A Gaming Diary
Archive for August, 2008
Bangai-O Spirits (DS)
Aug 15th
Finally, the English-language version arrives!
It’s been a long time coming, but now it’s here. And was it worth the wait?
Well, yes. It’s fantastically addictive and hard as nails. (It took me quite some time to actually complete the final tutorial level – and I was quite surprised to see the credits at the end.) It’s half-shooter, half-puzzle and the one-more-go-factor is up there with Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2. Yes, it’s that compelling.
Amazing stuff, but I suspect it won’t be for everybody.
Braid (360)
Aug 12th
I went back and did World 2 again. Some of the jumps took a good while to get right, but I didn’t have any real problems. At least I remembered all the solutions to the puzzles. I moved on to World 3 and didn’t manage to get all the puzzle pieces before having to stop playing so we could watch Richard Dawkins on the telly. I think I’ve got two left. One I might be able to work out when I go back, but another is completely baffling. It looks like I need to speed something up – but how can I do that when I can only reverse time? Hopefully fresh eyes this evening will reveal the solution.
Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 (360)
Aug 12th
Half an hour playing Pacifism. I got a new high score and went up a place on my Friends Leaderboard, but it wasn’t a huge improvement. Just an extra million or so. Still, better than nothing.
Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 (360)
Aug 8th
Went to bed a few minutes late because I couldn’t stop trying to get Wax Off. I failed. Didn’t even get close.
I need to get that Achievement, because it’s distracting me when I try to play Pacifism.
Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
Aug 7th
My lovely wife sent me a gold star for paying off my final mortgage, which is nice because the game gives you nothing.
No present, no statue, nothing.
Facebreaker Demo (360)
Aug 7th
Took a long, long time to process my Xbox Live Vision camera pictures to make a face and ended up with a fighter who had all my facial features but looked nothing at all like me. It was all a bit strange – and the head was tiny.
Didn’t find much to recommend in the game, either. A basic fighter that didn’t seem to have any of the fluidity or finesse of decent fighters.
Alone in the Dark Demo (360)
Aug 7th
Far too dark, clunky, annoying. Really couldn’t be bothered with it and after dying while rappelling down a wall past big fans and broken electrical cables I turned it off.
Braid Demo (360)
Aug 7th
Went through this and got all the puzzle pieces in World 2. Took me quite a while to solve all the puzzles, but felt very satisfied when I got them. At 800 points I would have bought the game without question, but 1,200 points is just a bit too much. I will probably buy it – I have the points in my account – but I couldn’t bring myself to spend that much on one game last night.
Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 (360)
Aug 7th
Some Pacifism while waiting for Braid to download. Didn’t get any good scores at all.
