Odds/Ends for 1/30
January 30th, 2008 at 12:54 am
At some point this blog will start to sound like a broken record, but Burnout has taken over my life. After being in possession of the game for a little over one calendar week, I’ve spend 52 hours playing it. For me, playing Burnout Paradise is a full-time job. I’ve done 250 of the 350 challenges, smashed everything, jumped everything, set every time road rule, collected my Burnout license, and helped a bunch of friends do challenges that I’ve already done, in hopes that we’ll all pool our resources at some point to finish all the 5, 6, 7, and 8 player challenges.
A handful of you asked about the lack of a retry feature and its impact on the game. It was one of my big fears going in, but it’s been a non-issue so far. Now that I’m on to getting the Elite license, I think that’s where it may become more noticeable, because you have to complete every single event. What happens when I have one event left to complete and it’s a stunt run that I totally suck at? I’ll be driving back to it again and again.
The reason it’s mostly a non-issue is because the events aren’t something you need to obsessively complete until you’ve already gotten so good at the game that you aren’t likely to lose. It takes an Act of God for me to lose a race to the AI because I have a pretty good idea of how to get to any of the eight finish lines from any point in the city. Whoever figured out how to structure the game to take the pressure off the completion of specific events is pretty smart.
My main thought about what the game is missing is that I would have liked to see more diversity in the challenges. Maybe there should have been 50 single-player challenges. Have those serve as a tutorial, then cut simple stuff like "use boost" or "meet at the baseball stadium" from the real challenges.
At this point, I feel like I won’t stop until I’ve completed 100% of the game, even if that means I’ll finally have to get good at stunt runs. And I want to do it quickly, because I have a copy of No More Heroes sitting here, still sealed. And I really want to dig into that, but only once I can give it my full attention. Right now, I’d just be thinking about how many events I have left to win.
In other news, all this talk about Rez led to me breaking out my Dreamcast today to finally play a little Cosmic Smash. Also got some Bangai-O in while I was at it. I’ll probably leave it hooked up for a week or two and play some of the old weird stuff that makes the DC so memorable to me.
Rez HD is up for download on Xbox Live Arcade right now, and as I said I would, I’ve pushed the button marked "give to me now" and it’s downloading. I feel like I’ve already said just about everything I need to say on the subject of Rez, but if anything about it jumps out at me, I’ll let you know.
Also, King of Kong is out on DVD this week. I’ve ordered a copy and can’t wait to finally see it.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Billy Mitchell still has a plan Jeff, and he’s still a massive tool in the movie. But it’s a really entertaining watch. Even my girlfriend who doesn’t really like games watched it and was rooting for Steve. “That guy has silly hair and is arrogant” she said of Mitchell. She’s not wrong.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:04 am
Just got Rez HD and the lack of light and outside interference is making this a wonderful game
January 30th, 2008 at 1:46 am
Man, you really love the Burnout. I wonder, if you will do the same game 100% for both system. Now that would be crazy.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:51 am
No More Heroes looks to be a mighty fine blend of slick. What with the continuous evisceration and the find-sword-let-rip plot, seems likely that the good folks at Grasshopper have managed to reap something special from behind Suda’s mask. Hell, it may even be good.
And, Jeff, although it would appear your carnal fixation with Burnout is far from extinguished, here’s one fan hoping you’ll type up a few words on Heroes when you get the chance.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:02 am
I think I’ve seen you playing COD4 only once since you’ve started playing Burnout Paradise. I too have No More Heroes and Burnout Paradise sitting on my shelf, un-played.
I’m sure I’ll get Rez HD in next 24 hours. We’ll see. I’m one of the people who has never played any of the previous incarnations of Rez. I’ve never even played Panzer Dragoon.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:09 am
I’m going to try to get Burnout this weekend, and then I’ll probably download Rez HD not long after that. Hopefully I’ll love Burnout Paradise as much as you do.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Just got Burnout Paradise for my 360 today, just a bummer that my 360 is cursed with RROD. So I have to try it after it is fixed. Maybe I should just play the PS3 demo again, if it wasn’t for those “not made for my finger” L2 and R2.
Good luck with getting the full 100%
January 30th, 2008 at 3:17 am
chumpatize!..king of kong is awesome!
