I have been offline for quite a while now, had to focus on the exams that I was about to face this year. Anyway, the test has been set for and therefore, although it took a while, I decided to go back to updating my blog, it has been more than 6 months since my last post so a really long break for me.So, back to the title, revisiting the past. Well, there have been a few games I have yet to try for the Playstation 2(PS2) and after hours of searching and coming up with decisions, managed to get my hands on that console, not permanently but for a period enough to try the games that I have wanted to try. The games that I wanted to try were Armored Core and Virtual On.
About Armored Core, I have heard of it, and I have seen a few models in the stores that I visit often, so I was curious about it for a little while back. With the help of Wikipedia, I managed to find out a little about it, and sadly most of the games were for the Playstation console. But, I had finally managed to try the game out and came to the definite conclusion that the game was, well to put it in my terms, SO DANG HARD!!! Seriously, if there was ever a mech game that would make you cry and sweat through its missions, one of them would be Armored Core. The one I'm playing (I'm still playing it) is Armored Core Nexus. The game comes with 2 discs, Evolution and Revolution. After playing a couple of missions, all that happened was defeat after defeat and I
almost gave up on it, but surprisingly, as hard as the game gets, it has a kind of pull that keeps me going back to the controller and saying "Maybe I'll try that mission again." I know the game was released about 7 years ago, but I never got to try it for personal reasons. So, more about the game, I only managed to win the difficult missions thanks to a few walkthrough I read up on a few sites, and getting used to the analog was very hard, I am a PC gamer, so very used to the mouse, no experience at all on using analogs, when I played Medal of Honour with a friend, let's just say I was moving the character to aim, not the cross-hairs. But, the main attracting factor that the game had was you were able to customize your Armored Core or AC, from the colour to the generators or radiators and each one, except colour that is, plays a role in you winning or
losing missions. For example, you need a good radiator or you AC will overheat just by boosting or after being attacked. And you need a generator if you want to ensure you can boost long enough or use energy weapons. But all this is really old stuff I brought up now. Hehehe. By the way, I spent almost 2 hours on customizing my AC one night....
Now, for Virtual On Marz. I have been very familiar with the Virtual On universe since I actually even played computer games, and I still have the first game on the PC. Sadly, Marz is pretty much a let down compared to the previous Virtual On series. The main pulling factor for Virtual On is its arcade style, fast-paced action, but this was also the main let down in the latest series, Marz. The first game, Virtual On Operation Moongate, was actually very successful and receive many good reviews, I spent quite a lot of time reading them too. The second game, Virtual On Oratorio Tangram, received even better reviews for its steady frame rate and also its even faster speed, in my opinion the fastest mech game ever. But sadly, the other 2 Virtual On Force and Virtual On Marz, had a decrease in game speed, maybe because they introduced 2 vs 2 in the game, meaning 4 players get to beat each other up in a single match, but not many reviews on this game was release because most arcades were released in Japan, so Marz was the only one that actually made it outside of Japan. I can imagine the disappointment faced by fans, you have a good game, and even better sequel and then suddenly the speed is worse then the original one. However, I did not regret buying this game, I couldn't find it online for download, nor could I buy it locally, so I purchased a copy on ebay. I was very comfortable with the game controls, I have been playing it almost my entire life anyway, but I will say that a story mode doesn't really suit this game because it was made for arcade style gaming. But I had fun challenging my younger bro and my cousin to a few matches, since both didn't dare try versus mode in Armored Core...
Aside from all this, I build Gundam models, watch anime and play MapleStory. Well, that's it for the first post after a long time, after I finish the model, might post it here, the model I'm working on currently is Beginning Gundam. Ba bye!!!
Farid
