Now Playing - Januari 2018

Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham (3DS)
beat it 100%

Lego Marvel Avengers (PlayStation Vita)
beat story mode

Lego Batman The Videogame (Xbox 360)
beat it 100%

Lego Star Wars The Force Awakens (PlayStation Vita)

Lego Batman 2 DC Super Heroes (Xbox 360)
beat it 100%

Lego Star Wars The Force Awakens (3DS)
Now I see why the Vita version was so mediocre and lackluster, it's sadly just a port of the 3DS version rather than a properly made and optimized Vita original version or stationary console port like it could've easily been seeing as the Vita is literally PS3 hardware and there are games on it that surpass even the best technical achievements on the PS3, like the incredibly impressive Killzone Mercenary that far surpasses games like Killzone 2 and 3 and Resistance 2 and 3, four of the very finest shooters the PS3 has to offer! not saying this is a bad game, it's just a shame the low tech 3DS (it's weaker than the old PSP) got a custom version when the vastly more powerful Vita just gets a slightly polished up port.

Yoshi's New Island (3DS)
Unresponsive, stiff, forced motion controls during certain segments, one-way levels that force you to replay the level from the beginning if you missed something, plain and simple this game feels like it was designed in the mid 80s.

Battle Frenzy/Bloodshot (Mega Drive)
An FPS in a similar vein to Wolfenstein 3D only in a sci-fi setting and it has a 2 player split-screen multiplayer mode.
It's a good game for the time and I like it, it gets a bit choppy and the countdown at the end of every level is almost a greater enemy than the nasty killer machines you face along the way.
It's a very tough game but it's cool enough and still enjoyable.
I got the european version titled Battle Frenzy but in the game the title screen still says Bloodshot.

Disney's Kim Possible Global Gemini (DS, played on 3DS)
Very similar to the PS2 game Kim Possible What's the Switch?, it actually does a really good job with the visuals and gameplay alike, its' smooth, responsive, you got good moves and I like the visual style with some flat shaded polygonal stuff, it fits with the cartoony look perfectly and helps the DS keep up a nice level of detail and a brisk framerate at the same time, a very well crafted game overall so far and I'm enjoying it.
UPDATE: The on-rail segments with snowboard and moped suck, they use the touch screen as a pseudo analog steering tablet and it's awkward as fuck to hold the DS/3DS while playing a game that way, those are by far the worst parts of the game so far, also the matrix type levels aren't very good either, it's just a gauntlet of dodging laser beams and a lot of grapple hook swinging, neither of which are this game's strong points, also they look really generic with the same blue grid pattern on everything.

WinX Club (PlayStation 2)
Finally I got hold of this for PS2, I've had the PC version for a few years but as both a fan of WinX Club and an avid console gamer I've always wanted the PS2 version specifically. It's virtually identical to the PC version. A good action platformer and great game for WinX Club fans.

Gaming Purchases - Juli 2017

Juli 4th:

I placed an order for some games and gaming related stuff at the end of Juni, all new stuff, even the older items.
The first packet arrived today containing a PSP 2000 headphone remote control for music playback, I only had the original remote control for the original PSP 1000 model, which is not compatible with the 2000 (or 3000 in my case) model because they changed the design of the plug to allow for video output on the 2000 model for playing on TVs.


Hardware:
PSP 2000 Remote Control


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Juli 5th:

Almost everything else came today, in three separate packets, and only a couple of things are still missing, the GBA screen protector+light I ordered three of, one for each of my three GBAs, but strangely enough one of them came today packed with some of the other stuff, so why they sent the other two of the same type separately I don't know, I just hope they sent it at all so it's not been a mistake because I fucking hate having to deal with shit like that.

Hardware:
a Game Boy Advance X-Light with screen protector
an original Sony PlayStation link-cable
a red TTX Tech Classic Controller for GameCube
two GameCube controller extension cords

Game Boy Color:
Roswell Conspiracies Aliens, Myths & Legends

Game Boy Advance:
Back Track

DS:
Garfield's Nightmare
MX Vs ATV Reflex

PlayStation:
Battle Arena Toshinden 4
Crisis Beat (I already owned this but the copy I had was a second hand purchase and a bit battered)

PlayStation 2:
Resident Evil Code Veronica X

PC:
Slipstream 5000
Virtua Fighter PC


Juli 7th:
Turns out the two missing X-Lights were lost in the mail and i won't be getting them after all, they didn't have any more in stock either so I'll just be getting my money back.


