It’s around 10 pm. I’m trawling the YouTubes. All of a sudden, I come across this:
I don’t even know what to say, really.
You know those games that just come along, out of the blue, and just seem tailor-made for you? Xenon Racer is one of those games.
So, E3 2018 is done and dusted. I’ve been soaking in the information the last week, as I’m sure almost every one have done, too.
In all honestly, I haven’t been entirely floored with everything I’ve come across, because I tend to prefer smaller-scale, niche games over the AAA stuff, but of course, there are exceptions! I like my single-player stuff, racing games, and retro-styled experiences, and there were a few things this year that tickled my fancy.
A few games, though, I’m super-excited for. So excited, in fact, that I need games to fill the wait. And I’ll get to those in a bit. But before I do, here are some games coming up on the horizon that really got me pumped:
This one has been a long time coming.
I found Horizon Chase enjoyable enough on my Android phone, I really did. But the minute there was news of this coming to PC and Consoles, I stopped playing. I tried getting my controller to work with the Android version, but never had much luck. And I really didn’t want to use the touch-screen to play. It was fine, honestly, but my memories of the raster-racers Horizon Chase was paying homage to was with a controller in my hand, not tap-tap-tapping on a touch-screen.
So I made a deal with myself.
As much as I wanted to dive in, I was going to wait it out.
I’ll get to the Tutorial in a second, but I’ve really got to go into what inspired this post in the first place.
So, I finally sat down and went through DeviantArt ICON (ha!) POOTERMAN’s gallery. I’ve been meaning to download all of the icons he’s made to replace my own for a while now, and being laid up with a bad back today was the perfect excuse to get cracking and just do it.
I really didn’t think I’d be sitting at my desk – in 2018, no less – writing about how fantastic a game Hot Wheels Velocity X: Maximum Justice is, yet here we are.
Licensed games of the 90s/00s could be hit or miss. OK, they were mostly misses, as with startling regularity, hot properties of the day were shoehorned into genres they had no place being in. Home Improvement SNES, anybody?
Things have been a little quieter this week, but there are reasons, I promise!
Early last week, I crossed a big-ticket, bucket-list item off my ‘want’ list – a Steering Wheel for my PC! I settled on the Logitech G920 Driving Force GT because game compatibility is great, and well, its pretty.
Real pretty!
To say I’ve been happy with my purchase is an understatement. This thing has changed my racing world.
Here it comes! More arcade racing goodness!
I really enjoyed Aquiris Game Studio’s Horizon Chase on my Android device – it’s a great homage to classic racing series like Lotus, OutRun & Top Gear that rises above the nostagia all the same, and is a legitimately great game. The only qualm I ever had with it was that it was stuck on a mobile device. OK for gaming on the go – although (practical) physical controls wouldn’t have gone astray – but in my experience, less than ideal for extended play sessions at home. So maybe I wasn’t too fond of the overly mobile-esque UI either, but Horizon Chase Turbo looks to be heavily re-worked for home platforms.
Aquiris Game Studio has taken its time with these ports, and all signs point to it being worth the wait. I’m all for delays if it means we’re getting a game that is more than just a quick mobile cash-grab. Which Horizon Chase Turbo most definitely is not – it’s looking mint.
Every now and then, a game comes along that takes your breath away. I picked up Ninja Theory’s ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West on launch day, and my first run through the game was on the Xbox 360. I played it from beginning to end, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It’s a shame more people didn’t do the same, as the game sold rather poorly, and the only follow-up we got came in the form of DLC – a side-story that I’ll admit I haven’t played too much of yet. This is a review of the main Enslaved portion. I’ll be reviewing the ‘Pigsy’s Perfect 10’ DLC at a later date – watch this space. This is a review of the PC port that followed a few years later. I saw it sitting there in my Steam Library a couple of days ago, so I decided that a re-play was well overdue.
Shovelware!
If your platform is selling gang-busters, then expect the shovelware to start flooding the system in no time at all! The Playstation 2 definitely did well – and there is a veritable RUBBISH TIP worth of the stuff on the system.
So, I found a box of PS2 games in my wardrobe the other day, and I was immediately drawn to the cheap cover art that some of the games exhibited. When did I buy all this trash? I cannot for the life of me remember.
So I dug out the old PS2 Slim, set-up my XRGB-Mini, and proceeded to make my way through them, game by game, taking video and snapping screenshots along the way.
And lucky you, yes you right there! You get to suffer through them with me!
Bring a sick bag!
