Februari 5th:
some awesome secondhand finds
PlayStation 2:
SONY PlayStation 2 Slim (300kr, slim model SCPH-90004 from 2008, came with a power cable and a very worn but still functional composite video cable)
SONY Dual Shock 2 Analog Controller (came with the PS2, it's a bit worn but still works)
SONY PlayStation 2 8MB MagicGate Memory Card (came with the PS2)
Sonic Riders (disc only, it was in the PS2 when I opened the lid, the disc is scratched pretty bad and has some trouble playing the intro video and in-game music but it works enough for gameplay, it's not an issue for me regardless though as I still have my old unharmed original copy of the game I bought when it was released in 2006)
PC:
Diablo II (BestSeller Series)
Diablo II Expansion Set Lord of Destruction (disc only, has some minor scratches on it but should work fine)
Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun Plus Firestorm Mission CD
DVD:
Gustav + Gustav 2 (Garfield (2004) + Garfield 2 A Tale of Two Kitties (2006))
Ooops! Var är arken? (Ooops! Noah Is Gone../Two by Two/All Creatures Big and Small, 2015)
Argai The Prophecy - Vol. 1 (new and sealed, 2000)
Comics:
Dennis The Menace
2x Gustaf (Garfield)
2x Tom & Jerry
Manga:
Emma
Other:
2x retro drink coasters
a jar of decorative fake diamonds
2x mixed blind bags of toys (2x2x2 Rubik's Cube (Minions), 1x2x3 Rubik's Cube (Secret Life of Pets), etc.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Februari 12th:
Electronics:
HDMI <-> Component converter (USB powered)
Manga:
Rebirth (volumes 1 to 11 and 16)
One Piece (volumes 19, 20 and 30)
Tsubasa (volumes 11 and 12)
Comics:
Arne Anka
Magazines:
Bratz (stickers and puzzles)
Toys:
a bunch of Bakugan with some metal cards
a pink metallic fidget spinner
colorful camo fidget spinner
a bag of old 90s constructable sci-fi toys (a robot, lots of little pilot guys, some other various pieces)
Other:
a cartoony fox girl bike chain lock
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Februari 18th:
Magazine
LEGO Batman + LEGO Batman figure (polybag)
Showing posts with label playstation 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label playstation 2. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Saturday, December 1, 2018
Now Playing - December 2018
Dodgem Arena (PlayStation)
Newman Haas Indycar Racing (PlayStation)
Formula One (PlayStation)
Eragon (Game Boy Advance)
Unlike the PSP game which I enjoy greatly, this is a slow generic RPG style game with somewhat action-oriented turn-based combat, you press combos using A and B rather than select your move from a list, so it's like an extremely dumbed down and simplified Legend of Legaia or Xenogears type of system, it's not a bad game but I have fantastic RPGs to play, this has literally nothing that draws me in, it exclusively makes me want to play any of the countless better games that do the same kind of things endlessly better.
DT Racer (PlayStation 2)
Chip Shot Super Pro Golf (Intellivision, played as part of Intellivision Lives! on PlayStation 2)
Played this for Intellivision Day, December 3rd. I was originally planning to play lots of varied games and especially focusing on my favorite, Auto Racing, but I was away and busy most of the day so I didn't have time for that and decided to instead focus on some game I hadn't played that much that I still knew was good, and Chip Shot Super Pro Golf fit that criteria perfectly.
It's a really good golf game, one of if not the best I've ever played.
It's easy to get into and doesn't have any issues like more modern golf games and it's not as limited and basic as older and other contemporary games from back then were either, it's a virtually perfect mix of simple and to the point level of entry with just the right amount of complexity and advanced features to add the necessary depth for it to not get boring over time.
Auto Racing (Intellivision, played as part of Intellivision Lives! on PlayStation 2)
Set a new best time of 7:11 on my favorite track 3 with the red car.
Golf (Intellivision, played as part of Intellivision Lives! on PlayStation 2)
It's almost unplayable because of how the controls fail to emulate the analog disc of the Intellivision controller which is required for the aiming in this game, having only 8 directions to aim forces you to at least double, triple and even quadruple your amount of swings as you simply can't aim where you want and have to zig-zag and divide your swings up with the few directions you can aim in, it takes almost all enjoyment out of the game to say the least. Such a shame.
Chip Shot Super Pro Golf (Intellivision)
With the proper colors it's much easier to see the direction of the incline on the green and where the hole is, unlike in the Intellivision Lives! emulated version on PS2 which fucks up the colors pretty bad for this game in particular.
Soccer (Intellivision)
used it to test if my newly purchased INTV System III worked without any issues, everything seems to be working fine
Pac-Man (Intellivision)
Popeye (Intellivision)
BurgerTime! (Intellivision)
Auto Racing (Intellivision, emulated on PlayStation Portable)
It's embarrassing how insanely much better this emulates than the official Intellivision Lives! version on the stronger PlayStation 2 hardware. This emulator even emulates switching to the 2nd controller, making games like Auto Racing playable as it normally requires both controllers to start the game even in single player mode, while on PS2 you still need two controllers for that.
The emulator isn't perfect and there can be some glitches (especially with emulation speed being too fast, but a quick restart of the emulator fixes that and it only seems to occur after having been awakened from after being in sleep mode) and some games don't seem to work (not sure why but there seem to be some config file that is required by the emulator that I don't have set up properly, I'll look more into that in the future), but for now at least my beloved Auto Racing plays great and it's awesome to be able to play it properly and portable, I love it.
Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
Got some new batteries for my old Game Boy and playing through Super Mario Land a few times is a great way to get back into the Game Boy groove.
Smashing Drive (Game Boy Advance)
Finally getting to play this on real hardware, I've tried it emulated before and it seemed really interesting, it's a really fun arcade style checkpoint race and crash type game with over the top powerups and lots of action. It's a bit on the short side with only 4 levels but they multiple segments to them and each segment has alternate paths and secrets to find. I like it and will continue to look for a console version.
3D Rubik's Cube 2 (flash game on PC)
an excellent Rubik's Cube game for PC made entirely in flash
it had multiple sizes of cubes and full color customization for the different sides so you can get it just right, controls are also good and it plays smoothly even on my weak old PC
Here's a link to the .swf file: 3D Rubik's Cube 2
Night Stalker (Intellivision, played as part of Intellivision Lives! on PlayStation 2)
Shinobi (3DS)
A lackluster, low budget game in an otherwise great series. Controls are clunky, level design and enemy placement is awful, enemy respawning is annoying, pickups are either completely useless for gameplay (most just give a few points) or useless because they don't give what you need nor want (for example: after segments where you're guaranteed to take damage you get a shuriken throwing powerup or something instead of a health pickup, in other places after you've started a new level or something you get a full health pickup when you already have full health). The parry move that allows you to nullify enemy attacks is both laggy and hard to judge when you're executed, it also has lag frames after so you can't do it with every attack no matter how good you are at the timing, the game makes it completely useless when you're attacked multiple times in short succession, everything else you do also has a lag to it and lag frames after, so you're open to attacks almost constantly and there's no way to make it better, you can't improve your skills to overcome, it's just a bad game design limitation.
It also has shit poor checkpoints and you have to replay enormous parts of levels that are easily big enough to count as levels on their own all in one go, so even when playing on easy where you have infinite continues and the enemies are weaker than on normal or hard, it's still an extremely repetitive chore to play if you just happen to fall down an invisibly hidden insta-death pit after having gone through a whole huge area only to find that nope, there wasn't a single checkpoint anywhere during that place.
The visuals are literally on DS levels with unfiltered textures, low poly 3D detail and aliasing galore (even when turning off the stereoscopic effect), the framerated is also not perfect in stereoscopic mode (as is a common problem on 3DS, sadly) and the game is very dark and enemies and hazards don't stand out at all with little to no contrast from the environment and sometimes they're just plain hidden behind foreground objects making it literally impossible to avoid taking damage from their "suprise motherfucker" attacks, also touch damage on everything: touch an enemy's toe? take full damage as if he cut you with a sword.
All cut scenes are 2D cartoony video, as in 2D animated style and no 3D effects for the 3DS, despite this being a 3DS exclusive. I've played several multiplat games with custom 3DS stuff in them like the pre-rendered cutscenes being rendered with stereoscopic effects, but not in this exclusive 3DS title!
It offers an "easy" mode for beginners of the series that allows infinite continues and weaker enemies, as in normal and hard have limited lives and enemies you have to keep hitting until they die, constantly slowing the game to a crawl and making it artificially annoying that you have to restart the whole game if you run out of lives, it's as bad as old games only this had no excuse as it came out in modern times.
Sub Rebellion (PlayStation 2)
Basically a mix of AquaNox and Armored Core, two of my favorite games ever, so yeah this game is awesome. It's also made by Irem, makers of R-Type, so that's a triple treat right there!
Space Debris (PlayStation)
One of the finest third-person semi-on-rail shooters ever made.
Newman Haas Indycar Racing (PlayStation)
Formula One (PlayStation)
Eragon (Game Boy Advance)
Unlike the PSP game which I enjoy greatly, this is a slow generic RPG style game with somewhat action-oriented turn-based combat, you press combos using A and B rather than select your move from a list, so it's like an extremely dumbed down and simplified Legend of Legaia or Xenogears type of system, it's not a bad game but I have fantastic RPGs to play, this has literally nothing that draws me in, it exclusively makes me want to play any of the countless better games that do the same kind of things endlessly better.
DT Racer (PlayStation 2)
Chip Shot Super Pro Golf (Intellivision, played as part of Intellivision Lives! on PlayStation 2)
Played this for Intellivision Day, December 3rd. I was originally planning to play lots of varied games and especially focusing on my favorite, Auto Racing, but I was away and busy most of the day so I didn't have time for that and decided to instead focus on some game I hadn't played that much that I still knew was good, and Chip Shot Super Pro Golf fit that criteria perfectly.
It's a really good golf game, one of if not the best I've ever played.
It's easy to get into and doesn't have any issues like more modern golf games and it's not as limited and basic as older and other contemporary games from back then were either, it's a virtually perfect mix of simple and to the point level of entry with just the right amount of complexity and advanced features to add the necessary depth for it to not get boring over time.
