A Gaming Diary
iPhone
Lightbikes 2 (iPhone)
Jun 14th
Tron.
With a jump button.
You know what you’re getting.
I died as soon as I took the screenshot.
Sometimes annoying – every now and again lines can seem to disappear resulting in an unexpected crash and my stupid left thumb keeps straying on to the boost button by mistake – but capable of some absolutely glorious moments as you edge past a rival and make them crash, or jump at just the right time to avoid certain death.
Shame I haven’t been able to join any online games, even when trying on my work’s solid connection.
Also a shame that the single-player mode seems to jump from “impossible” to “impossibly easy” after you learn the ropes.
Still, it’s free and sometimes tremendously exciting, so therefore well worth downloading.
Pac-Match Party (Web/iPhone)
Jun 11th
Pac-Match Party is an excellent free web game. You can play it HERE.
The web version.
It’s another match-three game, but adds lots of nice twists, such as matching presents to get power-ups, making lines of ghosts next to Pac-Man so he can eat them for bonus points, having to make matches on coloured tiles to complete levels and having parts of the level inaccessible.
It’s too easy, but apart from that, it’s probably the best evolution of the match-three concept that I’ve played in ages.
So when the iPhone version was released I plunked my £1.19 down without a second thought. Which may have been a mistake, as the iPhone version loses a lot of what made the web version special.
The iPhone version.
There’s a much smaller playing area, no Pac-Mans (Pac-Men?) on the field, no parts cordoned off and different power-ups, to name the changes that spring immediately to mind. Much of this will be a result of the platform, of course. In fact, there’s a good chance that all the changes are a consequence of having a smaller playing field. It’s hard to block sections off when there’s not much there to begin with, after all.
Initially, it was a huge, almost crushing disappointment. It’s not the same game at all. As I’ve played it more, however, I’ve started to like it, at least a little. There’s bonus point-scoring items to tap, which you don’t see in the web version, and the new Pac-Man power-up seems to have great scoring potential. There are also achievements to gain, though there’s only a local leaderboard. Which is a bad thing.
Talking of bad things, you can’t move tiles (or even tap bonus items) until everything’s settled down, unlike the web version. Oh, and the short between-level cutscenes are in landscape mode even though the game’s in portrait mode, which is just bizarre. It’s also just as easy as the web version – I’m on level fifteen now and haven’t broken a sweat.
It’s confusing, really. If the web version didn’t exist I’d probably like the iPhone version more. (Except, of course, that I’d probably have ignored it.) It’s not a bad game, it’s merely a decent example of a crowded genre, when the web version promises much more.
Civilization Revolution (iPhone)
Jun 11th
I did it! I won a game on King difficulty! Look!
USA! USA!
I actually only came third in terms of points, but I got to Alpha Centauri, so I won. I was the Americans and lucked out, having a reasonably large area to expand into at the start. My only land border was with the French. We scrapped a few times, but I kept giving them money and technology to keep them sweet. That meant that the civilizations who hated me – the English and Japanese – couldn’t wage any effective wars against me and I was able to actually improve my cities, rather than put everything I had into military units. Good stuff.
Carcassonne (iPhone)
Jun 11th
Solitaire mode. The tutorial was a bit rubbish - or I skipped some of it without realising - but it eventually makes sense.
Tried the Solitaire mode of Carcassonne last night. Basically, you need to create cities and roads that increase in size. First up, you need to create roads and cities that cover two squares, then three and so on. Laying tiles loses you points – and the points you lose increase as the size of the map increases. So you’ve basically got to complete cities and roads while trying to keep the map as small as possible.
It’s hard work, but in a good way, I think. I need more time with it to be sure.
Civilization Revolution (iPhone)
Jun 10th
So, I’ve tried three games on King difficulty, one level up from the difficulty I was playing on before.
The first game I survived to the end with a tiny wee empire of three cities, but came last.
The second game, I started a very early war with the Egyptians, which turned out to be a mistake, as they took my only city and wiped me out before I’d discovered, well, anything. (I declared war in a fit of pique when they came along and stole a barbarian village I’d been working on. Oops.)
