I spent a week playing this as I was off school while I recovered from appendicitis. I'm pretty sure I got it bought for me as I was told that I could go home from the hospital. While the first GT was innovative and genre-defining, this added a lot.
It features two discs, one with only arcade mode that features split screen racing, time trialing and tracks/cars to unlock for a quick race against AI, and the other disc had the Gran Turismo mode. GT mode is like a career mode. You start off with 10,000 credits to buy a standard car, race in the Sunday leagues and build yourself up by earning credits, winning cars as prizes, upgrading your vehicles with performance parts or of course by buying a new ride.
There was a car in this called the Suzuki Escudo Pikes Peak, that many old GT players are familiar with, that cost a quarter of a million credits. It was so fast, on any closed track you could just basically hold down the accelerator, hit every wall and still win.
As the synopsis says, it has 'more than 600 cars and 27 tracks'. For its time, as I said with the first GT, it just had so much more depth than most if not all other racing games on the planet. This also added a rally mode with dirt tracks and improved graphics. The PAL GT disc was one of only two PSX games that had a scratch and sniff spot on the disc. "Rub the label of the GT Mode disc gently with your fingertips or a soft cloth for the authentic pit-lane experience." The other game was FIFA 2001.
Gameplay 5/5
Graphics 4.5/5
Sound 4.5/5
Difficulty 4.5/5
Originality 4.5/5
I've been playing PES games for a lot of my life, and have always played it on the hardest difficulty, but in recent years I haven't gotten into them as much. I have played this the most since probably PES 2016/17, although I think they were more online experiences. It's been a long time since I've gotten into an offline mode like I have here.
At first this felt and looked very realistic and I was enjoying it, but the more I've played it the more I've wanted to cause myself harm.
For a video game in 2019, that is something like the 25th iteration of the series, this isn't good enough. My list of issues, all played on superstar difficulty and generally with basic shooting on.
- The shooting is a joke. World class players miss easy shots including wide open goals. Shots from an angle in particular often don't even hit the target. Most goals seem to come from deflections off the keeper. It's incredibly frustrating. It's not just against the human either, it happens to the AI. It's like they thought, "To make the scoreline feel realistic we'll make shooting ridiculous.
- Crossing is laughable at times, going nowhere near where you want it to. I don't know what has happened to this. It was fine in previous versions.
- The passing and through balls are a joke. Players miss two metre passes. The throughballs often act as passes rather than throughballs that the player can run on to. I did try advanced through balls, but you have to give the button the slightest of slight taps or the balls flies forward. It's amazing. It's like with shooting where it's difficult to keep the ball on the ground.
- Which leads me on to my next point. The movement off the ball from players is another joke. They don't make runs or stop too soon. This is one issue that has been in PES for many years. And as an attacker you seem handicapped at times. You know the striker is much faster than the defender but they can't run past them.
- I have had players running into each other multiple times and doing other weird things. I can't think of seeing this in a real life game. I had a fresh air pass too and a playing with his hands in the air complaining about not getting a foul instead of going after the pass.
- The AI scored from a corner for the first time in something like my 150th game, and I had my second 11 defenders on. More headers hit the bar than go in and most go over the bar.
- In my five seasons of Master League, I always get the big teams like Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, to play in a row.
- The game is overly physical. I've also had little players like Sterling pushing around larger players. They seem to think if a player gets the ball the tackle can kill a player, which isn't how football is referred at all anymore. Players get pushed out of the way too. There was the clearest penalty in the world not given to me. The defender just collided with the striker in the box. In all of the games I've played I've had 1 penalty and I've maybe given away 1.
- Free kicks are the easiest they've ever been. You are more likely to score with a free kick with a decent player with anything around the box than from a penalty.
- I can't remember the AI receiving a red card, ever.
- Why on Earth can you only save 5 replays? Are we in 1996 with a 1mb memory card?
- No other game has so many pop ups every single time you start it!
- I got a 'transfer rejected because the player is too important for our club' - This is a player who is was on the transfer list... Jesus!