Auto Racing (Intellivision, played as part of Intellivision Lives! on PlayStation 2)
Set a new best time of 7:11 on my favorite track 3 with the red car.
Golf (Intellivision, played as part of Intellivision Lives! on PlayStation 2)
It's almost unplayable because of how the controls fail to emulate the analog disc of the Intellivision controller which is required for the aiming in this game, having only 8 directions to aim forces you to at least double, triple and even quadruple your amount of swings as you simply can't aim where you want and have to zig-zag and divide your swings up with the few directions you can aim in, it takes almost all enjoyment out of the game to say the least. Such a shame.
Chip Shot Super Pro Golf (Intellivision)
With the proper colors it's much easier to see the direction of the incline on the green and where the hole is, unlike in the Intellivision Lives! emulated version on PS2 which fucks up the colors pretty bad for this game in particular.
Soccer (Intellivision)
used it to test if my newly purchased INTV System III worked without any issues, everything seems to be working fine
Pac-Man (Intellivision)
Popeye (Intellivision)
BurgerTime! (Intellivision)
Auto Racing (Intellivision, emulated on PlayStation Portable)
It's embarrassing how insanely much better this emulates than the official Intellivision Lives! version on the stronger PlayStation 2 hardware. This emulator even emulates switching to the 2nd controller, making games like Auto Racing playable as it normally requires both controllers to start the game even in single player mode, while on PS2 you still need two controllers for that.
The emulator isn't perfect and there can be some glitches (especially with emulation speed being too fast, but a quick restart of the emulator fixes that and it only seems to occur after having been awakened from after being in sleep mode) and some games don't seem to work (not sure why but there seem to be some config file that is required by the emulator that I don't have set up properly, I'll look more into that in the future), but for now at least my beloved Auto Racing plays great and it's awesome to be able to play it properly and portable, I love it.
Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
Got some new batteries for my old Game Boy and playing through Super Mario Land a few times is a great way to get back into the Game Boy groove.
Smashing Drive (Game Boy Advance)
Finally getting to play this on real hardware, I've tried it emulated before and it seemed really interesting, it's a really fun arcade style checkpoint race and crash type game with over the top powerups and lots of action. It's a bit on the short side with only 4 levels but they multiple segments to them and each segment has alternate paths and secrets to find. I like it and will continue to look for a console version.
3D Rubik's Cube 2 (flash game on PC)
an excellent Rubik's Cube game for PC made entirely in flash
it had multiple sizes of cubes and full color customization for the different sides so you can get it just right, controls are also good and it plays smoothly even on my weak old PC
Here's a link to the .swf file: 3D Rubik's Cube 2
Night Stalker (Intellivision, played as part of Intellivision Lives! on PlayStation 2)
Shinobi (3DS)
A lackluster, low budget game in an otherwise great series. Controls are clunky, level design and enemy placement is awful, enemy respawning is annoying, pickups are either completely useless for gameplay (most just give a few points) or useless because they don't give what you need nor want (for example: after segments where you're guaranteed to take damage you get a shuriken throwing powerup or something instead of a health pickup, in other places after you've started a new level or something you get a full health pickup when you already have full health). The parry move that allows you to nullify enemy attacks is both laggy and hard to judge when you're executed, it also has lag frames after so you can't do it with every attack no matter how good you are at the timing, the game makes it completely useless when you're attacked multiple times in short succession, everything else you do also has a lag to it and lag frames after, so you're open to attacks almost constantly and there's no way to make it better, you can't improve your skills to overcome, it's just a bad game design limitation.
It also has shit poor checkpoints and you have to replay enormous parts of levels that are easily big enough to count as levels on their own all in one go, so even when playing on easy where you have infinite continues and the enemies are weaker than on normal or hard, it's still an extremely repetitive chore to play if you just happen to fall down an invisibly hidden insta-death pit after having gone through a whole huge area only to find that nope, there wasn't a single checkpoint anywhere during that place.
The visuals are literally on DS levels with unfiltered textures, low poly 3D detail and aliasing galore (even when turning off the stereoscopic effect), the framerated is also not perfect in stereoscopic mode (as is a common problem on 3DS, sadly) and the game is very dark and enemies and hazards don't stand out at all with little to no contrast from the environment and sometimes they're just plain hidden behind foreground objects making it literally impossible to avoid taking damage from their "suprise motherfucker" attacks, also touch damage on everything: touch an enemy's toe? take full damage as if he cut you with a sword.
All cut scenes are 2D cartoony video, as in 2D animated style and no 3D effects for the 3DS, despite this being a 3DS exclusive. I've played several multiplat games with custom 3DS stuff in them like the pre-rendered cutscenes being rendered with stereoscopic effects, but not in this exclusive 3DS title!
It offers an "easy" mode for beginners of the series that allows infinite continues and weaker enemies, as in normal and hard have limited lives and enemies you have to keep hitting until they die, constantly slowing the game to a crawl and making it artificially annoying that you have to restart the whole game if you run out of lives, it's as bad as old games only this had no excuse as it came out in modern times.
Sub Rebellion (PlayStation 2)
Basically a mix of AquaNox and Armored Core, two of my favorite games ever, so yeah this game is awesome. It's also made by Irem, makers of R-Type, so that's a triple treat right there!
Space Debris (PlayStation)
One of the finest third-person semi-on-rail shooters ever made.
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Gaming Purchases - November 2018
November 1st:
Went secondhand shopping today, found some stuff.
PlayStation 2:
MotoGP (Namco)
Xbox:
Star Wars Battlefront (no manual)
Xbox 360:
composite A/V cable with a separate RCA and S-Video to SCART adapter
composite+component combo-A/V cable
Hitman Blood Money
Ringarnas Herre Slaget om Midgård II (Lord of the Rings Battle of Middle-Earth II)
Other:
male USB to male Mini USB cable
male RCA to male 3,5mm cable
Comics:
Fix & Foxi
Korak
Disney's Princess Yule Album
Disney's The Jungle Book 2 (two different versions)
Disney's Jasmine Friends for Life
DVD:
Disney's Brave
Disney's Cinderella 2
Disney's Dumbo
Pelle Svanslös i Amerikatt (Peter No-Tail in Americat)
Toys:
Atco City Series 3023 Airport Set + instructions (two parts missing, the glass for the helicopter canopy and the plug to hold one of the smaller propellers in place)
Atco Space Adventure 8025 Space Ship + instructions
and a new movie from a movie store
DVD:
The Star (2017)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 8th:
Some second hand finds today.
Electronics:
composite and S-Video <-> SCART converter
DVD:
LEGO Friends (2013, with original protective paper sleeve still around it, episodes 1-3)
Monty Python and the Holy Graal (2-disc Special Edition)
Bluray:
Cleopatra (2-disc 50th Anniversary Edition)
Books/Magazines/Comics:
Bobo - Svarta feens trolldom! (1984)
Disney's Classics - Sleeping Beauty
Katitzi vol. 1 - Barnhemsflickan
Katitzi vol. 2 - Zigenarflickan
Katitzi vol. 3 - Hjältinnan
LEGO Ninjago - Find the Samuraidroid (Where's Wally?-style look-and-find book with the LEGO Samuraidroid set to build)
Lilla Fruntimret - från livstycke till fuskpäls
Lilla Fruntimret rymmer hemifrån
Nya Fruntimmers Boken
Modern Dansk Humor
Toys:
a bag of toy cars (mostly made in china cheap ones, one Hot Wheels and one Majorette)
another Rubik's Cube (3x3x3, official Rubik's Cube brand)
a Secret Life of Pets McDonald's Rubik's Cube (1x2x3 size)
Other:
a 40-pack of flat green glass blobs
UNO (the card game from Mattel, 2015 edition with new "trade all" and "make your own rule" cards)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 12th:
Some new stuff, no secondhand stuff today.
DVD:
Justice League (2017)
Toy Cars:
a red Audi R8 (Majorette)
a gold Lamborghini Gallardo (Majorette)
a silver Lamborghini Reventon (Majorette)
a wine red Renault Alpine A110-50 (Majorette)
Other:
My Little Pony Friendship is Magic chocolate advent calendar (60g)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 15th:
More secondhand stuff.
DVD:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Iron Sky (2012)
Books/Magazines/Comics:
Barbie (#2 1993, #4 1993)
Dennis (#3 1988)
LEGO:
a small bag of blue and grey Technic pieces from an unknown set
Other:
a factory sealed, new and unused deck of playing cards (Black Jaguar label)
six factory sealed, new and unused VHS-C compact videocassettes
a bag of 103 smaller flat green glass blobs
a motorcycle painting in light-shifting colors (Yamaha Genesis)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 19th:
Other:
another My Little Pony Friendship is Magic chocolate advent calendar, different design than the other one (75g)
Went secondhand shopping today, found some stuff.
PlayStation 2:
MotoGP (Namco)
Xbox:
Star Wars Battlefront (no manual)
Xbox 360:
composite A/V cable with a separate RCA and S-Video to SCART adapter
composite+component combo-A/V cable
Hitman Blood Money
Ringarnas Herre Slaget om Midgård II (Lord of the Rings Battle of Middle-Earth II)
Other:
male USB to male Mini USB cable
male RCA to male 3,5mm cable
Comics:
Fix & Foxi
Korak
Disney's Princess Yule Album
Disney's The Jungle Book 2 (two different versions)
Disney's Jasmine Friends for Life
DVD:
Disney's Brave
Disney's Cinderella 2
Disney's Dumbo
Pelle Svanslös i Amerikatt (Peter No-Tail in Americat)
Toys:
Atco City Series 3023 Airport Set + instructions (two parts missing, the glass for the helicopter canopy and the plug to hold one of the smaller propellers in place)
Atco Space Adventure 8025 Space Ship + instructions
and a new movie from a movie store
DVD:
The Star (2017)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 8th:
Some second hand finds today.