January 30th, 2008 at 4:12 am
Blue Stinger > Rez
January 30th, 2008 at 4:29 am
While King of Kong is definitley a biased look at the whole situation, it’s still definitley a great watch.
January 30th, 2008 at 4:47 am
Billy Mitchell! What’s happening with that dude now? DVD’s being released with him as a star.
What’s happening after that?
Jury duty.
January 30th, 2008 at 5:00 am
king of kong is a great movie, im sure you will get some laughs from it.
And in Regards to burnout and the lack of retry. I find its absence very upsetting when it comes to burning routes. I know the game usually starts you facing a shortcut you should take, but I always seem to have the luck of snagging something and just barely missing the target time. And since I dont really like the speed cars this leads me to driving all the way back to the start so I can finally put the car back in the garage and leave it there.
January 30th, 2008 at 5:23 am
Oh great, I wanted to see King of Kong. Bring on those American flag ties!
Same for me with No More Heroes though. Burnout has totally distracted me from it.
January 30th, 2008 at 5:23 am
I’m right there with you on Burnout…I’ve been addicted to it as well and can’t bring myself to stop playing until I complete it 100% …and Thankfully it’s a fun game so that it doesn’t become too tedious at any moment…
Also I just watched The King of Kong last night and I thought it was an amazing movie, far better than what I was expecting. It’s a movie I wouldn’t have minded watching again directly after the end credits! So hopefully you’ll enjoy it as well.
January 30th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Looking back its hard to believe I ever doubted Burnout Paradise. I still miss a structured crash mode, but otherwise its quite possibly the best Burnout ever.
January 30th, 2008 at 6:21 am
I pre-ordered a copy of King of Kong too…I cant wait to see Billy Mitchell and his awsome array of ties. Does anyone else out there think that ReZ was just “Mehh?”
January 30th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Jeff, I think Rez HD is the first game I played before you. I got it at 3am EST (midnight PST) exactly. AWESOME port.
Btw, I wish you played Burnout Paradise on the PS3 because I feel pretty lonely. Only 2 other guys on my list have it, lol…
January 30th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Can I ask you what platform you have Paradise for and why? (I don’t think you’ve answered it in any of your previous posts, sorry if you have)
January 30th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Hey Jeff, my friends who are currently in a band would love to do a cover version of ‘too hot’ but can’t seem to find any music or tabs for it anywhere.
I’d be grateful if you could link me to, or even create some for yourself it would be awesome.
Thanks alot.
Mention it in the points report and see the reaction you’ll get if you want some support.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:08 am
You, sir, are a machine. I was thinking- (always dangerous, I know) why in gods name would anyone buy Paradise for the PS3? Unless you only have a PS3, the 360 came out first, so all of your friends are there in the easy to manage Live system. The same goes for a lot of other games as well, and I think it’s one of the reasons the PS3 is in a wee bit of a rut.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:36 am
King of Kong is pretty good, I hope you enjoy it. Billy Mitchell still sucks tho, not sure if he ever was cool to begin with. The main guy in the movie (which I don’t remember his name) deserved to get more recognition…
Thanks for the comments on Burnout. Even though I’m gonna get it all the way out in March, when everyone will be already sick of it, I’m looking forward to it, no doubt.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:40 am
The 360 may be popular in the US, but in other parts of the world most people will buy Burnout Paradise for the PS3.
I don’t think even Call of Duty 4 got Jeff so excited.
Personaly, I appreciate the game, and understand why people love it so much, however car racing/smashing games are not really my thing. Car crashes never looked so real in any game EVER, they look more real than reality itself.
Glad to hear that you got the Dreamcast out. Too bad no one is supporting it any more with good games, and you can’t connect the sucker to the Internet any more. Some of the DC games hold up surprisingly well. Heck, they even look pretty good, even by today’s standards.
You’d probably be surprised, but Saturn is one of my favourite videogame consoles of all time. The controller is no less than perfect for 2d games. The design of the actual console is great, rugged & tough. It’s Sega’s best console, in my opinion. The Dreamcast would have been cool,too bad Sega messed it up and rushed the Dreamcast out. If it came in a more powerful version together with the Gamecube & Xbox it would have held better and we’d have a next-gen Sega system right now competing with the Wii. Bastards!
January 30th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Didn’t bother to read your blog and such, but congrats on breaking 54000.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I want to get all the smashes and jumps, but I know I’ll just end up missing the last four or five and never find them. When that happens I just become ridiculously discouraged and give up.
