A Gaming Diary
Archive for June, 2010
Geometry Wars: Touch (iPhone)
Jun 17th
Annoying Facebook integration. (-5 points)
Doesn’t save scores when you’re offline – and isn’t saving any local high scores for me at all. (When I restart the game, I’m still on the leaderboards but the High Score display at the top right of the screen is 0.) (-15 points)
It costs £2.99, more than many of the games that were inspire by it. (-15 points)
Thumbs being in the way of the screen is a real problem and leads to many deaths. (-40 points)
The controls are great. (+30 points)
If you're having control problems, try sticking the Thumbpad Range setting right up.
All the modes from the XBLA version are intact and they’ve added a new, Asteroids-like mode. (+50 points)
It looks and feels like Geometry Wars. (+35 points)
It looks rather fine on my 3GS.
But the thumbs being in the way of the screen issue is really troublesome. (-40 more points)
TOTAL: 0 points
What does that mean? I’m not sure. It’s Geometry Wars, the controls are great, it’s got lots of modes… but there are high score issues and dying because enemies were under your thumbs is terrifically annoying. I’m really not sure whether or not I can recommend it. Best come back later, see if I actually keep playing or not.
Pix’n Love Rush (iPhone)
Jun 17th
Well, isn’t this just darling.
I’m not quite sure what I mean by that, but my brain made me write it.
I’ve not been sleeping very well lately.
Pollen, you know.
Pix’n Love Rush, though, lovely game.
You’re a little chap, as you often are in games, and you have to jump around collecting coins and shooting bats. The levels are short and random and it speeds up as you go along and it looks brilliant and it’s immensely fun to play and, oh, I love it.
This is the 2x multiplier skin. Different multipliers give you different looks.
Some people are complaining about problems with the controls, but I have very adaptable thumbs and haven’t had a problem. They work fine for me.
My only really beef is with the way high scores work with OpenFeint. The developers have set it so you can only get on the leaderboard if you get a score of over a million points. My current best in the 5-minute mode is slightly more than 500,000. (There’s also an endless mode I’ve not tried yet.) As such, I can’t compare my scores with my friends.
I can see where the developers are coming from, wanting the scoreboards to be a real Hall of Fame, but I think it’s the wrong decision. I’d much rather be able to see my friends’ scores than work towards getting some bragging rights. Still, there’s a local high score table, so it doesn’t spoil the game, just takes some of the shine off.
I also like some of the achievements, especially one I got called Lucky. I wasn’t sure why it popped up, so I looked at the description, which says that I was very lucky but I’ll never know why. I may not have laughed out loud, but I definitely smirked.
So, a wholehearted recommendation here to anyone who doesn’t have trouble making their thumbs remember positions on the screen. Oh – and hold off if you’re an iPhone 3G owner. At the time of writing the game won’t start on those handsets, but a fix is coming.
Spartacus: Blood and Sand (iPhone)
Jun 16th
A game based on the cheap, ludicrous, wonderful TV show of the same name, which follows Spartacus Bloodandsand as he slices people in half for being nasty to him or stealing his porridge or sleeping in his bed, which was just right or something. I may be confused. I’ve only seen the first two or three episodes and it’s hard to follow when you’re constantly distracted by huge amounts of CGI blood, Xena’s boobs and the main character getting a haircut that instantly makes him look (a) completely different and (b) exactly the same as all the other gladiators. (Except the poorly-dubbed chap with the curly hair who likes bread. And possibly circuses, but that might be coming up in another episode.)
Just like on the telly!
Anyway, the game is a one-on-one fighter, like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat or Rise of the Robots or something. You pick a fighter – one man’s got a lion on his side, so I chose him – then jab buttons randomly to try and make blood fly out of your opponent.
There’s also a story mode, where you play Mr. Bloodandsand and have to fight your way through a series of opponents.
Excellently, when you finally win a fight you get a “FINISH HIM” – sorry, no – a “KILL HIM” prompt and you press a button and you chop the poor chap’s arms and head off and then slice his torso in half. It appears to be the same every time, but that’s okay.
Also just like on the telly! (It's a very cheap-looking show.)
It never feels quite right. It’s a bit clunky and just feels a little unresponsive. I think the developers were going for heavy and powerful and very nearly made it. That aside, it’s not too bad. It’s not Street Fighter IV, but for a free TV show tie-in game, I’m really rather impressed.