Electronics:
composite and S-Video <-> SCART converter
DVD:
LEGO Friends (2013, with original protective paper sleeve still around it, episodes 1-3)
Monty Python and the Holy Graal (2-disc Special Edition)
Bluray:
Cleopatra (2-disc 50th Anniversary Edition)
Books/Magazines/Comics:
Bobo - Svarta feens trolldom! (1984)
Disney's Classics - Sleeping Beauty
Katitzi vol. 1 - Barnhemsflickan
Katitzi vol. 2 - Zigenarflickan
Katitzi vol. 3 - Hjältinnan
LEGO Ninjago - Find the Samuraidroid (Where's Wally?-style look-and-find book with the LEGO Samuraidroid set to build)
Lilla Fruntimret - från livstycke till fuskpäls
Lilla Fruntimret rymmer hemifrån
Nya Fruntimmers Boken
Modern Dansk Humor
Toys:
a bag of toy cars (mostly made in china cheap ones, one Hot Wheels and one Majorette)
another Rubik's Cube (3x3x3, official Rubik's Cube brand)
a Secret Life of Pets McDonald's Rubik's Cube (1x2x3 size)
Other:
a 40-pack of flat green glass blobs
UNO (the card game from Mattel, 2015 edition with new "trade all" and "make your own rule" cards)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 12th:
Some new stuff, no secondhand stuff today.
DVD:
Justice League (2017)
Toy Cars:
a red Audi R8 (Majorette)
a gold Lamborghini Gallardo (Majorette)
a silver Lamborghini Reventon (Majorette)
a wine red Renault Alpine A110-50 (Majorette)
Other:
My Little Pony Friendship is Magic chocolate advent calendar (60g)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 15th:
More secondhand stuff.
DVD:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Iron Sky (2012)
Books/Magazines/Comics:
Barbie (#2 1993, #4 1993)
Dennis (#3 1988)
LEGO:
a small bag of blue and grey Technic pieces from an unknown set
Other:
a factory sealed, new and unused deck of playing cards (Black Jaguar label)
six factory sealed, new and unused VHS-C compact videocassettes
a bag of 103 smaller flat green glass blobs
a motorcycle painting in light-shifting colors (Yamaha Genesis)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 19th:
Other:
another My Little Pony Friendship is Magic chocolate advent calendar, different design than the other one (75g)
Now Playing - November 2018
Auto Racing (Intellivision)
Sonic 3D Flickies' Island (Mega Drive)
Auto Racing (Intellivision Lives!, PlayStation 2)
It's still not as good as the real thing but it's still good enough to have some fun with.
Bomb Squad (Intellivision Lives!, PlayStation 2)
This one is borderline unplayable, the heavy use of the numeric keypad and bad control emulation ruins a lot of the intuitive nature of the game and like most games on this disc the lack of proper instructions makes it so you have to look up extra stuff online to get a good idea what to even do.
Thankfully I already know how to play most these games properly but for others who want to get into Intellivision are gonna have a very hard time with this collection, sadly. It does not show off the awesomeness of the real games running on original hardware, that's for sure.
Skiing (Intellivision Lives!, PlayStation 2)
Enduro (Intellivision Lives!, PlayStation 2)
This one I am not so familiar with, but I'm trying to get the hang of it, I'm getting better.
Stadium Mud Buggies (Intellivision Lives!, PlayStation 2)
Sonic The Hedgehog (Sonic Mega Collection Plus, PlayStation 2)
Sadly they've just lazily taken the 60hz NTSC roms and slowed them down to play at 50hz for this collection, so the games run and sound slow and weird, far from the real 50hz PAL original versions on original hardware.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Sonic Mega Collection Plus, PlayStation 2)
Sonic 3D Flickies' Island (Sonic Mega Collection Plus, PlayStation 2)
WRC Rally Evolved (PlayStation 2)
A really great rally game with some cool extreme weather effects and stuff, kinda similar to games like Motorstorm Apocalypse or Split/Second.
WRC 4 (PlayStation 2)
A great rally game, it's basically like WRC Rally Evolved but focused on regular rally racing only. Both are great games.
Rally Championship (PlayStation 2)
A fantastic arcade rally game, I love the driving physics, the music is awesome, this may be a new contender for the best [arcade] rally game I've ever played. I can't seem to wipe off the huge dumb grin I get on my face when playing this.
Jet Ion GP (PlayStation 2)
A nostalgic classic for me, I think it was the third or possibly fourth game I got for my PS2 back in the day.
New York Race (PlayStation 2)
I got this game less than a year ago but originally I could've gotten it instead of Jet Ion GP.
Now finally I've been able to compare both side by side and truly see if I made the right choice when I picked Jet Ion GP over New York Race all those years ago.
I have to say yes, I made the right choice, as good as New York Race is, I like Jet Ion GP better. I'm glad to finally have both though.
Sonic CD (Sonic Gems Collection, PlayStation 2)
Beat is with the bad ending but I did probably my personal best run ever, with only having lost one life during the whole playthrough, obtaining 5 of the time stones and getting the good future in I think 8 or 9 stages.
Sonic Unleashed (PlayStation 2)
This game is awful.
It's the same version that is on Wii so I can't even imagine how bad that one must be if it's this game with broken motion controls..
I have the Xbox 360 version, which is different from the PS2/Wii versions, but I haven't played that one yet. I'm guessing it's probably really awful as well, maybe not quite as bad as this one but still really bad, I have no reason to think they made it better in any way that counts, the atrocious Sonic Generations I have on Xbox 360 has made sure I can exclusively assume the very worst of all modern Sonic games.
As a side note, anyone who dares complain about even a single tiny little thing about Sonic 06 needs to play this (and/or Sonic Generations) to see what truly bad Sonic games are like, then they need to beg on their bare knees to Sonic 06 for forgiveness.
Crash of the Titans (PlayStation 2)
I didn't have much hope for this being good but it suprised me, in fact it's one of the better 3D platformers I've played.
Good visuals, good gameplay, good controls, good level design, very good multilingual voice acting.
The combat could've been a bit better in the responsiveness and control, but the ability to take over large enemies and use their abilities adds a nice variety and depth to the combat and gameplay of the entire game, so overall that's all still good too.
Offroad Extreme! (PlayStation 2)
I have this on Wii and played it a few years ago, it was pretty bad with the visuals and framerate but I remember it having really responsive and accurate motion controls, far better than any other Wii game in fact, and now I've tried out the PS2 version and can safely say the framerate, visuals and controls are all much better than in the Wii version, as good as the Wii version's controls are they are to no suprise infinitely better with an analog stick, and the visuals actually look okay in this, still low budget looking but they run silky smooth and the environments and textures don't look weird like they did on Wii.
Simply put, the PS2 version is clearly superior in every way to the newer Wii version, and keep in mind that Wii had a more than twice as powerful CPU than PS2 and twice as much RAM memory.
Armored Core (PlayStation)
Made the Shadow The Hedgehog logo as an emblem. Also began work on a My Little Pony emblem of the old cartoon (My Little Pony Tales) show logo.
Dead Or Alive 2 (PlayStation 2)
LEGO Batman The Videogame (PlayStation 2)
Saint Seiya The Hades (PlayStation 2)
What a disappointment. I enjoyed the anime series back in the day, Hilda De Polaris being my favorite character, but this game is just awful.
Ugly, poor controls, repetitive, limited gameplay and game modes, awful game design with enemies being allowed to revive themselves multiple times before you defeat them but you game over instantly if you lose once, enemies are either super easy and can be defeated by repeating a single attack or they are impossibly hard and spam super moves that can't be dodged that drain 95% of your health in one hit, japanese voices only, retarded dialog options you have to unlock before they are actual options but you still have to pick the only option available as if you had a choice only to waste your time and slow down the already awful excuses for cutscenes.
I really didn't find a single redeemable feature in this game. I didn't even get to see Hilda.
DT Racer (PlayStation 2)
Feels good to play my favorite racing game of all time again.
Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow (PlayStation 2)
Awful gameplay design, atrocious tutorial design, garbage programming and optimization with tons of unnecessary in-level loading times and framerate issues, glitches, artificial limitations on what you can do making a vast majority of the moves you have at your disposal unusable, bad voice acting, extremely poor script with cringe worthy dialogue from everyone, continuity problems severely limiting your freedom of options in the levels.
It's a bad game, plain and simple. Play a good stealth action game instead, there are many of them, even in the same series there are better ones that are older, this one is simply one of the worst, avoid it entirely, you're not missing out on anything good if you never play this, you're just saving yourself from a headache and frustration.
The Italian Job L.A. Heist (PlayStation 2)
One of those potentially fantastic games that was ruined by absolutely retarded progress design. Unless you super master every single little corner of the game with every car and save your progress you'll never see a vast majority of it, not even in multiplayer mode which could've been great and fun had they just had everything unlocked to enjoy. Having to perfect the entire singleplayer experience to have anything fun in multiplayer is at best insult to injury. Such a shame. it plays great otherwise, looks great too. Tight controls and fun stunt moves, it has so many top quality attributes it's nothing short of impressive how they managed to systematically go through all the trouble of locking down the entire game and making it one of the hardest games ever to unlock even a single new thing in. One of the best examples of all time on how not to design a game's difficulty and means of progression.
Cold Winter (PlayStation 2)
An overall mediocre FPS with a great physics engine, tons of interactivity and great dynamic lighting and shadows, too bad none of that is used and it plays more similar to Wolfenstein 3D or Doom than, say, a stealth game or something.
Battle Engine Aquila (PlayStation 2)
Good old cockpit view mech shooter. I wish it would've had a third person view but it's still a good game, some repetitive missions and sadly as always with game like this the developers just had to force in annoying protect and escort missions to ruin the fun.
Star Wars Racer Revenge (PlayStation 2)
I like it, it's fast, looks good, controls good, sounds good and has nice levels with multiple paths. I wish it would've had weapons like WipEout, but you can at least damage your opponents with aggressive playing, so it's not completely limited to just basic racing at least.
Star Wars Jedi Starfighter (PlayStation 2)
An okay free-flight spaceship shooter, nowhere near the level of games like StarLancer, Star Trek Invasion, Colony Wars Red Sun or Blast Radius but not bad either, just okay. Framerate issues, some clunky command controls, clunky enemy selection/targeting controls, repetitive defend, destroy all, protect and escort missions and repetitive gameplay keep it from being great.
The SeeD Warzone (PlayStation 2)
I'm getting a little better at this game. I always wanted to be good at it and play through it properly but I've never had the time to dedicate to learning all the depth this game has to offer.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (Entertainment System)
Super Mario Bros. (Entertainment System)
Sonic The Hedgehog (Mega Drive)
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Mega Drive)
Wonder Boy The Dragon's Trap (Game Gear)
Sonic 3D Flickies' Island (Mega Drive)
Auto Racing (Intellivision Lives!, PlayStation 2)
It's still not as good as the real thing but it's still good enough to have some fun with.
