A Gaming Diary
iPhone
Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night (iPhone)
Jul 16th
What do you get if you cross Castlevania, Puzzle Quest and Puzzle Fighter? Yep, you get this game.
(Okay, it’s not actually based on Puzzle Fighter. It’s based on a very similar Konami game nobody (i.e. me) has ever heard of.)
It sounds like one of those terrible, terrible cash-ins that pop up on handheld consoles and mobiles, but it’s been executed with such love and care that it actually damn well works.
You play as Alucard, obviously, and have to play through Symphony of the Night, but without any whipping or jumping. You move around a map and in each room you might find an item, an enemy or nothing at all. (Yes, you can choose where to go at certain points. Yes, there are areas blocked off until you get the correct relic to let you get to them.)
If you find an enemy you battle them by destroying falling blocks. Combat is divided into rounds and when the hourglass flips to end a round, you and the enemy damage each other, with the damage dealt being based on your strength stats and the amount of blocks on your respective boards. First one to lose all their hit points loses.
It's hard to keep track of your opponent's board in the heat of battle.
By killing enemies you gain items, money and experience. There are tons of stats to put your experience points into when you level up – I’m concentrating on strength, because I keep forgetting to use spells – and all sorts of items to find and use. There’s an awful lot going on in the game, but you’re eased into it just slowly enough for it to make some sort of sense. There’s still an element of trial and error with the menus and upgrades, but I don’t think you can ever ruin things for yourself too badly if you mess up.
It’s surprisingly compulsive and oddly faithful to the source material – so much so that I found a health-restoring room by remembering where it was in the “real” castle. I’m only an hour and a half in, so I can’t speak for length or late-game difficulty, but I think it’s already been worth the three quid it cost me.
9 Innings: Pro Baseball 2011 (iPhone)
Jul 15th
So, I got sent a promo code for this game on my birthday. (I would have bought it had it been available in the UK store.) I’d been resisting setting up a US iTunes account, but this pushed me over the edge. Had to look up instructions on the web to avoid having to give a payment method, but used my in-laws’ address in Idaho and everything was fine.
Was it worth the hassle? Why, yes. Indeed it was. It’s a brilliant baseball game where you make up a team using baseball cards you earn in games or buy with points.
Yay! I earned some points and got a card!
It’s not perfect. The interface is pretty shocking, but I’m learning it. The “tutorial” is just a link to some videos on the web and instructions are very skimpy. It’s odd that the game features real players, but not real teams. (I guess they could only afford one of the licences and, in my opinion, went with the right one.)
Still, though, the baseball is great and getting new cards is a thrill. I’m very much enjoying it.
Helsing’s Fire (iPhone)
Jul 15th
Light up the monsters, use the correct potion to kill them. Repeat.
Gorgeously-presented, inventive little puzzle game. Use the power of light to kill monsters while keeping humans safe. Lacks any real challenge so far, but I’ve had to try a few levels more than once and it’s certainly given me puzzle-frowns and solution-grins, so I’m quite prepared to recommend it.
Ultraviolet Dawn (iPhone)
Jul 15th
Oh dear, I haven’t played this for a few days. What do I remember? Well, it’s a bit like Warpgate, only it’s a proper shooter and the missions are rubbish. Luckily, they’re also pointless, as you can make all the money you need by killing pirates.
Be careful in firefights - your stray bullets can cause all sorts of problems.
Which is a bit of a problem, as it means there’s little point in exploring, trading or taking on quests. You just need to fly around and kill pirates and you’ll get everything you need.
There’s a great little game here – though it takes a few minutes to realise that fact – but the developers really, really need to work on some balancing and interface improvements before it’ll emerge.
StarDunk (iPhone)
Jul 15th
It's all about the online competition - and it even works on my rubbish net connection.
