vanlandw.com

Seriously, the final boss is a quick time event.

Undecim: -5

By definition there is no redemption here.

At first I was going to completely avoid Red Dead Redemption. After not entirely enjoying Grand Theft Auto 4 and completely avoiding it’s $DLC, Red Dead was poised to be forgotten. Then I read this (at the time I read up to the spoiler warning…beware). He summed up exactly what turned me off to Niko’s plight and his write up made it seem Red Dead attempts to correct the wrongs of the past. After continuously reading and hearing good things about the game it ended being a must play…

…that I ultimately completed to 100%

Name a video game where the main character is a married man with high school aged child. I can think of one (Kaim f/ Lost Odyssey) but honestly most antagonists are blank slates in gaming. Vagabonding men driven to get the girl, save the world and assault anybody in the way. Rockstar must understand who their target audience is more then I think. For John Marston’s his past we cannot change, his present we are lightly able to mold towards his unavoidable future. His family is in danger and he’s forced to confront his past. Change is hard and the times are changing.  In Marston, for any adult, there are bits of his struggles in all of us. At the core this is the best aspect of Red Dead Redemption.

This all doesn’t come without faults. The first few hours of the game are extraordinarily drab. Everything starts really slow and the setup with your first target comes to an anticlimactic resolution that’s downright laughable. The beginning tutorials felt laborious at the time  and your initial drop in the first town I found to be boring. After playing the first two hours I had to stop and take a nap.

When the game allows you to start getting sidetracked is when things start to get interesting. Stranger missions, animal hunting, treasure collecting, sightseeing, “Red Dead X-Files”, Social Club Challenges, mini-games, hideouts. That is just scratching the surface as there’s a lot to do in New Austin and most of it memorable and slightly ridiculous.  Everything “optional” in Red Dead eclipses Grand Theft Auto in almost every way. I finished GTA4 at at 65% completion percentage primarily focusing on the main missions and events that resulted in achievements. In Red Dead the 100% requirement is much less grindish and more about exploring the world but a good way. I would say it’s impossible without a guide to hit 100% in GTA4 where as in RDR using the packaged map, Social Club tools and in-game map it’s entirely possible minus a guide. Attempting to reach the 100% goal is about more then just earning the achievement I promise.

Moving from the first territory of the game New Austin (America) to Nuevo Paraiso (Mexico) for some players is the breaking point for many. The terrain is rougher, larger and vertical. Personally it was a mixed bag. Traveling to the highest and demanding areas I found to be fun. The vista’s in the game can be breathtaking much like in GTA where voyaging to highest building in an area has the feeling they must be conquered.  The Mexico areas  have their own flair with different music, random events, and gangs but many of the missions were more of the same combat wise and felt mostly detached from the main storyline. One mission takes place right near a large bridge and starts with the promise of using dynamite to take out a convoy. Sadly this mission didn’t result in ripping off the bridge scene from The Wild Bunch. Of all the nods to movie Westerns I was hoping for more from that movie then any.

The final location West Elizabeth (a accumulation of anything Northern America) is the games smallest and most focused area. The best missions and emotional moments come in the final act. The result of the last combat mission is to be expected but still entirely haunting. By the time of the game’s primary climax I’ve spent over a day and a half with John Marston playing the devil to the worlds advocate. I’ve saved countless women from certain death but also hogtied them and dropped them on train tracks to be turned into red mist. I’ve taken down corrupt governments but possibly promoted even more corrupt men into power. I’ve attempted to absolve my past but in the process mowed down countless human lives in attempts to earn mine back. As with almost any video game rooted in violence and choice who knows if I wore the halo or the horns.

