These are the games I've been playing this month.
Metroid II Return of Samus (Game Boy)
After I was disappointed by the turnout of the fanmade remake (turned out it was a full on reboot, not even close to remake, literally everything was changed and tons of stuff was added that was never in the original) I wanted to play the proper Metroid II instead, so I did.
It still sucks that Nintendo after less than 24 hours filed a DMCA report against the reboot and had it taken down as it wasn't a bad game, it was actually the second best 2D Metroid I've ever played after the brilliant original Metroid II. It fades in comparison to the original Metroid II, of course, and it doesn't hold a candle to Other M either, not even close, but it's still the third best Metroid game overall and second best 2D Metroid game in existence, so it still sucks Nintendo can't even let their own fans do what Nintendon't.
Top Gear Rally (Game Boy Advance)
F22 Interceptor (Mega Drive)
FlatOut 2 (PlayStation 2)
Raceway Drag & Stock Racing (PlayStation 2)
I've completed the drag races, they were easy, but the rest of the game is so hard I canät unlock any new stuff, so it's become a catch 22, I don't wanna keep playing unless there's new stuff to play with but I can't access the new stuff unless I play a lot and get much better at what little game is offering this early on. It's a low budget game but I feel I overpaid for what little I can get out of it without putting additional hard work into it, as if the hard work to get the money to buy the game wasn't enough, and what really sucks is that the stuff you have to unlock are fundamental features of the game like other game modes it brags about on the back of the box! That stuff needs to be instantly accessible or you're not allowed to use it as a selling point! Imagine if A Sonic game with Sonic on the front bragged about how this is the greatest Sonic game ever and you then have to play through it in hard mode with a generic military personnel guy character who is the only one unlocked to play as by default before you can even use Sonic!! FUCK THAT SHIT, MAN! THAT SHIT AIN'T RIGHT!
R:Racing (PlayStation 2)
Road Rage 3 (PlayStation 2)
Test Drive Unlimited 2 (Xbox 360)
Finally got hold of the sequel to Test Drive Unlimited, which instantly became one of my favorite games of the generation many years back when I got it as a birthday gift from my best friend. So far Test Drive Unlimited 2 has been okay, I like the upgraded and added stuff but I miss the things they've changed or removed.
It has a much more realistic physics engine making it a more simulation focused racing game than the first game, the visuals are upgraded as far as realistism goes and honestly look fantastic, but it all runs at a lower framerate in general and makes controlling your vehicle at high speeds much harder than it should be, they have cars that were missing in the first game like the Bugatti Veyron and they have proper offroad races now with Range Rovers and other offroad vehicles, but they've completely removed all motorcycles from the game, something I loved dearly in the first, if it wasn't for a free DLC pack containing a whopping three bikes there'd be literally none at all in this game, which is a shame, they've added licenses you need to pass in order to race and finally they've added a lot more cut scenes with characters interacting with lots of talking.
How all these things will affect the game for you depends on if you like them or not, personally I think some things like the visuals and driving physics being different are okay but I could've taken what the first game had only more fine tuned over changing them completely into this more realistic style, and the enforced licenses you need to pass, I don't remember there being any in the first game but they really slowed down this game for me, they could've been left out entirely, I also honestly don't care for the cutscenes much at all.
Beyond the island of Hawaii they've also added another island, Ibiza, to drive on this time, so there's more places to go overall than the first game had.
The rest of TDU2 is almost exactly the same as in TDU with similar races and other type of side missions, exploring and finding stuff and all that good stuff that made the first so much fun. Overall I'd say they complement each other well but I don't think the second game replaces the first as the only one to get, the first still has enough stuff that it stands strong alongside the sequel and I'd say get hold of either one of them to see if you like the overall formula first, then if you do, get the other one and enjoy what that one brings to the overall experience, they are both great games.
I do wish they would've only improved upon the first game rather than change and ruin some things while improving only some stuff though. What I mean is, I would've liked it a lot more if the sequel was more than just another great game. It should've been better than the first, not just equally good overall but for slightly different reasons.
The police work very different in this than it did in the first, I haven't had enough time to really look into it yet but they've added some unique modes this time around that have to do with the police, I haven't made up my mind about what I think about this yet though.
The system to earn money through jumps, powersliding and near misses I feel is okay but it should've been more forgiving with what counts as a collision as driving over tiny bushes or small rocks that you don't even notice and can barely make out on screen will mercilessly end your combos no matter what, I think it should've just been bigger things that can end it like hitting street lights, trees or other cars. I was trying to get the achievement for reaching the highest combo level 10 and it took over an hour to reach it once because literally the tiniest thing would end the combo, it became nothing but frustration and when I finally did it I got no satisfaction out of it at all, I only felt like I had wasted my time, time I could've spent having fun instead.
Nascar 08 (Xbox 360)
I've always wanted a game like Nascar but because the sport doesn't exist outside of USA it's only logical there haven't been that many game release here either, so I was happy when I now finally got hold of this game, and it was a modern one too so it should be extra good! Right? Eh, not really, it's not so much a Nascar game than it is a simulation of the sport, kind of like the Tour de France games aren't great bike racing games but very focused on the Tour de France sport specifically making them really boring to anyone who'd just love to race with bikes.
So yeah, this is not a game for racing fans but a game for Nascar enthusiasts specifically. It does offer some stuff for racing game fans as well but it's very clear where the focus is. The controls are the biggest problem as they are very lifelike for the sport and have done nothing to bridge the gap between how they work in real life and how you as the person playing gets up use them to play the game. It's literally unplayable with the normal settings and require you to manually make your own cars and stay away from the career modes and such to just be able to play the game at all.
I was able to get some enjoyment out of it but it really works against it if all you want is to drive around and have a good time.
I haven't played it a whole lot because of this so I can't say much more than that. It looks nice and has some really nice special effects like dynamic smoke and such, you can get some fun out of it, I just haven't had time to do so yet.
Metroid Prime (GameCube)
Trying to get through this garbage. Got the power bomb and running (read: slowly walking like a broken tank because the controls are ASS!!) around all over the fucking planet looking for stuff I can blow up to reveal new locations, oh what fun it is to run (again read as before) around aimlessly basically pixel hunting for hours until you randomly find the place the game wanted you to go. All this could've been avoided had it had the necessary linearity until the game was presented enough that free roaming would've been earned and welcome, too bad Nintendo (and to a lesser degree their lapdogs at Retro Studios) wouldn't know good game design even if they literally had it themselves just a decade or two prior to when this atrocity was released.
Tomb Raider (PlayStation)
Replaying again. In the Colosseum. It's amazing how much better this game holds up than most other early 3D games, equally sad is how awful the newer games with the Tomb Raider name in the title, as unfitting as it is considering there's nothing Tomb Raider about them, are in comparison to a game that is now 20 years old. Crystal Dynamics sure love to prove their endless incompetence. Not saying the new games with the unfitting Tomb Raider in their titles aren't okay games, some are even good in their own ways, but they're about as good Tomb Raiders as the Uncharted series and the Prince of Persia games a few years back. Giving monstrously different games a title with a legacy to live up to like the one Tomb Raider should never be done and I'm not afraid to call out the bullshit as it keeps coming. Thankfully they can never ruin the original games, they lack the time travel powers needed, and I for one am endlessly happy over this fact.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Gaming Purchases - Augusti 2016
Augusti 2nd:
A trip to the local GameStop.
PlayStation Portable:
GameStop PSP Unique Pack (contains a USB charger and transfer cable, screen protector and travel case)
Xbox 360:
Nascar 08
Test Drive Unlimited 2
Other:
LEGO DC Super Heroes Wonder Woman LED pocket light
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Augusti 30th:
Today's second hand finds.
