Friday was Good Friday, so staying in and just chilling was on the docket.
My Saturn needed a new Battery, but I haven't had time to just devote 3+ hours to playing, in order to charge it up (I DO NOT leave consoles on just for the hell of it), so I played a bunch of my new titles.
Played:
- Greatest 9 '98: Summer
Classic Nipon League players and WONDERFUL presentation, it literally felt like I was back in Meiji Jingu; I have never played a 32-bit baseball game as good as this.
Beat:
- Sonic R
Had fun with this; gorgeous presentation and great music, but... do we really have to race with the bloody d-pad? Ugh, it's not unplayable, but it's definitely a hassle... Came first in every track, but haven't unlocked anything and at this point, not sure I will...
Completed Fully:
- Sega Touring Car Championship
So gave this a whirl and I found it tricky to steer for the entirety of my first go at things; ended up finishing 3rd overall and I was impressed with the graphics and superb (but not my cup of tea, genre-wise) soundtrack. So I started another run and COMPLETELY forgot about the analogue stick. Switched over...
AND HOLY SHIT IS IT ***SIGNIFICANTLY*** BETTER AND MORE PLAYABLE! Almost like night and day. Finished second overall and just BARELY missed-out on top spot. So I did a third run and blew the competition away, finishing first on the secret track(s) as well. It definitely isn't Sega Rally, but is certainly isn't as bad as people make it out to be; even the guy with an FAQ on Gamefaqs, wrote about how the framerate hurts his eyes. I'm telling you, there are 0 framerate issues and the game runs very smoothly. Just don't get it...
- Vatlva
Have fallen in love with this game. After beating it thrice to fully unlock everything (and mess around for a bit in the free for all mode), I took to adding the soundtrack to my iPod, because this is literally one of the 5 best gaming soundtracks I've ever witnessed. No ID3 tags, nothing on gracenote, etc. thus, I turned to replaying the game again to get character names and looking up info for composer, year, etc.
I discover that Yuzo Koshiro did the writing for the music (which was a major, "duh," moment) and that the developer, Ancient, is his own company (facepalm); no wonder this game is so polished and superb! This game was truly a labour of love and the cartoonist for the Rockman comics, designed and drew all the characters, as well as the anime cutscenes that play throughout the game.
Anyways, it is basically a 1V1 battle with original vehicles, which you completely customize with weapons and other goodies (that shoot both in front and behind), as well as customizing your vehicles physical attributes, such as handling, speed, battery power, etc.
This is an excellent party game as well and it is super easy to pick up and play. Tempted to give it a 10, but it is completely a 9/10 game, no questions asked.
A wonderful surprise