When it’s all said and done I honestly can’t think of one thing Red Dead Redemption does that isn’t an improvement over GTA4. Marston as a character is an improvement over Niko again in every way possible. He’s not perfect and most of the time hardly sympathetic but Rockstar is getting there. My hopes for GTA5 is a co-op game staring a pair of brothers that are 100% justified in their actions. RDR hits that maybe 50% of the time and that consistency  I believe will always be a problem with open world games.  I’m hoping this game doesn’t get glossed over as “Grand Theft Auto Horse’ed” or viewed as a step down form that series because it’s better.

Master of none. Darksiders is a accumulation of  everything popular in video games for the last five years. World of Warcraft, Devil May Cry, The Legend of Zelda, God of War, Prince of Persia, Fable 2, Arkham Asylum, Portal, Metroid,Panzer Dragoon, Halo 3. Doing a quick pass though Metacritic browsing reviews of trusted sites this is just a sample of  similarities noted regarding the game. Is Darksiders just plain plagiarism or a dream come true for a gamer that just doesn’t have the time to play all those games?

See, luckily (pathetically?) all those series I’m familiar with and a few are some of my favorite properties of all time.  For somebody like me Darksiders doesn’t offer much new. The ‘homages’ are so obvious. Darksiders has it’s own ‘Water Temple“. Darksiders has it’s own evil doppelganger fight. Seriously I could do this forever almost everything in Darksiders is something I’ve done before. Even the story is the typical anti-hero out for REVENGE while also saving the world. War is so badass he’s good.

And Darksiders is good. I finished the game quickly and maybe aside from not giving a rats ass about the story nothing is necessarily wrong with it. I cannot imagine not recommending the game to anybody for a reason as simple as it rips everything else off. Underworld practically has the same coup de grâce ending as Equilibrium but really it’s worth watching both movies. For the person who can only play one game from 2010 and missed the last five years in gaming Darksiders is a good way to catch up.

Statistics:

22 of 27 Artifacts
6 of 8 Enhancements
2 of 4 Legendary Enhancements
Total Game Time 20:27:56
Time in Combat 4:30:23
Total Kills 2199
Number of Deaths 100
Distance Traveled 269.38 Miles
Total Souls Collected 50849
Highest Combo 48
Demon Blood Spilled 4675.48 gallons

I did find all the pieces for the “Abyssal Armor Set” and used the code “The Hollow Lord” to unlock “The Harvester” Scythe.

After finishing the game I rode my horse in circles with a rubber band around my controller to earn the Dark Rider Achievement while cleaning cat barf and doing dishes.

35 of 43 Achievements 830g. Finished the game on Apocalyptic (Hard) difficulty with no major problems. Most bosses took me a few attempts and I think the only difference between  difficulties is the amount of damage you take. As a God of War vet knowing how to dodge is the only required ability to complete the game. One fight requires you to know the timed block. The game is also very player friendly in regards to death. If you die in combat you get returned to the last checkpoint but always given a boost of health. Death during platforming sections almost always returns you to the last safe point you were at. There are also purchasable consumables to grant any type of boost needed to get past a troublesome combat area.

Note: Thanks to Enfeugo for letting me borrow the game. He’s a true Van.

Note 2: As much as I love linking to better content then my own toase.net has a more comprehensive review then what is written here that I enjoyed.

Matthew Sakey noted here…

Every gamer has similar stories, of games that weren’t worth their money and games worth hugely more. We are just as thrilled with surprises as we are disappointed by games we had high expectations for.

Q1 2010 had maybe the largest gluttony of A+ releases of all time. Sadly my wallet is ever thinning and I wasn’t able to purchase all the games I wanted time of release so decisions had to made. Mass Effect 2 was one of the games that got pushed back in favor of Bioshock 2 and God of War 3. Final Fantasy 13 waits for the $20 price point.

For both Bioshock 2 and God of War 3 I got deals I was happy with at the time  but nowhere as good as the $10 dollars I got a new copy of Mass Effect 2.

Mass Effect 2 is the best Role Playing Experience I’ve ever been apart of. Note not “Role Playing Game”. Bioware has taken the pleasure of streamlining the entire experience of a ‘RPG’  but ultimately not really sacrificing anything. JJA does a better job of writing about the differences between the first and the second game and really I agree with most of what he says. I only want to talk about two most important aspects of the game and that’s the morality systems and the loyalty systems.