At a basic level this is a good realistic recreation of the sport, particularly with how the AI guard space and defend, but it has a lot of minor gameplay issues, some of which were not in the series years ago. I've often said about PES that it's 'two steps forward, one step back' and my opinion hasn't been swayed with this game.
Gameplay 3/5
Graphics 4.5/5
Sound 4/5
Difficulty 4.5/5
Originality 3/5
This series has lived up to the hype previously and this is no different. While the addition of the Batmobile and maybe more so the amount of time the gamer needs to use it hasn't pleased everyone, in my opinion given the similarity to the previous games otherwise, I think it needed it and adds to the game. It's also great to control and the developers obviously spent a lot of time thinking about how to best implement it into the game. But IDK, maybe the people complaining don't like driving games like me? The story is great, I probably enjoyed the more emotive Origins plot but there is a lot to this storyline and it does surprise.
Gameplay 4.5/5
Graphics 4/5
Sound 4.5/5
Difficulty 4.5/5
Originality 3.5/5
A physiological horror game based on the famous horror franchise. You play as a lone character, with a dog, who attempts to join a search party looking for a missing child. The dog is a huge help and crucial to the gameplay as it helps you locate essential items. At the beginning of the game you are notified that how you treat the dog will have an impact but it didn't seem to make any difference.
The gameplay is basically roaming around the woods looking for items, including video tapes for a camcorder which when watching allows you to freeze time in a way. For example, if a tree is falling in the video you watch, you can pause it before the tree falls so that it isn't blocking your path. Until the end that is. The final portion of the game is like P.T.. It's often creepy but rarely frightening with jump scares but this is when the spine tingling atmosphere intensifies. It definitely isn't as startling as it could be. There are enemies that at the beginning of the game you can shine a light on to make them disappear and at the end of the game the opposite applies, having to get around them without looking at them, however, overall the enemies are sparse.
An enjoyable short creepy adventure. It isn't overly unique or challenging but worth playing if you enjoy the genre.
Gameplay 3/5
Graphics 4/5
Sound 4/5
Difficulty 4/5
Originality 3/5
I bought a bunch of pre-owned games and was testing them out to make sure some selfish cretin hadn't returned a dodgy disc as I had had bad luck before. Of the lot, this caught my attention from the jump and was the first one I played.
The colour scheme/almost black and white style of the first level caught my attention, as did the atmosphere the game created. It does have elements of originality, which is what most gamers are looking for, particularly in a first or third person shooter that are generally all near identical. This offers difference in the weapon system, where after the opening, the protagonist is turned into a part cyborg of sorts. He has a glaive (a bladed, boomerang like weapon) that is used a variety of different ways including to solve some puzzles. Weapons left by deceased enemies can only be used for a short period of time as they react with his infection and self-destruct. This offers some tense moments, particularly if you're low on your stock guns. The glaive is useless against longer range enemies, so you'll need to use both.
The few negative things are that you need to be in the perfect place to pick up items. Another is trying to use the motion controller to move the glaive. Thank God that can be turned off and the analogue stick can be used in its place! It didn't seem to work very well at all. There was another part where I used a mounted machine gun. I would've almost been better off using my standard weapons. Speaking of weapons, the upgrade system is too restrictive. Once a weapon is upgraded, the upgrade can't be removed, so if something better comes along, as there are limited slots, you're out of luck. Some of the waves of enemies last a little too long and aren't very challenging. There is no difficulty level selection until you complete the game and unlock 'brutal' mode. Finally, it may take you a while to get used to the controls as shoot is R1, not the usual R2 that we've become accustomed to, with R2 being used for the glaive. I was constantly doing the wrong thing at the start of the game which was annoying.
Overall, it's an enjoyable third person shooter from the seventh generation that feels a little fresh even playing 12 years after its release.
Gameplay 3.5/5
Graphics 3.5/5
Sound 3.5/5
Difficulty 4/5
Originality 4/5