A Gaming Diary
Archive for April, 2010
FIFA 10 (iPhone)
Apr 30th
The new World Cup edition of the game came out last night, so I played some of FIFA 10 to see if it was actually any good. And, yes, it is. I don’t think I managed to score a goal, but it felt good under my thumbs. It’s got a bit of a reputation online, but I’m not too sure why. On the field, where it counts, it’s a very decent game.
I never touched him!
So, yes, in the early hours of the morning, still mostly asleep, I opened up the App Store and bought the World Cup game. Impressions next week.
Chaos Rings (iPhone)
Apr 30th
Went through the first dungeon at the second difficulty level and didn’t die! Hooray for me!
Die weird bird thing, die!
Partly because I’m stronger than I was, but mostly because I didn’t make any stupid mistakes. Also, there aren’t any bosses, so I was able to use magic in standard fights and not worry.
It’s a slog, this game, but it’s a good slog.
MotorHEAT Demo (360)
Apr 29th
One of those odd indie games hidden away in the 360′s weird interface.
It’s an avoidance-based driving game rather like Racer on the iPhone. You only have to move left and right to avoid cars (and sometimes press a button to boost), but it’s incredibly fast and looks good, if obviously not as polished as properly commercial 360 games.
I may well buy it. You should at least give it a download.
Just Cause 2 (360)
Apr 29th
I love that you can just go for a drive and stuff to do just finds you.
Last night I was driving, saw the icon for a colonel pop up and drove into a base. Was soon being shot from all sides, clicked the trigger – nothing. All out of SMG ammo. A few bullets left in my pistol. A mere twenty bullets in my assault rifle. Ran through the base using my last ammo, firing almost randomly. Ran round a corner, almost hit my face on a fire engine, jumped in, turned around, accelerated, turned the colonel into meaty chunks under my tyres, open my parachute, turned around, grappled on to a weaponless helicopter, started to fly away, got shot by a combat helicopter that had flown up behind me, leapt out of my burning chopper, grappled on to the one that had been shooting me, hijacked it, saw bullets slam into me, wheeled around, shot up another helicopter that had turned up, sent it crashing into the trees below, then flew away to safety trailing thick, black smoke.
All of which took a couple of minutes.
I love this game.
I also swam down to the bottom of the sea to collect a drug drop, found a strange, stormy island filled with bizarre towers and, well, generally just buggered about.
Skate 3 Demo (360)
Apr 29th
Instead of just skating round randomly, I did some challenges last night. I learned how to break lots of bones and then tried out some tasks set me from some character I cannot remember in any detail. He may or may not have called me “bro”, but he sounded like he should, either way.
It was quite easy, though also slightly buggy. I completed a “don’t touch the stairs” challenge by, er, riding down the stairs. Huh.
Still, I’m sure that things like that won’t happen in the full game. Oh, wait… no I’m not.
Dwarf Fortress (Mac)
Apr 28th
I'm really starting to see the fortress, not the ASCII.
I’m doing well. The terrible famine and slayings of earlier years is past – and left me with loads of spare clothes to trade with when merchants appear. I’ve got an underground farm going, finally, and I’m brewing alcoholic drinks, cooking food, making weapons and all sorts of amazing things.
I’m even in the process of building a throne room.
I’ve had a bit of trouble with rhesus macaques, but the dogs tend to chase them down and kill them, so they’re not a major nuisance.
It’s all going really, really well. Which means something’s bound to go horribly, horribly wrong soon.
Tilt To Live (iPhone)
Apr 28th
One of the best just got better, with two new game modes added in an update yesterday. And not as paid-for DLC, either – these came for free.
Gauntlet mode. The green orbs give you extra time.
The first new mode is Gauntlet, in which obstacles come from right to left and you have to avoid them for as long as possible. No combos or scoring, it’s all about survival time. A nice change from the standard gameplay.
Code Red. It is to standard mode what Yorkie is to Galaxy.
The other new mode is Code Red, which is the same as the standard game, but misses of the boring bits at the beginning. This makes an absolutely brilliant game even more absolutely brilliant and makes me want to give the developers big, manly hugs and buy them beer. And then have them buy me beer, because, after all, I’ve already given them my money.
Mmmm… beer.
Street Fighter IV (iPhone)
Apr 28th
Was expecting the new update to turn up last night, but it didn’t. Sometime this week would be good, though, to fit in with the release of Super Street Fighter IV on the big consoles.
A glorious sight.
Anyway, rather than fight as Blanka, as normal, I decided to do some training with Chun-Li. She’s very odd, with her mix of half circles and charge moves. Seems like she might be fun if I could get used to her, but her special move training missions were harder than I expected.
I’m really excited about Super Street Fighter IV, you know. The PS3 version is in the post to me right now, but I really wish there was an equivalent of the iPhone control system. The iPhone version of the Street Fighter IV is so good because it’s all about good fighting tactics and not just performing complicated thumb movements.
Super Turbo Action Pig (iPhone)
Apr 28th
Another freebie, but a more immediately fun one than Koan. You’re a pig, flying from right to left and you have to avoid obstacles. To do this you press the screen to move up and release to float down. All very simple. It’s gorgeously presented, hard but fair and I’m very glad I’ve got it.
Fly, porky, fly!
I also like the fact there’s a goal beyond mere survival – every now and again golden sausages fly past and if you pick up five of them, well, something good happens, I expect. One day I might find out what – no spoilers, please!