Game Boy Color:
Spider-Man with plastic protective case (missing box and manual)
PC:
Need for Speed Underground (complete)
Figures:
Mario (from Super Mario) with jumping sound effect
Boo Diddley (from Super Mario) with sticking out tongue action feature
Dragon (from Shrek) with sound effects (broken sound effect and is missing her wings, sadly)
Moto Moto (from Madagascar) with sound effects
Battle Cat (from He-Man)
CD:
South Park Bigger, Longer & Uncut Movie Soundtrack
DVD:
Ralph Bakshi's Coonskin
Other:
3x TDK VHS-C video camcorder tapes
RCA composite video and audio to 3,5mm converter
2x aimable water taps for sink faucets
Comics:
multiple Buzz Lightyear comics
A trip to the local GameStop.
PlayStation Portable:
GameStop PSP Unique Pack (contains a USB charger and transfer cable, screen protector and travel case)
Xbox 360:
Nascar 08
Test Drive Unlimited 2
Other:
LEGO DC Super Heroes Wonder Woman LED pocket light
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Augusti 30th:
Today's second hand finds.
Game Boy Color:
Spider-Man with plastic protective case (missing box and manual)
PC:
Need for Speed Underground (complete)
Figures:
Mario (from Super Mario) with jumping sound effect
Boo Diddley (from Super Mario) with sticking out tongue action feature
Dragon (from Shrek) with sound effects (broken sound effect and is missing her wings, sadly)
Moto Moto (from Madagascar) with sound effects
Battle Cat (from He-Man)
CD:
South Park Bigger, Longer & Uncut Movie Soundtrack
DVD:
Ralph Bakshi's Coonskin
Other:
3x TDK VHS-C video camcorder tapes
RCA composite video and audio to 3,5mm converter
2x aimable water taps for sink faucets
Comics:
multiple Buzz Lightyear comics
Friday, July 1, 2016
Now Playing - Juli 2016
Playing some of the stuff I was playing at the end of Juni but also some of the new games I ordered.
Doom (32X)
The Ultimate Doom (the Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil version for Xbox played on Xbox 360)
Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil (Xbox, played on Xbox 360)
Quake 2 (Quake 4 Bonus Disc version for Xbox 360)
Quake 3 Revolution (PlayStation 2)
Quake 4 (Xbox 360)
I wanted to give this game a chance but damn it sucks, the framerate is atrocious, some of the worst I've seen on Xbox 360, the visuals are low res and look worse in many cases than Doom 3 and Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil do on Xbox, the gameplay is constantly interrupted by stuff having to do with the "story" and other marines that are with you, it freezes every now and then forcing me to reboot and the enemies disappear after they die so fast that I barely ever get too see what it was I was even fighting because the darkness is even worse than Doom 3 was making it hard to see anything at the best of times! Sure, some of the guns have built in flashlights but they're small and ineffective so most of the game is just fumbling around in the pitch black darkness not knowing what to do because the objectives are vague as shit and you have no map and most doors are locked making it an extremely linear experience where you mostly just run around in circles until you find the one door that can be opened now, they all the same with no indication they've been unlocked or anything either so it's really just about trial and error until you come across the right way to go. Also the turret sections are plenty and they all fucking suck. I doubt I'll be able to endure through to the end of this game, it's just wearing on me so much every minute feels like an hour. If only there was more action it could've at least kept my interest up a bit but enemies are far too few and generic, at least this early in the game, to be interesting to fight. A custom soundtrack with good music is a must, the game does not provide that for you so you have to bring your own tunes, that's fine, I have plenty on my Xbox 360 harddrive, but after how Quake 2 did everything so perfect and right it's very hard to cope with all these downgrades that Quake 4 brings to the table. Quake 2 is still one of the best games ever made and I love it to bits, this sadly is one of the worst games ever made and a terrible sequel in every sense and I wish they would've just left it in development hell for a few more years until they at least had a game that worked on fundamental levels unlike the fucking failfest this sadly turned out to be.
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli (PS2)
Red Zone (Mega Drive)
This game is awesome, a top-down helicopter game with some on-foot missions. It's very impressive and does some really cool things to get 3D effects and such. The biggest flaw this game has remains the insane difficulty, much like Battletoads on Entertainment System it's a technical marvel and a pleasure to behold and play but you won't be able to breeze through it anytime soon. Thankfully this game, unlike Battletoads, has a password system with some nice codes for level select and stuff so it's far more lenient in that regard.
Mega Games 6 Vol. 2 (Mega Drive)
A nice collection of games containing Alien Storm, Super Thunder Blade, Super Monaco GP, Super Hang-On, Columns and World Cup Italia.
I'm mostly playing Alien Storm and Super Thunder Blade as I already have Super Monaco GP on separate cartridge and for the rest I only really like Super Hang-On and even then not that much, haven't tried World Cup Italia yet, I don't care for sports games, especially football and ice hockey they're just the worst, and I have many versions of Columns so I don't need to bother with that at all, I know exactly what it is and have played it plenty.
Alien Storm is awesome and it was worth getting this collection cartridge for that game alone, the rest are a nice and welcome bonus though.
Super Thunder Blade is a game I have other versions of as well so nothing new, I've played it plenty, but this is the first time I've played the Mega Drive original, closest I had before this was the version in Mega Drive Collection for PS2.
Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker (Mega Drive)
I don't care much for sports games in general, and pool, snooker, billiards and the like are no exceptions, but this is a 3D polygonal game on Mega Drive and it's made by the same guy who made the excellent Mercury games on PSP, Archer Maclean.
The Story of Thor (Mega Drive)
Beyond Oasis is a better name for it but the content remains the same. I recently played through this but now I have my very own copy and that's awesome! Didn't come cheap though, it remains one of the most expensive games on Mega Drive you can buy. I got it at a somewhat reasonable price compared to what I've seen on ebay and such places.
Top Gear Rally (Game Boy Advance)
Another good rally game for GBA alongside the excellent V-Rally 3. The graphics in this are similar to the original Need For Speed and 32-bit versions of Road Rash with scrolling 2D backgrounds at angles that make them appear as if they are 3D with textures, very nice looking. It plays well but the difficulty is up there, it's one of the harder rally games I've played. Between this, V-Rally 3 and Colin McRae Rally 2.0 and some other okay ones like GT Advance 2 Rally Racing it really makes me wonder why Sega Rally Championship turned out so bad, GBA can absolutely do good rally games and the older Sega Rally games were great so how they fucked up the GBA game so royally is beyond me at this point. Thankfully I don't ever have to play it again, I have several better racing and rally games for GBA to enjoy now so fuck you Sega Rally Championship on GBA, you suck and it was an absolute displeasure ever trying to play you. Hooray for good GBA rally games like Top Gear Rally!
Wing Commander Prophecy (Game Boy Advance)
A 3D space action flight-sim with good visuals and all. Another good game that helps prove that the GBA had a lot more to offer than just ports of old Super Nintendo games.
MTV Sports Snowboarding (PlayStation)
One of the very select few sports games I enjoy. It holds up very well. I always felt there were two good snowboarding games of that generation, this and Coolboarders 2, and of the two this is the better one by far, Coolboarders 2 is a bit more playful fun and has a nostalgic value to me more than anything, while this is an objectively superior and much more solid game.
Fade To Black (PlayStation)
This is the sequel to the classic platformer Flashback. It's not a perfect game but it's enjoyable and interesting. I succeeds with making me want to play on to see what happens next.
Stranglehold (Xbox 360)
A great third person shooter action game I go back to every now and then for a guaranteed good time. Also a good game to relieve some aggression in. It still looks fantastic, they really did a fantastic job on the technical side, it's a visual treat that set a high standard for other games to follow, maybe a little too high as not many has lived up to the same level, it's a very impressive game and with good gameplay to back up the technical and visual quality. I recommend this to all action fans out there, especially John Woo film fans and anyone who liked his movie Hard Boiled as this game is the official sequel to that movie.
Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)
Disc 1, at Gold Saucer, got Yuffie.
Probotector (Game Boy)
Hard but awesome classic.
Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
Always fun to play through.
Bomb Jack (Game Boy)
A fun time waster.
Impact Racing (PlayStation)
Why is there no behind the car views in my game? When I look on youtube literally every video I see has at least two behind the car views to pick from beside the default bumper cam, one video had a guy even mention that you change views with the square button, but in my game there's no mention of being able to switch views in the manual for square, it just says square is the brake, which isn't correct either as square has no effect in game and braking is done by pressing down on the steering cross!
The screenshots on the back of the packaging of my game are only taken from bumper cam and no button or combination of buttons work in game to switch views.
I'm beginning to think the PAL release skipped including the behind the car views entirely. If that's the case this game will not get much play from me as it isn't particularly enjoyable to play in that view at all, which is why every video on youtube understandable has the person playing switching to a better view!
It's still somewhat playable as it is but I HATE driving in bumper cam and this game clearly wasn't made to be played that way. I can tolerate bumper cam only in some games, but this clearly has a behind the car view in every example i can find but my own copy, so why can't I just get it to work!? Ahh! Infuriating!
It still has awesome music though.
FlatOut 2 (PlayStation 2)
It was as I expected from having played the upgraded versions Ultimate Carnage on Xbox 360 and Head On on PSP. Beautiful to look at with lots of detailed destruction but virtually impossible to win a single race in due to skilled opponent AI and a driving physics engine that doesn't like you very much.
The ragdoll-launching minigames are still what I enjoy the most; driving a rocket-powered car down a ramp only to launch the driver out the front window of the car into some absurd oversized game arena like bowling or basketball just never gets old.
Raceway Drag & Stock Racing (PlayStation 2)
I couldn't test much as most stuff needs to be unlocked by playing through the championship mode, but the few races I could partake in were okay, the framerate was a bit choppy when all 16 cars were on screen at once during stock car races, but as they scattered a bit over the track after a lap or two it ran smoothly for the most part until the race was over. It reminded me of early Dreamcast games visually more so than any PS2 games from 2006.
R:Racing (PlayStation 2)
It's every bit as good as it was on Xbox last time I played it. Now I'd like to get hold of the GameCube version some day too for a complete set.
Turok Evolution (PlayStation 2)
Wow was this a mixed experience. It's kinda ugly for the most part, even for a 2002 release these are horribly dated visuals, in all honesty the older N64 Turok games look better than this.
It's pretty bland in gameplay as well, at least so far. I liked the idea of the flying sections that were a bit like Panzer Dragoon but sadly they had one hit kills whenever you touched anything, including the randomly spawning invisible walls!!
It became a test of patience as the frustration of having to reload the same sections again and again as I would just randomly die in mid air while far away from any visible objects, enemies or other dangers that could've killed me, and only sometimes I'd die in the same place, mostly it changed at random, but after countless tries and three hours later trying to get through a part of the game that otherwise would've taken less than half an hour I got past it and was back doing the normal FPS stuff again. However, later segments of the game become very long and because this game has no in-game checkpoints it's back to the beginning of the entire level every time you die, which can also happen at random for no apparent reason now just like in the flying missions which were super short and took over three hours due to this bullshit!! I'm not doing that with levels that are already long as they are without having to restart them at random intervals.
Sky Odyssey (PlayStation 2)
An adventure game in flight simulation form. It's hard and requires precise flying from the start. I've managed to get past the first level but that's it.
I love that it allows you to customize your place a bit. I'd love more options to do so but a paint job and emblem editor are nice and I appreciate it even if the emblem editor is the weakest I've ever encountered in a game and nowhere near what you can do in Rage Racer, R4 Ridge Racer Type 4 or the Armored Core series.
I'm impressed by how detailed the flying physics are, they simulate airflow in a way no other game I know does.
An interesting thing to note with this game is that while it's a very early release for the PS2 it still has a 60hz option, making this the earliest and oldest PS2 game with a 60hz option that I'm aware of.
Britney's Dance Beat (PlayStation 2)
I've always wondered what this game was like. Now I know. It's a very basic rhythm game with a Britney Spears theme. Not much more to say. I am terrible at rhythm games in general and this was one of the hardest and least forgiving ones I've ever played, which is weird as you'd think a game for Britney Spears fans would be more lenient to non-gamers, beginners and people like me with no sense of rhythm, so I couldn't get anywhere in the main Audition mode and I can safely say I'll never ever be able to unlock Britney. Yeah, the Britney pat of the game feels very tucked away as anything to do with her and fanservice of her is locked away and needs to be unlocked before you can see or use it. You'd think she and the fanservice stuff like music videos etc. would be the stuff you had unlocked by default and other characters and stuff would come later seeing as this is a product for fans of her first and a dance and rhythm game second, but it feels like the opposite is true.
Road Rage 3 (PlayStation 2)
An excellent drift racing game, easily the best in that genre that I've played. Sure, there are other racing games I love even more that has similar things in it like DT Racer, but as a game focused on this type of racing it does an excellent job at what it does and is a lot of fun to play, and successfully pulling off long consecutive drifts both up and down tight and technically challenging mountain roads feels endlessly satisfying.
It runs silky smooth and looks fairly nice too, nothing overly impressive to look at but at least it has no issues with the framerate. I just wish they could've had some proper reflections on the cars.
A fun fact to note is that this game, while originally developed and published by Atlus in Japan it was published by the infamous Phoenix Games here in Europe. As far as I know that makes for the only good game they've ever published.
The Getaway Black Monday (PlayStation 2)
Well this was a disappointment. It's uglier than the original Getaway, it has a much worse framerate, it controls worse with much worse vehicle crash physics, there's lots of glitches and I even saw hug chunks of the graphics pop in and out of existence while I was standing still so you can't blame it on loading new geometry, it was just glitchy, and some parts were just not there, you could see through the ground and nothing I did changed that, going away and coming back so the game loaded the area again changed nothing, it's just poorly made it seems.
That being said it's still an okay free roaming game with a nice big chunk of London realistically recreated in virtual form and there is still some fun to be had, the first game just did it much better is all.
Starsky & Hutch (GameCube)
A good version of the game but I prefer the GBA version a lot more. If anything this makes me appreciate the GBA version even more as it manages to do almost everything this version does but on infinitely less powerful hardware and more streamlined, this takes forever to do anything and feels drawn out and convoluted by comparison. Still, it's nice to have another GameCube game as that part of my collection is crippled by default due to GameCube not having a lot of games I want, so any game that can help fill it out a bit is most welcome.
Metro 2033 (Xbox 360)
This is literally unplayable. The forced auto walking ruins it. I've already died multiple times simply because I can't stop the character from walking over edged falling to his death and I've just started playing, it's a whole project trying to line him up to press a button because he just walks past everything! It's broken by design. I don't understand how anyone can play this. By far the worst controls in any game I've ever played spanning the last 30 years. At first I thought it may just be some really obscure glitch but i found nothing online about it and it's there with all controllers I have, no settings change this, I've tried rebooting, I've tried installing the disc, I've tried deleting all the game data and nothing i do changes it so as bad as it is I guess they wanted it that way. It's unbelievably bad yet I've read or heard nothing about this as a complaint anywhere? I don't get it. How does anyone cope with this?
He just auto walked through a wall so I skipped a whole part of the level and ended up in some completely other scene I haven't seen before. This is the glitchiest game I've played in a long time.
