A Gaming Diary
Archive for September, 2005
LA Rush Demo
Sep 29th
So I hate to admit it, but I bought the Official Xbox Magazine today. For the demos, obviously.
I’m interested in giving Battlefield 2 a try – though it’s online only and I’m not a big fan of jumping into online multiplayer in a game I don’t know.
I was, however, more interested in the LA Rush demo. It’s the name. I loved Rush 2049 on the Dreamcast to death, played it loads in single player and the multiplayer gave good value, too. Now, I know LA Rush is completely different game. Your cars don’t have wings, for a start. And there’s far less neon. And it seems to have gone for a free-roaming, blinged-up, urban cool thing. Hasn’t quite it hit it, as far as I can see from the demo. It’s not cool or stylish. It’s what it should be – big, dumb, arcade fun.
There are three modes in the demo. First up, racing. Which does what it says on the tin. Race around city streets, grabbing shortcuts, avoiding traffic and coming second by the same distance every try, even when your times are twenty seconds different in a sub-two minute race. Still, it’s good fun and though the collisions are less polished that those in the Burnout series they do have a certain satisfying weightiness about them.
The next options on the menu are Cruise and Roam. Which both seemed to mean the same thing. But they don’t. Oh no, they don’t. Cruise should probably be called The Car That Couldn’t Slow Down, as it actually starts you on a stretch of a road, tells you not to drop below 55 mph and gives you a certain distance to run. My current best is thirty-six percent, which is rubbish. But it’s great, intense, annoying fun.
Like Race, Roam does actually do what it says. You just drive around the city annoying police and finally noticing the framerate (not as bad as Rush 2049), the deeply strange pedestrian behaviour (which consists of them running around like earth-bound fleas in an attempt to avoid your car, but don’t need to because if you manage to trap one you just drive right through him) and the way that sometimes you can drive through trees and sometimes you can’t.
I get the impression that it’s one of those games that I’d get annoyed with if I paid £40 for it, but would hail as a negleted gem if I got it for a tenner. So, right, as soon as it’s cheap, it shall be mine.
PSP Emulation & Homebrew
Sep 28th
So, I got Doom working. Doom 2, to be precise. (Seems WADs should be called doom1.wad or doom2.wad – my doom1 is called plain simple doom.) Controls are a bit iffy – but I’m a keyboard purist for Doom – and it’s rather buggy, but, hey, it’s Doom. And Doom is The Best Game Ever. No, really. It’s always number one when I make a top ten games list. Ah, Doom.
Also tried Chrono Trigger. Now, every time in the past I’ve tried it I’ve got five or ten minutes in, got bored and left it for another year or two. Got five minutes in this time. But I did go wandering off where I wasn’t meant to be and got into my very first Chrono Trigger fight. I feel reborn. Or something.
What else?
::strokes chin::
Ah, yes, Zelda 2. Can’t find a candle. Have no idea what that Start Menu is all about. Got stuck. Tried to go through a cave without a light. Died. I AM ERROR.
PSP Emulation & Homebrew
Sep 28th
I want to play Metal Slug! But I don’t own it. Nor do I have it. So that’s out. I should remove the Neo Geo emulator from the list, it’s only mocking me.
Anyway, the NES emulator runs precisely half the ROMs I’ve tried with it. Zelda works, Excitebike turns off the PSP, Metroid works and something I can’t remember the name of goes to a grey screen and then stops.
Tried one of the homebrew games. Can’t remember what that’s called, either. (Some diary, eh? Forgive me, I’m ill.) Anyway, it’s a Bejewelled/Zoo Keeper style thing with an unexpectedly disturbing lack of animation and expectedly annoying lack of stylus control. Actually, I think it might be called Polygon.
PSP’s on charge now. Doesn’t really need to be, but I want it away from me, to stop me playing with it.
Oh, and Doom still doesn’t work. Boo.
Alien3
Sep 28th
In 1994 I was on the dole. I had a SNES with five games: Striker, Mario All Stars, Starfox, Street Fighter II Turbo and Alien3.
I loved them all.
