Retro Pick-Ups – 19/03/2014

Well I was at CEX again, and I decided to get FIFA Football and Virtua Tennis 4 for the Vita. Do you ever get that exciting feeling when you got a new console, that you’re game collection for it is really starting to grow? Well, I’m starting to feel that now with my Vita!

Also, some game arrived from Amazon today, here’s a photo of them:

Well, Pinball Big Race USA (Bottom left game) and Devil May Cry 2 were bought from CEX the other day.

Retro Pick-Ups – Not PSP this time!

I’ve got a few deals in the past week that I’ve been forgetting to post here, so here’s a round-up of what I got this week.

Clockwise starting from bottom left, I got Tony Hawk’s Project 8 for the Xbox, because why not? I was wanting to see what the Xbox version of the game is like, as it’s the only version I haven’t played, and to sum things up, it’s basically the PS2 version (as expected) but running at 60fps, making it, in my opinion at least, far superior to the PS2 version. The only gripe I have, is that you have to press white to do flips, so it’s hard to do a trick while doing flips, but other than that, I love it!

I got Virtua Striker 3 for the Gamecube, I got Virtua Striker 2 on the Dreamcast in February, and I loved it, the only gripes I had were that there was no analog support, and the game was really hard, luckily, Virtua Striker 3 fixed both of those problems! The only thing is, it created a few of it’s own…
First thing is, there’s no longer an Arcade Mode, which blows, though they’ve kept ranking mode. They’ve also added offside, no big deal, right? I mean it’s not football without the offside rule! Only that, it goes off at random, I could press the long pass button at our goal, not even aiming for the player at the other side, and the game calls offside! You can turn this off, but only in single matches…
The last gripe I have is that they’ve added a more complexity to the game, it’s still very simple, but they’ve added the ability to substitute players and they’ve added a manager mode, which is exactly as it sounds, I’m glad they didn’t go any further than that, otherwise, in my eyes, it’d just be a failed contender to FIFA or PES, which it really shouldn’t be.

I got Mortal Kombat 3 (as not seen by the picture, thanks to the flash!) for the Mega Drive, it was only £4, so I decided to get it, and it’s a great port, unlike the original game, it’s got most of the sound effects and music in the game, and the game feels a lot more solid and fluent, the only problem is that you still can’t pause, even with a 6-button controller!

I got Jet Ion GP for the PS2. I’ve started hearing about this game not too long ago, it appeared in my suggestions on Amazon when I was browsing there one time, saw gameplay footage, and heard that it wasn’t great. I love the idea behind it, and it has a nice style to it, I decided to get it if I find it cheap somewhere, and lo and behold, CEX had it, for 25p!
Yeah, the reviews were right when they said it wasn’t great, the game runs awful, despite seeing gameplay footage of the game running smoothly, so it must be a PAL thing.
It barely reaches 30 frames when you’re in time trial or qualifier mode, and still manages to slow down, and you can have up to 8 ships in an actual race! “Well maybe the 30 frames is just a cap.” You might be wondering. Well do you know about Checkered Flag for the Atari Jaguar? Well, think about how bad that game ran. That’s how Jet Ion GP runs in a race, I’m not kidding!

I got Project Gotham Racing for the Xbox, it’s a racing game by Bizzare Creations, the game guys who previously made Metropolis Street Racer for the Dreamcast, which was a great game, and the PGR has very similar gameplay and graphics, but runs at 60fps, rather than 30. I haven’t got much else to say, as I haven’t delved that much into it yet, but it looks promising from what I’ve seen so far

I got Wall-E for the Wii, and I kind of regret it, because I’ve decided that later down the line, I might get myself a PS3, due to all of the awesome looking exclusives it has, which is ironic if you think about it, because it was the PS3, and all of it’s multi-media features, that drove me to retro gaming in the first place, but since then, the PS3 has gotten slimmer versions that are apparently more dedicated to gaming, despite no backwards compatibility, and the PS3 has gotten some really good exclusives, such as Yakuza 3 and 4, Heavy Rain, Beyond 2 Souls, Little Big Planet, Pain, the Ratchet and Clank games and more. What has this got to do with Wall-E? Well, the Wii version has no support for the classic controller, meaning you have to use the Wii mote… I should have wait until I got a PS3, and got the PS3 version of the game, as it’s the same, only you can use an actual controller.

Lastly, I got Devil May Cry, for £1.50! I’ve been hearing so much about this game, so I decided to get it and give it a try… I just need to get around to doing so…

So that’s what I got this week, some great games some not so great, so yeah…

-Cobra!

Mystery Console 2 Revealed

That’s right, I got a PS Vita!

