A Gaming Diary
PC
Majesty Demo (PC)
Feb 1st
Old RTS, notable for lack of direct control over your units, or something. That’s what I’ve read about it, anyway. I tried the demo, which doesn’t really give you much guidance. I was happily pottering about, when huge monsters wandered over and destroyed my castle, with my guards putting up only the barest hint of resistance before keeling over. I think I must have been missing something.
Main annoyance: Moving cursor to edge of screen scrolls the map at a million miles per hour.
Midnight Club 2 Demo (PC)
Feb 1st
Wanted to see if this’d run on the NC10. Runs pretty slowly and the handling with the keyboard is pants. No sale, not even for the Steam price of £4. Interestingly, or not, it looks to me like it’s using the same map as the PSP version of Midnight Club LA. But I could be wrong – I just definitely recognised some sections.
Trials 2: Second Edition (PC)
Feb 1st
Finally finished the tutorials, which got very, very hard. Then raced through the early non-tutorial levels having great fun. It’s got hard again now, though. Not sure if it’s too hard… but it might be.
Sam and Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die (PC)
Feb 1st
Wow. I loved the original Sam & Max adventure game, way back in the mid-nineties. Started this (free!) game up and – lo! – it’s… correct! Sam & Max sound right, the jokes are funny and it’s point and click with no fluff or distractions. Excellent stuff. Didn’t play much – I don’t often get a chance to use my NC10 with sound on – but I throughly enjoyed what I did play. Yay.
Peggle Nights (PC)
Feb 1st
Did the challenges I was stuck on, raced through the next page without any problems, am now stuck on a “Get 200,000 style points” level. No idea how to go about that.
Europa Universalis II (PC)
Jan 30th
Spent ten euros on this last night as a download from GamersGate. So, ten quid. Bit expensive, maybe, but I love the game. (And if I can’t afford to buy proper console games any more, at least I can treat myself to an old PC game when I get paid.) This is, I think, the third time I’ve bought it. PC CD (lost in time), Mac CD (in the closet somewhere, effectively lost) and now PC download.
I’ve completely forgotten how to play since I last played it $hlmun years ago, though. So I’ll be wading through all the tutorials again at some point.
But, hooray for a strategy game that runs in 800×600!
Bookworm Adventures (PC)
Jan 30th
Got past the annoying boss after another random death.
On the level I’ve just reached, the enemies seem to be able to do the “infinite damage in a single turn” thing, which is very annoying. Won’t stop me playing, though, as the game is excellent.
Peggle Nights (PC)
Jan 30th
No success last night, but I have a new strategy for one of the levels I think might work, given enough time, luck and, most importantly, thoughtful shot selection.
Bookworm Adventures (PC)
Jan 29th
I’ve got to a boss who would be easy, but who can destroy half my health bar in one hit. As I tend not to use healing potions until I’m nearly dead, I keep dying unexpectedly just as I’m about to kill him. Hasn’t stopped the fun, though.
Peggle Nights (PC)
Jan 29th
The challenges have got stupidly difficult now. I haven’t managed to complete one in about three days. I’m not sure if this is a bad thing or not. I suspect it is, with the difficulty coming from limited balls and levels that just aren’t quite as nice as the ones in the original.
