Saturday, August 14, 2004
Well, news has still been mighty slow recently, but fall's almost here and that means that things will be picking up very soon. In the meantime, I'll fill everyone in on what I've been playing recently.
I was still playing ESPN pretty regularly and was really starting to enjoy playing online until late last week when I got some new games that have since garnered all my playing time. I got four games: Crimson Skies, Sudeki, Links 2004 and Project Gotham Racing 2. Yes, they're all Xbox games, but that's because they're all from Microsoft's delightful training program for retail employees.
I've probably put the most time into Links 2004 so far. I'm a huge fan of the Mario Golf games and was really looking forward to finally trying Links with its more realistic approach, analog swing mechanics and online play. Unfortunately, so far I'm a little disappointed. The swing system is pretty good and is a nice alternative to the somewhat dated three-point system in the Mario Golf games, but I don't feel as in control so, as of now, I still prefer the old method. I also miss the wonderful (perhaps too precise) range finder from Mario's last two golf outings. The courses have been a little disappointing as well. They're all real courses which is pretty cool, but the ones I've played so far have also been too easy. I'm assuming that as I progress this will become less of a problem. The other major feature that I was looking forward to, online play, has really panned out yet either. I tried to get on this morning to play and found that there wasn't a single game to join. Basically, it's a pretty good game so far that I'm hoping will get better.
I've also put a few hours into Sudeki. I mainly picked up this game just because I was so surprised to see such a new game available through Microsoft's training program. Everything I'd heard about the game beforehand was very lukewarm and I've come away with basically the same feeling. The story isn't progressing very quickly and I'm already starting to lose interest, the voices for all the characters are pretty bad and really don't match their personalities well and certain parts already have a tedious feeling to them. On the bright side, the combat system is very solid, though it also has its drawbacks. The most effective method of combat is to simply take the long-range character and fire from a distance, but this gets boring fast and I quickly switched to controlling one of the melee characters even though it's a less effective approach. Again, I hope this game grows on me the more I play it.
I haven't played too much of the other two games so far, but have put in a reasonable amount of time with each. I really like Crimson Skies so far, but haven't had a chance to try out what is supposed to be its strong suit (multiplayer, specifically on XBL). As for PGR2, I like it but it hasn't really done much to set it apart from other racing games (a genre I'm not usually that into). It's a fun game but it's one of those games I will probably tire of fairly quickly.
I was still playing ESPN pretty regularly and was really starting to enjoy playing online until late last week when I got some new games that have since garnered all my playing time. I got four games: Crimson Skies, Sudeki, Links 2004 and Project Gotham Racing 2. Yes, they're all Xbox games, but that's because they're all from Microsoft's delightful training program for retail employees.
I've probably put the most time into Links 2004 so far. I'm a huge fan of the Mario Golf games and was really looking forward to finally trying Links with its more realistic approach, analog swing mechanics and online play. Unfortunately, so far I'm a little disappointed. The swing system is pretty good and is a nice alternative to the somewhat dated three-point system in the Mario Golf games, but I don't feel as in control so, as of now, I still prefer the old method. I also miss the wonderful (perhaps too precise) range finder from Mario's last two golf outings. The courses have been a little disappointing as well. They're all real courses which is pretty cool, but the ones I've played so far have also been too easy. I'm assuming that as I progress this will become less of a problem. The other major feature that I was looking forward to, online play, has really panned out yet either. I tried to get on this morning to play and found that there wasn't a single game to join. Basically, it's a pretty good game so far that I'm hoping will get better.
I've also put a few hours into Sudeki. I mainly picked up this game just because I was so surprised to see such a new game available through Microsoft's training program. Everything I'd heard about the game beforehand was very lukewarm and I've come away with basically the same feeling. The story isn't progressing very quickly and I'm already starting to lose interest, the voices for all the characters are pretty bad and really don't match their personalities well and certain parts already have a tedious feeling to them. On the bright side, the combat system is very solid, though it also has its drawbacks. The most effective method of combat is to simply take the long-range character and fire from a distance, but this gets boring fast and I quickly switched to controlling one of the melee characters even though it's a less effective approach. Again, I hope this game grows on me the more I play it.
I haven't played too much of the other two games so far, but have put in a reasonable amount of time with each. I really like Crimson Skies so far, but haven't had a chance to try out what is supposed to be its strong suit (multiplayer, specifically on XBL). As for PGR2, I like it but it hasn't really done much to set it apart from other racing games (a genre I'm not usually that into). It's a fun game but it's one of those games I will probably tire of fairly quickly.
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