Chorus (PS5): First Impressions!

DIRT 5 Review Xbox One

 

I've never been a big fan of driving games, with only a few clicking with me be it RalliSport Challenge 2 or the Forza Horizon series with their off-road antics. 

Which is why Dirt 5 was on my radar from the trailers we have seen, with its outlandish feel to it with the use of pink and purple smoke along with speakers around the tracks blaring out music.

And how its career mode is told in a rather simple way of picking an event which could be racing around an ice circuit drifting around every corner or racing against 12 classic rally cars like the Ford RS200 to get the finish first, whilst the guess you'll call it story is told via a Podcast with some enthusiastic characters talking of your progress over the game's 5 chapters.

 

You'll find 120+ events to do in the career mode, along with some special one on ones to unlock some neat decals for the 60+ cars, you don't have to do all these to see out the career mode and myself I've done about 40%  of them but I plan to come back to do the rest when my Xbox Series X arrives as Dirt 5 uses Smart Delivery and one of a few games that has a 120fps mode if you have the right setup.

Outside of career mode you have online and playground which is a tad like Tony Hawk create-a-park or the stuff you find in Trials Rising where you build or play playgrounds created by the community. I'm hopeless at building but from what I've seen from the few playgrounds I've played a lot can be done in the mode and can see this keeping people busy for a while.

 

Overall Dirt 5 is a fun arcade racer which come along at the right time as the racer to check out at the start of a new console generation and you won't be left behind on current gen either, just maybe single player is a tad lacking as maybe some simple time trail modes or basic cups could have added a bit more to the overall package. 

 

Maneater Review

Maneater recently released on PS4, PC and Xbox One. I've been playing Maneater on Xbox One for the past week and have mixed things on the game.

Maneater starts out with a tutorial on how all the controls work along with the game's setup of it being a reality TV series over 8 episodes much like Deadliest Catch, just narrated by Jerry from Rick & Morty. 

This builds around the plot of you playing as a baby shark who is out for revenge on the antagonist Scaly Pete.

Over the game you level up, get stronger, unlock new abilities and eventually go from baby shark to a mega shark who can spit lightning. You do this in various ways such as a mission to chew up 10 humans or take down an alligator.

The narration over this and the games overall tone, makes it what it is, a quite funny game and reminded me of things like Goat Simulator and Untitled Goose Game in a lot of ways.

However, that is also an issue as over my almost 10 hours to finish the story and do every sidequest (I didn't get all the collectables, so missing the1000G) which was needed to level up to take on one of the bosses, is the joke gets old.

Why I said at the start I've got mixed feelings on Maneater as the first few hours was really fun but by the end I just wanted the game to be over. 

This is very much an example where less is more, as I would have much sooner had a 3hr game which fun all the way through then this what just becomes boring at the end due to lack of variety in the missions as you can only chew up so many humans.

Car Mechanic Simulator Impressions

 
A few years ago I played Tour de France for review and it was an odd experience, now in 2019, I've just had similar with Car Mechanic Simulator.

This is more of an impression than a review, as to be honest, I did only really spend a good 4hrs one day playing and my thoughts are based on that and a few other plays here & there.





You might think that's not enough time or I've not seen everything, that's part of the problem with a game like this.

As I got my car to fix which needed the oil changing, simple enough. After that, I got another car to fix which needed new brake pads.

Which means you have to unscrew the wheels,  in almost mini-game fashion, take off brake calipers and so on.

Then once you have done that the next car will need new brake discs, and that seems to be how the game progress, this does make a lot of sense as you seem to be a new mechanic starting out doing simple jobs.

Just after 4hrs of changing brake pads, I wanted to buy my own car from the junkyard to do up.

If the progression was faster or I could go buy a car almost right away, then I may have had more fun, yet after a while of doing the same thing, I just found myself becoming bored.

CMS is a hard game to recommend, as it's been made for a certain audience who will see past any of the games flaws to find eventually a rewarding experience.

TimeSplitters has been acquired

Early this morning a press release went out from Koch Media with the news that they have come to agreement over the ownership of the intellectual property TimeSplitters and Second Sight. 

 

Largely considered as one of the most influential console games of the early 2000s Timesplitters was originally created by Free Radical Design, who later became Crytek UK Ltd and finally Deep Silver Dambuster, also part of the Koch Media family.  The three-game series earned a large and passionate fan base thanks to its unique humor, art style, and pop culture references while encouraging customization and modification to give each person their own individual experience.  “We are hugely excited to have acquired Timesplitters” commented Klemens Kundratitz, CEO Koch Media GmbH “The original games gave fans a massive content offer and provided a pure and genuinely fun arcade shooter experience.  We have many fans of the Timesplitters series among our own staff who are passionate about creating a product that will thrill today's gaming audience.”
 
Koch Media have also acquired the rights to science fiction action-adventure game Second Sight.   Also conceived by Free Radical Design, Second Sight was originally released in 2004 and follows the adventures of an American parapsychology researcher who undertakes missions alongside a band of U.S Marines using a mix of gun combat and stealth gameplay.  Forthcoming Second Site products will also be published by Deep Silver. 
 
The most escited bit of new is details of future Timesplitters and Second Sight products will be revealed in due course.