It’s worth playing computer games just to look at the views.
Just So Pretty
Horizon
This midwinter break I’ve spent my time playing a PlayStation game, I guess it could be available on other platforms, I don’t keep a track of these things. I’ve been playing Horizon Zero Dawn [remastered]. I’ve been playing this because the Lego version of the game was free with PlayStation Plus and I completed that particular game. I decided to get the actual game because I really enjoyed the Lego version and it gave me something to do over the break. I’ve really enjoyed playing this game. I’d like to say I think I’m getting better at these types of fighting games.
I’ve completed a playthrough of the basic game but I haven’t yet ventured into the Frozen Wilds. I think I will leave that for another break in my work time. I have found this game very addictive to the point that I deleted it about a week ago as I thought I was spending too much time playing it. Within a few hours I had downloaded it again and continued playing. There’s so much to the game and plenty of little challenges that make it really good fun. The rewards are plenty too. It’s very well designed. Not only is the game play well constructed but the game is pretty too.
These two images were captured as I collected some PSN trophies. They don’t really capture what the game looks like. I’ve been so impressed with the falling snow in the mountains, I genuinely think that’s the bit I will remember most, such clever artwork. There is a photo mode in the game and it’s not something I’ve really played with, I like working through the quests. Maybe when I’ve finished it all I’ll have a look at getting some amazing shots from that mode. I did take one picture and that was when Aloy walked past a downed aircraft.
This game has been amazing fun. Really well designed and also, a little challenging at times. However, as my skill levels have increased I no longer dread taking on the machines, it’s more of a fun challenge now.
Another Platinum
I’ve been playing a game that was free with PlayStation Plus. I do enjoy the Lego games and I gave this one a go. I found it fun so I kept playing it and eventually I had completed the story mode part of the game. I then decided I would try and get all the trophies and this took an extra six hours I would say. The toughest part was maxing out the level of each playable character. I completed this yesterday and promptly deleted the game. It’s done. I’ve completed it.
This is only the second Platinum trophy I have earned on the PlayStation. The first was Gran Turismo 7 and I’m nowhere completing that game! If you could see my profile then you would notice that I have three platinum trophies but that’s because when I loaded GT7 onto the PS4 it gave me another Platinum trophy for the same game.
I enjoyed playing this Lego based game enough that I’ve bought the actual Horizons game it is based on. Hopefully I enjoy that too.
100.4 Miles
I just can’t help playing Gran Turismo. I’ve always really enjoyed it. I like the challenge and the feeling of success when I’m successful. There’s a communication here about the challenge of a lap around Spa. The most recent challenge I faced was the final test before the one lap challenges. It’s around the Nordschleife and in a stupid car – I can’t remember what car it is. There’s a section you have to complete in 56:650 as you can see below. I spend a while trying this but was over a second off the time about three months ago but recently it was time to try again with the mantra that I could do it.
Each time you practice you learn the limits and get better. Sometimes you just lose it at a corner and try to remember not to do that again. I use the ghost version of my best try to gauge how I am doing and roughly what sort of time I am going to be getting. The image below is the result of an attempt that I was sure was going to be gold. But alas. I was 0.02 seconds too slow.
That attempt was good news as it meant I was getting close and should be able to beat the gold time soon. I kept trying and I think about another ten attempts later I secured the Gold time.
I didn’t try any other GT things that day and in total I had driven 100.4 miles. I think this equates to around twenty five attempts to get this licence gold. That’s not bad. The next thing I have to do is beat the single lap times for the final part of the licence.
A Nice Experience
I’ve been grinding in Gran Turismo. Personally I wouldn’t call it grinding but I’m trying to play every day and get the daily bonus for travelling just over 26 miles. I guess I’m trying to complete the game by getting all the cars and golding every licence. I’ve already got the platinum PlayStation trophy so that was nice.
I recently tried an online race. In the past I have NOT enjoyed these. Qualifying somewhere in the top ten or so but then getting knocked off at a corner and ending up last is not satisfying. It’s incredibly frustrating. So with some trepidation I had a go. I was racing a Gr4 car around Spa. I chose my Honda NSX to race because Honda. I had a few laps of qualifying and was reasonably happy with my time but you never know how good you are until you enter a lobby. It turns out I qualified second. This seemed pretty good. But five laps of the race awaited.
The pole position person went too deep into a corner early on and I gained first place. Pole person ended up in third. Then for five laps second place person and I had a really hard and fair race. It was very good racing, even if I am judging that. When either of us moved for an overtake the other would indicate to show they understood what was going to happen. We didn’t touch each other and it was clean. I actually won because they went too deep into the first corner on the last lap. It was a great race and really enjopyable.
