Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Category: 2000s

Latest Isn’t Always the Greatest in Gaming

Posted on by Viljami

I’ve been verry active in gaming lately. I’ve played a lot of Xbox 360 games. They are a bit old but actually I have found many good games that are still very much enjoyable. The hardware is old. Xbox 360 was released in the middle of the 2000s. I think it was released in 2005. Its already about twenty years old console. Still there is a steep appeal for me at least.

All this talk about Nintendo releasing a new console soon is getting me a bit confused. We are talking about Switch 2 that is going to be released later this year. We are going to get some more information about this matter from Nintendo soon. At least that’s what I’ve heard or read. There is a new console coming and it is said to be only as powerful when it comes to pure performance as a PlayStation 4. Sony released this console almost 12 years ago.

We are we headed? Sony and Microsoft are releasing powerful new consoles and we are seeing as we are used to a new console maybe every seven years or so. While the performance is increasing we are seeing less and less exciting new games that we had earlier with some earlier consoles. Prices of consoles have been on a rise. PS5 Pro has still a price of 850 euros. I bought my Xbox Series X for about 510 euros couple of years ago.

Where is Nintendo going? You can get a Switch for 300 euros today. The price might go even lower as many gamers are already waiting for the new Nintendo console. Originally Switch was a console for gaming that was released in 2017. How about some games then? Switch has several good quality games that are exclusive to Nintendo Switch. I am talking about games like Super Mario Bros Wonder, The Legend of Zelda – Tears of the Kingdom and Luigi’s Mansion series. There are also many remakes like Paper Mario – The Thousand Year Door and Donkey Kong Returns HD and these two are also exclusives just like the first three games that were mentioned.

Backwards compatibility can make things a bit easier. You can play many Xbox 360 games on Xbox Series X. You don’t have to own a functioning Xbox 360 console just to enjoy some of these a bit older but also very good video games. However every game of an old console isn’t compatible. This is where we should also consider about emulation. While gaming consoles can break down you can take any personal computer, install an operating system like Recalbox or RetroPie and start enjoying your just a bit older video games. You just have to have a powerful enough PC.

Many video games today are getting also released as remakes for newer consoles. There are game developers like Capcom that are bringing games like Resident Evil series to new and younger audiences in a from of a remake. These games seem not to be just some old or retro games getting an update and instead they are kind of spin-offs that have also some new content. We have seen this also in the form of games like Dead Space. Some games are actually just games getting released again only with new and improved graphics and game play. This is when you should consider turning back to the old release. Slightly improved graphics can give you only so little. You can think for a moment about a game like the first Red DEad Redemption.

PS5 is fully backwards compatible with PS4. Xbox Series X is fully backwards compatible with Xbox One. All the time we are seeing less and less new games. All the time we are seeing games that are hugely ambitious in getting players to play these games. We are seeing more and more ambition in selling these new games. Every new game wants to be a popular and in every way successful. How long do we keep improving when it comes to pure performance? Should we appreciate game design more?

Two Different Approaches to a Rally Game

Posted on by Viljami

This blog post is about how you can approach a game or specifically a rally game. So, a game has graphics, sound and overall game-play and also some rules of how to create the physics in the game. From this point of view you can try to create a popular game and a game that is nice or/and a game that is as realistic as possible. I am taking a look at two rally games right here in this blog post and right now.

Dirt 3 is part of a legendary rally game series that originates from legendary PlayStation 1 game Colin McRae Rally. There was also a sequel released for PS1 and it was called Colin McRae Rally 2.0. Dirt 3 is also a sequel to games called Colin McRae Dirt and Colin McRae Dirt 2. So, this game has a bit shorter title. These games were released for PS3 and Xbox 360 and also for PC. Dirt 3 can be played on Xbox Series X as it is backwards compatible. Every Xbox 360 game isn’t compatible in this way. Dirt 3 has now two sequels called Dirt 4 and Dirt 5. Codemasters made also two games called Dirt Rally and Dirt Rally 2.0. later.

Dirt 3 was released 2010. I remember back in the day when I just had to buy this game as soon as it was released. I remember paying 60 euros for this game. At that moment I only had one video game console and that console was PS3 back then. Dirt 3 takes an approach of trying to be as realistic as a rally game as can be. The camera can be adjusted and it is tightly following the car. There are some options here. Usually I adjust the camera angle so that I see the road as closely as possible. If you make a mistake you can pause the game and go back to where you made the mistake and try to correct the way you did drive.

There has been some time since Dirt 3 was released. It is a very good game. I like the background music a lot. You don’t hear any music while you are driving. There is something important in this game as it seems that you can also hear your cars performance. We can also say that the team that was involved in developing this rally game was a large one as it had, I think, hundreds or at least tens of people working with the rally game.

