Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Category: 2020s

Splintered Fate

Posted on by Viljami

It has been three days since I wrote about some Turtles stuff and also about Splintered Fate for Nintendo Switch. This game was released already last year and now I finally had some time to really dive deep into it. Splintered Fate is a nice action game with some character development elements. One key part of the game is the run-based system where in order to beat the game you have to complete the run completely. A big part of the game is trying to gather some materials so you can update your character to have stronger attack power and also heavier health points. I managed to beat the final opponent, Shredder, in my last run and it took about 40 minutes. This way of building the plot in the game makes me remember playing Hades some years back.

There are several characters for you to choose from. There are four turtles, of course, and some other characters like Casey. I picked Leonardo and stuck with him for almost to the ending of the game. On my final and also successful run I played with Casey. I was able to finally defeat Shredder. While there is still a lot to play I figured that I at least give a break for playing this game. The total time I did spend was a bit over 15 hours. “How Long To Beat” website tells me that it takes 9 hours to beat Splintered Fate.

If I try to define how good of a game this was for me I think this might be the best Turtles game I have played. At least it is in a long while. I did enjoy “Shredder’s Revenge” that was released some years ago. I also liked to play the Turtles games that were released for SNES and Mega Drive. Names of those titles are “Turtles In Time” and “The Hyperstone Heist”. They are, at least Hyperstone Heist is, very expensive. I have seen these games for sale for some hundred euros. Luckily there is a legit way for you to play these games and that way is obtaining a copy, be it digital or physical, of the “Cowabunga Collection”. But this game that I just finished is a very nice game especially if you are a fan of Turtles.

If we inspect some reviews on Metacritic we can clearly see that it has received mixed and average scores. It might not be a contender if we have a debate about the greatest game of the year. But in any ways I can say that I still enjoyed playing it. If there would be something negative I would have to say about it would be that the progression of the main character could be based more on the experience of that gets gathered along the way. I am missing something like Diablo has as a progression system where every battle gathers up experience points. Also I think there is too much to do with pure luck when you fight through your run trying to beat the game.

The game, Splintered Fate, is currently available for PC (Steam), Switch (1 and 2), Xbox One and Series S/X and PS4/PS5. It has also earlier been released on iOS. I am not aware of any release on Android devices. So, the game is also available on iPhone and iPad if you are into playing video games on these mobile devices. I enjoyed playing this game very much.

As Turtles has been a very popular trademark from the early 1990s and as this era since then has been very much involved in playing video games we have already seen over 50 video games that were themed with Turtles. Turtles has been a strong part of several gaming console generations. I think it all began with NES, it progressed with Mega Drive and SNES, and kept going all the way from PS1 to PS2 and all the way to this modern era we are today facing. We cannot say that every Turtles game would be a good one but if you consider these 13 included in Cowabunga Collection I think you are getting the best retro titles that have been made in history of Turtles games.

 

Waiting for Forza Horizon 6

Posted on by Viljami

Forza Horizon 6 will be released 19th of May this year (2026). It will be available at the launch for PC and Xbox Series S/X. There have been some very unofficial discussions about this game getting released also for other mainstream gaming consoles. This just seems to be the viewpoint today. There might be such things as exclusive releases soon as every PlayStation title seems to be getting released for PC and now also for Xbox.

So, what I have been up to lately, one might ask. Mainly I have been working and keeping myself busy in that way. There seems to be less time for video games as I get older. However I have played some games and this blog post deals with that part of my life now. I have played Crash Bandicoot 4, Doom – Dark Ages, Half-Life 2 and also more and lately Dirt 5 which seems to be a nice racing game to start to get ready for Forza Horizon 6.

Dirt 5 was originally released in 2020. It isn’t the newest game that has been developed by Codemasters but it still remains as a part of this legendary series of racing games that might even been started by Colin McRae Rally already back in the end of the 90s. There have been many great games in this series. I especially want to mention Colin McRae Rally 2.0 and Colin McRae Dirt 2. Those might be the best games out of this series.