And, now, through the miracles of technology, I have Alien3 in the palm of my hand.
Yes, it runs full speed on the PSP’s SNES emulator. It’s all right, too; my memory isn’t too far out of whack with reality. It’s a pretty standard 2D run and gun platformer, but non-linear. I just played a game, but couldn’t remember how to find out what different areas were called, so just ran around randomly killing aliens until I died. Bloody face huggers.
PSP Emulation
Sep 28th
So, I downgraded my PSP from 2.0 to 1.5 last night. A dangerous procedure, but I think several days of being stuck at home with a dodgy stomach have bored me so much that anything to do seems like a good idea.
It all worked, but getting emulators on there has been problematic. A pack of emulators I downloaded works, mostly, but everything else I’ve tried fails. It’s very odd and annoying.
The Megadrive Sonic games run, but the display is a bit odd in a way I’m not finding it easy to explain. A bit blurry, a bit jumpy, but not in a dodgy framerate kind of way. Seems to be better now I’ve shrunk the size of the window they display in and turned VSync on.
Tried the SNES version of Super Mario Bros. Runs quite slowly at time, not great. Might be okay for RPGs though, I suppose.
I’ve been playing the original Zelda game on the GBA recently – one of those NES classics carts – so I tried Zelda on the NES emulator. Seems to work, but I seem to have a shield equipped without having a shield equipped. Some lovely hacked ROM, I guess. It’s annoying, anyway.
Beats of Rage works, but the initial load is incredibly long. Then it hangs between levels and I have to suspend and then turn the PSP on again to give it the kick it needs to continue.
Doom simply doesn’t work, which is annoying. And, yes, I’ve got a WAD file in there.
A very mixed bag, then. I’m not sure how worth it is from a gaming point of view, but it’s good time-wasting stuff from a sick geek viewpoint.
We Love Katamari
Sep 27th
I just properly fell in love with this game.
Previously, I liked hanging out with it and wasn’t averse to the odd bunk up and, sure, I loved it in a way, but now I’m completely in love.
It was the Hansel & Gretal level that did it. The simplest and easiest level so far. There’s nothing to it at all. But just the design of the house and the greatness of the concept just worked some magic on me and now I’m in love.
Even if I just let a fire go out twice and had lasers shot at me for my troubles.
Call Of Duty 2 Demo
Sep 27th
Whoa. Now that was rather intense.
Whether it’s more than Call of Duty with a graphical tart up I couldn’t say, having only played the Call of Duty demo about fifteen years ago (give or take) on a machine that could barely handle it.
And talking of barely handling things… CoD 2 (ah, we’re into the acronyms and this diary is only a few days old) selected 640×480 as the recommended resolution. But it also decided on 4x AA and a few other things I can’t remember and when I started it up I was shocked by how good it looked. Shocked, I say. And it ran decently, too, with a minimum level of shuddering.
I died lots. Gunfire and explosions all around. Many deaths – but that’s okay, especially as the checkpoints are well placed and the reload times are tiny. Men flying past me and crumpling to the ground in front of me. Orders, English and German, being shouted out over all the noise. Grenade warnings, cries of warning and of triumph.
Or, to put it another way, you get to run around a town shooting Nazis in the face.
I’m mostly avoiding PC games these days, because they’re more hassle than they’re worth and my Bluetooth keyboard isn’t great for gaming, especially as it has to rest on my stomach as I slump on the sofa. PC connected to TV, you see. And, yes, I generally slump a bit, except when I’m leaning forward to peer at tiny text that wouldn’t be a problem on a monitor but is annoying as hell on a TV six foot away.
You’ll notice I said ‘mostly’ and that’s because I think I’m going to have to get Call of Duty 2. I might wait until it’s on budget, but it shall be mine.
We Love Katamari
Sep 27th
Dear Girlfriend,
I’m so sorry I missed our date today. I know, I know, but it’s been a strange diary, even by my standards. I was on my way to see you, trying to mind my own business, when a tiny Sumo wrestler approached me and asked for my help. Of course, he actually meant he wanted my father’s help. I’m nothing to these people – nothing! I do all the work, all the rolling, yet it’s my father who gets the praise, the fans, the glory. I don’t know how much longer I can stand it.
