Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Category: 2000s

Games That Are Too Repetitive?

Posted on by Viljami

There are some good things about Nintendo GameCube and then there are some bad things about it too. I lately got this gaming console. I decided to remove Nintendo Wii from my setup for now. Wii might have been great but I just didn’t have time or inspiration to get into the games that I bought for it deeply. I did play GameCube games on it and went and bought GameCube. Now I have many games, two controllers and a memory card for it.

I absolutely love how the original game pad of GameCube works. The layout is way different from regular PlayStation and Xbox game pads layouts. It’s once again a case of Nintendo being original. I like the format in which games are delivered. GameCube is from the generation of consoles that includes original Xbox, PS2 and Dreamcast.

There are however some things about GameCube that I don’t like. I am not using, at the moment, the digital output of my GameCube since I don’t have the necessary adapters or cables. I have a 4K capable television and I have to say this – the graphics look crappy. I just have to adjust to this. An attitude of not taking it too seriously and thinking that this definitely is a retro console helps a bit. After all it has been twenty years since it was released.

I have very good games for GameCube. If you think about Resident Evil Zero you get how nice games there are for this gaming console. I have a sport title NBA Courtside 2002 that features Kobe Bryant on its cover. Then I have a driving game. That game is Need For Speed Underground. What do I think about this game? There rarely are bad games in this game series. I just like some of them more than others.

Need For Speed Underground is a bit repetitive. What that means is that it forces you to drive same tracks over and over again with a same car. Although there is some sort of experience score that keeps updating even if you don’t finish first in a race. In some races you have to finish first to get to the next race. The progression is slow and of course this makes the time to complete the whole game a lot longer.

It is said that Sega Mega Drive games were in overall too repetitive. You cannot say that about all games released on Mega Drive. Let’s take an example. Think about Gynoug. It is a very nice shooter that sadly is awfully repetitive. It is very easy to get stuck in Gynoug. Then you will find yourself playing the same part of the game and starting from the same point over and over. You cannot say this about Sonic the Hedgehog or Streets of Rage.

What are some things in gameplay that make game to have variability? The ability to save at any time is one key to this. Or the ability to not save at all. Then you will have to start playing the game all over again. But it keeps you from going the same short part all over again. Some games  have passwords instead of an ability to save a game. Constant progression is one thing. You might have experience points that you get from for example every race even if you don’t win the race. This gives you a feel of progression. And when your experience score unlocks a new track or a new car it makes you also progress.

Having a difficulty option is in my opinion a way better for increasing the amount of times that you can keep yourself playing the game all over again even if you have finished already on a low difficult level. You can decide for yourself if you want to keep playing the same game with a higher difficulty. Sometimes you get stuck in a game. Then it might help to look up for help from a walkthrough online. Today there is lots of help available. You can for example use YouTube if you like. It is nice to know that there are these specialists of gaming available here in the internet.

To make the conclusion for this blog post we can say that GameCube is a very nice gaming console that has some games on it that are a bit repetitive. Being repetitive is only a cheap way to make people play a game for longer time. It should be a lesson for game developers working today and in future also. Mega Drive also has games that are repetitive. But it is clear that not all games on it are as dynamic as can be when it comes to gameplay. Enjoy your games, be them retro or new, and have a nice day!

 

What Is Burnout 3: Takedown About?

Posted on by Viljami

I have some experience playing this game. The game, as you can tell, is Burnout 3 Takedown. It was released in 2004 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. I am playing it on my Xbox 360. The first touches of this game I had already back in 2006 and I was then playing it on original Xbox.

Burnout 3 Takedown can be categorized, and has to be categorized, as a driving, or racing, game. Well, compared to my latest experiences about WRC 10, we can definitely state that this isn’t simulation definitely. But aren’t the coolest games almost every time those games that are the most playable. I can make a comparison to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. It isn’t a skateboarding simulation. Maybe Skate series was or tried to be something like that.

As we are talking about fun, entertaining and challenging game, I can share with you some tips that I’ve learned during these years that I have been playing this game. I actually bought this one also for PS2 that already some years ago broke down so I couldn’t make any progress. I bought this game maybe a year ago and just, I think, yesterday started getting back into it. So I’ve progressed already a bit and I have 15 percentage of the game finished.

What about the driving tips I talked about? As there is several types of events let’s first talk about races against one or several opponents. Try not to drive too far ahead of the pack. This makes you more vulnerable for crashing and losing your position as the leader of the race. Try to focus on knocking out the second fastest car. That way you can keep your position and earn a lot of boost so that you can take out more drivers, earn yet more boost and eventually you will win the race. If you have a good opportunity to accelerate or drive fast just after you have knocked out a driver you can really sometimes make a difference. But this depends about what kind of a part of a road you are on. You probably get the idea.

