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A Gaming Diary
Baseball Superstars Lite (iPhone)
Jul 20th
Baseball Slugger is, as I’ve mentioned, all kinds of awesome. However, I’ve had a hankering for a fuller baseball game, where you’ve got teams and nine innings and you run around bases and all that. After some research online it seems my top pick, Konami’s Power Pros Touch, isn’t available in the UK and there’s no demo of the official MLB game, to which there has been a varied response online.
So that basically left with me two contenders – Baseball Superstar and 9 Innings: Pro Baseball, both of which have fairly generous Lite versions available. First off, I tried Baseball Superstars Lite.
It’s a fast and furious arcade baseball game, with super-deformed players, non-human super players and some RPG elements. It also runs at an incredibly fast pace. I enjoyed it very much indeed – especially the part where you create a player, play as only him and then go on dates and train up between games. Very promising indeed, though in all the time I spent playing over the weekend, which was a lot, I never worked out how to play as my super players.
geoDefense Lite (iPhone)
Jul 17th
Here’s a quiz for you. Look at the screenshot below.
Right, now, here’s the question.
Why is this game called geoDefense?
Need a moment to think about it?
No?
Okay, yes, the game is called geoDefense because it’s a Tower Defense game that looks like Geometry Wars. Very good. Have yourself a biscuit.
The look works well, actually, and it seems like a very good TD variant from the first few levels. I believe that it’s on sale now for 59p, so I’ll probably grab it at some point.
Archibald’s Adventures Lite (iPhone)
Jul 17th
Haven’t played much of this skateboard-based platform puzzle game – just the first seven short levels – so I can’t offer a real opinion.
It seems nice enough, though, and, as you can see, it’s a good-looking little game.
Dotopop (iPhone)
Jul 17th
Annoying, maddening, frustrating – not Dotopop itself, but not being able to remember the name of the Flash game it’s been cloned from. One a bit like Every Extend Extra, but without a ship. You tap to create an explosion, if any of the floating dots touch that explosion they pop, causing new explosions.
The aim on each level is to create chain reactions to get the required number of pops. Simple enough, but hard to put down – at least until level forty-two, where I’d have had to have waited an inhuman number of hours for the dots to line up so I could complete the level.
It might only last you ten minutes, but it’s free. Nothing to lose, eh?
Skybound (iPhone)
Jul 17th
I realised after I posted my last entry about Skybound that both screenshots showed the same background. Well, I just wanted to prove that there is variation, so here are a couple more screenshots I just took on the toilet at work.
That long cloud at the bottom of the screen? It’s a power up you can get. I’m sure you can work out its purpose.
Lovely, ain’t they?
And now for a very special bonus image.
You see what’s special about it? Yes, it’s me getting a new high score. Unfortunately, taking the screen shot killed me. I hope you’re happy.
Terminator Salvation Lite (iPhone)
Jul 17th
I played through this demo yet again last night. I’m actually seriously considering getting the full game now.
Look, you can even destroy Terminators with a big mounted gun. Who doesn’t want to do that?
And you can point your gun at a ruined school bus for no reason! Ace!
Seriously, though, it’s a good fun game, even though the tilt controls don’t like you changing position while you’re playing the game. Indeed, they’re a bit fussy all the time. I found I couldn’t play lying on my back in bed – my guy just turned around in a circle and wouldn’t stop – but lying on my side worked. I’m sure there’s a technical reason for that.
Ragdoll Blaster (iPhone)
Jul 17th
Hmpf. I’ve gone off this a little bit, I have to say. Just a little bit, but I found too many annoying stages when I played last night. The kind where I had to stop playing, come back, stop playing again, come back… etc. They all got beaten eventually, but some of the time I really don’t think I was having fun.
Exhibit A: The most annoying level of them all. It seems fairly simple. Fire your little chaps into the mechanism to push the wheel around, which will then push out the target. However, I couldn’t work out how to do it reliably at all. I did work out that you needed to fire at it when the big block on the cannon side of the screen was going in, but I just couldn’t get the timing down at all. I did it eventually, but I’m not really sure how. Either I was missing something or it relies on timing so precise that I can’t see it… or maybe it does rely on luck. I’m not sure. If I am being an idiot – very possible, I know – let me know.
Anyway, last night I got as far as the level shown above. I’ve not tried it yet, so I’m not sure if it’s going to be incredibly simple or horribly frustrating – there’s not a lot of middle ground. Also, you’ll see I’m already up to level seventy-six of “over a hundred”.
