A Gaming Diary
Xbox
Hitman Contracts
May 22nd
I started it again tonight, this time on Expert difficulty, when I noticed it was on the backwards compatibility list. Plays fine on the 360, though there is some very slight graphical glitching here and there. Very, very slight.
I’m currently having a very, very hard time doing The Bjarkhov Bomb mission after a really, really sloppy Meat King’s Party. Can I find a radiation suit? Can I fuck. (Though my Asylum Escape was textbook.)
And I’m glad nobody reads this diary, because I noticed tonight that Contracts does have a suspicion meter. A big one, right next to health meter. Yes, it has one of those things I was praising Blood Money for introducing. I’m an idiot. Like I said, I’m glad nobody reads this. This is where I write the stuff I assume nobody wants to read – but it’s stuff I somehow have an insane need to make public record. The Internet does weird things to a man sometimes.
Hitman Contracts
May 21st
For no reason at all I decided to stop playing on Normal difficulty and restart the game on Professional difficulty, the highest setting. Well, I say for no reason, but it’s because I was annoyed about being able to get away with too much. It’s too easy on Normal to start blowing people away when things go wrong. On Professional, if a gun fight starts then I’m basically dead. Much better.
There’s also less information on the map – which I like – and no mid-level saves, which I’m not too keen on. But as things tend to go differently each time I play a mission, it’s not so bad.
I did the first level after a few goes. Had to kill a few cops, but I did it. The second mission – The Meat King’s Party – took a lot longer. I almost did it cleanly, though. I would have done, too, if Sturrock hadn’t been too fat to strange. I had to run off and find a knife, all the while listening to him shout for his guards. Good thing he’s too fat to move, really. The other two targets I took care of very quietly, though.
I nearly got out all right, too, but the guards decided I was suspicious as I left, so I had to run through the last few rooms. Still got a Professional rating for it, though. I’m proud of myself. Though whether I should be proud of being a very good killer is another matter. Given how many times I died before getting it right, I don’t think I’ll be changing career paths soon, though. Being a programmer is a much safer occupation.
The game’s not without oddities. Sometimes the enemy AI seems to fall apart and I’m surprised none of the people searching me cared that I had a severed arm under my jacket, but it’s generally all works well.
I’m really looking forward to Blood Money now, as it should refine everything.
Hitman Contracts
May 21st
If it wasn’t for the times that it suddenly says “Your cover has been blown” without me knowing why I’d really love it.
As it is, I just really like it.
I’m trying to do “The Meat King’s Party” cleanly and I just got quite a way in and then a few seconds after talking to somebody it popped up the message about blown cover and everything went to hell.
Sensible Soccer Demo
May 12th
Bought the Official Xbox mag just for this.
I’m not disappointed. Well, if it’s final code, I’ll be slightly disappointed. The sound effects need some work – bigger roar when goal goes in! – and the automatic player switching goes mental at some points when it can’t decide who to pick.
But it’s simple, fast and I can actually play it! The demo must be set on the easiest difficulty, because I was booting goal after goal in. Makes a pleasant change from the FIFAs and Pro Evos of the world, where I seem to have to play for five hours before I even get a shot on target.
Hooray!
Hitman Contracts
May 3rd
What with Blood Money coming out later this month, I thought it was time I gave Contracts a go.
Went into the training level first, but it was very odd and I didn’t understand it, so I left and started the main game. Found myself in an asylum full of dead bodies that looked just like me. I had to escape. After a fair few deaths I managed to get out with a Shadow rating. I killed three innocents – I didn’t know! – and three policemen.
It’s got the same problem I’ve always had with the Hitman games, which is that I’m never sure quite what the rules are. When does a disguise work and fail? When does sneaking work and fail? How comes I can sometime strangle people and sometimes not? Why can’t I use my syringe in certain situations? I’m not sure. It’s good fun, but I couldn’t quite connect with it. Maybe I’d learn if I spent longer playing.
And sneaking really needs to be a toggle. Holding the trigger button down the whole time hurts my finger. Poor me.
Super Monkey Ball Deluxe
May 3rd
Did about three levels and then realised I just wasn’t in the mood.
I kept trying to control the camera with the right stick and got confused when it didn’t work. Which is very strange as Monkey Ball’s never had any camera control like that.
Taito Arcade Legends
May 3rd
Well, since I last posted about this game I’d sorted out the widescreen issue. Seems that when I start a game on my Xbox it flicks to widescreen if the TV programme being shown on my cable box is widescreen, usefully. So to play a game in the normal 4:3 aspect ratio I have to change the channel on the cable box to one I know it broadcasting in 4:3 (and which doesn’t switch to 16:9 for adverts).
Anyway, I tried some of the lesser known titles on this compilation. They were all, with the exception of Plump Pop, rubbish.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Mar 30th
Hooray!
