Monday, April 28, 2008
The last week in games was very lacking in focus. Tasted a lot of stuff, but didn't put too much time into any one thing. Dabbling - the path to never actually getting good at anything! Played some more GT5:P, CoD 4 (reaching level 52, maybe as high as I'm going to get), Rainbow Six Las Vegas 2 (finally a couple levels of the actual game, and a little more multiplayer - which is so hardcore, I've yet to find much fun, only frustration), FIFA 08, Quake 4 (just the first level or two), TF2 and strangely enough, a fair amount of Burnout Paradise made it into the rotation. But basically it was the week of waiting for GTA IV.
Monday, April 21, 2008
The big game of the last week for me was the new Grand Turismo 5 Prologue disc, which finally came out in North America. It's really just a sort of big demo - but it has served its purpose - now I really can't wait for the full game (unfortunately the earliest that will actually be released is in the summer of 2009). In a way though, it feels right. In today's busy world, these smaller games are getting more and more appealing. With only six tracks, you really get to learn 'em - and your approach to racing on them really does have to change depending on what kind of car you're driving. The C and B events were pretty easy, but now that I've hit the A stuff, it's definitely a lot more challenging - as I'm not used to having to drive a car at 180 miles an hour down a demanding track, weaving between fifteen other vehicles. The graphics are really nice, and I just love the menu system and the way the game is presented - totally straight-forward, clean, serious & without any kid stuff - it really feels like a game designed for adults, which is frankly a nice change. The game also has a pretty robust online component, that adds an endless variety and challenge to the game - though right now it is somewhat broken with lag and weirdness of indeterminate origin - also too many asshole drivers - yet weirdly, for the most part, I'm still finding the online races fun. Hopefully the makers will learn from what they've done here and the final game will have a much more smooth online experience that matches the near-perfection of the offline stuff.
The other game I problem played the most this week is also sort of a racing game, or maybe more accurately, a puzzle game where you are inside a race car, Trackmania United. I bought this a while ago, but only really started putting some time into it this week - after a big update was released. It's a really fun, at times challenging game. Each "race" is really small - usually it takes from 30-60 seconds to get to the end of a track. There's also a straight up puzzle mode - where you try to get to the end of a track with as few restarts as possible. The game has a ton of tracks, and a very fun, weird, online mode, that allows you to race on the same track with one hundred or more other people at the same time. Visually it's completely mad! The free version of this game, TrackMania Nations Forever, is also worth picking up if you are a cheapskate - it's surprisingly robust with 70 or so tracks and the online mode too.
I also made a little more progress on Doom 3 - haven't played a ton because that game makes me really tense. Played a few matches of Team Fortress 2 for the first time in a while, in anticipation of the new Goldrush map/gametype and medic stuff coming out this week - one especially satisfying game on Badlands where I capped the final point. Played a handful of matches on FIFA 08 and a match or two of Pro Evo Wii. Started Episode 2 of Half Life 2 again for some reason (love that game). And just this morning pulled out GTA: Vice City Stories for the first time in over a year and a half(!) and completed one mission. I've still barely started that game, only 2.2% complete :(
On the non-gaming front, I've started re-reading Philip K. Dick's Clans of the Alphane Moon and started reading the probably over my head, Répliques interview collection, Ce que peut la littérature. Also watched the 4th episode of the 1st season of the new Dr. Who series, which a friend recorded for me, and I'm actually enjoying - this is the first TV series I've started to watch in years - hopefully I'll at least make it through the first season.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
César Aira's La Preuve (The Proof) is a book that made an extremely strong, positive impression on me - more so than anything I can remember reading in quite some time. Actually a very simply (seeming) and short book - about one hundred pages (I really do love short books the best). Originally published in Spanish in 1992 (La prueba) and just now translated into French (no English version that I know of, sorry) it tells the story of one slightly dumpy, good-natured teenager (Marcia), picked up by two lesbianish punk rockers (Mao & Lénine) in Flores, Buenos Aires. They talk on the street, hang out in a cafe and end up in a supermarket, where... it might be spoiling things to say all hell breaks loose. Um, the ending of the book, the last twenty or thirty pages, is especially amazing... something to be experienced (certainly not what I was expecting - much more amazing than anything I was expecting). For me, this was one of those perfect books - a reason to keep reading - looking for those weird gems. I'm afraid something is going to have to leave my top ten list to make room for it.
Monday, April 14, 2008
This week in gaming... I've been quite busy with a little of this and a little of that.
Put some good time into DIRT, which has been sitting on my shelf mostly unplayed for the last six months or so, but I've been making progress and enjoying the game a fair amount over the last week - have reached 30% complete. Don't know how much more rotation it's going to see with GT5:P coming out in a day or two. DIRT can be a little too easy at times and a little too hard at others. Some of the tracks are so narrow and filled with such bloom lighting and you can be going so fast, that's it's easy to get lost and run off the road, or worse, do a header into a massive tree trunk, totaling your vehicle. Some of the races can be weird, to switch from, for instance, super bouncy dune buggies, to a high performance racer, to gigantic semi-trucks doing an absurd hill climb up narrow dirt roads is a tad disorienting. As I think I said previously, the lack of a proper online racing mode is disappointing, but as I've been getting further into the single player campaign, I've found the experience and variety on offer plenty addicting. The graphics are also, usually, damn nice, but there's occasional screen tearing and little hiccups of slow down that slightly take your head out of the game.