So, my recommendation for this game is a little more cautious now, though I still like it. When playing the demo – which you should – bear in mind that it uses a cherry-picked selection of levels from throughout the game and make a decision based on that.
Skybound (iPhone)
Jul 17th
I mentioned in my iPhone games round up that Skybound reminded me of a Flash game. Well, I’ve remembered which one. I was thinking of the very lovely Winterbells. Now combine that with ancient DS game Yoshi Touch & Go and you’ve got Skybound… sort of.
Stop. Okay, let’s stop comparing Skybound to other games. Let’s start with the basics. There’s a ball on the screen. Your goal is to get the ball as high as possible by drawing clouds for it to bounce off. If the ball hits the clouds, it bounces up. If it doesn’t, it will fall off the bottom of the screen and it’s game over.
In the screen shot above I’ve managed to bounce my ball off the top of the screen and I’ve not yet drawn any clouds. Two things should strike you. One, the graphics are all kinds of hand-drawn loveliness. They’re lovely like a lady waving her hair around in a field in a shampoo commercial. They’re lovely like the smell of freshly-baked bread. You get the idea.
The second thing that should strike you is that there’s other stuff on the screen. Helpful golden clouds and annoying wooden things that turn your ball red and get rid of its bounce. Stuff like that. I won’t go through the entire list of objects, but just know that they’re all well-considered and work as part of the game.
In this picture I’m going to die because my ball’s at the bottom of the screen and I’ve been too busy trying to take a screenshot to draw any clouds. Dear me.
Anyway, here’s another great thing about Skybound. Your high score is always displayed at the bottom left, your current score at the top right. If you beat your top score as you’re playing, another number appears below your current score showing how much better than your previous high score you are. As a high score kind of guy, I really like that. You can also sync your own high scores online. It’s been a bit flakey for me, but it worked after a few tries.
I’ve not mentioned Boss mode, yet. I’ve only tried it out once, but the idea here is to hit enemies and get points for killing them, rather than just going up and up and up. It seems like a nice diversion, but the main game is where it’s at, I think.
Anyway, a fairly long post. I could just have told you to go buy the game – because you should. I said I’d buy it the moment it dropped to 59p and last night it did. I was as good as my word and I don’t regret the purchase for a single second. I played on the sofa. I played in bed. I wish I could play it now. Go buy, you won’t regret it.
Waterslide Extreme (iPhone)
Jul 17th
Take a look at the screenshot below.
See that Barclaycard logo in the corner? That tells you first thing you need to know about this game – it’s one of those free advertising games. In this case it ties into a TV commercial where someone is made joyously happy by taking a water slide through people’s houses while waving a credit card around. It’s the simple things in life, eh?
Anyway, a general rule of advertising games is that they’re all terrible. Sometimes, though, a game comes along to buck that trend. No, I can’t think of any either. I’m sure there must be some, though.
So how does Waterslide Extreme fare?
Well, actually, it’s pretty good. No, really. It’s fairly simple – tilt left and right to stay on course, avoid the bad stuff, collect the good stuff, slow down by pressing a button on the screen – and easy enough that I completed all nine stages on my first go, but it’s a few minutes of genuine fun for free and even has quite a nice scoring mechanic. The only price you pay is that little Barclaycard logo in the top left of the screen. Now, I hate Barclaycard with a passion bordering on the homicidal, but I like this game. I may even play it again sometime. You never know.
It’s damning with the faintest of praise, I know, but I can’t think of a better advertising game.
i Love Katamari Lite (iPhone)
Jul 17th
Yes, the title of the game has a small letter “i” at the beginning. Do you see what they did there? Clever, clever people.
Anyway, I went back to this to see if the controls felt better now I’m a bit more experienced with the tilting and turning of my iPhone.
Like many other games I’ve tried, the results were positive. After a couple of games I was rolling around like nobody’s business and even managed to get a katamari of over 25cm, which was brilliant – for me. I’ve no idea if that’s actually any good or not, though. There’s no goal set and the King wasn’t impressed – but is he ever? It would be nice for some better feedback from the demo. I’m not buying the full game if I don’t know if I’ll be able to complete any levels. Mind you, while it’s £4.99 I doubt I’ll be buying it all.
Still, the thing is, it’s Katamari, which automatically sparks lovely feelings in my brain. I just need to see the graphics and hear the music and I’m in a happy place. I think the demo makes me happy enough for now, is all.
