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A Gaming Diary
Fuel (360)
Jun 22nd
Spent a good a few hours driving to new camps I’d unlocked on the eastern side of the map. Ended up at The Hangar, so did a few races round there, then went back to an area known as Fire Fields, or something. I can’t remember the exact name now. All great stuff, but the only thing that sticks in my mind is doing a bike racing late on Saturday night and being determined to win it before bed, despite it being well past one in the morning. I did it, eventually, but I didn’t get to bed until nearly two. Sometimes you can lave a race unwon though, you know?
Fuel (360)
Jun 19th
Played a couple of hours last night while my wife was off playing with iTunes upstairs. I started off in Drownington Cove, doing various things. I finished off the career races there (on two stars), then did some challenges, collected some liveries, got a couple of Mavericks, etc. Best race was probably a Raid challenge there. It starts off easily enough – you can stay ahead of the AI easily enough on the way to the first checkpoint by ignoring the roads – but the second half of the race is a bit harder, as you have avoid an awful lot of water. There’s a big body of water you have to dogleg past, then the final part of the race sees you picking your way between small pools. I eventually did it, after about four tries, by watching where the AI went, which revealed a path across the shallows at the side of the lake. Then it was just a case of sticking to the roads to avoid the pools, before powering across the grass to the finish line. Excellent stuff.
After that I moved on over to Redrock Bluffs, where I did some more career races. On the way to one of them I had another great Fuel moment. I was driving across the desert at night, when a sudden flash of lightning illuminated all the terrain and great forks of lightning appeared in the sky. It gave me a vivd honeymoon flashback, reminding me of watching storms roll in across the Grand Canyon as night fell. Perfect.
Then, this morning, I played for an hour or so before work, polishing off another two or three career races and unlocking three more areas of the map in the process. Wonderful stuff. I know I keep saying that, but it is.
Tenchu: Shadow Assassins (PSP)
Jun 18th
Hardly played anything last night, but had a quick go of Tenchu. Just did a couple of the short Assignment missions. One was a tuotrial for pushing objects, the other for moving across rafters. I managed to get S ranks on both them without any difficulty. I am an excellent ninja.
The PSP’s analogue nub really doesn’t feel quite right for this game, but it’s not game-breaking. I just wish I was playing with a proper analogue stick sometimes.
Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (Wii)
Jun 18th
Yes, Bella, with some regret, we shall allow you to leave McNulty. We’ll miss you, but not that much.
Tenchu: Shadow Assassins (PSP)
Jun 17th
Right, I’ve given this a bit of play now. Some last night, some at lunch time today. I’ve been through the first level a few times and done some of the mini missions. It took me a while to get used to things – when you keep failing what’s effectively the tutorial level of a game you know there’s a problem – but I think I like it now. And, apart from one area with a pond and a load of guards, I can kill everyone in the game using stealth. I think I may have worked out a path through the pond area that will let me kill everyone, so I need to try that some time. I’d like to be able to get a decent ranking on that one before moving on – though my last ranking was “Elite Ninja”, which isn’t bad.
Anyway, it’s a proper ninja stealth game, with hiding in shadows and shuriken and dropping down off the rafters to break people’s necks. That sort of thing.
I can’t really recommend it yet, but it’s looking decent.
Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (Wii)
Jun 17th
I found Wisp’s lamp and gave it back to him, so he gave me a low screen. Fair enough. Had to play twice to do that, because when I found the lamp after work Wisp wasn’t around, so I had to play just before bed to find him.
Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (Wii)
Jun 16th
Lost Hide and Seek last night. Where the heck was Rocco? I wish it had told me where he’d been at the end of the game.
Fuel (360)
Jun 16th
Did a few races last night, but by far the best was Tornado Warning, which, as the name implies, features a tornado or two. It’s incredibly impressive stuff, with some real “woah!” moments as cars fly past your head and barns get pulled from the ground. An exceptionally fun bit of racing, with the fight against the other races, the fight against the road itself and the fight against the tornados themselves. I did a few other races and had great fun, but everything else paled in comparison to that race. Awesome stuff.
(And it didn’t hurt that I’d watched Twister earlier in the evening before playing.)
Fuel (360)
Jun 14th
This evening was set aside for an adventure – driving from Tsunami Reef in the top north-west corner of the map down to Redrock Bluffs (i.e. the Grand Canyon) in the bottom south-east corner. There’s a secret Achievement for doing it, but the best reason to do it is just because you can. I didn’t turn on my GPS for the journey and instead pointed myself south-east and drove, mostly on the Dirtgrinder bike, but I also used the Spider Wraith buggy for a while.
You start off on sand dunes, then you reach the grass, then the forest. Gentle rolling terrain becomes mountains, where I couldn’t quite go in a straight line and drive through narrow valleys, which luckily pointed in roughly the right direction. Then more hills and forests, until they give way to red desert. Driving the last few miles reminded me strongly of the drive through southern Utah and northern Arizona on my honeymoon – which was also a drive to the Grand Canyon. My wife was sitting next to me on the sofa, as she had done in the car on that drive and we talked about the music that had playing on the radio. (Shakira and the Stone Roses, if you’re interested.)
Shortly after that I reached the base camp in Redrock Bluffs, after a drive of one hour and forty minutes and ninety miles.
I didn’t celebrate for long, instead jumping into the Career race that takes you round the Skywalk, which is really quite scary. Of course, once I’d won that race, I drove straight off it and fell to my expected doom. Fun!
That was almost it, but I grabbed a nearby livery and vista point, then raced against a helicopter, which was great fun. And then I noticed my mileage was on 1,491, so I drove another nine miles and marked hitting the 1,500 mile mark by driving into a fence.
Fantastic stuff all round.
Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (Wii)
Jun 14th
Points sale day! Bought a load of stuff and got about 1,000 points, which unlocked a hat and two shirts in the reward catalogue.
