Be Excellent To Each Other

An unskippable advert on a full game.

Wow.

Also, is there any way to install a game without first launching it from disc once so it appears in your recent games list and therefore gives the option from there?

I let it get to the title screen and then quit back, so it's installing now.

Amusingly I've got 10 gamerscore just for doing that.

Wikkid

I have come to find that there is nothing more satisfying that bombing down an open road in the pissing rain and then going into a tunnel and seeing the blues and twos flash off the walls

And yes. That advert smells of cunt. I was so fucking mad about that.

If you turn off 'launch when you insert a disk' then you can - you navigate to the my xbox channel and press Y from the game to install.

Otherwise as soon as you put the disk in it starts the game and you need to jump back out.

I already have autolaunch turned off but hadn't sussed out the other bit.

Cheers zaphod

I am in the same camp as Doccy G, except I also have enough games to be getting on with until Xmas, so I've stuck it on my prezzie list.

This one's really good though. Way better than all those other games you already have.

O.K. So the Veyron is absolutely fucking bonkers fast

It drifts superbly too but gordon bennett, you don't get a lot of time react !

Try some of the shortcuts.

Oh.

Hmm, after playing a fair bit of this I'm not yet convinced. The main problem I'm having so far is that it feels more like driving a hovercraft than a car. All the friends stuff is really nice though, but if the handling isn't there then it's all just some glitter sprinkled on a turd. Will persist for a while.

I think the racing and the handling and what have you is brilliant - reminds me of Ridge Racer I think - the drift mechanic and the steering. The sense of speed is incredible as well. Are you normally into arcade racers or are you more of a sim kinda guy? The social interaction stuff is very well done as well. The things that are pissing me off most are the unskippable "unlock" videos.

YOU'VE UNLOCKED A NEW CAR. YOU'VE UNLOCKED ANOTHER NEW CAR. HAVE SOME VIDEOS OF THE CARS. YOU'VE UNLOCKED A NEW CAR.

I want to skip them!

Well I've spent an evening with the game and I think it's ace, technically speaking it's creaking somewhat, but the game itself is a pleasantly comprehensive spread of awesomeness.

I'd go into more detail if it weren't for the wine.

Wine in boxes, who came up with that motherfucker?

BOTTLES = EASY

'Yeah I've drunk two bottles, probably time to stop....'

versus

BOXES = HARD

'Well I think it's less than half full now but who can be sure, no harm in pouring another glass then!'

Aye. Hence the "Feels like Ridge Racer with Daytona USA's drift mechanics".

I'm OK in the slower cars but fuck me the fast ones are brutal.



The same cunt who came up with Dunkin Donuts coffee in boxes. Same thing. Before I realised it I was a shaking wreck lol.

The best thing about boxes of wine is that if you stick to a glass or two with dinner throughout the week you end up with a decent amount left in the bag for taking hiking/camping at the weekend & when you finish it you can blow it up for a pillow

And it's like an astronaut's pillow! Or you can take it out of the box and it's like astronaut wine! If you place the nozzle in your mouth and drink straight out of it.

There most definitely is that, whereas a bottle of wine that's a third full is positively asking, nay insisting that it be finished off, you can have a couple of glasses out of a box of an evening and leave it at that.

I like taking the bag out near the end and squeezing all the last of the wine out, although it went a bit wrong one evening when I had the nozzle pointing the wrong way and proceeded to shoot a jet of ice cold wine at my knackers.

A fairly predictable face-off at Eurogamer.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... t-face-off

The good news for PS3 owners is that Criterion have 'Done a Paradise' and delivered platform parity with the 360, but as expected the PC version positively stomps all over the console versions from a technical perspective, assuming you can run it at 1080P or better (and it doesn't look like you need a monster PC to do so).

However, the friends integration for PC is total wank (almost to the point of being non-existent), which is why I went with the 360 version for this game (I spent 20 minutes beating loopdreams' time on a Pagonda time trial thingy last night and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge), so if you want multiplayer high-jinks and friends integration, get the console version (probably the 360, since that's the console everyone has).