For "fun" (as in desperation) I went to my storage and dug out one of my old original Xbox 360 controllers, I have two and they're both broken in different ways so I got the one that at least sporadically works, and plugged it in via my old half working charge & play cable and battery pack because I thought to myself this is the only thing I haven't tried yet and it's not going to work but at least it'll be more fun trying to see how little this thing works than actually trying to play this crap with a working controller.. turns out it's the only controller I own that doesn't have the auto walking problem so I've been trying to use it to play the game for a while and I can't say I wanna change my score at all, this game even with working controls is awful with constant in-game cutscenes (if they only wanted to make a horror b-movie why did they make a game in the first place?), quick time events, glitches out the fracking wazoo (now IA characters and enemies glitch through walls as well, so it wasn't just my own character earlier who can do it, it's a feature everyone can enjoy!!), lackluster weapons, dark and unevenly detailed visuals (doom 3 on original Xbox feels like it's played out outdoors on a bright sunny day compared to this), the one thing I've liked so far was a hot prostitute looking character that walked past as I was contextually forced to sit at a table and drink alcohol while listening to some dialog I cared nothing about as she disappeared as quickly as she popped up outta nowhere. I hate how there's no good display of information, everything is hidden away so you're getting little to no tactical feedback and then there are all the little things, for example like how you can't have the pointer "compass" on screen without having everything else tucked away, you can't even run with it because the character keeps flailing his arms madly if you do so you can't look at the damn thing telling you where to go to trigger the next drawn out uninteresting in-game cutscene you're forced to sit through until the next uneventful and glitchy context sensitive event happens, or how the AI is mentally retarded and just sits in corners not doing jack shit letting you kill whole rooms of enemies on your own until you've reached the next context sensitive point where the AI finally understands that it's time to do something, like open a door because our hero is too fucking incapable of doing such demanding tasks apparently.
This game has very rapidly become a strong top contender for worst game of the previous generation + all time for me.
Metro Last Light (Xbox 360)
I couldn't take anymore of 2033 so I decided to give Last Light a go in hopes that after years making a sequel they'd at least learn to program walking or realise how awful the constant interruption of gameplay with context cutscenes were or some kind of improvements or problems fixed. But no. They did not. All the same problems are here even the auto walking makes a return making it equally as unplayable as 2033. I am gobsmacked by this developer's ineptitude.
So I've been trying to try out Last Light some more to see if a single thing has been fixed or improved over 2033 at all (spoiler: nothing has been fixed or improved, in fact some things seem even worse, more incomplete and glitchier than in the first game) I stumbled across this funny little thing.
While allowing the game to auto walk, as they both love to do against my will except with my broken controller I can't use anyway, turns out even the game itself seems to realize it's not suppose to be doing that shit as the fucking idle animations started playing while he was still walking! While walking forward he starts checking his gun and counting his bullets and stuff.
It's beyond words at this point so I'm just gonna pretend I never played either of these and never had the money I bought them with and never bought them and they don't exist at all, at least then maybe I'll be able to sleep at night after this.
I am now officially done with this shit, no more Metro for me ever.
Doom (32X)
The Ultimate Doom (the Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil version for Xbox played on Xbox 360)
Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil (Xbox, played on Xbox 360)
Quake 2 (Quake 4 Bonus Disc version for Xbox 360)
Quake 3 Revolution (PlayStation 2)
Quake 4 (Xbox 360)
I wanted to give this game a chance but damn it sucks, the framerate is atrocious, some of the worst I've seen on Xbox 360, the visuals are low res and look worse in many cases than Doom 3 and Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil do on Xbox, the gameplay is constantly interrupted by stuff having to do with the "story" and other marines that are with you, it freezes every now and then forcing me to reboot and the enemies disappear after they die so fast that I barely ever get too see what it was I was even fighting because the darkness is even worse than Doom 3 was making it hard to see anything at the best of times! Sure, some of the guns have built in flashlights but they're small and ineffective so most of the game is just fumbling around in the pitch black darkness not knowing what to do because the objectives are vague as shit and you have no map and most doors are locked making it an extremely linear experience where you mostly just run around in circles until you find the one door that can be opened now, they all the same with no indication they've been unlocked or anything either so it's really just about trial and error until you come across the right way to go. Also the turret sections are plenty and they all fucking suck. I doubt I'll be able to endure through to the end of this game, it's just wearing on me so much every minute feels like an hour. If only there was more action it could've at least kept my interest up a bit but enemies are far too few and generic, at least this early in the game, to be interesting to fight. A custom soundtrack with good music is a must, the game does not provide that for you so you have to bring your own tunes, that's fine, I have plenty on my Xbox 360 harddrive, but after how Quake 2 did everything so perfect and right it's very hard to cope with all these downgrades that Quake 4 brings to the table. Quake 2 is still one of the best games ever made and I love it to bits, this sadly is one of the worst games ever made and a terrible sequel in every sense and I wish they would've just left it in development hell for a few more years until they at least had a game that worked on fundamental levels unlike the fucking failfest this sadly turned out to be.
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli (PS2)
Red Zone (Mega Drive)
This game is awesome, a top-down helicopter game with some on-foot missions. It's very impressive and does some really cool things to get 3D effects and such. The biggest flaw this game has remains the insane difficulty, much like Battletoads on Entertainment System it's a technical marvel and a pleasure to behold and play but you won't be able to breeze through it anytime soon. Thankfully this game, unlike Battletoads, has a password system with some nice codes for level select and stuff so it's far more lenient in that regard.
Mega Games 6 Vol. 2 (Mega Drive)
A nice collection of games containing Alien Storm, Super Thunder Blade, Super Monaco GP, Super Hang-On, Columns and World Cup Italia.
I'm mostly playing Alien Storm and Super Thunder Blade as I already have Super Monaco GP on separate cartridge and for the rest I only really like Super Hang-On and even then not that much, haven't tried World Cup Italia yet, I don't care for sports games, especially football and ice hockey they're just the worst, and I have many versions of Columns so I don't need to bother with that at all, I know exactly what it is and have played it plenty.
Alien Storm is awesome and it was worth getting this collection cartridge for that game alone, the rest are a nice and welcome bonus though.
Super Thunder Blade is a game I have other versions of as well so nothing new, I've played it plenty, but this is the first time I've played the Mega Drive original, closest I had before this was the version in Mega Drive Collection for PS2.
Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker (Mega Drive)
I don't care much for sports games in general, and pool, snooker, billiards and the like are no exceptions, but this is a 3D polygonal game on Mega Drive and it's made by the same guy who made the excellent Mercury games on PSP, Archer Maclean.
The Story of Thor (Mega Drive)
Beyond Oasis is a better name for it but the content remains the same. I recently played through this but now I have my very own copy and that's awesome! Didn't come cheap though, it remains one of the most expensive games on Mega Drive you can buy. I got it at a somewhat reasonable price compared to what I've seen on ebay and such places.
Top Gear Rally (Game Boy Advance)
Another good rally game for GBA alongside the excellent V-Rally 3. The graphics in this are similar to the original Need For Speed and 32-bit versions of Road Rash with scrolling 2D backgrounds at angles that make them appear as if they are 3D with textures, very nice looking. It plays well but the difficulty is up there, it's one of the harder rally games I've played. Between this, V-Rally 3 and Colin McRae Rally 2.0 and some other okay ones like GT Advance 2 Rally Racing it really makes me wonder why Sega Rally Championship turned out so bad, GBA can absolutely do good rally games and the older Sega Rally games were great so how they fucked up the GBA game so royally is beyond me at this point. Thankfully I don't ever have to play it again, I have several better racing and rally games for GBA to enjoy now so fuck you Sega Rally Championship on GBA, you suck and it was an absolute displeasure ever trying to play you. Hooray for good GBA rally games like Top Gear Rally!
Wing Commander Prophecy (Game Boy Advance)
A 3D space action flight-sim with good visuals and all. Another good game that helps prove that the GBA had a lot more to offer than just ports of old Super Nintendo games.
