A Gaming Diary
PC
Peggle Extreme (PC)
Jan 23rd
Did three of the challenges last night. Slightly difficult without any real super powers, but none of those three levels took me very long. The fourth level looks like it might take a while, though.
Dawn of War: Soulstorm Demo (PC)
Jan 22nd
Should probably be “Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm Demo” or some such nonsense, but life’s too short.
Anyway, I got it running. Had to reinstall DirectX, install a Virtual C++ runtime (why?) and reboot the computer, but it works. And works well. Just did a little bit of the tutorial, so haven’t seen what it’s like with lots of units onscreen, but it was fine. Perfectly smooth and all that.
Defense Grid: The Awakening Demo (PC)
Jan 22nd
Starts up fine on my little NC10, but is unplayably slow, even with everything else closed, all settings on Low and the computer set to Max Performance. Ah well.
At least that’s better than Dawn of War: Soulstorm, which just refuses to start. In Steam I get a “Game Unavailable” message, starting it directly results in Windows popping up a box about a configuration error. Ah well.
Peggle Extreme (PC)
Jan 22nd
I finished Adventure mode last night, what with it being only ten levels and all. Still got some challenges to do, mind.
Lumines Demo (PC)
Jan 22nd
Works suprisingly well on a tiny keyboard without sound. As a puzzle game it’s good enough to stand up when you take away the presentation. Still, I’m not sure I can bear to buy it again. I’ve bought it twice on the PSP and once on the 360 already.
Peggle Extreme (PC)
Jan 21st
Free. New. Peggle.
New. Peggle. Free.
PEGGLE!
(Okay, I know it’s not new, at all, but it hasn’t been free for all that long and it’s new to me. Only ten levels, but ten free levels of Peggle are worth a million free levels of, um, something rubbish.)
Trials 2: Second Edition (PC)
Jan 21st
An actual 3D game! Runs very smoothly and seems fun, in a slightly QWOP-like way. Only testing out for five minutes – in a slightly less-slumped position, but not exactly upright – doesn’t make for much to blog about.
Doom (PC)
Jan 21st
Another game I played on my sparkling new NC10 last night. Ran fine, as you’d expect, but I had trouble with the controls. Doom was wonderful before all those extra keys got shoved into the bottom row of the keyboard.
Again, though, my slumped position probably didn’t help.
Spelunky (PC)
Jan 21st
A great idea, a roguelike 2D platform game. Rick Dangerous meets NetHack, or something.
However, I found the controls very hard to use… but that may have been because I was slumped down with my laptop resting on my chest, so couldn’t actually see the keyboard. I think I’ll try again in a sitting position.
Peggle (iPod)
Jan 7th
How am I having trouble with the 300K challenges? I’m sure they fell easily when I played on the PC.
Harumph.
