Frontlines – Fuel of War

I came across this decent first person shooter, Frontlines – Fuel of War, while browsing the web and trying to find some new games from one of these on-line game shops that I seem to be almost constantly enjoying. I bought some more video games and I chose Frontlines – Fuel of War to be also included in my latest purchase.

I didn’t know almost anything about this game. I did find out that it was playable on Xbox Series X through backwards compatibility support. The game has been released back in 2008 for Xbox 360. Before I started playing this game I made a search about how long would it take to finish the game. I also wanted to know its grade on Metacritic. I was content as it seemed that it would take 5 and half an hour to finish this game. It had received 75 out of 100 from critics  and 7.2 out of 10 from users.

At this moment, right before starting to play, I wondered how the game would feel like. It is an FPS after all. It seemed to be a short game but that is not a matter at all for me. I actually like short games. I cannot remember a game that would have taken over 30 hours to play that I would have finished lately. Instead I have finished games recently, for example Split Second, that took only about ten hours to complete.

The actual game, Frontlines – Fuel of War, feels very different than any Call of Duty game out there. Now Call of Duty is a legacy and I don’t have the sense to compare these games. This game is only slightly like CoD. It manages to be just a bit more original in a way that actually manages to impress me. I do like this game. I do like playing it.

The controls take some amount of getting used to but after a while they seem to be working nicely. You reload, run, zoom a bit, crouch and shoot just using your game pad. There are many weapons, not loads of, but still many. In the game you have to consider a bit about tactics. There are some tanks that can only be taken out with a bazooka or another tank.

Many times I find myself dying in this game. It seems that if you don’t get an area under your control fast there is going to be an endless amount of enemies that just keep appearing to the fight. After you conquer a spot you get a tiny break from the action. There are also some vehicles that you get to drive with. One working tactic is to get a tank and drive inside it near to the enemy and then abandon the tank and start progressing through the level. You just have to be careful because only after three hits a tank is going to be destroyed.

The game does remind us about the war in the Middle East. This is very notable. Even the title is giving an idea of this. It seems that the developers haven’t tried to hide the message. The game can also make you idolize soldiers and of course this kind of a game has this sense of a slight propaganda. After all this doesn’t bother a seasoned gamer almost at all and you can concentrate to just playing a nice FPS game.

Now I don’t seem to remember if I paid ten or fifteen euros for this game. The game is a bit short. It can be a somewhat valuable purchase if you are into these special and unique type of FPS action games. It might not be the greatest shooter around but it is something to play and it can entertain you for a while. I didn’t try any multiplayer functionality and I don’t have an idea about that at all. I just played the campaign mode for some hours. I decided to set the difficulty level to “normal”. I originally started with a difficulty level of “casual”. There is also a hard mode that makes the game have three difficulty levels all in all.

Best Gamepad for PS3?

I have recently spent tens of hours playing some PS3 games. I played mainly Colin McRae Dirt 2 which is a good quality rally racing game originally released back in 2009. There are still many good games that you can play on PS3. This video game console can still hold its place among gamers hearths. I don’t consider it being yet a retro console.

PS3 was released originally in 2006. You can find many games for it with a cheap price tag of about from 5 to 10 or maybe 20 euros. There are some rarities or games that seem to be more expensive. Of course it must be considered that while the quality of the actual physical console is good the hardware is actually already getting a bit old now. Luckily it is already possible to run these games on a PC with an emulator. You just have to have a PC with a decent performance.

The thing that this time inspired me to write this blog post was that I came to think about what would be the greatest or best gamepad for PS3? The Dual Shock 3 isn’t a bad controller. It operates a wireless controller but I used to use the cable with it all the time just in case. It required a cable of a length of 3 meters and I think that is just a perfect length for a cable like this. I continued this workaround with my PS4 later.

