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A Gaming Diary
Cubed Rally Racer (iPhone)
Jun 3rd
I won this 15-section track first go - amazing!
Yep, I played more of this game last night. You can tell I play a lot, because although my high score only puts me at number 42 in the global leaderboards, when it comes to experience (gained for completing races) I’m breathing down the neck of the top ten. It really is an utterly fantastic little game. I’ve put hours into it without getting tired of it – and all for the cost of a (cheap) sandwich. Brilliant.
Red Dead Redemption (360)
Jun 2nd
Things you can do when you only have half an hour to play Red Dead Redemption at the end of the day:
Kill a horse thief, then run over the horse’s owner by galloping back to them at full speed.
Kill a coach thief, then destroy the coach by riding over a rock at full speed while trying to return it to its owner.
Drink some whisky.
Find the last two treasures to earn the rank of legendary treasure hunter.
Stop and admire the beauty of the snowy woodland spread out below you.
Get killed by bears. A lot.
It sounds like a lot, but it was the quickest half hour of my life. I’m a bit sad that I’ve completed all the treasure maps now. It’s pretty much impossible to pick out a favourite element of a game this big and wonderful, but if I had to, it might be them. I love that you actually have to use your brain and eyes to find the treasures, rather than just following blobs on a map.
Red Dead Redemption (360)
Jun 1st
Okay, this post might have a few too many spoilers for those of a sensitive nature, but I’ll try to keep things general where possible. If you want to play the game unsullied, best look away now, though.
So, my Mexican adventures came to an end. I’m sure I’ll be back later on – there’s a chap down there who needs me to deliver some beaver at some point – but right now I’m up north in the town of Blackwater. Awfully unsettling experience, riding into that town. After the emptiness of Mexico and New Austin, it feels claustrophobic and far too modern. More than that, though, I feel out of place. Even after changing out of my bandito outfit and going back to my duster, I don’t feel right. I’m not built for the city, even one of only a few blocks. And it doesn’t help that the townspeople know who I am and warn me to keep myself under control as I walk around. I couldn’t even find anywhere to hitch my horse outside the saloon. It’s rare that a game unsettles me so deeply. Certainly a huge achievement, but not an especially pleasant one.
On a technical note, the game’s been getting buggier and buggier. Nothing too major, but I did need to restart the game entirely at one point after a stagecoach I needed to drive refused to move, even after restarting the entire mission. And then after an epic, game-changing mission the game stopped doing anything for about three minutes until another cut scene suddenly kicked in. Strange that the problems have been with the story missions – in a game like this I’d have thought they’d be the most likely parts to work properly.
Cubed Rally Racer (iPhone)
Jun 1st
I feel like the Duke boys. Both of them.
Still playing this, yes. I’ve can make tracks of up to twenty-five or twenty-six sections now, but I’ve found that ten-section tracks are the most fun and fit nicely into commercial breaks.
Trials HD (360)
Jun 1st
I don't think I'll be going for Silver any time soon.
The hard levels are well-named. Had terrible trouble even getting through the tutorial and after that things went really bad. I’m not sure if it’s still actually fun or not, but it’s certainly hard to stop playing.
Doom II (360)
Jun 1st
Doom II is now out for the 360 and it’s exactly as lovely as you might expect, given that it seems to be exactly the same as the 360 version of Doom, except with different levels. I’ve played through the first few levels on the default difficulty, which might turn out to be a mistake. On the PC I only ever played on the easiest setting, as I remember, otherwise I found the game far too hard later on. I may restart.
Switching weapons in the heat of the moment is the only real issue with the port – the d-pad just isn’t accurate enough. I’d prefer a way of cycling through weapons, I think. I had a terrible moment where I went to select the chainsaw, ended up selecting the rocket launcher and blew myself to bits. Ouch.
Still, the game did give me a nifty t-shirt for my avatar, so that was nice.
Cubed Rally Racer (iPhone)
May 28th
I dreamed about this game last night. And I dreamed that you could quit the app and then come back and resume your current track. It was a wonderful dream but, sadly, just a dream.
Oops. Again.
