Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Tag: nintendo

A Casual Gamer Or A Serious One?

Posted on by Viljami

The last time I wrote a blog post I was in the middle of getting into Black Ops 6. It just so happened that I got stuck in the campaign and somewhat lost my interest to that game. I decided to first pick up Art of Rally that is a rally game for Nintendo Switch. I didn’t finish that. Instead I started playing some Doom. This is the version of Doom that was released in 2016 and ported in 2017 for Switch.

It didn’t stop there however. I did spend some hours with Doom. Yesterday I got stuck again and this time with Doom. So, when I first woke up this Saturday I decided not to play more of Doom. Instead I picked a new game. It was actually still sealed. I had bought it maybe six months ago. It was time for me to play some Aces of Luftewaffe. I played this shooting game for maybe one or two hours.

This idea I think isn’t such an unusual matter. I am talking about how we today consume these games. There are extremely many games available. As you can think there are new games and also old, retro, games that you can pick and play. Newest games we are seeing today as rarer ones. There are many games that we get remakes out of and that we do play. Many games seem to take something old and add nice graphics and some updated features and release them even with the same title. Just “remake” gets added to the games title.

I am not complaining after all. I might not finish every game but is actually every game a great one? Or should it even be like that? I think we need some smaller and maybe indie titles that we don’t take so seriously that can make a difference when it does come to them titles that we do play a lot and that seem to be taking video games to a next level. What I am actually saying is that every game cannot be as popular, good selling and interesting as a game such like for example Skyrim.

This seems to be the case with these ambitious game developers that seem to hope that their own game would achieve the sales and the popularity that only so few of these games can achieve. Am I, or are you, a casual gamer that just plays a game or two in a week and that spends only so little of his or her time in a video game? That is the question that I seem to be trying to think and resolve in my mind.

We can also think about collecting. I seem to be interested in many games. I buy a lot of games. Usually a low price gets me going. That is probably why I do have such a large library of games. Well, there is just so much to write about today. So, maybe we’ll leave it this way this time.

Having Some Fun With A Retro Game

Posted on by Viljami

I had the pleasure to find a really fun game that I got yesterday as a loose copy. This means that I bought a game that was in a good condition but it didn’t have the original cover or leaflet at all. I wanted to play that game. I was also informed that the disc was in a good and acceptable condition which was proved to be actually true when I finally checked the disc.

The game was Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 for Nintendo GameCube. I have lately been banging my head with two titles. Those are first, Gran Turismo 6, and second, Sea of Stars, which is a nice role-playing-game. I have put tens of hours in these games but I seem to be unable to finish them. I have spent a bit over 40 hours to Gran Turismo 6 and a bit over 12 hours to Sea of Stars.

What NFS Hot Pursuit 2 offers is a nice and fluently constructed game-play. Everything seems not to be so much about your driving skills. You can drive like a perfection and still end up getting busted by the police. The whole game centers on trying to achieve at least third position just to be able to progress to the next race that gets unlocked as you achieve this placement.

When considering graphics GameCube has, of course, its limitations. You have to consider this game to be a retro title. Sea of Stars, which I play on PS4, seems way better. Even Gran Turismo 6, that I play on PS3, looks better. But after all everything isn’t always about the technical performace. Hot Pursuit 2 just seems like something I could spend about two or three hours today as I was palying some video games on a regular Saturday.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 for Nintendo GameCube as a loose copy cost me 15 euros. This seems to be just the right price. I did manage to advance in the actual career mode that I chose to play. I didn’t finish the game but I might get back to it in a while. I am a bit concerned about finishing Sea of Stars. It does take about 28 hours to finish this RPG. I am also a bit thoughtful about finishing only a bit over 50 percent of Gran Turismo 6.

Today I also finally ordered Call of Duty – Black Ops 6 for Xbox Series X. I got it for a cheap price of 50 euros. I could have supported some small time game shops but this just is how it came about this time. Of course I am already waiting to get my hands on this brand new FPS. While thinking about some games I have yet not finished I managed to get something out of one of these Need for Speed games that I luckily had a chance to purchase and add to my collection of GameCube games.

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.