Credit Crunching!

So we're just over half way through March. No new or even second hand games bought yet. To be fair I'm tempted to pick up a copy of Mass Effect on the 'Classics' label now it's below £20 as it comes highly recommended but it's not been hard to resist. I've got my holiday next week.

What's getting a bit depressing is that I haven't actually finished anything yet. The last few events on Race Pro are hard and long and it's turning into a bit of a grind. I've got several more hours of enjoyment out of Everybodys Golf: World Tour, which I suppose is the point of the exercise, but I'm trying to beat the penultimate boss in a one on one battle and he can hit a birdy from practically anywhere on the course which is making it tough.

Still I've got a few days left before my holiday to make one big push to finish something.

Gaming Journal

I spent nearly all my gaming time over the weekend playing Race Pro. I basically completed an entire season of WTCC racing, Made some more progress on the career and then ventured onto Live with some other enthusiasts from one of my regular forums. There where four of us altogether with the last two slots being taken up by randoms at various times. Twelve player races should be possible but does make the game unstable.

With the four of us the game is rock solid and a lot of fun. Instead of a lobby you can do practice laps until you've got enough people together to do a race. Then there's a Qualifying session if you want it before the actual racing starts. Sadly there appears to be no way to change car class or indeed cars within a class without restarting a new room but hopefully that'll come in the awaited patch. I basically played until my hands where like claws.

As for Recession busting.. I'm obviously only one day in and not really missing playing Killzone 2. I'm not interested in death matches and so the campaign can be played whenever. However I hadn't realised Mad World for Wii will be released during my enforced exile. I may have to crack for this. It looks awesome.

Other than that I was put off getting back into Fable 2 because there's possibly been to bigger gap between my last session and I'm not sure I'll remember where I was up to and what powers and combos I'd got.. It would be handy if there could be some kind of dynamic 'Previously on..' feature for indepth story games like this that would refresh your memory between plays. Still my fruit stall should of made me a shed load of money when I do switch back on.

Oh and a quick update on 'PS3 Watch'.. still not switched on.

Recession Busting!

Actually it's got nothing to do with the dreaded credit crunch. I have decided however, in the spirit of one of Nish's experiements, not to buy any new game during the month of March (For the purpose of this experiment I'll be defining new as 'new to me' so no second hand games either).

I've currently got Race Pro on the go along with Fable 2 that I've barely scratched the surface of along with an untouched copy of Pure and numerous other games that I could do with finishing off (Hello Assassin's Creed lurking on the back of the shelf there with just the last mission left to do).

There'll be no DLC either so Lara and The Lost and the Damned will have to wait until at least April too. As it happens I'm not fussed with Resident Evil 5 and while I'm intrigued by Bayonetta no doubt it'll be in bargain bins soon enough.

So there's the plan. I guess I wont be darkening Games stores for a while..

First Look: Race Pro

There's an episode of Top Gear in which Richard 'The Hamster' Hammond reviews the Porsche 911 GT3. The GT3 is a 911 stripped of weight and creature comforts. As Hammond explains "It comes with less so it can give you so much more". He then goes on to list all the things you might want from a car that the GT3 doesn't have.

This suitably motoring related anecdote brings us on to Race Pro from hardcore PC developer SimBin. Want a racing game with state of the art graphics? Buy another game. Want a pretty front end with exciting menus? Buy another game. Want a range of licensed street parts to modify your ride? Buy another game. Want amazing crashes with deformable cars? Buy another game.. SimBins game comes with less than the current norm in the genre so it can give you so much more.. Oh and how much more.

It's all about the driving. It's you and your chosen car against the track and the prize is your life. There is a selection of driver aids to ease you in should you so choose. In truth you don't need them (or at least you don't in the selection of cars I've driven so far). There's so much feel and feedback from the car and track that you can tell what the cars doing. Occasionally of course you can feel it a touch to late as your understeer off across a sand trap or you get a touch enthusiastic on the accelator of your Caterham and the back swaps ends with the front but it feels fantastic.

A couple of complaints though, When you restart a race or qualifying session it has to reload and then you have to press 'A' three times to get back to the action.. Which can be annoying when you bin it on the first corner. A practice option would be nice within a career mode tournament cos occasionally it throws in a track you haven't driven before.