09.05.07
Posted in Gaming at 9:37 am by Silesti
I have to be honest, I didn’t really have any solid expectations of TDU. I played the demo and thought it was generally OK (apart from the motorbike riding dynamics of course.. being a biker and racer in the past NOTHING ever really works properly in this area – actually MOTOGP come close, only close though).
The best I can come up with is that TDU is a driving simulator in arcade mode so there’s no damage. There’s racing in there too, street-style in the mold of Need for Speed with all of the attendant risks of oncoming traffic etc and this is used to win money to allow you to buy and drive faster cars. The racing also progresses you through the difficulty levels which opens up more races and facilities too.
The cash element of the game is also important in buying property, the garages of which you keep your cars in which kind of makes sense.. in a PGR kind of way I suppose. But then there is another form of currency in play too.. the fashion voucher/credit which you can use to purchase clothes and accessories for your character. This is no doubt the most obvious and blatant piece of advertising I’ve seen in a game so far (I mean driving games are going to have cars in so you can forgive the manufacturers being there), this even goes as far as having an achievement for owning all of the items from a particular brand! It’s quite strange.
Now, I’ve reached Pro level, I have 1 house and 2 cars, so I’m sure there will be TDU fans out there who will say that so far I’ve only just scratched the surface of this game, and for sure I’ve not engaged in any multi-player antics (although the full time on-line play is actually quite cool!), so I’m prepared and more than happy to continue running through and expanding my real-estate empire and racking up the miles. So I’ll probably be back when I’m done! 
Silesti.
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08.26.07
Posted in Gaming at 1:29 pm by Silesti
So I’m going to be playing host to a 6 year old this evening (baby-sitting duty) and I decided that it’s about time he got into XBox360. So I thought I’d check everything out and AARRGGH! A red ring of light! Immediately panic set in and I had visions of my gorgeous machine going away.
A panicked call to Microsoft sorted me out of course. 4 light is nothing more that a badly connected AV cable. I felt so stupid, but it just goes to show how we get programmed by what we hear and read. My first thought was total failure. For any other piece of kit I have I’d have gone through all of the plugging/un-plugging before even getting worried.
Anyway all is good and we’ll be having fun in cars later!
Silesti.
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08.22.07
Posted in Gaming at 9:31 pm by Silesti
So here’s the scoop; I haven’t finished this game yet and I’m not sure that I’ll even get around to it. Let me fill you in!
The graphics are fine. Good render speeds, smooth action and very effective visually. The gameplay however leaves a lot to be desired, and I mean A LOT!
The piece of action which has tipped me over this particular edge is the ‘Hoover Dam’ section when playing as the Autobots. Bumblebee is working his way into the control enter and has to bash down a number of doors to get there… fair enough! OK, behind each door is a wheeled drone which immediately scoots off to alert it’s masters (why they have to do this in person I’m not sure, but moving on..) agan I have no real problem with this as a concept, but you’d think after the first one, your dumb character would be ready to blast seven shades of oil out of the things as soon as they appear, but no, every time Bumblebee simply watches idly by as they trundle off and you have to transform and drive after them to make up for this ineptitude! Rubbish!
Oh! And that brings me on to the controls! I don’t like having an on/off switch as an accelerator and brake. Why do I have to have to put up with this when there are a pair of perfectly good analogue controls availble being used for weapon and shield control.. AS ON/OFF SWITCHES!
I switched over to try the game as the Decepticons at this point and, actually enjoyed the game quite a bit more. Is this wrong? The wanton destruction, the mayhem, the carnage (OK so there’s actually no carnage so to speak, but the hint of it is there.) Am I an Evil character?
The answer is of course no. (I think) it’s just that it’s more fun to smash things and win than to be careful and win.
I may re-visit this one at some point, but for now, it’s going on the ‘I should have thought twice.. it’s a movie tie-in’ pile.
Silesti.
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