A Gaming Diary
Archive for July, 2009
iPhone Home Screens
Jul 29th
In this post my online chum deKay asked to see other people’s iPhone Home screens, so here are mine. It feels rather like inviting someone round to my house when I’ve not tidied up, but here we go.
Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (Wii)
Jul 29th
McNulty can be a scary town.
(And, yes, if you’ve been wondering, the town of McNulty is named after the hapless Jimmy McNulty from The Wire, which actually is the best TV show ever even though everyone says it is.)
Real Racing (iPhone)
Jul 29th
Gave this a try last night after downloading it a couple of days ago. It’s really very good, based on first impressions. At the beginning of the game I was swerving all over the shop, but changing to the in-car view and getting used to the controls helped a lot. Now I just need to decide on where to put the auto-brake slider. I’ve got it about half-way down at the moment and I’m trying to train myself to brake manually before tight corners.
I haven’t played it a huge amount yet, so I can’t talk about it in detail. I’m not sure it’s the second coming or anything, but I can already see that it’s definitely one of the best games on the iPhone and is just in a completely different class to that Ferrari GT game I tried the other day. Mind you, it should be given that it costs ten times more than the Ferrari game.
Resident Evil 4 (iPhone)
Jul 29th
I’ve been playing a lot more of this. I still haven’t got past the third level.
That screen shot is me, on the third level, about to die. I’d made a very good go of things, but that last enemy got me.
I’ve decided on a plan, though. I’m going to play the third level of Mercenaries mode through a few times and buy myself a rifle. It’s fun to use in Mercenaries mode and will be a great help in the story. In effect, then, I’m going to be grinding, like in an RPG. It doesn’t bother me, though, because whatever mode I play, I have fun. I’ve not got tired of any of the levels yet.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Jul 29th
I’ve been playing an awful lot of this. I’ve got several games on the go. It’s really fantastic, but it’s hard to know which words the dictionary will let me use.
At least you’re not penalised for trying to play a word it doesn’t like.
I’ve finished a couple of games now, too, both wins.
That win there was very lucky. I was trailing the whole game, but near the end I managed to get 105 points for the word ZAPS. (The Z was on a triple letter square, the whole thing was on a triple word.)
Racer (iPhone)
Jul 29th
I tried to take a picture of a bit of the game that had lots of cars on the screen. Unfortunately, it all moves a bit too quickly, so I ended up with this:
D’oh.
Space Invaders Infinity Gene (iPhone)
Jul 29th
I forgot to take a screen shot of this game last night, but I have been playing it.
I don’t have much to add to what I said earlier. It’s great and you should buy it. That’s about it.
Oh, and Gunpowder & Lead by Miranda Lambert generated a very interesting stage, which includes features I’ve not seen in the main game yet. (I’m trying not to plow through the main levels quickly.)
My Brute (iPhone)
Jul 29th
Action shot!
Shame the action is me running away. Of course, I’m just running back to my side of the screen after attempting an attack, rather than running away from the fight. Although, given how many fights I’m losing, I’m beginning to wish there was a way to retreat from fights before they’re over. Maybe I need a master to give me bonuses, or something.
Much as I enjoy watching everything, this need to recruit and be recruited by other players to really compete leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. I’m not sorry I spent 59p on this game, but I’d have regretted £2.99 and I can’t in good conscience recommend the game to others. If you do buy it, make sure you know exactly what it is before taking the plunge.
Space Invaders Infinity Gene (iPhone)
Jul 28th
Utterly brilliant new Space Invaders game. You start off in the old style, only able to move left and right, but the game soon introduces power ups, free movement, evolved backgrounds… just loads of stuff. It rapidly moves from being just Space Invaders again to being a full-blown, modern, fast-paced shooter with lovely, familiar retro graphic stylings. Based on my first impressions, I like it more than Space Invaders Extreme on the PSP and DS.
And it’s got one more trick up its sleeve, too. As well as the preset levels, you can generate new ones from songs you’ve got on your iPhone.
That’s me playing Achy Breaky Heart. It killed me pretty quickly.
It’s £2.99. It’s a bargain. Go and buy it right now.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Jul 28th
It’s not Scrabble. Certainly not. See how the the board is different?
All the bonus tiles are in completely different places. It’s definitely not Scrabble then. At all.
Except, of course, it pretty much is. And you can play it on your iPhone against other people. I think that’s all you need to know. I’ve got about five games going on at the moment, but I’m always up for more. My name is ThatRevChap if you want to challenge me.
There’s a free version, but the ads are completely obnoxious, so I quickly paid the 59p for the ad-free version. I make a move, wait for the email to come through telling me my opponent has moved, then make another. It just does what it’s meant to do.
