Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Category: 2010s

First Finished Game of This Year (Uncharted 4)

Posted on by Viljami

Uncharted 4 is now the first game that I have finished in the year 2026. It is actually a PlayStation exclusive. It was first released in 2016. I have to say that it still looks very nice. I especially enjoyed the scenery and some effects and use of light in this games graphical content. It took me a bit over 16 hours to complete. I didn’t play this came so intensely and it took me about three weeks to finish this game. The game was developed by Naughty Dog that you might remember making some Crash Bandicoot games for PS1 in the 90s. You might also remember this game studio from titles like Jak series for PS2 and The Last of Us series for some more modern gaming consoles.

What do I have to say about Uncharted 4 after finishing it? You cannot say that this game would be a very easy one. Some parts of it are difficult. At times it seems to be some kind of a wall climbing simulator. It might be hard to find the path to follow to advance in the game. There is some shooting elements. You do have a good selection of shooting weapons. Also you get to think about some stealth attacking tactics. Sometimes it is easier to take out an enemy or two silently so you don’t alarm all of them. You get to shoot with weapons like rocket launcher and sniper rifle and of course there does exist these mandatory shooting weapons like a hand gun and an assault rifle. There is plenty of shooting weapons to choose from.

Also the story of this game keeps you hooked to the game all the way to the ending. The characters are detailed very nicely and their relationships to each other are described entertainingly. You can also see some scenes of Crash Bandicoot in a form of a mini game as different characters play Crash Bandicoot on a PS1 during the game.

I am not a huge fan of Uncharted series. Uncharted 4 was still a nice game to finish. I picked it up because it was available for a cheap price of around 10 to 15 euros as a used copy for my PS4. This is also actually the first game of the series that I have completed. I think Naughty Dog made a good game back in 2016 and it was very enjoyable.

This was actually also the first game that I finished from the pile of PS4 games that I did write a blog post about last month. I have to once again be very honest and tell you that I am not going to try to finish all of these PS4 games. I think my focus has changed a bit from what I had earlier in my mind. I have bought many new games and once again I am in a situation that I have lots of games that I would like to play. These games include Silent Hill f, Metroid Prime 4, Killing Floor III, Shinobi – Art of Vengeance and even some more games that are piled somewhere in my collection of video games that are waiting to get played.

So, this blog post was mostly about how I have started my gaming year. It has been over three weeks since posted last time. It was time for a new post. I hope you all (my readers) have a very nice year. There are many games going to be released soon that I am waiting to get to play. Now I am going to concentrate on playing some Shinobi since I already spent an hour playing it today. I bought it for my Xbox Series X for 30 euros as a digital copy.

My Huge PS4 Backlog

Posted on by Viljami

Yesterday I went through my PS4 backlog. I found actually nine games that I haven’t really properly even tried to finish. Also, I would like to at least play these games for some hours. So, I could define if I really even want to play them. Maybe I could finish some of them? This all happened after I played Art of Rally for some time. I wanted to play something else. Also, what I forgot to completely tell you about was that I earlier spend about 80 hours trying to finish Gran Turismo 4. I actually gave up since at he end of the game it was starting to get difficult. I gave up on trying to finish it. I think I had already seen enough with that game.

The game that I started with my task to get into my PS4 backlog was God of War that was released already in 2018. About a year ago I was close to finishing God of War Ragnarök. I actually made it to the final boss and that’s where I lost my interest finally. It was a good game although. I did remember that I didn’t finish the God of War. So, I decided to start playing it again. I am thinking that I could try to finish it this time.

Why do I have so huge PS4 backlog, you might ask me. It’s just that I have had the opportunity to buy every game in this pile for a reasonable price. Only game that I do remember that did cost a bit more was, I think, Blair Witch, which did cost me about 35 euros. It was a sealed copy but also a used game. Final Fantasy collection was also a bit more expensive. I might have paid over 40 euros for it. Grand Theft Auto V has been in this pile for many years. I think I bought it for under 30 euros. I don’t fully remember every price of every game in the pile. Some of them I have owned for many years already.

