You've probably seen the countless TV series adaptions such as a Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Deal or no Deal piled among countless of other DVD's now on sale for pennies. These were basically an interactive video footage where you're essentially dictating the next scene which is about to play. The slow paced and methodical nature of these adaptions were a good fit for any generic DVD remote.
However the 2 main games I want to look at are two of the most interesting examples; PGA Tour and Tomb Raider. Trust me, they're more interesting than you think...
Both games are based on already existing titles on home consoles which required precise controller input in order to work. Whether this was tweaking and lining up your shot in PGA, or lining up precise jumps across various buildings.
First let's look at PGA. interestingly the game comes in a red DVD case which is unlike any other I've come across. Upon picking the game up you realise how heavy it is, as the game is packed with a detailed map of the courses - a nice addition that adds to the immersion of a somewhat simple game.
So how does it play? Well, rather well - well as good as it can be for a golf game on a DVD format. Everything's here from the console releases; power, angle, club to use and wind direction. Once you've lined up and hit your shot, you will watch a short clip showcasing your shot and where you will end up next.
Understanding how they managed to get this to work is fascinating. From my understanding, the game seems to work from a binary state, as there can only be X amount of places for your ball to land based on the 4 variables mentioned previously. For example, power is probably simplified to 25, 50, 75 and 100%, direction is probably based on whether it lands on course, in the right or out of bounds which can be compounded by wind direction (or if at all).
The reason I bring this up is that after a while, the limitations start to show. You notice some footage is repeated, losing the distinct visual identity of each course. There's always that underlying feeling that you're input didn't 100% dictate where the ball has landed, instead it feels like you're manipulating the algorithm to get the best result.
Despite that there's quite a fair bit of replayability and playing this on a Series X with a controller is rather amusing. It kind of scratches that itch of playing a golf games, but you just have underlying thought "why don't I just play this on a console instead?"
So that was just a short look. Capturing any footage is hard and finding any screenshots for demonstration purposes is near non-existent. Well worth checking out if you're curious to how this plays out, and it will cost next-to-nothing with my copy being only £1.88 including shipping. Next time I'll have a more in-depth look at Tomb Raider, but for now, I thought it would be interesting to get some insight into
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