If given the choice in a game I will always play as the bad/evil/rancid human being. In trying to understand this phenomenon I believe it stems from in 95% of media you have no choice in being or following ‘The Saviour’. Mass Effect allows you to play either ‘Renegade’ where points are gained for apathetic and ruthless actions and ‘Paragon’ where points are gained for compassionate and heroic actions. Most of the time the outcome will be the same just approached a different way but in Mass Effect 2 the added layers make the choices much harder to make.

For the first 80% of the game I was taking the path of the Renegade but in turn shitting all over everybody including teammates. Really all this means is I was an asshole to everybody like I was in ME1. Compassion was thrown out the window and I didn’t give a crap about how anybody felt about me. I went as far as to have a very brief implied sexual encounter with an emotional teammate I hardly knew and sabotaged any growth in that relationship.

Late in the game I was becoming aware the end was near. I would have to take this team to the heart of ‘The Collectors‘ and I knew it was going to be a team effort. I started to become aware this team might not be as “Loyal” as I need them to be. I found Shepard becoming more compassionate and when asked to ask “Are You OK?” to a teammate I found myself asking that more then I ever did before. I also started making choices that didn’t go along with my run and gun fuck everybody Shepard I carried over from the first game. Mass Effect 2 without even knowing changed Shepard to a more complex character then I ever  thought possible.

The Loyalty system in Mass Effect 2 is maybe the largest stroke of genius in RP games of all time. In most RPG’s you either use characters becuase you have to or you use them because you like them. Mass Effect 1 I used Garrus the entire game becuase he was my favorite character. In turn I missed out using many characters becuase there was no reason to. The game even promoted that reasoning with the achievements for playing the game primarily using one teammate for a length of time.

For Mass Effect 2 for the best outcome you HAVE to use every character, at least for awhile, and work to earn their loyalty to the cause. In turn that makes you WANT to use every character for them to be ready for the final battle. Seriously I cannot believe nobody hasn’t come up with this before. Your team works for you but you have to work for them to work better for you. Every boss should be as involved in their employee’s lives as Shepard is.

The Loyalty missions vary in quality (as do all the missions it’s a long story and I’m not going to talk about it) but every character in the game I was able to spend enough time with and suffer no consequences for leveling mostly is a community task in Mass Effect 2. By the end I had a high awareness of what teammate would serve the tasks at hand and by the final battle you can choose what people you want to tackle the final boss with.

Despite every fault:

• Not enough mini games
• Long loads after death
• Cerberus Network/$DLC model
• Over simplified leveling, equipment choices, armor choices
• Not a single elevator (seriously the easiest inside joke they could have made of all time including one mandatory elevator ride)
• Thermo Clips (I liked the idea  of heat weapons of ME1. I think Bioware wanted to include the strategy of reloading and stronger cover mechanics in the sequel for some reason)

Mass Effect 2 really is one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had. The final mission is seriously genius and even if one is having a hard time getting though the first game the second is a must play in my book. It’s fantastic. There is so much to discuss….

Statistics: Vanlandw Shepard Level 27 Vanguard. Traveled to 100% of the non $DLC planets. No active Missions or Assignments. 875g 45 of 54 achievements. Played on ‘Hardcore’ difficulty throughout the entire game. My final romance was with Tali. Implied sex with two female teammates.

Suicide Mission requires important player choices these were mine. Vents: Tali Squad Leader One: Garrus Shields: Samara Squad Leader Two: Garrus Escort: None (stupid mistake I was caught up in the moment oh well) Final Team Miranda/Grunt (thinking balance Miranda Maxed out Warp skill Grunt powerful weapons really I don’t think it mattered who I choose you don’t need a single skill other then incinerate).

