A Gaming Diary
iPhone
Rogue Touch (iPhone)
Nov 27th
I love me a roguelike and you can’t get much more roguelike than, er, Rogue. It being… well, you see what I’m getting at here. Anyway, this version has a great interface, runs well and basically just does the job it’s meant to do.
Only played one game so far and was doing really well until a monster rusted away my armour. I tried to take it off to put on a new set, but it was cursed, so I couldn’t remove it. So there I was, a few rusty patches of plate armour all that stood between enemy attacks and my sensitive fleshy parts. Death was pretty much inevitable from that point, but I struggled along for a while until a centaur killed me on level eleven.
SimCity (iPhone)
Nov 26th
The tutorial’s horribly fiddly, but don’t let that put you off. I bought this yesterday as it was on sale and for a few minutes thought I’d made a terrible mistake. Never fear, though, because after a few frustrating minutes it all starts feeling a lot more natural. It’s always going to be a little awkward, fitting all those functions on to a touch screen, but it works better than you might expect.
Seems to be pretty complete, too. A few animations might be missing – the big versions do show trains on the railway tracks, don’t they? – and I’d like some clearer feedback about what improvements are most urgent, but other than that, it’s all good. Certainly kept me occupied for a fair while yesterday evening.
I’ve just been messing around in the tutorial city so far, might take the plunge into a brand new city soon.
Hills and Rivers Remain Lite (iPhone)
Nov 26th
Love the name of the game, am slightly unconvinced by the gameplay, which seems to be a slightly slower and more structured version of Galcon, all done up with the typical Square-Enix polish. Though the main character is called Alan and the big enemy appears to be called Herbet, which makes the whole thing seem a bit less epic than usual.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Nov 26th
Having a lot more fun with this now, after my sticky patch. Lots of very close games going on at the moment.
Anyway, I’d just like to wish any American readers (are there any, apart from my wife?) a very happy Thanksgiving. May all your turkeys be strong and fleshy, or something.
Ground Effect (iPhone)
Nov 25th
Very, very nearly came third on race twelve this lunchtime, but I kept on buggering up the final lap, once I realised I was in with a chance. I hate it when that happens. I wonder if on some level I’m deliberately mucking it up to make the game last longer. I thoroughly enjoy every single attempt at this race, so maybe my subconscious won’t let me win until I start getting bored of it.
Nah, it’ll just be me being rubbish, as usual.
Apologies for taking the worst screenshot of the game I’ve ever seen, by the way. Click the “ground effect” link below to see my other posts on the game if you want some better shots.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Nov 25th
Enjoying this more now, even though some of the games I’m playing have nowhere to go at all. Using all my letters in one go helps.
Ravensword: The Fallen King (iPhone)
Nov 25th
So, I had to go to Sytheria to kill some demon or something. I wasn’t sure where in Sytheria to go, so after trekking all the way there I went into some caves and wandered through them until I found myself out in the mountains area, miles away. I turned to go back, but the door I’d just come through was now locked and I needed an item I didn’t have to open it again. So I made my way through the mountains, past the cliffs, back into town, through the forest, through the dungeon, back to Sytheria, to the tower I should have found first time, up the stairs, found the demon, wasn’t quite sure what to do, the controls, which are normally fine, failed me completely and I died, finding myself back in town again.
I haven’t played it since. Mind you, although it sounds awful, the part where I got lost was actually brilliant. Real exploration, not knowing what was around the next corner, fighting off enemies and making my way through unknown lands. Great stuff; it made me fall in love with the game all over again.
And then it all fell apart fighting the demon and I got all pouty. When it’s good, it’s great, but sometimes it’s the most exceptionally annoying gaming I’ve played in… well, days, probably. Maybe even weeks, but that’s pushing it.
Canabalt (iPhone)
Nov 25th
What’s there so say about Canabalt that’s not already been said? Nothing, until the first update hits.
To recap, though, Canabalt is a superb game that offers seemingly endless amounts of fun and excitement in a simple package and is therefore more than worth its relatively high price.
Krazy Kart Racing Lite (iPhone)
Nov 25th
Finally, a decent single player kart racer! I know Cocoto Kart has its fans, but it was far too difficult for me. The full version of Krazy Kart is currently 59p, so I thought I’d give the Lite a go.
Did some quick races on Easy and Medium settings and had a good time. It looks a bit rough and the Konami-theming means nothing to me, but it’s fast, the controls work well and the two courses included in the Lite seem to be nicely designed. I’m quite impressed, but I’ve not bought the full version yet. It’s just lacking a little extra spark to push me over the edge.
Star Wars Trench Run (iPhone)
Nov 24th
For Star Wars fans only, this one. Which isn’t to say it’s bad, but that without any emotional attachment to the content it definitely won’t be worth three quid. In many ways an update to the original arcade game, you start out dogfighting above the surface of the Death Star, then fly down the trench, avoiding obstacles (and Darth Vader’s TIE fighter) before blowing the whole thing up. That’s about it for mission mode, but there are also a couple of arcade modes, where you can fly down an infinitely long trench or fend off endless waves of TIE Fighters.
It’s a bit shoddy here and there – in the trenches the gun emplacements don’t actually fire at you, instead the game just animates laser bolts flying at you from miles away. (And they’re laser bolts that can fly through solid obstacles, at that.) More importantly, there are no tilt calibration options, so you have to hunch over the game in exactly the position it wants you to be in. Fine for playing at your desk, not so good for playing in bed.
Still, the core dogfighting and, er, trench-running sections work really, really well and it does capture the feeling of being in Star Wars. I can’t see it something I’d sit down with for hours, but I expect I’ll start it up for a quick go an awful lot over the life of my iPhone.
Put it this way, if you’re tempted to get proudly misty-eyed when Han Solo congratulates you on a great shot, this is probably worth getting, Otherwise, I’d probably give it a miss.
