Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

V-Rally 4

Posted on by Viljami

I just started playing V-Rally 4. I got it for a cheap price of three euros. This was a digital purchase through Steam store. I made the purchase a bit over two weeks ago. Seems to me that I was very lucky because I just checked and the price for V-Rally 4 is now 30 euros on Steam. I am playing this game with my brand new Windows 11 desktop computer. I also have a 4K display. So, the graphics of this rally game look really nice.

This is the latest game in V-Rally series. The game was first released in 2018. This means that it isn’t the newest rally game available. It also although indicates that any patches that would fix any gameplay or performance issues have been probably very much solved. I have to admit that I am only in the beginning with V-Rally 4. I have played it for only about half an hour. I do find it a pleasant video game about rally racing.

Some earlier releases in the series that V-Rally 4 belongs to can be detailed as retro games. I think first two games were released already on the first PlayStation 1. I somewhat  remember trying to play V-Rally 3. This game, I think, was current in the era of PS2. After a quick fact check through a search engine I found the information. The third V-Rally game was actually released in 2002 for PS2, Xbox, GameCube and Windows (PC). So, there seems to be a gap of sixteen years between V-Rally 4 and the previous game in the series that is V-Rally 3.

I don’t have a clear memory of playing any V-Rally game on a PS1. I am quite sure that I did never own a copy of V-Rally one or two. I might have played V-Rally 3 for a while but I don’t remember that also so clearly. I do remember games that belong to Colin McRae Rally series. I also recall clear memories of the WRC rally game series. Also, I have to mention a very good, but a bit old, rally game series that was released in the 2000s for original Xbox. This series is Rallisport Challenge one and two. Especially the sequel is a very good game. When it comes to conversation about the best rally games of all time you have to mention also Richard Burns Rally every time.

So, I am yet to experience probably a good rally game. V-Rally 4 is promised to have content for a decent 21 hours. This information can be found from the “How Long To Beat” website. This website and also a database can be utilized or at least I use it to determine a duration for any game be it retro or new. V-Rally 4 provides racing but also some strategic decision making. You have to have a complete team and you are managing a budget. You have to have a manager, a technician and an engineer or possibly several. The career journey begins with a moderate vehicle. You have to make smart decisions all the from the beginning to the end.

I am expecting V-Rally 4 to be at least an entertaining experience. I hope it has enough challenge to keep me interested in the game all the way to the finish. It seems to me that you have to keep your eyes open when it comes to Steam. They actually have an autumn sale coming very soon. After another fact check I can confirm that there is a sale on Steam from 29th of September to 6th of October. Besides all the games that are going to be on sale I am also very much waiting for Silent Hill f to drop. This game has a price of 80 euros. This is the standard edition and there is also a “Digital Deluxe” edition that costs 90 euros.

Herra 47 – Midsummer Festival

Posted on by Viljami

Herra 47 – Midsummer Festival is an adventure game inspired very much by Leisure Suit Larry. It is released for C64. You might be surprised about a new game getting released for such an old, or maybe “retro”, type of platform. The game is a new release after all. If you are interested should head to this address for more information and instructions on how to buy the game.

I got interested in this game just last Friday when I got my hands on the new Pelit magazine that is published here in my home country Finland. The magazine is released monthly. Herra 47 is produced by Vector 5 Games. The team consists of just a few people. The game takes strong influences from a comedy show from Finland from late 1980s and early 1990s. This show, called “Pulttibois”, featured this character named Herra 47. It is a character created by actor Pirkka-Pekka Petelius. You can actually find the picture of Herra 47 from this blog posts featured image. The featured image is actually a photo that I took from Pelit magazine just one moment ago.

Pirkka-Pekka Petelius is a funny Finnish and well-known comedian. He played a big role in Finnish television comedy scene and was actually one of the pioneers of Finnish television comedy scene. There was also another actor that played in this comedy series (“Pulttibois”) and his name is Aake Kalliala. Herra 47 – Midsummer Festival takes strong influences from Petelius’s character in this game.

The game is available for a price of about 7 dollars. As the platform is Commodore 64 there weren’t actually no adventure games originally released for C64 back in the day by Sierra. These adventure games that were very popular in the 1980s were based on this particular game creation engine that makes all these Sierra games feel and look like they are developed in this certain and very recognizable way. You can notice this if you have ever played games like Larry, Police Quest, King’s Quest or/and Space Quest. Since all these games used this game engine they all look a bit like each other. There was an update to this engine and it was utilized later to make more advanced adventure games by Sierra.

