Game Diary: 05/02/2014-06/02/2014

So I've been trying to shift some unwanted games recently and I'll tell ya, people on ebay who buy your shit and then don't pay for it, fuck'em. When I list an item as buy it now I expect it to be paid for when you buy it, there is no excuse, I know now that there is an option that forces people to pay straight away but it shouldn't be needed, if you are going to click a buy it now you should already be ready to pay.

Anyway I'm sick of talking about the same games everyday so I'm playing something else.

Hotel Dusk Room 215 (DS)

I can't believe it has been over five years since I last played this, going back to this is like going back to good memories, I love Hotel Dusk and I've been really wanting to play it again since I played Last Window a few months back. All I've really done for the last two days is play this, it doesn't matter that I already know the big plot twists. I guess being a visual novel Hotel Dusk is in many ways like a favourite book, it isn't the puzzles you are there for or the plot twists, it's the journey.

Hydro Thunder (Dreamcast)

So I impulse bought this last summer and it is on my short list for games I will probably get rid of. I have to be honest this is alright, I have to give credit to Midway they never really went wrong with most of their arcade games. Hydro Thunder is a textbook example of an arcade racer, it's fast, over the top and the only way to get good is to memorize the levels, I'm tempted to keep at this for a while, I probably won't keep it but I'll get some fun out of it.

V-Rally 2 Expert Edition (Dreamcast)

Same story as Hydro Thunder only this game isn't anywhere near as good. Where to start... so basically this is super generic, it takes no skill to play and it is horrible to play with headphones on. To expand on that:

V-Rally 2 has no personality, it's a generic licensed Rally Racer full of the same dozen cars that seem to be in every WRC game that has ever existed. The game takes no skill to play, I played like 10 tracks and on 9 of them I breezed through by flooring the gas and never breaking, it's like the game was designed to not frustrate you at all, it tries to pass itself off as a simulator by adding in details like your car getting flipped over but being flipped costs you next to no time at all, it does next to nothing to slow you down. The sound is painful, first time I played it all I could hear was 4 loud card engines blasting into my ear, no music, I found the music option but the music is so bad that I decided I would be happier with car engines blasting in my ear.

I don't think V-Rally 2 is bad it's just there, it exists, it doesn't do anything for racing games and wouldn't have been missed by  anyone had it not been made.