Microsoft SideWinder Dual Strike Review - It's a Pixel THING - Ep.#83

Let's take a look at Microsoft’s attempt on revolutionizing the way we controlled First Person Shooters on PC, ditching the keyboard and mouse scheme!


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Late 90s PC gaming Rig - IBM NetVista [type 6793]

A glimpse at my mid/late 90s & early 2000s gaming rig: an IBM Netvista, from 2001. I will show you what's inside, install an OS and try out some games.
Check it out!

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5 PlayStation 2 (PS2) Underrated Games

Almost 4000 titles have been released for the PlayStation 2 and, as you can imagine, there’s hundreds of hidden gems out there.

These are my 5 underated PS2 games that must belong on the shelves of every game collector.

Splashdown was one of the first games that I’ve played on a PlayStation 2. Back then, I was really impressed with what they’ve accomplished. The water effects and player’s animations are marvelous and superbly done. 

Released for the PS2 and Xbox in November 2001, it was published by Atari and developed by Rainbow Studios, the same guys that, a year earlier, released the fabulous Motocross Madness 2 exclusively for the PC.

It was the second Rainbow Studio’s game for the PlayStation 2, after ATV Offroad Fury, and they’ve managed to create a similar Wave Race kind of game, that was exclusive for Nintendo machines, and bring this awesome water mayhem for the Sony and Microsoft fans.

It has a superb and exciting split screen 2 player mode, and there’s 18 exotic locations, from Hawaii to Bali. We can choose to start a career, do some free riding or play the arcade mode of the game. Obviously, career mode is the way to go. Besides all this, there’s an extensive number of tricks that you can pull off while in the air, just like in Motocross Madness and ATV Offroad Fury, but way more realistic, and a freakin awesome soundtrack to keep the player motivated.

Check it out! You won’t regret it!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, by Konami, brings the memories of the arcade saloons of the eighties.

This 2003 creation is based on the animated TV series of that same year and its gameplay is inspired by a dozen of season one episodes.

The game features a single or 2-player co-operative mode in which you can play has Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo or Michelangelo and each has his own unique set of levels to complete. There’s also a versus mode where two players can fight head to head. We’re given the option to choose one of the turtles and, as well, Splinter, Casey Jones, Hamato Yoshi, The Turtlebot, Hun, Oroku Saki and Shredder.

It’s a basic button slash type of game, just like its old brother from 1989, and was criticized for that simple fact. The music, sounds and animations are great and faithful to the series. It keeps the player hunger for action, and there’s plenty of it!

If you’re a fan of beat-em-up games, this one is a must have! And with co-op mode, there’s no excuse!

Finest Hour was the first console installment of the Call of Duty franchise, and was a PS2, Xbox and Gamecube exclusive. 

Developed in 2004 by Spark Unlimited and published by Activision, it has a completely different storyline from the original PC game, the very first Call of Duty from late 2003. It’s based in real events from World War 2 and we get to experience the action from the US, British and Soviet point of view.

If featured an online multiplayer mode for up to 16 players simultaneously.

The audio is of exceptional quality, from de sound effects to the music itself. It looks like we’re watching an interactive movie. The voice of Sergeant Starkey, one of the British commandos, was provided by AC/DC singer Brian Johnson.

Playing first person shooters on a console maybe awkward, but Call of Duty: Finest Hour is an essential add-on for all the fans of the franchise.

True Crime New York City follows the footsteps of its predecessor, True Crime Streets of LA. But, sadly, critics gave it average and poor reviews. 

For me, though, the vast depiction of Manhattan and its many landmarks, the innovative transportation options, like using the New York City subway system, and the simple fact that many buildings are accessible to the player, are extreme good qualities that sets this game apart from previous open world titles.

Ok, maybe there’s some bad frame rates from time to time and minor technical issues here and there that seemed to have resulted from a rushed release. It became available before Christmas of 2005 and was published by Activision.

In this game, you’re the cop. You need to avenge the murder of your mentor and take control of the streets. You can arrest, interrogate, use informants, extort, frisk, and more. But, at the end, your fate will be tested: your actions may turn you into a Bad Cop.

Due to its bad reception, a planned sequel named True Crime: Hong Kong was canceled. Luxoflux, the team behind the development of the True Crime franchise, was even shut down in 2010.

I enjoy sandbox/open world type of games and I’ve had a blast with True Crime New York City.

Rainbow Studios returns to their heritage with MX Unleashed, the next generation leap from its older brother, Motocross Madness 2. 

For the despair of PC gamers all over the world and devoted followers of the Motocross Madness series, this title was only available for the Playstation 2 and Xbox. But, for the record, if Rainbow Studios hadn’t been acquired by THQ, MX Unleashed would have been called, with no doubt, Motocross Madness 3 and also available for the PC.

