A Gaming Diary
iPhone
Super Monkey Ball 2 (iPhone)
Feb 3rd
It’s been a long time since I played any Monkey Ball. Too long, I reckon. I love the little simian chaps and their crazy floating worlds. Also, some of my fondest gaming memories are of playing Monkey Bowling, drunk, falling asleep between each throw.
Argh! Stupid monkey! Stay away from that hole!
So why it’s taken me quite so long to get the iPhone version, I don’t know. Okay, so the first release was meant to be a bit rubbish, but this second game has been getting good reviews and includes the mighty Monkey Bowling, so what was I waiting for?
Well, mainly some calibration options. With a tilt-based game like this, you’d think the developers would have set it so that “flat” was set to the angle you were holding your iPhone at when the level started. Would that be so difficult? I guess so, because Super Monkey Ball 2 doesn’t do it. However, it’s not so bad, really, because “flat” is set at a sensible gaming playing angle – you don’t have to hold the iPhone horizontally or anything stupid like that. It’s fine for playing on the sofa and almost – but not quite – playable when lying down in bed.
Of course, even when you’re at the correct angle, the controls aren’t as precise as the Gamecube’s analogue stick. They feel right, though, in an indefinable way. You’ve not got the same level of control, but the tilting never feels wrong to me and I haven’t (yet) blamed the accelerometer for any deaths.
The main game is split up into different worlds and then further broken down into sets of ten levels. It’s good stuff and the quick start option when you load the game means you get back into it very quickly. It’s perfectly possible to load it up and play a level or two in a commercial break.
Strikes are few and far between - if you're me.
The only mini game available right now is Monkey Bowling. (Though Target and Golf are said to be on the way.) It uses a touch and tilt control method that’s far removed for the controls used in the Gamecube version, but which still works well and, crucially, still feels like Monkey Bowling. It doesn’t save your single player high scores, which is a bit annoying, but I don’t mind too much.
Overall, it’s a great little package so far. Whether the levels will get too complicated for the control scheme in later levels I don’t know, but so far my complaints are only minor.
Assassin’s Creed II Discovery (iPhone)
Feb 3rd
This is starting to get a bit trickier now and I’m still quite near the beginning. Last night I had to chase a rogue through the streets of Barcelona, only to find myself at a door at the end of the level that I couldn’t get through. (Yes, I’m a trained assassin who can’t open doors – I love you, videogames!)
The rogue would then catch up with me. (Yes, I had to chase her by staying ahead of her – I love you, videogames!) She’d burst through the door and I’d fail the mission. Frustration ensued, but was tempered by the fact that running full pelt through the streets was really, really fun.
Jump or drop, Ezio? Jump or drop?
Eventually I noticed I could climb a wall and run over the roof, avoiding the door entirely. Once I did, I completed the level. Hurrah!
It’s a good game, this, you know, but right now it’s lack a certain something to make it one of the best games on the iPhone. I think it’s a combination of the odd control fluff (they’re perfectly responsive, but the context-sensitive buttons can be a little confusing right now) and the fact that running full speed, which is the best part of the game, will almost always land you in deep trouble if you don’t know exactly what lies ahead.
Right now, I think that if I made a list of the top twenty games on the iPhone, this might make it in, but it’s not going to unseat any of the top ten. That could all change after more play, though. I might come to love it, or the little annoyances might grow and grow until I end up hating the very mention of Ezio’s name.
I’m looking forward to finding out.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Feb 3rd
Woke up to an update for Words With Friends this morning. Apparently it’s got some bug fixes and a “new, improved” dictionary. Whether it’s actually been improved, or whether they’ve just, for example, taken out the rude words remains to be seen.
Ended up making VAT over on the left. Going to take some doing to get back into this game.
I have a feeling that you can play with people who haven’t updated, so there may words that my opponents can make that I can’t and vice versa. I’m pretty sure I’ve had that happen before.
Bird Strike (iPhone)
Feb 2nd
The game I played most last night. Not as good as Twin Blades for playing while the TV is on, but I did my best. I’ve done eight levels now up to Silver standard (with a Gold medal for the first level), but I’m struggling a bit on the ninth. There are some tricky paths to negotiate and a limited number of fireworks. I’ve been restarting quite often.
Ouch indeed, little bird.
This another case of having to learn levels. You’ll never be able to find your way to the top without hitting some obstacles using reflexes alone, you really have to know what’s coming. You might not need to restart the level – there are always more fireworks than you need to get to the top, at least so far – but you’ll definitely be giving your bird a headache.
Twin Blades (iPhone)
Feb 2nd
I hope it’s not damning this game with faint praise to say that it’s a great game to play while you watch TV. I’m not quite sure why, as you can’t take your eyes away from the iPhone screen without risking horrible, messy death, but although your eyes are fixed on the iPhone, your brain is free to listen to the dialogue on the TV and the brief pauses between levels are enough to flick your eyes over to the telly.
A saucepan won't save you, silly zombie!
