Since I just recently moved back home, I haven’t had the chance to really get into any new video content. But I’m starting to get settled again, so hopefully Big Cal’s World can get officially on track in the next couple of weeks. Until then, here is some more written content to keep you all going :). I’ve done one of these posts before (bigcalsworld.co.uk/big-cals-video-game-diary-1/), where I just talk about some of the games I’ve been playing recently. Hope you enjoy it!
Excite Truck on the Wii is one of my more recent pickups (check out my video for recent pickups http://bigcalsworld.co.uk/big-cals-recent-gaming-pickups-1/), and a game I couldn’t wait to play again for the first time in quite a few years. Racing games outside of Mario Kart aren’t usually my thing, but Excite Truck isn’t your typical racing game! The key to advancing through the game is getting stars. You earn stars in a variety of ways, from drifting, avoiding trees, crashing into other trucks, being in the air for long periods of time, and a few others too. You also get a certain amount of stars depending on what place you finish in, meaning that being in first place isn’t always necessary, but certainly helps. The tracks look wonderful, and aren’t simply normal racing tracks, but are set in the desert, on an island, up a mountain etc. Each lap can be completely different depending on which path you take, and also if you activate a change of land, which can create a whole new mountain out of nowhere, or change the course in front of you into something else entirely! All of this makes the game so damn fun to play. I went through the first 6 or 7 levels in a single play through before having to stop as the controls are motion detected rather than using the d-pad. This is certainly a must own Wii game if you want something pure FUN.
Talk about a blast from the past! My first experience with the awesome C&C series was on the PS1 growing up, as I didn’t have a PC at the time. The first C&C, then Red Alert, and then Retaliation (which I *think* was a PS1 exclusive?). All are great games, but it was Retaliation I spent the most time on back then. I ended up playing this again for the first time in years while I was waiting for my “Big Cal Books WrestleMania 31 Part 1 and Part 2” videos. All I did was play one skirmish mission, and ended up glued to the TV screen for a little over an hour, though it only felt like 20 minutes! It’s amazing how you can go years without playing a game, then when you do finally play it again, it’s as if you hadn’t stopped. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to remember the controls or what to do, as I was so used to playing the PC C&C games with a keyboard and mouse, but nope, it all came back to me immediately and I was on my way to building up my army! The game has about 100 maps to pick from, and I went straight to the one from my childhood that I would ALWAYS pick. It has the whole map split into little islands, all connected by bridges from 3 sides. This means you can build up some defence on the 3 sides with a bridge and know you are relatively safe to continue expanding your base and building up a proper army. And that’s what I did. Flame towers, Tesla towers, Flame troopers, Tesla troopers and tanks, and my personal favourite; THE MAMMOTH TANK! When I thought I had a big enough army, I split it up into 2 and send them to opposite sides of the enemy base for a strategic ambush! As they waited at the bridges to cross into the base, I first released an Atomic Bomb! That annihilated the majority of the enemies troops and a couple of buildings, leaving mainly tanks and some key buildings left for my 2 armies to destroy! In the end I won with relative ease, but this was on easy mode, and I am an experienced player of the game lol. While I still prefer a lot of the PC C&C games, I will still always love this PS1 game and definitely hope to play more in the future!
Completed Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009). Only took me 6 hours in total! Played it on the PC, since it was only like £3 a while back in one of the many steam sales. Played the Wii version when it first came out and I remember the game being MUCH harder. In fact I got stuck on the Wii version and never made it past a certain point. A point that never came up on the PC version… so either I’m remembering it wrong or the Wii version had some different levels. The graphics were made more “cartoony” for the Wii so it wouldn’t just be a crappy downgraded version compared to the next gen consoles at the time, which was nice of them to do, but I’m wondering now what other changes were made. Anyway, the PC version. Most of the time it looks great. Some of the rain/water effects are sweeeeet, and the ghosts look cool for the most part. And then every now and then during a cutscene something will appear on screen and look like it was ripped out of an N64 game :P. Voice acting is all great, thanks to the original cast all being here. Locations are all mainly recycled from the movies, which I’m fine with, and even though you do re-visit a lot of them a couple of times, they are always changing thanks to the effects of the ghosts and shit, so it never feels like you are playing the same level multiple times. Music is outstanding and really makes you feel like you are in the Ghostbusters world. A good mix of fun and light-hearted tunes along with creepy as fuck melodies that do make you feel like you are playing a survival horror game or something at times :P. All does a great job setting the atmosphere. Though the only time I got anywhere close to being scared while playing the game was a damn jump scare from… Peter :P. In one of the early levels he disappears, then later on he just jumps out at you from another hallway and makes a funny noise :P. Controls are excellent, never once had a problem. Switching between the different weapons on your pack is simple, and going back and forth between normal view and the PKE meter view is a breeze. Catching ghosts is easy enough and battling with them to get them into the traps is fun. Story is ok, nothing outstanding, but ties in with the first film mostly (there is a bit that they explain something from the second film which was cool). Only problems I really had with the game (other than it being super short), is that while you play as a new rookie on the team, there is no character customisation at all. You don’t even name yourself. It just says “rookie” on your uniform lol. No changing how you look, nothing. And my other complaint is that you don’t get to drive the Ecto 1 :(. They tease the fuck out of it near the end of the game, but it’s just that; a fucking tease. I WANNA DRIVE AROUND IN THE FUCKING ECTO 1 DAMMIT :(. And it’s IN the game too. When you battle a certain giant marshmallow, you have to escort it around the city, clearing a path for the other Ghostbusters to get through while driving. And during the last chapter or whatever you again have to open pathways for it and shit. But no driving :(. So overall, while it does have some flaws, the game itself is super fun and worth the playthrough if you can get it cheap like I did. Probably gonna be better than the reboot 
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