Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (PS2)

Posted on by Viljami

Pro Evolution Soccer 6 is a nice football, or soccer, game for PlayStation 2. The graphics actually don’t look bad at all and it also feels kind of comfortable to play the game. While the newest sport game can today be a disappointment you can definitely pick a game like Pro Evolution Soccer 6 and play it for a while. I had to adjust the difficulty level a bit. There are five choices and I picked, finally, the second easiest difficulty level. I plaid with “Regular” difficulty level but soon found out that it was too hard for someone who hasn’t played a soccer game for a while.

When I did play with the “Regular” difficulty level I had a some, well, difficulties. I couldn’t make a run and this impacted so that I couldn’t get a goal. Also defensing was harder and the opponent was able to steal the ball more easily. As soon as I lowered the difficulty level a bit I discovered that I was able to make a goal and also to win a game. I first played with Lazio and then, as I started with a lower difficulty level, with Manchester United.

Now, I am not a huge soccer fan and I rarely watch it on a television (or maybe on a smart phone). However I do have a sort of passion for these good quality soccer games that we have seen many in the past decades. I used to play a lot of Pro Evolution Soccer 11 with my Xbox 360. My Xbox 360 broke down a while ago. I did try to clean it from dust with a can of compressed air but finally didn’t manage to get it to start a game. The problem was with it not running the disc. Everything else still works but I eventually removed it from my actual setup that is located in our home’s living room.

I do play lots of sport games. Sometimes it does feel like we are getting the same crap every year. It sometimes seems that we are getting the same game that was already released last year. The only way that the game was updated was that the rosters and teams were fixed. I have played especially the NBA2K series a lot. I do play also hockey games. I have to say that every sports game isn’t a bad game. There are definitely some great games that can be categorized as sport games. I can mention one of my favorite retro games and that game is NHL 94 for Sega Mega Drive.

I remember very clearly seeing some soccer games back in the 90s. There’s a lot of nostalgia involved with soccer for me. Back then, in Finland, there were only three, maybe four, television channels. It was pretty huge thing for us living here back then to have some soccer games shown on television. I watched when Jari Litmanen played in Amsterdam Ajax. He was an international soccer star, one of the best players in the whole world and he was also, of course, from Finland.

A video game like Pro Evolution Soccer 6 doesn’t cost a whole lot but it can bring some joy to a motivated gamer’s life. I found myself playing this soccer game already for some hours. I think you can get this game for maybe ten euros. If we compare Pro Evolution Soccer 6 with the latest soccer game that was released we can find out that there isn’t actually a whole lot that has changed. This seems to be the case with sport games. The sport doesn’t change but the video game does take a small step forward and this seems to be the case every year.

Hades

Posted on by Viljami

Hades is an action role-playing-game that was published for Xbox Series X in 2021 after being released also already for Switch and Windows back in 2020. It isn’t currently one of the latest games but since it was priced very nicely (I paid only 19 euros for the physical copy) and there were news in this Finnish gaming magazine, Pelaaja, about the next Hades game, Hades II, to be released soon, I decided to pick this game and start to go through it.

Hades borrows elements from different role-playing-games. You don’t actually gather experience points. You buy upgrades that will help you to finally complete the game. You can have different strategies along your way. I have played Hades for almost thirty hours now and I have reached the final boss of the whole game only once. There is a certain need for luck in your guest. Also you play the game you get to understand how the different enemies take action and you learn how you can defeat them more easily. One of the key matters is your level of health. You have to try to dodge your enemies when they are trying to get you.

While the story is not so deep Hades does offer a lot to play. You do die often but when the game progresses you get longer runs eventually. Hades takes some time to learn to play. so you understand how the enemies take their action and when is the proper moment to try to hit them with your weapon. There are many different weapons to choose from. You first have to unlock them and then you will get to choose which one do you prefer. I ended up using the type that reminds me of a rail gun. It can shoot twelve times, quickly, and then you have to reload. You can also shoot a grenade that makes lots of damage. My main way to try to complete this game has been to try to get a weapon upgrade that triples the damage and also makes you vulnerable to the grenade. There are many other upgrades for weapons available and you can also unlock features that make you get a nice upgrade more likely.

