My Take on The Crew: The Best Edition

Picked up this sweet,sweet racer through the Hot Summer Deals on the Playstation Store which is currently running till 24th August. While I prefer sim racing games, I'm a sucker for arcade ones and I've only just got Driveclub the previous month. FYI, I'm playing The Crew game without the Wild Run DLC.

My Take:

• This game reminds me so much of the Test Drive Unlimited series. In addition  to the open world (covers the northern USA), cars are driveable off-road which makes for some bumpy and challenging race. Not only that, if your car goes off-road and is not equipped with the specific spec (Dirt/Raid spec), its handling and speed is hampered considerably.

• There's lots to do in the open world. Peppered along routes are Skills markers when upon driving through it triggers tasks for you to perform. Exploration markers gives you points for discovering unique locales. There's also scavenging for car parts when upon completion will unlock a hidden car.

• Races are very fun to play even if most of them are a breeze. Cars handle fairly well and the sense of speed is pretty exhilarating. There's this one race where you're sprinting along the coastline for this one Cape in the East Coast, the experience is very much like the last race in the Need For Speed movie. And I did it with one crew member too (another player). Best moment so far.

• The animation when cars gets upgraded is pretty slick. The breaking apart and piecing back together car parts coupled with boltgun sound effect will never get old.

• My favorite thing to do in this game is to drive from point A to point B aka crosscountry driving. The farther those points are the better. The main story will task you to do this once you've completed all the missions in the area and its one of the joys this game has to offer.

• For the Wild Run update they're upgraded the graphics. From watching a couple of youtube videos like the one below, you can appreciate the difference. Overall visuals look sharp and weather effects are nice. Driveclub still holds the title of having the best water effect so far even beating Project Cars.

• The game would've been a lot smoother if they've done away with loading screens whenever you enter/exit garage or HQ. Also the transition to the big map seems rough as it needs to load important checkpoints first.

Screenshots:

Will update later with screenshots of my own.

My Take on the PS Plus August 2016 Offers

Gone Home: Console Edition

I've already played this on Steam so I'm skipping this one. Will probably play this again if it suits my fancy. You could say this is one of the popular walking simulators out there. What's unique is the contemporary 80's settings prevalent throughout the house you're exploring. You could find VHS, mix tapes and notes left by the inhabitants that really convey the sense of that time period. The story unfolds bit by bit when reading the notes and it's a touching one between siblings at that.

Tricky Towers

It's a balancing game (of which there are few of that kind on the net) but with Tetris blocks. Nuff said. I've played it and its quite tough to be honest. Most physics-based games are since they're finicky at best. Probably need to have a few more rounds with it to get comfortable. (Update 15 Sept 2016): Played this recently with other players online and it's wildly addicting! Saved a couple of videos and will upload them here later. There's a leveling system here with higher ranking = better player title.

Ultratron

Twin stick shooter, with a progressive perk leveling. Bright neon-colored arena pulsing with rhythmic techno soundtrack. Its a delightful fast-paced quickie game that manage to satisfy rounds after rounds ...until you meet your doom. Then you can let out a sigh of relief after busting through so many levels. Another go perhaps?











Patapon 3

I've only ever played the first Patapon on the PSP and I can't wait to play this one...once I cleared up some space on the Vita. Patapon for me was a refreshing experience much like Loco Roco. The styles and gameplay is wholely unique and I think only Japanese games developer could churn out this kind of game. I don't know what new features are added in Patapon 3 since then, but I'll happily give it a go and be glad that I did it.

Time Jump! It is now 2016!

It's mid 2016. A little update here. I no longer game on PC because the OS booted up too slow (takes almost half an hour to get to desktop). Its a shame since I have tons of games on Steam. I now own a Playstation 4 and a PSVita before that. I'm a PS Plus subscriber so I'm getting free games every month for the PS4 and Vita. After gaming for at least more than a year on the PS4, I really missed gaming on PC especially on Steam cause that's where all the big discounts are at.

Here's my PSN ID if you guys want to add me: youze_ps

Virtual Reality/VR is all the craze now. After briefly trying out my friend's Samsung Gear VR, which is my first time with the tech btw, I'm itching to get my hands on one. My best bet would be Xiaomi's VR headset (I have a Mi phone) and the PSVR much much later. The thing about VR headsets are the experience will be a solo and a solitary one. I will probably jump into that without a doubt if I was single; the only time I could put on the VR headset peacefully would probably be late at night after the kids gone to bed. And I will likely be using the headset to watch movies set inside a cinema interior rather than gaming cause...I'm just tired.

Mi VR

PSVR