Bomb Squad (Intellivision Lives!, PlayStation 2)
This one is borderline unplayable, the heavy use of the numeric keypad and bad control emulation ruins a lot of the intuitive nature of the game and like most games on this disc the lack of proper instructions makes it so you have to look up extra stuff online to get a good idea what to even do.
Thankfully I already know how to play most these games properly but for others who want to get into Intellivision are gonna have a very hard time with this collection, sadly. It does not show off the awesomeness of the real games running on original hardware, that's for sure.
Skiing (Intellivision Lives!, PlayStation 2)
Enduro (Intellivision Lives!, PlayStation 2)
This one I am not so familiar with, but I'm trying to get the hang of it, I'm getting better.
Stadium Mud Buggies (Intellivision Lives!, PlayStation 2)
Sonic The Hedgehog (Sonic Mega Collection Plus, PlayStation 2)
Sadly they've just lazily taken the 60hz NTSC roms and slowed them down to play at 50hz for this collection, so the games run and sound slow and weird, far from the real 50hz PAL original versions on original hardware.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Sonic Mega Collection Plus, PlayStation 2)
Sonic 3D Flickies' Island (Sonic Mega Collection Plus, PlayStation 2)
WRC Rally Evolved (PlayStation 2)
A really great rally game with some cool extreme weather effects and stuff, kinda similar to games like Motorstorm Apocalypse or Split/Second.
WRC 4 (PlayStation 2)
A great rally game, it's basically like WRC Rally Evolved but focused on regular rally racing only. Both are great games.
Rally Championship (PlayStation 2)
A fantastic arcade rally game, I love the driving physics, the music is awesome, this may be a new contender for the best [arcade] rally game I've ever played. I can't seem to wipe off the huge dumb grin I get on my face when playing this.
Jet Ion GP (PlayStation 2)
A nostalgic classic for me, I think it was the third or possibly fourth game I got for my PS2 back in the day.
New York Race (PlayStation 2)
I got this game less than a year ago but originally I could've gotten it instead of Jet Ion GP.
Now finally I've been able to compare both side by side and truly see if I made the right choice when I picked Jet Ion GP over New York Race all those years ago.
I have to say yes, I made the right choice, as good as New York Race is, I like Jet Ion GP better. I'm glad to finally have both though.
Sonic CD (Sonic Gems Collection, PlayStation 2)
Beat is with the bad ending but I did probably my personal best run ever, with only having lost one life during the whole playthrough, obtaining 5 of the time stones and getting the good future in I think 8 or 9 stages.
Sonic Unleashed (PlayStation 2)
This game is awful.
It's the same version that is on Wii so I can't even imagine how bad that one must be if it's this game with broken motion controls..
I have the Xbox 360 version, which is different from the PS2/Wii versions, but I haven't played that one yet. I'm guessing it's probably really awful as well, maybe not quite as bad as this one but still really bad, I have no reason to think they made it better in any way that counts, the atrocious Sonic Generations I have on Xbox 360 has made sure I can exclusively assume the very worst of all modern Sonic games.
As a side note, anyone who dares complain about even a single tiny little thing about Sonic 06 needs to play this (and/or Sonic Generations) to see what truly bad Sonic games are like, then they need to beg on their bare knees to Sonic 06 for forgiveness.
Crash of the Titans (PlayStation 2)
I didn't have much hope for this being good but it suprised me, in fact it's one of the better 3D platformers I've played.
Good visuals, good gameplay, good controls, good level design, very good multilingual voice acting.
The combat could've been a bit better in the responsiveness and control, but the ability to take over large enemies and use their abilities adds a nice variety and depth to the combat and gameplay of the entire game, so overall that's all still good too.
Offroad Extreme! (PlayStation 2)
I have this on Wii and played it a few years ago, it was pretty bad with the visuals and framerate but I remember it having really responsive and accurate motion controls, far better than any other Wii game in fact, and now I've tried out the PS2 version and can safely say the framerate, visuals and controls are all much better than in the Wii version, as good as the Wii version's controls are they are to no suprise infinitely better with an analog stick, and the visuals actually look okay in this, still low budget looking but they run silky smooth and the environments and textures don't look weird like they did on Wii.
Simply put, the PS2 version is clearly superior in every way to the newer Wii version, and keep in mind that Wii had a more than twice as powerful CPU than PS2 and twice as much RAM memory.
Armored Core (PlayStation)
Made the Shadow The Hedgehog logo as an emblem. Also began work on a My Little Pony emblem of the old cartoon (My Little Pony Tales) show logo.
Dead Or Alive 2 (PlayStation 2)
LEGO Batman The Videogame (PlayStation 2)
Saint Seiya The Hades (PlayStation 2)
What a disappointment. I enjoyed the anime series back in the day, Hilda De Polaris being my favorite character, but this game is just awful.
Ugly, poor controls, repetitive, limited gameplay and game modes, awful game design with enemies being allowed to revive themselves multiple times before you defeat them but you game over instantly if you lose once, enemies are either super easy and can be defeated by repeating a single attack or they are impossibly hard and spam super moves that can't be dodged that drain 95% of your health in one hit, japanese voices only, retarded dialog options you have to unlock before they are actual options but you still have to pick the only option available as if you had a choice only to waste your time and slow down the already awful excuses for cutscenes.
I really didn't find a single redeemable feature in this game. I didn't even get to see Hilda.
DT Racer (PlayStation 2)
Feels good to play my favorite racing game of all time again.
Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow (PlayStation 2)
Awful gameplay design, atrocious tutorial design, garbage programming and optimization with tons of unnecessary in-level loading times and framerate issues, glitches, artificial limitations on what you can do making a vast majority of the moves you have at your disposal unusable, bad voice acting, extremely poor script with cringe worthy dialogue from everyone, continuity problems severely limiting your freedom of options in the levels.
It's a bad game, plain and simple. Play a good stealth action game instead, there are many of them, even in the same series there are better ones that are older, this one is simply one of the worst, avoid it entirely, you're not missing out on anything good if you never play this, you're just saving yourself from a headache and frustration.
The Italian Job L.A. Heist (PlayStation 2)
One of those potentially fantastic games that was ruined by absolutely retarded progress design. Unless you super master every single little corner of the game with every car and save your progress you'll never see a vast majority of it, not even in multiplayer mode which could've been great and fun had they just had everything unlocked to enjoy. Having to perfect the entire singleplayer experience to have anything fun in multiplayer is at best insult to injury. Such a shame. it plays great otherwise, looks great too. Tight controls and fun stunt moves, it has so many top quality attributes it's nothing short of impressive how they managed to systematically go through all the trouble of locking down the entire game and making it one of the hardest games ever to unlock even a single new thing in. One of the best examples of all time on how not to design a game's difficulty and means of progression.
Cold Winter (PlayStation 2)
An overall mediocre FPS with a great physics engine, tons of interactivity and great dynamic lighting and shadows, too bad none of that is used and it plays more similar to Wolfenstein 3D or Doom than, say, a stealth game or something.
Battle Engine Aquila (PlayStation 2)
Good old cockpit view mech shooter. I wish it would've had a third person view but it's still a good game, some repetitive missions and sadly as always with game like this the developers just had to force in annoying protect and escort missions to ruin the fun.
Star Wars Racer Revenge (PlayStation 2)
I like it, it's fast, looks good, controls good, sounds good and has nice levels with multiple paths. I wish it would've had weapons like WipEout, but you can at least damage your opponents with aggressive playing, so it's not completely limited to just basic racing at least.
Star Wars Jedi Starfighter (PlayStation 2)
An okay free-flight spaceship shooter, nowhere near the level of games like StarLancer, Star Trek Invasion, Colony Wars Red Sun or Blast Radius but not bad either, just okay. Framerate issues, some clunky command controls, clunky enemy selection/targeting controls, repetitive defend, destroy all, protect and escort missions and repetitive gameplay keep it from being great.
The SeeD Warzone (PlayStation 2)
I'm getting a little better at this game. I always wanted to be good at it and play through it properly but I've never had the time to dedicate to learning all the depth this game has to offer.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (Entertainment System)
Super Mario Bros. (Entertainment System)
Sonic The Hedgehog (Mega Drive)
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Mega Drive)
Wonder Boy The Dragon's Trap (Game Gear)
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Gaming Purchases - Oktober 2018
Oktober 11th:
Decided to go secondhand shopping today even though I hadn't originally planned to do so, got lucky and found a PS2 slim model cheap among some other things.
PlayStation 2:
PStwo Slim (2006)
PStwo Slim power adapter
PlayStation composite cables
third party Dual Shock 2 controller
Wii:
Klik-on Wiimote candy dispenser (white)
DVD:
Disco Daggarna (2009)
Toys:
2x electric racetrack cars (red Mitsubishi Lancer and blue Subaru Impreza)
Comics:
Dennis
Disney's Princess
Min Häst
Pondus
Woody Woodpecker
Snow White
W.I.T.C.H.
Other:
Lunarama backlit reversal film slide viewer (orange)
3 green badminton shotballs
Decided to go secondhand shopping today even though I hadn't originally planned to do so, got lucky and found a PS2 slim model cheap among some other things.
PlayStation 2:
PStwo Slim (2006)
PStwo Slim power adapter
PlayStation composite cables
third party Dual Shock 2 controller
Wii:
Klik-on Wiimote candy dispenser (white)
DVD:
Disco Daggarna (2009)
Toys:
2x electric racetrack cars (red Mitsubishi Lancer and blue Subaru Impreza)
Comics:
Dennis
Disney's Princess
Min Häst
Pondus
Woody Woodpecker
Snow White
W.I.T.C.H.
