The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Well, the wet weather has arrived, the sun is saying its last goodbyes and leaves are starting to clutter the roads. It’s that time a year again, so wrap up warm, bulk-buy as many Wagon Wheels as you can stuff into your cupboards and get ready for a long winter. But there is an upside. For every frown, a smile, for every heartache, a new love, for every draught, a flood. And, my goodness is it going to flood. The almost infinite summer draught of games is over, meaning you can now bathe yourself in digital, polygonal goodness.
Well, some of us can.
Last Christmas was pretty skimpy on the ground, games wise. I mean, there were a few big hitters, but nothing that’ll change the course of history. This Christmas, though, not a week goes by where a big game is released, and around every corner seems to be some kind of noteworthy software to take up your time and money.
Since I purchased my Gamecube, I’ve been able to pick up just about any game that takes (or, in some cases, doesn’t) my fancy. With a mixture of trade-ins, birthday, Christmas and ‘pocket’ money, I’ve been able to pick up just about everything, from Luigi’s Mansion to Skies of Arcadia – I was awash with games.
Somehow, somewhere along the line, something has gone wrong. My flow of money has stayed the same, and even increased slightly in the past 12 months, but, unquestionably, the number of games I buy has dropped.
Of course, I have purchased an iPod recently, which kinds of raids the coffers a bit, but a large proportion of that was a gift from my Mother in celebration of my average GCSE results, and the remainder was taken up by sales of old CDs… So where has it gone?
If I had the time and patience, I could probably figure out where all of it went, but seeing as I’m a lazing commie with too much spare time, I think I’ll leave that for a while – for the immediate future, my thoughts should lie with games, or the lack of them. In the blink of an eye, 1 of the big hitters has already zoomed past me, and a game that I would have once shelled out in the hundreds for is on the shelves, waiting. Unfortunately, for EA and Nintendo, it looks unlikely that I’ll be getting my hands on Burnout 3 or Animal Crossing this year, despite wanting them both so much it’s driving me insane.
Then there are the little games that deserve a bit of investment. Stupidly, a few weeks ago, I bought Rainbow Six: Black Arrow. It’s amazing how shortsighted a person can be when they’ve got money burning a hole in their pocket. For £20, I bought a game which, however good it may be, I’ve already played to death over the past 12 months in the original. Black Arrow wasn’t one that was on my list of ‘to buy’s, nor was it desperately needed. But now I’m left with a game, no matter how enjoyable it is, that’ll get washed away when other titles come out.
There’s also Wario Ware, a game which is definitely worthy of 20 notes – a game of which I’d have killed for when it was GBA only. Its multiplayer is sublime, the single player equally so, but my collection still has a hole for this yellow masterpiece. My wallet, however, has a hole where the £20 for this should be, and, so, it remains that I have to borrow from friends to be able to experience it.
Onto the future, though, which is even more of a cause for concern for all things money related. Fable, the game which made promised us the world and gave us the moon instead, comes out next week. It is a fantastic game, we all know that, but I won’t be able to fully test just how fantastic it will be. After watching every video, reading every preview, buying into every promise and making a Peter Molyneux shrine in my closet, it looks unlikely that my budget will be able to stretch for this, unfortunately. My plans to massacre villages, commit adultery and be an all-round badass are crumbling as I type.
There are 2 XBOX games that I’d happily sell both kidneys for, though. Whereas Fable was simply ‘MUST HAVE’, these 2 titles are ‘LIFE OR DEATH’. Since selling my Playstation 2, I’ve longer for a football game to satisfy my urges – the ability to play a long ball over the defenders of FIFA is non-existent, and Virtua Striker 3 ver.2002 on the Gamecube features more tackling and rainbows than football. Prayers were answered, though, when Konami announced that the greatest football title to grace any platform ever (except maybe indoor mode on Road to World Cup ’98) was to appear on my big black box. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 shall be a game which will take over my life. Fact. The 3rd iteration managed to have me play almost a full weekend of football, and managed to possess the PS2 for months, causing arguments, brawls and abuse from all who dared to play it. Now, though, it’s the turn of the XBOX to get taken over, and for my broadband connection to buckle under the strain of extended Live play. Believed to be a step up of Burnout proportions by all who’ve played it, Pro Evo 4 is looking to be the ultimate football title anywhere… again.