Published by THQ in the beginning of 2004, MX Unleashed is one big off-road playground. There’s Supercross and outdoor Nationals series to participate, just like in Motocross Madness. But, newer stuff was obviously included, like taking a monster truck, a helicopter or a bi-plane out for a ride in the massive freeworld environments. But be aware! There’s a limit for your exploration!

MX Unleashed features an accurate physics engine. The bike and rider react to the surface in a natural way and your speed, the angle of the bike and how you’re balancing the weight, all of this affects how your bike responds to the terrain. The controls are sharp and accurate and the trick system is simple and fairly basic to execute. To be honest, everything feels right in this game.

It also has an awesome soundtrack, but, in game, I prefer to listen only to bike’s engine and all other sound effects.

  

The PS2 has a great library of games. I’ll be covering much more titles from the best-selling video game console in history.

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PC Game Review: MX vs ATV Unleashed

Análise publicada originalmente no extinto portal PTGamers, a 14 de Março de 2006.

Quem não se lembra do Motocross Madness 2? Velhos tempos em que combinávamos entre amigos ir “sacar uns cavalos” em LAN ou via Internet, através dos servidores do zone.com. Ainda possuo uma colecção de aproximadamente 7GB de pistas diversas criadas pela comunidade online fiel ao jogo. Eu próprio construí algumas! Este simples facto aumentou drasticamente a longevidade desse título, sendo jogado ainda nos dias de hoje, passados quase 6 anos desde o seu lançamento. Finalmente esses tempos de ouro voltaram com o nascimento do MX vs ATV Unleashed.

A Rainbow Studios, criadora dos títulos originais Motocross Madness e Motocross Madness 2 para o PC e ATV Offroad Fury e ATV Offroad Fury 2 para as consolas, voltou à carga, no início de 2003, com um novo jogo intitulado MX Unleashed, mas apenas para PlayStation 2 e X-Box. Os utilizadores de PC, e devoradores de Motocross Madness 2, ficaram fulos quando souberam que o pessoal da Rainbow Studios não tencionava lançar este seu novo e apetitoso título para o PC. Em fóruns discutia-se em como seria possível esta nova pérola dos jogos de motocross não estar disponível para a plataforma que lançou a Rainbow no mercado. Mas, ao fim de 3 anos e após MX vs ATV Unleashed ter sido lançado também nas consolas (em meados de 2005), a Rainbow Studios resolveu contemplar os antigos fãs com um novo jogo.

Pelas mãos da Beenox Studios, este novo título de motocross eleva a simulação deste género de jogos no PC a um patamar muito mais alto. A comunidade de jogadores de Motocross Madness 2 agradece! Até porque a versão para Windows vem com um exclusivo Editor de Pistas, muito mais intuitivo e acessível mesmo aos leigos na matéria de construção de novas pistas.

O Editor:

E, já que estamos a falar do Editor, posso dizer que este está tão simplificado que até perde o encanto para os antigos “track makers”. Alguns pormenores perderam-se com o tempo, como foi a variedade de vegetação disponível e o simples facto de poder adicionar à nossa nova pista uma imagem que a identifique. Existe também um pequeno “bug” no jogo ligado ao mini-mapa das pistas criadas no Editor que espero seja corrigido num futuro “patch”. Apesar deste pequeno problema e “esquecimentos”, o novo Editor de Pistas está poderoso e muito mais estável que o anterior Armadillo (e Dillo2) para o Motocross Madness 2.

O Jogo:

Estão disponíveis várias modalidades de provas, desde a possibilidade de jogar as pistas criadas no Editor, passando por campeonatos de Motocross, Supercross, Freestyle, SuperMoto, Short Track, Hill Climb, Way Point e finalizando com desafios contra outras máquinas e Free Ride, entre muito mais. Para percorrer os vastos cenários temos à nossa disposição as habituais motos de cross de várias cilindradas, ATVs (ou quads / moto4), buggys, jipes, monster trucks, avionetas e até carros de golf 4x4!

O motor de física agregado a este título, a que a Rainbow Studios chamou de “Rhythm Racing”, está de uma realidade incrível, onde a moto e o piloto reagem com naturalidade a todos os sobressaltos do terreno de jogo e no qual teremos de realmente saber como inclinar a moto e o piloto para que os saltos e as aterragens sejam efectuadas em segurança.