My psp has been seeing a little more use of late (purchase finally justified). I've been really getting into Wipeout: Pure - an incredibly tough, challenging racer. I've just opened the third tier of events (flash?) and am not sure if I'll be able to make it up to the next level. Possibly having to control your ship with a combination of the shoulder buttons and the d-pad makes things a little harder than they should be. I especially like the zone races, only the first of which I've been able to get gold on so far. The game has a ton of content, and is the perfect game for keeping oneself awake at an airport during a long delay. I've been thinking about picking up the sequel, Pulse, which has online play (though who knows if it's possible to still find a game online) and completely different tracks - I wonder if the controls have been refined at all or if it plays exactly the same as Pure. Or maybe I should just wait for Wipeout HD - which may be the game I'm most looking forward to playing later this year (hopefully not too much later). I've also been using the psp to play some FIFA 08, which plays much faster than the console version & is a blast - though I've yet to manage to score a goal.
The best (easiest?) soccer game out right now though, is Pro Evo 2008 for the Wii. I'm playing this one more and more and really loving it. It really takes advantage of the Wii controls, especially in regards to passing. It makes for a very fun, simplified (in the right way) game of soccer. I've yet to try out its online modes however - still just trying to get decent at the game, which I guess I am, having beat the computer 6-0 and 5-1 on "normal mode." The graphics may not be as flashy, but who cares, as it feels really right (most of the time). It feels like progress & not just another slightly tweaked version of the same old thing.
To round out the grab bag of the last week, I also started Doom 3, played some Terrorist Hunt co-op in Rainbox Six Vegas 2, played a few multiplayer games of Call of Duty 4 (including a game of domination on Bog, where I only died once and got fourteen kills - probably my best run ever), and made a little progress in Hot Shots Golf (5 & Open Tee).
Yeah, lots of games!
Put some good time into DIRT, which has been sitting on my shelf mostly unplayed for the last six months or so, but I've been making progress and enjoying the game a fair amount over the last week - have reached 30% complete. Don't know how much more rotation it's going to see with GT5:P coming out in a day or two. DIRT can be a little too easy at times and a little too hard at others. Some of the tracks are so narrow and filled with such bloom lighting and you can be going so fast, that's it's easy to get lost and run off the road, or worse, do a header into a massive tree trunk, totaling your vehicle. Some of the races can be weird, to switch from, for instance, super bouncy dune buggies, to a high performance racer, to gigantic semi-trucks doing an absurd hill climb up narrow dirt roads is a tad disorienting. As I think I said previously, the lack of a proper online racing mode is disappointing, but as I've been getting further into the single player campaign, I've found the experience and variety on offer plenty addicting. The graphics are also, usually, damn nice, but there's occasional screen tearing and little hiccups of slow down that slightly take your head out of the game.My psp has been seeing a little more use of late (purchase finally justified). I've been really getting into Wipeout: Pure - an incredibly tough, challenging racer. I've just opened the third tier of events (flash?) and am not sure if I'll be able to make it up to the next level. Possibly having to control your ship with a combination of the shoulder buttons and the d-pad makes things a little harder than they should be. I especially like the zone races, only the first of which I've been able to get gold on so far. The game has a ton of content, and is the perfect game for keeping oneself awake at an airport during a long delay. I've been thinking about picking up the sequel, Pulse, which has online play (though who knows if it's possible to still find a game online) and completely different tracks - I wonder if the controls have been refined at all or if it plays exactly the same as Pure. Or maybe I should just wait for Wipeout HD - which may be the game I'm most looking forward to playing later this year (hopefully not too much later). I've also been using the psp to play some FIFA 08, which plays much faster than the console version & is a blast - though I've yet to manage to score a goal.
The best (easiest?) soccer game out right now though, is Pro Evo 2008 for the Wii. I'm playing this one more and more and really loving it. It really takes advantage of the Wii controls, especially in regards to passing. It makes for a very fun, simplified (in the right way) game of soccer. I've yet to try out its online modes however - still just trying to get decent at the game, which I guess I am, having beat the computer 6-0 and 5-1 on "normal mode." The graphics may not be as flashy, but who cares, as it feels really right (most of the time). It feels like progress & not just another slightly tweaked version of the same old thing.
To round out the grab bag of the last week, I also started Doom 3, played some Terrorist Hunt co-op in Rainbox Six Vegas 2, played a few multiplayer games of Call of Duty 4 (including a game of domination on Bog, where I only died once and got fourteen kills - probably my best run ever), and made a little progress in Hot Shots Golf (5 & Open Tee).
Yeah, lots of games!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