I currently use a wired controller with my PS3. It is Spartan Gear Oplon. It isn’t an expensive controller at all. It does cost and it is also available for a price of 20 euros. It can be also used with a regular PC for any video game. It has actually a USB connector. I think this is a very good solution. The controller is very compact and seems to be very durable.

If we compare the latest Xbox gamepad with Oplon I have to say that the Xbox controller seems to be a bit better. So I wouldn’t recommend Oplon over Xbox Series S/X controller. Of course the Xbox controller is also a bit more expensive. I think you can get one for about 60 euros of price. The Xbox controller works nicely in wireless mode and especially if you purchase a good quality battery or batteries and a charging dock. So, you don’t actually have to keep the controller plugged in with the cable at least not all the time.

I have owned my Spartan Gear Oplon for many years already. I haven’t noticed anything that would make it a bad choice for wired PS3 or even PC gaming. It is a decent option for a retro game playing with PS3. The gamepad feels light as it doesn’t utilize a battery at all. I would recommend however the latest Xbox gamepad if you are gaming on a Linux or Windows device. I have to say that the Xbox controller suits especially well with Recalbox on Raspberry Pi 5. I also use it for PC gaming today with my Windows 10 that is actually going to be unsupported the next October as I am forced to buy a new PC or move to Linux completely.

As a short summary I have to conclude that Spartan Gear Oplon is a decent, cheap and durable option that can challenge also Dual Shock 3 controller as your main controller for playing video games with PS3. Some other very good PS3 games that I also like and am going to probably play are all Ratchet & Clank games, Hitman series games and maybe some Need for Speed games and especially NFS Shift 1 and 2 are good choices that you can choose to play. All in all the PS3 has still a lot to offer as it has these classic titles. The hardware seems to be durable and if something with it fails you can in any case go to the emulation as your backup option.

Why Does THPS Draw So Much Attention From Us Gamers?

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skateboarding, or for short THPS, is a PlayStation 1 game that was released in 1999. After the first game’s amazing success there were many more games released in this series of good quality video games. This was also something that made skateboarding more popular again and also some of these skaters appearing in this game even more famous.

After all we didn’t see so many games after all. If you know THPS games there cannot exist a debate about if THPS 5 was a good game. It actually wasn’t. While being released in 2015. This actually ended the season of quality when it comes to THPS. It took to 2020 until we got a decent THPS game and this was THPS 1 + 2 that was actually a remake made of two of the first games in this series.

The first four THPS games are very good. Also THPS Underground and its sequel can be considered something that you could spend some hours into. So there are many good games bearing the name of Tony Hawk.

What makes this video game series so good? We must start with the first original THPS. Back in 1999 I was in junior high. I remember how the game felt at first. It was very easy to get into and even a bit easier if you were familiar with actual real skateboarding. I mean knowing the basics was enough. And this game also made me want to try and learn skateboarding myself.

So there is this formula of playability. It is very interesting to fade into this world of trying to complete a trick or a run of tricks in this three-dimensional world that is presented to you. The music in this game brings me so many memories. Also the outfits of these skateboarders seem so cool. There was this combination of a rewarding gameplay and also this cool atmosphere and feel that made you dream bigger and just enjoy your youth even more.

If you are thinking to getting into THPS games I would suggest that you pick the original first game. Then you can proceed to second or maybe the third game. The third THPS game is very good and its actually considered one of the best games on PlayStation 2. THPS 2 was released in 2000 and it was followed in 2001 with THPS 3. THPS 4 and Underground 1 and 2 bring some other elements while trying to achieve something more than just bare skateboarding. The HD remakes, THPS 1 + 2, is also a great start when you are beginning to look into the world of THPS. The collection is available for the latest gaming consoles.

If you are wondering how I came about and started to write this blog post I can tell you something. I tried THPS 3 on PS2 again today. I played the game for a while, just an hour or so, the amount of time spent isn’t important, and figured out this idea of a blog post. That is very typical for these blog posts and how they begin to take their form. I have lots of inspiration when it comes to my video game collection.