Graficamente o jogo está soberbo, adequado para o género em que se insere, com sombras dinâmicas que acompanham o jogador e raios de sol que ofuscam a visibilidade. Apenas não percebo porque bloquearam o jogo a 30 fps (frames por segundo) o que, por vezes, e quando estão muitos adversários e árvores no ecrã, compromete a fluidez. Num futuro próximo deveriam corrigir isto através do lançamento de um “patch”.
O som está minimamente aceitável, com o rosnar das máquinas um pouco infantil e repetitivo. A banda sonora é composta por importantes bandas do panorama actual, como é o exemplo dos The Black Eyed Peas, Papa Roach, Nickelback ou Unwritten Law.

A jogabilidade é super viciante. É difícil parar. Só queremos fazer mais um “back-flip”, mais um “ 360” ou simplesmente aterrar sem mãos. As corridas são acessíveis, podendo dizer mesmo que é fácil chegar ao final do jogo. Quando por vezes caímos e ficamos para último, a IA (inteligência artificial) do jogo diz aos adversários para abrandarem, o que significa que os apanharemos um pouco mais à frente. O grande desafio é jogar em LAN contra alguns amigos ou online através do GameSpy. Até 6 jogadores (apenas) podem entrar numa corrida sem tréguas e confesso que é nesta vertente do jogo que realmente sentimos toda a adrenalina de uma verdadeira corrida de motocross. Simplesmente genial.



Veredicto final:

Se realmente apreciam jogos de motocross no seu total esplendor, devem obrigatoriamente adquirir este jogo, visto que tem tudo para agradar aos amantes da modalidade. Com o Editor de Pistas, este título vai ter uma longevidade igual ou superior ao seu irmão mais velho, o Motocross Madness 2.

Para os jogadores ocasionais, julgo que não perderão nada em dar uma espreitadela a este MX vs ATV Unleashed. Pode ser que fiquem adeptos, visto ser o que melhor se fez até hoje dentro do género.

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English review published on It's a Pixel THING YouTube channel (January 9th of 2015):

Following the worldwide success of Motocross Madness 1 and 2 exclusively on the PC and, a few years later, in 2004, MX Unleashed for the original Xbox and PS2, Rainbow Studios brought us, in 2005, MX vs ATV Unleashed.

Firstly on the PS2 and Xbox, it eventually came out, one year later, in 2006, for the PC, but, this time around, with an awesome track editor!

This will be my main focus in this review, ‘cause all the other racing stuff is already covered all over the internet.

The creators of this great title saw the overwhelming reception of both Motocross Madness games and the huge fan base created around them, and felt the urgent need to replicate that success on the PC all over again. To make it even more irresistible to the fans, Rainbow Studios decided to include on the same disc, and only on the PC version, a friendly track editor!

I won’t be showing here how to create tracks or something like that. It’s just a quick look at some of the great stuff that fans can do with that awesome tool.

The game features an extensive single player career that you can complete using motocross bikes and ATVs. There are also other types of unlockable vehicles available to take out for a spin like, for instance: golf karts, monster trucks, trophy trucks, off-road buggies, sand rails, biplanes and even helicopters. These last two types are extremely difficult to control, so I advise you to stick with the off-road stuff, it’s so much fun!

As for the controls, you can use the keyboard and re-map it to whatever best suits your preferences, but the best controller around that you should use is, with no doubt, the XBOX360 controller for Windows.

As usually, in this franchise, you can pull off some tricks whilst in the air to get extra points. Use those on the store to grab some new rides and gear, besides other great stuff.

I simply hate stadium events, but love the outdoor nationals. It’s here where all the fun begins. Those natural elevations and bumps are so damn enjoyable to ride! Remember to use the clutch at the start of the races and in those tight hairpin turns; that way you can maintain your momentum with short bursts of speed.

Another important move you can make to stay ahead of the pack is the suspension pre-load for the jumps. Learn how and when you should use it and you’ll certainly start winning races.

The soundtrack can be switched off, but there’s some nice licensed music from, for example, Nickelback and Papa Roach, that really fits into the action. As for the sound effects, those were taken from real life vehicles and they sound really good.

But none of this is that relevant. What really matters are those hundreds or even thousands of user made tracks. The main source for these files is mcmfactory.com, in where you'll find all that good stuff for the MX vs ATV series - tracks, riding gear and bike skins, etc.

MX vs ATV Unleashed is also one hell of a good and enjoyable game to play with your friends over network, and with all those user-made tracks, you’ll be fighting for first place for quite a while!

Graphics could be better, with mud and dust covering the bike, but the fun factor present in the game is huge and makes us forget those tiny little things.

And this wraps it up for this “not so retro” review of one of the greatest motocross games ever.

Feel free to check my other reviews, ‘cause I cover a lot of different stuff over a bunch of different systems.