Good day to you Citizens. Here on the site we don’t have time to talk about all the games we’d like to, whether it’s in the form of a review or a play diary or whatnot. To try and remedy that, What We’re Playing is a new monthly feature at Citizen Game where the staff take a moment to talk about their current gaming obsessions. Find out what’s got some of us hooked this past month in Part 1, and let us know what you’ve been playing in the comments. Part 2 will follow tomorrow.

Mark D:

I’m usually a big fan of PC gaming, but after a complete hardware failure in my gaming PC towards the beginning of the month my Dead Rising 2 and Fallout: New Vegas games have been cut short. (At least until the warranties for both my video card and motherboard come to the rescue.) Until I get my PC back together I’ve been spending time with my ol’ faithful 360 and my neglected Wii. I’ve played through Fable III, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, 007: Blood Stone and Force Unleashed II and can say that they’ve all been a disappointment in some way or another with the exception of Brotherhood. That game is outstanding and anyone with love for the previous games in the series should be thinking about taking a look. I also jumped on this month’s sale of Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: The Game along with playing Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, Rock Band 3 and The Sims 3. What’s that? Eight games? Those who say I need to get out more are probably right.

Golden Eye. Less blocky, still ace.

This might have also been the best month for the Wii since it was released: Golden Eye, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Sonic Colours along with Kirby’s Epic Yarn late last month are all great games that can cater to games of just about any skill level, from some of the brutally tough levels of Donkey Kong to the cutesy world of Kirby. Looking at the list of Wii games sure makes it feel like we’re back in the 90′s but it’s easy to appreciate how each one of these franchises has been brought up to date.

Joe:

I’ve been playing a lot of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. It started out much slower than the other games in the series and to be honest I was really hating it for the first couple of hours. The whole thing felt lacking direction and the missions seemed to mostly involve running from point A to point B. Once it gets going though Brotherhood is easily the best game in the series. The combat is so much more dynamic and calling in fellow assassins to take out unsuspecting guards never gets old. My favourite moment came during one rooftop encounter when, upon calling for another assassin, he appeared by leaping out of the roof garden right next to a guard and immediately slit his throat before disappearing again. Definitely an “Oh snap!” moment!

The rest of my gaming time recently has been taken up by my favourite past time, going fast. I’ve been racing in F1 2010 almost non-stop since it came out and my lap times have been getting faster and faster every time I play. Last week I reviewed Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, a game I was really looking forward to as a fan of the original Hot Pursuit titles on PS2, and this week I’m insanely busy reviewing Gran Turismo 5. I’m really enjoying the driving in GT5 for the most part, but there are definitely a fair few issues in other parts of the game. (You can now check out Joe’s full review here.)

Joe Barron. Yesterday.

Tamoor:

The list of games that I’m currently playing would be a little more exciting if my TV hadn’t been taken away for repairs. Instead, I have a worryingly large pile of console games I’ve not been playing – go figure. As a result the majority of my gaming time over the last month has been spent on portables, PC and my iPhone which has been a refreshing change from just playing with the normal ‘Triple A’ console titles.

Gaming on the iPhone has basically boiled down to long sessions of Cut the Rope interspersed with short bursts of Game Dev Story. I really enjoy Cut the Rope but it can become devilishly difficult at times, and when it does I’ll either switch over to Game Dev Story or lame it out and find the solution on YouTube.

I’ve built up an impressive library of unplayed Steam games, which is only natural considering the absurd prices Valve is selling their wares for – those devious gits. My pile of unplayed shame now includes Metro 2033, Civilization V, S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Tropico 3, to name just a few. Bloody World of Warcraft has been my biggest time sink on PC and I don’t regret a single moment. With the Cataclysm expansion on the horizon I figured it would be a good time to get back into WoW. I’ve spent the last month grinding quests and now have a level 69 Death Knight called ‘Auditore’ (Ezio Auditore da Firenze didn’t fit). I’m hoping to hit level 80 before Cataclysm is released.

Regardless of the fun I’m having, I really can’t wait to get my TV back. I really miss Super Street Fighter IV and before it was taken from me I managed to spend a few hours playing Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. While the single player in Brotherhood is undeniably brilliant it’s the taste of the multiplayer that really has me itching to play more.

I’ve also been reading comics and books, but who the hell wants to hear about that? (No one Tamoor, now go away – Ed)

Remember, stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow and let us know what you’ve been playing in the comments.

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