The next day I decided to have another go at an online race. I did more qualifying laps and ended up in pole position for my race. I led from the front and stayed there. I think the race finished with me around three seconds ahead. It was fun.
Now that I’m 2-0 it’s probably a good time to quit racing in that mode. Or at least no longer mentioning it here unless I do well!
Amazing Detail
I’ve recently been trying to upskill in Gran Turismo. Or rather, I’ve been trying to remember how to drive cars the way I used to drive cars before flappy paddles came around. When I’m in a car that has a gear stick with H box I’m trying to use the actual gear stick on my rig. I’m also going to try to improve and use the clutch more, along with careful heel-and-toeing while downshifting into corners. Anyway, I was watching a replay within the game of me driving some Honda around Spa and I was really impressed with the level of detail of the car model.
Not only is the level of graphical detail impressive but also the dynamic animation struck me as particularly well done.
A particular animation I like is brake glow when hard braking into corners, it looks really good. All in all I’m still impressed by this game. Even if I am trying to get gold on the licences and slightly frustrated at the number of times I need to keep trying each test. The current test I am working on requires me to spaff the RC92P at speed around part of the Nordschleife and I am currently about 0.4 seconds off gold pace. I will get it eventually.
Recently Completed
I have recently completed a couple of nice little games that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s quite rare for me to play games other than the “big three” – Gran Turismo, Minecraft, and Fortnite. These are my standard games and I probably play a little of them everyday. I tend to want games that I can jump in and out of and the time needed for a session doesn’t matter. GT7 I can play for a few laps or a longer race depending on how much time I have in the real world. Minecraft is a world contained on a server and so I get to play that whenever I want and I can do as much or as little as I feel like. Fortnight I play to be with the Legend and spend time with them.
I did recently play some other games and really enjoyed them. They weren’t too stressy and I knew they could be played for a little while and saved easily. Also, I didn’t really have to learn new controls – this is important to me as if I only play a game a little bit spread out over time I don’t want to have to learn a new control system.
Atomfall
This is a game of wandering around the Lake District in the early 1960s [it could be the 1950s I didn’t pay that much attention] and you have to survive and escape. I love the Lake District and had wanted to play this for a while, then I think the price was reduced and I had a half term break so decided I would go for it.
I played the game on easy mode and even then I died quite a bit! I really enjoyed the story, the scenery, and the gameplay. I think my favourite thing though was the occasional crashed helicopter and the militaria of the age. The whole game really captured the time period. It was a really nice game to play.
Under The Waves
This game follows Stan, a North Sea diver, and explores their journey after the death of their daughter. For me, the cut scenes were a little too long. I don’t really care about those things, but I know the story was important to this game. I enjoyed the pace of this game and each day I could swim around and do the jobs I was meant to do. There weren’t any time restrictions within the game as those can make things really stressful. So I was able to explore with ease.
I enjoyed the game. That’s the point isn’t it? To enjoy things.
Good Enough Reason
Apparently there is going to be a portable X-Box released soon. I guess this will excite those fans of Xboxes. I’m less fussed but I was curious to read about it. I have a PlayStation Portal and it works by effectively cloud-gaming using your own PS5 as the server. It’s pretty good and I enjoy it. I have played Fortnite using the Portal away from my house and the performance was fine.
I started reading a Guardian review of the portable XBox and I got to the bottom sentence in the image. No. The person is wrong. No-one can appreciate the asymmetry of an X-Box controller and if you do then I will stop reading. I did just that. I didn’t read any further. I do not care what this person wants to say. My last few words on this matter will be that human hands are, mostly, symmetrical.
Lake District Game View
I’ve been playing Atomfall and I’ve really been enjoying it. I am playing in almost-peaceful mode because I want to enjoy the game. I’ve still died plenty of times though! The developers set the game in the Lake District in the 1950s after the Windscale accident. I really like the look and feel of the game. It’s got proper sci-fi feels about it.
Gran Turismo – Rating Myself
Gran Turismo has weekly time trails using various cars around various tracks. I try to take part each time because it’s a good way to get credits and also rates your driving against the rest of the world. I normally get a silver award for these which means I’m within 5% of the time of the fastest in the world. Recently I got gold for being within 3%.
I’m also within the margin by over 1/10 second which I consider a good result. So, another 1.5 seconds knocked off my time and I’d be best in the world – highly unlikely. I only play for around thirty minutes a day so I’m never going to be the best. I’m also working on getting gold in all the master licences but that is taking quite a bit of time!
I go in phases with this game. Sometimes I play enough every day for the daily workout prize and then sometimes I leave it for a couple of weeks. I’m half and half at the moment because I’ve been playing AtomFall which I am enjoying a lot.