Time Played 48h.57m. I blew all my credits on upgrades before going though Omega-4 relay so I only had 19811 left over.

I went though a phase where I was going to mine and deplete every planet in the solar system out of spite for the Milky Way but abandoned that idea. Ended up with 861940 Palladium, 1003447 Irdium, 827969 Platinum, 147037 Element Zero left over at end game. Suggestion: Don’t  play the mining game too much I would suggest to just mine the planets with “Rich” content but make sure to travel to all planets to get bonus missions  and experience.

Update: In a move I don’t understand at all after the great usage of licensed music for the end of Mass Effect 1 the credits roll over a nondescript instrumental. Guess they ran out of budget money this time around.

One of these days I’m planning a Paragon female bi-sexual run.

Nobody seemed very happy about my final choice so before Mass Effect 3 comes out I  might replay the final 10% of the game and change a few decisions I disliked and screwed up on.

I also forgot to mention why this post is titled what is is. Shepard is seriously hysterical. There were multiple times I was laughing hysterically at him. There is a part where he can dance with a woman on a loyalty mission that is so funny. Also don’t forget Shepard slugging the reporter.

“I’ve had enough of your disingenuous assertions” BLAM!´Seriously that is so funny.

While I wait for my Xbox 360 to be returned from the grave I was struggling on finding something I felt like playing  on any other platform. When my 360 bit a bullet I was about three hours into Mass Effect 2 and I REALLY wanted to continue playing Mass Effect 2. For about eight days I didn’t touch a video game and it was fantastic as I was able to spend some time doing other hobbies and activities.

While at work at Thursday and having just a horrible day all around I was mentally thinking about fleeing, hiding and playing video games all night. Thinking about what games I already own nothing sounded like fun and had a rare retail bug and decided “ef it”. My mind was made up and I was going to buy a new game <gasp> not on sale.

The first game that came to mind for reasons I’ll never be able to decipher was Uncharted: Fillion’s Fortune.

Shit, I mean “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune“.

To get this out of the way the player character of the game (Nathan “Nate” Drake) looks, sounds and is clearly inspired by Nathan Fillion somehow. Hell they share the same first name and I’m not alone in this deduction. Nathan Drake feels just like Malcolm Reynolds without having any tough guy qualities or notable skills and is written to be WAY too likable.

All the while mowing down countless human lives like a serial killer. Again I’m not alone in this deduction.

The non-playable cut scenes are well put together and the game’s strongest point. Drake and his token love interest (had to Google the name here I couldn’t even remember) Emily do have strong chemistry and you can genuinely tell in the game the actors were in the same room and that is a rarity in video game voice acting I’m sure.  On the disk there are “making of” videos that show how they filmed the motion capture (example here).

Completion stats for anybody interested. Took me 9 Hours 10 Minutes per my save game time to finish the game on “Hard” difficulty and was able to find 40 of 60 “Treasures” and earn 660 of 1000 “Medal Points”. After taking 10 mins and grinding a series of easy silver level trophies in the end I earned 74% of the trophies (37 of 48).

Uncharted is a game that is victim of needing to give the player something to do. An adventure game finding treasure and searching ruins with limited to no action just isn’t going to sell the units needed to make such a beautiful well acted game. Thus Mr. Nathan “Fillion” Drake became a sharpshooting mass murdering nice guy and Uncharted became Pitfall with Bullets. This I’m not saying is a bad thing I beat the game in two five hour sittings.

I’m too old for this shit. Undecim: 2

Update: (This update is bullshit I wrote this before even saving a draft) After doing some research on Drake apparently he’s based partially on Johnny Knoxville.