I have to say I'd love to see this game running at 1900x1200x60FPS with high-res textures, I honestly do think the 360 version looks pretty fucking shonky overall, and whilst Criterion have done a sterling job with input lag on Hot Pursuit, it is higher than on 60FPS console games, and higher again than the PC version manages. (I find the handling/response in Hot Pursuit to be clearly inferior to Paradise, although I did manage to adapt to it without too much trouble, but it just isn't as sharp and sure as Paradise.)

I'll most likely buy the PC version as well so I can enjoy the game in its 'friends integrated' guise and also in its 'loveliest looking' guise - same as I did with Paradise.

Definitely explains my Ridge Racer theory

I should be a ninja AWWWWWW

So basically, AE, you now agree that overall consoles are better than PCs?

The drift mechanic in this game is sublime. Once it clicks, it's almost OutRun-esque.

I was just 'treated'?! to one of the most sweary bits so far.

I was using the Shelby Mustang cop car. I was up against a dirty trick pulling bastard in one of those Alfa Competizione things or whatever the fuck they're called.

It was all rather annoying. Firstly the fuckstick kept pulling Uturns so for about half an hour we just went up and down the same fucking road about thirty times, and secondly he kept fucking spiking me. Even more annoying was the fact that even though I am using the best car I can I did not have the speed to overtake, making my strips fucking useless. Every time I used any other technique the bastard would just evade it or right as I was about to would jam my radar.

What made me swear the most was that his car was red, and, just to fucking annoy me even further a good portion of the actual traffic were red cars making it very fucking frustrating. Twice I totalled my own car ramming the wrong bastard

If a spike is laid in a road light you can't fucking see it. If an oncoming car is in a road light you can't see that either. This road (annoyingly !) was loaded with fucking street lights making you blind. There's so much going on in an aural sense that you need to be fucking Superman to understand it all and the controls get rather fiddly in such a race.

Thankfully I managed to get it done before controllers went flying.

It's certainly where it's at for games like this, where you have an established friends list, excellent friends integration within the game, and the prospect of proper multiplayer gaming at some point too.

I knew I was taking second best from a technical perspective when I got the 360 version, but contrary to popular opinion, I'm not so much of a PC fanboy that I'll debase my enjoyment of a game to get extra FPS and higher resolutions - the game still comes first at the end of the day.

The console versions of this game are creaking from a technical perspective, that's a fact. The Eurogamer write-up is pretty much bang-on, especially when it comes to the mid-range 'mulch' that the graphics descend into, making it hard to pick out the gap in road blocks and indeed the correct route on some of the night courses, before they're far closer than you'd like them to be.

Ultimately I'm happy to be a console and a PC gamer (they're both set up through the same screen and speakers, and I sit in the same chair to play them both), and enjoy both. The PC does deliver gaming experiences that the consoles simply can't - for example we'll* be playing Bad Company 2 on 32 player servers this evening, using our own high-bitrate Teamspeak server and proper headsets for chat, at a gorgeous 60FPS, 1920x1200 and 'well beyond console' graphics settings, with pings of less than 100 on our favourite dedicated servers that are running Punkbuster with vigilant clan members/admins who'll kickban any hackers or glitchers who get past PB with extreme prejudice - that's a PC gaming experience, it's absolutely sublime, and the consoles just can't do it. (And you get keyboard and mouse, of course.)

Then again, with the likes of the truly glorious Pac Man CE DX out this week, and now Hot Pursuit as well (plus the hours I've sunk into Burnout Revenge recently), there's no denying the 360 certainly deserves a place in any keen gamer's arsenal of hardware.

* Me and my fellow PC owning spod chums.

I feel like I've had five espressos after playing this.

Really makes you think about what it must be like to be a police interceptor. I can totally see how they get the red mist thing going on now.

