A Gaming Diary
360
Marble Blast Ultra
Feb 23rd
Did a few more of the Advanced levels. They’re hard.
Then I leapt into a multiplayer match and came second out of three. Not too shabby. It was great fun, too.
I didn’t have my headset on, but realised after leacing that it had actually been plugged in. Hope I didn’t confuse anyone.
Xbox 360
Feb 23rd
Oh dear. I’ve done something I said I’d never do.
For the second time.
I’ve downloaded a theme. That costs actual, real money. For some image files. Four of them. I couldn’t help it. It’s an Oblivion theme and I’m more excited about that game than any other game this year. It’s not even a very good thing. Especially as it makes some of the interface text unreadable. D’oh. It’s certainly not a patch on the last theme I downloaded, which was from Rare and is a collection of Speccy screenshots. That’s so cool it was actually worth the quid or so it cost. I’ll probably switch back soon.
And talking of spending money, I wanted a new game today, so I downloaded Zuma. Cost 800 points, but it’s probaby worth it. (Even if I don’t like spending money on games that are stolen from someone else.) I went into Adventure mode and got up to level 3-2. Only two of my friends have got Zuma, so I’ve not got much to compare against… but they’re both much better than me.
Xbox 360
Feb 22nd
Started off with Hexic HD. I beat Survival mode, but got a rubbish score by the standards of my friends list. Then did a Timed game and didn’t think I did too well, but was further up my Friends leaderboard.
Then leapt into Marble Blast Ultra and did a couple of the Advanced levels. I’m not sure that I’m enjoying it any more. It’s very tough.
And talking of tough, decided to play Joust again for the first time in ages. After a couple of false starts I managed to get my best score ever. Still, it’s only a pitiful… well, the in-game scoreboard says I got 35,800, but the Live leaderboard says 37,750.
Huh?
A bug, I guess. Annoying. It’s only 50 points, but still.
King Kong
Feb 22nd
Mobile version. Been a while since I played this, so after being awful at Skipping Stone for a few minutes I switched to this. Did a Jack level and then a Kong one, but that’s followed by a timed Kong level I didn’t manage to complete before my stop. Bah.
Hexic HD
Feb 21st
Wanted to play something quickly before bed, so Live Arcade was the obvious choice.
Chose Hexic because I’ve not played it in ages.
Thought that Survival mode might offer a quicker game than Marathon, so went for that.
Realised when I hit level 32 with no signs of being in a danger of dying that I should have been in bed fifteen minutes earlier.
So, not quick then.
Dead Or Alive 4
Feb 19th
Went through the Story mode with four or five more characters. Takes about twenty each time. There’s always a sticking point. The worst characters for me to play against are Ayane, Hitomi and, curiously, Bass. And Alpha, obviously, but she’s not as bad as I’ve been led to believe.
Then I tried Survival mode a few times. Best was five wins and about 920,000 points. I’m at 80,000 in the world-wide ranking now, out of 105,000 people.
Dead Or Alive 4
Feb 19th
Through story mode with Kasumi and Kokoro.
It does seem utterly random whether I win a round or not. I’ve given up trying to throw the computer characters and I really can’t counter, so I mainly just launch flurries of punches and kicks, but try to mix them up a bit. And then get cocky and decide to try some blocking or countering and find half my health bar disappearing.
Trouble is – apart from being a bit too quick for me – is that with a lot of attacks I’m not sure if they’re high, mid or low. Is it where the attacks hits or where it starts? I’d assume it was impact point (head, chest, stomach) but I’m not sure if it is. I don’t know if I’m countering the wrong way or at the wrong time.
Hmm.
Dead Or Alive 4
Feb 18th
Well, okay.
Dead or Alive 3.5, maybe.
Or Dead or Alive 2.2, even more mayber.
Bad thing? Don’t think so so far.
Haven’t played it all that much, to be fair.
Went through story mode three times with Christie. Or whatever her name is. Something like that. White hair, claims to be poisonous, seems to be allergic to clothing. You know.
Then I decided to – gulp! – jump into online mode. Bought myself a space lobby and a skeleton avatar, found a lobby, joined, first thing I heard was a voice saying, “Argh! It’s just started lagging!” So I left. So I joined another one and had I game. Which I lost. Then another game. Which I lost. Then another game. Which I lost. Then another game. Which I won! Then another game. Which I lost.
Lag was terrible, but I don’t mind the game slowing down, to be honest. I don’t think I managed a counter in any of the matches I played.
Anyway, after that I went into my profile to poke around, went to an “Edit Comment” page, which was a black box with a flashing yellow square in it. Nothing I pressed on the pad did anything. At all. Couldn’t enter text, couldn’t quit out. Nothing. So I had to bring the Guide up and dump myself back to the dashboard. At which point I decided to turn off the 360 and watch TV Burp.
Marble Blast Ultra
Feb 18th
Hooray!
Whirl is defeated!
Not sure how I managed it, but for two beautiful minutes and eight glorious seconds everything went my way and I sneaked home.
How people have managed it fourteen seconds I don’t know. There must be some serious glitches somewhere.