MTV Sports Snowboarding (PlayStation)
One of the very select few sports games I enjoy. It holds up very well. I always felt there were two good snowboarding games of that generation, this and Coolboarders 2, and of the two this is the better one by far, Coolboarders 2 is a bit more playful fun and has a nostalgic value to me more than anything, while this is an objectively superior and much more solid game.
Fade To Black (PlayStation)
This is the sequel to the classic platformer Flashback. It's not a perfect game but it's enjoyable and interesting. I succeeds with making me want to play on to see what happens next.
Stranglehold (Xbox 360)
A great third person shooter action game I go back to every now and then for a guaranteed good time. Also a good game to relieve some aggression in. It still looks fantastic, they really did a fantastic job on the technical side, it's a visual treat that set a high standard for other games to follow, maybe a little too high as not many has lived up to the same level, it's a very impressive game and with good gameplay to back up the technical and visual quality. I recommend this to all action fans out there, especially John Woo film fans and anyone who liked his movie Hard Boiled as this game is the official sequel to that movie.
Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)
Disc 1, at Gold Saucer, got Yuffie.
Probotector (Game Boy)
Hard but awesome classic.
Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
Always fun to play through.
Bomb Jack (Game Boy)
A fun time waster.
Impact Racing (PlayStation)
Why is there no behind the car views in my game? When I look on youtube literally every video I see has at least two behind the car views to pick from beside the default bumper cam, one video had a guy even mention that you change views with the square button, but in my game there's no mention of being able to switch views in the manual for square, it just says square is the brake, which isn't correct either as square has no effect in game and braking is done by pressing down on the steering cross!
The screenshots on the back of the packaging of my game are only taken from bumper cam and no button or combination of buttons work in game to switch views.
I'm beginning to think the PAL release skipped including the behind the car views entirely. If that's the case this game will not get much play from me as it isn't particularly enjoyable to play in that view at all, which is why every video on youtube understandable has the person playing switching to a better view!
It's still somewhat playable as it is but I HATE driving in bumper cam and this game clearly wasn't made to be played that way. I can tolerate bumper cam only in some games, but this clearly has a behind the car view in every example i can find but my own copy, so why can't I just get it to work!? Ahh! Infuriating!
It still has awesome music though.
FlatOut 2 (PlayStation 2)
It was as I expected from having played the upgraded versions Ultimate Carnage on Xbox 360 and Head On on PSP. Beautiful to look at with lots of detailed destruction but virtually impossible to win a single race in due to skilled opponent AI and a driving physics engine that doesn't like you very much.
The ragdoll-launching minigames are still what I enjoy the most; driving a rocket-powered car down a ramp only to launch the driver out the front window of the car into some absurd oversized game arena like bowling or basketball just never gets old.
Raceway Drag & Stock Racing (PlayStation 2)
I couldn't test much as most stuff needs to be unlocked by playing through the championship mode, but the few races I could partake in were okay, the framerate was a bit choppy when all 16 cars were on screen at once during stock car races, but as they scattered a bit over the track after a lap or two it ran smoothly for the most part until the race was over. It reminded me of early Dreamcast games visually more so than any PS2 games from 2006.
R:Racing (PlayStation 2)
It's every bit as good as it was on Xbox last time I played it. Now I'd like to get hold of the GameCube version some day too for a complete set.
Turok Evolution (PlayStation 2)
Wow was this a mixed experience. It's kinda ugly for the most part, even for a 2002 release these are horribly dated visuals, in all honesty the older N64 Turok games look better than this.
It's pretty bland in gameplay as well, at least so far. I liked the idea of the flying sections that were a bit like Panzer Dragoon but sadly they had one hit kills whenever you touched anything, including the randomly spawning invisible walls!!
It became a test of patience as the frustration of having to reload the same sections again and again as I would just randomly die in mid air while far away from any visible objects, enemies or other dangers that could've killed me, and only sometimes I'd die in the same place, mostly it changed at random, but after countless tries and three hours later trying to get through a part of the game that otherwise would've taken less than half an hour I got past it and was back doing the normal FPS stuff again. However, later segments of the game become very long and because this game has no in-game checkpoints it's back to the beginning of the entire level every time you die, which can also happen at random for no apparent reason now just like in the flying missions which were super short and took over three hours due to this bullshit!! I'm not doing that with levels that are already long as they are without having to restart them at random intervals.
Sky Odyssey (PlayStation 2)
An adventure game in flight simulation form. It's hard and requires precise flying from the start. I've managed to get past the first level but that's it.
I love that it allows you to customize your place a bit. I'd love more options to do so but a paint job and emblem editor are nice and I appreciate it even if the emblem editor is the weakest I've ever encountered in a game and nowhere near what you can do in Rage Racer, R4 Ridge Racer Type 4 or the Armored Core series.
I'm impressed by how detailed the flying physics are, they simulate airflow in a way no other game I know does.
An interesting thing to note with this game is that while it's a very early release for the PS2 it still has a 60hz option, making this the earliest and oldest PS2 game with a 60hz option that I'm aware of.
Britney's Dance Beat (PlayStation 2)
I've always wondered what this game was like. Now I know. It's a very basic rhythm game with a Britney Spears theme. Not much more to say. I am terrible at rhythm games in general and this was one of the hardest and least forgiving ones I've ever played, which is weird as you'd think a game for Britney Spears fans would be more lenient to non-gamers, beginners and people like me with no sense of rhythm, so I couldn't get anywhere in the main Audition mode and I can safely say I'll never ever be able to unlock Britney. Yeah, the Britney pat of the game feels very tucked away as anything to do with her and fanservice of her is locked away and needs to be unlocked before you can see or use it. You'd think she and the fanservice stuff like music videos etc. would be the stuff you had unlocked by default and other characters and stuff would come later seeing as this is a product for fans of her first and a dance and rhythm game second, but it feels like the opposite is true.
Road Rage 3 (PlayStation 2)
An excellent drift racing game, easily the best in that genre that I've played. Sure, there are other racing games I love even more that has similar things in it like DT Racer, but as a game focused on this type of racing it does an excellent job at what it does and is a lot of fun to play, and successfully pulling off long consecutive drifts both up and down tight and technically challenging mountain roads feels endlessly satisfying.
It runs silky smooth and looks fairly nice too, nothing overly impressive to look at but at least it has no issues with the framerate. I just wish they could've had some proper reflections on the cars.
A fun fact to note is that this game, while originally developed and published by Atlus in Japan it was published by the infamous Phoenix Games here in Europe. As far as I know that makes for the only good game they've ever published.
The Getaway Black Monday (PlayStation 2)
Well this was a disappointment. It's uglier than the original Getaway, it has a much worse framerate, it controls worse with much worse vehicle crash physics, there's lots of glitches and I even saw hug chunks of the graphics pop in and out of existence while I was standing still so you can't blame it on loading new geometry, it was just glitchy, and some parts were just not there, you could see through the ground and nothing I did changed that, going away and coming back so the game loaded the area again changed nothing, it's just poorly made it seems.
That being said it's still an okay free roaming game with a nice big chunk of London realistically recreated in virtual form and there is still some fun to be had, the first game just did it much better is all.
Starsky & Hutch (GameCube)
A good version of the game but I prefer the GBA version a lot more. If anything this makes me appreciate the GBA version even more as it manages to do almost everything this version does but on infinitely less powerful hardware and more streamlined, this takes forever to do anything and feels drawn out and convoluted by comparison. Still, it's nice to have another GameCube game as that part of my collection is crippled by default due to GameCube not having a lot of games I want, so any game that can help fill it out a bit is most welcome.