I also wanted to note that the “Everyman” trend in video games protagonists  is getting frustrating. Nolan North (VA f/ Drake and the guy from Shadow Complex ect) has been behind many of these characters that I ultimately end up disliking. North does good work but devs need to stop having “everymen” have the ability to kill countless people and overcome countless impossible odds. It’s a trait I don’t identify with behind the barrel of a gun in games for some reason. SOMETHING needs to set you apart from everybody else. Gordon Freeman is a theoretical physicist and has the hazard suit. Drake has a cute smile and a stylish pair of jeans….and apparently the abilty to absorb 300 bullets over the course of his adventure in paradise.

I believe my thoughts in regards to this trend and Uncharted is the rate of enemy encounters. If Uncharted was a three hour game and had less encounters more the action would feel warranted. On the flip side if the game was about fishing treasure from the bottom of the ocean with an appraisal mini-game in between I would complain the game is boring and needs more shooting.

Update 2: (A real one) I forgot to mention I have no idea how this game only got a “T” rating from the ESRB. 90% of the game you are violently using firearms directly upon human beings with blood coming from all hits. Also characters will say “god damn” and “shit” and there is smoking. I guess limbs must be flying and the “F” word must be said at least once to earn “M”. I guess Drake is so charming the ESRB folks decided to let him slide.

Update 3: Yahtzee says everything else I forgot to mention here.

Once again my once strong and valiant Xbox 360 has died a painful death. This time I’m getting the dreaded Three Blinking Rings of Death. Honestly part of this might be my fault or fate telling me to stop being a typical American consumer but I lost two devices yesterday due to failure. It’s been quite the day to say the least and another ‘Irate’ category post will be scribed within the next few days. Regardless I’m at the library leaching free internet on my day off printing off a UPS Ground label to have my 360 repaired again. On my previous post regarding the death of my console I’m still under warranty thus the repair will be free and registering for repair was mostly painless. Failure happened June 22nd and will be in the hands of UPS the same day. Here is the report I filled out for the TDCB Repair Center in Mesquite TX. Some information removed for obvious reasons.

My console is doing the behavior listed here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907534 (three red blinking rings). Tried all troubleshooting steps listed and I don’t believe it’s an issue with the power supply as the light is green on the power brick when system is powered on and this happens on all power connections in my house. There was a disk in the drive and being unable to open the drive normally I used the method here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906935 to remove the disk. There has been no modifications to the Xbox 360 and only operated under normal use. I would like to request the system returned has a HDMI port as the console I’m sending in has one included. This is my second repair order (Service Request Number: **********) during Xbox 360 ownership.

Thank You,
vanlandw
*****************
***********************
************

Gamertag: gaming vanlandw
Service Date: 2009/05/06
Serial Number: ************
Product Id: ********************

Regardless I’ll keep everybody in the loop with updates. Now to send my Xbox to UPS, get some food, and go to Vo’s to make sure my 360 Hard Drive isn’t completely fried.

Update 1: I forgot to note that I’m sending the Xbox to the repair center using the same box and shipping materials they returned my previous repaired Xbox. Also I’m using the Print Label feature this time rather then having to wait for a box to be sent to me. Hopefully turn around time won’t be over three weeks like last time.

Update 2: Rather then going directly thought UPS like I did last time I went to an authorized place in Jenison called Aim Mail Center. The gentleman working there was very helpful. Noticed I was having problems with my packing tape and came around the counter to help me. Great customer service.

Today I was also able to test the Hard Drive on my 360 and everything appears to be working  without a problem thankfully.

Update 3: My 360 has arrived in Texas….

Update 4: My 360 is out to delivery to Microsoft’s repair center…

Update 5: Looks like UPS is what is holding up this delivery. My “Rescheduled Delivery Date” has been updated three times so now is listed for June 28th. Things are going bad so far my rough ETA is up again to three weeks best case on the speed of UPS ground shipping. UGH

Update 6: I might have been quick to judge on UPS shipping. Their site now  lists the shipment as recieved at 06/25/2010 7:46p so the shipping turnaround so far is 100% acceptable if Mr. Mesquite TX recieved the shipment on Friday. Repair status at support.xbox.com lists the status still as “waiting for console”.

