Update #8

OK, first up there's some big news on the Saturn front. The Action Replay didn't get rid of the screen problems with the PAL games. Turns out its a Hz issue between my Japanese Saturn and the PAL games, as they're intended to work with different screen frequencies causing deficiencies such as games running faster than normal and also colour errors or so I've heard. You see, PAL games are intended to be run at 50Hz, while Japanese Saturns run games at 60Hz, AR or not.

After learning this I thought collecting PAL games was not really viable, so I thought about starting on Japanese games first again, but of course there's the language issue. Then I changed tack again and thought about the NA versions (these run in 60Hz fine), but these are hard to get hold of on UK websites and otherwise shipping is costly and could take a long time to arrive.

I learnt that it's possible to install a switch inside the Saturn to get around the Hz issues, but the cost of a soldering iron and all the other stuff taken into consideration I decided to just buy a PAL Saturn to go with my Japanese one. It may have cost me a bit of money but now I'll be able to play any Saturn game with no trouble.

Other than this, I handed in more CV's to game shops today. Hopefully I'll have more luck this time.

First Impressions: Street Racer

As I said in my Update, I recently bought this game for my Sega Saturn. This isn't really a First Impressions as such; more of a revisit, as this is a game that came with my PS1 when I was only 7 years old. Because of this, it is a game I hold dearly and really wanted to pick up for my Saturn.

Playing it again, the graphics haven't aged well at all, more so than other games. Everything just looks too pixelated on a big HD TV. The sounds and the music are OK but not great, but this is just how I remember them. Despite this, the charm of the game is still very much there. Some reasons I love this game is that it can be very hectic and some of the tracks can be very difficult to master. As well as this, the weapons system is very different to most games. In this you don't pick up weapons, you already have them which you can use at any time making the gameplay interesting. The arena battle mode is good too though I haven't played this yet on the Saturn, but it really adds something to the game.

This game may take me longer to play than Sega Rally as it has a lot more modes, and I'm really looking forward to playing this great game some more.

Update #7

Sorry I haven't done one of these in a while and for the little hiatus lately, but I had so much college work to do but that seems to be over now. It was hard work, but hopefully I've done enough to get the diploma next year. College doesn't actually finish until sometime next month now; the college is going to prepare us for the second year and bring us back in to help us meet some grades. Obviously this puts my driving lesson plans on hold, but I only have to wait a month.

I bought Street Racer for my Sega Saturn, so there will be a First Impressions and a review for this. I loved this game on PS1, so I decided to buy it for the Saturn. I've also purchased an Action Replay 4 in 1 for it but this has yet to arrive. Hopefully it will solve some of the problems I've experienced with the ST Key such as the game looking too big for the screen; and it will also give me a cheat cartridge and extra RAM too!

And finally, good luck to Manchester United on Wednesday!

Sega Rally Championship Review

Image by BlogDeManu via Flickr

This will be my first review of one of my Sega Saturn games which I will definitely be doing more of.

This game was released in 1995, so was one of the first 3D racers of the 32-bit era, the era in which I think 3D racers evolved as in my opinion they became a lot more sophisticated and detailed.

Due to this, the game is pretty basic. Two different cars, three different tracks, a Championship, Time Attack and Multiplayer mode.

The cars I think are well rounded. The Toyota Celica is faster and isn't meant to corner as well, while the Lancia Delta is a little slower and is meant to corner better. However, I prefer the Celica as it's speed allows you to drift round corners more effectively.

Even though the game only features three tracks (Desert, Forest and Mountain as well as a forth in Time Attack and multiplayer which you have to unlock), they do vary enough. The scenery is different amoung them and the difficulty increases respective to the order above.

The Championship mode is decent enough. In this mode you have to battle your way to first place when you finish the last race. So for example you finish 7th in the first race you will start in 7th place for the second. This is a neat concept which should be done more nowadays. The AI is OK, not the best but perfectly reasonable. If you finish 1st, you unlock the extra track for Time Attck and Multiplayer modes.

Time Attack is just the same as in any racing game, complete with the ghosts of previous attempts.

As I don't have a second controller, I can only speculate on the multiplayer, but I expect it would be a great two player game.

The gameplay's fun and enjoyable, and despite not having the greatest amount of content, you can sit down and play it for a good while. And I can't forget the replays! Sure the scenery looks a bit mad but the music's great!

That's all I can say on this game. If you have a Saturn, I definitely recommend picking it up if you don't somehow already own it, as it's a nice game you can just sit down and have a good game with.

Rating: 7/10

GAME OVER YEEEEEEAAAAAAH!

The New Rock Profile Episodes

Wow I'm, happy this show is back. Yeah it may only be on the web but I think that the show will really suit being on the internet rather than on TV.

The previous Rock Profile episodes were great and I have the DVD (one of few I own). And of course now they have so much more material to work with after Matt and Lucus not doing it for so long.

Update #6

Sorry I didn't post for a week before The Inbetweeners review, life has become very hectic for me as it's the last few weeks of college and I have many assignments to hand in! My output may be cut down for another week or two because of this.

Things I have planned are a new feature called the Nostalgia Files where I'll talk about some of my favourite things from childhood, from Dragonball to the Sega Mega Drive! I think it'll be a really neat feature and these will be made in both a text version and a video version which I shall post on YouTube.

Also I think it's nearly time to review both Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 and Sega Rally, but I still think they need playing just an hour or two more for me to do a full and complete review though.

The Inbetweeners Series 2 Review *SPOILERS

Now the latest series has finished, it's time to do the review.

First I must say that this series was every bit as good as I thought it would be. They really kept the quality up from the last series and the gags were equally funny.

What happened in this series was more or less what happened in the last, with the boys trying their best with women and trying to improve their social status. It seems the characters were prepared to go outside their comfort zone a bit more in this series though, such as they wouldn't have gone to a trendy club in London in the last series.

I said in my First Look of this series that they could of made Lauren from Episode 1 appear later on in the series, but I'm now glad this didn't happen as the show would've had less comedic value. The episodes really were more of the same and there's not much more I can say on that. The writers made sure though that the characters were put in to whole new situations.

There was some character progression in this series. Despite being the main character, Will seemed quite arrogant and pompous in this series; thinking he was better than other people. It worked well for comedic value though. Jay was more of the same, but saw that women weren't just objects in the last episode causing him to change his tune a bit there. Simon, probably the character with the most storylines this time around, again just seemed to do things at the wrong times and embarrass himself without knowing it or getting himself into some kind of mess. These made great but cringeworthy moments. He seemed to have the most success out of the four with the ladies this time, but always ended up on his own again eventually! Neil was great too, probably even dimmer than he was in the last series coming out with some classic lines due to his simpleness, but I feel they really need a storyline for him as he may become too one dimensional.

One of the reasons I love this show is that it really does capture what being near the bottom of the social standing is like. The people they meet around their age really do seem to be either vain, a tough violent type, sneaky, or just an all round dick such as Patrice! Carli and Jay's girlfriend in the last episode really use himself and Simon, Charlotte seems like a bit of a bimbo, and Patrice was just one nasty guy! I think it often happens in real life that the popular people are more likely to be jerks than the less popular people.

I loved this series. They did really well with it, but I don't think it was quite as good as the last series. The ideas for episodes were great, and now the gang have completed their first year in sixth form, lets look forward to at least two more series!

Rating: 8/10