A Gaming Diary
PSP
Sonic Rivals (PSP)
Feb 11th
It’s a tragedy really. The only reason this has got any attention from anyone – including myself – is that it’s a Sonic game that isn’t completely awful. It’s not a bad game, but it’s not really very good, either. In a proper world this would be the worst Sonic game in ages, not the best.
Various Demos (PSP)
Feb 11th
It was a bit of a pain to get them, but I downloaded some demos from the European Playstation site.
MotoGP – Really didn’t get on with this. It looked nice enough and didn’t have any obvious problems, but it just didn’t grab me. No motorcycle game has since Super Hang On, though, so that might just be me. Or it might really be a slightly sludgy, rather dull experience.
Mercury Meltdown – I must never buy this game. It’s good and the demo has a generous selection of levels, but I can see myself being reduced to a boiling puddle of fury by the full game. One level in the demo annoyed me so much I had to skip it, which is never a good sign. It’s got something, though, and I could see myself picking it up in a moment of weakness.
Killzone Liberation – A very, very short demonstration level. Looks nice, plays okay, but has slightly clunky controls, annoyingly powerful enemies, some very dangerous checkpointing and hints that the full game might get very, very difficult. If I saw it for a tenner I might have to buy it, but no more than that. Oh, and whoever decided you should press Start to remove tutorial messages needs to go back to interface design school.
Medal of Honor Heroes – Not what I was expecting at all. Okay, it’s an FPS and, despite having Jump on the Select button, it controls pretty well with the sensitivity ramped up, but I thought it would be a standard single-player Nazi-killing trip through a French village, or something. But, no, it was just a three minute deathmatch against bots. No story or anything at all. Perfectly playable – I’ve played three matches so far and will probably keep the demo on my Memory Stick – but nothing special.
World Tour Soccer 2 – A big surprise. I wasn’t expecting anything and nearly didn’t download the demo. But this is an ace arcade footie game, with a twist. You gain and lose points for everything you do in the game and the idea is to reach points targets, rather than simply win matches. Sometimes that’s all, but in other events there are twists. In one of the demo events all eleven of your players have to have had possession before you can score. In another you have to score within ten seconds of gaining possession. It’s not a sim, but it’s great fun. I really want a full copy of the game now.
Toca Race Driver 3 Challenge – Bloody hell. I wasn’t expecting much, I must admit, but this is brilliant. There are three different challenges. The first is a cone challenge. Within seconds of starting I’d fallen in love. The handling felt perfect, even through the PSP’s infamously dodgy analogue nub. I played it until I got a gold medal, which didn’t take too long, then moved on. The next event, a duel against another car, wasn’t so much fun, mainly because the course layout was a pain. An s-bend and two incredibly tight hairpins, that was all. Once I got a silver I went on to the last event, a No Damage race. To get gold you have to win the race without damaging your car. Hence the name. Great fun and plugged away until I got a gold, which took a very long time. (I’m not very good.) And then I went back and got a gold on the Duel, which seemed a little bit more fun but it’s definitely the runt of the litter. This has now gone from being completely off my radar to being a must-buy. Also: it has instant restarts from the pause menu. Thank you, whoever made that happen.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast (PSP)
Feb 9th
So, I went and spent a huge amount of money on an OutRun class Enzo.
I don’t like it. It doesn’t accelerate and it steers like a cow. Its top speed is meant to be a lot more than the Testarossa I’ve been driving, but I haven’t noticed that.
I still haven’t finished the 15-stage continuous run through either the OutRun 2 or OutRun 2 SP stages.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast (PSP)
Feb 6th
Phew. I spent ages tonight trying to fill in a space on the OutRun 2 scoreboard. I’d not got a high score for the hardest route and the default ‘SEGA 500000′ was annoying me deeply. Somehow, I managed to finish about eight times with scores under 500,000 before finally cracking it. No idea what was going on there.
Also, I managed to break the game at one point by crashing at an odd angle, which resulted in the game showing me several frames of my car jumping to seemingly random points on the track before it reset me a little further on from where I’d crashed.
I didn’t explain that very well, did I?