Other:
Lunarama backlit reversal film slide viewer (orange)
3 green badminton shotballs
Monday, September 3, 2018
Gaming Purchases - September 2018
September 3rd:
some movies to get the month started
DVD:
Barbie The Pearl Princess (2013)
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 (2013)
Det Bästa Med Johan Glans Det Bleka Hotet (2011, new and factory sealed)
Pixels (2015)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 7rd:
another movie
DVD:
Batman Unlimited Animal Instincts (2015)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 13th:
Comic + LEGO:
Mickey Mouse comic with LEGO polybag - LEGO Jurassic World 30382 Baby Velociraptor Playpen
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 24th:
Ordered a PS2 game today, it should arrive in a few days. (it arrived in the mail on october 1st, exactly a week after I ordered it)
PlayStation 2:
Legend of Kay (new and sealed)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 28th:
Bought a little toy car today while out grocery shopping to cheer myself up from doing something as fucking boring as grocery shopping.
Majorette:
Lamborghini Aventador (yellow)
some movies to get the month started
DVD:
Barbie The Pearl Princess (2013)
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 (2013)
Det Bästa Med Johan Glans Det Bleka Hotet (2011, new and factory sealed)
Pixels (2015)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 7rd:
another movie
DVD:
Batman Unlimited Animal Instincts (2015)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 13th:
Comic + LEGO:
Mickey Mouse comic with LEGO polybag - LEGO Jurassic World 30382 Baby Velociraptor Playpen
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 24th:
Ordered a PS2 game today, it should arrive in a few days. (it arrived in the mail on october 1st, exactly a week after I ordered it)
PlayStation 2:
Legend of Kay (new and sealed)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 28th:
Bought a little toy car today while out grocery shopping to cheer myself up from doing something as fucking boring as grocery shopping.
Majorette:
Lamborghini Aventador (yellow)
Thursday, March 8, 2018
Game Purchases - Mars 2018
Mars 8th:
Some second-hand finds today..
PlayStation 2:
Sprint Car Challenge
DVD:
Open Season 2/Boog & Elliot 2
Rugrats in Paris Movie
The Wild Thornberrys Movie
CD:
Napalm Rave
Books:
Nemi Vol. 1
Nemo Vol. 2
Nemi Vol. 4
Nemi Vol. 10
Other:
Emoji Movie Jailbreak plush toy (McDonalds)
frog lady in bikini figurine
Super Mario Bros. bricks (McDonalds)
..and some movies from a movie store.
DVD:
Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You
Milo månvaktaren
Monster High Stora Skalliärrevet
Monster High Tystnad Tagning Vampyraction
Resident Evil Vendetta
Bluray:
Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You
The Lego Batman Movie
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars 13th:
Some secondhand finds today.
PC:
Gast (Gast The Greatest Little Ghost © 2001 Idol FX)
CD:
La Isla Mix
DVD:
Klara
Rugrats Go Wild
Monster House
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Season 2
Once upon a time in Mexico
Bluray:
Superhero Movie
Snow White and the woodsman
Lady Vengeance
Lego:
purple Slizer
yellow Slizer
Other:
broidery painting of lady with tentacles capturing a child, purple colors, very pixelart looking
wooden vase with art of a tribe woman on it
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars 15th:
Some interesting secondhand finds today; old PC programs!
PC:
eJay Dance 2+
Focus Essential 10000 Photos Vol. 2
Greenstreet Draw 4
GSP Pressworks 2.5
Serif 3DPlus 2
Serif DrawPlus 4
Serif PhotoPlus 6
Serif WebPlus 6
Ulead Cool 360
DVD:
The Kongress
CD:
System Of A Down Toxicity
Other:
König HC-SM10 electric slimming massager
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars 20th:
Some interesting secondhand finds today, a couple of obscure PC games and some good classic movies!
PC:
Batman Justice Unbalanced
Dr. Brain Action/Reaction
DVD:
Blackie The Pirate
Desperado (Special Edition)
Not Another Not Another Movie
The Darkling
The Lego Movie (still factory sealed)
Walking With Dinosaurs
Other:
a spanish family figure thing, I like the señorita mom
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars 20th:
Some nice second-hand finds today.
PC hardware:
Microsoft IntelliMouse TrackBall
DVD:
Disney's Snow White (1937) (Special Edition, 2x DVD)
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Highlander (Collector's Edition)
The Swan Princess a Royal Family Tale (2013)
Tintin Castafiore's Jewels (1991)
War Heroes World War II (3x DVD: The Eagle has Landed (1976), The Heroes of Telemark (1965), The Unknown Soldier (1955))
Books:
Barbie sails to Hawaii (1999)
Other:
a new urn for the remains of my cat that passed away a few years ago
..and some movies from a movie store.
DVD:
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Kill Switch (2016)
Transformers The Last Knights (2017)
Valerian and the City of a thousand Planets (2017)
Bluray:
Wonder Woman (2017)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars 25th:
Ordered some games today, sunday, they should arrive some day during the following week. (they arrived and I went to pick them up on the 28th) I know the Sonic games are all trash but they were having a sale and I've been wanting to get some modern Sonic games to test out and see just how bad exactly for years, and I got the PS2 version of Unleashed just a short while ago so now I have lots of garbage to compare and try out in their full versions, I've already played demos of most of them so I know they're bad, I just don't know to what extent they suck really, it'll be interesting to find out how deep the shit hole that is these games truly goes, also I had to give myself a treat for taking on this arduous task, so I got Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham as well so I'll at least get one good game out of all this relentless suffering I'm about to submit myself to.
PlayStation Vita:
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Xbox 360:
Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham (Classics)
Sonic Unleashed (Classics)
Sonic Generations (Classics)
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo-Kazooie (Classics)
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Classics)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars 30th:
Founds some movies in a movie store today.
DVD:
Alien Covenant (2017)
Day of the Dead Bloodline (2017)
Starship Troopers Traitors of Mars (2017)
Wonder Woman (2017)
Some second-hand finds today..
PlayStation 2:
Sprint Car Challenge
DVD:
Open Season 2/Boog & Elliot 2
Rugrats in Paris Movie
The Wild Thornberrys Movie
CD:
Napalm Rave
Books:
Nemi Vol. 1
Nemo Vol. 2
Nemi Vol. 4
Nemi Vol. 10
Other:
Emoji Movie Jailbreak plush toy (McDonalds)
frog lady in bikini figurine
Super Mario Bros. bricks (McDonalds)
..and some movies from a movie store.
DVD:
Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You
Milo månvaktaren
Monster High Stora Skalliärrevet
Monster High Tystnad Tagning Vampyraction
Resident Evil Vendetta
Bluray:
Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You
The Lego Batman Movie
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars 13th:
Some secondhand finds today.
PC:
Gast (Gast The Greatest Little Ghost © 2001 Idol FX)
CD:
La Isla Mix
DVD:
Klara
Rugrats Go Wild
Monster House
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Season 2
Once upon a time in Mexico
Bluray:
Superhero Movie
Snow White and the woodsman
Lady Vengeance
Lego:
purple Slizer
yellow Slizer
Other:
broidery painting of lady with tentacles capturing a child, purple colors, very pixelart looking
wooden vase with art of a tribe woman on it
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars 15th:
Some interesting secondhand finds today; old PC programs!
PC:
eJay Dance 2+
Focus Essential 10000 Photos Vol. 2
Greenstreet Draw 4
GSP Pressworks 2.5
Serif 3DPlus 2
Serif DrawPlus 4
Serif PhotoPlus 6
Serif WebPlus 6
Ulead Cool 360
DVD:
The Kongress
CD:
System Of A Down Toxicity
Other:
König HC-SM10 electric slimming massager
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars 20th:
Some interesting secondhand finds today, a couple of obscure PC games and some good classic movies!
PC:
Batman Justice Unbalanced
Dr. Brain Action/Reaction
DVD:
Blackie The Pirate
Desperado (Special Edition)
Not Another Not Another Movie
The Darkling
The Lego Movie (still factory sealed)
Walking With Dinosaurs
Other:
a spanish family figure thing, I like the señorita mom
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars 20th:
Some nice second-hand finds today.
PC hardware:
Microsoft IntelliMouse TrackBall
DVD:
Disney's Snow White (1937) (Special Edition, 2x DVD)
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Highlander (Collector's Edition)
The Swan Princess a Royal Family Tale (2013)
Tintin Castafiore's Jewels (1991)
War Heroes World War II (3x DVD: The Eagle has Landed (1976), The Heroes of Telemark (1965), The Unknown Soldier (1955))
Books:
Barbie sails to Hawaii (1999)
Other:
a new urn for the remains of my cat that passed away a few years ago
..and some movies from a movie store.
DVD:
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Kill Switch (2016)
Transformers The Last Knights (2017)
Valerian and the City of a thousand Planets (2017)
Bluray:
Wonder Woman (2017)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars 25th:
Ordered some games today, sunday, they should arrive some day during the following week. (they arrived and I went to pick them up on the 28th) I know the Sonic games are all trash but they were having a sale and I've been wanting to get some modern Sonic games to test out and see just how bad exactly for years, and I got the PS2 version of Unleashed just a short while ago so now I have lots of garbage to compare and try out in their full versions, I've already played demos of most of them so I know they're bad, I just don't know to what extent they suck really, it'll be interesting to find out how deep the shit hole that is these games truly goes, also I had to give myself a treat for taking on this arduous task, so I got Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham as well so I'll at least get one good game out of all this relentless suffering I'm about to submit myself to.
PlayStation Vita:
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Xbox 360:
Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham (Classics)
Sonic Unleashed (Classics)
Sonic Generations (Classics)
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo-Kazooie (Classics)
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Classics)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars 30th:
Founds some movies in a movie store today.
DVD:
Alien Covenant (2017)
Day of the Dead Bloodline (2017)
Starship Troopers Traitors of Mars (2017)
Wonder Woman (2017)
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Gaming Purchases - November 2017
November 16th:
A visit to a local secondhand shop resulted in a Buzz game for PS2, some DVDs, an old Babar book and a few bags of Hot Wheels.
PlayStation 2:
Buzz! The Mega Quiz
Cartoon DVDs:
Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame II
THe Hunchback of Notre Dame (Noble Entertainment)
Superman (1941)
Books:
Télé-Babar (1969)
Other:
Hot Wheels
other various toy cars
Lego:
Ninjago magazine + hovercraft polybag set
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 24th:
A trip to the local GameStop resulted in a new Vita game today, also got some other stuff in some other places, like some new shoes, a Lego magazine and candy.