I don't think it's entirely realistic, or intended to be so, man

I do however agree that it's a real adrenaline-pumping game, I've been concentrating entirely on the racing career path, so can't speak for the cop career yet, but I did have one race where I was DAMAGE CRITICAL for the last 2 miles and had to use all my weaponry to survive, including a last straight turbo that would have killed me if I'd have so much as scratched anything, but needed to be done to get 1st place and thus the gold. (I literally nudged into first place about 0.1 seconds ahead of the finish line.)

The events where you're up against other racers AND the cops can be pretty fraught

As with all Criterion games, you can sleepwalk through the game getting bronzes, silvers aren't too hard, but golds can be a real challenge - which is cool as it lets everyone see the whole game but you can do it at your own difficulty level depending on how tough a challenge you want.

I'm settling for silver or gold at the moment, but will go back for golds as the taunts appear on my wall

I'm only settling for gold. If I get a silver and keep failing, I just quit out and try again later - usually works!

Well durr that's why it's called a game cockbat.

I'm struggling to think of a more fantastic few minutes in a racing game than the McLaren F1 on the mountain track stage in this. It's absolutely brilliant. I've played it over and over.

There's something really satisfying about the nitrous as well. It's perfect. It doesn't give you a proper speed boost as such, but more of a subtle bit of extra power. Like a couple of extra thousand revs when you're already bouncing off the limiter. I fucking love this game.

I swear it's OutRun 3 with a Need For Speed paint job.

edit: Nailed gold on the McLaren stage! Please don't beat it, it took me ages to get a perfect run without hitting a van at the end!

Sorry to keep banging on, but argh! It's definitely an "in the zone" game. I just had a near perfect race in the wet at night and came top of a leaderboard by quite some way. I really wish the demo was still available so more people could try it. Not that it gave much of an indication of its greatness. I genuinely feel like I did when I first played OutRun 2. Exhilarating stuff with perfect PERFECT drift controls.

I do wish the demo was available, seeing as I only became remotely interested in the week before its release and I'm not willing to punt it.

It's an absolutely magnificent game, just spent another hugely enjoyable couple of hours in its company.

I'm going to finish the racer career path first (silver or better), then I'll look to beating friends' times in anger from the first event onwards in that mode, and then do the same with the cops (haven't done a single cop event yet).

The game does deliver 'OMFG that's awesome' moments on a regular basis, it's one of those games that actually delivers what you almost dared to dream videogames might be like one day when you were little.

A few annoyances are cropping up, such as being locked into specific cars for events because you know they've had to promise the manufacturers a certain amount of 'air time' in return for using the real cars, and the blatant advertising speak that tells you about the cars themselves.

Also, the 'burning route' equivalents have pseudo-random traffic, so when you're looking for the absolute fastest time from point-to-point, the traffic isn't always consistent, which means you don't know which traffic pattern the person you're trying to beat got, and which traffic pattern you're going to get either, and on some of the routes, it does make a pretty big difference. (I think if you keep restarting you always get the same traffic pattern, but quit out and go back in, and you get a different one.)

Oh yes, and whilst the soundtrack ain't no Burnout Revenge beater, it's not that bad, and I'd definitely rather have the real songs playing than the generic 'chase music' you get during the outrun the cops events.

Overall though, truly excellent stuff, and I've not even tried the multiplayer yet - hopefully a few more BEEXers will get the full game and we can have a cops 'n robbers evening some day

The traffic is pretty much random I've noticed yeah - even on retries. Can throw a spanner in the works or it can really pan out for you if you get lucky.