+1 UPS -1 Microsoft

Update 7:

I would be elated if my system got sent out tomorrow that means I would have it back maybe next Monday/Tuesday for slightly more then a two week downtime. I’ll make sure to keep everybody posted.

Update 8: Xbox sent me a really nice email confirming they received my console and will be sending me  another one right away. Enjoy this poorly photoshopped picture of the message. On my last repair they did not do this and it’s a step that is appreciated. The repair process for Xbox’s under warranty is fairly painless process and this step is a positive for customers who are not as anal as I am. +1 Microsoft

Update 9: June 29th 7:39 AM I received another email from Microsoft

An Xbox 360 console has been shipped to you from our service center.

Regardless of how weird ”An Xbox” sounds it’s nice to know a console is on the way. There is a chance system breakdown to return might be under two weeks. Personally I’m hoping to have it on Friday. So far so good. Watch me get returned a 2005 Xenon version with no HDMI and the shiny DVD drive scratched to shit and with children’s fingerprints on it.

Unlike my last repair Microsoft did go ahead and register my new console. They are returning me a “Xbox 360 Exchange Pro” and I have no idea what that means. The Internet doesn’t really either. If this site is to be believed deciphering the serial number shows my new Xbox was created in China and built in the year 2008. Gives good hope to being returned a HDMI model.

Update 10: 7-1-10 9a – It’s been over two days since Microsoft sent my Xbox back and my tracking status is still…“>>> UPS could not locate the shipment details for your request. Please verify your information and try again later.”

In the email sent they really did mean “It can take several business days for UPS tracking information to be updated online once your console leaves our shipping center.”

After being optimistic about return before the holiday there is no chance it comes before Friday. Best case next Tuesday.

Update 11: Yup next Tuesday at best sadly. My 360 hasn’t left Mesquite yet. Today at 12:52p the “Origin Scan” was placed. The emails sent from Microsoft are slightly misleading. That was over two days from the email sent saying my console has “shipped”. Also this is coming by ground so it will be about 2.5 weeks turn around. I’d rather them just email when the 360 has truthfully been shipped rather sitting somewhere for a few days. Assholes…

Update 12: Email sent today 7/3 from Xbox Live…

This mail is confirmation that your subscription to 1 Month for $1 has been cancelled on Saturday, July 03, 2010.

Given the membership is worthless without a console this message went straight to the trash. Assholes…

Update 13: Checking shipping status at UPS shows my 360 will be sitting in a warehouse in Wyoming MI for the next three days. I believe UPS doesn’t ship on Saturdays and they observe the 4th holiday on Monday. Thankfully it’s a busy weekend but it came REALLY close to getting my console returned before the holiday. Oh well I’ll let everybody know Tuesday how the return goes.

Update 14: As expected the UPS delivery came at 2:20pm July 6th 2010. Turnaround time from failure to return was June 20th – July 6th. If it wasn’t for the holiday worst case it would have been a day shorter. Faster then my last repair but that counted delivery of a box to send the console in that I wouldn’t suggest anybody to do. Make sure to just use any old box and use the free printing label option to make the repair time faster.

The return came with slightly different literature the second time around. Non personalized letter regarding admin functions (warranty registration, extended service contract). They also said they were sorry for the inconvenience of having to send the 360 in for repair. This was all handled in three languages. They also continue to give you a free month of XBL service that I will use when Halo Reach comes out (unless somebody wants to play something online but I don’t expect that to happen in the summer).

In two languages was a picture tutorial/reminder to reconnect the controller to the console.  In three languages a reminder regarding downloaded content due to the new serial number assigned to the console (this being my third 360 in 16 months).

This newest console was returned again with HDMI support (sorry Vo) and is again clearly a refurbished system. There are scratches on the body and wear along the hard drive chassis. I was also able to find some sticky residue and paper on the console as well. The power button and disk eject button are very firm and don’t feel as used as my first returned system. Overall this seems to be an upgrade. Even the smell is better.