It’s that basketball web game, only it’s got power-ups and it’s on the iPhone. I do hope the developer of the basketball game is involved, or at least getting paid, as it’s a pretty shameless steal if not. Still, if it is stolen, at least they’ve stolen an excellent game.
Angry Viking (iPhone)
Jul 15th
A bit like Minigore, in that you look down on an arena and have to kill endless waves of enemies, which a few differences.
1) A gorgeous, minimal colour scheme.
Black and white and red all over.
2) It uses melee attacks, rather than ranged.
3) Uses a health bar rather than lives.
4) It’s free, or at least it was when I downloaded it.
Worth a look.
Flick Kick Football (iPhone)
Jul 15th
IT WON’T LET GO! HELP!
Guess what you have to do here.
Brilliant, evil game. Whenever I start it up I seem to lose hue amounts of time in the blink of an eye.
And now it’s even got a new game mode where you have to hit targets.
Bye, bye life.
Homerun Battle 3D (iPhone)
Jul 15th
It still looks lovely, even a year on.
So, I was watching the Home Run Derby the other night – well done Big Papi! – and fancied some home run action of my own. I knew I hadn’t played this game in a while – not since it was called Baseball Slugger – but I hadn’t realised that I wouldn’t have a save file. Seems that I’ve not played it since getting my replacement iPhone nearly a year ago.
Still, it holds up well. It’s not as revelatory as it once was and doesn’t stand out quite so brightly, but it’s as fun and addictive as it ever was. (And it’s still getting updates, too. One came through just a few days ago.)
PES 2010 – Pro Evolution Soccer (iPhone)
Jul 15th
Last time I blogged about this, I praised it to the heavens. I’m still loving it, but I should perhaps mention that it’s not perfect.
There’s odd annoying cosmetic issue, such as teams taking to the field in strips that are far too similar in colour, making it hard to make out your teammates. I pretty much exclusively play quick matches, so after a couple of misplaced passes I usually quit and try again with two more random teams. I can imagine it being hugely annoying in a cup match, though.
Some chaps playing footie.
The most serious issue is that the game decides which player you’re controlling using a set of arcane, seemingly random rules. When you’re attacking it’s obviously fine. You control the player with the ball and then switch after you pass. In defense, though, it’s never obvious which player the game will give you. World Soccer Champs just chooses the player nearest the ball, which is at least predictable. PES, though, seems to throw you around all over the pitch. It’s not enough to ruin the game, or even stop it being brilliant fun, but it can be annoying.
PES 2010 – Pro Evolution Soccer (iPhone)
Jul 8th
I’ve not played a PES game for years and have had a somewhat complicated relationship with the games when I have tried them. Sometimes it’s felt like I’m having to wait for the game to finish what it’s doing before it deigns to let me offer it some advice on what should happen next, other (briefer) times I’ve found myself playing some absolutely lovely football.
The iPhone version? Astonishing. Absolutely astonishing.
Now, I’ve not played any of the big console videogames for a few years, but this iPhone version of PES is revelatory. Never have a played a football game that felt quite this physical. There’s a real sense of weight and consequence to everything that happens on the pitch. Smoke and mirrors, maybe, but whatever the reason, it works to give a very convincing sense that real football, with its mistakes and flukes and human players, is under my control.
It’s like I’m seeing a whole new world of football, just there, in my phone.
I'm using the more traditional of the control schemes, avoiding the need for tilts and swipes.
I started the game up last night and kept going back, again and again. It’s just wonderful, with the default difficulty level feeling just right to me.
Now, of course, is where I should be gasping to try a fuller version of the game (or even a recent console FIFA), but I think part of my enjoyment comes from the two-button control scheme. Extra sticks and buttons might just overwhelm me.
It’s amazing, though, just this. I’ve enjoyed football games here and there – FIFA World Cup on the iPhone has given me a fair amount of enjoyable matches – but with PES and World Soccer Champs (two very different, complementary takes on the sport) I feel like a gaping hole in my gaming life has been filled.
Incredible.