Juli 8th:
Ugh, now they sent me a new bill to pay but it's updated wrong, instead of three X-Lights in now says two, but I only got one, they only reduced it by one when two were missing. I've contacted them about it but because it's the weekend I'll have to wait till monday for a reply.


Juli 10th:
I got a reply and if I understood it correctly I'm going to get a new bill with the updated correct info on it soon, but I haven't gotten it yet.


Juli 12th:
I got another reply and it's basically the same as the very first I got, and I still haven't gotten the updated bill yet, they did push up the paying date to the 21st though, so now I just gotta wait some more and hope they don't fuck up any more.


Juli 14th:
Finally got the updated bill with correct info today so I can pay for these things already.


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Juli 19th:

I ordered some more games and stuff a few days ago that arrived today. All items are new and sealed.

3DS:
Fast & Furious Showdown
Fossil Fighters Frontier
Moshi Monsters Katsuma Unleashed
Sega 3D Classics Collection
Star Fox 64 3D

Xbox 360:
Binary Domain

Other:
Super Mario Collection Princess Daisy Amiibo
Yo-kai Watch Tattletell

Gaming Purchases - May 2017

May 4th:

Picked up the games I ordered online last week as they arrived today.
All games are used copies, complete with box and manual, unless otherwise stated.
V-Rally and Eagle One Harrier Attack are in a double pack with both games in one box.

Mega Drive:
Summer Challenge
Zero Tolerance

PlayStation:
Blast Radius (no manual)
Eagle One Harrier Attack
MTV Sports: Pure Ride
Star Trek Invasion
Street Racer
Truck Racing
V-Rally
Vagrant Story (promo disc, no manual)

PlayStation 2:
Hot Wheels World Race
Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums
Crashed
Crazy Frog Racer 2
Crazy Taxi
Motorsiege: Warriors of Primetime
Speed Kings


In the Crazy Taxi box there is a folder tucked in with the manual advertising other games from Acclaim (as they were the ones that ported Crazy Taxi to PS2), and among the games listed is Zombie Revenge for PS2 which sadly got cancelled worldwide before release. I sure would've loved a PS2 port now that I can't play it on Dreamcast anymore. I miss Zombie Revenge.

Teh update of an sadness:
The V-Rally disc is damaged on the data side of the disc and doesn't play. The other games all work fine, but damn, I really wanted to play V-Rally, I even warmed up for it by playing Sega Rally Championship on PC and Colin McRae Rally on PlayStation yesterday, getting myself into the proper mid-to-late 90s rally mood. Bummer. :c

Another update, semi-sad, semi-odd:
Seems MTV Sports Pure Ride also doesn't work.. on PS2. It works just fine on PS3 though. I've had the opposite happen many times as PS3 has really bad PSX emulation but for once it did it better than PS2 which has partial original PSX hardware in it, so how it's less compatible than a PS3 I dunno, it makes no sense.

Another update, really weird now:
V-Rally, with the literally see-through scratches on the disc, works on PS3 now... I'm literally playing V-Rally right now even though the disc is damaged beyond repair and shouldn't work at all. Am I in the Twilight Zone?



May 24th:

Picked up the games I ordered online last week as they arrived today.
All games are used copies, complete with box and manual, unless otherwise stated.
Because of how the copy of V-Rally I got earlier this month didn't work properly on my PS2, I ordered a separate copy now that I've tested out, and it works, so that's good at least.
I also ordered a separate copy of Eagle One Harrier Attack because I felt like it.

PlayStation:
Eagle One Harrier Attack
Formula One Arcade
Time Crisis Project Titan (promo disc, no manual)
V-Rally (Platinum)
V-Rally 2
WRC Arcade

PlayStation 2:
Kill.Switch (promo disc, no manual)

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.