Fantastic game, though. If it’s good enough to interrupt my usual dreams of cowboys and separation anxiety, then it must be pretty special. Also: I’ve been playing it too much.
Red Dead Redemption (360)
May 28th
Two things have killed me in Red Dead Redemption: animals and stupidity.
You see, if you keep your wits about you, people aren’t a problem. Peasants with guns, mostly. Use Dead Eye mode correctly, stay in cover, look for smoke and muzzle flashes and use the terrain to your advantage – do all that you won’t die. You’ll only be killed by gunfire if you run into crossfire with an empty Dead Eye meter, or if you fail to spot where bad guys are hiding. (Or, sometimes, if you go into a big, important mission without stocking up on medicine first. That definitely counts as stupidity.) Gun fights with armed humans are exciting, satisfyingly brutal and often make you feel like the coolest badass in the world, but they’re never very difficult if you’re sensible and keep your head. (Though that is, as you might expect, easier said than done in the heat of the moment.)
It’s the animals that are really dangerous. Out in the desert at night packs of wolves come out of nowhere. Cougars can pounce without warning, bringing down your horse and, if you don’t react quickly enough, you too. When you’re out, alone except for your horse, you’re very vulnerable indeed – especially at night. There’s nothing in the game that hurts worse than seeing your horse crumple to the ground when attacked by a wild animal. (Except, of course, when your horse gets hit by a bullet due to your own greed and stupidity, but we talked about that a few days ago.)
On the upside, at least when you do see off a pack of wolves you can skin them and take their hearts. That’s a pretty good way to get revenge, if anything is.
Cubed Rally Racer (iPhone)
May 27th
Here we have a little isometric driving game, most notable for generating tracks randomly. You chose how long you want the track to be, then try to get through to the end, picking up as many bonus points as possible. Longer tracks are obviously harder to complete, but generally offer more points. It is random, though, so a very long track might get you fewer points than a shorter, more bonus-heavy track.
Oops.
My experiences with the game went something like this:
0 mins: Hmm, the review on Touch Arcade made this sound great and it’s only £1.19, I’ll give it a go.
5 mins: Okay, this is completely uncontrollable. Whoever programmed this either hates gamers or me personally. Might be a good game, otherwise, but these controls are appalling.
15 mins: Right, I’m starting to get the hang of this handling, but I keep missing the buttons. They’re just too small.
30 mins: My thumbs have adjusted and I’m hardly missing the buttons at all.
45 mins: Actually, this handling model is lovely. Skidsome in the extreme, bombing round these tracks is brilliant fun.
60 mins: One… more… go…
120 mins: My battery ran out! But I need to keep playing! Chills coming on… starting to shake… must find charger…
Which is all a long-winded way of saying that it takes a while to become comfortable – it takes a while to even be able to turn the simplest corner, to be fair – but once you start getting used to it, it won’t let go. There’s never a chance of getting stuck, because a whole new track is only a button click away.
It’s not perfect, though. The left and right buttons could do with being a little taller. I’ve adjusted now, but I can’t imagine that it would hurt the game in any way just to extend the area of control response up the screen a little. Also, the game doesn’t save tracks. It’s not much of an issue at first, but when you start on the longer tracks it’s annoying that you can’t take a break and come back to them. You can retry the same track as much as you like while in the game (which gives you a ghost of your best attempt, a lovely touch), but quit and come back and you’ll have a whole new randomly-generated track to deal with.
Still, neither of those niggles spoil the experience. I’ve not been this consumed by an iPhone game for a while. It’s really brilliant stuff. Initially unfriendly, but definitely worth sticking with.
Red Dead Redemption (360)
May 27th
Hola Mexico!
I’ve arrived south of the border, in what may well be one of the greatest set pieces in the history of gaming. I’m not too afraid of spoilers here, but I won’t say any more than that, for fear of ruining the moment. Of course, having told you that it was so marvellous, I’ve set your sights so high that whatever happens will probably be a disappointment.
Look, just pretend I didn’t say anything, okay? Let’s just forget this post ever happened and let’s both come back tomorrow and I’ll talk more about horses, dogs and other animals. Deal?