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast (PSP)
Feb 4th
No, I’m not doing any better in the OutRun class car. It’s a lot faster and the game can’t keep up with it. At high speeds the framerate really drops and when things get hairy it’s possible to cross the entire width of the road between frames.
How the game remains so much fun despite this fairly major problem I don’t know.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast (PSP)
Feb 4th
I may not be able to ride a bike in real life, but I can drive a car. (As long as it’s an automatic – yes, in many ways I am utterly pathetic.) OutRun 2006 isn’t much like driving a real car. That surge of joy, freedom and control you get for about twelve seconds in the average three hour drive through Britain is present a lot more often in OutRun. It’s not there all the time – especially in the PSP version, which is slightly hampered by the analogue nub and a dodgy framerate – but it’s still great, great fun and when the drifting is going right and you make a few turns in a row there’s not a driving game in the world that can touch it.
I’ve still not been able to finish the OutRun 2 15-stage continuous mode, but I’ve done some Heart Attack mode and unlocked an OutRun class car now, so I might be able to do it soon. Maybe.
Best Games Ever
Jan 26th
I did a top ten list last January, so I think I’ll do another.
10. (NE) Dragon Quest VIII (PS2)
I remember it annoying me when I played it. But I also remember loving it. And it gave me my single most satisfying gaming moment ever – killing the final boss after a 45-minute battle.
9. (NE) OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (XBOX/PSP)
Not really a new entry as OutRun 2 was in the chart last year, at number five. I’m rating it lower this year because I never seem to play it. The Xbox version doesn’t work on the 360, so I never play it, and the PSP version, though lovely, is hampered slightly by the PSP’s analogue nub and a pretty rubbish framerate.
8. (7) World of Warcraft (PC)
It gave me some of my best gaming moments ever. (The trip to the contested area of Booty Bay to buy parrots with two friends! The first time we ganged up to invade Alliance territory!) However, I never got a character beyond level twenty-five and don’t really like teaming up with random strangers so it can’t be higher.
7. (9) Mr Driller: Drill Spirits (DS)
Best (English language) Mr Driller. Drill Land might take the spot if it was out in English. But it’s not. And there’s been no new Driller to challenge this in the last year.
6. (10) Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
I don’t play it as much as I used to. Probably been a couple of weeks or more since I last had a wander round Venture. But it lasted for hundreds of hours of play and helped cement my relationship with the woman who is now my wife. Thanks Nintendo!
5. (6) ICO (PS2)
Haunting, atmospheric, etc. And unlike Shadow of the Colossus I actually finished ICO.
4. (3) GTA: San Andreas (PS2)
Last year I said, “Best setting, best map, best features, best everything.” Still true when you’re talking about the GTA series, but Saints Row now exists and it does a lot of stuff an awful lot better than GTA does it. GTA IV is going to have to be something very special now.
3. (4) Mario 64 (N64)
Loved it then. Love it still. It was losing ground in my top tens, but the Virtual Console version has reinforced how much fun it still is, so it gains a place here.
2. (NE) Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (360/PC)
Morrowind was in this spot last year. Oblivion doesn’t do everything better, no. It feels a lot smaller, possibly down to the fast travel and quest markers. The land doesn’t have the strangeness of Morrowind. The levelling system isn’t as bad as many make out, but is ever-so-slightly broken. But in other ways it makes many, many improvements. At times it looks breathtakingly beautiful. The combat is much improved, especially the ranged combat. The stealth works brilliantly – so much so that it seemed almost everybody went for a stealth-based character when playing the game. It’s been over a hundred hours of glorious fun, with more to come.
1. (1) Doom (PC/360)
Genius that hasn’t aged in anything but graphics. Gameplay, level design, feel… it’s still all there. And the 360 version has the best controls since pre-Win95 PC keyboards. BEST. GAME. EVER.
Play, Want, Bin
Dec 4th
A fair amount has been going on this week.
PLAY
Oblivion (360) – I finished the downloadable Knights of the Nine quest. Quite short, rewards weren’t great and it wasn’t in the least bit difficult, but it was good fun and it was lovely to go and visit Cyrodiil again for a while. It’s one gorgeous game when it wants to be, is Oblivion. Pity about some of the voices being so damn quiet.