What about Art of Rally? It was released roughly about ten years after Dirt 3. The approach is slightly different as is obvious already. Graphics are somewhat basic. They aren’t even trying to aim to be as realistic as can be. This also makes the game lighter to run and so this rally game doesn’t require so powerful hardware. I have this game for Nintendo Switch and lately bought it also for PC through Steam. It cost something from 25 to 30 euros. The “deluxe edition” is somewhat more expensive but only about 5 euros or something like that.

Art of Rally has a very good physical modeling. What it lacks in pure graphical performance it compensates on game-play and overall realistic feel it is able to generate. It feels nice t and realistic to drive the vehicles that are in this rally game. Cars in Art of Rally aren’t real cars. Their names are just something that has been generated by the developer. Dirt 3 does have real drivers and also cars. It would be awkward in my sense to play Art of Rally with a steering wheel and pedals while Dirt 3 gives you everything concerning a simulation type of a rally game. I do play currently both games with a game-pad.

There are only a few people that worked in the development of Art of Rally. The music is in the background while you are driving. I like also the music of this rally game. So, I adjusted the volume settings so that I can clearly hear the music while I drive. I set the engine volume of the car a bit lower, actually way lower, than it was as a default. Art of Rally has a career mode. I recommend that you play the career mode through. It is a nice experience all in all. There are many ways in both of these games that you can drive with your friends in a multiplayer mode but I am not so into playing with other people through network or internet connection.

So, these two games bring you a bit different and unique take. Should we appreciate clever software design or even a form of art more than some video game that is realistic and seems to demand a more powerful hardware? Nintendo Switch was released in 2017 and it has tens or even hundreds of good games that have been released on it. It isn’t the most powerful console but it definitely can deliver some good quality games. Also the next Switch console has been rumored to be as powerful as a PS4 which is, by the way, also a cheap console that still seems to have some players place in their hearths. Should we always go for the most expensive choice or is there a room for some games that just don’t compete in this way at all. Could there be a cheaper or somewhat different option? And this is the question I am leaving you to ponder this time. See you soon again!

Frontlines – Fuel of War

Posted on by Viljami

I came across this decent first person shooter, Frontlines – Fuel of War, while browsing the web and trying to find some new games from one of these on-line game shops that I seem to be almost constantly enjoying. I bought some more video games and I chose Frontlines – Fuel of War to be also included in my latest purchase.

I didn’t know almost anything about this game. I did find out that it was playable on Xbox Series X through backwards compatibility support. The game has been released back in 2008 for Xbox 360. Before I started playing this game I made a search about how long would it take to finish the game. I also wanted to know its grade on Metacritic. I was content as it seemed that it would take 5 and half an hour to finish this game. It had received 75 out of 100 from critics  and 7.2 out of 10 from users.

At this moment, right before starting to play, I wondered how the game would feel like. It is an FPS after all. It seemed to be a short game but that is not a matter at all for me. I actually like short games. I cannot remember a game that would have taken over 30 hours to play that I would have finished lately. Instead I have finished games recently, for example Split Second, that took only about ten hours to complete.

The actual game, Frontlines – Fuel of War, feels very different than any Call of Duty game out there. Now Call of Duty is a legacy and I don’t have the sense to compare these games. This game is only slightly like CoD. It manages to be just a bit more original in a way that actually manages to impress me. I do like this game. I do like playing it.

The controls take some amount of getting used to but after a while they seem to be working nicely. You reload, run, zoom a bit, crouch and shoot just using your game pad. There are many weapons, not loads of, but still many. In the game you have to consider a bit about tactics. There are some tanks that can only be taken out with a bazooka or another tank.

Many times I find myself dying in this game. It seems that if you don’t get an area under your control fast there is going to be an endless amount of enemies that just keep appearing to the fight. After you conquer a spot you get a tiny break from the action. There are also some vehicles that you get to drive with. One working tactic is to get a tank and drive inside it near to the enemy and then abandon the tank and start progressing through the level. You just have to be careful because only after three hits a tank is going to be destroyed.

The game does remind us about the war in the Middle East. This is very notable. Even the title is giving an idea of this. It seems that the developers haven’t tried to hide the message. The game can also make you idolize soldiers and of course this kind of a game has this sense of a slight propaganda. After all this doesn’t bother a seasoned gamer almost at all and you can concentrate to just playing a nice FPS game.

Now I don’t seem to remember if I paid ten or fifteen euros for this game. The game is a bit short. It can be a somewhat valuable purchase if you are into these special and unique type of FPS action games. It might not be the greatest shooter around but it is something to play and it can entertain you for a while. I didn’t try any multiplayer functionality and I don’t have an idea about that at all. I just played the campaign mode for some hours. I decided to set the difficulty level to “normal”. I originally started with a difficulty level of “casual”. There is also a hard mode that makes the game have three difficulty levels all in all.