Of course, it helps to have something on where you can recognise the characters by their voices. In my case, it was Smallville, which I’ve recently started watching on the Sci Fi channel. I’m up to season three now. I’ve no idea how many seasons Sci Fi have bought. I’m assuming not all of them. I might have to get the DVDs at some point.
Anyway, Twin Blades is good to have on when you’re watching Smallville: official.
Finger Physics (iPhone)
Feb 2nd
There are some games that I play, but never get around to blogging about. Sometimes I’ll play while I’m on holiday, then not mention them when I get home (e.g. Trenches, which I should be looking at again soon). Some I play for five minutes, delete and then decide that they’re not worth mentioning. (e.g. Zombie Pizza, which is perfectly fine on its own merits, but really not my kind of thing at all.)
Then there are games like Finger Physics, which I play for a minute or two every few days, or even weeks. I don’t play long enough to have anything much to say and I never take screenshots. As a general rule, if I play a game for less than five minutes, I won’t bother blogging about it.
Last night, however, I played Finger Physics for an relatively long time – between five and ten minutes, maybe more! – and took a screenshot.
I am a neat stacker.
It’s one of those games that’s fun for a level or so, then you find one that’s really annoying, so you leave the game for a while, then do the level easily when you play again – only to find another really annoying level is just around the corner.
At the basic level, you’re manipulating shapes to complete level goals – stacking high, making a stable pile, guiding an egg into a basket, etc. – but the game is constantly mixing things up and throwing different types of challenge at you. It’s not a case of the game having fifteen egg levels, followed by fifteen underwater levels – they’re all churned up together. It’s a good move and it’s a fine game – it’s just I’ve got no patience for it.
I may never blog about it again, but you can be sure I’ll play it again sometime. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even soon… but sometime.
Assassin’s Creed II Discovery (iPhone)
Feb 1st
A side-scrolling platform take on Assassin’s Creed that’s not going to be for everybody. It controls pretty nicely, though there are enough different things to do that in these early days I’m having a little trouble remembering what I can do when, it looks fairly pretty for a game with 3D models, there are collectables, achievements and multiple paths through levels and it seems to have a decent amount of content.
The combat's fun, but often you're told not to be seen.
I started it up for a quick go this lunchtime and found it very hard to pull myself away, but you might want to be cautious. Ask yourself a question:
Do you mind trial and error in your platform games?
Stealth kills haven't got old yet.
If you do, you may want to steer clear. Even in these, presumably simple, early levels, there’s a lot of learning to do. You’ll fall, you’ll die, you’ll run into guards you didn’t know were there. Worst of all, for some, there are an awful lot of leaps of faith. (Though, to be fair, they seem to be needed to take the best routes in a level, fall down and you’ll be inconvenienced, but not killed. So far, at least.) The general rule is to jump at the end of every rooftop when you’re running, stop and have a look around if you’re sneaking. Doesn’t work every time, though.
You're graded after each level. I didn't do very well here.
For my part, I’ve never minded having to learn games. I get knocked down, I get back up again and hope I’ve remembered where the problem was. It feeds the “one more go” factor and grabs me and won’t let go.
I like this game. Whether or not it’s worth the premium price tag I don’t yet know, but first impressions are good. It’s going to divide people, though, I’m sure.
Twin Blades (iPhone)
Feb 1st
Thought you’d killed enough zombies by now? Well, the developers of Twin Blades think differently. It’s a side-scrolling shoot ‘n’ slash, with gorgeous graphics, a nice upgrade system and online high scores. It starts very easy, but soon ramps up the difficulty and by Day Three I was really struggling.
Zombies. Again.
I don’t think it’s anything very special (except graphically), but it’s decent fun and it’s free today. I like it when games are free.
Bird Strike (iPhone)
Feb 1st
Like Doodle Jump and Skybound this tasks you with bouncing off things to climb higher and higher. Unlike either of those, when you reach a certain point you start flying back down, trying to hit all the obstacles that you tried to avoid on your ascent.
When you hit the ground, if you’ve done well enough, you’re awarded a medal based on your score. If you get a medal, you get to move on to the next level.
Simple.
Hang on... why does a bird need firework-power to fly?
Simple and pretty brilliant, actually. Well-presented, excellent OpenFeint integration, easy to control, it’s pretty much everything you could want from this type of game. (There’s even an endless mode on the way, according to the developer, which isn’t essential but would be nice.)
Battle of Puppets (iPhone)
Feb 1st
You have a castle at the left of the playing area, the enemy has one on the right. You have to destroy the enemy’s castle by generating troops, who march forwards until they meet an enemy. Either they die, or they win and then march forwards again. When they reach the enemy’s castle they break it into little pieces. That’s pretty much it, though there are some special powers you can trigger and some levels require survival, rather than the destruction of an enemy castle.
Go, go, little ninjas!
The strategy comes from choosing which troops to generate with your limited resources and when to use your powers. It’s all rather simple, but gorgeously presented and oddly compelling. It’s real time strategy boiled right down, but that’s no bad thing. I like it a lot.
(It’s fairly similar to Trenches, actually, and any number of Flash games, but I’ve not blogged about those as far as I remember, so that’s not much help.)
