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A Gaming Diary
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
Nov 26th
This is what I spent most the weekend playing. Hours of it. Didn’t achieve much, really. I spent most of the time on the last level of the ice world, which is episode two or three, just killing and killing and killing until I got a Golem down to a price I could afford.
(I originally wanted a Gremlin, because Hell Pepper looks like a good special power to have, but they don’t look very good, do I decided against it.)
Anyway, I’m now trying to level Franky the Golem up a bit, so he can slot into my team. He’s up to level six now, which is good. (I’m not a GameFAQs-reading power leveller. These things take time for me.)
I’ve also created a rogue called Mina but she/he is really, really rubbish. I’m not sure why I bothered. Stealing items sounds good – and I’m guessing there are some items it’s only possible to get that way – but it hardly ever works and keeping Mina alive is provin very tricky. I’ve now given her a gun and am doing early levels with just her, Franky and Laharl as healing backup, but it’s a slow process.
It sounds really tedious, I know, just doing levels over and over and over again, but it’s actually really good fun. I think it’s because it’s not stressful and because the goals are mine, not set by the game.
Mario Kart DS (DS)
Nov 26th
Not sure why I decided to play this after so many months/years away, but I did. I started again from the beginning and did two 50cc cups, which I won with ease. It wasn’t very interesting. I don’t want to skip ahead, but I don’t think it’ll come to life again until I get to 150cc level.
Halo 3 (360)
Nov 26th
One quick go on Saturday, second round of the UGVM Tournament.
I lost 10-5, but I’d feared a much harsher score line, so I was quite happy with the result.
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
Nov 20th
Just finished this. Well, you know, not finished finished, just seen-the-credits finished. There’s still a whole set of galaxies up top I’ve not even been to yet.
Playing through this with my wife collecting stars, shooting enemies and helping me jump has been absolute, total joy.
So, so, so good.
Halo 3 (360)
Nov 20th
Last night was the first UGVM Halo 3 Monday. It’s a lovely game to play with a good group of people, it really is.
We tried out some standard game types and then tried some new things – Storm The Beach and Zombies.
Storm The Beach is the Halo 3 version of D Day, with the attackers having to leave a landing craft and try to control six zones on the beach. Being the defending team is far more intense, I found, and neither team managed to grab the final zone, but it was good fun. If we play it again and find a good way to attack the sixth zone then things might become even better.
Zombies split the group, some of us loved it, some hated it. It’s very fast, very silly and not a little bit random. The humans have lots of weapons, the zombies only have melee weapons but can run very, very fast and jump very, very high. There’s only one or two zombies at the beginning, but every human who dies respawns on the zombie team. I loved it, but I’m not sure we’ll be playing it again, as it’s so divisive.
Everyone seemed to love Rocket Race, but I had to leave before that got played. Hopefully we’ll play it next Monday.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
Nov 19th
I didn’t play this much, just a quick go while the wife was using the Wii for Endless Ocean. (Which is a fantastic game everyone with a Wii should own, by the way, and which should probably sell more copies than even Mario if the world worked properly.) I’m currently trying to work out how best to level Flonne up. I’m thinking I need to get her enough mana to create a disposable pupil with some attack magic she can learn, but getting that mana is proving tricky.
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (DS)
Nov 19th
As well as the 360 version, I also played some of the DS version. Unlike last year’s terrible effort, this one works properly and is very playable. A huge amount of stuff seems to have been fitted into the DS cart. The levels are massive, the graphics are great and it sounds just like it should.
Very, very impressive indeed.
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (360)
Nov 19th
Another game that’s great for co-op gaming with the wife. Like Mario, it looks lovely – but not as polished. Like Mario, it sounds great – but it’s using the movie’s sounds. Unlike Mario, it feels slightly clunky to control and deaths often seem random. That’s not a problem, though. The joy of the game doesn’t come from the base gameplay, from the Star Warsy Legoness of it all.
This is two great pieces of Star Wars merchandise polished up and put into one package. It’s fantastic value for fans of the Star Wars universe. A good game in great clothes.
And you can give Darth Maul a giant afro.
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
Nov 19th
Over the weekend I got 52 stars, reached the ToyTime galaxy and enjoyed every single second of the time I spent playing. Everything seems to have been tweaked and tested until it was perfect. All games should be like this, but very, very few are.
The graphics are great, the sound (both effects and music) are utterly exceptional. The controls take five minutes to get used to, but are then never a problem. The whole game is just so imaginative and polished it makes other games look, well, broken.
The difficulty level is perfect for me. I’ve seen the Game Over screen twice, I think, and I’ve lost a lot of lives, but nothing has frustrated me, nothing’s seemed impossible or based on luck. Even the bosses are great fun, being quite easy to kill once you’ve worked out how. A mole boss gave me a fair bit of trouble, but by the time I killed him I’d worked him out so managed to go back and get an extra star for killing him without being hit.
Of particular note is the co-op gameplay. It sounds rubbish but is, in fact, genius. And I think I really mean that. I can’t imagine who would have thought it up, but it works. My wife would probably have trouble with the main game, but this way she can play alongside me and enjoy the game. We work well as a team and the special high jump you can do by both pressing A at the same time has come in surprisingly useful at times.
I think that it’s fair to say that this is actually a better game than Mario 64. It’s taken a long, long time, but we’ve finally got it.
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
Nov 17th
Incredible, glorious, joyful and, yes, triumphant.
So far.
I’d still be playing, but my hand hurts. Stupid Wiimote.