The third game was better. I was the Mongols and basically spent the entire game at war with the Zulu and the Americans. I made a few gains from the Americans, but that was countered by my losses to the Zulu. At no point could I really do anything to improve my civilization, as everything I had was going into military units and trying desperately to research new technologies to try and get ahead in the arms race. It didn’t help that a couple of my tank armies lost battles they should have easily won and were wiped out.
I was the Mongols in that game.
Still, third place isn’t so bad. I just wish I could work out how to improve my game. Trying to keep a small empire means you don’t really have the resources to compete, but expansion just makes you a target for the other civilizations. It’s tough.
:Shift: (iPhone)
Jun 10th
Ooh, stylish.
Stupid punctuation in the name aside, :Shift: is a very well-designed game. It looks nice, the control scheme works very well and it’s full of mind-bending puzzle action. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of puzzling that makes me very frustrated and cross. My fault entirely, there’s nothing wrong with the game itself, but I’m not sure if I should play much more of it. Still, it was free, so I can’t really complain.
Civilization Revolution (iPhone)
Jun 9th
Finished my game as the Chinese at lunchtime.
Not much competition for domination.
I’d been a Democracy for millennia by the end of the game, but the final capital city was so close and so tempting that I changed to Fundamentalism just so I could storm in with my Ninja Tank Army (who’d roamed around the world and conquered it all single-handed, pretty much) and finish things off.
At the end of the game my starting island and the two next to it were lovely, peaceful idylls full of scientists and artists and happy, wealthy citizens. The main continent was full of downtrodden peasants, cowering under the shadows of the tanks I was building in every city. Sure, I built a temple here and a courthouse there, but I was mainly just building those tanks.
In time I’d have stopped the military build-up (turned out I didn’t need them – the Greeks tried to fight off my invasion with spears and ancient rifles) and tried to make everything lovely, but the conquest phase of the game was a few brief years in which everyone (except the Greeks) declared war on me at once and invited my tanks in to play. Those cities I didn’t drive into decided to join me through choice, impressed by my culture, but I still used them as military bases.
I also dominated in terms of points.
At the end of the game all the other civilizations had disappeared entirely, except for a couple of remaining Greek cities on some islands I’d ignored.
I really do need to try a higher difficulty setting soon – but then I might have to actually think and plan, instead of winging it.
Civilization Revolution (iPhone)
Jun 9th
So, I finished up the game I was talking about yesterday with a cultural victory, as I wanted. Then there may have been another game, I don’t remember. Right now, though, I’m playing as the Chinese.
The start of the game - a world of possibilities!
I got my least favourite starting position – a fairly small island. That means that to expand, I need to ferry units over the water in boats. Obvious enough, maybe, but it’s a pain. On the plus side, it means it’s easier to defend the core of my empire. On the minus side, getting units to reinforce my overseas holdings takes ages. I’ve got to what seems to be a big continent now and Shanghai is right between two saber-rattling civs who hate me. I’m trying to build up my forces to keep Shanghai safe, but I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be best just to give up and try to turn my starting island into a scientific research centre. Tricky decisions ahead. (Though as I’m only playing on Warlord difficulty – the second difficulty level – it’s going to be easier than it otherwise would be. I should probably step up another level soon, as I never actually lose a game right now.)
Carcassonne (iPhone)
Jun 9th
Look! An Internet game! Haven't actually got to take a turn yet, though.
Still no idea what’s going on with Internet matches – in one current one with multiple players some people have moved, but some players don’t see those moves, but others do – but it’s fun when I actually do get to play.
Ten iPhone Games To Play In June 2010
Jun 8th
Here’s a list of ten games to play during this month. They won’t be the ten best iPhone games – any list without Angry Birds, Doom and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is not a list of the greatest iPhone games – but they’ll be selected based on a mix of quality, novelty and relevance to the month’s events.
Carcassonne
The rules are simple, the strategy less so.
Mostly excellent conversion of the classic board game. The interface is lovely, playing against the AI is fun and it’s a wonderful conversion. It’s let down a bit by what appears to be a completely broken online implementation – many games I’ve tried to play have been full of baffled chat messages and no actual game – but when it works it’s excellent. Easy to pick up, but brain-twisting in the best possible way as you try to make long-term plans based on hopes and educated guesses. Buy it as a single-player or local-multiplayer game with a possibility of bonus online multiplayer against friends and you won’t be disappointed.
