Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Category: 90s

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!

Just Finished Sonic CD

Posted on by Viljami

Where do you recognize Sega? Well, from its blue mascot, Sonic The Hedgehog, of course! Sonic was made to be the competitor for Nintendo’s Super Mario. Of course there are many other titles and many other characters but Sega seems to be very well known when it comes to Sonic. We can talk about Wonder Boy or the main characters of Golden Axe. We can even mention a character like Kid Chameleon. There really isn’t a competition after all.

The first Sonic game was released in 1991. It was titled simply Sonic The Hedgehog. This was the game that actually shipped with my Sega Mega Drive back in the day. The graphics were very nice for its time. I can clearly remember playing it for hours. The action and speed made a permanent impacted and pushed me further towards this hobby of gaming. Later I got to play many more Mega Drive titles. There are too many to mention but lets say that Streets of Rage series, NHL 94 and NBA Jam were some of my favorites back in the day.

You could pick some other way to get back to these Sonic titles. I chose to get a copy of Sonic Origins Plus for my Xbox Series X. I bought it for about 20 euros. It was cheap. It also offered a possibility to see how much of this compilation you have completed. Also saving your progress wasn’t a hard thing to accomplish. If you play any of these games on the original hardware you don’t have an opportunity to save your game.

So, the compilation has games like Sonic 1, 2 and 3 and also Sonic CD. Today I spent some hours and managed to finish Sonic CD. This is the Sonic game that was released for Sega CD. If you are wondering what is Sega CD I can explain it briefly. Sega CD is an accessory that you can apply on Mega Drive. It uses CD-ROM technology to store the games. Of course these meant that there were hundreds of times more space for these games. There were more than 200 games developed for it. It wasn’t as popular as Mega Drive and games and any related hardware is thought to be rare. Mega Drive Mini 2 featured several Sega CD games along with tens of Mega Drive games.

Sonic CD is a nice and speedy 2d platform game. The fact that the game was made to be released on a CD-ROM meant that the sound has a maximum quality compared to some of the limitations that Mega Drive had. Graphics of the game are detailed. I did spend many hours playing Sonic CD. How Long To Beat website tells me that it takes only two hours to finish the game and six and a half hours to complete it.

You can find enemy characters like Dr. Robotnik and Metal Sonic in the game. Sonic has a bit more moves to make if you compare these abilities to something that was present originally in the first Sonic The Hedgehog game. If you manage to pick up 50 coins in a stage you get to a bonus stage. There are seven levels that all have three stages to play in this game. The speedy running and a minimum amount of thinking seems to work as a good game plan. However there are some spots in this game that require a bit of problem solving or you could even call it a strategy. But the less you worry and the better you complete your presses of buttons the more you will advance in this game.

Sonic Origins Plus is a nice compilation of Sonic games. I did finish two of the first games, Sonic 1 and 2, earlier. I think I played them last summer if I recall correctly. So, I do have some more playing to do if I want to finish also Sonic 3. There’s lots of content all in all. If you are a definitive fan of Sonic games or if you want to reminisce on some retro content this might be something worth getting your hands to.

Rainbow Six

Posted on by Viljami

Rainbow Six is a book written by Tom Clancy. It was published in 1998. There were also several video games made based on this book. My favorite game from this series is Rogue Spear. I have also played Rainbow Six 3 – Raven Shield. The latest game in this series was released in 2022.

This book is a long one to read. It took me several weeks to get through it. There were almost 900 pages that were written with a small font. Tom Clancy is a clever and very good writer. He manages to keep you strained throughout the whole reading experience of this book. I have recently read also Power Plays by Tom Clancy.

If we discuss about the games I can tell you that they are kind of first person shooter types but you have several soldiers for you to control. There are many strategic points that you must take in account. You get to chose the teams and plan your actions. There are many ways to complete the missions. You have to be precise with your shooting and everything that happens around you.

The weapons and also other gear are being described very clearly. The precision with the action is very needed. You can also enjoy multiplayer mode if you want to. I think one good game to start from in getting into Rainbow Six would be Rainbow Six Siege that was released in 2015 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and also for PC.

Rainbow Six is only one part of this whole group of tactical and war-related video games. There also do exist games like Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, Endwar, H.A.W.X. and The Division. All of these games are inspired by these books that Tom Clancy wrote. Sadly, Tom Clancy died in 2013. These games still live on and many from these games mentioned above are still getting sequels and updates. So, the legacy of Tom Clancy still lives strong.

Rainbow Six was a nice book to read. I wouldn’t have picked it for me to read if it wouldn’t had anything to do with video games. I think that this book was although very long to read. I think it was something like reading The Lord of the Rings book or maybe some book from Stephen King. I usually read books that take me about one week to finish and I read mostly non-fictive books.

Today Rainbow Six and every game in the series has a lot of meaning for me. I still have Rogue Spear as a big box standing on my game shelf. I actually have two cases but only one of them still holds the disc. I had the original box but the CD was missing. So, what I did was I bought another copy from a local Finnish game shop as it was luckily available for purchase.

Tom Clancy has written many books throughout his career. His first book was “The Hunt for Red October” and it was released in 1984. Many of his works were also made into cinematic movies. The movies were directed by John Mc Tiernan, Philip Noyce and also Robert Lieberman. His style of writing was very suitable for also movies and games. This whole load of material can be somewhat categorized as having everything to do with warfare.

You can find more information about Tom Clancy from websites like Wikipedia. There is all-in-all a lot of information available. You can even use a search engine to search for this information. I think artificial intelligence would have also something to say about this writer. I just wanted to express how I felt about the book and also my relationship to these video games. I can recommend this book if you like thrilling moments and closely detailed action just take my advice when I tell you that the book can take some time to read.