As it's quiet at the moment, I thought I'd do a quick appraisal of all the games I've been playing recently. I've been squirreling away time to play some games over the last couple of weeks, and managed to get in a good few hours over the weekend.
So, what's been keeping Furie busy?
1. Wii Fit
Until last Friday, this was taking up about an hour a day (I've had a weekend off, back to it again tonight). It's not really a game though - so I don't know if it should be classed as such. The only game on the thing I enjoy is the Ski Jumping, which is awesome. Exercise wise, I actually enjoy the step 'game'. The core of it though are the yoga and exercises, which are a more enjoyable way of doing warm ups and some mild strength exercises I was pretty much doing anyway.
2. Pain
Started playing this again - it's a game I pick up every so often for a few minutes of fun - then find myself still playing it an hour later. It's a superb little game and great fun. I bought a few of the extra characters too and it's opened up a little more of the game. Major update due in a week or two as well! Woohoo!
3. Race Driver - Grid (Demo)
It's only a demo, but I do really love the game. I enjoy a well presented demo you can essentially use as a sandbox. Just mucking about once you've got it nailed. I'm going to pre-order the full game (due out on Friday) today.
The game itself is one of the best racing games I've played. I loved Dirt too, but off-road racing doesn't appeal to me. Track racing does though, so this really touched all my buttons. It's arcade, but I like the blurring between arcade and realism the Codemasters games give. I'm NOT a race driver, so I don't feel I should have to learn to be one to play a game - the game has to give me a degree of help. It's like if you played Mario, and every time you started, you'd have to learn to walk and jump. It's a game, so shouldn't require prior knowledge to play - it's a kind of flattery, but I still want to feel as though I actually AM a race driver. Having said that though:
4. Gran Tourismo 5 Prologue
I've put another few hours into Prologue. It's the racing car game equivalent of Pokemon :lol: You can't leave it for too long, knowing there's another car you have to collect to let you complete the next bit
Personally, I feel it's less realistic than the Race Driver games - purely because the realism is actually lost by taking you out of a real car. Yes, you're going through the motions a real race driver would, and have to be as technically precise as they would, but the cars don't feel as though they're handling like they really would. Also, I've driven cars fast, bad cars fast, and I could take corners these the slowest of the GT5 cars skid off at, faster in my beast of a Mazda 5. Still, I do enjoy the challenge of repeat and perfect for some reasons...
5. Trakmania Nations Forever
Or whatever the latest free one is. Now I've put in some time and effort - it's easily the best of these I've played. I like the way it's streamlined for racing, and it's addictive fun. I still get infuriated by some of the bizzare tracks which seem to be quite unfair (ones were you flip over and can't land properly) I like to lose because I'm rubbish, not because the track throws you around randomly when you land and stuff. The tracks are a run of excellent, increasing difficulties - then all of a sudden you'll get a weird one. Still, it passes the odd ten minutes here and there.
So, there are the top five for me. Oddly, Pain is exactly the kind of fun game Nintendo have been trying to flog for the Wii. I've got lots of Wii games, and I keep trying to get into them, but they just don't seme able to grab my attention. I've got Mario Kart and I think it's great, but I've played it for a few hours, and feel I've just seen everything the game really has to offer. I've got Sega Superstars Tennis too untouched (it came with Mario Kart for a tenner :lol: ). Even House of the Dead can't entice me onto the Wii - I just don't know why. Socially, it's all we ever play on though. There's just something about the Wii which isn't 'armchair' enough. It's at odds to the amount of time and effort I've put into Wii fit, but that's as a part of a deliberate fitness regime. Other than that, I want to be lazy playing games - and the Wii just doesn't allow for it.
On a 'recommendation' note, I got Stunt Car Racer working with my Amiga emulators over the weekend. This is the one game I can honestly say I mastered. Even after a good 15 years since I last played it, I could still beat the first four tracks without a problem (some of the later tracks I did struggle with a bit remembering the exact speeds to take elements at). It's a superb game - simple in concept, but tough to master. Always great fun though. I wish that they'd hurry up and remake it...