There are two things that annoy me about this game:

Number one is the aforementioned unskippable unlock videos which seems like a massive oversight from Criterion - but hey, they had to patch quick restarts into Burny Pee. After you've unlocked a couple of cars, you really don't need a spinning 'Concours' view of every single one after those. Not an unskippable one anyway. Same goes for the "levelling up" videos. It's especially annoying if you manage to level up or unlock a car at the end of a race and it forces you to watch the unskippable videos and then sends you back to the level select screen when what you actually wanted to do was fucking RETRY the race you just got a silver medal on. It doesn't ruin the game in any way and it's a problem exclusive to the menu system rather than the gameplay, but it does leave a sour taste sometimes - especially when you're eager to get straight back into the racing, which is pretty much the point of an arcade racer.

The second annoying thing is the traffic. It's fine for the most part, but every now and then I'll be on a perfect run only to run into traffic in both lanes at the same time, crossing each other. It's practically a guaranteed crash. It only happens very occasionally - like maybe four times to me so far in 05:36:00 of play - but it's completely unavoidable and adds an element of random unpredictability to a game that is otherwise completely focused on precision and being "in the zone".

Other than those things, it's very difficult to fault it for anything else - so far at least.

Yep I had one of those this evening, was one of the longer races and my car was fucked from about half way through, I then played (if I do say so myself) absolutely fucking majestically for the rest of the race, using all my toys to despatch both racers and cops alike, clever use of shortcuts, not being silly just doing enough to stay in the lead, before entering into a nice safe drift on the VERY LAST BEND OF THE RACE to find what is effectively a wall of cars in front of me, (well, two cars, but blocking both lanes) - as you say, guaranteed crash, race over.

Didn't have any problem on the retry as I'd already mapped out the problem areas in my mind, but it's a shame that once in a while, random bad luck fucks you over.

These are minor problems in an otherwise epically good game though.

(I don't mind the unskippable new car and level up screens I have to say, they only last a few seconds and I find them quite satisfying, but if you're not arsed I can imagine they'd get annoying.)

I don't mind them generally, but I'd like to a) at least have the option to skip them, and b) when they disable your ability to "quick retry" a race you've just finished, they're the worst thing in the entire world. Especially when you're shaving tenths of a second off your best time, and the ENTIRE GAME is geared towards beating your friends on the leaderboards. Bah I say, BAH!

This was my impression from the demo and the reason I ordered it.

I am utterly puzzled that EA won't let more people play the demo.

Yeah I've warmed to this a bit now. I'm still not fully on board with the controls, they feel...not imprecise but just a bit slow. Also the previously mentioned traffic pattern thing can make some aspects of the game more a test of perseverance than skill. It's pretty fun online though.

EA have stopped the demo thing on PC all together now. I think they were a bit cowardly with some of the real shitters they have put out over the last couple of years. I mean, that last C&C game was a tragedy. Why would you want to show people that before you had conned them into buying it?

Shame though, because NFS is actually very good and what the series has needed since Most Wanted IMO (even tho MW wasn't as good as the NFSU series).

Two things:

1. FUCK OFF with ALL THE FUCKING CUTSCENES. If I wanted to watch someone else driving a police car, I'd fucking watch COPS on CBS Reality.

2. Citizens of Seacrest County. Failure to Yield to Emergency Vehicle is an offense. You've seen what we do to people who speed.



This DOES NOT mean coming to a complete stop in an active traffic lane. It could be a family member or loved one we're trying to get to.

Yay! Beat my times and you die. That is all.

I would happily pay extra for a DLC to turn the fucking ridiculous annoying OTT over-presentation off.

Yes, there are times that you might be able to use it to save your bacon, but most of the time it just FUCKS YOU OVER.

I have a full boost gauge, and a damaged opponent who is just ahead of me in first place. As we approach a tight bend I hit the boost and start smashing him sideways into the barrier to take him down. INSTEAD, the fucking game cuts to a fucking bullet-time cutscene of a police car at the side of the road (Warning: new pursuit unit is engaging you or whatever). It then returns me to the game, GRINDING ALONG THE FUCKING BARRIER IN THIRD PLACE AND SLOWING RAPIDLY.

FUCKING FUCK OFF.

I've crashed, had my 'you're crashing!' cutscene and been immediately placed driving straight into the forcefield arrows directing me along a new road.