Metro 2033 (Xbox 360)
This is literally unplayable. The forced auto walking ruins it. I've already died multiple times simply because I can't stop the character from walking over edged falling to his death and I've just started playing, it's a whole project trying to line him up to press a button because he just walks past everything! It's broken by design. I don't understand how anyone can play this. By far the worst controls in any game I've ever played spanning the last 30 years. At first I thought it may just be some really obscure glitch but i found nothing online about it and it's there with all controllers I have, no settings change this, I've tried rebooting, I've tried installing the disc, I've tried deleting all the game data and nothing i do changes it so as bad as it is I guess they wanted it that way. It's unbelievably bad yet I've read or heard nothing about this as a complaint anywhere? I don't get it. How does anyone cope with this?
He just auto walked through a wall so I skipped a whole part of the level and ended up in some completely other scene I haven't seen before. This is the glitchiest game I've played in a long time.
For "fun" (as in desperation) I went to my storage and dug out one of my old original Xbox 360 controllers, I have two and they're both broken in different ways so I got the one that at least sporadically works, and plugged it in via my old half working charge & play cable and battery pack because I thought to myself this is the only thing I haven't tried yet and it's not going to work but at least it'll be more fun trying to see how little this thing works than actually trying to play this crap with a working controller.. turns out it's the only controller I own that doesn't have the auto walking problem so I've been trying to use it to play the game for a while and I can't say I wanna change my score at all, this game even with working controls is awful with constant in-game cutscenes (if they only wanted to make a horror b-movie why did they make a game in the first place?), quick time events, glitches out the fracking wazoo (now IA characters and enemies glitch through walls as well, so it wasn't just my own character earlier who can do it, it's a feature everyone can enjoy!!), lackluster weapons, dark and unevenly detailed visuals (doom 3 on original Xbox feels like it's played out outdoors on a bright sunny day compared to this), the one thing I've liked so far was a hot prostitute looking character that walked past as I was contextually forced to sit at a table and drink alcohol while listening to some dialog I cared nothing about as she disappeared as quickly as she popped up outta nowhere. I hate how there's no good display of information, everything is hidden away so you're getting little to no tactical feedback and then there are all the little things, for example like how you can't have the pointer "compass" on screen without having everything else tucked away, you can't even run with it because the character keeps flailing his arms madly if you do so you can't look at the damn thing telling you where to go to trigger the next drawn out uninteresting in-game cutscene you're forced to sit through until the next uneventful and glitchy context sensitive event happens, or how the AI is mentally retarded and just sits in corners not doing jack shit letting you kill whole rooms of enemies on your own until you've reached the next context sensitive point where the AI finally understands that it's time to do something, like open a door because our hero is too fucking incapable of doing such demanding tasks apparently.
This game has very rapidly become a strong top contender for worst game of the previous generation + all time for me.
Metro Last Light (Xbox 360)
I couldn't take anymore of 2033 so I decided to give Last Light a go in hopes that after years making a sequel they'd at least learn to program walking or realise how awful the constant interruption of gameplay with context cutscenes were or some kind of improvements or problems fixed. But no. They did not. All the same problems are here even the auto walking makes a return making it equally as unplayable as 2033. I am gobsmacked by this developer's ineptitude.
So I've been trying to try out Last Light some more to see if a single thing has been fixed or improved over 2033 at all (spoiler: nothing has been fixed or improved, in fact some things seem even worse, more incomplete and glitchier than in the first game) I stumbled across this funny little thing.
While allowing the game to auto walk, as they both love to do against my will except with my broken controller I can't use anyway, turns out even the game itself seems to realize it's not suppose to be doing that shit as the fucking idle animations started playing while he was still walking! While walking forward he starts checking his gun and counting his bullets and stuff.
It's beyond words at this point so I'm just gonna pretend I never played either of these and never had the money I bought them with and never bought them and they don't exist at all, at least then maybe I'll be able to sleep at night after this.
I am now officially done with this shit, no more Metro for me ever.
Gaming Purchases - Juli 2016
Juli 1st:
An epic order of games I placed on Hetero Pride Day the 29th of Juni to celebrate my awesome sexuality! The order arrived today.
Mega Drive:
F22 Interceptor (Already had a copy of this but I didn't have a manual to go with it, this was cheap and complete with manual so it was worth picking up for the sake of completion)
Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker (cartridge only)
Mega Games 6 Vol. 2 (cartridge only, contains World Cup Italia, Alien Storm, Super Hang-On, Super Monaco GP, Super Thunder Blade and Columns)
Red Zone (cartridge only)
Story of Thor
Game Boy Advance:
Top Gear Rally
Wing Commander Prophecy
DS:
Project Rub
The Rub Rabbits!
PlayStation:
Fade to Black
MTV Sports Snowboarding
PlayStation 2:
Fire Blade
Sky Odyssey
Britney's Dance Beat
Road Rage 3
Savage Skies
The Getaway Black Monday
Xbox:
RoadKill
Red Ninja End of Honour
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Juli 27th:
Ordered some games last week, got them today.
PlayStation:
Brahma Force
Impact Racing
PlayStation 2:
FlatOut 2
Raceway Drag & Stock Racing
R:Racing
Turok Evolution
GameCube:
Starsky & Hutch
Xbox 360:
Metro 2033
Metro Last Light Limited Edition
An epic order of games I placed on Hetero Pride Day the 29th of Juni to celebrate my awesome sexuality! The order arrived today.
Mega Drive:
F22 Interceptor (Already had a copy of this but I didn't have a manual to go with it, this was cheap and complete with manual so it was worth picking up for the sake of completion)
Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker (cartridge only)
Mega Games 6 Vol. 2 (cartridge only, contains World Cup Italia, Alien Storm, Super Hang-On, Super Monaco GP, Super Thunder Blade and Columns)
Red Zone (cartridge only)
Story of Thor
Game Boy Advance:
Top Gear Rally
Wing Commander Prophecy
DS:
Project Rub
The Rub Rabbits!
PlayStation:
Fade to Black
MTV Sports Snowboarding
PlayStation 2:
Fire Blade
Sky Odyssey
Britney's Dance Beat
Road Rage 3
Savage Skies
The Getaway Black Monday
Xbox:
RoadKill
Red Ninja End of Honour
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Juli 27th:
Ordered some games last week, got them today.
PlayStation:
Brahma Force
Impact Racing
PlayStation 2:
FlatOut 2
Raceway Drag & Stock Racing
R:Racing
Turok Evolution
GameCube:
Starsky & Hutch
Xbox 360:
Metro 2033
Metro Last Light Limited Edition
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.
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Gaming Purchases - Juni 2016
Juni 7th:
My first purchase at a brand new local gaming store downtown with focus on retro gaming. An appetizer before they get more interesting stuff in stock.
PlayStation 2:
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli (new, sealed)
Juni 13th:
Ordered a 4TB external USB 3.0 drive for my PC, it should arrive in a couple of days. (Update: a couple of days later it arrived and it works with no problems.)
Juni 13th:
Today's second hand finds.
Gaming related:
a handheld portable Sudoku LCD game
DVD:
My Little Pony Friendship is Magic - A Pony Party
Comics:
multiple Agent X9
multiple Magnum
Household stuff:
different nozzles and stuff for my sink and shower etc, nozzles you can aim and an LED shower thing that changes color while you shower, also some electrical outlet plugs to keep out dust when left unused.
Juni 23rd:
Due to recent health issues gaming has been a bit on the low activity side but today I went to the retro store again and even though they still don't have any Sega stuff in stock I picked up a couple of other things.
Wii:
Transformers Dark of the Moon Stealth Force Edition (new, sealed)
It's the collector's edition with the little Bumblebee transformer toy in the box.
DVD:
Alien Tripleup Collection (new, sealed)
It contains three sci-fi b-movies; Aliens Vs. Avatars, American Battleship and Alien Origin
My first purchase at a brand new local gaming store downtown with focus on retro gaming. An appetizer before they get more interesting stuff in stock.
