Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Tag: xbox360

What Is Burnout 3: Takedown About?

Posted on by Viljami

I have some experience playing this game. The game, as you can tell, is Burnout 3 Takedown. It was released in 2004 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. I am playing it on my Xbox 360. The first touches of this game I had already back in 2006 and I was then playing it on original Xbox.

Burnout 3 Takedown can be categorized, and has to be categorized, as a driving, or racing, game. Well, compared to my latest experiences about WRC 10, we can definitely state that this isn’t simulation definitely. But aren’t the coolest games almost every time those games that are the most playable. I can make a comparison to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. It isn’t a skateboarding simulation. Maybe Skate series was or tried to be something like that.

As we are talking about fun, entertaining and challenging game, I can share with you some tips that I’ve learned during these years that I have been playing this game. I actually bought this one also for PS2 that already some years ago broke down so I couldn’t make any progress. I bought this game maybe a year ago and just, I think, yesterday started getting back into it. So I’ve progressed already a bit and I have 15 percentage of the game finished.

What about the driving tips I talked about? As there is several types of events let’s first talk about races against one or several opponents. Try not to drive too far ahead of the pack. This makes you more vulnerable for crashing and losing your position as the leader of the race. Try to focus on knocking out the second fastest car. That way you can keep your position and earn a lot of boost so that you can take out more drivers, earn yet more boost and eventually you will win the race. If you have a good opportunity to accelerate or drive fast just after you have knocked out a driver you can really sometimes make a difference. But this depends about what kind of a part of a road you are on. You probably get the idea.

Playing Burnout 3 is not all about driving fast and faster than your opponents. It’s also a lot about taking risks. It doesn’t hurt also if you have quick reflexes and a keen eye to spot your driving line clearly. You are almost constantly trying to figure out how to get through the traffic. It also helps if you can analyze a bit about the risks and if you can make sense when to take a risk and when not to.

This game also knows how to be entertaining. There is a commentator that cracks jokes and throes in a punchline or two in between the racing events and even during them. The music in this game is backing well to the whole experience. It might be for younger players, but after all this game is already a retro game. And today’s retro gamer’s are a bit old. Well, it has been 18 years since the game was released.

As I did a quick search it appears that Burnout 3 isn’t available at the moment in Xbox Store as a digital release. There might be some copies left and sold as physical copies but then again you would need at least Xbox 360, if not original Xbox, for you to play it. So this might be something for the collectors and retro gamers. If you have an opportunity to buy it I will certainly recommend you to do so.

I have bought maybe ten copies of original Xbox games but I haven’t yet had enough spare time to get into them. You can probably find out about them when I post my next blog post. I have games like Silent Hill 4 The Room, Goldeneye Rogue Agent, Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer, Alias, Jurassic Park Operation Genesis, True Crime Streets of L.A., Hitman Contracts, NBA Street vol. 3 and Need For Speed Underground 2 waiting for their turn. Also  I just ordered myself a Nintendo GameCube, so you know just what might be in my next blog post. See you soon and I hope you enjoyed the post.

I am Keeping my Xbox 360 (and here are the reasons)

Posted on by Viljami

Some days ago I got myself a Xbox Series X. I finally managed to purchase one. It wasn’t easy. The availability of this new Xbox console was poor and it was so for over a year until this week as I noticed that it was actually finally possible for me to actually just buy it.

Xbox Series X is a great console. It can play a lot of these older or so to say retro titles. So it can play games of original Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. But all of them aren’t playable. You can probably just check this from your favorite search engine. If you type in the search field something like “original xbox games compatible with xbox series x” you will get a list that can tell you actually which of original Xbox’s or Xbox 360’s games can you play with the latest Xbox.

So we now have this information. It turns out that only 63 of all original Xbox’s and 632 out of all Xbox 360 titles are playable on Xbox Series X. I have also this older gaming console that is Xbox 360. It, of course, can play all of Xbox 360’s games. Also, it can handle 464 out of all almost 1000 officially released original Xbox games.