I managed to get what I thought was a great deal, I got the Tearaway bundle for £150, it also came with Little Big Planet and a 16GB Memory Card

I say Thought, it turns out that both games were merely downloads, and I hate downloads! Also, the Vita was a Wi-Fi model… Still, It was cheaper than how much it goes for normally…

So anyway, here’s a photo of the Vita itself:

I also got a few (retail) games with it, including Mortal Kombat 9, which I’ve been wanting to play for years now!

Clock-wise from top left: Assassins Creed 3: Liberation, Ninja Gaiden Sigma +, Dead or Alive 5+ and Mortal Kombat

So how is it? Well so far, I love it! The games look beautiful, especially on the OLED screen, and most of them run really smoothly. Mortal Kombat is even better than I hoped! Although the fatalities and x-ray moves were disappointing…

Dead or Alive 5+ is fun, although the developer didn’t put much effort into making it fit for the Vita, the lifebars are tiny!

Ninja Gaiden Sigma+ is alright, but the game only runs at 30 frames per second, which is a big letdown for me…

Tearaway is absolutely brilliant, it’s probably the best portable game I’ve ever played, well, 4th, right behind Pokemon Silver, Yellow and Pinball. I love Tearaway’s style and it’s light hearted-ness, I love that the developer still brought out a bright, colourful and silly game in a world currently overrun by dark and gritty games! In fact, I loved it so much, that I bought a physical version! I needed to have this gem on my shelf!

So my first impressions on the Playstation Vita? Seriously underated! It needs more owners, Tearaway alone is a good reason to own a Vita! Although I would get a 3G version on it’s own, and a retail copy of Tearaway, it doesn’t matter if you prefer physical or not, you need to have a version to own and keep!

-Cobra!

Retro Pick-Ups: A bunch of PSP games

On the train home from college today, I was talking to one of my college friends about, what else? College work… Nah, we talked about games…

Rambo: The Video Game [PC] – Review

Developers: Teyon
Publishers: Reef Entertainment
Release Dates: 21st February 2014 (EU/AU), 25th March 2014 (NA)
Platforms: PC (Version Reviewed), Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Steam

Rambo: The Video Game is an on rails shooter released on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC and Steam. The game was developed by Teyon and was published by Reef Entertainment. The game was released on the 21st February 2014 here in Europe, and is due for release on the 25th March in North America, according to Amazon US. The version being reviewed is the PC version.

Since this game got released, it’s been getting hate around every corner, the game has been getting terrible reviews, but I don’t think the reviews are justified, most of the reviews I’ve read or watched consisted of a man moaning and crying about the fact it’s a rail shooter and that you can’t move your character, it’s a rail shooter, you’re not supposed to move your character.

There was actually an arcade Rambo game released by Sega in 2009, you would assume it’d make sense to compare the new with that, right? Well, nobody did!

Although I guess I can understand everyone’s reactions, I blame the marketing, they tried to hide the fact it was a rail shooter in the trailers and gameplay videos, and even on the back of the box! Did they try to make it appeal to Call of Duty and Battlefield fans?
They should have been honest, showed the game in all of it’s arcade-y glory, advertised it as an on rails, fast paced shooter, bringing an arcade style experience to consoles, it might have worked, because there still exists fans of rail shooters…

Would you have guessed that it was a rail shooter from looking at that?

I hope to give this game a bit more of a justifiable review, or at least look at the game from another perspective, I am a huge fan of rail shooter games, and to me, it’s a huge breath of fresh air to see a company trying to make one in an industry currently infested with call of duty clones. I’m also a big Rambo fan, so this game seemed right up my alley.

Retro Pick-Ups: PSP “3000” and some games

EDIT: I just found out that it’s a 2000, not a 3000, so I’ve taken it back for a refund, and ordered that 3000 offer from eBay.

I got (Another) PSP today! It’s a 3000 model. I got it from CEX for £52, it came with a 4GB memory stick and a years guarantee! For comparison: On eBay, the cheapest deal on a working PSP I found is £80, and it comes with no memory stick or any guarantee, you do get a random game with that item, though…

“Retro” Pick-Ups: Model Railway Deluxe [PC] & Wii Play [Wii]

I was at out today to the “school run” with my mum, so I could get a haircut, and we had time to browse around the shops around the area, so I went into a shop called “Maplin”, which is a shop for buying cables and PC parts, to get a VGA cable and a couple of AV cables, all of them together costed £7 on eBay with free delivery, so I decided to check and see if I could get a better deal andnot have to wait for them to arrive…

Last one, I promise!

Here’s another Harvester Screenshot I took, I found this hint funny!

I had no idea! Thanks for telling me that, game(!)

Another screenshot I was originally going to send, but didn’t, so here it is, this is a screenshot for Harvester on the PC.