Trent – Google

Absolutely one of the best racing games I've ever played, one of the best games overall, and the best PlayStation 2 racing title. I remember my mom played it when I was little and I watched it for hours. I finally got it for myself a few years ago. The gameplay is so addicting, and the soundtrack: incredible. If not the best ps2 soundtracks ever. It is also fun to listen to while taking a drive at night on the town. It has a nice selection of cars and numerous customization options which is my favorite part of the game. I love the speed! Get this game now if you haven't already.

Need for Speed: Underground 2

1 like

Absolutely incredible. From the opening soft classical guitar strings of Alex Lifeson to the final crashing riff and shriek of Geddy Lee to end the album, Rush further proved that they weren't just another bland trio. Already solidified themselves with 2112 a year prior, Rush stepped it up and made a trio with just 3 guys sound like a six piece band. Alex and Geddy break out the double-neck guitars and basses for what may be their greatest prog masterpiece, the 11 minute Xanadu. While Neil Peart in the background, playing many percussion instruments other than the drums. There's a good mixture of shorter songs, a ballad, epics and to close it out, a story about the black hole of Cygnus X-1, which features the birth of progressive metal. Phenomenal album.

A Farewell to Kings

One of their heaviest albums yet. It is clear that Mike Portnoy pulls the whole band together perfectly. His percussion on this album is top tier, John Petrucci's guitar tone is super brutal, dark and it fits the album theme so well. Plus, there's some absolute MONSTER riffs here, with Dead Asleep being my personal favorite. James LaBrie and his vocals age like fine wine, and his lyric writing has really improved over the last few albums. And of course, we gotta talk about The Shadow Man Incident. It was highly anticipated and it does not disappoint. There's some incredible riffs and musicianship, and even some moments that harken back to some of their older albums, such as Train Of Thought and Metropolis Pt 2. 16 studio albums into their careers, and they're still making music at an insane level. Now, Mike Mangini was great for Dream Theater, but THIS. This is the Dream Theater we all know and love. Ladies and gentlemen, they're fucking back.

Parasomnia

35 likes

Way ahead of its time and that's why it didn't sell back in the day. There's some incredible moments on this album, such as all of The Necromancer, most of The Fountain Of Lamneth, and the beautiful Lakeside Park. Bastille Day has become a concert favorite and while I Think I'm Going Bald is cheesy, it's still a fun riff and Alex absolutely shreds in the outro. This is a great Rush album and paved the way for many great Rush albums after it.

Caress of Steel

Absolutely incredible album, my favorite of Haken's. This album is a mixture of everything you need if you're a prog metal fan. You got heavy, brutal riffs, awesome melodies, amazing song structures and lyrics, and some of the best Haken moments are included here on Vector, such as riffs and incredible vocal melodies. Veil, a mammoth track loaded with nasty riffs, jam sections, beautiful and striking lyrics is one of the best Haken songs of all time. Other great tracks include the powerful instrumental, Nil By Mouth, loaded with crunchy, brutal riffage and an incredible outtro, Puzzle Box, another great, and the heavily underrated and incredible ballad, Host, and more. Amazing album. As Dream Theater will always be the kings of prog metal, I feel like Haken won't be too far behind them if they keep up the incredible music.

Vector

For its age, this game is pretty nice! It's got decent graphics with beautiful colors, a great damage model (possibly the best I've seen in a NASCAR game), and fun side by side racing. The career mode needs a little bit of work, but its still fun and you can actually race both the 2010 and 2011 seasons, with over 55 2011 paint schemes. It's nice and I still play it to this day. The Paint Booth is weird though. You can't even put a number on your custom cars.

NASCAR The Game: 2011

1 like

Alright, thanks for reading my review! Just kidding, it's not over yet. You know, I had my doubts about this one. Fans like me were waiting for Gran Turismo 7 since 2013, GT6 (which should have been a PS4 title). It takes awhile to download, but when the intro begins and it shows real footage of the automobile industry through the years, I got chills. For racing and auto enthusiasts like me, it was really nice to see. Then the game begins. And there's this beautiful menu screen that is so well organized and put together, the story mode. The gameplay is nice, with decent handling of the cars. If you aren't playing with a wheel, you can turn on motion sensor control on your controller and use it like an actual steering wheel. There's this new thing called the Cafe' which I think is neat, it gives you "missions" to complete and afterwards you get rewards and unlock new tracks and stuff. For every race I've done so far I got a new car, something that hasn't been in the older games. You also get a decent credit reward for each race too. I was able to get a nice used Porsche for only 150,00 credits, a bargain within the first day of playing. Doing the missions, which are actually called Menu Books, unlocks history behind all the cars you collected. The game itself is.. breathtaking. Its like an upgraded version of the previous installment, Gran Turismo Sport, but they took it and made a new life into it. The graphics are just astonishing and I'm using a PS4 system, and with a PS5 I can't tell what is real and what's not. The game once again captures the true magic of automobiles and racing which we all have come to love and adore with a passion. There are also new features where you can fully customize each car with a balanced menu with everything you need in the tune shop to enhance performance, and it describes each part perfectly and how they work. There is a GT Auto place where you can change oil, paint, make custom liveries and paint jobs with real life decals, everything. The used cars section is neat too, its organized to look like you are shopping online for a car. The detail is just insane. So much work and detail was put into this game. I love this game. Polyphony Digital, you've done it again. Thank you for bringing me closer to the passion I love the most: cars.

Gran Turismo 7

217 likes

Octavarium

5 likes

This is just... something else. It's a tragic, beautiful and unique story for one thing, and the music itself is great. If you haven't listened to this yet, I suggest you sit down and take a complete listen. It sounds best in its entirety. It's a prowess of progressive metal and rock and its incredible. The harmonies are beautiful, the vocals are strong and John Petrucci's solos are once again gut wrenching. Headline: Murder...

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory

3 likes

Images and Words

6 likes