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A Gaming Diary
Sword & Poker (iPhone)
Jan 14th
No longer playing this exclusively, but still playing it more than I probably should be. Had to go to the doctor again today and once again it proved itself king of the waiting room. It’s really getting quite tricky now, actually.
I should probably look through my spells and see if there’s any point changing them. Trouble is, the two I’ve got equipped (sort cards by suit and steal cards from the opponent) are incredibly useful at times.
Bayonetta (360)
Jan 13th
Got a whole hour with this last night. The luxury! Still a few too many cut scenes, really, but it’s calmed right down now and I am loving it, absolutely loving it. It’s silky smooth and funny and exciting and satisfying and it just hits all the right gameplay notes for me.
I fear I’m missing something, though, because I checked my friends leaderboard for the prologue and I did well in terms of time, but was bottom by a long, long way when it came to my combo points. Hmm. I’ll have to see how I do at the end of chapter one.
I have a feeling that this game will really start to shine in a second play-through, when I’ve got myself properly set up, know what I’m doing and can skip those cut scenes without worrying I’m going to miss something important.
Sword & Poker (iPhone)
Jan 13th
In bed. On the sofa. In the waiting room at the doctor. At my desk. On the toilet. I’m only one step away from trying to play while I’m driving. I’m about halfway through now and I think I’m going to be at loss when it’s over, as I was when I finished Angry Birds.
Sword & Poker (iPhone)
Jan 12th
It’s a light RPG where you go through dungeons a tile at a time, fighting monsters, collecting treasure, buying upgrades for your character, etc. Pretty standard stuff, really, though done well, with a good art style, a minimum of story and a well-judged gradual introduction of gameplay elements. The English translation is slightly iffy, but it’s clear enough and doesn’t harm the experience. So far, so good.
The really interesting part of the game, though, is the battle system. There’s a grid of cards in the middle of the screen and you and your opponent take turns laying down cards to make poker hands. It’s all hugely addictive and I’ve had to forcibly drag myself away after the game ate my entire lunchtime and threatened to swallow my afternoon. If this post seems a bit disjointed then it’s simply because my head’s still stuck in the game and I can’t quite seem to let go.
There’s a Lite version to try if you’re not convinced enough by me to shell out 59p on the full version, but I’d definitely recommend having a look, as long as you’ve got nothing important planned.
Bayonetta (360)
Jan 12th
Only had half an hour to play this last night.
(The first part of the evening was taken up by Mystic River, which is a fine movie but not close to the brilliance of the book, and then the first two episodes of Glee were on E4. I’m very much looking forward to seeing more.)
Of the half hour I got to spend with Bayonetta, I’d guess that twenty minutes was cut scenes and about ten minutes was gameplay. Though that feels overly generous – it certainly felt like I hardly got to touch the pad. Oh well, hopefully I’ll actually get to play it more tonight.
Ridge Racer 2 (PSP)
Jan 12th
I’m glad I had the Japanese version of the first Ridge Racer PSP game, because if it wasn’t for the language difference it’d be hard to tell which UMD I had in the PSP. I knew Ridge Racer 2 was an upgraded version of the original game, rather than a real sequel, but it’s still shockingly similar.
But, on the up side, that means that it’s a great game. Hooray!
Dante’s Inferno Demo (360)
Jan 11th
It’s been fifteen years or so since I last glanced at a copy of the book, but I don’t remember Dante having to fight off Death in a boss battle after being stabbed in the back during the Crusades. Nor do I remember Beatrice (and her impressive boobs) being spirited away to the underworld inside a collapsing church full of zombies. And did Dante have a huge cross sewn to his chest in original text? Well, I can’t say I remember the details, but it seems unlikely… Didn’t get to see Virgil, but if he’s played by Vinnie Jones in a gimp mask I wouldn’t be too surprised.
So, it’s nothing really to do with the book on which it’s meant to be based, bar some character names and the odd bit of throwaway script. It is, however, a jaw-droppingly blatant clone of God of War. I turned it off when Dante got stuck trying to walk up a step two pixels high and then fell to his death without warning.
Seems like it might end up being a fun budget buy at some point, but I’ll stick to Bayonetta for my hacking and slashing fix for now, I think. (If Bayonetta ever arrives, of course. No sign of it yet.)
Assassin’s Creed 2 (360)
Jan 11th
Played a lot of this over the weekend, but I don’t seem to be anywhere close to the end. I’ve made it to Venice, but a lot of the city is still locked. It’s all been excellent fun, except for a glyph that turned out not to be on the building the description seemed to be saying it was. That was a cause of great frustration. Oh, and there was a code wheel puzzle where I simply couldn’t see any clues at all. I used GameFAQs for both those things, but they’re the only times I’ve had to look something up online so far.
The general running, jumping, stabbing mayhem has still been perfectly fine. I’ve started to disarm opponents a lot now; seems to be the best way to kill many tougher enemies.
Boggle (iPhone)
Jan 11th
Two more words it won’t let me have. Okay, I can see one of those not being allowed, but ORGY? That’s a perfectly normal, valid word. Grr.
