HEY I'M ON READ THE MANUAL THIS WEEK SO CLICK THIS LINK: http://showmeyournews.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=2554
I TALK ABOUT THE STUFF THAT I PLAYED ON THE NEXT EPISODE WHICH COMES OUT SOMETIME THIS WEEK
Anyway,
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1) First Appearance
I'm proud of myself because I was able to pick this game back up after about a month of not touching it, and I was able to get right back in! (I'll admit that I used a walkthrough to figure out where to go) Dracula's Castle in SOTN is my favorite setting in any game because the castle has so much space but still feels restrictive and navigable. I can't imagine Dracula actually living and visiting every part of the castle in any day because you need to jump in order to get most places and I'd imagine he's got pretty old joints by now. (I think Dracula can teleport anyway or at least fly which really takes away any need for him to have stairs or platforms or anything) The soundtrack gets me going every time I'm playing, making navigating the vast castle feel like less of a chore which is necessary because the castle is huge and you move around between places all the time.
ModNation Racers: Road Trip (PSV) Third Appearance
I played this on a bus and then in a building while I waited for a class to start. That's all. The track that I chose was the only user-created course I've ever downloaded and I didn't have to try very hard to win.
SimCity (SNES) First Appearance
This will take a little bit of explaining, but I'm in a French class at my college currently and I decided to try to increase my knowledge of the language by playing the French ROM of SimCity. Turns out you don't really need to be able to read anything at all in order to play SimCity at least fairly well because I don't remember how any of it went. Also, I'm not great as a city planner, so keep that in mind if you're looking to give me a job in these hard times.
Showing posts with label ModNation Racers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ModNation Racers. Show all posts
Monday, February 24, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
Sunday Update: 1/26/14
SO SORRY ABOUT THIS INEVITABLY DEBUTING ON A MONDAY IT'S BEEN A WEIRD DAY
Heart of Darkness (PS1): Second straight appearance, Second all time
Last weekend, I was only a few levels into Heart of Darkness, and my feelings about the game were less than great. However, after getting through a couple more levels, I'm really starting to enjoy this game. There's a certain amount of intrigue from me regarding the art style and animation- I've never seen anything like Heart of Darkness from a platformer. The backgrounds and enemies still look great even today. (That's purely in gameplay, by the way. The CG cutscenes don't hold up today.)
I think Heart of Darkness (That or Tony Hawk 4, because I figured out a way to do that game some actual justice) could actually be a good game for an LP series from me. I have a problem with playing well and talking at the same time (if you can't tell from the video above), so a lower-paced game like Heart of Darkness that I enjoy would be a likely candidate for my triumphant re-entry into this sorta thing.
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PS1):
I'm really sorry, everyone. Every time that Crash Bandicoot is brought up to me, I generally brush the series off. I never enjoyed my copy of Crash 2 (which I've owned since about 2004 or '05, actually), but I decided to try it again this week. To my surprise, I've been totally wrong about this series! The platforming is actually pretty tight, though not quite perfect. The level design is good, the enemies are fun to fight, the boss fights are actually pretty decent, because they're (surprise) not awful and an absurd spike in difficulty to take all of the enjoyment out of the game. No, actually, the boss levels in Crash 2 are fairly enjoyable! Looking forward to finishing this one, actually.
ModNation Racers: Road Trip (PSV): Second Straight Appearance, Second All-Time
I figured out another thing I like about this one! The "Championship" (known as "Grand Prix" in Mario Kart [and who am I kidding, of course I'm just using this like Mario Kart]) mode works much differently than in Mario Kart because there's no consistency among computer-controlled drivers between races. Much like a human would, performance of every racer fluctuates between tracks. This means that a cup win doesn't have to come from a perfect performance on every track because goddamn Dry Bones keeps getting second and there's really no breathing room if he wins this next race, but a consistently high-place (getting first doesn't hurt) will keep you in the hunt just as well. Also, you can redo individual tracks in championship mode, which is much more preferable to going back and retrying all four tracks just because you were unlucky on the third one of four.
Silent Hill: Book of Memories (PSV):
I love seeing mixed reviews of a game nowadays. With many games, there's a sort of consensus about quality, where many critics have the same general opinion on most games. In researching games, you're only going to need to see two or three reviews to have a general understanding of what everyone thinks of a certain title. This wasn't exactly the case when I first started paying attention back seven or eight years ago. My first encounter with with mixed reviews came from Pokemon Channel for the GameCube. Nintendo Power gave it like 22 stars out of 25 or so, and EGM (which I trusted a bit more at the time) was less positive, saying the game deserved a 4/10 or something like that. Due to the way games are designed now, and the way that game websites and magazines work today, you'll be pretty sure of how good something is, especially if it's a big-budget title, with only a few reviews.
