A Gaming Diary
iPhone
Space Invaders Infinity Gene (iPhone)
Jul 29th
I forgot to take a screen shot of this game last night, but I have been playing it.
I don’t have much to add to what I said earlier. It’s great and you should buy it. That’s about it.
Oh, and Gunpowder & Lead by Miranda Lambert generated a very interesting stage, which includes features I’ve not seen in the main game yet. (I’m trying not to plow through the main levels quickly.)
My Brute (iPhone)
Jul 29th
Action shot!
Shame the action is me running away. Of course, I’m just running back to my side of the screen after attempting an attack, rather than running away from the fight. Although, given how many fights I’m losing, I’m beginning to wish there was a way to retreat from fights before they’re over. Maybe I need a master to give me bonuses, or something.
Much as I enjoy watching everything, this need to recruit and be recruited by other players to really compete leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. I’m not sorry I spent 59p on this game, but I’d have regretted £2.99 and I can’t in good conscience recommend the game to others. If you do buy it, make sure you know exactly what it is before taking the plunge.
Space Invaders Infinity Gene (iPhone)
Jul 28th
Utterly brilliant new Space Invaders game. You start off in the old style, only able to move left and right, but the game soon introduces power ups, free movement, evolved backgrounds… just loads of stuff. It rapidly moves from being just Space Invaders again to being a full-blown, modern, fast-paced shooter with lovely, familiar retro graphic stylings. Based on my first impressions, I like it more than Space Invaders Extreme on the PSP and DS.
And it’s got one more trick up its sleeve, too. As well as the preset levels, you can generate new ones from songs you’ve got on your iPhone.
That’s me playing Achy Breaky Heart. It killed me pretty quickly.
It’s £2.99. It’s a bargain. Go and buy it right now.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Jul 28th
It’s not Scrabble. Certainly not. See how the the board is different?
All the bonus tiles are in completely different places. It’s definitely not Scrabble then. At all.
Except, of course, it pretty much is. And you can play it on your iPhone against other people. I think that’s all you need to know. I’ve got about five games going on at the moment, but I’m always up for more. My name is ThatRevChap if you want to challenge me.
There’s a free version, but the ads are completely obnoxious, so I quickly paid the 59p for the ad-free version. I make a move, wait for the email to come through telling me my opponent has moved, then make another. It just does what it’s meant to do.
Resident Evil 4 (iPhone)
Jul 28th
So, Resident Evil 4 finally appeared on the App Store, after its little adventure a couple of weeks ago. (For those that don’t know, it briefly appeared on the Japanese store before being pulled.)
As I enjoyed the demo of Resident Evil: Degeneration, I decided to take the plunge. I’m glad I did. For the first minute or two I was all over the place, but the controls become surprisingly workable in a short space of time. There’s some nice functions based on double-tapping and, though clunky, it’s honestly not that bad.
Of course, you’re not getting the full Resident Evil 4 game on your iPhone. Only a fool would think that. (Or, indeed, someone who read Capcom’s somewhat misleading description on the App Store.) You get some small levels linked by bizarre little storybook pages that make no sense, even to someone who’s played through Resident Evil 4 a couple of times.
As you go through the story, you unlock levels in Mercenaries mode, which allows you to build up reserves of much-needed cash. I’m only level three of the story so far – I keep spending all my money on ammo then dying, forcing me to go back to Mercenaries mode to build up cash. I don’t mind, though. I’m throughly enjoying it every time – and I’ve even found myself shouting “No, no, get away!” as I fumble to reload my shotgun as the chainsaw man advances.
It’s a genuinely fun little game. No, really. I’m sure some people will hate it because of the controls, but then that’s the story of Resident Evil’s life. (For the record, I find the early Resident Evil games pretty unplayable, due to the controls and save system. I’m no rabid fan of the series.)
Anyway, whatever other people think, I’m glad I got it and I like playing it – so stuff ‘em.
Rope’n'Fly (iPhone)
Jul 28th
The 1.4 update for Rope’n'Fly finally came out last night. I’ve been waiting for what seems like months, but I’ve had my iPhone about three weeks, so it’s probably less. With the update have come a couple of obvious changes.
The first is that – hooray! – it now saves your personal best score, so I can play it properly now. I wish the global leaderboards worked a bit better – it doesn’t seem possible to view your own position and it shuts down the game and loads a web page when you want to see them – but just being able to compete against myself is enough.
It also seems that the blue and red guy from the previous version was a bit too much like Spider-Man, as the colour scheme has changed. I reckon they just should have put him in a black suit and pretended it was angry emo Spidey, but what do I know?
Racer (iPhone)
Jul 28th
I’ve still being playing this. A game here, a game there. If I’ve only got a minute to play a game, this is the one I’m currently going for.
I’m still not very good.
My Brute (iPhone)
Jul 28th
I play web version of My Brute every day, so was interested in the iPhone version. There were two problems, though.
1) The iPhone version locks a lot of its content unless you recruit pupils – i.e. persuade other people with the game to type in your code, rather than anyone else’s. As I wasn’t planning on spamming any forums begging for pupils, I knew that I’d never get the most out of the game.
2) It cost £2.99.
Yesterday, the price came down to 59p, so I took the plunge. (And in the unlikely event that anyone reading this does want to be my pupil, my code is CHEAAIFE.)
I have actually got one pupil already, as shown in the screenshot above.
Anyway, My Brute is barely a game – you create a character, watch them fight and get random bonuses when they level up. It limits you to a few fights a day, so you can only play it for a few minutes and it’s hardly even interactive, with your decision-making being limited to a choice of who to fight. Despite all that, though, I find seeing my little brute fight and get stronger to be, well, “interesting” is probably the best word. I’ve been playing it on the web for months, off and on, so I expect I’ll be fighting every day on the iPhone, too.
Star Shower (iPhone)
Jul 27th
I believe this is based on a mini game from one of the DS Mario games. You’d think if you were going to do that, you might try and hide the inspiration. Not so. Look at those stars.
Hmm. Still, it’s free, but I believe they plan to start charging for it sooner or later.
Anyway, it’s quite good fun in short bursts, I suppose.
Indiana Jones Sound Board (iPhone)
Jul 27th
Not a game, but I thought I might as well mention it. I might write something about other non-game apps in the future, too.
Indiana Jones Sound Board is the equivalent of those “…In My Pocket” key chain devices you can find on the counter in HMV and dotted around toy shops.
Paying 59p for a small collection of low quality samples from Indiana Jones films, many of which aren’t even dialogue, might sound stupid, but when compared to the key chains, which cost about a fiver, it starts to look like a bit of a bargain.
Really, though, I only bought it for the giddy thrill of hearing my iPhone say, “Fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory.” It’s a bit of a catchphrase for my wife and me, so that’s what made me purchase. Without that sound bite I’d have been disappointed, but as it’s actually there the app has taken up a position on the first page of apps on my iPhone.
Also: “Chilled monkey brains.”
Shame it doesn’t have “He chose… poorly.” I guess you can’t have everything.
