A Gaming Diary
PS3
Folklore Demo (PS3)
Sep 7th
Similar to Heavenly Sword; it looks lovely, but only feels okay to play.
It’s all a bit repetitive, some of the timing is so tight it amounts to luck for a reaction-time-challenged thirty-something like me and you can’t change the camera controls, which are the wrong way round on the x-axis. Nevertheless, I finished one character’s part of the demo and started the second character’s, only to quit out when it started giving me the same tutorial information all over again.
Singstar ’90s (PS3)
Aug 19th
It’s a PS2 game, but I’m playing it on the PS3. Mostly excellent song selection, but unfortunately one of ours mics has developed a fault and cuts out now and again, which means my scores were even more pitiful than they should have been.
Heavenly Sword Demo (PS3)
Jul 26th
My wife looked up from her knitting and said, “Well, it looks very pretty.” And it does.
Not sure about the, you know, game, though. It’s a hack and slash that seems like it might have a nice, deep system behind it, but I can’t really tell – it’s hard to tell exactly what’s going on under the fireworks or which enemy the game’s going to focus on when you hit an attack button – and enemies spawn for far too long in each area.
Of course, it might easier to tell if it was any good or not if the ONE GIGABYTE demo lasted more than FIVE MINUTES.
Super Stardust HD (PS3)
Jul 7th
Geometry Wars meets Asteroids, basically. It’s all very well done, but games take too long to ramp up. That’s a failing of many shooters, the mighty Geometry Wars included, and it’s not a deal breaker, but it’s a shame. Best score is just a touch over three million right now. I need to be getting over ten million to be considered even half decent.
WipEout (PS3/PSP)
Jun 24th
Even Sony don’t seem to know if it’s WipEout or WipeOut or whatever. I’ll stick with WipEout, as it’s the stupidest way of spelling it.
Anyway, this is unplayable. It’s not bad, not at all, it’s just way, way, way, way, way too hard and the only reason it took off must because the graphics and sound were so amazing at the time that people were prepared to put the time in to learn to play the game properly.
It was a different time back then, eh?
Crash Bandicoot (PS3/PSP)
Jun 24th
Looks much better on the PSP screen than on the PS3. There’s something odd about on the PS3, as if the colour and contrast are turned up way too much, or something.
Anyway, what’s it like to play? Well, it’s a bit rubbish. Certainly not unplayable, but it’s very unfair and the controls don’t quite work. Still, it kept me playing for quite a while, so it has got something, even now.
Go! Puzzle (PS3)
Jun 24th
Played a bit more Skyscrapers, which is a fair bit easier now I’ve worked out what the white blocks do. (It was probably covered in the tutorial, but if it was I’ve forgotten.) Might be a bit of a cult hit, this, if it wasn’t on the PS3.
Then I tried Swizzle Blocks, which went on and on and on. I started on Easy mode and in one game swept through all the Easy and Normal levels, getting gold stars on each, before dying on the first Hard level. My score was put in the Hard mode high score table, which seemed odd, but there you go. Nobody on my Friends leaderboards yet.
Motorstorm (PS3)
Jun 23rd
Blimey.
My skills have gone. Or, rather, I can’t remember which routes are best for buggies.
Did one race, came tenth. Tried again, came eleventh.
Go! Puzzle (PS3)
Jun 23rd
The difficulty in Skyscrapers really ramps up after a few levels. I’m doing the third set of towers now (after skipping some infinite towers) and there’s no time to think at all.
Go! Puzzle (PS3)
Jun 23rd
That Skyscrapers game really is very good. I’ve unlocked the first infinite tower and I don’t think I’ll ever get a silver or gold star for it. It’s impossible.
Aquatica hasn’t got any better, unfortunately. I just don’t get on with it.
