Thanksgiving day fallout. Everything was running perfectly. The dinner was fabulous, prepared by my mother and sister. My grandmother came over, we all had a wonderful time. Somewhere in between the clearing of the dishes and the great dish washing clean-up, the sink got clogged. No one knows how or why, but something got down the drain and now has both the sink and the dish washer backed up. Normally, my bet would be some kind of mashed potatoes or other sticky/gooey side dish. The only chink in that armour is that this particular clog is taking out the dish washer as well. To my mind that says it was something that was put in the dish washer while my mom and sister were making the dinner. We know they had to run the thing once while making the meal. My bet is that something got down there via the dish washer drain and is now clogging up both. I doubt anyone would have noticed such a problematic substance when putting it into the dish washer, and perhaps it was a combination of ingredients from several different dishes. Nonetheless, my bet is on the first running of the dish washer during prep-time. Other than that, everything has been great.

I rented four movies on Wednesday that I hadn't seen as well as an N64 game, Road Rash 64. The movies have been pretty good. I enjoyed Titan A.E. and was especially impressed with the animation, although I still think Beast Machines is the best thing going. I found the first 20 minutes of Frequency to be unwatchable, and almost turned it off, but after that it became a cool thriller as long as you don't put too much thought into the various problems of time-lines and event sequences. I still have Rules of Engagement and The Patriot to go. As for the game, I was excited because the original Road Rash on Sega was one of the most enjoyable/maddening games I've ever played. Few games put the player through the highs and lows of smashing some opponents face in as you knock him off his motorcycle at 130mph only to have his buddy do the same to you 10 meters from the finish line. This game has perfected those elements by doing away with the whole element of winning a race simply by having the fastest bike or ditching one of the two skilled computer racers that accompany most games of this genre. Instead, unless you get knocked off your bike 1/2 mile or less from the finish line, you have a chance to catch up and win. All of that makes the game thoroughly enjoyable. What is frustrating is that aside from upgrading the graphics, they haven't done much to expand the elements of the game. That is, the weapons and game play are basically the same and the senery isn't greatly improved. I was hoping to see greater variation in both design and personality of the other racers rather than a few stock look-alikes depending on the kind of bike they're riding. The cops are still on their bikes, or in a car, although the cars don't do much (no helicopters or s.w.a.t. team units.) The pedestrians are there for you to hit, but there are no old ladies with shopping carts or women with strollers. There are no night time or foul weather races.

The lack of these elements don't take away from my enjoyment of the game, rather I felt that with the N64 machine, and with the examples set by Army Men and Zelda, they could have done more with it. I'd give it 2 broken controllers out of 4.

Genereating some early carpel tunnel syndrome here so it's time for more Rash64 (after I go hunting for some cheat codes.)
- posted by levinson @ 11/24/2000 09:00:00 AM