You think you’ll end up writing a small review of Rez?
January 30th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
It’s been a long time since I was addicted to game. To the point where I would play it for about 12 hours a day.
I think the next game to do that to me will be Final Fantasy XIII, goodbye social life and cleanliness.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Just to let you know, No More Heroes is completely crazy and awesome. I think it’s exactly the kind of game you would like.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
It wasn’t the Dreamcast who failed us Jeff, it was we who failed the Dreamcast…
January 30th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Wow, that’s pretty weird Jeff. I actually hooked my Dreamcast up yesterday to play some Bangai-O.
Great minds think alike?
January 30th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Ah Dreamcast…
I’ve been meaning to get back into playing Seaman and Space Channel 5.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Damn, you just made me consider going to my parents’ and dig up my Dreamcast for some Bangai-O!
That game should come for either the DS or XBLA.
King of Kong is great, I ought to pick up that dvd
January 30th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I hope Jeff reviews Rez before I jump into it
January 30th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
What site did you use to make this site, Jeff? Is it Blogger.com, because I’m wanting to make one lately to dump my junk thoughts.
January 30th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I’ve just bought Burnhout paradise and it’s intense, beautiful and addicting.
But 52 hours, don’t you get bored after a while? I need diversity to keep my mind happy
I’m a graphic designer.(just got it last year)
my website= http://webs.hogent.be/~030090es/index.html
(let pop-ups trough for this site)
January 30th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Burnout Paradise, fantastic game, it’s hook city!
I had never played REZ until last night. The game looks like someting I could get inot, however I think 800 points is a little expensive. I would liek to see MS relase the 600 point game. I would actually love if they release a $$$$ system cause all this microsoft points crap is stating to piss me off. Planning on watching King Of Kong this weekend, thanks for the reminder and recomendation Jeff, keep up the good work.
January 30th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
King of Kong is not on BD. No BDs no purchase. No More Heroes looks good. Killing dudes and cash flies out? Wanking off to power up your sword. Dropping loads to save.Plus you have a kitty.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
No More Heroes won’t take more than 10 hours, so don’t fret. You can literally do just about everything in the game in about that much time. Once you get a good side job to earn dough, you’re set.
And too bad you couldn’t see Kong in theatres. It’s great to see old people who aren’t really gamers get so into that kind of movie to applause at the good points. At least that’s how it went when I saw it, cheers and laughter from non-gamers.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:12 am
Hello, my life sucks. I love distractions. Glad to see you’re still playing games. You’re probably thinking, “Yeah, of course”, or, “Where are you God?”, or, “I wish that monkey would stop staring at me” Either way, are you into modding games? Probably not. You should be, dammit.
I hate it when people use CHEERS,
Cheers,
Evok
January 31st, 2008 at 2:25 am
As much as I wish I were playing Burnout right now (and I do), I have to say No More Heroes is proving to be a pretty terrific distraction. There are definitely some gripes to be had with the stuff that happens between the big “ranking” fights, but those fights are so strong that I’m willing to be a bit more forgiving of certain flaws than I might otherwise be.
The game NMH reminds me of most is The Warriors, both because you fight all sorts of crazy gang members and because it’s got a combat system that perfectly walks the line between sheer button-mashing madness and depth, one that constantly keeps you engaged and on your toes.
January 31st, 2008 at 3:47 am
[...] I played a great deal of Burnout Paradise. I haven’t quite fallen to the sickening depths of addiction that Jeff has, but I’ve spent a good 22 hours with the game and nearly have the Burnout [...]
January 31st, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I bought Rez last night and i love it. It’s like being in a techno induced coma. I imediately bought it when the trial prompted me to, only to later, press the guide button and find that i had been playing it for over an hour.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:08 am
Had a blast playing Burnout with and without over the past week, but I’ll probably be cooling it on that game for a while. In other news I got a home theater system today…5.1 dolby digital something or other. All I know is when I am in the cave in the Turok demo is that it sounds really neat. I checked out Rez, but couldn’t get into it…it tries to hard to be art that it just isn’t that fun to play…but that is just my opinion. Congrats on breaking the Dreamcast back out, I’ve been thinking of doing the same for some time now…so long as it still works. Anyway have fun getting the Elite license and I hope to see you on XBL another time.