Hades has very nice controls in overall. It is a very nice and fun game to play when you get the hang of it. The graphics are made to remind of some cartoons. Of course I have to say that all of the characters take deep influences from Greek mythology. Many characters that help the main character as the story progresses are actually sort of gods. I just had a conversation about this game with my friend and we talked about if this game is actually a three dimensional one or not. I don’t have a clear answer to this. The graphics look nice and they work very well.

You will also get a code with your physical copy of Hades so you can download the soundtrack of the game. The music in Hades feels nice while not having any deeper relation. I am saying that the music has an effect but it isn’t actually in the center where everything happens in this game. There are just so many other elements in this game that hold your attention. Music is nice but not so appealing. I have to say that for example in games like Burnout 3 Takedown or the first Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater the music had a very important role and this is just not the case with Hades.

You get to move a lot while you try to dodge the attacks of the enemies. You have to time your attacks well so you can be victorious. You progress through the levels. There is an enemy boss that you have to defeat after every level until you finally get to battle with the main boss of the whole game. It is of course the Hades. So the whole game is about trying to escape from your father’s home. After you finally loose your life you will have to start from the first level, again. The game consists of these runs. I have now had almost one hundred runs that are also attempts to escape.

This is a very good game. If I would have to say something negative I would say that it seems in a way a bit repetitive as a game and it has only a few levels. It does give you a lot to play. After all I do have spent almost thirty hours playing it. The game mechanics and the way that you handle the main character are very good. This all makes Hades a very pleasant game to try to beat and also to play.

Rayman 3

Posted on by Viljami

I recently bought Rayman 3 for GameCube. I paid fifteen euros for it. This is a very nice price and the disc was in good condition. I am also glad that unlike my PS2 and original Xbox consoles my Nintendo GameCube seems to be working at least at the moment. I have owned GameCube maybe for two years already and I haven’t had a critical issue with it.

If you know something already about Rayman series of video games you definitely know that the first game was a pure two-dimensional platformer type of game that also had some medium difficulty level problems or puzzles that you as a player had to go through and solve. The first Rayman game was described to be a hard game to compplete. It was released for Atari Jaguar, PlayStation, Sega Saturn and MS-DOS.

Back in 1995 it was still unclear if video games would actually be fully three-dimensional when it comes to gameplay and graphics. But when Rayman 3 was released for GameCube in 2003 it was clear that it would be a 3D platformer game. This was the direction in which video were clearly moving.

I have to say that this is a very good game. You have some action in it and also some puzzle solving. I haven’t fully completed the game but I have played it for maybe 4 to 5 hours when I’m writing this blog post. It takes about nine hours to complete Rayman 3. So, I have a lot to play still.

While Rayman 3 is a very good game there are some things that kind of disappoint me. This has everything to do with the game being a bit old after all. There have been many advancements in the field of game development since Rayman 3 was released. The camera is most of the time on a nice angle but sometimes it gets a bit frustrating to adjust it. Also figthing scenes are also frustrating since the aiming system is a bit wack. You have to really try and handle the main character when there is a battle going on with some of the game’s enemy characters.

Graphics still look nice. The game is a nice addition to my collection of Nintendo GameCube games. It’s hard to actually realize that the game is now over 20 years old. The GameCube’s controller fits perfectly to the needs of the player that is involved with Rayman 3.

The latest Rayman games I have seen were released as some sort of platformers for PS4. I haven’t, yet, played a Rayman game on the newest consoles, like Xbox Series X or Nintendo Switch. Of course the game is designed also so it can be played also by the youngest players we have – little kids. The game is also suitable for a grown up. This is definitely a plus for this game and it has gained many fans through the years.

Rayman 3 can be frustrating at times but in overall the game feels nice to play. It offers you a decent three-dimensional experience and some nice action that you can be involved in. It is a good buy for a Nintendo GameCube collector and I can recommend it to every retro game fan out there.