A Gaming Diary
Archive for January, 2010
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (iPhone)
Jan 29th
Mainly rampages this lunchtime, which sits well with a quick go sat at my desk. No flamethrowers, sadly, but I did get to use a big, fun machine gun and an amusing rocket launcher. Shame I managed to blow myself up with the rocket launcher, but I did bisect a cop in the same explosion, so that’s okay.
He may be dead.
Nothing beats the mini gun I found in an Ammunation truck, though.
My precious...
That was special, for the few seconds it lasted. Managed to get away from the cops afterwards, too, which is always a bonus.
The Raging Dead (iPhone)
Jan 29th
I’m still very much enjoying this. I managed to finish a level with two survivors yesterday, a new personal worst. (Well, I’ve failed levels, which is worse, but that’s the worst success I’ve had.)
I love a shiny medal. Achievement unlocked!
I also managed to get a medal for completing half the levels. (And earlier I’d got one for finishing a level with no city damage.) Don’t let the little dots put you off, this is a very good little game.
Trundle (iPhone)
Jan 29th
Still no clue.
I’m still completely stuck on the same screen I was on yesterday. It looks like the water should turn that cog down the bottom, but nothing happens. I’m really not sure what’s going on with this. I should just delete the game, really, given how much it’s annoying me, but I just want to get past this one damn screen.
The Raging Dead (iPhone)
Jan 28th
This is getting a lot harder now. There are too many zombies to contain. Instead, I’m having to keep a few survivors alive in a corner while I try and kill the zombies near them and then work my way outwards, hopefully leaving a fairly safe zone for the humans to wander around in. You’d think they’d hole themselves up in a safe area, but, no, they just wander. Maybe they’re drunk.
Things aren't going well, but there's still hope.
It’s sometimes even a good idea to let a zombie run at them. If you can kill the zombie in time then the human will survive, but will be running away from the zombies, not weaving their way towards them. A risky strategy, to be sure, but as long as one human survives, the level’s not over.
Trundle (iPhone)
Jan 28th
To be fair, it didn’t take me long to get back to where I’d already reached last night. Then I managed to get a fair bit further. I’m completely bloody stuck now, though.
Fucked if I know.
Got no idea what to do now, but I’m stick not quite ready to delete it. It’s horrendously annoying and I don’t think it’s as well-designed as the graphics make it look, but it’s not bad. And it really is just a pleasure to look at. If I could just work out what I’m missing…
Trundle (iPhone)
Jan 28th
I really want to like to like this. It’s gorgeous, it controls well and it’s free. It doesn’t have any pesky lives and it checkpoints you on every screen. You tilt left and right to roll your ball and touch the screen to jump. The aim is simply to get from one side of the screen to the other. It should, by rights, be wonderful.
But, unfortunately, there’s a problem. The problem is that it checkpoints you on every screen, regardless of whether or not you’ve cleared that screen already. So you can clear a screen, then realise you need a bit of a run up to make a jump on the next screen, roll back to the previous screen, fall to your doom and – argh! – it puts you back on the left of the screen, meaning you have do the that screen again.
It's lovely, but I had to complete this screen far too many times for it to remain fun.
You can spend ages trying to make it past a tricky set of obstacles, only to have to do them again because you rolled back a little too far. It’s awfully annoying. I tried the “level select” option in the menu because I thought that would let me select the screen I wanted to be on, assuming it would show all my cleared screens, but no, it turns out the game consists of two levels, each featuring of multiple screens. When I went back into the level I was on, it had put me back on the first screen again.
I almost deleted the game then and there, but I’m going to give it another go, maybe, to see if I was just being incredibly stupid last night. I fear, however, that I’ve lost all my progress. Infuriating.
European War Lite (iPhone)
Jan 28th
This seems to be quite good. It’s like a more complicated Risk, where you can buy troop upgrades and navies and things like that. I think I might like it.
English, motherfucker, do you speak it?
There’s a bit of a problem, though. (Apart from the dodgy translation.) I started a game and bought some troops.
On this screen you can purchase upgrades and extra troops with your tax revenue.
