Currently Playing: Sega Rally

Another game where I enjoyed the demo but not enough to warrant an immedeate full price purchase. Another new year bargain.

In most driving/racing games the cars are very much the stars. In Sega Rally it's very much the tracks that are the stars. There's a reasonable selection of Rally cars to choose from based in 3 catergories from current rally cars to the outlawed rally beasts of the early 80s (also includes the Celica and Intergrale from the original Arcade Classic) and though there's no damage they do get nice and dirty as a race progresses.

But it's the tracks that really shine. Groups of three tracks are themed in certain areas such as tropical, arctic and desert and each looks very distinctive as well as being very Sega. Not only have the tracks been designed to be deceptively simple there's a lot of depth when you've learnt them. More importantly there's a great track deformation system. Each vehicles tyres cut grooves into the snow and mud and this causes the track to deform as they react together and make each lap a slightly different experience. It looks much better than a similar system in Motorstorm and actually seems to effect the racing more too.

It is quite an arcadey experience. Theres a career campaign where enought points must be won through racing to unlock more events, single races, time trials and multiplayer (both split screen and Live) and that's basically your lot.

At first it's frustrating as the competition starts tough and just gets tougher. However after a bit of practice you start to get in the grove. Basically trying to react to a corner as you approach it in the normal manner (brake, steer, accelerate) isn't going to work. You need to have the car positioned and drifting correctly before the bend. Importantly you have to link the bends together too so as you exit the first bend in the right place to take the next one. When it clicks it's a lot of fun. The game runs at a great speed and there's plenty going on with cars and mud/gravel or snow flying everywhere.

On the downsides the AI cars are perhaps a little aggressive. Also in the campaign mode there's no way of restarting a race without quitting out and attempting all three races again. As you need to win all three events to get maximum points this can be annoying.

It works well on Live too. I tried hosting and joining ranked games and found a reasonable selection of levels and experience on offer. From hardcore players to people like me who'd picked it up in the sales. I won 5 out of 10 races which I felt wasn't a bad ratio. Especially compared to say RR6 where all I got where cans of whupass.

The "Complete" list 2008

Stranglehold.

Or John Woo presents: Stranglehold to give it's full title. Having played the demo it seemed like one to wait for to pick up as a bargain. Spotted it in HMV for £20 so picked it up for some post Chrimbo shooting excitement. The game is fairly short with some levels playing out like the demo being fairly long levels and the last couple being dull "shooting hundreds of identical looking bad guys in a room" levels. Sadly for me the game didn't really work. The bullet time aspects are similar to Max Payne 2 and although Stranglehold has much prettier graphics and destructable scenery the shooting isn't as much fun. The controls aren't great and really it needs replaying several times to get the best out of each level. Not my idea of fun. Later a sort of cover system is employed but it isn't flexible enough to be as good as it should be. Overall dissappointing.

360 Health Watch

Hopefully this wont be a regular feature of my blog but I shall be posting updates as when they occur. For those who don't know I recently bought my third 360. (The first one got the ring of death and was replaced under warranty. The replacement one lasted less time than the first one and I couldn't be bothered to send it back)

The first symptom I've experienced with the new one was when switching to the 'Dashboard' when playing Assassin's Creed. As the disc stopped spinning it came to a halt with a sharp grinding noise. It's only this one game. However I have experienced a slight increase in noise with other games when the disc starts or stops spinning.

Last night when I tried to play Sega Rally I got the amusing "To play this 360 game it must be placed in a 360 video games console". Presumably this message is meant to activate when a 360 disc is played in a DVD player but how a 360 can forget what it is is beyond me.. With the first machine it was the precusor to more trouble .

Happy Christmas Everyone

This will probably be my last post of 2007 so I'd like to wish all the many readers of this fine Blog (you know who your are) a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year packed with gaming goodness.

The "Complete" List - 2007 total.

Canis Canem Edit
Splinter Cell: Double Agent
Prey
Crackdown
Tiger Woods PGA 07 (career completed)
Call of Duty 2 (regular)
Double Dragon
Resistance: Fall of Man
Loco Roco (All Stages Cleared)
Colin McRae DiRT (Career completed)
Daxter
Forza Motorsport 2 (Career & Arcade 100% complete)
Medal of Honour: Airbourne (Casual)
Halo 3
Bioshock
PGR4 (World No. 1 Career & All medals silver Arcade)
Half Life 2
Episode One and Two
Call of Duty 4 (Normal)
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune (Easy)

Finished this yesterday although I'm rather embarassed to say my girlfriend finished it first and on Normal so she's better than me.

It's an enjoyable game. For me it could have done with a few more puzzles and maybe a bit more platforming and a bit less shooting but it's a great game.

Review of the Year - Part 2

The second part of my review of the year is probably the most important. It's the album of the year. I'm doing them in top five, reverse order, to fit in with part one but readers should be aware that there isn't much difference between position 4 to 1.

5. Kanye West - Graduation

There seemed to be some dissappointment surrounding Kanye's third album. Not as far as I'm concerned. What it lacks in out right killer singles it makes up for by being a more concise body of work free of skits, filler and that other common hip hop problem of quantity of quality. It's got a darker more synth based feel, less reliant on the samples of old, and some of the rhymes are a little ropey but he's still the most exciting talent in commercial hip hop by some margin.

4. Kings of Leon - Because the Times

The single 'On Call' was the first song of Kings that I really loved so I wasn't sure what to expect from the album. It's as lean, snake hipped and down right rocking as the Caleb brothers themselves. The first track is an epic opener and it's pretty much foot to the floor all the way to the end. Rock doesn't get much more exciting.

3. Stephen Fretwell - Man on the Roof

In a sea of male singer songwriters awash with averageness (stand up Blunt, Morrison and Faulkener) Fretwell should be massive. Probably my most listened to album of the year. The kind of record you want to put on as soon as it's finished. Thoroughly recommended.

2. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Was so nearly my album of the year and the would of gotten away for it if it wasn't for those darn meddling kids...

1. Arctic Monkeys - Worst Favourite Nightmare

Probably the best british rock album since Definetly Maybe. Anyone of 10 tracks out of 11 could probably of been a single. The songs are packed with ideas, tunes and great lyrics. It also get's better and better as it goes along. Loved it.

Currently Playing : Quick Round Up.

A quick update on the games I have on the go at the minute.

Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction

I'm basically at the last boss and it just needs polishing off and adding to the list.. Probably followed by another play through trying to hoover up all the gold bots and plan pieces.

Uncharted: Drakes Fortune

Hit the last level (22 for those that want to know) only to find it's bastarding hard as nails even on easy and lacks a decent checkpoint.. Put to one side for the moment.

Assassin's Creed

I've done 7 of the nine assasinations and about 3/4 of the side quests.. It's a very frustrating game to play. Compounded by the 8th assassination being based in the harbour. Which has a number of walkways, some boats and some poles sticking out of the water. One wrong move and you're in the drink. Guess what? Altair can't swim. Very annoying. I'll probably try and battle through to the end having spent as much time as I have already on it.. But it's not fun.

Super Mario Galaxy

I now need 19 stars to provide enough power to get to the centre of the universe (or some such). It's like the Anti-sassin Creed. Can't say I'm putting in massive sessions a la the EDGE fan boys but it's fun to switch on, collect a couple of stars, and switch off again.