A Gaming Diary
iPod
Reversi (iPod)
Dec 23rd
Now I’ve played for a bit I can now win Novice level every time I play, but not always by as much as I should do. It’s heartening to see myself get better, though.
Lode Runner (iPod)
Dec 23rd
Played two or three levels in the car while my wife went and did secret shopping. Controls weren’t an issue most of the time, things only getting bad when I lost my sense of where my thumb was. I think a lot of the problems I put down to the controls are actually down to the game being quite fussy about where you can stand to dig holes.
Anyway, I think I’m now ready to give this my stamp of approval. If you’re interested, go buy.
Lode Runner (iPod)
Dec 19th
Last time I posted I was stuck on level six. Last night in bed I conquered that level. This lunchtime I did level seven first time, eight second time, nine took a while and ten was conquered without too much hassle.
So, the controls work now? Well, yes, for the most part. I do die because of them sometimes, but I die just often through bad luck or stupidity.
Lode Runner (iPod)
Dec 18th
It’s Lode Runner. On an iPod. And it almost, almost works. It’s so close to working, but the controls just aren’t quite tight enough. They’re far better than I would have expected and moving around works fine, but digging is just slightly hit and miss. I can dig several holes in a row without a problem, but then my thumb seems to shift just out of the dig zone, which really isn’t good in the heat of the moment. I think the developers realised it wasn’t quite working, because there are two methods for digging, neither of which quite work.
It’s still incredibly addictive and comes with a huge number of stages, but unless the controls start working perfectly for me, I’m not sure how far I’ll be able to get.
Reversi (iPod)
Dec 18th
It’s Reversi. On an iPod. It works. It only costs 79p. I think that’s all you need to know.
Asphalt 4: Elite Racing (iPod)
Dec 3rd
Haven’t played this much. Just a few quick races. Initial impressions suggest, however, that this is the worst thing you could possibly ever spend £3.99 on. I never felt in control at all – using click wheel and accelerometer controls – and yet won every race. And it’s horrifically ugly.
Further impressions will follow when I can suppress my gag reflex long enough to play…
Okay, I’ve played some more.
It is utterly terrible. I settled on the seemingly random tilt controls and I managed to complete 15% of the Career in about ten minutes. It borrows liberally from modern EA racing games – there’s customisation, illegal street racing, takedowns and, er, girls to call.
There are no redeeming features whatsoever, unless you count simply it being a 3D game on an iPod Nano as something to be applauded. And if you’re one of those people, then you’re an idiot.
Rubbish.
Trouble is, though, that I can see myself playing it quite a lot despite everything. I want to be back playing it right now.
If I work out why, I’ll let you know.
Peggle (iPod)
Nov 27th
Two more challenge matches. Not matches, that’s the other game. Levels. Yes, levels.
I miss the speed up button from the PC version.
Peggle (iPod)
Nov 21st
I have done several challenges, most of them first time. At the moment they’re just normal levels with more orange pegs. The score attacks will come later and they scare me.
I’ve mostly been using the Spooky Ball as my power up, though when it looks like it’ll be useless I’ve just been going with the Magic Hat and seeing what it throws up. (Normally extra balls and super guides, the useless bloody thing.)
I have also been using my iPod to listen to music, an interesting extra feature Apple decided to include along with the ability to play Peggle.
