Sunday 3 December 2017

22 - Games

I'm finding myself increasingly frustrated by video games. And this is, mostly, a relatively recent thing, and has been building in the time I've had a PS4.

Whilst I'm not a particular gaming obsessive, over the years I've had a Spectrum, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, PlayStation, Wii, 3DS, and PS4. 

I'll go through the things that are annoying me lately...

New Games needing an update.

I can't recall a game on the PS4 that hasn't needed a patch before I start to play it. If it's a game that's been around a bit, I can understand that there might be some potential improvements that may have come to light, based on customer feedback; but on new release games? Really? That's rather a tacit admission that that they couldn't be bothered to get the game right before duplicating all the copies of the game. In the old days, before 'net connection was the default a company had to get it right from the off. 

This leads to...

The insane amount of space taken up by games on the hard drive of the PS4.

Because every game needs an update, and because this needs storing on the hard drive, this takes up a huge amount of space. This, coupled with the fact that each game copies an amount of data from the game disc on to the hard drive, as well as save game data, means only so many games can be stored. And not enough for all the games I have...

Because of this I keep on having to delete stuff off. Which means next time I want to play that game I'll have to re-download the updates. Unless..

Well, this leads to...

The lack of ease of upgrading the hard drive.

There's USB ports on the thing. Why can't I just plug in an external drive in to one of these? But, no, it seems the only way to do so is to open up the PS4, take out the old one, make sure everything's copied over on to a bigger HD, and then stick the new one in. It's somewhat of a faff...

And then there's...

DLC.

I mean. Do you need it? For each game is it relevant? If you buy a season pass for all this stuff in advance, how do you even know it's going to be worthwhile, or worth the money? Or does it mean when you buy the game, you're only getting a bit of it, and to get the whole game you need to buy this stuff? I liked it that when you bought a game that was it. You had, in one hit, everything there was for the game.

And then...

Dumb omissions made by games makers.

There seems to be a bit of a trend whereby you have long standing games series, and over time you get to know them and what to expect from them. Then when they release new versions, elements are conspicuous by their absence... take for example;

Street Fighter V - the Street Fighter games have, all over the course of their history had a mode based on the original arcade games whereby you fight a series of ten fighters, each getting progressively harder, until you get to the toughest boss. This is absent from SFV. There's a story mode where you switch from character to character, and another one where you fight three or four matches on an individual story... but the main meat of an SF game just isn't there...

(I should actually note here, that SFV is a good use of DLC; there's some extra characters, and you can either pay from the off to get access to them, or you can earn them through fighting. That's a good compromise.)

Gran Turismo Sport - now this one is very frustrating, in that they've actually forgotten to put the actual fucking game as an option... yes. Really. 

In the earlier GT games, you had to enter series of races, and through this you could earn money to buy better cars, or upgrades to cars, to win more races. You could tweak the performance of your cars to get an edge on the competition. When you earnt a new car it was a real achievement; especially when you had you're eye on a specific car. You could also earn places in more difficult races by passing licence tests completing specific tasks, and earning different licenses. It was tricky, a challenge, but so much fun. 

There was also an arcade mode, for quick races, but that was always just a side thing, and not the main event. 

Fast forward to GTS, and it has the arcade mode, it has the driving test side of things... but the actual career style mode... not there. It feels like the heart of the game has been torn out of it, and the whole thing feels terribly incomplete. 

Add to this, you get awarded new cars left, right, and centre. For example, if you play it and drive 27 miles in a day - which takes very little time - you get an extra car. Every day. There's no achievement. Getting a new car just elicits a shrug, rather than being an achievement. 

This version does have an online mode, but that's somewhat half assed. There's tracks you can race on each day, but only at specific times throughout the day, which to me seems very limiting, leading to waits for the race to start. There's also tournaments you can enter, but these only run on some days, and you have to enter at specific times in advance. I don't know if I'll be on the PS4 in two days' time. I might be. I might not be. Again, it's limiting. Just makes me not want to bother...

(As an aside; I recall Mario Kart online on the Wii. When I played that mode, I'd have a race up and running in less than a minute, based on whoever was online at the time. If the Wii could do this, surely the PS4 can?)

This is all very frustrating, as GTS plays so very well. What there is I enjoy, but I think I'd rather be playing GT or GT2 on the original PS. And that's surely not right?

Wouldn't surprise me if a proper career mode is something they'll add on as DLC at a later stage and charge a wodge of case for. When it should have been part of the thing from the off...

Guess I should have waited for the reviews before getting this one... but then who would have thought that they'd have not bothered including the actual game???

There's some good stuff...

It's not all bad on the PS4; I keep going back to Grand Theft Auto V; it's just a wonderful, expansive game with so many things you can do in the town. Sometimes you just want to drive around the town, ignoring the main missions. Just hang out there. Get distracted by things... go do one of the races. Get in a chase with the cops. It's just one of the best things there is. 

Talking of one of the best things there is... the PS Store sells a nigh on perfect version of Bubble Bobble. That I'd play this old game on new tech is a testament to its enduring appeal. And I'm currently #38 in the world on the 5-minute high score mode. 1-credit high score mode... well, I'm a bit lower. 

Can we have Grand Theft Auto 6, now, please...?