2006-04-17 Games
I’ve decided to give away my Playstation 1 and my Dreamcast, with all the games I had for them. Suddenly nostalgia got hold of me...
- I never finished *Legend of Mana*!
- The hours I played *Micro Machines V3*...
- I loved *Rayman* even though I never finished it.
- *Vagrant Story* – the game I nearly finished, except for the last boss. It still hurts!
- *Final Fantasy Tactics* belongs to one of the BestGamesEver! Much better than *Vandal Hearts II*, which I never finished. It was cool last time I played it, but I did not like the artwork much. And the problem with all these tactics games is that once you get to the higher levels, you need less and less tactics. That is sad.
- The days we played *Tekken 3* in the basement of our house in Schärenmoosstrasse – six lunatics under one roof. All of us in our early twenties. It was wild.
- Then *Soulblade* appeared and Tekken was forgotten. It was so incredibly cool. So amazing. We were entranced. We wasted days. We loved it. I remember knowing a superb jump with Siegfried followed by two evil hits that nobody managed to block for days and weeks. I was the master of the game! Until Marc learnt how to fight with Taki... → BestGamesEver!
BestGamesEver
BestGamesEver
Famous games that never made it on my list: *Final Fantasy 7 and 9*, *Castlevania*, *Metal Gear Solid*, *GTa2*, *Star Ocean: The Second Story*.
- *Sonic Adventure* – the first reason I bought the Dreamcast. The sequel didn’t fascinate me as much.
- *Power Stone* – the second reason I bought the Dreamcast.
- *Rayman 2* – I don’t remember why I stopped playing. Did it get too difficult? Or was Jack & Daxter just better? I spent a lot of time with this game at first.
- The hours I played *Crazy Taxi*... Crashing into everything, loud rock’n’roll music, people fleeing in a panic, old grandmas giving extra tips for crazy stunts, the first time I made it to “awesome” – it was awesome!!
- The days I lived in *Shenmue I+II*...
- One of the best games ever: *Jet Set Radio*! And I finished it. It was fantastic.
- The first car racing game I liked and which I played until I had unlocked all but a handful of cars: *Metropolis Street Racer*!
- And finally, the reason two others in our house decided to buy the same console, and the same game, even though we all lived under the same roof: *Soul Calibur*. We went nuts. Our minds blanked out. Mitsurugi, Voldo, Taki – who was it going to be?
Popular stuff I didn’t like: *Grandia 2*, *Sonic Adventure 2*, *Crazy Tax 2*, *Virtua Fighter 3tb*, *Ecco*, *Headhunter*, *Virtua Tennis 2*.
I’ve decided to move some reviews from the old game review page I had to this page. Since these games did not belong the the BestGamesEver category, I decided that they should be moved to an ordinary DayPage.
BestGamesEver
- I loved *Virtual Fighter 4* (VF4). I spent hours in front of the TV. But I am not enough of a fanatic to learn all the moves and counters there are. When a reversal succeeds, I am already more than happy. It beat Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast – graphix are inferiour, but gameplay against your friends is superior. You don’t just always repeat the three or four moves you know, because it is so easy to defend yourself. But Soul Calibur 3 was even better!
- *Medal of Honor: Frontline* looked terribly good. Intense atmosphere, sound samples, colors – but I found it rather difficult. But then again I am not that much of an ego shooter person. I played the shareware version of Doom, and that’s it. I never played much of Quake II which I had bought for the Playstation. I have returned to playing Medal of Honor several times now, which is a very good sign!
- *Jack & Daxter* – loved it! It got a bit more difficult, but having the entire scenery be undivided is totally cool. You can see to the other end of the world, if you stand on a high hill! There are no “Levels”; details just get streamed in the background. Mission goals are collected as you go, so that you can go back to unfinished missions any time. At around 50% through the game some of these passages got frustrating. I hate a game that makes it harder to continue – I bought the damn game, so let me play it without making me feel like an idiot. I enjoy games where it gets harder to do well. I just hate games where it gets harder to play at all.
- *Ratchet & Clank* – strange to see some of the bad points in previous games repeated in newer games. Does nobody ever think about JumpAndRunDesign? Or perhaps they did, and reached different conclusions... Anyway, what I think was really well done is the design of the various weapons. There is a true difference between blaster, pyrocinator (flame thrower), bombs, doom bombs (10 little critters that bite your foes), vacuum gun, and all the other gadgets. Switching weapons is a required part of your tactics, each situation requiring a specific weapon for optimal performance.
JumpAndRunDesign
Popular stuff I didn’t like: *Grand Theft Auto 3* (GTA3), *Agressive Inline* (I hate it when blood spurts all over the place when I fall),
Bought a gamecube 2003-05-08 with Metroid Prime, Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (special edition including Ocarina of Time), and Star Fox Adventures.
- *Pikmin* and *Pikmin 2* – the two only games I played for extended periods of time on the Gamecube.
- *Ocarina of Time* (part of the Zelda Windwaker special edition) – you have to fight and think your way through endless dungeons, room after room. I don’t like this.
- *Metroid Prime* – you have to fight your way through endless dungeons, room after room. On the plus side, *graphics and atmosphere are fabulous*, truly feels like taking part in the exploration of some Alien world. On the negative side, the dungeons are huge, and you have to find the rooms where you can save. The dungeons have secrets you notice but cannot unlock early in the game, so you will have to go back and revisit old dungeons. Just a simple example, some doors require rockets, and you only find rockets later in the game. So you have to traverse the levels again and again. Frustrating after a while.
- *Zelda Windwaker* – I’m pretty sure I don’t like the Zelda design by now: Comparing Ocarina of Time and Windwaker I see what the “common theme” is – the shield, the sword, the hearts, the grass cutting, the lock-on...
- *Star Fox Adventures* was interesting at first, but got boring after a while.
#Games
Comments
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Hoi Alex, are you into World of Warcraft now 😉 (thats what evi’s mom is playing...)?
– 2ni 2006-04-17 20:36 UTC
2ni
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You’ve brought back some great memories with those games, Alex. I still pull out Soulblade and Tekken 3 for a play occasionally. One of these days I’m going to grab a Dreamcast, while they’re still around. I’d love to tinker with Linux on one........
– greywulf 2006-04-17 21:40 UTC
greywulf
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Before I can start playing !WoW I’ll have to buy a better computer. I don’t think this is going to happen any time soon. I’m just in wistful thinking mode...
These days I play *Soul Calibur 3* on my Playstation 2. That game rocks so incredibly, it’s amazing. Me and my best friend – we can spend five or six hours in front of the TV with that game.
– Alex Schroeder 2006-04-17 23:16 UTC
Alex Schroeder