What’s Your Game?
by FEMAELSTROM, HSM team writer
The other day I was driving in Gran Turismo 5, down the “Rahal Straight”, and I saw the timer on my screen that read I was some fifteen seconds behind the leader of the race I was in. The next time the lap clock appeared, I was sixteen seconds back, and that gap did nothing but grow. My car was not set up for a good run at the world famous “Mazda Speedway: Laguna Seca”. So I backed out of the match and re-tuned my car. This time it was a little better but I was still losing time to the lead car. I sat and tweaked on that car until I finally uttered a word that is not fit for print. Then I uttered a few more at the fact that I uttered the first one. It is a viscous circle.
I realized that I had run the five lap race some six times, and at seven minutes a race, I had spent some 42 minutes on that single race. A bit more actually, if you count the time it takes to set up the car, jump in and out of races and of course, a swearing break.
This is what gave life to this article, Laguna Seca from Gran Turismo 5
This is the frustration of Gran Turismo 5. Some may say, “Hey I thought he loved that game?”
I do, but there are some elements that drive me crazy though. This also serves to make the game one I don’t want to play when I’m stressed or tired from a long day at work or home.
Some games have a value that is high in the respect that when you want to play for fun, they are fun, not stressing. Gran Turismo 5 (for me) is not always one of those games. There are also other games that will present the inevitable wall that you cannot easily pass. There have been games that I simply stop playing because I come to a part that is impossible at my abilities. Not to say I’m a weak gamer, but sometimes, games just have that “hard part”.
My question to you is this, what game(s) do you play to relax? I love Gran Turismo, but when I am stressed out about real world circumstances, it is not the game to play.
When I get home from a day filled with troubles at work, or things that just don’t go right, and a commute that includes a slow freeway and side streets with ‘out of service’ lights or closed lanes, I sit in front of my TV and PS3 for fun, relaxation and some escapism. Gran Turismo may not be my first choice.
There are plenty of games out for the PS3 and PS2 (for those that still use theirs) that can help us take our mind off of the cruel and crushing grind that so many face day to day. Here are some of my favorites, and why I love them.
God of War (series). SCE Santa Monica
The glaring eye of an epic game.
This series is absolutely great when it comes to easy game play. SCE Santa Monica made this game, one that can be played on the easiest and the most extreme difficulties. Set this game to easy and one can spend the day slaying hoards of undead monster soldiers and gods. This is a really visceral game where one can simply sit and let out all the rage of the day with out worrying about the difficulty punishing you back beyond reason.
Journey – ThatGameCompany
This game has the right mix of tension and beauty to make a bad day a lot less bad. The graphics are phenomenal and the score will make you want to simply sit your avatar in the desert and enjoy the beautiful music and scenery for the rest of the night. The gameplay is easy and fun, and the whole design of the game is contrary to the normal mode of grab a weapon and kill, kill, kill. This game is truly a work of art come to life that we control.
Tomb Raider – Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix
This recent installment of the classic Lara Croft series is a great game because the game play is very intuitive and easy to get a grip on. Sure there will be play throughs that have to be repeated, but the game is fun and is great to simply look at.
I also have a couple of PS2 games that help me unwind at the end of a trying day. It may seem to some like I am saying that there aren’t many good games in the realm of the PS3, but this is about what games help me unwind, not necessarily about what are great games.
Hey that’s me in the snowspeeder!
Star Wars Battlefront (I & II) – LucasArts and Pandemic Games
This is a game that I love because the gameplay was very fluid and had options that allowed for a wide style of play from capture the flag to assault to space battles. The gameplay was straight-out fun, and the graphics were good for a PS2 game. The added fun was in the feature of being able to play as a rebel against the evil galactic empire or a clone trooper against the droid army. I always pick the rebels. There is even hero mode where one can play as the good guys against the bad guys and vice versa in a heroes only fight as well as a sand people vs. Jawa war. This game just brings a smile to my face to play.
Driv3r (Driver 3) – Reflections Interactive and Atari
This is often seen as a poor man’s Grand Theft Auto, but for me is a game of choice for the following reason: back in the day of game cheats that could be typed in on the controller (like the Konami code), I found one that opened up the game in it’s entirety. It gave me all the maps and all the cars, so all I had to do was tear around the cities of Nice, France; Istanbul, Turkey; and Miami, Florida in whatever car I wanted. I was my own episode of ‘COPS’ and it was mindless fun just fleeing from police, an act I do not encourage. But the game was fun, and at the end of the day, that is all you want.
This is what gaming should always be like.