PlayStation Vita:
Gal*Gun Double Peace
Lego:
Nexo Knights magazine + Macy Halbert minifigure
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 28th:
Some second hand finds.
DS:
Littlest Pet Shop Garden
PC:
LEGO Rock Raiders
PC Hardware:
USB numeric keypad
CD:
Citycat's pure dance music tv-cd citycat club essential dance traxx attention 1997
Dance Trance 94
Sonic Dance (1994, 1996 Norwegian edition)
DVD:
Pippi Långstrump
Starzinger Vol. 1
Starzinger Vol. 3
Starzinger Vol. 4
Starzinger Vol. 5
Books:
Garfield Julalbum 2008
Babar Pianisten
Heidi
Kon
Marsupilami 3
Marsupilami 6
Cartoon Network klassiker (Jesons, Flinta, Scooby Doo, Huckleberry Hund, Tom & Jerry)
Pomperipossa
Toys:
Batgirl McDonald's figure (2016)
Daphne Blake action figure
Knuckles The Echidna classic 90s McDonald's figure
Other:
Kasta Gris
Plockepinn
A visit to a local secondhand shop resulted in a Buzz game for PS2, some DVDs, an old Babar book and a few bags of Hot Wheels.
PlayStation 2:
Buzz! The Mega Quiz
Cartoon DVDs:
Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame II
THe Hunchback of Notre Dame (Noble Entertainment)
Superman (1941)
Books:
Télé-Babar (1969)
Other:
Hot Wheels
other various toy cars
Lego:
Ninjago magazine + hovercraft polybag set
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 24th:
A trip to the local GameStop resulted in a new Vita game today, also got some other stuff in some other places, like some new shoes, a Lego magazine and candy.
PlayStation Vita:
Gal*Gun Double Peace
Lego:
Nexo Knights magazine + Macy Halbert minifigure
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 28th:
Some second hand finds.
DS:
Littlest Pet Shop Garden
PC:
LEGO Rock Raiders
PC Hardware:
USB numeric keypad
CD:
Citycat's pure dance music tv-cd citycat club essential dance traxx attention 1997
Dance Trance 94
Sonic Dance (1994, 1996 Norwegian edition)
DVD:
Pippi Långstrump
Starzinger Vol. 1
Starzinger Vol. 3
Starzinger Vol. 4
Starzinger Vol. 5
Books:
Garfield Julalbum 2008
Babar Pianisten
Heidi
Kon
Marsupilami 3
Marsupilami 6
Cartoon Network klassiker (Jesons, Flinta, Scooby Doo, Huckleberry Hund, Tom & Jerry)
Pomperipossa
Toys:
Batgirl McDonald's figure (2016)
Daphne Blake action figure
Knuckles The Echidna classic 90s McDonald's figure
Other:
Kasta Gris
Plockepinn
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Now Playing - Juni 2016
Mostly been playing the games I got recently, it feels great to finally own copies of my own for some of these games and the newcomers have been welcome additions to my library as well.
Doom (32X)
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli (PS2)
A newly purchased game I'm trying out. It's fairly average overall with some highlights and some low points. It's a bit glitchy and the main menu has frozen on my multiple times when in the Options menu, forcing me to reset my PS2.
The visuals are a mixed bag, it runs at 25fps (in the PAL version I have, I'm assuming the NTSC version runs at 30) and it's a bit grainy and pixelated, not a lot of antialiasing going on, if any, maybe some but I think it's just the light bloom effect making it seem like it's smoother than it really is. On the bright side it does have some very nice details on the cars and environment, with some nice dynamic shadows and light bloom effect that makes it all look at bit less flat and boring, there are real-time reflections on the cars with a fairly high framerate on them, not buttery smooth but it's a lot better than games like Forza on Xbox where the game ran 30fps but the reflections were rendered in single digits.
One thing I noticed was that there was only ever one type of car model on the track at any given time, you always race against the same type of car you're driving, this means you can't pick a better car and win and vice versa for the opponents, they all have different paint jobs though so it's not too visually repetitive.
You have a few different camera angles to pick from, three behind the car where two are far away and one so close it's impractical, a hood cam and a bumper cam, sadly no driver cam like the game claims in the manual because that part is copied directly from the PS3 and Wii versions' manuals, simple laziness from the developers not making a dedicated manual and information for the PS2 version, also, some claim that a racing wheel that supposedly should work doesn't, but I don't have one of those so it's not something I can test or verify myself.
There's damage modeling on the cars, which is nice, and while nothing fancy, just some superficial twisted metal, it's still better than the likes of Gran Turismo or Enthusia where there was no damage at all to be found.
The driving physics are fairly good, it's an arcade-sim hybrid so it's a bit exaggerated by real life standards but still maintain a lot of the real world dynamics you would expect, it does powersliding very well, so drifting is fairly easy to do, it's not too unlike DT Racer in that regard, which is great as DT Racer is my all time favorite racing game.
There are some odd parts to this game, like they have their own Achievements/Trophy system where you win cards with Ferrari cars on them by completing set "Card Challenges" in the game's many modes, like beat your own time in Time Trial, win a race first place and other such common goals, and the information about the cars on the cards, like the year it was introduced, how fast the top speed is and the brake horse power etc., act like points in this odd card game you can play that doesn't seem to do anything whether you win or lose.
There are a few different modes to play in the game, relatively basic stuff but it's at least all there, all except multiplayer that is, it's a singleplayer game only, so if you wanted to race against your friends you're all out of luck.
You unlock cars before you get to buy them, you earn credits from racing in general, even time trial gets you a few measly points. You can also customize your cars to an extent, with custom paintjobs a-la-Need for Speed Underground with paints such as metallic, pearlescent, glossy and matte. You can also add custom vinyls and stuff, nothing too advanced but it's better than nothing, no extreme custom mods like new spoilers or body kits or anything of that sort though, but you do get to customize things like ride height and other more technical stuff i have little to no interest in, just the usual basic performance tweaking.
There are more things I could talk about like how you can set the challenge mode time so you can end up having to race 45 minutes before the race can end and other odd little things like that but I haven't explored the game enough to go into more detail at the moment.
As a final word I'll say the AI is okay, they're not glued to an invisible race line like in the Gran Turismo games, so if there's contact they don't automatically get the upper hand screwing you over by default.
Mega Drive Collection (PS2)
Sonic, Sonic 2 and Shinobi III.
The Ultimate Doom (the Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil version for Xbox played on Xbox 360)
It's easily one of the most accurate console ports of the original PC version of Doom there is, maybe even more so than the newer ones and maybe even the most so period, and while I still prefer the 32X and PlayStation versions for their changes and upgrades that fit my personal taste better, it's nice to be able to enjoy the original in it's original form now and then as well.
Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil (Xbox, played on Xbox 360)
I prefer Doom 3 on Xbox over the PC original and RoE is a great follow up that improves on the original in just about every technical way. I may not care as much for the story and setting in RoE as I do for Doom 3, but it's still good and I enjoy it. I've always felt RoE is underappreciated and when playing it now again after not having played it for years I can say I still feel the same way, it is underappreciated.
Quake 2 (Quake 4 Bonus Disc version for Xbox 360)
I love Quake 2, it's one of my all time favorites regardless of the version, sure the N64 version is the marginally weakest due to the choppiness and bad controls but it's still great, so even at it's worst Quake 2 holds up and is a joy to play. This version for Xbox 360 that comes on the initial release of Quake 4's Bonus Disc is a direct and virtually perfect port of the PC original. Sadly the newer re-release of Quake 4 on Xbox 360 lacked the Bonus Disc making it much harder to get hold of, I had to buy Quake 4 twice to get it myself as the first was the correct release but the disc was missing when I got it, after that I found a complete copy at GameStop that I bought immediately.
I may prefer the PlayStation port as my favorite of them all due to the upgrades and added content but I love the PC original and it's nice that there was finally a proper console port with no changes or downgrades.
Quake 3 Revolution (PlayStation 2)
Not as good as the Dreamcast port over all, sure it has twice as high framerate and the pickups are 3D models instead of 2D icons but the controls are much worse, the load times are extremely long and the visuals are much duller in color, and if I'm not mistaken some special effects are completely missing like shiny surfaces on some walls and stuff, and to be honest I prefer the 2D icons the Dreamcast version has as they were much easier to detect.
Still, as my Dreamcast remains dead the PS2 version is all I got, short of the PC original, but I don't wanna play on PC when I have a proper console version.
Quake 4 (Xbox 360)
I'm not a fan of this game and the Xbox 360 versions makes it hard to even endure with a really bad framerate to constantly remind you that there is no fun allowed.
I've tried Quake 4 once before when I bought it but I thought it pretty much sucked and because I only really bought it for the Bonus Disc containing Quake 2 I never bothered giving Quake 4 much of a chance at the time, so I figured I'd give it one now. It doesn't start good but I'll keep at it and see if it gets any better.
Doom (32X)
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli (PS2)
A newly purchased game I'm trying out. It's fairly average overall with some highlights and some low points. It's a bit glitchy and the main menu has frozen on my multiple times when in the Options menu, forcing me to reset my PS2.
The visuals are a mixed bag, it runs at 25fps (in the PAL version I have, I'm assuming the NTSC version runs at 30) and it's a bit grainy and pixelated, not a lot of antialiasing going on, if any, maybe some but I think it's just the light bloom effect making it seem like it's smoother than it really is. On the bright side it does have some very nice details on the cars and environment, with some nice dynamic shadows and light bloom effect that makes it all look at bit less flat and boring, there are real-time reflections on the cars with a fairly high framerate on them, not buttery smooth but it's a lot better than games like Forza on Xbox where the game ran 30fps but the reflections were rendered in single digits.
One thing I noticed was that there was only ever one type of car model on the track at any given time, you always race against the same type of car you're driving, this means you can't pick a better car and win and vice versa for the opponents, they all have different paint jobs though so it's not too visually repetitive.
You have a few different camera angles to pick from, three behind the car where two are far away and one so close it's impractical, a hood cam and a bumper cam, sadly no driver cam like the game claims in the manual because that part is copied directly from the PS3 and Wii versions' manuals, simple laziness from the developers not making a dedicated manual and information for the PS2 version, also, some claim that a racing wheel that supposedly should work doesn't, but I don't have one of those so it's not something I can test or verify myself.