I've spike stripped someone with the requisite cutscene, and then been given control back only to be immediately faced with a roadblock and no fucking hope of reacting never mind aiming through the gap.

I'm trying to beat someone's time, and choose restart* and then sit for 20 fucking seconds first looking at a loading screen, and then at a supposedly skippable cutscene that still shows me over half of its UNSKIPPABLE FUCKING TEDIUM as I hammer the 'A' button to skip, while 'Skipping...' is flashing mockingly in the corner, just to restart a fucking race.

The game is fantastic fun and challenging and thrilling and competitive but JESUS CUNTING FUCK if you aren't spending 90% of your time not interacting because you're looking at yet another fucking loading screen or yet another in-game cutscene and NOT ACTUALLY FUCKING PLAYING.

Dear EA, CUNT THE FUCK OFF and stop ruining games with this ridiculous, pointless, idiotic shit. An unskippable commercial when I first load the game, having to enter a fucking code to prove I bought the game when I first load the game, unskippable explanation videos (YOU KNOW that I played the demo because you told me as much when I got to the main menu after 15 fucking minutes messing around) and way too much watching the game play itself.

*does anyone else find their menus go crazy sometimes? Like if your analog stick isn't perfectly centred, it jumps wildly between options?

I love you Perkies.

"Hello, I'm your NFS:HP disc."

"You're coming out of the trainyard shortcut, going towards the train tunnel shortcut which is right in front of you. Look out! A rival car on the main road is crossing your path. Quick, hit boost to kill them! Well done, you've killed them. But now the post-cutscene autopilot has steered you back onto the normal track, and off the shortcut you were obviously heading for, costing you several seconds. Plus, you now don't have time to drift around this hairpin, and have crashed into it."

"Welcome to Vanishing Point, which we're sure will be a popular race. Drive the Zonda really fast through the desert!"

"Oh, bad luck! The car on the last bend before the straight wasn't there, and you needlessly went into the right lane to avoid it!"

"Oh, bad luck! There was another car immediately after you got onto the straight that wasn't there last time and won't be next time, but this time you hit it!"

"Oh, bad luck! There was another car on the straight, meaning you had almost no time to build up your boost by driving in the oncoming lane this time. Your time is worthless and you might as well restart, and sit through the opening cutscene for the fiftieth time."

"Oh, bad luck, there were cars coming the other way on the chicane just before the finish line, preventing you for cutting it! Your time is worthless."

"Oh, bad luck! There was a car going your way just before the chicane, stopping you taking the optimal line towards the finish line. Your time is worthless."

"Ah, you think you're in with a chance, and are crossing the finish line? GUESS WHAT! You weren't! However, you've just unlocked another car! We're going to remove the restart race immediately option, and force you to see what it is! Look! It's yet another car you can't even fucking use yet, but won't it be awesome when you eventually get to?"

"You're back at the main menu. Now you have to go through three more loading screens, select your car and hammer 'A' for fucking ages while we decide whether or not to actually select that car for you!"

"Hey what are you doing? Don't snatch me out of the disc drive like that, you might scratch me!"

"AHH! AAAAH! Don't snap me over your kne..... AAAAAAGH THAT HURTS OOOH OWW NO THE BIN NOT THE BIN..."

Ha ha. It didn't help my frustration that I retried that race fifty fucking times before I realised that those above me had been CHEATING with a massive shortcut.

Perkies is just shit.

Seriously though, the cut scenes are fucking infuriating. EDGE criticised the in-game ones as well. I hope they patch them out. Somebody tell me people are moaning on the Criterion forums like they were for the restart race option in Burny Pee?

The only shortcut worth taking is the big one on the righthand bends, you can maintain 200mph through it if you get it just right, which seems to be pretty much essential for a good time.

However, it's all down to luck, and the positioning of the traffic on the final chicane, really.

Posted a hilariously censored version of my rant in that thread.

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