A Gaming Diary
iPhone
Street Fighter IV (iPhone)
Mar 18th
I’ve completely run out of things to say about this. All I do it is start it up, play a couple of fights as Blanka, then turn it off again. That’s it. But I do it a lot.
I think this game is probably up there with Chinatown Wars and Orbital as the very, very best the iPhone has to offer, even now, before the inevitable DLC.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Mar 18th
I know, I know, I’ve not blogged about this for ages – but I have been playing it. More than any other game, at least in terms of number of times I start the app.
So, no, I’ve not got bored of it. It’s even still sitting in my dock. It’s special like that.
Street Fighter IV (iPhone)
Mar 17th
For a game that’s pretty lacking in content, I’ve played this an awful lot. I can’t seem to stop. I’m not even going for new best times or doing missions in the dojo – I’m just playing the game for the sheer joy of it.
Aftermath (iPhone)
Mar 17th
Standing by my first impressions on this – it’s a fine, fine game.
Bit of an odd difficulty curve. Level three is pretty hard, then the next few levels are cakewalks, then you get to a level where you have to survive for three minutes and it’s like hitting a brick wall. A fun brick wall, but a brick wall nonetheless.
Aftermath (iPhone)
Mar 16th
Top-down, Left For Dead-style single player game. Given it a good 45 minutes of play or so, sat at my desk and in the waiting room at the dentist.
It’s really rather good, actually, and well worth the launch price of 59p based on what I’ve played.
You’re a little chap with a pistol (most of the time) and you follow the guide-arrow through the levels to get to a waypoint, trying to avoid being munched on by endlessly-respawning zombies on the way. The levels are very dark, so you need to need use your torch to light them up – your character automatically fires at any zombies within the torch light.
All the way it’s raining and there’s lightning, which lights up the level for a second and can show you a lot of zombies you hadn’t noticed. Panic stations and all that.
It all works – the controls are pretty much perfect – and it’s very atmospheric. Hard too, after the first couple of levels. I’m on the third level now and gradually getting better as I explore the place and find my around. (The guide-arrow points in a straight line and the maze-like city doesn’t often let you go in one, so there’s a fair amount of exploring to do.)
There’s the odd rough edge – shadows are simple boxes and I glitched through a door once – but they don’t take away from the fact that this is a very impressive game.
Don’t seem to be too many levels, but it looks like the last one is a Survival mode, which is nice – and there are OpenFeint high scores.
Given the cheap price, I reckon it’s well worth a look, based on first impressions.
Street Fighter IV (iPhone)
Mar 16th
Turned the difficulty up to Hard last night. Seems about right for me at the moment. I’m probably winning more rounds than I’m losing, overall, but there’s not much in it. I’m actually having to play better and mix things up a bit with my Blanka, which is a great feeling.
I love this game a lot.
Orbital
Mar 16th
Smashed my old Gravity high score into the ground with great force, but unfortunately just missed taking the top spot on Friends leaderboard. Highly annoying.
Also played for a while in the waiting room at the dentist today, but we’re not talking about that.
Street Fighter IV (iPhone)
Mar 15th
Played with Blanka for most of the weekend. I seem to be getting pretty good. Well, good enough not to be troubled by Normal AI, anyway. I haven’t dared put it up to Hard yet.
I tried Abel for a bit last night, just a couple of fights, and got smashed in the face. He uses Ryu-like motions for his special moves, but I haven’t yet worked out how to actually use them properly. Might be worth trying to learn to play as him properly, though Blanka keeps calling me back.
Orbital (iPhone)
Mar 15th
Going for the record for the most time played without getting a new high score.
Biodefense: Zombie Outbreak (iPhone)
Mar 12th
No! Wait! Come back!
I know it’s another bloody zombie game, but this is different!
It’s basically an RTS, with only base-building and no moving units. So, um, a bit of a tower defense, but it doesn’t feel much like one.
You build lights – because you only build and guns can only shoot in lit areas – and weapons and resource collectors and wait for zombies to shuffle in from the sides of the map. Hopefully, your weapons will kill them all dead, but they… just… keep… coming…
It’s really very good indeed and there’s a nice Lite version to try before you buy. Well worth investigating.