A Gaming Diary
PS3
Super Stardust HD (PS3)
Jul 27th
Had to download a 255MB update before it would let me play it. I think it was just to add in trophy support – the PS3 equivalent of Achievements. Being rubbish at the game I didn’t actually manage to earn any. Well, it was part being rubbish and part the fact that I haven’t spent cash on the upgrade packs that add some extra game modes. Still, it’s a great shooter regardless of all that extra stuff.
Echochrome Demo (PS3)
Jul 24th
It don’t get it. My head doesn’t work the way the game wants it to. I can only see the level as a 3D space and can’t squash it down. I can hide things okay, that makes sense, but I can’t see how to line up falls and jumps. I just don’t don’t see how to do it at all.
I’m wondering if it would eventually click, or if I’ve just plain got the wrong brain.
Elefunk Demo (PS3)
Jul 24th
Had to log in to the US store to find this, as Europe gets the game but no demo. Which is strange. Took me ages to find it, too. I hate the Playstation Store.
Anyway, first impressions are that it’s like the godly Armadillo Run, but a rubbish. I couldn’t work out how to do the first level in the time I had to play. I’ll try it again, but it’s not looking like a buy right now.
SingStar (PS3)
Jun 11th
Used up the final dregs of credit with the Playstation store to get some new songs. Then had fun singing them.
Oddly, I did really well for the first few songs, then was worse than ever for the last few. I hardly hit a note in Total Eclipse of the Heart and the playback had my wife and I in stitches. Do I really sound like that?
Haze Demo (PS3)
May 18th
When it comes to first person shooters I’m easily pleased, but Haze has slightly off controls, terrible dialogue and when I fell backwards off a cliff I couldn’t be bothered to continue.
I actually quite enjoyed it in a lot of ways and I liked the Nectar stuff, but overall it’s a miss so far. I have a feeling I might like the full game more.
Siren: New Translation Demo (PS3)
Apr 25th
Downloaded this horror game demo from the Japanese store. Shouldn’t have bothered. Awful camera, clunky controls and not a lot else that I could see. I could have been missing something, mind, what with it being in Japanese and all.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3)
Apr 10th
Just one event completed tonight, and only with a bronze medal. Still, it was a great few minutes. I’m just loving the handling in this so much.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3)
Apr 7th
Had a wonderful few hours with this on Sunday morning. It just clicked. Throwing the Integra round that windy, hilly countryside track was a definite highlight. I wasn’t suddenly get golds in everything, mind. I did, however, finish of the C-class stages with a mixture of bronzes and golds. (No silvers, oddly.) I also went online. My RX-8 couldn’t really compete with all the concept cars everyone else seemed to be fielding, but I did okay. Apart from one race where I smashed into the wall on the last corner I managed to end each race in the middle of the rankings and, more importantly, I wasn’t an awful driver. Maybe I was a little too safe, but I didn’t smash into people or go spinning off the track, so that was lovely. Infuriating and addictive in equal measure, once I get a decent car or two I think I’ll be okay. (Either that or the extra power will prove to be completely uncontrollable and I’ll be awful.) Shame about the lag – cars jump around a bit and don’t become insubstantial quickly enough for my liking – but it’s still great.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3)
Apr 2nd
Sony really don’t make this easy to love. Bought it from the store, waited a couple of hours for it to download… then had to try for three hours for to download an update. Progress bar was going up incredibly slowly and it kept failing. I thought I was going to have to leave it overnight, but just as I was going to bed I checked the PS3 and the update had finished, so I actually managed to get two quick races in before sleep.
Leapt it and bought an RX-8 and took it to London in arcade mode, with everything set to the defaults. Hit many barriers and didn’t do very well at all.
Then I went to the first C-class event and played with physics on professional and traction control turned down to 1. Still kept it on automatic gears because I can’t do manual. Not in games, not in real life. Came first by a long way, despite spinning out in the same place both laps.
It was excellent and all the installation nonsense was forgiven as soon as I was driving. Looks very nice, though London stuttered a bit here and there.
Pity there’s no way to turn the music off during a race.