There's damage modeling on the cars, which is nice, and while nothing fancy, just some superficial twisted metal, it's still better than the likes of Gran Turismo or Enthusia where there was no damage at all to be found.
The driving physics are fairly good, it's an arcade-sim hybrid so it's a bit exaggerated by real life standards but still maintain a lot of the real world dynamics you would expect, it does powersliding very well, so drifting is fairly easy to do, it's not too unlike DT Racer in that regard, which is great as DT Racer is my all time favorite racing game.
There are some odd parts to this game, like they have their own Achievements/Trophy system where you win cards with Ferrari cars on them by completing set "Card Challenges" in the game's many modes, like beat your own time in Time Trial, win a race first place and other such common goals, and the information about the cars on the cards, like the year it was introduced, how fast the top speed is and the brake horse power etc., act like points in this odd card game you can play that doesn't seem to do anything whether you win or lose.
There are a few different modes to play in the game, relatively basic stuff but it's at least all there, all except multiplayer that is, it's a singleplayer game only, so if you wanted to race against your friends you're all out of luck.
You unlock cars before you get to buy them, you earn credits from racing in general, even time trial gets you a few measly points. You can also customize your cars to an extent, with custom paintjobs a-la-Need for Speed Underground with paints such as metallic, pearlescent, glossy and matte. You can also add custom vinyls and stuff, nothing too advanced but it's better than nothing, no extreme custom mods like new spoilers or body kits or anything of that sort though, but you do get to customize things like ride height and other more technical stuff i have little to no interest in, just the usual basic performance tweaking.
There are more things I could talk about like how you can set the challenge mode time so you can end up having to race 45 minutes before the race can end and other odd little things like that but I haven't explored the game enough to go into more detail at the moment.
As a final word I'll say the AI is okay, they're not glued to an invisible race line like in the Gran Turismo games, so if there's contact they don't automatically get the upper hand screwing you over by default.
Mega Drive Collection (PS2)
Sonic, Sonic 2 and Shinobi III.
The Ultimate Doom (the Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil version for Xbox played on Xbox 360)
It's easily one of the most accurate console ports of the original PC version of Doom there is, maybe even more so than the newer ones and maybe even the most so period, and while I still prefer the 32X and PlayStation versions for their changes and upgrades that fit my personal taste better, it's nice to be able to enjoy the original in it's original form now and then as well.
Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil (Xbox, played on Xbox 360)
I prefer Doom 3 on Xbox over the PC original and RoE is a great follow up that improves on the original in just about every technical way. I may not care as much for the story and setting in RoE as I do for Doom 3, but it's still good and I enjoy it. I've always felt RoE is underappreciated and when playing it now again after not having played it for years I can say I still feel the same way, it is underappreciated.
Quake 2 (Quake 4 Bonus Disc version for Xbox 360)
I love Quake 2, it's one of my all time favorites regardless of the version, sure the N64 version is the marginally weakest due to the choppiness and bad controls but it's still great, so even at it's worst Quake 2 holds up and is a joy to play. This version for Xbox 360 that comes on the initial release of Quake 4's Bonus Disc is a direct and virtually perfect port of the PC original. Sadly the newer re-release of Quake 4 on Xbox 360 lacked the Bonus Disc making it much harder to get hold of, I had to buy Quake 4 twice to get it myself as the first was the correct release but the disc was missing when I got it, after that I found a complete copy at GameStop that I bought immediately.
I may prefer the PlayStation port as my favorite of them all due to the upgrades and added content but I love the PC original and it's nice that there was finally a proper console port with no changes or downgrades.
Quake 3 Revolution (PlayStation 2)
Not as good as the Dreamcast port over all, sure it has twice as high framerate and the pickups are 3D models instead of 2D icons but the controls are much worse, the load times are extremely long and the visuals are much duller in color, and if I'm not mistaken some special effects are completely missing like shiny surfaces on some walls and stuff, and to be honest I prefer the 2D icons the Dreamcast version has as they were much easier to detect.
Still, as my Dreamcast remains dead the PS2 version is all I got, short of the PC original, but I don't wanna play on PC when I have a proper console version.
Quake 4 (Xbox 360)
I'm not a fan of this game and the Xbox 360 versions makes it hard to even endure with a really bad framerate to constantly remind you that there is no fun allowed.
I've tried Quake 4 once before when I bought it but I thought it pretty much sucked and because I only really bought it for the Bonus Disc containing Quake 2 I never bothered giving Quake 4 much of a chance at the time, so I figured I'd give it one now. It doesn't start good but I'll keep at it and see if it gets any better.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Now Playing - April 2016
What I'm playing right now.
Rally Fusion Race Of Champions (PlayStation 2)
Pretty much my all-time favorite rally game. It has all my favorite rally cars throughout all the ages of rally racing, fantastic visuals, good driving physics, great tracks and a driving feel that makes it enjoyable to just play the game. I recently (middle of December 2015) got hold of the Xbox version but because my Xbox died just a few days later I never got a chance to try it out, so now instead I've dug out my PS2 copy and am playing through it from the beginning. I haven't played it in what feels like forever but it's just as good as I remember it to be and after having played some other rather fun rally games recently on PS2 and GameCube (WRC3 and Pro Rally respectively) you might think this would have a harder time living up to the memory I have of it being the best and all but honestly it's quite the opposite, it easily lived up to my rose-tinted memories and in comparison to the other two it's in a league of it's own, even other types of challenges that in other games are mostly tedious and annoying are fun in this, like cone challenges, I don't know any other racing game where I enjoy them in beside this!
Beyond Oasis (Mega Drive)
A top-down action adventure game with platforming, puzzle and RPG elements, a common type of game on Super Nintendo but not so much on the Mega Drive making this very much a one of a kind.
And what a one of a kind it is! It's easily the best representative of the genre in that generation and puts the Super Nintendo competitors like The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past and Chrono Trigger in their places.
I completed the game with a time of 6 hours and 33 minutes with 0 deaths but I missed a lot of secrets and stuff so I only got about half of the stuff you can find and none of the secret super weapons. So there's certainly replayability in there as well, which is nice.
The game has a built in save feature for up to four separate files at a time and it saves your end scores so every time you beat it you can compare with how you did in your previous playthroughs. You can aim to get a better time and higher rank and stuff separately too as they have their own scoreboards which is really cool and should be appreciated by anyone who likes to improve their game without having to keep a manual score themselves by writing down stats on paper or on a PC or something, very innovative thinking by the developers to say the least, even more so for a game released in 1995 on a console from 1989.
So it's a great game and a must play for anyone who likes the idea of the genre but haven't felt satisfied with the more common Super Nintendo offerings, this was the type of game I was looking for and I enjoyed it a lot.
Metal Head (32X)
Basically Armored Core on the 32X, it's fantastic.
Star Wars Arcade (32X)
Virtua Racing Deluxe (32X)
Rally Fusion Race Of Champions (PlayStation 2)
Pretty much my all-time favorite rally game. It has all my favorite rally cars throughout all the ages of rally racing, fantastic visuals, good driving physics, great tracks and a driving feel that makes it enjoyable to just play the game. I recently (middle of December 2015) got hold of the Xbox version but because my Xbox died just a few days later I never got a chance to try it out, so now instead I've dug out my PS2 copy and am playing through it from the beginning. I haven't played it in what feels like forever but it's just as good as I remember it to be and after having played some other rather fun rally games recently on PS2 and GameCube (WRC3 and Pro Rally respectively) you might think this would have a harder time living up to the memory I have of it being the best and all but honestly it's quite the opposite, it easily lived up to my rose-tinted memories and in comparison to the other two it's in a league of it's own, even other types of challenges that in other games are mostly tedious and annoying are fun in this, like cone challenges, I don't know any other racing game where I enjoy them in beside this!
Beyond Oasis (Mega Drive)
A top-down action adventure game with platforming, puzzle and RPG elements, a common type of game on Super Nintendo but not so much on the Mega Drive making this very much a one of a kind.
And what a one of a kind it is! It's easily the best representative of the genre in that generation and puts the Super Nintendo competitors like The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past and Chrono Trigger in their places.
I completed the game with a time of 6 hours and 33 minutes with 0 deaths but I missed a lot of secrets and stuff so I only got about half of the stuff you can find and none of the secret super weapons. So there's certainly replayability in there as well, which is nice.
The game has a built in save feature for up to four separate files at a time and it saves your end scores so every time you beat it you can compare with how you did in your previous playthroughs. You can aim to get a better time and higher rank and stuff separately too as they have their own scoreboards which is really cool and should be appreciated by anyone who likes to improve their game without having to keep a manual score themselves by writing down stats on paper or on a PC or something, very innovative thinking by the developers to say the least, even more so for a game released in 1995 on a console from 1989.
So it's a great game and a must play for anyone who likes the idea of the genre but haven't felt satisfied with the more common Super Nintendo offerings, this was the type of game I was looking for and I enjoyed it a lot.
Metal Head (32X)
Basically Armored Core on the 32X, it's fantastic.
Star Wars Arcade (32X)
Virtua Racing Deluxe (32X)
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Now Playing - January 2016
I have it as a tradition to start a new playthrough in a game I love to start off the new year, this year I created a new save file in CastleVania Symphony of the Night. I completed it with 198% on the 13th which got me the best ending.
Battle Engine Aquila (promo) (PlayStation 2)
I've had this on Xbox since back in the day but since my Xbox is broken now I thought I'd get the PS2 version to play instead. I could only find a promo version but whatever, it's still the same game as the regular retail release as far as I can tell. I love mech games and this fits in nicely alongside Armored Core 2, Frame Gride, Gundam Side Story 0079 Rise from the Ashes, GunGriffon Blaze, GunGriffon Allied Strike, Gun Metal, MechAssault, Metal Wolf Chaos, Murakumo Renegade Mech Pursuit, Phantom Crash, Ring of Red, Robot Warlords, S.L.A.I. Steel Lancer Arena International, Slave Zero, Steel Battalion, Virtual On Oratorio Tangram and Zone of the Enders as one of the classic mech games of the 128-bit generation.
