Here are the Playstation system games I played today (08-30-10):
Raiden III is a tough old school style shmup released for the PS2. The Raiden series is actually relatively well known in name, but not a lot of people seem to have paid attention to this PS2 release.
This is pure old school shmup gameplay. It's a fun shmup, but it's also a damn tough one. As per usual, this game requires quite a bit of memorization and fast reflexes to make it through. It requires old school gaming dedication, and old school gaming patience.
Here's a poorly-played vid I uploaded of the game in action:
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 (PS2)-
Despite the original Mirra on the PS1 being my favorite extreme sports game of all time, I, comparatively, haven't put nearly as much time into it's sequel. Mirra 2 is a great game, don't get me wrong, I just haven't been in the mood to play it for years until I dug it out today.
I remembered some of my complaints with this one. The first had it's share of control glitches, and this one at first feel a lot smoother in control, but there are some things a little off on it when compared to the first. Most notably with the grinding. I've found myself overshooting simple grinds when I'm holding the grind button. In fact I tend to just jump right over essential rails I'm aiming for, or grinding the wrong rail. The biggest annoyance being the overshooting of rails.
Also, the jumping feels a little less responsive than in the original, and as in the first Mirra game, the default camera setting needs to be changed to "Behind" in order for it to work, and give you a wider view. Another big complaint and the reason why I stopped playing it, and got sidetracked by other games years ago, is this version is damn tough. I can breeze through the first Mirra game, but this one gives me trouble. I think a lot of it has to do with the control glitches, but make no mistake, this isn't an easy game.
All that being said, The levels in this game are huge by comparison to the original, and the trick modifier system is still a blast. Overall, aside from some control glitches, and tough objectives, this game is just as good as the original in terms of the gameplay it even adds some new abilities to the formula as well.
Though the first will always hold that special place for me, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 was the last great BMX game ever made. Hoffman 2, and especially the horrid BMX XXX don't even hold a candle.
Developer Z-Axis later made Aggressive Inline (which I haven't played myself, but always meant to) which got great reviews, and the pooish BMX XXX which I will forgive them for, and was later bought by Activision thus ending any competition the THPS until Skate hit many years later.
Z-Axis was the only developer that really gave the THPS series a run for their money with Mirra, and the poorly reviewed, but more appreciated by real skaters, Thrasher Skate and Destroy. The extreme sports era featured everything from skateboarding to surfing, but is almost gone now. Even THPS has become stale to gamers, but maybe someday there will be a resurgence of this addictive genre. In the mean time, I think I hear more Dave Mirra 2 calling me.
Raiden III (PS2)-
Raiden III is a tough old school style shmup released for the PS2. The Raiden series is actually relatively well known in name, but not a lot of people seem to have paid attention to this PS2 release.
This is pure old school shmup gameplay. It's a fun shmup, but it's also a damn tough one. As per usual, this game requires quite a bit of memorization and fast reflexes to make it through. It requires old school gaming dedication, and old school gaming patience.
Here's a poorly-played vid I uploaded of the game in action:
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 (PS2)-
Despite the original Mirra on the PS1 being my favorite extreme sports game of all time, I, comparatively, haven't put nearly as much time into it's sequel. Mirra 2 is a great game, don't get me wrong, I just haven't been in the mood to play it for years until I dug it out today.
I remembered some of my complaints with this one. The first had it's share of control glitches, and this one at first feel a lot smoother in control, but there are some things a little off on it when compared to the first. Most notably with the grinding. I've found myself overshooting simple grinds when I'm holding the grind button. In fact I tend to just jump right over essential rails I'm aiming for, or grinding the wrong rail. The biggest annoyance being the overshooting of rails.
Also, the jumping feels a little less responsive than in the original, and as in the first Mirra game, the default camera setting needs to be changed to "Behind" in order for it to work, and give you a wider view. Another big complaint and the reason why I stopped playing it, and got sidetracked by other games years ago, is this version is damn tough. I can breeze through the first Mirra game, but this one gives me trouble. I think a lot of it has to do with the control glitches, but make no mistake, this isn't an easy game.
All that being said, The levels in this game are huge by comparison to the original, and the trick modifier system is still a blast. Overall, aside from some control glitches, and tough objectives, this game is just as good as the original in terms of the gameplay it even adds some new abilities to the formula as well.
Though the first will always hold that special place for me, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 was the last great BMX game ever made. Hoffman 2, and especially the horrid BMX XXX don't even hold a candle.
Developer Z-Axis later made Aggressive Inline (which I haven't played myself, but always meant to) which got great reviews, and the pooish BMX XXX which I will forgive them for, and was later bought by Activision thus ending any competition the THPS until Skate hit many years later.
Z-Axis was the only developer that really gave the THPS series a run for their money with Mirra, and the poorly reviewed, but more appreciated by real skaters, Thrasher Skate and Destroy. The extreme sports era featured everything from skateboarding to surfing, but is almost gone now. Even THPS has become stale to gamers, but maybe someday there will be a resurgence of this addictive genre. In the mean time, I think I hear more Dave Mirra 2 calling me.
I am a big fan of the older tony hawk games. well I have only played one game from the series, but on 2 different systems haha. You see, as a kid I had tony hawk's pro skater 3 on N64. I believe that was the last game released for the system too. Later when I got into Xlink Kai LAN tunneling I discovered that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 had a LAN mode and could still be played online with that program. So I bought the game and beat the entire singleplayer again and had a a blast haha. It is a lot of fun to play online too. THPS4 and one of the underground games have LAN as well.
ReplyDeleteI never tried a bmx game though, I am sure I would probably enjoy those too.