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bleep bloop
Nov. 25th, 2004 11:19 pmI found a discounted copy of Burnout 3 at CD Spins last weekend, and so I have now bought both games that ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
monkeybot had recommended to me during his visit last month (the other being Katamari Damacy). Again, his judgment is sound. I unequivocally state that this is my favorite racing game for the PS2. It's what I wanted Gran Turismo to be, actually. All the joy of make-believe car racing (which I really do love, when done well) with a serious-looking exterior that belies a completely good-silly gameplay model. A typical race sees you smashing your car into tiny pieces 5 times, and the game sort of vaguely penalizes you each time unless you blow up real good and earn bonus points. I giggle with glee (except when I don't, as noted in the next section of this post).
It also has an online component that I'm still figuring out. When I've managed to get it to work, it's a joy, but 9 times out of 10 I get booted from a table for unknown reasons before a race can start. (Maybe I'm getting purposefully kicked, but I get the same vague error message about a communication failure each time.) Starting my own tables works better, but the option to actually start the race seems to gray itself out randomly, without any onscreen explanation. Time to seek Webbish help, I guess.
The one big flaw during gameplay: there is no map. What kind of a racing game has no map? Pitstop had a map, for Pete's sake! I don't know.
In less happy news, I have lately been losing my temper quite freely while playing single-player games. This started with Hot Shots Golf Fore!, even though I think that's a great game (but nothing hurts worse than ker-plunking a key shot right into the water), and has carried over to everything I have played since. I mean really infantile stuff: steam tooting from the ears, etc. Not only does this loss of control upset me, it's embarrassing, since I get loud enough that I'm sure anyone upstairs can hear it, as well as anyone on the street outside my living room. (Who are often attractive young people walking their dogs, this neighborhood being what it is. Even worse!)
I even cuss bitterly when I mess up in Katamari Damacy, though I can't become genuinely angry at it; that would be like getting angry at a cute kitten that bit you, or something. (To randomly quotedougo's summary of the game, as he watched me demo it for him the other day: "I can see someone coming up with the idea for this game, but... to imagine that anyone would actually... go ahead and implement it....")
I certainly don't get this way when playing games with others (video or otherwise), though I used to as recently as college; in fact, my overcoming this nasty trait is actually one of my prouder personality-hacking achievements. (The last time I got mad at a fellow human player was over a game of Mortal Kombat on his Sega Genesis, just to date things.) Interestingly, I don't seem to lose my temper when playing online, even though I'm sitting all alone and the other players may as well be (unusually clever) computer opponents.
Yet despite all this recent railing I haven't really recognized the problem for what it is until just now. Activating countermeasures.
monkeybot had recommended to me during his visit last month (the other being Katamari Damacy). Again, his judgment is sound. I unequivocally state that this is my favorite racing game for the PS2. It's what I wanted Gran Turismo to be, actually. All the joy of make-believe car racing (which I really do love, when done well) with a serious-looking exterior that belies a completely good-silly gameplay model. A typical race sees you smashing your car into tiny pieces 5 times, and the game sort of vaguely penalizes you each time unless you blow up real good and earn bonus points. I giggle with glee (except when I don't, as noted in the next section of this post).It also has an online component that I'm still figuring out. When I've managed to get it to work, it's a joy, but 9 times out of 10 I get booted from a table for unknown reasons before a race can start. (Maybe I'm getting purposefully kicked, but I get the same vague error message about a communication failure each time.) Starting my own tables works better, but the option to actually start the race seems to gray itself out randomly, without any onscreen explanation. Time to seek Webbish help, I guess.
The one big flaw during gameplay: there is no map. What kind of a racing game has no map? Pitstop had a map, for Pete's sake! I don't know.
In less happy news, I have lately been losing my temper quite freely while playing single-player games. This started with Hot Shots Golf Fore!, even though I think that's a great game (but nothing hurts worse than ker-plunking a key shot right into the water), and has carried over to everything I have played since. I mean really infantile stuff: steam tooting from the ears, etc. Not only does this loss of control upset me, it's embarrassing, since I get loud enough that I'm sure anyone upstairs can hear it, as well as anyone on the street outside my living room. (Who are often attractive young people walking their dogs, this neighborhood being what it is. Even worse!)
I even cuss bitterly when I mess up in Katamari Damacy, though I can't become genuinely angry at it; that would be like getting angry at a cute kitten that bit you, or something. (To randomly quote
dougo's summary of the game, as he watched me demo it for him the other day: "I can see someone coming up with the idea for this game, but... to imagine that anyone would actually... go ahead and implement it....")I certainly don't get this way when playing games with others (video or otherwise), though I used to as recently as college; in fact, my overcoming this nasty trait is actually one of my prouder personality-hacking achievements. (The last time I got mad at a fellow human player was over a game of Mortal Kombat on his Sega Genesis, just to date things.) Interestingly, I don't seem to lose my temper when playing online, even though I'm sitting all alone and the other players may as well be (unusually clever) computer opponents.
Yet despite all this recent railing I haven't really recognized the problem for what it is until just now. Activating countermeasures.