Red Faction (PlayStation 2)
Alone in the Dark (Xbox 360)
I bought this about a year ago but never got around playing it properly until now. I've had the PS2 game since it came out many years ago and I've played through it a few times over the years. Playing this version brings back a lot of memories, both good and bad, but it's not exactly the same game as it is on PS2, they're essentially the same game but made from thr ground up each, so it's like two very similar versions of the same idea. What's funny is how they both suffer from the same kind of glitches and bugs and thus have most of the same problems and issues. It's hard to say which is the best version because of this. They're both good in the good parts and bad in the bad parts, many of the ideas that went into the game are interesting and I like the overall story but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. They simply failed to implement the ideas they had and the game ended up a mess as the result. I still mostly enjoy it, I just need to take many breaks to calm myself when the game repeatedly get on my nerves.
I've been playing a lot more Race Pro and some of the other games from last month too.
I've also been playing some of my recently purchased games like Pro Rally and Red Faction.
CastleVania Symphony of the Night (PlayStation and PlayStation version running on PlayStation Portable)
The classic and often regarded best game in the series. I've never been that huge a fan but I still like it enough to warrant a playthrough every few years. It's a great game but I feel the difficulty curve is unbalanced due to the open nature of the game. You mainly play as Dracula's half human son Alucard, and your mission is essentially to find and kill Dracula. It's a platformer adventure with RPG elements like leveling up, getting new equipment and lots of free roaming exploration. The problem is if you accidentally go down the wrong path you'll have a much harder time and a much more frustrating experience than you would if you randomly happened to go down another path instead, that's pretty much the case throughout the entire game. Only if you've done it before and have an idea of what areas pose the fairest challenge and where to go to get the good stuff early can you get a balanced playthrough without too much low level grinding and insta kill rooms of death. It's a gorgeous game though and there's plenty of stuff to love in it despite some of the issues it has. It's not a perfect game but it is one of the greatest games of all time and I would urge everyone who sees themselves as gamers to play through it at least once. It's absolutely a case of the good outweighing the bad.
Armored Core (PlayStation version played on PlayStation Portable)
Picked up where I left off last time i played. Got through a few missions and got some new parts.
Rapid Racer (PlayStation version played on PlayStation Portable)
My favorite boat racing game. I know Hydro Thunder is more well known but this is the one I loved back in the day, Hydro Thunder didn't have the precision this game has, it felt sloppy and fake in comparison, like a wannabe who didn't know how to be good enough but pretended that he was and expected everyone to agree because he was popular, it naturally failed to impress me, Rapid Racer was the real deal and is still fantastic to play to this day while Hydro Thunder has aged horribly when seen side by side with this game. Thanks to the optimized design it runs silky smooth at a rock solid 50/60fps framerate (PAL/NTSC respectively) and handles great because of it, a true joy to play.
Armored Core (PlayStation version played on PlayStation Portable)
Picked up where I left off last time i played. Got through a few missions and got some new parts.
Rapid Racer (PlayStation version played on PlayStation Portable)
My favorite boat racing game. I know Hydro Thunder is more well known but this is the one I loved back in the day, Hydro Thunder didn't have the precision this game has, it felt sloppy and fake in comparison, like a wannabe who didn't know how to be good enough but pretended that he was and expected everyone to agree because he was popular, it naturally failed to impress me, Rapid Racer was the real deal and is still fantastic to play to this day while Hydro Thunder has aged horribly when seen side by side with this game. Thanks to the optimized design it runs silky smooth at a rock solid 50/60fps framerate (PAL/NTSC respectively) and handles great because of it, a true joy to play.
Battle Engine Aquila (promo) (PlayStation 2)
I've had this on Xbox since back in the day but since my Xbox is broken now I thought I'd get the PS2 version to play instead. I could only find a promo version but whatever, it's still the same game as the regular retail release as far as I can tell. I love mech games and this fits in nicely alongside Armored Core 2, Frame Gride, Gundam Side Story 0079 Rise from the Ashes, GunGriffon Blaze, GunGriffon Allied Strike, Gun Metal, MechAssault, Metal Wolf Chaos, Murakumo Renegade Mech Pursuit, Phantom Crash, Ring of Red, Robot Warlords, S.L.A.I. Steel Lancer Arena International, Slave Zero, Steel Battalion, Virtual On Oratorio Tangram and Zone of the Enders as one of the classic mech games of the 128-bit generation.
Red Faction (PlayStation 2)
An old favorite I haven't played since it was new on PC. This is my first time playing it on PS2 and I'm glad to report it's just as good as I remember. The PS2 doesn't downgrade the experience one bit, unlike for example the PS2 port of Quake 3 Revolution which was a rather sad and awful experience despite having such an excellent port on the Dreamcast. Red Faction for those unfamiliar with it is a first person shooter with destructible environments, which was most unusual back the day, and even today is uncommon at best. I remember when I played it the first time how impressed I was at how you could blow new ways through the levels with your more explosive weapons, and it still feels great doing it today. I wish more modern games would do stuff like this instead of the same old "cinematic experience" that honestly overstayed its welcome well over a decade ago.
Pro Rally 2002 (GameCube)
It's an arcade rally racer in similar spirits of Sega Rally 2. It's mostly your standard rally fare but what makes it special is the physics engine, it's very bouncy and exaggerated, making racing a lot more interesting than most other rally games. I've been having a lot of fun with this one, getting many good laughs at how silly it gets sometimes. It's also rather glitchy, adding to the overall sillyness. It's definitely not a game I'd recommend to anyone wanting a realistic rally simulator.
Alone in the Dark (Xbox 360)
I bought this about a year ago but never got around playing it properly until now. I've had the PS2 game since it came out many years ago and I've played through it a few times over the years. Playing this version brings back a lot of memories, both good and bad, but it's not exactly the same game as it is on PS2, they're essentially the same game but made from thr ground up each, so it's like two very similar versions of the same idea. What's funny is how they both suffer from the same kind of glitches and bugs and thus have most of the same problems and issues. It's hard to say which is the best version because of this. They're both good in the good parts and bad in the bad parts, many of the ideas that went into the game are interesting and I like the overall story but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. They simply failed to implement the ideas they had and the game ended up a mess as the result. I still mostly enjoy it, I just need to take many breaks to calm myself when the game repeatedly get on my nerves.
Shadow The Hedgehog (GameCube and Xbox (Xbox version played on Xbox 360))
V-Rally 3 (Game Boy Advance)
LEGO Drome Racers (Game Boy Advance)
Asterix & Obelix XXL (Game Boy Advance)
Race PRO (Xbox 360)
Sly Cooper - Thieves in Time (PlayStation 3)
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Gaming purchases for November 2015
Due to a death in the family my gaming (along with pretty much everything else) has been on hold recently, but I did get to order some stuff online and shop for some stuff locally and ended up going on a minor shopping spree as far as videogames go, also some other non-gaming items but I'll just cover the gaming stuff here.
In total so far during the first half of November I've bought over 30 games and some additional gaming related stuff, most for Xbox 360 and PS3 but also some for Wii and even a couple for PC and one for PS2, well kinda, the one for PS2 was an old demo disc I didn't have with some games from 2001 to 2003. It was interesting to see demo versions of some of those games that I've had the full version of for so many years.
Here's what I got so far, November's not over yet so I may update this again if I end up with anything else before the month is over.
PS2:
*a demo disc
Wii:
Cursed Mountain
Dead Space Extraction
Disney Princess Enchanted Journey
Monster High 13 Wishes
Monster High Skultimate Roller Maze
Xbox 360:
Armored Core V Verdict Day
Killer is Dead Limited Edition
Section 8
Syndicate
The Darkness
The Darkness 2 Limited Edition
Winter Sports 2011 Go for Gold
PS3:
Battlefield 3
Deception IV Blood Ties
FIFA 08
Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Classics HD
inFamous
Killer is Dead Limited Edition
Mindjack
MotorStorm Pacific Rift
MotorStorm Apocalypse
**PlayStation Move Starter Disc
Sly Cooper Thieves in Time
Split/Second Velocity
The House of the Dead Overkill Extended Cut
The Shoot
The Sly Trilogy
PC:
Need for Speed Porsche 2000
Riverworld
Other:
Disney Infinity 3.0 Inside Out Disgust figure
Skylanders Drobot figure
Skylanders Stealth Elf figure
*Among much else the PS2 demo disc contained demos of for example Ratchet & Clank, a This if Football game, a WRC game and Stuntman and also video trailers of for example Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness and an Ape Escape game.
**The PS Move Starter Disc is a demo disc of PS Move games that usually follows the purchase of the PS Move Starter Pack.
UPDATE from 19th November
I went ahead and ordered some more games online.
PSX:
*B-Movie
Star Ixiom
PS2:
Dragon Rage
Gift
Headhunter
Wreckless - The Yakuza Missions
PSP:
Invizimals Shadow Zone (incl. Go!Cam)
GBA:
Madagascar
Star X
Tomb Raider - The Prophecy
**V-Rally 3 & Stuntman
GameCube:
XGIII Extreme G Racing (Extreme-G 3)
Shadow The Hedgehog
Sonic Adventure 2 - Battle (Player's Choice)
Wreckless - The Yakuza Missions
Xbox:
Rally Fusion - Race of Champions
Shadow The Hedgehog
*known as Invasion from Beyond in USA
**V-Rally 3 & Stuntman was a double pack with both games on one cartridge
I'm planning on making one more online order soon, maybe before November ends, otherwise it'll be part of the December purchases.
UPDATE from 19th November
I went ahead and ordered some more games online.
PSX:
*B-Movie
Star Ixiom
PS2:
Dragon Rage
Gift
Headhunter
Wreckless - The Yakuza Missions
PSP:
Invizimals Shadow Zone (incl. Go!Cam)
GBA:
Madagascar
Star X
Tomb Raider - The Prophecy
**V-Rally 3 & Stuntman
GameCube:
XGIII Extreme G Racing (Extreme-G 3)
Shadow The Hedgehog
Sonic Adventure 2 - Battle (Player's Choice)
Wreckless - The Yakuza Missions
Xbox:
Rally Fusion - Race of Champions
Shadow The Hedgehog
*known as Invasion from Beyond in USA
**V-Rally 3 & Stuntman was a double pack with both games on one cartridge
I'm planning on making one more online order soon, maybe before November ends, otherwise it'll be part of the December purchases.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)