A Gaming Diary
Archive for May, 2007
Rainbow Six Vegas (360)
May 31st
More of the single player this evening. Shot my way through some Mexican tunnels and finally arrived in Vegas, rather later than I expected given the title of the game. Some great firefights along the way.
I want to know where they found all these terrorists. There are bloody hundreds of them running around.
Pokemon Diamond (DS)
May 31st
Well, I got through the Elite Four this time, but the champion beat my face off. I turned the DS off when I lost, so I have a save just before the fight. I might see if I have any decent TMs that might help, but I’m not sure that will be enough. My Noctowl doesn’t seem to be able to last a single turn, my Bibarel dies almost as quickly, my Rapidash is still way too weak defensively… it’s all a bit rubbish.
Rush’n Attack (360)
May 31st
I got further than I ever have before today. I got to the very end of the second stage, but then died. One day I will see stage three. One day.
I think this is the only Live Arcade game I’ve got which nobody else on my Friends List has bought. Very odd, as it’s easily one of the best.
Mad Tracks Demo (360)
May 31st
Seems fun enough, in a lightweight kind of way, and that may have been worth 800 points a year ago. Now, though, with Live Arcade stuffed with games, it seems horrifically overpriced – especially as there’s not much content in the “full” version. No, to get the full full game you need to spend 1200 on the game and the two expansion packs. Not that they’re even out yet.
More races, fewer mini games, better pricing and a track editor would tempt me. Right now, my 800 points are very safe.
Hour of Victory Demo (360)
May 31st
Well, I actually went back and played through until I beat the tanks, which was the end of the demo. Grenades and bazookas are the way to go there; normal gunfire seems to have no effect at all. I initially thought that maybe bullets were doing small amounts of damage, but I think I was wrong there. Which is a good thing.
Couple of other points worth mentioning -
1) At one point my HUD disappeared and wouldn’t come back until I changed character. Odd.
2) Enemy corpses disappear quickly, including the corpses of tanks. I was recharging my health by hiding behind a dead tank at point when it disappeared, leaving me open to fire. Bit off that, I thought.
I also thought that maybe the different character classes would be really good in online co-op. One person hanging back on rooftops, one sneaking, one distracting the enemies by running around in full view spraying machine gun fire everywhere. No mention of online co-op in the splash screens after the demo, though, so I’ve no idea if that’s even in there.
Hour of Victory Demo (360)
May 31st
Now, you know me. I’m not one of those people constantly looking for something new in gaming. Sure, I love me a Katamari or Ouendan, but I’m equally happy with Racing Game #48,392, RPG #102,392 and FPS #99,318… as long as they’re good and right and do what they do very well. I’m happy with better, not just different.
Which is to say that I’d be quite happy with yet another World War 2 FPS if it was done right. The setting and genre are okay with me. I like shooting things – and I especially like shooting Nazis.
Hour of Victory is… perfectly competent. It’s got its own “new” feature, which is the ability to choose a character class to play as. One for running up and shooting people in the face, one for hanging back and shooting people in the face and one for sneaking up and shooting people in the back of the head. It looks pretty nice, in a slightly plastic, very brown way. The controls are fine, without feeling as tight as the kings control like Doom and Resistance. It sounds like it should, with loud gunfire, explosions and dodgy voice acting. The first level is tight and linear, with a good amount of cover and some alternate routes for the different character classes. The second level is a little more open and requires you to destroy tanks (which don’t seem to require any special tactics, they’re just big, fat soldiers with huge energy bars, effectively). I died a few too many times there and stopped playing the game to write this.
If I got it as a present, I could probably have some fun with it. If I saw it for a fiver in a bargain bin, I might be slightly tempted if I was bored. But there’s nothing there to make me want to pay full price. It’s not broken (apart from some odd graphical glitches when using the sniper rifle’s scope), but there’s just nothing there to hook me at all.
Pokemon Diamond (DS)
May 30th
Well, I was levelled enough for Victory Road, but I lost to the fourth member of the Elite Four, so I’ve been out and about tending to my berries and levelling up some more before trying again.
Pokemon Diamond (DS)
May 30th
Well, everyone in my team is at least level fifty, so I’m going to try Victory Road when I next play. It’s underground, so I’m not going to bother trying at night when the encounter rate’s high.
Pokemon Diamond (DS)
May 29th
Ahhhhhh, and the Lucky Egg has been obtained.
I’m now levelling up my team before trying Victory Road. It’s taking a long time and isn’t any fun, which makes me wonder why I’m bothering. RPGs can be odd like that and I don’t understand.
Rainbow Six Vegas (360)
May 29th
Lots of multiplayer today. No single player at all.
Started off with a nice group of people playing deathmatch type games. Didn’t do too well, but got some experience points.
Followed that up with some co-op terrorist hunts with a really nice group of players, who welcomed me and let me play despite my newbieness. They even sent an invite when I crashed out at one point and came back online. I actually started being quite useful by the end of the session. Not top of the class, but not sitting in the corner with a pointy hat. We were playing on Realistic with no respawns so we died a lot, but we did win a couple of times, which got me a promotion to Private First Class and unlocked a nice helmet for me to wear.
It’s really, really, really good.