Guitar Hero (PS2) – Finished off Easy and started on Medium. The blue button kills me. When it comes along I completely forget which button is where and end up hitting red instead of green or yellow instead of red for ten or twenty seconds until I recover. Not good. It really is incredibly good fun, though.
Sonic Rivals (PSP) – A good modern Sonic game! Not a great one and it’s as much a ride as a game in many ways – but it’s a ride that works. Even the two boss fights I’ve seen so far have been okay. Sonic bosses I don’t detest? Something’s gone unexpectedly right here.
Capcom Collection Remixed (PSP) – Got this half-price when I bought Sonic. The inclusion of Strider blinded me to the fact that there are no other games here I really care about. That said, of the three I’ve tried so far, two have been hits. Strider is a classic piece of gaming and still incredibly fun. 1941 was a great surprise, much faster and more interesting than I was expecting. Pity about the controls when you flip the screen, though. The miss was Street Fighter, which is incredibly bad. I wasn’t expecting much, but it’s so much worse than I remember. I just can’t get my head around it at all.
Lumines II (PSP) – It’s very, very good. I got my best ever Lumines score – about 113,500 or so. (I know, I’m rubbish.)
Final Fantasy 3 (DS) – It looks nice. It’s Final Fantasy. It’s rock hard. I think I’m going to places I shouldn’t be going to, because I’m dying a lot. I’ll probably stick with it, if I get time.
Yoshi’s Island DS (DS) – Half-way through the first world and having a lot of fun with this one. I can see it getting tedious if taken too quickly, but I think if I do a level or two here and there it’ll remain fun for a good long time. I’m impressed with Artoon so far.
WANT
A Wii, of course. I’ve cancelled my pre-order for Red Steel and gone for Rayman instead, to add to Zelda and Monkey Ball. With Zelda being the big, sit-down-for-hours game on launch, I’m after quick distractions and controller lessons from my other games. I’m really hoping Gameplay get my Wii to me on Friday.
BIN
PSP Firmware Updates (PSP) – Every single time I put a new game into my PSP it tells me I have to install new firmware to play it. Which requires plugging the PSP into its charger. I’m excited when I get a new game! I just want to play it! Gah!
A Dualshock 2 (PS2) – Decided to play Shadow of the Colossus again. Started up the PS2 and the cursor on the menu was going crazy. Turned off, tried again, same thing. Tried an old original grey Dualshock, no response at all. Loaded up Guitar Hero with the guitar plugged in and everything was fine. Got grumpy. Spent ages looking for another Dualshock 2. Not in the controller bin. Not in the cables bin. Not in the misc bin. Not in the cupboard above the fridge where the old consoles live. Not in the mainly-Nintendo cables drawer in the kitchen. Finally I remembered to look in the wine cupboard by the sink in the kitchen, where I, indeed, found one. Must remember that it’s only the mostly-wine cupboard. Anyway, that controller worked, so I threw away the broken Dualshock 2 and settled down to play…
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) – Oh dear. I don’t know why, but I really couldn’t get into this. I loaded my saved game and went after the ninth colossus, who kept killing me. In the end, though I knew what to do, I gave up. I just couldn’t avoid his attacks. Decided to start a new game, but couldn’t work out what to do to kill the first colossus, so gave up on the game entirely. Just couldn’t click with it. Odd, as last time I played I loved it.
Sonic The Hedgehog Genesis (GBA) – By rights, the person who decided to release this should face criminal charges. I’d read everything about this online and it was still worse than I expected.
Lumines (PSP)
Oct 22nd
Been playing a bit of this to get my Lumines fix while my wife’s playing Harvest Moon on the TV.
I’m really not very good.
Exit (PSP)
Oct 18th
My PSP had been unplayed for so long that it had forgotten the date and time. Oops.
Anyway, tried the first few levels of Exit. Graphically its incredibly gorgeous and makes my heart sing with joy… but the gameplay seems very stilted. But I have only tried the training levels so far, I suppose.
