(Game) Gran Turismo 5

Many reviewers commited a grievous error in my opinion when they reviewed GT5 at launch and didnt revisit after a few months.
The concept of a continually evolving game on a console was and remains a rarity in our modern enlightened era and yet as games such as Minecraft and Terraria have shown they are becoming more and more common, i actually think of GT5 as a trail blazer in that area in regards to consoles.

Hilarious as the idea that a studio as introverted as Polyphony Digital could be considered innovators is I believe it to have merit.
Upon release GT5 was fighting its own infrastructure, crippling lag induced by the game trying to speak to the online servers regardless of whether you were connected or not left some reviewers who were fighting to release the first review of the game out to believe that it was simply bad game design as opposed to releasing too earlier for its fledgling infrastructure to cope with.

To give PD credit this issue was very quickly addressed and while never being a lightning quick experience the menus eventually became usable enough that I for one never thought of them in a critical light again.

The problem with the game has less to do with what didn't work but the length of development time the game had.
I`ve often thought that console gamers have a significant deficiency in terms of patience compared to the PC gaming community, very rarely have the console community ever had to wait years for a game to be released as a result they saw a five year wait as meaning that the game, when released, would be as close to perfect as possible.
This simply is not the case nor would it ever be the case.

PD are noted perfectionists, when modelling Spa and other real world circuits they walked and mapped every bump, every change of surface and in the case of the Nurburgring every piece of graffiti!
Its small wonder it took so long! and yet every bit of this serves to make the actual experience of driving the circuit the best ive ever experienced on a console.
Tyre degradation is excellently modelled and has a major effect on braking, especially for hairpin turns, you know something? Driving has never been so good on a console and ill put that in a certificate for PD they can frame.

Too often in driving games you dont "feel" the change between Tarmac and Dirt, too often elevation changes and bumps mean nothing whatsoever to your handling or peformance but with the level of detail in GT5 all of a sudden it did.
Try risking a glamce at you hands when running for the first corner at Monza after you exit the Parabolica, those little twitches your making? thats the result of perfectionism my friend, enjoy it because outside of PC driving simulators such as rFactor you`ll never find such an accurate modelling of driving.

The B Spec mode is an interesting addition too, i grew up with games such as Grand Prix Manager and when it was announced that this game would have a mode in which you play the owner of a driving team i literally yelled "Yes!" much to the irritation of the wife.
This Spec however seems less of a feature and more of an afterthought, yes there is a whole series of B Spec events and rewards but that feeling of disassociation with events on-screen is far more powerful than it used to be in the GPM series, the lack of the ability to perform R&D and use a Wind Tunnel is, in my opinion, responsible for this feeling.
Its just a level of detail that would have completed the sense of immersion necessary for this type of mode to work.

Now i know i havent mentioned the Online component, well thats mostly because its simply functional.
It has a range of options such as Performance Point restrictions, Specific Car championships etc all rewarded by credits and EXP for your single player but there is no gloss to it, its not slick in ny way and almost feels like it was a bolt-on job.

Oh and a quick word on Licenses, they used to be harder and they used to mean so much more, they feel ok and there are rewards for getting all gold medals etc on all of them but gone are the days of bragging to your mates about grabbing the S licence.

Ive gone on longer than i wanted here but i have to be critical of Polyphony Digital here, whilst the driving is fantastic and the Premium cars are almost photo-realistically beautiful they need a catastrophic kick in ass from Sony.
The game isnt worthy of the current generation. There i said it, the reason for it is that its Gran Turismo 4 Part 2, it has all the feel of the old games, the music feels recycled, it still has the massive amounts of pointless Japanese cars despite its overwhelming userbase in Europe and the US and like Sony itself they seem to be stuck in 2004, the Internet has become so much part of modern life that to have a Online component that feels like an experiment from the PS2 is simply not good enough.
I just cannot understand the mentality of people who`d happily throw time into the Photo Mode of GT5 rather than make more Premium cars, it honestly comes across that they live in a bunker, unaware of their competitors.

After five long developmental year, more modelling of tracks and cars than is healthy and collaborations with Red Bull Racing on the X1(or whatever its called these days) its just maddeningly old school, to the point it needs to be told by the new school of driving games just how embarrasing its becoming.

Bet you thought i`d defend it didnt you?

Demo.

(Game) Crusader Kings 2.