It’s likely, however, that Pro Evo shall only have 1 week to shine, alone, in the spotlight. 7 days to covert and entertain me alone. For, on the 11th of November, Master Chief completes his much–delayed return in Halo 2. We all know what Halo stands for now: battle, argument, revolution, stubbornness – and that’s just the debates over Goldeneye. With the amount of hype being poured upon Halo 2, it sounds almost impossible that Bungie will fulfil its promises. However, with more information being shown by the day, and more previews and hands-on reports being leaked into magazines and onto webpages, it’s looking increasingly likely that Microsoft’s boys will do the job. And if they don’t? Riots. Well, angry fanboy spam, to say the least.
Well, its fair to say from those 2 titles alone that this is going to be a pretty cluttered festive season of gaming in my household – and I haven’t even got onto the Nintendo releases yet! Since E3, I’ve been planning to purchase quite a few Nintendo titles. Donkey Konga, the rhythm action conga-drum game has always looked appealing to my party gaming self. The tunes (bar Richard III) all sound quite abysmal, and the thought of beating off to a monkey is something I usually associate with the internet but Nintendo have put all of their magic into this one, and it looks like it’ll pay off. Whether I’ll be paying for it come release, though, looks quite unlikely.
Pikmin 2 is another title that’ll be lucky if I manage to spare the £30 for it when it’s released in PAL territories. I really did want to enjoy the original, and it had all the elements of a great game, but somethings, for me at least, stopped it from reaching that status and made it into simple tedium. Now that the time constraints have gone, the variations of Pikmin increased and the mind-numbing labour aspects have been dumped in favour of a fun time, it’s a game that absolutely NEEDS to be a part of my collection. It seems, however, that it’ll be a long time before I can even think about adding it.
But there is one thing from Nintendo that looks almost certain to be coming home with me upon release. Like everyone else, I was a bit sceptical when it was announced, and was close to mocking the big N when I started to think about it but as always, they’ve pulled through. Officially, it may not arrive in Europe until about March next year, but, for me, the Nintendo DS will be arriving November 21st. It’ll probably cost about £200 to get it with games and such, but, by the looks of things, it shall be a worthy investment. Wireless multiplayer, touch screen, Mario 64 – it has everything that a handheld owner would want. Add Gameboy Advance compatibility and you’ve potentially got a library of over 700 titles at launch (none of which anyone will play, of course). The options it opens up to games developers are immense – Pac Pix, a game where you draw a picture of Pac-Man and direct him towards ghosts is one such example, and the wireless multiplayer of Metroid Hunters is just a foetal example of what could happen with wireless multiplayer. Nintendo will, as usual, bring its massive back catalogue, porting anything they think will sell to our nostalgic selves. Also, there’s the wealth of game we’ve not heard about or seen yet.
So, at the moment, it’s looking like a choice between the DS or Halo 2 and PES4… I’ll have to think of someway to get around this monetary problem soon, or fire shall engulf us all. Either that or I’ll just have to choose.
Oh well.
So, what are you going to have to sacrifice over the festive period? Are you having to choose San Andreas or Star Wars: Battlefront? Paper Mario or Prince of Persia? Whatever you choose, remember: a game is for trade-in, not just for Christmas.
Well, some of us can.
Last Christmas was pretty skimpy on the ground, games wise. I mean, there were a few big hitters, but nothing that’ll change the course of history. This Christmas, though, not a week goes by where a big game is released, and around every corner seems to be some kind of noteworthy software to take up your time and money.
Since I purchased my Gamecube, I’ve been able to pick up just about any game that takes (or, in some cases, doesn’t) my fancy. With a mixture of trade-ins, birthday, Christmas and ‘pocket’ money, I’ve been able to pick up just about everything, from Luigi’s Mansion to Skies of Arcadia – I was awash with games.
Somehow, somewhere along the line, something has gone wrong. My flow of money has stayed the same, and even increased slightly in the past 12 months, but, unquestionably, the number of games I buy has dropped.
Of course, I have purchased an iPod recently, which kinds of raids the coffers a bit, but a large proportion of that was a gift from my Mother in celebration of my average GCSE results, and the remainder was taken up by sales of old CDs… So where has it gone?
