InvertY.com
A Gaming Diary
Wild Wild Train (iPhone)
Aug 4th
When I was a child, this was my bedroom wallpaper.
I used to lie in bed and follow the train tracks around and around and around. I never had a train set, but but I had this wallpaper. It didn’t turn me into a trainspotter, but it did leave me with a warm nostalgic glow whenever I look at train tracks and a desire to follow them around.
Which leads us to Wild Wild Trains.
Each screen is a track layout. You have to flick the switches so that the trains can get to their cargo, then drop it off at the station. It’s a simple concept and you start with uncomplicated track layouts and one train. Soon enough, though, you’ve got two trains to deal with and have to try and stop them crashing into each other, while routing them where they need to go… and all against a time limit.
It’s frantic, brain-frying stuff. You need to examine the track before you start, trying to work out how the different loops and paths intersect, work out a basic plan, then try to put that plan into action. It’s a bit too much for me, so I can only really do one level at a time and then I have to take a break.
It’s only 59p and if it sounds interesting by all means go for it, but if you’re unsure it might be better to see if I play more and how much I enjoy it before going ahead with a purchase. It’s obviously a lovingly crafted game, but it might just be a bit too much like hard work for a poor man like me.
Sway Lite (iPhone)
Aug 4th
Now this is good.
You’re a lovely, floppy little guy (either a lizard or an unlockable pirate in this demo) and you have to swing through levels to the exit. Your left thumb controls the left arm, your right thumb the right arm. Press on the screen to hold, move your thumb to swing, let go to let go, then put your thumb back on the screen to grab hold again.
It takes some getting used to, but by the end of the demo I’d improved dramatically compared to my first halting swings.
It really does appear to be very, very good indeed. Maybe even £2.99 good. I’ll have to go and find some reviews, to see if there are any complaints about later levels, but I urge you to go and try the Lite version right now – and don’t give up after thirty seconds.
Incidentally, I only downloaded this because the main character is going to be a co-op character in a future update of Minigore. Cross-promotion in games obviously works, then.
Oh, and for the record, when I use the word “guy” it’s gender neutral. I know that’s not standard usage, but I’m a rebel and I play by my own rules.
Glyder Free (iPhone)
Aug 4th
Fantasy-themed Pilotwings-a-like controlled by tilting your iPhone around.
Not a quick fix game, it’s more something to wallow in, like a hot bath. Takes a few minutes to get used to using thermals and maintaining your speed, but it soon starts to feel more natural.
There are orbs (or whatever) to collect of varying colours. I collected all the blue orbs and got told that if I had the full version I’d have unlocked the next level. I’m reasonably tempted, I have to say. I’m just worried that later levels might get annoying and lose the laid-back feel of the demo level. I’ll have to give it another go before I decide whether to spend my £1.19. I’ve got a lot of iPhone games already and there are a lot on the App Store that I want. I need to make a list somewhere and work out what to buy. Why doesn’t the iTunes Store have a wishlist feature? Oh, I know there are third-party solutions to that, but none of them seem perfect and it would be natural for iTunes to build the feature in directly.
Resident Evil 4 (iPhone)
Aug 4th
Last night I ignored Mercenaries mode and decided to attempt mission six of the story again. I upgraded my shotgun and stepped into the church. Tch, these poor, poor European peasants. They can’t even afford decent textures in their church. They need a fundraising drive.
So, yes, I blasted some chaps in the head with my shotgun a few times. Might seem blasphemous, but I’d been starting to think that this church had been deconsecrated some time ago. After killing one of the Gross Tentacle Men™ I found a key, which let me into the room on the second floor in which Ashley was being held.
After, er, introducing ourselves it was time to leave the church. I found a nice spot to get out the rifle and shoot back down into the main body of the church. I then jumped back down to the ground floor, caught Ashely when she jumped… and then got stuck behind her and couldn’t move. I tried shooting the advancing peasants, but managed to shoot Ashely in the head by mistake.
Mission failed.
Escort missions, eh?
So, I started again and this time managed to get us both out alive. Phew.
Racer (iPhone)
Aug 4th
Hooray! I finally managed to get a screen shot with a few cars on the screen.
Of course, I died a couple of milliseconds later, but that’s the price I pay for eye candy for my blog. On another go, though, I managed to get a new high score. I had been in 535th place in the world when I last checked, so I synced my scores with the global server again and waited with baited breath to see what position I’d be in with my new score.
845th.
Oh.
Bother.
I guess the world has moved on without me.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Aug 4th
I’m part of the rllmuk ladder for this game and I’m doing quite well, despite not deliberately playing other people on the ladder.
I won’t be starting many new games right now, though. I’ve got a lot on the go. Five are awaiting my next move as I type, so I better get on with it, really.
Skybound (iPhone)
Aug 3rd
Suddenly remembered that I hadn’t played the excellent Skybound for ages and ages, so had a go.
Not only was it just as great as I remembered, but I got a new high score! Hooray!
Shame it seems to use the ringer volume for its sound effects, though. I hate it when games do that.
F.A.S.T. (iPhone)
Aug 3rd
To keep with the tradition of long, stupid game names, this game actually appears to be called “F.A.S.T. — Fleet Air Superiority Training!”, which is just ridiculous.
Anyway, it’s a flying game. You’re a plane, you have to shoot down other planes. And by “planes” I mean “dots that your lock-on system tells you are planes”. And by “shoot down” I mean “hit the missiles button as soon as your lock-on system makes a long beeping sound”.
So it’s really just about tracking down your enemies before letting the lock-on system do its thing. And by “tracking down your enemies” I mean “tilt your iPhone to follow an arrow until the lock-on system says you’re looking at an enemy plane”.
So far, after five or so missions, it’s either incredibly easy and you just lock on and shoot down targets within seconds, or it’s impossible and the arrow to your target keeps moving around and you can never find the bugger and then you die.
This is not a problem with the game itself, I don’t think. It’s just that I have never been able to track targets in 3D space when I’ve got full 3D movement. Games with planes in them are not for me – but this was only 59p and it got great reviews from people who like these sort of games and it looks really very nice… and I have been enjoying it after a fashion. More so in this little lunchtime session than I did over the weekend, actually. It may have started to click, possibly.
For the record, there’s also a big online component that I haven’t dared try.
Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (Wii)
Aug 3rd
On Friday night I fell in a pitfall. Boo!
But on Sunday there were fireworks! Yay!
Tiger Woods PGA Tour (iPhone)
Aug 3rd
This has another stupidly long name, with symbols and seemingly random capitalisation and everything else that marks out a licensed EA Sports game, but I’m not having any of that. They’re lucky I put the “PGA Tour” on the end and didn’t just call it Tiger Woods, quite frankly.
I’ve been eyeing it for a while, so when it went down to half price, I grabbed it. And it’s… well… it’s a golf game. It’s been put onto the iPhone with care and attention. It’s got a lot of courses. It feels right in that if you stay on the fairways and greens it’s pretty easy, but landing in the rough is a real problem. When I want to play some video game golf, this is a very good way to do it.
It’s really not very exciting, though, because it’s, you know, golf.
