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A Gaming Diary
Minigore (iPhone)
Dec 11th
So, I’ve bought what is, to my best recollection, my first bit of paid-for DLC in an iPhone game. I decided that in my quest for John Gore’s Santa hat, I should play as Santa himself. He cost 59p – the same as the game itself, amusingly – but I see that as partly a charge for the new character and partly just a way of thanking the developers for such an excellent game.
You don’t get any special abilities or anything, but he looks different, he sounds different and the level is lightly brushed with snow when you play as him. Also, his beast transformation is about the best thing ever. Don’t make Santa angry, you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.
Anyway, I’ve added over 7,000 kills to my total this lunchtime and have got a new high score, so I’m progressing well.
Minigore (iPhone)
Dec 11th
Hooray for Minigore, king of the twin-stick iPhone shooters! No, really, it is. Other games may offer more in terms of content, but none of them feel as right as Minigore. It’s a simply brilliant game. I do love it so.
Anyway, I have set myself a goal. I want to get 100,000 kills before Christmas, so I can unlock John Gore’s Christmas hat outfit while it’s still relevant.
Of course, if I start getting sick of the game then I may give up – I’m not going to punish myself to fulfill an almost meaningless goal – but I’m going to be playing a lot of Minigore. At least it’s only a goal based on time spent playing, rather than any sort of skill.
Anyway, I’ll be sure to keep you posted on my progress. I’m sure you’re all terribly excited.
Driver (iPhone)
Dec 11th
Still stuck on the same mission. The cop cars just batter me and often leave me looking like this:
Once they hit me so hard I actually flew out of the level entirely:
I’m still trying, though.
PAC-MAN Championship Edition (iPhone)
Dec 11th
Harumph, grump and botheration! I was very excited to play this last night, but found it completely impossible to control. I have no idea why, as it was fine at lunchtime. Oh well. Hopefully I haven’t lost all my skills forever.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Dec 11th
No! My opponent went exactly where I wanted to go! But – ha ha! – he left me with an even better opening!
BOOM!
PAC-MAN Championship Edition (iPhone/360)
Dec 10th
So, the glorious Pac-Man C.E. arrived on the iPhone at midnight last night. It’s one of the finest games on the Xbox 360, but has it survived the transition?
Yes. Not perfectly, but I’ve been finding it very, very hard to put down. It’s a great conversion, only slightly hampered by touch screen controls that aren’t quite there. Very close, but this is one case where having a physical stick can only be an advantage.
Not that the controls are bad. Using the dual d-pad set up I’m mostly fine, but sometimes my thumbs move off centre when I’m going very fast and I get killed before I can readjust. It’s not a problem with the controls themselves – they’re perfectly responsive if you hit them correctly – it’s just a case of it being hard to keep your thumbs in the right place in the heat of the moment. (It’s lot a easier to tap the d-pads, rather than drag your thumb around, by the way.)
Just to check the 360 version is actually better in this regard, I gave it a quick go this morning before work – and promptly got a new high score. Nice.
There’s also been a bit of controversy regarding Namco’s pricing model. Basically, you pay £1.79 for the game, which gets you a selection of levels in a couple of different modes. Then you can pay £2.39 to unlock another game mode and lots more levels in the existing modes. Seems very reasonable to me. The game gives you lots and lots to do for your initial £1.79 – I’ve mostly just been playing one level over and over again, trying to beat my high score – but there’s more there if you want it and the total price ends up being very reasonable.
The only real downer is the unforgivable lack of online high scores, but even that’s not a deal-breaker when the game’s this good.
All in all, it’s a hair away from perfection, due to the limitations of the hardware, but it’s more than good enough to be worth getting.
Mr.Space!! Lite (iPhone)
Dec 10th
From the makers of the excellent Mr.AahH!! comes a new game, Mr.Space!! The aim is to move left and right to avoid getting squashed by the falling ceiling. It starts easily enough, but soon speeds up and it becomes more difficult to tell where the gaps are. It’s quite fun, but I haven’t rushed out to buy the full version yet, so I suppose it’s not as good, or at least not as immediate, as its predecessor.
geoSpark (iPhone)
Dec 10th
No new high score to report, but at least I got a better screen shot this time. Oh, and ignore Pocket Gamer’s review of the game, it’s as wrong as anything I’ve ever read.
Driver (iPhone)
Dec 10th
I appear to be stuck. I’m on a mission where I have to get from A to B and then to C with a full felony rating and no magical car-repairing checkpoints along the way. I keep getting battered about by the police and my car dies before the end of the mission.
This normally wouldn’t be a problem, but this is the least interesting mission so far, mostly taking part on long, flat straight bits of road. Hopefully I’ll get past it before too long.
SONG SUMMONER: The Unsung Heroes – Encore (iPhone)
Dec 10th
I haven’t actually been playing this. What I have done is set up a Song Summoner playlist in iTunes and I listen to it on my iPhone on the way to and from work. Every day or so I start up Song Summoner and get Play Points for listening to the songs I’ve made troopers from.
And then my troopers get experience points. They get a few points every time, but those whose song I’ve listened to get more.
Still haven’t managed to level anyone up yet, though. I’m only in the car for about fifteen minutes a day, after all.