On my fourth go and with the office clock clicking closer and closer to one o’clock I finally finished the SP easy route for the first time. Go me!
I now have 10,001 OutRun miles. I need 13,500 to buy the 328 GTS. Would have enough if I’d not bought the F50 earlier.
Elder Scrolls: Morrowind
Mar 16th
So, it all started because I got stuck in some scenery.
Well, no, it started because I was wondering what type of character to play in Oblivion when it comes out. In Morrowind both my characters where pretty much straight fighters, but I was thinking a sneaky, stealthy character might be fun. So I used an a web page to plot out a custom class in Oblivion. Wasn’t sure how it would play… and then realised I could make a very similar character in Morrowind as a test.
So I did. I made a custom class called the “Facilitator’. Basically, it’s a sweet-talker who’s sneaky enough to be a thief and not bad with a short blade when required. Made myself one of the cat people for the extra agility and the night vision. So, ignoring deaths and restarts, this is what happened in my evening’s play…
In the starting town I managed to get stuck on some scenery. That’s never happened to me before. Luckily, I’d bought a scroll that magics me back to the nearest temple, which happened to be in Vivec. Now I wouldn’t have thought to go to Vivec so soon, but as I was there I popped through a doorway and found myself in some woman’s home. She was home. I checked her stuff to see if it was worth killing her for her stuff. She had some nice expensive clothes and she looked weak, so I decided it would be. She took a while to go down, but she wasn’t much of a fighter and didn’t even leave a scratch on me. As she fell the floor she used her last breath to exhale the word “stupid”. I don’t know if she meant her or me, but it was unsettling and somehow reminded me that my first act of note in this world was the cold-blooded murder of someone for their clothes.
Wandering outside and up some stairs I found myself in the commercial quarter of this area of the city. I talked to a woman who asked me to steal some valuable cups and bowls from a ship in Ebonheart. I said I’d do it, but I didn’t mean it. It’s been a while since I’d been to Ebonheart with my other characters, so I couldn’t remember where it was.
Wandering around some more, an invisible man came up and begged me to help him. Turned out he’d been cursed by a wizard and everybody was thinking he was a ghost. So I went and found the wizard, who told a slightly different story. The guy had begged to be made invisible, so the wizard had obliged. However, the man hadn’t then paid the fee so the wizard refused to make him visible again. I didn’t have the money to pay the debt and I probably wouldn’t have anyway, so I wandered back to the guy to tell him so. Unfortunately he didn’t seem to be able to understand that fact. As he was invisisble and complaining everyone thought he was a ghost I wondered if anyone would mind if I killed him. So I took a swipe and a guard ran over and arrested me. Rather than pay a fine, I chose to go to prison.
Turned out that the nearest prison was in Ebonheart. Stroke of luck, eh? I found the ship I needed to steal pulled out my lockpick. Getting into the ship was easy, but on the first level were two imperial guards. I walked past them and they didn’t bat an eyelid. Once I was at the other end of the ship I hid myself in the shadowsk, unlocked the next door and climbed down to the bottom level of the ship. Found the goods I needed and exited. If the guards noticed me walking out of a supposedly locked and secure area of the ship they didn’t indicate it. Odd behaviour indeed, but I’d successfully used my thieving skills – lock-picking and sneaking – to complete a mission. Hooray!
So I took the goods to their new owner. She paid me 1,500 for the lot. A fraction of the full price, but possibly more than I could get elsewhere. And I’d said I’d get them, so I’m a thief with honor.
So I had a fortune. That amount of money is incredible to have so soon. I decided to pop over to Balmora to spend a bit. Walked there without incident. I would have taken public transport, but I couldn’t find it. The fog that blankets Morrowind isn’t helpful when it comes to locating things.
In Balmora I bought a full set of Netch leather armour, before remembering that being a big cat I couldn’t wear shoes. So I sold them back to the armorer. Went and bought a couple of daggers and a bow. Unfortunately I couldn’t find anywhere selling arrows, which is annoying. But I got everything for slightly less than list price using my silver-tongued negotiating skills.
And after that I went over to the guy on the east side of town I was meant to see and handed him a package, finishing off the first proper story mission. And I then fell into bed for a good eighteen hours of sleep.
Star Wars: Battlefront 2
Mar 10th
So, I was looking for games to trade in at Game tomorrow and came across Battlefront 2, which I’d got for Christmas and not played.
I’d put it on my Amazon wishlist because the online game sounded good, back when I had more faith in the 360′s backwards compatibility. Now I can only play it single player, but I thought I’d give it a go.
Just did training. Seemed pretty good, actually. A bit messy, not the best camera in the world and like all Xbox games (except OutRun 2) it looks rubbish on my TV, but it seems like a solid third-person shooter. And it’s got Star Wars graphics and noises, which is a good thing.
And I got to pay as Mace Windu and chop up droids with a lightsaber, which isn’t something I’m going to complain about.
