A Gaming Diary
Archive for December, 2005
Beetle Adventure Racing
Dec 9th
Beetle Adventure Racing?
The Nintendo 64 game?
Not an Xbox 360 game?
Quite right. I was waiting for a tumble drier to arrive, so I was waiting in my bedroom, which is next to the front door, because my flat is upside-down, so I was playing the N64, because it’s in the bedroom. Clear?
Anyway, it’s aged badly. The frame-rate is horrible, the PAL conversion is horrible, but I did have some sort of fun… for all of one race and then the tumble drier turned up. I’d have had longer, but I’d read Bubba Ho-Tep first.
Call of Duty 2
Dec 9th
Okay, now it’s just got stupidly difficult and annoying.
I’m in a building that I’ve got to defend. I’m a sniper. But every time I pop my head out of the window to try and, you know, snipe, it gets blown off.
And if by some miracle it doesn’t, then the enemy soldiers in the building shoot me from behind with no warning, because my fellow soldiers all seem to be staring out the windows, which, strangely, they’re able to do without dying instantly.
The trouble is, I’m really, really near the end of this section – only two attack waves left to go – but I just can’t do it. It’s too much.
Bah.
Call of Duty 2
Dec 8th
Well, the next level didn’t take as long.
Bloody excellent it was, too. We had to retake a railway station from those nasty Nazis, then defend it, then blow up and tank and clear the rest of the Nazis out from the area around the station. Great fun. It took a while and my deaths were well into three figures, of course, but it’s not (yet) so hard that it becomes annoying. I just actually have to take care and think and – yes – learn where the bad guys are likely to be. (They’re often not in exactly the same place each time, or they don’t always advance when they did before, but there’s definitely an element of learning what’s going on.)
Call of Duty 2
Dec 8th
Check the time of this entry.
Now check the time of the last entry.
That’s how long it took me to do one level on Veteran difficulty. Yes, one level. Not even a whole mission, just one level.
It’s really, really hard. Yet the checkpoints on that level were placed in just the right places, so I never felt I was having to redo something I’d already completed.
Call of Duty 2
Dec 8th
Hmpf. My Sabre Wulf guy icon isn’t showing up on the web. It’s fine on the 360. Hopefully they’ll sort it out soon.
Anyway, I started Call of Duty 2 today. On Veteran (i.e. hardest) difficulty. This may turn out to be a mistake, but I’ve been pressured into it by all the big boys saying it’s the only way to play and it’s so intense and stuff.
And it is intense. I can’t argue there. I’ve done the training and the first mission and I’ve died. A lot. But I’ve been learning, too. And working things out. It’s partly about the speed you can move the crosshairs over a target, yes, but it’s also about positioning and good use of grenades and all that.
I thought one part was going to be impossible until I remembered that I smoke grenades, for example.
It’s very good stuff, but it’s very hard work.
Xbox 360
Dec 8th
Hooray!
Sabre Wulf guy gamer icon!
I was racing a bloke called mwng in PGR3 – good guy, good race – and I noticed he had a Jetpac icon. So I went searching and found out that there were ‘classic Rare’ icons to download. My immediate thought was “I hope they’ve got a Sabre Wulf guy” and, indeed, they have.
Yes, spending money (even small amounts) on pictures to go on next to your name on Xbox Live does seem a trifle, well, idiotic, but it makes me happy. (I also grabbed the theme that puts pictures of classic Speccy games on the background of the Xbox dashboard, because that also makes me happy.)
Project Gotham Racing 3
Dec 8th
My online ranking is currently 666 in league thirteen.
How unlucky and evil is that, eh?
Project Gotham Racing 3
Dec 7th
Online Career mode this evening.
I’m kind of hoping that one day I might get the Professional Online Player achievement. There’s lots you have to do to get that, but one of them is to win at least once in each type of race. So I’ve been trying Dusk Til Dawn races, which are basically night races. Hence the name and all that. I’ve come second, but I can’t find a race without some really shit hot inhuman type in it. I came second in my last race, but still failed to finish within thirty seconds of the person who came first. That’s how good he or she was.
I’ve also left negative feedback today. Once to someone who just made stupid annoying noises in the lobby and then quit out once the race started and once to someone who bashed into me three times on purpose to try and get me to crash. Which I did. I know some crashes can’t be avoided and it’s all part of the rough and tumble, but when you’re on a straight and someone doesn’t try to cut you off and just waits for you to get alongside before slamming into you, that’s going too far I reckon.
I did feel bad about leaving negative feedback at first, but people have done it to me for accidental stupidity, so I don’t feel bad about people who are idiotic on purpose.
I’ve also played the game for well over fifteen hours now, according to the stats. And they only count racing time, not menu time, it seems.
Anyway, back to it…
Xbox 360
Dec 7th
So, more PGR3. I got a special badge for winning three online races in a row. I’m great! Or, rather, most of the people in Class C are rubbish. I tried a Class E race and came sixth out of eight. I want to do more online Nordschleife races, because I love that circuit (except those weird banked banked bits I’ve never worked out how to drive on), but it’s a Class B race online and I simply can’t find any Class B cars I can drive. Except maybe that Carbon Viper thing, but I’m not great with that and it’s not every fast. I guess I just need to get good with the Enzo. Easier said than done, mind.
Anyway, after a few time trials round Nordschleife to try and find a car I could drive I left PGR3 and dipped into Mutant Storm Reloaded. Played one game of Adventure Mode. i beat my old high score by about 100,000 points, but – much more importantly – beat Gerplex’s high score. He’s now 100 places below me on the rankings list. Ha!
Friends leaderboards are great.
Project Gotham Racing 3
Dec 7th
Okay, so it’s about time I stopped titling each post ‘Xbox 360′ even when I’ve only played one game.
And this time I’ve only played one game.
Guess which one?
I just got 50 points for reaching rank five, so my gamer score should be 1,460 now. I know it’s an utterly meaningless number, but I still get some satisfaction from increasing it, oddly.
What’s even better is that rank five came along after a really difficult Hot Lap in London, which made my frustration with my inability to drive worthwhile.
Damn, but I love this game.
And I’ve taken a couple of really nice photos today, too.