Silent Hill: Book of Memories (much like a number of games on the Vita) doesn't exactly have that. I have seen some fairly favorable reviews, and I've seen the opposite. As for me, at the moment, I lean more towards the positive side. Though I've never tried a Silent Hill title before this (and I'm sure that my lack of experience with the series influences why I have a favorable opinion), I'm enjoying the story, and I like the way the gameplay "karma" system works. I'm not very far into it, so be on the look out for what I think of it in the future.
---
Well, that's all for this week. I guess it's Monday...
Heart of Darkness (PS1): Second straight appearance, Second all time
Last weekend, I was only a few levels into Heart of Darkness, and my feelings about the game were less than great. However, after getting through a couple more levels, I'm really starting to enjoy this game. There's a certain amount of intrigue from me regarding the art style and animation- I've never seen anything like Heart of Darkness from a platformer. The backgrounds and enemies still look great even today. (That's purely in gameplay, by the way. The CG cutscenes don't hold up today.)
This may seem tangential, but I've been thinking about giving "Let's Play" another shot after my classic THPS2 LP from 2011:
I think Heart of Darkness (That or Tony Hawk 4, because I figured out a way to do that game some actual justice) could actually be a good game for an LP series from me. I have a problem with playing well and talking at the same time (if you can't tell from the video above), so a lower-paced game like Heart of Darkness that I enjoy would be a likely candidate for my triumphant re-entry into this sorta thing.
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PS1):
I'm really sorry, everyone. Every time that Crash Bandicoot is brought up to me, I generally brush the series off. I never enjoyed my copy of Crash 2 (which I've owned since about 2004 or '05, actually), but I decided to try it again this week. To my surprise, I've been totally wrong about this series! The platforming is actually pretty tight, though not quite perfect. The level design is good, the enemies are fun to fight, the boss fights are actually pretty decent, because they're (surprise) not awful and an absurd spike in difficulty to take all of the enjoyment out of the game. No, actually, the boss levels in Crash 2 are fairly enjoyable! Looking forward to finishing this one, actually.
ModNation Racers: Road Trip (PSV): Second Straight Appearance, Second All-Time
I figured out another thing I like about this one! The "Championship" (known as "Grand Prix" in Mario Kart [and who am I kidding, of course I'm just using this like Mario Kart]) mode works much differently than in Mario Kart because there's no consistency among computer-controlled drivers between races. Much like a human would, performance of every racer fluctuates between tracks. This means that a cup win doesn't have to come from a perfect performance on every track because goddamn Dry Bones keeps getting second and there's really no breathing room if he wins this next race, but a consistently high-place (getting first doesn't hurt) will keep you in the hunt just as well. Also, you can redo individual tracks in championship mode, which is much more preferable to going back and retrying all four tracks just because you were unlucky on the third one of four.
Silent Hill: Book of Memories (PSV):
I love seeing mixed reviews of a game nowadays. With many games, there's a sort of consensus about quality, where many critics have the same general opinion on most games. In researching games, you're only going to need to see two or three reviews to have a general understanding of what everyone thinks of a certain title. This wasn't exactly the case when I first started paying attention back seven or eight years ago. My first encounter with with mixed reviews came from Pokemon Channel for the GameCube. Nintendo Power gave it like 22 stars out of 25 or so, and EGM (which I trusted a bit more at the time) was less positive, saying the game deserved a 4/10 or something like that. Due to the way games are designed now, and the way that game websites and magazines work today, you'll be pretty sure of how good something is, especially if it's a big-budget title, with only a few reviews.
Silent Hill: Book of Memories (much like a number of games on the Vita) doesn't exactly have that. I have seen some fairly favorable reviews, and I've seen the opposite. As for me, at the moment, I lean more towards the positive side. Though I've never tried a Silent Hill title before this (and I'm sure that my lack of experience with the series influences why I have a favorable opinion), I'm enjoying the story, and I like the way the gameplay "karma" system works. I'm not very far into it, so be on the look out for what I think of it in the future.
---
Well, that's all for this week. I guess it's Monday...
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Sunday Update: 1/19/2014
I actually played quite a bit this week, but I only really have opinions on a few of these games so I'm going to go with conciseness rather than making you hear about the 15 minutes on Sunday night that I played "Last Gladiators: Digital Pinball" for the Saturn.
