Now Playing - Oktober 2017

September is over so I will dial down the 32 extravaganza a bit and focus on horror themed games and monster games instead, still with an underlying 32-bit focus though.

Metroid II Return of Samus (Game Boy)

Roswell Conspiracies Aliens, Myths & Legends (Game Boy Color)

S.C.A.R.S. (PlayStation)

WipEout 2097 (PlayStation)

V-Rally 2 (PlayStation)

Jersey Devil (PlayStation)

Fossil Fighters Frontier (3DS)

WRC FIA World Rally Championship (PlayStation Portable)

Alien Trilogy (PlayStation)

Asterix Mega Madness Galenskap i Kvadrat (PlayStation)
Also known as Asterix Mega Madness Galenskap Till Max, is a multiplayer-focused minigame collection for PC and PlayStation developed by UDS and published by Infogrames in 2001.
It's a 3D game with low minimum system requirements and it runs effortlessly without any compatibility problems on my much more modern hardware and software.
The visuals look good enough, not overly impressive by 2001 standards but they get the job done without any issues so I'm not complaining, it plays well with simple and easy to learn and use controls and the gameplay is for the most part fun and varied.
You play as either Asterix, Obelix, Mrs. Geriatrix or Cacofonix.
As I mentioned it's a multiplayer-focused game, so it supports the use of keyboard and a USB controller to allow for 2-player split-screen gameplay, which is very nice to see in a computer game for once!

Asterix Mega Madness (PlayStation)
I decided to check out the PlayStation port to see if there were any differences, and no, it was virtually identical to the PC game, beyond the obvious PlayStation things like loading from the disc causing slightly longer load times (which may be shortened if you play it on a PS2 with the faster disc loading enabled), a lower screen resolution adapted for display on older TVs (which can be changed if playing via an emulator on PC) and the lack of texture filtering (which is available if you play it on a PS2 or via emulation on PC) there are no real differences, some sprites are smaller to fit the lower screen resolution of older TVs better, but other than that the 3D geometry detail, framerate, colors, texture quality, controls, music, animated cutscenes and all other content is completely intact and seemingly identical.
It's an as flawless port as it possibly can be and lives up to the high Asterix & Obelix quality the series is known for.

Kao The Kangaroo Round 2 (PC)
An unusually good 3D platformer, at least by PC standards, seeing as they're usually best found on consoles, this was a multiplatform game though so it's also on PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox but it works very well on PC, even a shitty PC like mine it managed to run fairly smooth.
It seems to use the Massive engine, that powers the excellent AquaNox games, which would explain why it looks as good as it does while still running so well, it's a very good graphics engine.

Sonic R (PC)
Found this game while I was doing some cleaning, I'd put it away in a box with some other older stuff like Adobe Photoshop 5.0, Quake II, Unreal, some racing game and a couple of other games I've never even played because they wouldn't work on the PC I had back then.. maybe I'll give those a try with my current PC at some point as well.
Anyway, I decided to install this and see if I could get it running, and after having found working fixes for the issues I was having (an additional program was needed to make the controls work and a hex edited file was needed for better resolution settings), it works well enough with no major problems, I've seen some minor visual glitches and the resolution is not the same as Windows so it screws up the order of my desktop icons every time I play, but it's no biggie and it plays just fine otherwise.
The funny thing is, I have a russian version of the game, so it's Sonic R.. in russian.
It still plays like normal but all text and the voice clips have been changed to russian, and I don't understand a single word, I can guess what words mean "retry", "save", "load" or "quit" and other such basic stuff, but the rest is just strange symbols mixed with a random handful of recognizable letters.
Still, it's a fun game, I like it, it's one of the few mascot kart racer type games from the 90s I actually enjoy playing because it adds the extra depth to the gameplay with side missions during races, like finding hidden chaos emeralds and stuff.

Now Playing - April 2017

Continuing with Sly Cooper Thieves in Time on Vita and PS3 while also testing some other new games.



Sly Cooper Thieves in Time (PlayStation Vita)
Nearing the end now, on the final episode.
UPDATE: 10th April around 23:00 I completed the Vita version.

Sly Cooper Thieves in Time (PlayStation 3)
Catching up, only slightly behind where I am on Vita.
UPDATE: 12 April I completed the PS3 version.

NeverDead (Xbox 360)
I've heard bad things about this game but I'm having fun with it so far. It can get a bit choppy when there are lots of enemies spawning and a lot of environmental destruction is going on and the physics and controls with the main character's body dismemberment can be a bit unresponsive and bouncy, but the action is great. The rest is good too, I don't have any big complains yet. At least as far as the beginning of the game goes it seems to be a bit of an underrated hidden gem.

Earth Defense Forces 2 Portable (PlayStation Portable)

Smart As... (PlayStation Vita)
Been playing this on a daily basis doing the daily challenge and some additional free play of the minigames. It's a mixed bag in just about every way. Some minigames are challenging, others are not, some are forgiving, others are not, some control as they should, others do not, some are well designed, others aren't, some of the rules are fair and make sense, others don't, some use the Vita's different features well, others don't, some are unplayable augmented reality games because they require AR cards that don't come with the game, other AG games work fine without them, and so on.. I enjoy it for the good parts but the bad parts constantly make it a lesser experience than it should be.

The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)
Just reminding myself of all the reason why this game sucks.