The idea of a game placed somewhere in fictional Finland (at least I think the game takes place in here) is totally hilarious. My imagination starts running when I think about Petelius’s character, Herra 47, running around during  mid-summer, and trying to get some female company. It is funny because mid-summer is a big happening here and almost everyone has a vacation then. So, there are lots of parties and partying going on. If you don’t head to countryside to your summer cottage you can spend your mid-summer also in the city. It is very quiet here then. It is actually a pretty calm period. Thinking about Herra 47 spending his summer days this way is very very funny.

While the game is a good game there are some considerations. The humor might be a bit rough for today’s audience. Also Pelit magazine mentioned that the storyline and all of the puzzles could have been designed a bit better. There might be a sequel coming some time and fans are of course waiting this to be something wild. I think you can enjoy the game if you like old Sierra games and especially Leisure Suit Larry. Technically the game is a definite master piece. Vector 5 Games has done a good job.

Since I am not so much into Commodore 64 and I don’t have a real C64 console this isn’t although a game that I would actually play. The game is interesting. If you are into C64 you should definitely invest a bit of your money and time to this game. I think it really deserves it. The game received a grade of 6 out of 9 (a funny joke also, knowers will know).

What Is So Special About Xbox 360?

Posted on by Viljami

Xbox 360 was originally released back in 2005. So, what was so special about it and how it seems to be relevant even this day when we are living currently the year 2025? For me personally the console was a huge part of my gaming setup for a long time. I had it hooked on my television for several years before, a bit sadly it finally refused to run any game discs at all. The problem with the console was dust. I actually tried cleaning it with pressured air but finally I decided to remove it completely from my setup as it didn’t work anymore. I got my Xbox 360 back in 2017 as I bought it from a close friend who had decided to sell the console.

Xbox 360 was a fun case in that you could play a lot of original Xbox games on it also. I am now able to play every original Xbox game on Batocera. I wrote about my adventures with Batocera just last month. I think its a very good gaming operating system. It is possible to run Xbox 360 emulation also on Batocera if you happen to have a very powerful PC. Raspberry Pi, even if it is the latest device, is not currently able to run games like these. So, it is very much possible to emulate Xbox 360 on a device that can run an emulation system like Batocera.

Xbox 360 was as a gaming console a follow up to the original Xbox. It actually sold 84 million units and was finally discontinued in 2016. The sales are so good that any Xbox console hasn’t come close to selling as many units as Xbox 360 did. Its toughest competitor, PS3, sold also well. PS3 managed to sell 87,4 million units worldwide. Many of the most popular games of this era were released for both of these consoles, Xbox 360 and PS3. There were some exceptions also. Xbox 360 saw games like Forza Motorsport from 2 to 4, Gears of War series (first three games), Fable 2 and 3 and Halo 3 and 4 while we saw games like Resistance series, Metal Gear Solid 4, God of War III and Gran Turismo 5 and 6 only on PS3.

Technically Xbox 360 was a huge jump compared to its predecessor original Xbox. The game discs had about 7-8 GB of space which was a slight upgrade if compared to original Xbox that used DVD discs that have about 4,7 GB of space. There were different options and models when it comes to hard disks. The size varied from 20 to 500 GB. Later, when Xbox 360 had been in the markets for two years, there was also a model available that utilized HDMI connectivity. This is how I got my Xbox 360 hooked up to my television to be a part of my gaming setup back in 2017.

Controller was nice. Games were good. The lifespan of the console was long. There were some technical issues as the console was somewhat rushed to production. The problem was largely know as the “red ring of dead”. In this situation the console wasn’t fully operational and expressed a red circle on the consoles front panel. I haven’t experienced any issues and the problem was finally fixed. Consumers that faced this problem did get their console finally repaired or replaced. If you find this topic interesting, please search more information since I don’t have all the details. Lets just say that there were some major issues but the developer of Xbox was able to overcome the issues and finally everyone was somewhat comfortable with the situation.

Many Xbox 360 games can still be enjoyed as Microsoft’s Xbox Series X is very much backwards compatible with over 600 games out of all over 2000 Xbox  360 games. Only 63 out of all original Xbox games are compatible with Xbox Series X. You can also keep in mind  the possibility to play Xbox 360 games on an emulator like Xenia. System requirements for Xenia are: operating system should be preferably Windows 11, CPU should have more than 6 cores, GPU should be NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti or later, the PC should have at least 6 GB or more RAM. Xenia is available also for Linux.