yet, but already had my money's worth for it.