Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Tag: remake

Halo – Campaign Evolved

Posted on by Viljami

I just recently finished Halo – Campaign Evolved. This game was released only a moment ago. It took me ten hours to beat this game. It would have been nice to get to play this from a physical release but since it isn’t yet available I decided for this time to go with a digital copy. The game is now on sale. I did pay the full price of 60 euros. I think it is available for a discount now and the price seems to be 48 euros for the Standard Edition. This game is also available for PS5.

The original and first Halo game, Halo – Combat Evolved, is a legendary game that was released for original Xbox back in 2001. The game offered something smooth in the form of a first person shooter that you could actually play with a game pad. This was something that we had already seen in games like N64s GoldenEye. The first Halo game was still something better and even bigger.

So Halo – Campaign Evolved is a remake of the old classic. I have to say that it is a decent game. It isn’t anything special. I still had lots of fun while playing it. Only time will tell what kind of a Halo game we are going to see next. The games or a game (we don’t yet know if there are going to be several Halo games released in the future) that are going to be released will be developed by Activision.

By the way I am sorry that I don’t have any screenshots for this blog post and also on my IG share. I have to admit that I just couldn’t figure out how to take a screenshot with my Elite 2 game pad. It is a good controller but it seems to lack the functionality to take a screenshot quickly. I also didn’t want to play with the regular game pad since the elite one is way more comfortable.

If you check the grades that Halo – Campaign Evolved has received you can tell that everyone wasn’t totally satisfied with the game. I can actually very clearly understand this. If a game is a remake of such a classic video game the expectations are of course high. What do I have to say to this? I think Campaign Evolved isn’t a total failure. I actually very much enjoyed playing it. Is it something that all the fans were waiting for? It probably isn’t a fulfillment of these demanding fantasies after all.

Lets discuss the gameplay a bit. All the familiar weapons are present in the game. You get to use grenades and a bazooka. You have to keep changing your weapon and there is a somewhat limited amount of ammo available. Sometimes you have to pick up an alien weapon since all of your other weapons are out of ammo. There is some melee fighting present but it is nothing like in some recent Doom games we have already seen.

The enemies are numerous. They usually drop some weapons but some enemies don’t. If you fire an alien weapon it actually heats if you keep firing it for a long period of time. Then you have to cool out for a while and after that you are able to shoot again as is normal. This functionality is present only in alien weapons. Sometimes you have to pick a weapon that isn’t as powerful as the weapon you did use earlier. There are many types of enemies around. There isn’t a lot of exploring involved in this game which is also in my opinion a good matter.

This autumn is a busy time for gamers. We have already seen the release of games like Silent Hill – Townfall and Control Resonant. We are going to see the release of games like GTA VI and Zelda – The Ocarina of Time remake. I personally am going to play next some Silent Hill f. Actually just before I started writing this blog post I actually started the installation process with my Xbox Series X. I think I am going to go to play the game now for a while. See you in the next post!

What to Expect From Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4?

Posted on by Viljami

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 will be released July 11th this year for many gaming consoles including Xbox Series S/X, PS5, Nintendo Switch and PC/Windows. Original releases of these skateboarding games were very nice and they had a good and solid gameplay. They didn’t go too far from some of the features of two original games. Some later games that were based on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games were titled Tony Hawk’s Underground 1 and it also had a sequel.

My own experiences concentrate on the beginning of the series. I remember very clearly playing the first Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater on PS1 and also the sequel on Windows PC. I later bought also the third game that was titled Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3. The fourth game in the series was solid and good while the fifth game sadly flopped in quality and also eventually in sales.

We have seen Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 collection that was released in 2020. I just recently bought this collection for my Xbox Series X. It is a very good compilation that includes the first two games with some more modern controls and graphics and also many achievements that you can try to beat. It is common knowledge that this is a good product as a whole. The collection received positive feedback from video game skateboarders world wide.

So, what do you expect from the new collection? Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 will definitely find its way to my video game shopping list. I believe this is going to be very satisfying collection of two games that molded the whole series. We are going to see nowadays graphical quality and I believe also that the whole soundtrack is going to be something amazing. I can clearly remember hearing Xzibit’s Paparazzi on the background.

I do have also Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 for GameCube. It is quite frankly difficult to try to have every version of a game. This just seems how my video game collection seems to be working. It was a very nice to play this game with the controller of the Nintendo GameCube. It was something a bit different. I have played THPS games with many different controllers.

The new compilation will be available soon. It is said to have a price of 50 euros at least here in Finland. There is going to be a physical copy and a digital copy available. I am going to to probably get the physical copy. I do not have information about if there is going to be a physical collectors edition available. So, we have to wait and see. There is going to be some different and more expensive options if you choose the digital way to buy this collection.

This seems to be for me something to wait for. It has to be kept in mind that there is going to be a new Doom game also available soon. Actually it seems that it will get released in May 15th this year. This fits my gaming plan perfectly because I just recently started playing Doom Eternal once again. Earlier I played it on my now already old PlayStation 4 and now as I bought it for only 10 euros as a digital copy I get to experience it on my Xbox Series X. What a joy!

This last paragraph is written for all  you readers of this blog. I am going to continue writing this blog. I don’t yet know what we are talking and thinking about the next time but I will bet that it will be something very interesting. It is already some light and warmth shown when I take a look outside. You know, the spring is coming right now and that means that summer is near. You would understand if you lived up here in the north. So, until next time…

What Made Tomb Raider So Appealling?

Posted on by Viljami

I wrote some time ago about Tomb Raider and how it’s 3D modeling made an impact to the whole industry. Now, we have seen Tomb Raider trilogy remake and I think it’s time to get back to this game once again. I actually got the remake collection and gave it some hours. The question here clearly seems to be that how and why was Tomb Raider so popular.

First of all I have to say that this game was a product of its era. 3d worlds were just beginning their story. The controls are clunky and not so good if we compare them to some more recent video games. There are many situations that you have to face when playing Tomb Raider today that just make the game seem a very old one.

The biggest problem seems to be how you control the main character Lara Croft. Jumping is hard and the camera is at times in a very bad angle. These 3D environments aren’t so impressive as they appeared to be back in 1990s. Tomb Raider was released in 1996. I have a copy for PC and PS1. The original game, that I happen to have in the form of the original CD, I think, can be updated so that the graphics will look even sharper.

What about the main character? Lara appears to be a female. This was still an exception back in 1996. Lara Croft was definitely one of the first female main characters. Of course these games are directed to these nerdy guys that are also into 3d and C++ programming. This was, back then, something for the real nerds.

You can feel the excitement as you play the original game. You get to interact with some very edgy and exciting environment. This can, of course, bring you many memories and make you feel the nostalgia. You start to think how could you yourself create a 3D game like this. And this game also gave programmers many ideas not to say anything about a mod that was available that made Lara seem to be totally naked in the game.

I really like Tomb Raider. Would I spend tens of hours playing it once again. Well, maybe not. Time has progressed heavily. Biggest flaw is the controlling of Lara. It just makes playing the game a pain. If you pick a good 3D game from an era of maybe even five years after 1996, say 2001, you can get something much more enjoyable. Why would you pick this one when there are many better games available.

How about the PS1 version that we have on this featured image right here? Well, it is the same game that was released for PC but with worse graphics. It is nice to handle Lara with Dual Shock controller. You can also pick a retro PC, one that has 486 processor, and play the game.

In conclusion, I don’t recommend going back to the world of Lara Croft. The game was something different. Take a note on the use of the word “was”. I know how inpiring this game was. Its impact was enormous. It broke the ice for something bigger and better. So, I suggest you get something some years newer for a new game that you would like to play.