A Gaming Diary
Archive for September, 2009
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Sep 8th
Still playing this.
I’m glad it stores games online, as I had to restore my phone and set it up as a new device last night, losing all my saved games. Golly.
My phone was crashing at least twice a day, normally within twenty seconds of being unlocked after some time on standby, and showing strange graphical glitches at other times. I’ve been suspecting a hardware fault, but since the reset it’s been behaving perfectly.
I only put six games back on when I set it up again. (Apple said to put no apps on it, but, really, what’s the point of an iPhone with no apps?) They were Mr Driller, KenKen, Run, Orbital, Deer Hunter 3D and Words With Friends. I also shoved on four apps I can’t live without – TweetDeck, Flickster, MLB At Bat and TV Guide.
Anyway, Words With Friends is going along as it always goes. I win some, I lose some.
Batman Arkham Asylum (PS3)
Sep 7th
I finally got the full game on Saturday morning. I couldn’t play until both the wife and I were ready – she wanted to watch me play so she could see the story – so ended up playing Saturday afternoon, then Saturday evening, for a total of four or five hours. Then on Sunday I waited until after the Eastenders omnibus, then played for a single seven-hour sitting and finished the story.
(I’ve still got 80-odd secrets to find and I’ve not really touched the challenge rooms.)
So, how was it?
Very, very, very good.
Combat works, stealth works, the jumping works, the puzzling works, the difficulty level on Normal is pitched absolutely perfectly for me… it just all fits together beautifully.
Most of all, though, above everything else, it’s Batman. It loves Batman, his world and his rogues gallery and it shows. Everything from the story to the setting, right down to the character biographies, it’s a game that loves this world and wants to finally do it justice.
It’s a very good game, but it’s a great Batman game.
I’m very much looking forward to finding the final secrets – there’s a question mark under an arch that’s been bugging me since yesterday, I just couldn’t see the dot – and trying out the challenge rooms.
I’m pretty sure this will be one of the relatively rare games that I keep forever and refuse to ever trade.
As a Batman fan – I have a Batman clock by the bed and framed Ty Templeton sketches on my wall – this has made me very, very happy.
Str8ts (iPhone)
Sep 7th
The cat woke me up early on Sunday morning, then we had a bit of a poo-related incident that it’s probably best not to go into detail about. Suffice to say, after wrestling a yowling cat and then getting out the carpet cleaner I was fully awake.
So I lay in bed for a while and played Str8ts. Turns out Sunday morning is a good time to play, because I was completing puzzles in no time.
Orbital (iPhone)
Sep 7th
Did get anywhere near my high scores of 44 in Gravity and 25 (or is it 26?) in Pure.
Generally, I play Pure when I’m playing properly and Gravity when I’m not really concentrating. I don’t know which I prefer, but Pure definitely feels more skillful.
Mr. Driller (iPhone)
Sep 7th
Played a bit of this over the weekend during Eastenders and The X-Factor. I’ve still not managed much above 600m in the 1000m arcade mode.
Not having any trouble with the controls, though – apart from the odd times where my thumb seems to forget where the d-pad is – I’m just being an idiot.
Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (Wii)
Sep 3rd
We have a new resident, Marina! She appears to be a squid of some sort, which is ace but confusing.
Deer Hunter 3D (iPhone)
Sep 3rd
Lying in bed at 5:30 this morning, wishing I was asleep, I was thinking about this game and hunting games in general.
I can kill people with gay abandon, spraying bullets into crowds, dropping chandeliers on the innocent and guilty alike, etc. So why do hunting games sometimes make me feel like I’m doing something wrong? Why are polygons in the shape of deer different from polygons in the shape of people?
I wondered if it was something to do with being out of danger and being removed from the action, but I’m quite happy to grab a sniper rifle in GTA games and take shots at people with no consequence. I wondered if I just don’t like hunting animals… and I think there’s something there. I say I don’t have a problem with other people hunting animals, that it’s just not for me – but I think that’s probably an intellectual position, not an emotional one. As a meat eater, I don’t think it makes sense, but it’s there and I’m just going to have to deal with.
And I am going to have to deal with it, because Deer Hunter 3D is an absolutely excellent game. Ignore the fact you’re hunting innocent animals and you’ve got a great shooting game. I like tramping round the map looking for animals. I like scanning the environment for them. And, yes, I like lining up a shot and killing them with a single bullet.
It’s just a bit of a problem that I hate it when I don’t kill them in one hit. The yelp of surprise, fear and pain as they buck when the bullet hits. The way they run in terror. The way the tracks on the map become red once they’ve disappeared from view. That I don’t like at all.
Yet I still play, because there’s nothing quite as rewarding as a good kill.
Does this screen shot make me feel a bit horrible?
Why, yes, it does. But, at the same time, I can admire the kill.
I bought this game last night because I couldn’t stop playing the demo. I’m glad I did. In a way, I even like the way it challenges me emotionally.
It’s not making me want to hunt for real, but, man, I want to going hunting on my iPhone again soon.
Hunting Unlimited 2010 (iPhone)
Sep 3rd
Went to Hawaii last night. I was hoping for, I dunno, volcanos or something, but it doesn’t look awfully different from most of the other states.
I really think I’d enjoy this game more if it looked better. There’s also the whole “killing innocent animals” thing, but more on that my next post.
Mr. Driller (iPhone)
Sep 3rd
Didn’t play a lot last night, but when I do play, I try the 1000m arcade mode.
My current best is 632m, which is almost respectable. This is still using the virtual pad controls, by the way.
