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A Gaming Diary
Bookworm Adventures (PC)
Jan 30th
Got past the annoying boss after another random death.
On the level I’ve just reached, the enemies seem to be able to do the “infinite damage in a single turn” thing, which is very annoying. Won’t stop me playing, though, as the game is excellent.
Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (Wii)
Jan 30th
Got a lovely lab chair to go in my lab. And maybe something else, I forget. Should be getting a wheat field in the mail this evening. Hooray!
Grand Theft Auto IV (360)
Jan 29th
Haven’t played this in a long, long time, but felt the need yesterday. I didn’t actually do much. I walked around for a while, marvelling at how lovely it all looks, found some pigeons, got into some fire fights with the police, delivered a few more cars for Stevie, took Carmen to a strip club, that sort of thing.
I’d forgotten just how good it looks and how much it feels like a solid world. As others have noted, though, the extra realism and weight to everything makes rampages a little less fun, a little more uncomfortable. That’s a minor nit, though, compared to everything good in the game. And, hey, if I just want to run around at stupid speeds setting people on fire, I’ve got Saints Row 2.
Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City (Wii)
Jan 29th
Hooray! My wife got the silver shovel last night, a couple of weeks after I got it. No sign of Wisp yet, though.
Bookworm Adventures (PC)
Jan 29th
I’ve got to a boss who would be easy, but who can destroy half my health bar in one hit. As I tend not to use healing potions until I’m nearly dead, I keep dying unexpectedly just as I’m about to kill him. Hasn’t stopped the fun, though.
Peggle Nights (PC)
Jan 29th
The challenges have got stupidly difficult now. I haven’t managed to complete one in about three days. I’m not sure if this is a bad thing or not. I suspect it is, with the difficulty coming from limited balls and levels that just aren’t quite as nice as the ones in the original.
Space Rangers 2 (PC)
Jan 27th
Some success last night. So much so that I had to save and quit the game at bedtime, rather than just dying. I avoided all combat and simply did some trading, some smuggling and a delivery mission. I’ve got myself quite a few credits now. I’ll just have to avoid my starting system – the smuggling didn’t go down too well with them.
Lord of the Rings: Conquest Demo (360)
Jan 27th
I like the Star Wars Battlefront games, but this (it’s the same game, different licence) doesn’t work. Everything about it is ridiculous, especially the comical voice over man. I think the game works with Star Wars, because that’s always been capable of being a bit silly and light. Lord of the Rings is a more serious work and putting in special powers and respawning just feels wrong. Also, the controls don’t seem to work very well, you’re stuck in tiny areas while the dance scene from the Matrix sequel plays out in the background and it’s all just a bit clunky and rubbish.
Despite its general air of rushed rubbishness, if someone gave it to me, I think I could get some fun out of it. I’m just not going to spend money on it.
Resident Evil 5 Demo (360)
Jan 27th
I had great fun with this. It’s basically Resident Evil 4 2, if you see what I mean. Some wonderful gunplay and panicky moments. I am a bit concerned about the whole thing being co-op with an AI companion, though. That doesn’t often work. She didn’t seem bad in the demo, actually, but I’m still worried.
The rest of the Internet seems to hate it, but that’s not unusual. The Internet hates everything.
Sega Rally (360)
Jan 27th
Testing out different cars. It’s a shame that the first car seems to be the easiest to get good results in. In later cars, the pack just pulls away from me when I think I’m driving well.
Oh, and did I mention that this game is astoundingly good? Because it is.