Civilization Revolution
Conquer the world in a lunchtime.
The App Store is built on novelty. Games appear for pennies, are the best thing ever for ten minutes, then disappear. Civilization Revolution is different. It eats both hours and battery life with equal abandon and is almost impossible to put down once you’ve started a game. You start with a small, wandering prehistoric tribe capable only of building a small settlement. You end up with tanks and fighter plans and nuclear weapons as you struggle to dominate the world through your military, cultural, economic or scientific might. It’s all incredibly absorbing and doesn’t deserve to be left to rot as you devour the latest, greatest arcade novelty.
Cubed Rally Racer
You will crash. A lot.
Of course, there’s a lot to be said for arcade thrills and Cubed Rally Racer is one of the best of the newer games on the App Store. Essentially it’s an isometric driving game, where the aim is simply to make it to the end of the randomly generated course with as many points as possible. You simply choose how long you want the course to be – ten sections for a commercial break, twenty-five sections for a serious challenge – and then try to get to the finish line without crashing. Hard to put down, seemingly infinitely replayable, this is a serious bargain.
Dungeon Solitaire
You will be needing the tutorial, but it the game is a lot less scary than it looks.
Fed up of traditional Solitaire? Has even Spider Solitaire got tiresome? Try this. It’s very much a Solitaire game – it’s all based on a deck of cards and the shuffle is as important as the strategy – but you’ll also have to engage your brain. It’s a great game with the default deck, but there are numerous expansions that add new cards, often with new rules. It’s nothing like Magic The Gathering, despite the screenshot suggesting otherwise, but it is the best Solitaire game I’ve ever played.
FIFA World Cup
It's even got a good replay viewer.
This would not feature in a list of the ten best iPhone games, but you can’t really get more topical. And if you do get swept up in World Cup fever and want to play with real players on your iPhone, then EA have had the decency to put a decent game in this bit of merchandise. Nice features like arrows showing where your passes will go and excellent replays mean that this is a very solid game. Will you be playing long after the World Cup is over? I doubt it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good game to have right now.
iNetHack
As a conversion of a game that uses almost every key on your keyboard, the iPhone conversion works far better than you might expect.
It’s always good to get free games. It’s especially good to get free games when they’re absolute classics. Initially baffling, if you can work your way inside NetHack, you’ll be rewarded with a deep, endlessly-replayable roguelike. You move through the dungeon, killing monsters, trying strange potions, attacking shopkeepers by mistake and, inevitably, dying. Just don’t get too attached to your pets.
Orbital
Make circles. Then destroy them.
An absolute, stone cold classic. This should be preinstalled on every iPhone. Today, for example, the queue in Spar was huge, so what did I do while I waited to buy my Mini Cheddars? Yes, I played Orbital. Three game modes, all worth playing, all sorts of high scores and a cold, yet beautiful, aesthetic. Absolutely essential.
Robot Unicorn Attack
Keep jumping so the unicorn doesn't explode.
This is one of those arcade novelties. Maybe you won’t play it forever. Maybe it’s not as good as the free Flash version. Maybe it’s overpriced at £1.79. Whatever. Right now, today, this is great fun. And it makes a change from Canabalt.
Slay
Conquer the world in a tea break.
If Civilization Revolution seems a bit too much, play Slay instead. Games are quicker, military conquest is the only option and, well, it’s not even remotely the same, apart from being turn-based and based on conquering territory on a map. It’s been around for many years, but the fact that it’s the same as the ancient PC game shows how well the mechanics have stood the test of time. Easy to overlook if you’ve not played it, this really deserves your attention.
Trucker’s Delight: Episode One
Sexual harassment for fun and profit.
And let’s finish off with another novelty. Beautiful graphics, simple yet addictive gameplay and a fairly worrying backstory based on a music video. I played it solidly for two days and haven’t been back since. I keep meaning to, but somehow things get in the way.