Of course, if you have original Xbox, you don’t have this issue of owning some games that you just cannot play on any device. Since my original Xbox broke down about two years ago I am going to have to rely on my Xbox 360 and I am still not able to play all these games I own. Actually, also my PlayStation 2 broke down about the same time. I don’t think I have so much trouble playing it’s about 60 games that I own since I have reliable emulators available on my computer. Xbox however doesn’t have so solid emulation on a PC.

I actually removed from my own game shelf all of the titles that I currently am not able to play today. There were several games I liked involved. Sadly I only have a limited amount of space in my gaming setup. So, I could have bought a new used original Xbox that would have fixed my issue. But  decided not to. Also what might disappoint a real game collector and game hobbyist is that I at least currently lack the skill to repair my original Xbox. If you actually want to try to repair your game console there are instructions for you in internet.

I had to give up on some of these Xbox titles. But at least there are tens of games in y game library that can be played with my Xbox 360. And that’s one reason for me to keep it and try my best to maintain it’s condition. Xbox 360 was first released back in 2005. So it is an old gaming console. The original Xbox was released in 2001.

Some of my favorite games of original Xbox that I can still play utilizing my Xbox 360’s backward compatibility include Forza Motorsport, Halo 1 and 2, Colin McRae Rally 04, Black and Shadow the Hedgehog. Titles like Second Sight and Silent Hill 3 and also Colin McRae Rally 3 aren’t playable on Xbox 360.

As there are lots of popular titles in all of the released title library of all Xbox consoles that may not be playable on these more recent devices I wouldn’t be so much surprised if there would some day be some kind of Xbox mini classic console released for all of these retro gamers and fans of classic Xbox titles. There is also an ongoing and huge effort on bringing PC emulation for Xbox to be the reality.

Maybe these were all the reasons for me to stick to my Xbox 360. I am currently playing Forza Motorsport 3. After I have completed it I am planning on starting to play Colin McRae Dirt 2 which is a very good game in this Colin McRae Rally series of rally games that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to play a lot. I am hoping to complete it also. You can find today a Xbox 360 game console from any gaming store online and it doesn’t cost you a lot. You can probably get one for around 100 euros.

What to Expect from Alan Wake 2

Posted on by Viljami

Remedy made it’s way to many gamer’s hearths with Max Payne trilogy. One good game by this company also is Alan Wake that was released in 2010 for Xbox 360 and PC. I managed to purchase this game for PC and it was some sort of collectors edition. I remember I bought it, as I have a habit to do, from clearance. It didn’t cost so much and I was very happy as this release came with some bonuses like soundtrack of the game and stickers and some fictive post cards that were supposedly sent from the location the game took place. I also bought for much less a used game for Xbox 360. I have also played this game through.

It is a good game. I enjoyed it. So it’s not surprising that Remedy has announced that it is working on a sequel. While survival horror keeps being popular the gamer’s are waiting for this new game now. Only a few months ago Alan Wake Remastered was released. So the product is a bit hyped already. There isn’t a release day announced yet. It might take until year 2023 for it to make its way to game shops and then to the hands of paying customers.

I have played many Remedy’s games and Max Payne one and two are my favorite ones. Alan Wake itself is something a bit different. While Max Payne brought you a shooting experience with “bullet time” and all this action and also it had a scheme inside it. And what makes me a fan of this game company is that it’s coming from Finland that happens to be my home country also.

Alan Wake is somewhat a horror game. A big part of the game is about using your flash light and surviving in this forest type of environment that reminds a bit of the forests here in Finland. The main character is a writer. You have to survive and get rid of these enemies that keep hunting you. These monsters hide in shadows and you can slow them down with some light. It took me over an hour to play it through. It was about two years ago that I finished Alan Wake. It would’ve been possible to play it again with a harder difficulty level or try to collect all items that are hidden in the game.

All in all Alan Wake is a steady and fresh brand of Remedy. You have to wait a bit more to see some game play video but there is a trailer somewhere in YouTube. I have heard some players talk about the new Alan Wake game and how it definitely needed a sequel. It took over ten years. We have to wait a bit to see exactly what kind of a game will it be. Will it be like the first game or will Remedy take to be more like traditional survival horror game like Silent Hill or Resident Evil.