Forget for a moment the best games by sales or prestige or reputation. Think about the games that help you to not cuss and feel even more stressed out after a hard day at the shop or office. Think about the games that help when the day is hard and you just want to go home, kick your feet up and enjoy a little bit of easy, fist-pumping fun in a game you know you enjoy for whatever reason that may be. I know when I am playing the games I do, it helps me to unwind and find a peaceful place where the rigors of the day die like so many ghouls in God of War, at the end of my mighty Blades of Chaos.
What’s your game of choice? What game makes you smile? It doesn’t matter if it’s an old PS1 game, or a game aimed at a younger audience than you are currently, all that matters is that you enjoy it. So, what’s your game?
July 21st, 2013 by FEMAELSTROM | 8 comments
FEMAELSTROM came to Home in June 2011 and never wanted to leave, even at weekly maintenance when he usually gets booted. The sand box environment appeals to the explorer in him and often is out and about as he ‘geeks’ out dressed like some sort of sci-fi character, while he people watches in popular public spaces. An artist and writer, FEMAELSTROM loves making friends and meeting people. He loves sci-fi and decorating Home estates and loves to respond “here” when people ask “where are you from?” in public places.
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fun read through because it made me think about different games. I had GT2,3 and had friends over playing co-op all the time. I do not curse during game play but I do jaw drop and face wrinkle often. Currently playing the Ratchet & clank HD collection. Some parts are easy and some not so much lol. I don’t throw controllers either because lets be honest.. I would have to go pick it up.. I love games that give you a selection of difficulty for days that you feel the need to choose what fits your mood.
I play games that are fun not frustrating. If a game gets too frustrating to me I will stop and walk away from it because that isn’t what I am playing it to do. I will try to beat an area or level several times, but if it is too difficult for me or especially if it makes me start all over from a long ways back I won’t play it again after awhile.
I love games with difficulty levels, especially those you can change in the heat of battle, Skyrim is one of those games and is my current favorite and probably the best RPG I have ever played. It has everything a game needs, danger, incredible environment, tons of quests and missions to do and with the new content you can even build a house and have a family. I have had a few hard parts here, but I love every minute I spend in Skyrim.
I like platform games and puzzlers like Ratchet and Clank and Quantum Conundrum as well sometimes, and the new one I wrote about Auditorium HD is very relaxing yet hard at times as well. I also loved Journey and the Unfinished Swan.
Nice read as always Strom.
I’ll have to go with Burbie here. I play game to relax from the “outside world” Not to die over and over again at the end of a long run. I never been a “great gamer” even thou I’ve started in early 80’s.
One thing I like with the GT series is you don’t have to go for that tough race if you just feel like cruising around.
My favorite series for plain fun is the Lego’s. Fun, entertaining and there is some more difficult puzzle around too. Only platinum I have!
Oh! and Laguna seca… Favorite track … in GT5 or real race. Especially Super bike.
I play a lot of different games -- but to be truthful I liked Journey the best, there was something about that game where I was immersed in the visuals and the music and the mood -- the first time I ran into a stranger I was like Thank God and I believe he or she felt the same because we ran at each other across the dunes and fluttered and cajoled and pressed on side by side.
I never knew that persons name but we held each other up and braved weather and danger and I was actually sad that it ended.
I’ve gotten soft in my older years it seems. Where once I was slapping down my initials on the top of the boards at the local arcades, now I just play for amusement. Generally that amusement is all about getting lost in a virtual world. I’ve walked for hours around the streets of Venice, Rome Jerusalem. I’ve spent countless hours touring the GTA streets, looking for those little Easter eggs to make me smile; from the neon drenched streets of Vice City, to the wild wide outbacks of San Andreas -- cannot wait for the new one.
Taking a train or carriage ride from civilization to the backside of Mexico in RDR, or just exploring the forests on horseback; the games that allow me to ramp up the action when I decide is more my idea of fun now, not chasing leaderboards or high-scores.
I can’t say I have a favorite game now. If this were the early 2000’s I’d say GTA3 hands-down! But, given the options we have for set-your-own-pace, living, breathing worlds I couldn’t say one over the other.
If I can wander around aimlessly and go for miles in any given direction at the drop of a hat; I’m happy.
I read this great article one time about how every game needs to have an easy setting. For those of us with limited time or who want to play a game without the frustration.
I gave up on GT-5 about half way through, because I can’t go any further, and now the game collects dust. This would be a great thing to have an easy setting, so you could enjoy the rest of the game. If your shelling out 60 bucks for half a game that stings!
There games remember!
What I like to play does really depend on my day.Chatting with friends during a match of cod (win or lose) is my usual relax,though without their chat I prefer the combat training since I dont run into any hackers or boosters.
Then I have those days where I don’t want to speak,or be spoken to.You know those days where nothing seems right.Thats when I dust off my Naughty Bear.I don’t think I will ever beat the game,but something about hearing Total Defluffication and seeing little white stuffing makes me laugh.