After the disaster that was Arma 2, I've been giving Operation Flashpoint:Dragon Rising a go. The good news is that, unlike Arma 2, it is stable (at least on my machine), with no crashes or serious bugs so far. The bad news is that it is every bit as unforgiving as Arma 2, with death coming unexpectedly at any time. Maybe it's just me, or maybe I'm just crap at these games, but I don't get much pleasure out of this kind of experience. OK, it may be realistic (to a point), but surely a game is supposed to be fun, and getting killed constantly and unexpectedly just ain't.
Well, the next iteration of Football Manager is nearly upon us. I've been suckered into buying bought just about every version since I was first seduced by the charms of Championship Manager 2 and, sure enough, the demo of FM 2010 is drawing me in...
...so, what is better about FM 2010? Well, the GUI is the first thing you'll notice, and it does seem to be easier to navigate, although there are still some things like manager options that take some finding. Then there is the speed - difficult to compare, but does seem to be improved. The match engine definitely produces a more realistic game, despite still looking like something from about ten years ago, although the addition of crowds certainly adds to the immersion. I have had the odd pause where the game seems to get 'stuck' for a few seconds and the players dance around on the spot, but hopefully that will be dealt with in the final release, or a patch. The best new feature though (although I've not yet checked out them all) is the post-match analysis, which enables you to check every shot, pass, tackle etc. that every player made. Cool.
My enjoyment of FM is slightly weird given that I've lost almost all interest in the real game in recent years, but somehow it means so much more when that team you are watching is all your own work. I guess that is a testament to the believability of the virtual world that Sports Interactive have created, and FM 2010 definitely seems to have ratcheted it up a notch.
Looks like Sports Interactive will once again be parting me with my money this year...
Now this is interesting news. A bunch of people from the former Microsoft Aces Studio have set up a new game development studio dedicated to simulations. Cascade Game Foundry tell us that they will "address the significant hole in the simulation market left by Microsoft’s recent departure" and are already hard at work on the design and demo for their first project. Could they be intending to make the next version of Flight Simulator?
At last I've gotten around to extracting my old Spectrum and its games from storage. I'll post about the Spectrum itself later, but for now I thought I'd post about one of the games, with more posts about other games to follow.
The game I've chosen is Halls of the Things, from 1983. My memory of this game was that it was bloody hard (for me, at least), but also bloody compulsive, constantly dragging you back for another attempt to beat the level. I recall spending hours taking turns with a friend to get that little bit further. The gameplay involved blasting your way through seven levels, each containing a different style of randomly-generated maze, collecting (surprise, surprise) seven rings, and eventually finding your way out. The graphics were pretty basic (see below), but the hyperbole on the inlay card wasn't: "Combining a fantasy world scenario with the finest quality arcade style action yet seen on the ZX Spectrum, Halls of the Things brings you a new dimension in computer games - the animated adventure." Hmm.
Some intrepid soul has actually posted a video of the game on YouTube:
As you will see, he ends up getting killed, which I remember happening to me all too often. In fact, I don't think I ever completed the game, although I'm not sure whether this was due to the game's difficulty, or just my incompetence.