Playing Burnout 3 is not all about driving fast and faster than your opponents. It’s also a lot about taking risks. It doesn’t hurt also if you have quick reflexes and a keen eye to spot your driving line clearly. You are almost constantly trying to figure out how to get through the traffic. It also helps if you can analyze a bit about the risks and if you can make sense when to take a risk and when not to.

This game also knows how to be entertaining. There is a commentator that cracks jokes and throes in a punchline or two in between the racing events and even during them. The music in this game is backing well to the whole experience. It might be for younger players, but after all this game is already a retro game. And today’s retro gamer’s are a bit old. Well, it has been 18 years since the game was released.

As I did a quick search it appears that Burnout 3 isn’t available at the moment in Xbox Store as a digital release. There might be some copies left and sold as physical copies but then again you would need at least Xbox 360, if not original Xbox, for you to play it. So this might be something for the collectors and retro gamers. If you have an opportunity to buy it I will certainly recommend you to do so.

I have bought maybe ten copies of original Xbox games but I haven’t yet had enough spare time to get into them. You can probably find out about them when I post my next blog post. I have games like Silent Hill 4 The Room, Goldeneye Rogue Agent, Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer, Alias, Jurassic Park Operation Genesis, True Crime Streets of L.A., Hitman Contracts, NBA Street vol. 3 and Need For Speed Underground 2 waiting for their turn. Also  I just ordered myself a Nintendo GameCube, so you know just what might be in my next blog post. See you soon and I hope you enjoyed the post.

I am Keeping my Xbox 360 (and here are the reasons)

Posted on by Viljami

Some days ago I got myself a Xbox Series X. I finally managed to purchase one. It wasn’t easy. The availability of this new Xbox console was poor and it was so for over a year until this week as I noticed that it was actually finally possible for me to actually just buy it.

Xbox Series X is a great console. It can play a lot of these older or so to say retro titles. So it can play games of original Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. But all of them aren’t playable. You can probably just check this from your favorite search engine. If you type in the search field something like “original xbox games compatible with xbox series x” you will get a list that can tell you actually which of original Xbox’s or Xbox 360’s games can you play with the latest Xbox.

So we now have this information. It turns out that only 63 of all original Xbox’s and 632 out of all Xbox 360 titles are playable on Xbox Series X. I have also this older gaming console that is Xbox 360. It, of course, can play all of Xbox 360’s games. Also, it can handle 464 out of all almost 1000 officially released original Xbox games.

Of course, if you have original Xbox, you don’t have this issue of owning some games that you just cannot play on any device. Since my original Xbox broke down about two years ago I am going to have to rely on my Xbox 360 and I am still not able to play all these games I own. Actually, also my PlayStation 2 broke down about the same time. I don’t think I have so much trouble playing it’s about 60 games that I own since I have reliable emulators available on my computer. Xbox however doesn’t have so solid emulation on a PC.

I actually removed from my own game shelf all of the titles that I currently am not able to play today. There were several games I liked involved. Sadly I only have a limited amount of space in my gaming setup. So, I could have bought a new used original Xbox that would have fixed my issue. But  decided not to. Also what might disappoint a real game collector and game hobbyist is that I at least currently lack the skill to repair my original Xbox. If you actually want to try to repair your game console there are instructions for you in internet.

I had to give up on some of these Xbox titles. But at least there are tens of games in y game library that can be played with my Xbox 360. And that’s one reason for me to keep it and try my best to maintain it’s condition. Xbox 360 was first released back in 2005. So it is an old gaming console. The original Xbox was released in 2001.

Some of my favorite games of original Xbox that I can still play utilizing my Xbox 360’s backward compatibility include Forza Motorsport, Halo 1 and 2, Colin McRae Rally 04, Black and Shadow the Hedgehog. Titles like Second Sight and Silent Hill 3 and also Colin McRae Rally 3 aren’t playable on Xbox 360.

As there are lots of popular titles in all of the released title library of all Xbox consoles that may not be playable on these more recent devices I wouldn’t be so much surprised if there would some day be some kind of Xbox mini classic console released for all of these retro gamers and fans of classic Xbox titles. There is also an ongoing and huge effort on bringing PC emulation for Xbox to be the reality.

Maybe these were all the reasons for me to stick to my Xbox 360. I am currently playing Forza Motorsport 3. After I have completed it I am planning on starting to play Colin McRae Dirt 2 which is a very good game in this Colin McRae Rally series of rally games that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to play a lot. I am hoping to complete it also. You can find today a Xbox 360 game console from any gaming store online and it doesn’t cost you a lot. You can probably get one for around 100 euros.