Dirt 5 has a lot to offer. I have already spent a bit over 7 hours playing it. You get to drive with several different vehicles and there are several types of driving you will get involved in during playing. There are many camera options to choose from. You can set the camera to the surface of the road or then set it to display the whole car from the back. I chose to set the camera so that I can see the whole car I am driving. This makes it somewhat easy to play Dirt 5. You do have to control the vehicle precisely. I have played this game with a game controller. I really don’t know how a driving wheel and pedals would make the game seem to feel like.

Dirt 5 is a nice racing game in overall. It is almost unfair to make a comparison between the earlier games in this series because they are just so good as racing games. If we put it into this perspective Dirt 5 is a good game. There might have been some issues early when the game was released but I think that in 2026 this game is still a fun one to play. It has received the “metascore” of 79 out of 100 on Metacritic.

I originally picked up Dirt 5 just some weeks before the upcoming release of Forza Horizon 6. It currently has a price tag of 21 euros on the Xbox store. So, it is a cheap game that can help you to better deal with waiting for Forza Horizon 6. This time I bought a game as a digital copy. Although I decided to order Forza Horizon 6 as a physical copy. There will be a long installation process since the game takes a bit over 130 GB of space from my Xbox Series X. Do remember that there is also a PC version available.

With having already made the purchase I am waiting to get my hands on the new Forza game at next Tuesday. Today I am having a day off and I am currently enjoying it an drinking some coffee while I type this post that you are soon able to read. I really have nothing else to say right now. So, until next time my dear readers.

Going Back to Diablo IV

Posted on by Viljami

Diablo IV has gone through some serious updates already as it has been available since 2023. I remember how it felt to play it for the first time. I was already a bit disappointed since I got the game just maybe two days after its official released date. I sent back then an angry email to the local game shop that I ordered Diablo IV from. I got an appropriate message back that they were really sorry but there was no way for them to post it any time earlier. The game had I tight release schedule and they weren’t actually allowed to post it sooner.

I was after all happy that I was finally able to experience Diablo IV. There was nothing wrong with the game’s graphics, look and feel and also the overall design. There just was something missing with its game play. I didn’t feel hooked. I didn’t feel any passion towards playing it. This feeling lasted all the way through as I played the game for over 30 hours.

There have been many updates to Diablo IV. A friend of mine mentioned this game as one good game that he now was able to play on his new laptop computer. He asked me if I had already tried it out. I had to tell him that I really gave it a try back in 2023 and I didn’t like the game back then. He was sure that this game was really good.

I started thinking about if I should give Diablo IV a second chance. The game would be available from Steam or Battle dot net. The price would be 50 euros. I thought this seriously for a moment. If I would pay 50 euros I would be able to play Diablo IV on my powerful and mighty Windows PC that I had acquired at the end of year 2025. I thought about it. I still had the physical copy of the game for Xbox Series X. I decided that I would give it a try. I had really nothing to lose.

So, how did Diablo IV feel like to play almost three years since it was first released? It does take about two and a half hours to install. In decided to install it yesterday just before I headed to sleep. The first thing today I did after drinking some coffee was to fire up Diablo IV that was already installed. I did play it for maybe three hours or something like that. It felt a bit different. I kind of enjoyed playing it. At the same time I am thinking how was this game even released as it has gone through some very serious updates. It feels sort of like an experiment that the developers have been doing with this game.

I do have very warm feelings towards Diablo game series. My history with this action RPG series did start with the first game that In did play on PS1. Later on I discovered Diablo II which I played on a PC. Diablo II was the game that got me really hooked. I later played through also Diablo 1 on PC. The PS1 port is a bit like reduced version of the game. If you want to experience the first Diablo game I recommend getting it for PC. There was also a game released just some years ago and it was called Diablo II – Resurrected. It was released just maybe a year or so before Diablo IV.

I really don’t know what else to tell you about Diablo IV. I only played it today for some hours. I don’t know as I am writing this if there is going to be another Diablo game released and when would this release see a daylight. The thing I want to stress is that Diablo IV might not be for you. It is a bit different as an experience. I am not saying that it is totally a waste of time. It is just different. Maybe I too learn to like it some day.

My day has been a typical Saturday as it is a day off work for me. We are currently enjoying some sunny weather here in Finland. I just installed Shadow of the Tomb Raider for my Series X. I hope to get to play it and I might do so later. I am wishing a nice weekend to all my dear readers worldwide!