I once again spent some time trying to run NHL99 but couldn’t get it to work. I’m honestly close to giving up on this one which is a shame because I really wanted to see how the game holds up. To make myself feel better about this failure I decided to reinstall Colin McRae Rally 04. I already played this one last year so I’m well aware it works beautifully - this time was no different.
I mostly ran some random races as I’m not really in a mood for full championship this time. Either way, it’s a fun game. I don’t know why but I really love these old rally titles. Now if I could find some time to try running one of Sega Rally Championship games, that would be great. Last week I mentioned getting close to the end of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War and, well, I finished it. My feelings didn’t really change since the last post - the final levels were challenging but fun (I’m not sure what is it with these guys and shoving you into tight hallways in a jet but whatever) and the game over all was a really enjoyable experience. While I don’t think I liked this one more than 4, this playthrough still confirmed my plan to continue with the series.
I don’t know when I’m going to play the next one (I’ll probably give it a few months to focus on other titles) but it’ll happen. My only gripes with the experience have nothing to do with the game funnily enough but rather my platform of choice - the Steam Deck. While the small screen worked great for the most part, there were a few segments where I felt it ended up being detrimental to my performance. Not a game breaking thing but still.
The second, more important, issue has to do with controls. I’m not sure I like playing AC on the Deck. It really feels like there’s something wrong with my ability to execute quick and precise manoeuvres in more difficult situations. I actually ended up switching to my desktop monitor and PS3 controller to finish the game (the latter brought an especially noticeable difference).