Tearaway (PSV)- For me, Tearaway stands out from most games because I was excited for it before it came out, and I wasn't disappointed in any way, and in fact, I actually ended up being pleasantly surprised. (The last two titles that I was really excited for pre-release were Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Heroes of Ruin for the 3DS, and though neither of them were of low-quality, I had some complaints with them.)
But Tearaway was just about the best game I have played in the past two or three years. I think I said the extent of what I needed to say about the quality of the game last week: if this ends up being the PS Vita's Alien Vs. Predator (That is, the best title on a console lacking much else), I'd be fine with that. Luckily...
ModNation Racers: Road Trip (PSV)- There exist other good games on the Vita, and this is one! I am and always have been in love with the Mario Kart series, and I was jealous of PS3 owners when the original ModNation Racers was released a few years back, especially after I was so underwhelmed by Mario Kart Wii in 2008. The idea of a customizable kart racer was what really sold me on this series, and it would have absolutely been a purchase that I would have made for the PS3 had I owned one.
But I have confused you enough. ModNation Racers: Road Trip has some of the best kart physics I've ever experienced. The system of items could be called "exactly the same as Lego Racers for the PlayStation" for what that's worth, but that's not an issue really, the system works well. The only aspect making me still consider Mario Kart 7 a superior experience would be the track design, which isn't anything special.
This gets a heavy recommendation from me.
Heart of Darkness (PS1)- The Horror... The Horror
ha
hahaahaha
get it
like the book
Actually the first bit of this game, a cinematic sidescroller from an era in which cinematic sidescrollers could profit, infuriated me beyond belief. Past that, though, I've actually enjoyed the sort of puzzle-platforming Heart of Darkness provides. I'm only a little bit of the way into it.
NBA Jam: Tournament Edition (Saturn)- I have started using the Suns for some reason. I don't know quite why. Kevin Johnson and Dan Majerle work well together, and I have a feeling that Danny Manning's stats are increased due to the lack of Barkley (Charles Barkley's likeness couldn't be found in any NBA games after about 1992). The Saturn version takes a while to get used to, especially if you've played the SNES or Genesis versions before.
---
Well, that's about it. I've considered adding a video segment to this bit called "purchases" where I talk about purchases I've made, but I don't think I will until my ego gets even more inflated. This week I did finally find a PSone with the little flip-top screen on it, which will be great for this semester in school!
See you next weekend
Tearaway (PSV)- For me, Tearaway stands out from most games because I was excited for it before it came out, and I wasn't disappointed in any way, and in fact, I actually ended up being pleasantly surprised. (The last two titles that I was really excited for pre-release were Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Heroes of Ruin for the 3DS, and though neither of them were of low-quality, I had some complaints with them.)
But Tearaway was just about the best game I have played in the past two or three years. I think I said the extent of what I needed to say about the quality of the game last week: if this ends up being the PS Vita's Alien Vs. Predator (That is, the best title on a console lacking much else), I'd be fine with that. Luckily...
ModNation Racers: Road Trip (PSV)- There exist other good games on the Vita, and this is one! I am and always have been in love with the Mario Kart series, and I was jealous of PS3 owners when the original ModNation Racers was released a few years back, especially after I was so underwhelmed by Mario Kart Wii in 2008. The idea of a customizable kart racer was what really sold me on this series, and it would have absolutely been a purchase that I would have made for the PS3 had I owned one.
But I have confused you enough. ModNation Racers: Road Trip has some of the best kart physics I've ever experienced. The system of items could be called "exactly the same as Lego Racers for the PlayStation" for what that's worth, but that's not an issue really, the system works well. The only aspect making me still consider Mario Kart 7 a superior experience would be the track design, which isn't anything special.
This gets a heavy recommendation from me.
Heart of Darkness (PS1)- The Horror... The Horror
ha
hahaahaha
get it
like the book
Actually the first bit of this game, a cinematic sidescroller from an era in which cinematic sidescrollers could profit, infuriated me beyond belief. Past that, though, I've actually enjoyed the sort of puzzle-platforming Heart of Darkness provides. I'm only a little bit of the way into it.
NBA Jam: Tournament Edition (Saturn)- I have started using the Suns for some reason. I don't know quite why. Kevin Johnson and Dan Majerle work well together, and I have a feeling that Danny Manning's stats are increased due to the lack of Barkley (Charles Barkley's likeness couldn't be found in any NBA games after about 1992). The Saturn version takes a while to get used to, especially if you've played the SNES or Genesis versions before.
---
Well, that's about it. I've considered adding a video segment to this bit called "purchases" where I talk about purchases I've made, but I don't think I will until my ego gets even more inflated. This week I did finally find a PSone with the little flip-top screen on it, which will be great for this semester in school!
See you next weekend
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