"The Killer`s breed or the Demon`s seed,
The glamour, The fortune, the pain, 
Go to war again, blood is freedom`s stain,
But dont you pray for my soul, anymore,
Two minutes to midnight,
The hands that threaten doom,
Two minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb"


Iron Maiden - Two Minutes To Midnight.


Apt words from probably the greatest band ever to come out of Britain, they seem almost perfect to describe the tale of Duncan the Great, the once and future King of Scotland.

King Duncan was a genius, no doubt about it, by kissing the Pope`s posterior as often as humanly possible and by careful cultivation of his nobles and enemies he was one of the most  celebrated rulers in Europe.
My predecessors were careful custodians of the Crown, they did nothing to rock the boat and nothing to expand the territory of Scotland.

All that changed with the accession of Duncan to the throne.

Within a decade Scotland was unified, Ireland was half conquered thanks to my wonderfully devious Chancellor who was adept at creating false claims to territories i had my eyes on and best of all i had betrothed all 6 of my children to royal families across Europe.

Then it all came crashing down.

One by one my children began dying, the youngest son of Duncan died at age 3 and none of his siblings survived to come of age.

I discovered that my brother-in-law, a man i had raised from obscurity to to rule over 5 of my provinces was casually murdering his way to become the Heir to my kingdom.

Well, Duncan the Great was going to put a stop to that, i immediately attempted to imprison my treacherous relative but unfortunately he escaped my men and launched into full scale rebellion.

Duncan's action also riled up the Lords of the realm and three of them immediately joined the rebellion, suddenly i was fighting for my life and just as the last few Rebel armies were being crushed underfoot King Duncan died.

At 72 it was clear he couldn't last long but his untimely death led to the last heir of my house, the 22 year old Angus being catapulted into the monarchy, suddenly the nation launched into open rebellion, brother fighting brother and why? why was Angus so unpalatable?

Angus was gay.

Not a good thing to be during the medieval era, close-mindedness being a staple of the times,   this was simply unacceptable to the nobles and within two months of his Crowning Angus lay imprisoned, his only daughter betrothed to my former brother-in-law.

Game Over.

This is, in my most esteemed opinion, one of the reasons that gaming today is as good as its ever been, intricate, emergent game-play, utterly unscripted is simply better than the linearity of modern games.

The scenario detailed above is only one of the brilliant sessions i`ve had the joy of playing with this game and its something that every strategy games developer should be paying attention to.

This. Is. The. Way. Forward!


Paradox`s Deeper-than-the-Marianas Clausewitz powered Titan is capable of creating some of the best game play you will ever experience, accessibility is treated as somewhat of a dirty word by the enthusiasts but the company does at least nod its head in the direction of making the game easier for first-timers.

The interface of the game is excellently designed, even a complete newcomer to the, often imposing, Paradox series of games should be able to grasp it within about ten minutes of starting out.

Of course "winning" in this game is a series of trials and errors, you WILL be outmanoeuvred by the often brilliantly cunning AI into positions of no hope but I believe that this lack of hand-holding is utterly necessary to the genre, the sense of achievement you feel upon a successful conquest or diplomatic mission is magnified immensely when you figure it out on your own.

Medieval games have been rather hit and miss in recent years with only Creative Assembly`s Medieval 2 being a true success but where that game was entirely about your military escapades this game is about intrigue, plots and deceptions.

The importance of appointing good men (and women) to your council cannot be understated, you will never function properly without a good team to control everything from Spying to Religion and best of all, instead of Medieval 2`s rather bland array of characters, these characters have their own ambitions and secret plots.

Juggling these plots is one of the hardest things in the game, it truly does a wonderful job of replicating the era but there is a sharp difficulty curve there and the levels of Menus in the game can be incredibly intimidating.

Its also rather hapless when it comes to military battles, while you should assign characters to take control of the flanks of your army it never feels necessary, rather it seems that its just a question of numbers and luck as you see your army, depicted as a single warrior on the world map, strike at the other with the numbers relentlessly counting down.

So, should you buy it?

Difficult question as always but I feel if your into your strategy games and love a challenge then this game is a must play, its just so different to all the others out there.

If however your more of a person who enjoys his strategy on a medium difficulty level and love the base building, troop creating thing then I cant recommend it to you.

Its just so different to all the other games out there.

Demo.