If I had the time and patience, I could probably figure out where all of it went, but seeing as I’m a lazing commie with too much spare time, I think I’ll leave that for a while – for the immediate future, my thoughts should lie with games, or the lack of them. In the blink of an eye, 1 of the big hitters has already zoomed past me, and a game that I would have once shelled out in the hundreds for is on the shelves, waiting. Unfortunately, for EA and Nintendo, it looks unlikely that I’ll be getting my hands on Burnout 3 or Animal Crossing this year, despite wanting them both so much it’s driving me insane.
Then there are the little games that deserve a bit of investment. Stupidly, a few weeks ago, I bought Rainbow Six: Black Arrow. It’s amazing how shortsighted a person can be when they’ve got money burning a hole in their pocket. For £20, I bought a game which, however good it may be, I’ve already played to death over the past 12 months in the original. Black Arrow wasn’t one that was on my list of ‘to buy’s, nor was it desperately needed. But now I’m left with a game, no matter how enjoyable it is, that’ll get washed away when other titles come out.
There’s also Wario Ware, a game which is definitely worthy of 20 notes – a game of which I’d have killed for when it was GBA only. Its multiplayer is sublime, the single player equally so, but my collection still has a hole for this yellow masterpiece. My wallet, however, has a hole where the £20 for this should be, and, so, it remains that I have to borrow from friends to be able to experience it.
Onto the future, though, which is even more of a cause for concern for all things money related. Fable, the game which made promised us the world and gave us the moon instead, comes out next week. It is a fantastic game, we all know that, but I won’t be able to fully test just how fantastic it will be. After watching every video, reading every preview, buying into every promise and making a Peter Molyneux shrine in my closet, it looks unlikely that my budget will be able to stretch for this, unfortunately. My plans to massacre villages, commit adultery and be an all-round badass are crumbling as I type.
There are 2 XBOX games that I’d happily sell both kidneys for, though. Whereas Fable was simply ‘MUST HAVE’, these 2 titles are ‘LIFE OR DEATH’. Since selling my Playstation 2, I’ve longer for a football game to satisfy my urges – the ability to play a long ball over the defenders of FIFA is non-existent, and Virtua Striker 3 ver.2002 on the Gamecube features more tackling and rainbows than football. Prayers were answered, though, when Konami announced that the greatest football title to grace any platform ever (except maybe indoor mode on Road to World Cup ’98) was to appear on my big black box. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 shall be a game which will take over my life. Fact. The 3rd iteration managed to have me play almost a full weekend of football, and managed to possess the PS2 for months, causing arguments, brawls and abuse from all who dared to play it. Now, though, it’s the turn of the XBOX to get taken over, and for my broadband connection to buckle under the strain of extended Live play. Believed to be a step up of Burnout proportions by all who’ve played it, Pro Evo 4 is looking to be the ultimate football title anywhere… again.
It’s likely, however, that Pro Evo shall only have 1 week to shine, alone, in the spotlight. 7 days to covert and entertain me alone. For, on the 11th of November, Master Chief completes his much–delayed return in Halo 2. We all know what Halo stands for now: battle, argument, revolution, stubbornness – and that’s just the debates over Goldeneye. With the amount of hype being poured upon Halo 2, it sounds almost impossible that Bungie will fulfil its promises. However, with more information being shown by the day, and more previews and hands-on reports being leaked into magazines and onto webpages, it’s looking increasingly likely that Microsoft’s boys will do the job. And if they don’t? Riots. Well, angry fanboy spam, to say the least.
Well, its fair to say from those 2 titles alone that this is going to be a pretty cluttered festive season of gaming in my household – and I haven’t even got onto the Nintendo releases yet! Since E3, I’ve been planning to purchase quite a few Nintendo titles. Donkey Konga, the rhythm action conga-drum game has always looked appealing to my party gaming self. The tunes (bar Richard III) all sound quite abysmal, and the thought of beating off to a monkey is something I usually associate with the internet but Nintendo have put all of their magic into this one, and it looks like it’ll pay off. Whether I’ll be paying for it come release, though, looks quite unlikely.
Pikmin 2 is another title that’ll be lucky if I manage to spare the £30 for it when it’s released in PAL territories. I really did want to enjoy the original, and it had all the elements of a great game, but somethings, for me at least, stopped it from reaching that status and made it into simple tedium. Now that the time constraints have gone, the variations of Pikmin increased and the mind-numbing labour aspects have been dumped in favour of a fun time, it’s a game that absolutely NEEDS to be a part of my collection. It seems, however, that it’ll be a long time before I can even think about adding it.