Some of these games are still sealed. Final Fantasy collection actually holds six games. The Last of Us Part II had a really cheap price. I bought it from flee market for 5 euros last summer. There are at times many people that some would call “scalpers”. They buy games for a cheap price from flee market and then they sell them to some individuals that are willing to pay more of them. This actually bothers me a bit but I think some people are not so much into collecting games. They are more into making some small amount of money out of this and they are most likely buying some newer games. Some people actually have only a few games. Could you imagine? I have loads of games and good ones but also some bad ones that I don’t so much play anymore.

So there’s a lot to play for me in what it comes to my PS4 backlog. I really should play GTA V. I really haven’t played it which is a somewhat embarrassing thing. I had a conversation about this some months earlier with a friend of mine. It is a bit awkward to say that I haven’t, yet, even started playing it. It is already an old game. Maybe PS4 version of it would be the perfect way for me to experience it.

I am waiting to install all these games and try and figure if I could finish even some of them. I wonder how many people actually have this problem that they have way too many games in their backlog. I think many people have to face this issue. The industry is pushing new games to the markets all the time. This isn’t actually a bad thing. We as game consumers would just have to adjust to this. Maybe I should think if I really need every game that I do buy. And there is also the matter that prices of games do drop heavily some months after they got released. If you wait a year or two you get the game for a very cheap price. At least that’s what many times happens. The games start to pile up and there we are.

Need For Speed Shift Series

Posted on by Viljami

Need For Speed Shift was first released for PS3 in 2009. There is also a sequel to this game (Need For Speed Shift 2). I remember these racing games very clearly. I have only good memories when it comes to Shift 1 & 2. I was in a situation with my gaming hobby in which I only had one game console attached to my television. It was already a modern tv and not anymore a CRT television. PS4 was still in the process of development and wasn’t available yet. I also played some games with my PC but PS3 was my main game console at that time.

I had a wheel and pedals which I had received as a gift. Although I played some PS3 games with wheel and pedals I did play Need For Speed Shift only with a game pad. I have went back and forth with using my racing wheel but I have always returned to playing racing games with a game pad. I also had at one moment an adapter (I think it was 2019) that enabled me to play with this wheel on PS4. Actually the wheel and pedals were Logitech G27. I did find them to be of great quality. Also, I think if you want to play these more realistic driving games you should also have a decent driving chair.

I did spend tens of hours playing Need For Speed Shift 1 and 2. I especially remember one summer. It was 2011 and I was having a long holiday free from my studies. Time flies when you are young and enjoy your time. I didn’t think that PS3 games would have had a low video display quality. Today they don’t stand a comparison to some more modern and newer gaming consoles. It is a bit sad that the series didn’t continue later on. We have seen many NFS games but we haven’t seen a new Shift game for a long time. Maybe some day we will see a remake?

What Need For Speed Shift games had to offer was somewhat realistic driving and a solid single player campaign. They offered together tens of hours of play time. “How Long To Beat” website tells me that it takes 13 hours to finish the frist game and 20 hours to finish the sequel. You get to choose a sports car for yourself. The driving feels nice and I often times found myself in a nice flow. It was a pleasure to spend those hours playing something like this.

Need For Speed Shift can be a pleasure for you to play if you enjoy single player driving and do enjoy playing still PS3 games. Today, I have, again, my PS3 connected to my 4K television. The graphics for me already seem a bit muddy. But if that doesn’t actually bother you you can enjoy these driving games. I have recently played some PS3 games. One of them was Resistance 3. I also actually read a book related to this title. I discussed this booka and Resistance 3 in an earlier blog post. If you think you would enjoy reading my old post just try and find it. It was written some weeks earlier.

What more do I have to say this time? I try not to write too long blog posts. I have had this as a bit of a habit of mine that I end up writing very long texts. This happens also in other forms that I do write. It happens even with some music lyrics that I also do write. I write them in Finnish but this blog is completely written in English. So, without further conversation we must stop here for this time and for this blog post. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.