Now that the console is returned I’m going to spend a few hours getting my downloaded content reauthorized and using the system for a little bit. I’ll update the post later today with hopefully final thoughts.

Update 15: One thing I would like to mention is how horrible reauthorizing your downloadable content is on a new console. It’s a terrible process. On my 360 I’ve downloaded 118 items, some that I want to keep some that I’ve already deleted. There is no way to reset this where it only auths the content that is on the HD or where the download list shows what you have. So for all 118 items you have to review if you have it still on your xbox or if you either need to redownload it or ignore it.  This process took forever and I ended up downloading items I didn’t want. Also you can’t queue up over 30 items as once so it needs to be baby sat. Doesn’t help how unresponsive the 360 menus are.

After getting the cords setup and using the power button for the first time the response on the button iss a little mushy. Seems that is to be expected on some systems but my previous two were not that way. The disk drive that came with the system seems to be the “BENQ VAD6038″ that at this point cannot be flashed or used for mods. The system seems very similar to my previous xbox’s I don’t believe it’s any different as the power adapter I’ve had since my first xbox works. Last night I played a few hours of Mass Effect 2 with no problems. The system appears to be quieter but I haven’t tried a game that was running off the disk yet.

At this point I’m going to call this saga closed.Overall really the process was rather painless but still not something I would hope anybody to have to deal with. With the amount of money invested into platform it can be stressful knowing the brain of the operation is sitting in southern Texas being repaired. Any questions on the repair process let me know.

After recently getting a chance to get a small taste of Forza Motorsport 3 I had the inch to play a racing game. “Driving” is not a genre I normally don’t get involved with since I drive way too much in real life but sometimes a racing game can be fun if done right. The last racing game I invested any effort in was the original Forza Motorsport in 2005 so it was time to dive into the backlog and plow though Project Gotham Racing 4 before investing in any new titles.

I was able to get a good deal on PGR4 though a XBL bundle though of all places Best Buy last March. 13 Months of XBL/PGR4/Extra Headset/Chat Pad/Two Movie Tickets to Watchmen for $50 dollars. Knowing that this game would not be as polished and streamlined as Forza 3 was tough to stomach at first but after getting into career mode I was able to make some fun for myself.

For shooters I find myself playing the harder difficulties as I’m so leet and no enemy can touch me. For PGR4 I played on “Easy” like a puss since for the most part I suck at video game driving. After playing Forza 3 and loving the rewind feature I wanted to avoid as much as possible the “restart race” plague of racing games. Since most games in the genre require you to win races to progress and many times one bad turn can cost you the race it’s can be a time sink to keep retrying the same races. PGR4 on Easy mode is very forgiving but still challenging enough not to be a bore.

After finishing as much of the career mode as I wanted to I decided to do some achievement clean up. My favorite moment of the game has to be earning the Catch ‘Em All achievement. Requirements for the achievement are to “Swap paint with every opponent in an eight vehicle race”. At the time in the game my next race in career mode was an eight vehicle eliminator race against seven motorcycles. Thankfully I was able to choose whatever car wanted so I used the Koenigsegg CCX and ended up just plowing over every single motorcycle in sight for five minutes. This was hysterical to me. This video displays the methodology behind the achievement but I promise I did it in a much more interesting fashion. Reminded me of the old days of playing the Nascar games and instantly just turning your car around and in “Wrong Way” plowing into everybody.

Overall the game is still playable even with better racers on the market. The arcade rules and modes alongside real cars I found enjoyable and matched my play style and automotive interests. I played slightly over one year in career mode and tried every other mode in the game mostly for achievements and to try out my favorite cars. Over the course of the few days I played the game I tried multiple times to get into a race on XBL and sadly nobody was playing. Earned 630g getting 30 of 60 achievements with the ability to grind for more but decided not to. The soundtrack sucks aside from the Disturbed song. RUBY RUBY RUBY!