A Gaming Diary
iPhone
Aqua Moto Racing 2 (iPhone)
Jul 29th
Blue! So much gorgeous blue!
So, I bought the full version. I’ve done the first two championships, both of which were almost insultingly easy. And, yes, the frame rate is pretty terrible. Doesn’t spoil the game for me, but if they could update the game to improve it, that would be lovely.
In short, then, lovely sunshine, big waves and brilliant controls, but a poor framerate and a lack of any challenge (initially at least).
The Jim and Frank Mysteries – The Blood River Files (iPhone)
Jul 29th
Easy enough, this one, with a bit of thought.
I got past the age puzzle easily enough with a pen and paper next to me, so I wasn’t stuck for long. (There is an area you can scribble on built into the game, which is nice in a pinch, but it’s no substitute for the real thing.)
Nothing else has stumped me yet, though I did get one puzzle wrong because I misread it. D’oh.
I’ve heard that there are some puzzles coming up with very unclear instructions, so I need to keep an eye out for those.
Aqua Moto Racing 2 Lite (iPhone)
Jul 28th
It’s like Waverace, only not quite as good. The same old story.
The full version does, though, cost a relatively expensive £2.99. That takes it out of complete impulse territory, so it’s a good job there’s a Lite version to play with.
And what a good Lite version it is. A three-race championship, quick races on the same track and three jet skis to unlock. (Look, if they’re not jet skis but something subtly different, I don’t want to know, okay?)
You can pick up treasure as you race to get bonus money to buy new jet skis.
It’s great arcade fun, the wave physics add a lot to the races and I’m very impressed. Only two things are stopping me from hitting the buy button to purchase the full version.
The first is the lack of difficulty in the Lite version. Even on Hard, it’s very easy to win races.
The second is that there are some reports of frame rate issues when you get the faster jet skis. Not sure if that’s a problem for everyone, though, or someone trying to play the game on a first-gen iPod Touch or something.
Anyway, I’ll probably have caved in and got the full thing by lunchtime, so I can find out for myself.
The Jim and Frank Mysteries – The Blood River Files (iPhone)
Jul 28th
It’s basically Professor Layton but not quite as good. It is, however, a mere 59p compared to… hang on… £11.97 for the cheapest copy of a Layton game. (Thanks GamesTracker!)
Jim, Frank and a strange old geezer.
You’ve got talky cut scenes, you’ve got puzzles, you’ve got currency you can use for hints hidden in each scene, etc. You’ve even got bonus puzzles in your backpack. It’s all very familiar – which is no bad thing.
The timing's much tighter than in the equivalent Oregon Trail game.
One thing I don’t remember Layton having is mini-games. I’ve only come across one so far – a woodchopping one, very much like the one in Oregon Trail – but I suspect there may be more.
One of the easier puzzles.
As with Layton, everything grinds to a halt when you get stuck, but that goes with the territory. (You can spend in-game currency on hints – and even by more using real money, but I’m never going to do that.) Last night I got to a puzzle that involved calculating ages of a mother and daughter and I was far to tired to work it out. I’ll give it a go with a pen and paper next to me at some point.
Miner Disturbance (iPhone)
Jul 28th
I had to look up instructions online for how to kill this mole. For shame.
Still enjoying Miner Distrubance, despite not being completely comfortable with the controls. The buttons are fine – and stopping your character from moving while the dig button is held down is a wonderful, thoughtful move by the developers – but doing single hits with the analogue stick (necessary for dropping, rather than removing, blocks – is a bit of a fiddle.
It’s not game-ruining – and I think I am slowly getting better – but it would be nice to be able to play without having to be so slow and careful.
Carcassonne (iPhone)
Jul 27th
I like games with lots of players.
As suspected, I’ve been dropping down my friends leaderboard. I managed to lose some very tight, tense games and my ranking took a big hit. I’ve also been playing some really idiotic moves in my current games, so I don’t expect things will get better soon.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Jul 27th
I'm winner!
