Burnout Paradise Remastered
I never played a Burnout game before this entry, so I didn’t know what to expect going in. Although I’ve put a lot of time into the Forza Horizon games, they never got their hooks that deep into me because they just don’t care much about trying to provide a fun arcadey time. I’m all about arcade racers, and even though some sim racing fans might consider FH a straight up arcade game when compared to their own favorites, it doesn’t come close to providing the visceral thrill that a straight up street racing & demolition derby game can provide me. I tend to prioritize thrill and excitement in games over graphical presentation, and this particular remaster seems more directly aimed in that direction.
Unfortunately the game is only a remaster, and while it still looks fine, certain aspects of the vehicle physics and a few other things really do seem antiquated. But the game still does a better job of letting me tear ass up and down inner city streets without forcing me to dive into sub menu after sub menu trying to check or adjust tire types or air pressure. I just don’t care about that stuff. Just give car types, dummy lights, cool places to explore, and enemies that want to put me down.
Crackdown 3
I loved Crackdown 1. I avoided Crackdown 2 because apparently it used the exact same map as Crackdown 1 but only added zombies to it. And as a certified explorer of video game worlds, that just wouldn’t do. But I’ve been excited about Crackdown 3 as far back as its announcement, during Paleolithic Age.
As it turns out, when one of the biggest companies in the entire world decides to hire the best of the best in order to give them the sort of artistic freedom they need craft one of this generation’s greatest masterpieces, we get God of War. But when Microsoft does it, we get Crackdown 3.
Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed my time with Crackdown 3 well enough. I collected all the orbs. I interacted with all the terminals. And my balls bullets interacted with the faces of all the bad guys, but I pretty much beat the whole game in one sitting. I went back and did this two more times (in the span of 2 days) because I wanted to max a couple skills out, but after all was said and done, I don’t really have a reason to go back and do this ever again. It took seven years to create the game, but right now it feels like the barest-of-boned games. It’s got the very basics of what makes a Crackdown game, but it lacks everything else that should make it a modern game.
But still, it was fun enough. The world map was kind of shitty because of the way the center was more or less designed as floating high-rises over a stink-ocean. Nice concept, but not as fun to traverse as the denser areas surrounding it. because the game does nothing particularly memorable, I’m not sure I’ll be able to differentiate my memories of it and 2007’s Crackdown 1 ten years from now.
Agents of Mayhem
After beating Crackdown 3 I was still in the mood to play a super hero that goes around collecting orbs crystals & treasure chests and shooting bad guys, so I loaded this game back up for the first time in a year or two. Unlike my initial play-through, which saw me completing 44% of the game (based on collectibles, unlockables, story missions, etc), this time I topped out at 99% (still some crystals left to get, but whatever).
I had a much better time with the game this time around for reasons I can’t explain, except maybe that I did a better job at mastering my control of the various Agents and their abilities in the game. I also unlocked some better enemies to contend with in the open world since I progressed the story further than I had the first time around, and that does add a lot to the moment to moment gunplay.
I have my complaints, but if we were to gather up all the 3.5/5 games out there and force them to duke it out in a fight to the death, this one would be one of the better 3.5/5 games in the mix.
One of my top 4 games of the month. I’m enjoying my time with it so much that I recently gushed about it in another thread. So I won’t repeat myself here. But this will probably remain in my game of the month list for March too.