[dante76]

Well, that and the fact I thought I was monopolizing the section with all my old game playing fun, so I'll stick all my old retro playing in here for those whom are interested to keep track, mock, and argue with me.

So all the old XBox games I had are finished, and some of them were good, some of them were awful, but I think I've played the exclusives and classics, unless you can recommend + lend any you feel I should try.

Anyway, so I'm on the PS2 now, which was very dusty and my power lead is a bit loose. Stick with the slimline until that goes then onto my gfriends brick of a PS2. On a side line I broke more controllers with my PS2 than I did with any other console. Mostly God Of War and Pro Evo.

First of the list is SSX Tricky, and my first impressions are that they spent all the money on getting the music rights and not enough on play-testing. Rail grinding is so hap-hazard as to be pointless. I've gold all the races and I've got about half the gold in 'show off' to do, and tbh after thats done there's not much point playing through as any of the other riders except to hear the race insults and jibes. I'm boarding as the cockney. Its entertainingly bad in a Dick Van Dyke school of accents...

[illdog]

SSX Tricky is actual my favorite version and i found the PS2 pad the best (as oddly i own tricky on the Cube and the Xbox). Its the only version ive 100%'d aswell, i absolutely loved it. I could concede that if your going back to this having played later versions this may not have aged well but the rose tints make a huge difference.

[dante76]

We'll I've got the hang of railing now, just can't seem to get gold on the last course for Showoff. Grrggh

[dante76]

So thats done.

Next : Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories (PS2)

Can't really see the point of this game. Yes its old GTA, with fun locations, but the missions are unoriginal and I've done enough ambulance / firetruck / hamster kart driving in all the games to fill a life time. The missions are shirt though which is obviously a carry over from the PSP version, the soundtrack's a bit hit and miss , and the stations really need Lazlow. Still I can run people over with trucks and do drive by shootings to classical music, so musn't grumble.

[dante76]

So thats Portland done of all missions, side quests, jumps and packages. Fun things involve blowing up buildings which you later see a rubble in GTA3, Avenging Angels missions, car selling and Noodle delivering. You still can't swim though!

[dante76]

So thats 100% done. Have a tank.

I quite enjoyed this but do prefer the neo-realism of GTA4 in comparison. There were some fun missions like vote rigging and going loco with samuri swords. No helicopters though and a few 'on rail' levels ruin the ending part.

So, my next game is Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria which I picked up in Morrisons for £5 an age ago. It looks really good , like a PS2 version of Vagrant Story. The combat is an interactive button mashing 3d landscape in which you get bonuses for breaking off peoples arms and shields. Plot is awful and uninspiring so far but I'm only up to chapter 2.

[DifferentClass]

I played the remake of the original Valkyrie Profile on the PSP, I didn't get into it at all, the story and characters were dull and the concept of a game with a time limit just didn't appeal. The combat was pretty nifty, though.

[dante76]

Its really boring.

Here ends my review.

[dante76]

Shadow Of The Colossus


I feel bad killing them. It's like watching a film. I like my horse. It will probably end badly. 3 Down so far... More to come soon

[Ben]

well if those 2 idiots get there way it will be a film and you wont feel bad about killing yourself

[dante76]

Can i climb up them and stab them in their weak spot?

Anyway thats done. Great, the kind of game you want to sit Keith Vaz down in front of a show how wrong he is...... I could right lots about this but if you've played it, you already know its class, and if you havn't , go stand in the corner and feel sorry for yourself.

Next:

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Um..this is weird. All the monsters are cute. The voice acting is bizarre but great cockney, and I'm being attacked by Candy Cats. On the down side, why do I have a bag of stuff which then I have to distribute, instead of a standard inventory?!!!?

[Ben]

because it's Dragon Quest

My advice is stick with it when it starts to dip (when you take to the sea), and dont be afraid of grinding (also, there's something to be said for the boomerang until you get the extra party member and some magic). It's also going to take you 100+ hours, so put the kettle on

[dante76]

I'm enjoying this. I've got the boat and am having fun. Still loving the graphics style and the cute monsters. Its not grabbing me in a 'play everyday for 8 hours' kinda way like some RPG's can, which I think is to do with the save mechanism of only being able to save in church's.

[illdog]

Not that it matters, but how do you decide what to play next Dante? Do you prioritise in order of preference or do you have some strict order?

[dante76]

Its a real art of science involving length of games / polygons * framerate or just a random grab. I'm not buying any at the mo, this is a biiiig backlog. This is my PS2 phase currently, I did my XBOX back catalogue last year. Still got PS1, N64, Dreamcast, Amiga and Cube to go