Except it’s not free any more and costs £1.79. That’s probably a reasonable price to pay if you’re a fan of the show wanting some merchandise, but it’s probably too much for a non-affiliated gamer to pay. As I say, though, I never review games, only offer impressions, which could change. Maybe the combat will click.
That’s if I play the game again. I’m not going to play any more of the story, in case of spoilers, but I might do some quick fights.
SONG SUMMONER: The Unsung Heroes – Encore (iPhone)
Jun 16th
Excited by the news that the original Final Fantasy Tactics (or, at least, a port of the PSP version of that game) is coming to iPhone, I loaded up Song Summoner, for the first time in about a million years. Or so.
What's this? It's got a good beat.
I didn’t actually play it, I just leveled-up my characters and then tried making some new ones.
We got married in a fever...
That done, I closed the app. Somehow, I don’t think I’ve got my priorities quite right.
Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter (iPhone)
Jun 15th
I’m not sure if you care, but my research suggests that this is actually a port of the second Carnivores game on the PC, rather than the first one.
My trophy room. There's going to be a T-Rex here one day.
It’s very good, you know. Thoroughly enjoyable stuff, even with the sound off. (Though it does lose a lot of atmosphere and makes you rely on the radar a bit more.)
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Jun 15th
Always neutralise a Triple Word where possible.
Oh, yes, I still play this every day. It just doesn’t make for very interesting blog entries. And I always forget to take screen shots.
Red Dead Redemption (360)
Jun 15th
Eleven hours since I saw the end credits and no sign of me getting bored yet. I have, however, given up on finding the “California” stranger mission for a while. I need to complete it for an outfit, but I’ve searched the big purple circle on the map for a couple of hours without finding any sign of the stranger, so I’ll come back later. I’ve switched to another outfit (when I’m not helping out random people or dueling) so next time I play I’m going to have to search Thieves Landing for a chest containing a scrap of cloth. That’s not going to take ages. The weird thing is, though, that I’m really looking forward to it.
Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter (iPhone)
Jun 14th
Just gave this dinosaur hunting game a go.
Chose the first map, a random herbivorous dinosaur and the only gun I had access to – a pistol. Got dropped into what I assume is a random starting point (though I think there are a few it cycles between, as I definitely started in the same spot twice). It looks very turn-of-the-millennium-PC-game, so pretty good for an iPhone game.
Taking down one of these beasts with a pistol takes some doing.
Once I’d got comfortable with moving and aiming I shot the first dinosaur I saw, then was confused because I didn’t get any points. Decided you probably need to only shoot dinosaurs that you’ve chosen to hunt to get points, as is indeed the case. (I read the help a little later.)
Anyway, I went in a few times, used the radar to track down dinosaurs and then shot them before they spotted me and ran away. Which isn’t as easy as it sounds, especially with the pistol. (Not because of the controls though – they’re fantastic.)
The map shows you your location and the location of the dinosaurs you're hunting.
Enjoyable stuff, but I then decided to hunt the dangerous, carnivorous allosaurus. Dear me, there’s few things as exciting as making the dinosaur’s call, hearing an answering call off through the trees and then trying to hit the dinosaur before it spots you, leaps and kills you. I died a lot, but it was fantastically atmospheric and exciting. And when I finally dropped an allosaurus with the last bullet in my gun as he ran towards to me, well, that moment was worth three quid, right there.
My only slight concern is that playing it without sound – the way I play iPhone games 99% of the time – might not be an option here. I’ll have to give it a go and see.
Space Miner: Space Ore Bust (iPhone)
Jun 14th
Take the gameplay of asteroids, add in a story, upgrades, unlockable levels and all sorts of other stuff and you end up with Space Miner, an iPhone game that many people absolutely love.
I’m not one of them.
Move where I tell you to, you stupid ship!
I’ve played for forty-five minutes now, which is a fair chunk of time, but I still hate the way the ship moves. I’ve tried all the control options, but I just can’t get the hang of moving my ship around. I float and crash and I just can’t go where I want. I’ve even upgraded my ship’s engine, but that just means I fly into asteroids and enemies slightly faster than I did before.
I’ll give it a little more time, but if it’s not clicked after three-quarters of an hour, it’s probably not going to.
Cubed Rally Racer (iPhone)
Jun 14th
New track! New track!
It seems that about fifteen sections is my sweet spot for a challenging but achievable track.
The trouble is, though, over the weekend I seemed to have no patience and kept hammering the “New Track” button as soon as one began annoying me. Not a good way to play this game. As such, I didn’t get many points at all.