But my father forced me into helping him again. He made me roll this Sumo wrestler around the town picking up food that had been left lying around. I got hit by a train several times because chicken legs had been left on the railway line, but I’m okay. Just a bit sore. This guy ate and ate. He even ate some children I ran into by mistake. Oh God, darling, I’m a murderer! I don’t want to do this! I don’t want to live this life! I want to be good! I want to paint! Maybe teach! Not this endless rolling, rolling, rolling. I’m a thief and a killer!
My father had only given me five minutes to get this Sumo guy up to size and by that time I’d failed. Everything went black and my father appeared above me, terrifying to behold. And then the laser bolts shot from his eyes, something I’ve seen before. He was so mad at me! I ran, trying to evade his terrible discipline, but some of the bolts hit. It was burning agony like I’ve never felt. My poor raw hide! He hit just the spots left raw by the train hits. So I tried again and again I failed him and his rage was no less brutal.
And again I tried and this time I realised I had to take the Sumo wrestler to his match before the five minutes was up. He beat his opponent and my father was all sweetness and light and let me go. I ran all the way to the cinema, but by the time I got there, you’d gone. I’m really sorry.
I know we’ve talked about this, how I should run away, let one of cousins take over my duties, that the way my father treats me is wrong. But I can’t help going back. He’s my father, and he’s King of the Cosmos and I’d never be able to hide. I love you, but like it or not, this is my life. I hope you can accept that. I’ve learned to, in time I’m sure you will, too.
Maybe you should come round for dinner one day, so I can introduce you? Please, reply soon. I miss you.
Your Love,
The Prince
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
Sep 27th
PRO: It’s Castlevania!
CON: In 3D!
Not played this before despite having it for years, but I’m home sick, so thought I’d give it a go.
Starts with some annoyingly long cut scenes. I really don’t see the point. Maybe fanboys will get some sad geek shivers at seeing this Belmont being given a whip, but… hang on, hang on! I’m a geek and I didn’t get any sad geek shivers. Cut scene failure, then.
Once into the game – oh, sweet interactivity! – you run around whipping monsters and jumping around. Unfortunately, while you can normally whip what you want to – as long as the camera is gracious enough to show you your target – jumping is incredibly imprecise. Which probably explains why there’s not a lot of it. Just enough to be really very annoying, mind.
Anyway, I got to some red skeleton guys who kept coming back to (un)life while a giant eyeball shot laser vision at me and I died. And I didn’t fancy restarting from the last time I bothered saving, so I gave up.
Plus, I’ve already got a Dual Shock finger blister. Stupid dangerous Sony controllers.
We Love Katamari
Sep 24th
An aptly named game if ever there was one.
Because everyone who’s played Katamari Damacy loves it. Well, everyone I know. I’m sure there are people out there who don’t like it. Weirdos.
I’ve just played through a few levels of this and it’s really not very different from the original. The Katamari still feels big and unweildy, the graphics are still pastel and blocky in style, the level design is still, superb the soundtrack is still great, the cut scenes are still hatstand mad and the presentation is still wonderfully quirky.
It’s the next chapter, basically, not a whole different book.
But it doesn’t matter because I love Katamari.
I’ve not failed a mission yet, but I’m getting really fed up of all the people I indulge complaining about how small my balls are, A man could get a complex.
And if you don’t know what Katamari is all about, then I really don’t know why you’re reading this. Not in a “get out, you’re not worthy, you non-gamer!” type of way. I just really can’t imagine that anyone’s going to come to this page who doesn’t know what Katamari Damacy is all about.
But if you need to know: You play a tiny Prince who has roll a knobbly ball around that picks up everything that touches it, as long as it’s smaller than the ball. The aim of the game is to roll a lot of things up. And that’s about it. From drawing pins to the stars themselves, anything’s fair game as long as you’ve got your ball, or Katamari, to the required size. The challenge comes from working out paths through levels to get as much as possible as quickly as possible.
And it’s all a great big bundle of joy.