PlayStation 2:
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli (new, sealed)
Juni 13th:
Ordered a 4TB external USB 3.0 drive for my PC, it should arrive in a couple of days. (Update: a couple of days later it arrived and it works with no problems.)
Juni 13th:
Today's second hand finds.
Gaming related:
a handheld portable Sudoku LCD game
DVD:
My Little Pony Friendship is Magic - A Pony Party
Comics:
multiple Agent X9
multiple Magnum
Household stuff:
different nozzles and stuff for my sink and shower etc, nozzles you can aim and an LED shower thing that changes color while you shower, also some electrical outlet plugs to keep out dust when left unused.
Juni 23rd:
Due to recent health issues gaming has been a bit on the low activity side but today I went to the retro store again and even though they still don't have any Sega stuff in stock I picked up a couple of other things.
Wii:
Transformers Dark of the Moon Stealth Force Edition (new, sealed)
It's the collector's edition with the little Bumblebee transformer toy in the box.
DVD:
Alien Tripleup Collection (new, sealed)
It contains three sci-fi b-movies; Aliens Vs. Avatars, American Battleship and Alien Origin
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Now Playing - Maj 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.
Eternal Champions (Mega Drive)
F22 Interceptor (Mega Drive)
I'm usually not a huge fan of flight sim games but a flat-shaded polygonal 3D flight sim on the Mega Drive that plays well and is fun is easily something I can make an exception for and thoroughly enjoy.
LHX Attack Chopper (Mega Drive)
I do however love helicopter games and this alongside the more arcade oriented Steel Talons, also on the Mega Drive, is one of my oldest favorites in that genre.
Steel Talons (Mega Drive)
Winter Challenge (Mega Drive)
Doom (32X)
My favorite version of Doom alongside the PSX port.
Metal Head (32X)
Essentially Armored Core on 32X, naturally a given favorite.
Virtua Racing Deluxe (32X)
While not my top favorite version of Virtua Racing, that honor goes to the SVP powered Mega Drive port, it's still one of my favorite games ever on one of my favorite systems ever.
Centipede (PSX)
While not quite on par with the next gen Dreamcast port this is still a fantastic version and due to how much easier it is to play a PlayStation game than a Dreamcast game it certainly has an edge of it's own, and when played on PS2 with texture filtering turned on there's even less of a difference between the two.
Also I don't think the Dreamcast version ever got released here in Europe so the PSX version was the only one available for me anyway. Great game though, even comes with the original arcade game so it's two games in one and I love that.
Iron Soldier 3 (PSX)
Not exactly an Armored Core killer but still a great mech game nonetheless. It retains what made the Jaguar 64 and Jaguar 64 CD games so good and improves the formula even further with the help of the superior power of the PlayStation. It may lack the flat-shaded polygonal charm of the Jaguar games but it makes up for it with technically superior visuals overall.
It's a tough game though, not one you just jump straight into and have a quick brawl guns a blazin', you have to be tactical and take your time, aim carefully and think and plan things out before you make your moves, your mech is big and heavy and controls like it, in that way it's very different from mech games in general from that era as most, at least on consoles, were more fast paced and action oriented.
I'd love to get hold of a Jaguar 64 and the original Iron Soldier games some day, I've tried the first one in the past and I loved it, which is why I was extra happy to get hold of this great sequel finally.
Kirikou (PSX)
A 2001 release exclusive to Europe, based on the first movie in the Kirikou series about an African boy who is very special indeed. It's a 2.5D platformer similar to some of Disney's greatest 2.5D platformers of the time like Hercules and Tarzan or other great 2.5D PSX classics like Klonoa and Tombi/Tomba, where you take on levels with multiple paths and lots of hidden secrets and all that good stuff. It re-enacts the events from the first film as you play as Kirikou literally from birth to coming face to face with the evil sorceress Karaba, on the way you must face her evil robots (called "fetishes") and make your way through the levels collecting water (essentially this game's equivalent to coins in Mario or rings in Sonic) and learning new abilities from the wise elder such as double jumping and other common game things.
It's easily one of the best 2.5D platformers I've played and I'm glad to own it. I didn't know about the game back when it was new but a few years ago when I found the movie on DVD and thought it looked interesting I got more into it and found out there were games released, multiple games actually, and sequels to the movie as well, so while I still haven't found much I now at least have the first game on PlayStation to go with the first movie on DVD, now I just need to find the PS2 game, the Game Boy Color game and the movie sequels!
Newman Haas Racing (PSX)
A 1998 release by Psygnosis and Bizarre Creations. It saddens me that I missed out on this one back when it was new but I'm glad to have discovered it now and I'm enjoying it very much, it's one of the best F1 style racing games I've ever played.
Re-Loaded (PSX)
A classic I played on PSX and MS-DOS back in the day but sadly never had myself and it's been over 15 years since I played it last. It lived up to my nostalgic memories and I've had a blast from the past with this one, a fantastic top-down action shooter and while I don't think it's better than the original Loaded I also don't think it's worse, they're equals but for different reasons, Loaded was a simpler, more straight forwards and notably more hectic shooter and thus a slightly better two-player experience this expands the missions and gameplay and makes for a better singleplayer experience, I'd say they compliment eachother perfectly and now I need to get hold of a copy the original Loaded so I can relive those nostalgic memories as well, we'll just have to wait and see how many more years that'll take to happen..
T'ai Fu Wrath of the Tiger (PSX)
A 1999 release by Dreamworks and the spiritual predecessor of Kung Fu Panda, a 3D platformer with lots of fighting and a great game I've played through numerous times in the past.
Viewpoint (PSX)
Not much to say about this one, it's a fantastic looking version of Viewpoint, identical to the other versions in gameplay and design but with a complete overhaul of the visuals and music. There's no competition for me, this is the superior way to play this already great game.
WinX Club (PC)
The old Konami developed WinX game that was also released on PS2 that's based on season 1 of the cartoon. I like this game and after having found a no-CD crack for it that worked so I don't have to get the disc out even though the game's been installed I finally got into the game. I really hate when PC games try to limit how I use them even after I've bought them, which is why I don't do PC gaming in general and don't acknowledge digital online gaming at all, if a game has only been released on Steam or something (Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo eShop etc.) I don't consider it to have ever been released at all.
Brahma Force (PSX)
An FPS mech sim action game with similarities to Armored Core, GunGriffon and Krazy Ivan among many more, I like it but it's not exactly killing the competition, I prefer pretty much all those other games over this, still it's pretty good and has some good stuff in it, it's not bad by any means but it does come with a lot of minor and medium sized problems. Forever and literally constant respawning of enemies are the cause to most of the issues I have.
KKND 2 Krossfire (PC)
I've only ever played this on PlayStation before so it's interesting to see how different it is, it's basically two different games in almost every way, the good thing about that is you can't directly compare the two and thus neither ends up being the "bad" one. I love when they do this rather than just make direct ports because this gives incentive to those who own and enjoy one to get the other as well. It's just as hard as I remember the PlayStation version to be, only for slightly different reasons. I haven't really played either enough to say much more at this point.
KKND Krossfire (PSX)
I remember having troubles with this game back in the day and now when I'm revisiting it and it's PC original I fully understand why as my memories of getting absolutely crushed by the enemy AI comes rushing back as a nightmare that I thought was long gone. This is a hard as fuck game regardless if it's played on PC or PSX, "easy" mode doesn't mean much in this game, the harder difficulties I can't even imagine what they're like. It's good though, not impossible, just very hard and unforgiving. You need to get good at this game to enjoy it, it asks of you to invest time to get something of equal or greater value back and honestly that's not a bad thing, some of the best games ever do this. It just would've been even better still if the game had eased you into it step by step a bit because you'll be losing big time for a while just to learn the basic controls and what any of all the stuff you can do actually does. Having some easier levels to begin with letting you get used to said basics before having the enemy rape your base's every orifice with death and defeat would've been greatly appreciated. These games really didn't need to ask that much of the player so early on, especially in a strategy game where missions can get rather lengthy. A hard platformer in comparison is usually hard but has short levels that are over in just a couple of minutes so getting back to the place you were and trying a different strategy to get better and win is less of a setback.
SEGA Arcade Gallery (Game Boy Advance)
V-Rally 3 (Game Boy Advance)
Eternal Champions (Mega Drive)
F22 Interceptor (Mega Drive)
I'm usually not a huge fan of flight sim games but a flat-shaded polygonal 3D flight sim on the Mega Drive that plays well and is fun is easily something I can make an exception for and thoroughly enjoy.
LHX Attack Chopper (Mega Drive)
I do however love helicopter games and this alongside the more arcade oriented Steel Talons, also on the Mega Drive, is one of my oldest favorites in that genre.
Steel Talons (Mega Drive)
Winter Challenge (Mega Drive)
Doom (32X)
My favorite version of Doom alongside the PSX port.
Metal Head (32X)
Essentially Armored Core on 32X, naturally a given favorite.
Virtua Racing Deluxe (32X)
While not my top favorite version of Virtua Racing, that honor goes to the SVP powered Mega Drive port, it's still one of my favorite games ever on one of my favorite systems ever.
Centipede (PSX)
While not quite on par with the next gen Dreamcast port this is still a fantastic version and due to how much easier it is to play a PlayStation game than a Dreamcast game it certainly has an edge of it's own, and when played on PS2 with texture filtering turned on there's even less of a difference between the two.
Also I don't think the Dreamcast version ever got released here in Europe so the PSX version was the only one available for me anyway. Great game though, even comes with the original arcade game so it's two games in one and I love that.
Iron Soldier 3 (PSX)
Not exactly an Armored Core killer but still a great mech game nonetheless. It retains what made the Jaguar 64 and Jaguar 64 CD games so good and improves the formula even further with the help of the superior power of the PlayStation. It may lack the flat-shaded polygonal charm of the Jaguar games but it makes up for it with technically superior visuals overall.
It's a tough game though, not one you just jump straight into and have a quick brawl guns a blazin', you have to be tactical and take your time, aim carefully and think and plan things out before you make your moves, your mech is big and heavy and controls like it, in that way it's very different from mech games in general from that era as most, at least on consoles, were more fast paced and action oriented.
I'd love to get hold of a Jaguar 64 and the original Iron Soldier games some day, I've tried the first one in the past and I loved it, which is why I was extra happy to get hold of this great sequel finally.
Kirikou (PSX)
A 2001 release exclusive to Europe, based on the first movie in the Kirikou series about an African boy who is very special indeed. It's a 2.5D platformer similar to some of Disney's greatest 2.5D platformers of the time like Hercules and Tarzan or other great 2.5D PSX classics like Klonoa and Tombi/Tomba, where you take on levels with multiple paths and lots of hidden secrets and all that good stuff. It re-enacts the events from the first film as you play as Kirikou literally from birth to coming face to face with the evil sorceress Karaba, on the way you must face her evil robots (called "fetishes") and make your way through the levels collecting water (essentially this game's equivalent to coins in Mario or rings in Sonic) and learning new abilities from the wise elder such as double jumping and other common game things.
It's easily one of the best 2.5D platformers I've played and I'm glad to own it. I didn't know about the game back when it was new but a few years ago when I found the movie on DVD and thought it looked interesting I got more into it and found out there were games released, multiple games actually, and sequels to the movie as well, so while I still haven't found much I now at least have the first game on PlayStation to go with the first movie on DVD, now I just need to find the PS2 game, the Game Boy Color game and the movie sequels!
Newman Haas Racing (PSX)
A 1998 release by Psygnosis and Bizarre Creations. It saddens me that I missed out on this one back when it was new but I'm glad to have discovered it now and I'm enjoying it very much, it's one of the best F1 style racing games I've ever played.
Re-Loaded (PSX)
A classic I played on PSX and MS-DOS back in the day but sadly never had myself and it's been over 15 years since I played it last. It lived up to my nostalgic memories and I've had a blast from the past with this one, a fantastic top-down action shooter and while I don't think it's better than the original Loaded I also don't think it's worse, they're equals but for different reasons, Loaded was a simpler, more straight forwards and notably more hectic shooter and thus a slightly better two-player experience this expands the missions and gameplay and makes for a better singleplayer experience, I'd say they compliment eachother perfectly and now I need to get hold of a copy the original Loaded so I can relive those nostalgic memories as well, we'll just have to wait and see how many more years that'll take to happen..
T'ai Fu Wrath of the Tiger (PSX)
A 1999 release by Dreamworks and the spiritual predecessor of Kung Fu Panda, a 3D platformer with lots of fighting and a great game I've played through numerous times in the past.
Viewpoint (PSX)
Not much to say about this one, it's a fantastic looking version of Viewpoint, identical to the other versions in gameplay and design but with a complete overhaul of the visuals and music. There's no competition for me, this is the superior way to play this already great game.
WinX Club (PC)
The old Konami developed WinX game that was also released on PS2 that's based on season 1 of the cartoon. I like this game and after having found a no-CD crack for it that worked so I don't have to get the disc out even though the game's been installed I finally got into the game. I really hate when PC games try to limit how I use them even after I've bought them, which is why I don't do PC gaming in general and don't acknowledge digital online gaming at all, if a game has only been released on Steam or something (Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo eShop etc.) I don't consider it to have ever been released at all.
Brahma Force (PSX)
An FPS mech sim action game with similarities to Armored Core, GunGriffon and Krazy Ivan among many more, I like it but it's not exactly killing the competition, I prefer pretty much all those other games over this, still it's pretty good and has some good stuff in it, it's not bad by any means but it does come with a lot of minor and medium sized problems. Forever and literally constant respawning of enemies are the cause to most of the issues I have.
KKND 2 Krossfire (PC)
I've only ever played this on PlayStation before so it's interesting to see how different it is, it's basically two different games in almost every way, the good thing about that is you can't directly compare the two and thus neither ends up being the "bad" one. I love when they do this rather than just make direct ports because this gives incentive to those who own and enjoy one to get the other as well. It's just as hard as I remember the PlayStation version to be, only for slightly different reasons. I haven't really played either enough to say much more at this point.
KKND Krossfire (PSX)
I remember having troubles with this game back in the day and now when I'm revisiting it and it's PC original I fully understand why as my memories of getting absolutely crushed by the enemy AI comes rushing back as a nightmare that I thought was long gone. This is a hard as fuck game regardless if it's played on PC or PSX, "easy" mode doesn't mean much in this game, the harder difficulties I can't even imagine what they're like. It's good though, not impossible, just very hard and unforgiving. You need to get good at this game to enjoy it, it asks of you to invest time to get something of equal or greater value back and honestly that's not a bad thing, some of the best games ever do this. It just would've been even better still if the game had eased you into it step by step a bit because you'll be losing big time for a while just to learn the basic controls and what any of all the stuff you can do actually does. Having some easier levels to begin with letting you get used to said basics before having the enemy rape your base's every orifice with death and defeat would've been greatly appreciated. These games really didn't need to ask that much of the player so early on, especially in a strategy game where missions can get rather lengthy. A hard platformer in comparison is usually hard but has short levels that are over in just a couple of minutes so getting back to the place you were and trying a different strategy to get better and win is less of a setback.
SEGA Arcade Gallery (Game Boy Advance)
V-Rally 3 (Game Boy Advance)
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