On my next turn I attacked France from England. There were several dice-decided battles, but eventually I completely destroyed the French troops – hooray! – and my soldiers moved into France.
In the old days, all battles were decided by dice rolls.
And then the Lite ended. Yep. That was it. Two turns and it was all over. That’s not really long enough to make a well-informed decision, but I’m intrigued enough to possibly buy the full version. (Though I’d probably get the version that’s set during the American Revolution, rather than the European War version.)
It's quite attractive on the main map screen, though I didn't manage to zoom out.
So I suppose it’s not a complete failure as a Lite – I got to see the game, after all – but it’s a bit stingy.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (iPhone)
Jan 28th
Guess what? I found another flamethrower rampage last night! I really should be marking these on my map, because I don’t think they get automatically added. So far I’ve only been manually adding weapons and armour – yellow stars for weapons, blue for armour.
I also managed to hijack another Ammunation truck. That’s probably my favourite activity. Sometimes you can get them easily, but more often each attempt turns into a huge Michael Bay-style set piece, with huge chases, bullets flying and cops screaming in from every direction.
What will I find? A flamethrower? A machine gun? It's like Christmas!
It’s hugely satisfying to finally grab the truck and make it back to a secluded safe house without it blowing up on you. The weapon you get from doing it is simply a bonus, really. It’s the hunt that keeps me coming back for more. (I’ve had less success with drugs vans. They seem to be much faster and consequently harder to catch.)
The Raging Dead (iPhone)
Jan 27th
A new game! Yes! I was intrigued by this when it came out, but was sure it would drop down to 59p in short order. Which it did. So I bought it. And, today, I played it. Which is what you’re meant to do with games you buy, I know, but it doesn’t always work out like that.
Let’s get the big thing out of the way first. Yes, this is another zombie game. But wait! It’s different! For one thing, the zombies are represented by red dots. No broken, drooping jaws, no bones poking out of ruined hands, just dots. That’s because you’re up over the city looking down from far above. I like to imagine that I’m in a zeppelin, possibly with DEATH TO ZOMBIES!!! written on the side in red paint. Yes.
A quiet day in the city... but what are those red dots?
The are blue dots, too. Those are citizens. The aim of the game is to kill all the zombies while saving as many citizens as possible. You can drop bombs (which have a large blast radius, but which damage the city) or fire a machine gun (which in its current non-upgraded state is next to useless for a fat-fingered fool like me, as it fires at the spot on the map directly under your finger tip, which, obviously, you can’t see).
You kill the zombies, try not to cause too much collateral damage and win the level when all the zombies are dead. (Or lose when all humans are dead.) At the end of the level you’re graded on how well you performed and are given some cash to spend in the shop.
Oops. I didn't do too well there.
Does it work? Yes, it does. Sometimes you can complete a level in a couple of seconds by dumping bombs on top of the small number of zombies at the beginning of a level, but far more often you’re in a constant state of panic, throwing bombs around as the number of humans ticks down and the zombie plague spreads block by block to cover the city. It’s one of those games that’s at its best when things are going horribly wrong, but when there’s still a glimmer of hope.
Everything's so expensive. Stupid profiteering arms delears.
I’ve found that it’s a rare case where abstract graphics really do fire the imagination. A shambling, purposeless zombie will suddenly see a human and lunge at them, but a well-placed bomb blows it to pieces inches away from the cowering citizen – and it feels good. Meanwhile, of course, a zombie you hadn’t noticed on the other side of the map has managed to turn about twelve people, all of whom are now ravenously hungry for brains, and you suddenly realise the chap you just saved is the only survivor left.
I finished this level with four survivors. Four!
It’s a panicked, atmospheric little zombie plague simulator. I’ve very much enjoyed with it so far. I’m sure it won’t take too long to get through all the levels, but going back and getting decent ratings is going to be a challenge, for sure. Grab it now while it’s 59p, forgive it for the weediness of the machine gun, and you’ll have a blast.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Jan 27th
Triple word score, bitches!
I need to start some more games. I haven’t got enough on the go right now. Either that or my so-called “friends” are being slackers.
