After the recent controversy over GTA V here in the AU, I was inspired to play some GTA. Not for the first time I tried to get into GTA IV but it just doesn’t do it for me. It’s an amazing world, but it’s just too realistic / serious / mean spirited or something. And the gameplay is sluggish; it feels like Niko’s running / driving under water.

So I pulled out the P4 for some Vice City – one of my all-time favourites and the best GTA by far IMHO – only to discover that the HDD had died and lost my saves. I put a new HDD in and have started from scratch, ~15 hours behind where I was but I don’t care. It’s just such a freaking fun game.

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Unreal, though the game seems to be populated by this "clan" of Spanish speaking players that seem to like to insult anybody who speaks English, oh and they put forth zero effort to play nice with you.

I wish all the good players didn't leave.

badmojo wrote:

After the recent controversy over GTA V here in the AU, I was inspired to play some GTA. Not for the first time I tried to get into GTA IV but it just doesn’t do it for me. It’s an amazing world, but it’s just too realistic / serious / mean spirited or something. And the gameplay is sluggish; it feels like Niko’s running / driving under water.

So I pulled out the P4 for some Vice City – one of my all-time favourites and the best GTA by far IMHO – only to discover that the HDD had died and lost my saves. I put a new HDD in and have started from scratch, ~15 hours behind where I was but I don’t care. It’s just such a freaking fun game.

Yeah I agree, the game just lacks atmosphere. The city is amazing, the car physics are great and with the realistic handeling mod or the 1988 New York car pack the game is wonderful for driving but the story is boring. Niko comes off as a mouthy prick and his brother is a useless whiney little assface not to mention EVERY character is forgettable and this is most likely due to Niko's aloofness. He doesn't really relate or connect to anyone in the game, he feels totally abstract in a world of grey concrete and senseless violence. Even the humour in the game that usually comes across strong in GTA games is totally lackluster and the radiostations are much too short and once again lack anything really humorous, I mean sure there were a couple of times I chuckled but nothing like GTA:SA or GTA Vice city. Also I think the inclusion of cellphones cheapens the whole experience, it just feels like an advert for cellphones even though no specific brand is mentioned (Maybe that's just because I refuse to buy a cellphone though). Also the constant nagging phonecalls make me wish I could just chuck the damn thing out the window while driving around the city. 🤣

Midtown Madness 2.

I harbor a secret desire to drive like a crazed maniac on city streets (but also know the consequences 😵 ); to satisfy it, I run amok in this game instead. And no matter how many times I play it over and over, I just keep coming back for more - one of the few games I can never get enough of (evil maniacal laughter ensues 😈 😁 🤣 ).

It also looks very nice in widescreen mode:

Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to go back and run over some more cars, trucks, trees, pedestrians, signs, etc. 😊

JayCeeBee64 wrote:

Midtown Madness 2. […]
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Midtown Madness 2.

I harbor a secret desire to drive like a crazed maniac on city streets (but also know the consequences 😵 ); to satisfy it, I run amok in this game instead. And no matter how many times I play it over and over, I just keep coming back for more - one of the few games I can never get enough of (evil maniacal laughter ensues 😈 😁 🤣 ).

It also looks very nice in widescreen mode:

Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to go back and run over some more cars, trucks, trees, pedestrians, signs, etc. 😊

If you've ever tried to drive like a 'normal' person in London in that game, you'll soon realise that the traffic lights are situated on the wrong side of the road.. What an oversight!! Haha.

Interesting bit of info Blurredman, thanks. That's one more reason for me to drive like a crazed maniac (and yes I do try to take out the traffic lights, just to make an even bigger mess on the streets! 😁 🤣 ).

Been playing little point and click browser games by Pastel Games; Aurora 1 & 2, now onto the Covert Front quartet.

Last couple of months have been really hectic at work for me and I'm on leave till new year now.
Had a day with my amiga, playing mainly Turrican 2, Superfrog and Ruff'n'Tumble.

Ruff'n'Tumble has amazing graphics for an amiga 500 but suffers from jerky scrolling and frame rate drops. If you can deal with that its a great game.

Superfrog is a cool game, graphics are nice and scrolling is much smoother, although some of the physics can feel a bit funny sometimes.

Not much to say about Turrican 2, probably one of the most popular games on the Amiga. I've finished the first one a few times but the second one seems a bit harder, to me at least. I haven't managed to get past the first level. Also the bounce weapon is hot garbage. At this point I like the first one better but I'm not going to give up on it yet.

On my to do list over the christmas break is to look at my breadbin C64's and get them working...

^ T2 is a great game, don't give it up DK! I've finished many times the PC version, it's just great. Also T3 is good, use a 2-button pad if you can.

Currently I am playing Dragon Age Inquisition on the PS4, very nice game.

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Just found a copy of the Gold edition of AOE II in the box yesterday. Sort of a meh game for me though, never was as fascinating as the original AOE.

AOE2 has a huge following with multiple online communities and 100Ks of players.

Been playing Half-Life again after watching an episode from The Examined Life of Gaming talking about how good the first game really is compared to the often praised second game. Have to agree with Roland on this one, the first game really was something that the second game, while still a pretty good game, was not. Never could put into words what felt off about 2 when I played it but he explained it better than I could.

Also been playing random Xbox 1 titles since I got a working DVD drive for it a few months ago, taking advantage of the softmod job a friend did a while ago and utilizing HDD installs for the games to make them work a bit better. Biggest title is Splinter Cell since it is the only way for me to play the classic trilogy, namely the first two without any serious issues.

DonutKing wrote:

On my to do list over the christmas break is to look at my breadbin C64's and get them working...

Keep us updated on the C64's - I'm particularly interested in what you do re a reliable PSU. Building one with modern components has been on my to-do list for a while now.

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Been playing Warcraft Orcs and Humans, I was always a fan of Warcraft II but never took time to play the older one. I have to say despite the completely useless AI, horrid pathfinding and having to use keyboard shortcuts for everything (clicking on icons to move soldiers and telling them to attack takes way too long. Much easier to just hit M or A.) it really is an awesome game. I love everything about it, especially the dungeon sections! It just reminds me so much of playing D&D when I was a kid. 🤣

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Been having a blast playing System Shock recently. The last time I played it was in the 90s so I was limited to the low-res modes and FM music.

This time I wanted to experience in high-res mode, so I'm playing it on a Socket A machine. This has enough grunt for 640x480 and I also have great music courtesy of a DB50XG hooked up to a Diamond MX300. All seems to work fine under Win98, video card is a Geforce3 hooked up via DVI. With a couple of tweaks the game will load audio from the hard drive, which removes any pauses while the CD drive spins up.

Great game! The opening tune rocks and is probably the only part of the game that's better in the floppy version, because there's no voice over.