Really haven’t been gaming over the last few days. I’ve just not seemed to be in the mood for it. I’m sure I’ll get back into it before long. I have, however, been keeping up with multiplayer games, such as Words With Friends.
DungeonCore (iPhone)
Jul 23rd
I did good!
Okay, forget my mealy-mouthed shit from yesterday. “Oh, well, I like it, but you might not, blah, blah, blah.” Fuck all that. Fuck it in the ear. DungeonCore is bloody brilliant and that’s the end of the story. If you don’t have the patience to get into it, that’s your fault. The game’s bloody great and I can’t stop playing it. If you don’t love it, leave it. When you’re running down DungeonCore, man, you’re walking on the fighting side of me.
And I have an excellent beard.
And I’m in a very strange mood this morning.
Plunderland (iPhone)
Jul 23rd
Looks gorgeous, but aiming your cannons and dealing with enemies is fiddly enough to be really quite annoying. Definitely a case of feeling like the game’s difficulty comes from bad controls, rather than actual game design. (Whatever the fuck that means. Come on, Owen, is that the best you can do?)
Sink ships, collect treasure.
However – HOW-FUCKING-EVER – I’ve thought the same thing about games before. Cubed Rally Racer and DungeonCore both seemed to suffer from control issues, but after getting used to them I came to the conclusion that my first impressions were incorrect. Maybe the same will happen here. I do hope so, as I desperately want to like this game.
And, to be fair, it’s not like I dislike it. I just haven’t got comfortable with it.
DungeonCore (iPhone)
Jul 22nd
So, how to describe this game? The best I can come up with is that it’s a bit like an upside-down Doodle Jump, reimagined as a roguelike.
That’s not very helpful.
Okay, so you’re a little chap with some pants and a sword. You fall down the screen and run left and right across platforms. If you get stuck at the top of the screen, you die. If you fall off the bottom of the screen, you die. This is made much harder by a control system that doesn’t let you stay in place; you’re always running left or right if you’re on a platform.
Do you like my hat?
So, you see, you need to plan ahead and try to stop on larger platforms, because it’s almost impossible to tilt the iPhone fast enough to stay on the small ones. Until, that is, you buy some better boots.
Which is my cunning segue into the RPG elements of the game. As you drop down you hit and kill enemies, earning gold and losing hit points. Every now and again you’ll enter a shop, where you can buy new items and equipment. Potions refill your health, shields increase your health bar, weapons increase your accuracy, caps increase the money you get from kills, etc.
So you fall down and down, trying to kill enough enemies to get the cash you need to survive – but without running out of hit points. There’s a lot to think about. In the first shop, do you buy a cap to increase your cash or buy some boots to help you control your hero better? Later on, should you upgrade your defence or attack? Or get an even better cap for even more money?
Tough decisions. And when you die it’s back to the beginning again, with just your basic sword and your pants, having to start from scratch… almost. You see, achievements gained in the game (e.g. getting to 100m depth, killing 150 enemies) unlock new items and equipment, which can then be purchased in any shop.
It took me quite a few goes to even unlock boots to buy, for example, but now I can normally afford some at the very first shop. So by doing well in the game, you make later attempts a bit easier, but the decisions you have to make in the shops a lot harder.
I'm number two! I'm number two!
Does any of that make sense? Basically, you’ve got a little tilt-based arcade game with RPG elements and controls that take a lot of adjusting to. I really wasn’t sure if I liked the game at first, but the more I played it, the more I enjoyed it. (Especially as I now have access to those lovely boots.)
I can imagine a lot of people being put off by the controls. I nearly was. Extended play, though, has made me like the game a lot more. Partly because I’ve unlocked more choices of equipment and partly because I’ve got better at the game.
There’s no neat conclusion, here, no easy recommendation to either get the game or stay away. I like it, but I have no idea if you will. Still, it’s only 59p. Could be worth trying.
