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A Gaming Diary
Star Defense Prelude (iPhone)
Oct 27th
I did! I did it! I did it on Hard! I AM VICTORY!
Er, yeah, you probably need to go and download this as soon as you possibly can, I reckon.
Borderlands (360)
Oct 27th
Played for a little under an hour last night. Enough time to track down some voice recorders for a scientist and to fight some battles in the arena. I also found an excellent new sniper rifle, so sold my old one, then noticed the new sniper rifle’s level requirement is way above where I am right now. Bother. Never mind, though, my repeater pistol has a bigger zoom than any sniper rifle I’ve ever seen and can set people on fire, to boot. The recoil’s pretty horrible, though.
Anyway, Borderlands. It’s an FPS structured like an MMORPG, it looks absolutely amazing, has bags of character, enough statistics and upgrades to play with without being overwhelming and is generally all kinds of awesome. I don’t usually get big, full price console games these days, but I’m very glad I traded some stuff in to get this. In fact, the last three big games I got at or near launch – Borderlands, Fuel and Arkham Asylum have all been excellent.
Star Defense Prelude (iPhone)
Oct 27th
Was awake a while before my alarm went off this morning. After checking what had happened online overnight – aren’t iPhones just great? – I played a few rounds of Star Defense Prelude on Medium difficulty. As I said yesterday, I wasn’t going to start playing the full game until I’d managed to complete that task.
And, just after my alarm went off, I did it. I didn’t have many lives left, but I did it. A glorious moment, indeed. After making a terrible first impression, this is fast becoming one of my favourite tower defense games.
So, now that’s done, I can play the full game. Except, except there’s still one commendation (i.e. achievement) I’ve not got… which is finishing the level on Hard. That may well be completely out of my league, but I’ve got to try, right?
iDracula (iPhone)
Oct 27th
The daddy of iPhone twin-stick shooters is back down to 59p, so I thought I’d see how it stacks up these days. It’s not to shabby, as it happens.
There’s a distinct lack of documentation, just a brief help screen with no mention of the different game modes or why I’d want to collect the omen things that drop now and again or anything like that.
Still, the core shooting action is fun – especially in Rush mode, which is a lot faster than Survival mode, which can drag on a bit, but which seems like it might be the only mode that lets you collect those omen things. They seem to help you rank up, but why I’d want to do that, I don’t know. I should probably look for a guide online, but this sort of stuff should really be in the game.
I like the different weapons, I like the controls, I like the perk system – every now and again you get to select a new power from a random list – and like the main character’s hat. No, it’s not as good as Minigore, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of – Minigore is special.
Kill All Bugs! (iPhone)
Oct 27th
I’m a little over a third of the way through the levels now. It’s fairly compelling, in a puzzle-like way, but it desperately needs a fast forward button. Or, if there is one hidden away, to make it more obvious.
I do like the way there’s some terrain that only certain bugs can cross. The first time I saw some bugs crawling over the mountains I’d previously considered to be a safe barrier was a great panicky moment. I also very much like the way day can turn to turn night and the lights in the cities come on. It’s very atmospheric.
There’s a lot this game does right, actually. It’s definitely not your standard tower defense in the campaign levels, though it’s a lot closer to one in survival mode. I just wish it was a bit faster, that’s all. Definitely worth considering, but be prepared to be very patient.
Max Injury Lite (iPhone)
Oct 27th
Another update, another new level. The Lite version of the game now includes three levels, not the one that was available when I first downloaded it. That’s really, really excellent of them.
So excellent, in fact, that it’s almost made me want to buy the full version, just to support such lovely developers. Almost, but not quite. I’m not really sure why, but I think I’m scared that if I get too many levels in one go I’ll just play each one a few times and never bother really concentrating on a level like I do in this Lite version.
Slightly crazy logic, probably, but that’s how I’m thinking.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Oct 26th
And finally, for now, there’s a good move I made in Words With Friends.
Pang Mobile (iPhone)
Oct 26th
When I was wee young thing I used to go and see bands at the Harlow Square, a popular hang out for teenage indie kids. As well as seeing the likes of Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, Wat Tyler and The Senseless Things, there was also a Pang arcade machine. I don’t actually remember ever playing it, though I guess I probably did, given the fond memories I have of the game.
At £2.99, I was able to resist the temptation to have the game in my pocket, but I couldn’t say no at 59p – and it was well worth the price for the fuzzy nostalgic glow I got from the game.
It’s also still pretty good, by the way, and holds up much better than a lot of games from the same era.
Borderlands (360)
Oct 26th
It’s like someone made a game just for me. It’s like World of Warcraft, but without other people. And with a cartoonish, cel-shaded post apocalyptic vibe. And with proper shooting instead of MMO clicky clicky combat.
It’s brilliant. You get shoot things and hit things and there are billions of different guns and it’s all incredibly satisfying and fun and makes time fly by and I love it to bits.
I would write more, but my head is killing me and I still have to write about Pang and pay my water bill.
Kill All Bugs! (iPhone)
Oct 26th
Open field tower defense game with a B-movie flavour. Giant bugs are attacking your cities and you have to stop them. In time honoured fashion, you do this by placing towers in their way. There are a few of changes to the standard formula, the most obvious one being that you don’t upgrade towers. Once they’re down, they’re down. You can sell them, but that’s it.
Also, you can completely block the path to the cities if you like, but then the bugs go into rampage mode and eat through your towers, which doesn’t make for a winning strategy. It’s all very simple so far, with game concepts introduced incredibly slowly. I’ve done the first few levels and had a go at survival mode. I set it on easy and it really was. After half an hour or so I was so bored that I destroyed my maze and built another experimental one that turned out to be rubbish. When I finally died I was more relieved than anything.
Still, I need to give it some more time. It’s definitely got potential, but I’m undecided so far. A few more levels and a go at the medium difficulty survival mode might help.