But there is one thing from Nintendo that looks almost certain to be coming home with me upon release. Like everyone else, I was a bit sceptical when it was announced, and was close to mocking the big N when I started to think about it but as always, they’ve pulled through. Officially, it may not arrive in Europe until about March next year, but, for me, the Nintendo DS will be arriving November 21st. It’ll probably cost about £200 to get it with games and such, but, by the looks of things, it shall be a worthy investment. Wireless multiplayer, touch screen, Mario 64 – it has everything that a handheld owner would want. Add Gameboy Advance compatibility and you’ve potentially got a library of over 700 titles at launch (none of which anyone will play, of course). The options it opens up to games developers are immense – Pac Pix, a game where you draw a picture of Pac-Man and direct him towards ghosts is one such example, and the wireless multiplayer of Metroid Hunters is just a foetal example of what could happen with wireless multiplayer. Nintendo will, as usual, bring its massive back catalogue, porting anything they think will sell to our nostalgic selves. Also, there’s the wealth of game we’ve not heard about or seen yet.
So, at the moment, it’s looking like a choice between the DS or Halo 2 and PES4… I’ll have to think of someway to get around this monetary problem soon, or fire shall engulf us all. Either that or I’ll just have to choose.
Oh well.
So, what are you going to have to sacrifice over the festive period? Are you having to choose San Andreas or Star Wars: Battlefront? Paper Mario or Prince of Persia? Whatever you choose, remember: a game is for trade-in, not just for Christmas.
Page:
Great post but I don't think I'm looking forward to anything until the new FF comes out. When I think about it I don't actually buy many games and when I do buy something I tend to buy 3 or 4 at a time.
Yup, have to remember that one. :D
Sudeki?
Exactly.
That's my over-technical definition of RPG too.
Oh and nice big turn based RPG-ish game? Gladius 80 hours of fantastic strategy and tinkering.
I'm currently getting re-obsessed with RPGs again. Spent a couple of hours on Morrowind today, and am thinking about taking Gladius on in advanced mode plus I've just shelled out for a second hand copy of Metal Dungeon because it reminds me of the classic PC slasher Angband.
Should be doing co-op BG:DA tomorrow too although that's stretching what most people define an RPG as. :)
Can't wait for Arx Fatalis to get a little cheaper too.
Any other decent RPG I've missed on Xbox that doesn't involve Star Wars?
That's my over-technical definition of RPG too.
Oh and nice big turn based RPG-ish game? Gladius 80 hours of fantastic strategy and tinkering.
I'm currently getting re-obsessed with RPGs again. Spent a couple of hours on Morrowind today, and am thinking about taking Gladius on in advanced mode plus I've just shelled out for a second hand copy of Metal Dungeon because it reminds me of the classic PC slasher Angband.
Should be doing co-op BG:DA tomorrow too although that's stretching what most people define an RPG as. :)
Can't wait for Arx Fatalis to get a little cheaper too.
Any other decent RPG I've missed on Xbox that doesn't involve Star Wars?
Well, then you're wrong.
My classification of an RPG has no set boundary, I judge each game seperatly. You have to really; 'role playing game' technically includes pretty much every game ever made, how many games do you know where you don't take on the role of someone/something?
My classification of an RPG has no set boundary, I judge each game seperatly. You have to really; 'role playing game' technically includes pretty much every game ever made, how many games do you know where you don't take on the role of someone/something?
The thing that defines an RPG for me at least, is turn based battle.
Well that's obviously wrong.
Any FF game? TOS?
RPGs that use a turn based system are rare these days, too many Playstation era morons that think it's rubbish. Shame really, turn based for RPGs are my preference.
Any FF game? TOS?
RPGs that use a turn based system are rare these days, too many Playstation era morons that think it's rubbish. Shame really, turn based for RPGs are my preference.
An RPG isn't an RPG, for me, if it doesn't have turn-based battling. If it doesn't have all that strategy and stuff, there's no point in even banding it in that genre
I got that impression a bit too. The fighting seems like Zelda's, only not as good.
The thing is though, it's more like an adventure game than an RPG from what I've seen.
Page: