Little King's Story (Wii)

Got this for my birthday just over a month ago, and started playing it after Burnout last Saturday. I wasn't all that sure what to expect from it, apart from some sort of cute RTS game, so was surprised to find that it was very much a Pikmin clone.

Well, nearly. The plot and setting is completely different, but the way the game plays is surprisingly similar, just on a different scale. You don't have 100 Pikmin to command for starters - just 12 (more, later) guards, hunters, farmers or whatever.

Absolutely hooked already, and I'm about 5 1/2 hours in so far - having just beaten the Onii King and realising the game is at least 10 times the size it appeared to be at first. Excellent!

Burnout Paradise (360)

Played the main game in this some more this week, mopping up the few remaining billboards, trying to find the last 6 superjumps (I only found one!) and then setting Time and Showtime road rules. Managed to do all the Showtime rules, and have about half of the Time rules completed.

Ran into all sorts of bugs with the road rules though - sometimes I'd get one and it wouldn't mark it as done on the map, other times I'd set the Showtime, and somehow get the Time one at the same time, and other times I'd not get the required damage for Showtime, but get the rule anyway. Bizarre.

Going to give the game a break for a bit now though. Setting all the times is tedious.

Animal Crossing (Wii)

Made a reasonable profit on turnips this week - around 60,000 bells. Some of that I held back for the next lot, but most of the returned investment went on my mortgage. I've planted an orchard this week too, meaning every few days I have a big pile of money to harvest.

Oh, and Rod the mouse moved in on Thursday, presumably to replace Drift.

Burnout Paradise: Big Surf (360): COMPLETED!

Yesterday morning, I downloaded the Big Surf add-on for Burnout Paradise. This afternoon, I completed everything it had to offer.

Which was actually more than it would appear from that timescale. I got a good 6 hours out of it, finding the smashes, billboards and mega-jumps, as well as completing all the new events. Strangely, I really wanted to 100% it, whereas with the main game, I wasn't so interested. Perhaps the smaller area just made it seem more feasible or something.

Swords and Soldiers (Wii)

The final level is too hard. Me am cry.

Animal Crossing (Wii)

I have actually been playing this for 20 minutes or so almost every day since I got it almost a month ago, but as is the laid back way of the game, not a huge amount actually happens.

In the last week, I made very little selling turnips (around 5,000 bells in total, I think) and Drift has moved out. Most of the remaining animals have taken to wearing my designed shirt though - ace!

Swords and Soldiers (Wii)

Got over the difficulties I was having with this previously, and then stormed through most of the remaining levels. I think there's only one left now!

Burnout Paradise (360): COMPLETED!

Flew through the remaining 20 or so events needed in order to get my Burnout Licence. Most of them were Road Rage events, which are by far the easiest (unless you count the drive-slow "cheat" for Marked Man). A few were stunt runs.

Now I can, if I want, go for a Burnout Elite Licence. I don't really think I can be bothered, as it's just a repeat of all the previous events again, only slightly harder. I did have a drive round looking for Smashes though, and now only have 5 left!

Games played this week

I've not had time to update this week, but, unusually, I've managed to play a fair amount.

Apollo Justice (DS)
Still plowing through the second case. I've started cross-examining the accused's girlfriend. I think I know what the story is, and who did it, and why. Hurrah!

Animal Crossing (Wii)
Same as it ever is, really. Played for about 20 minutes each day, just pottering round Cheese; a bit of fishing, some fossil collecting, weeding, chatting to the other residents, and that sort of thing. Also had a visit from The Rev on Friday night, and he left me some fruit. Thanks much!

Swords and Soldiers (Wii)
Stuck. On the third (I think?) mission of the Chinese campaign. Bah.

Bionic Commando: Rearmed (360)
With my 360 back, I bought this as it was on offer this week at 400 points instead of the usual 800. It's pretty good, actually, although I have started several levels I've been unable to progress in as I keep hitting dead ends. And it's hard.

Assorted Xbox Live Arcade Games (360)
On the ugvm group, there's a competition running to find who is the bestest of the best at a range of 360 games. I had a go at getting up the leaderboards on Frogger, Geometry Wars 2, Marble Blast Ultra, Pac-Man CE and Track and Field. I didn't do well. Boo!

Swords and Soldiers (Wii)

This is excellent. If you don't buy it, you need a kick in the teeth.

It got very hard towards the end of the Aztec campaign, with one level in particular seemingly at stalemate for 20 minutes whilst both side just spammed units, until I decided this was never going to work and gave up. Next go seemed much easier, although I did finish the first objective much more quickly.

Now, I'm onto the second level of the Chinese (or Asian, depending which part of the screen you read) campaign. Looks like it's going to be hard again as my units seem somewhat feeble.

Animal Crossing (Wii)

I've managed to play this every day, bar one, so far, which is pretty good going. I'm taking it slower than in previous versions, but already I've managed to pay off my first mortgage and almost half of my second.

Bunnie came and visited my house yesterday. She said it was a bit sparse (I have virtually no furniture) and gave me three stars. The cow.

I've also joined Redd's club, which I know is a bad idea as I remember virtually every painting I ever bought from him was a fake. It seems to be just about the only way of getting hold of some of them, though.

Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice (DS)

I finished the first case, which yes, was pretty short. It didn't really explain a lot about Phoenix and Trucy, but I expect later cases will do that.

Now I'm onto the second case, and have done all the pre-trial investigations, and am cross-examining the witness, who is a stuck-up student. I think he did it. Maybe.

Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice (DS)

I've had this for aaaaages, but haven't played it. Then I forgot I had it. Then, this week, I was looking for something I could play for reasonably short bursts on my DS and I stumbled across it on my shelf. Game get!

And, it's more of the same. Only different. Sort of. The first trial is more tutorial than anything else, but it has some Phoenix Wright backstory, introduces Apollo, and implicates his mentor. So, quite a bit in such a short time.

And, of course, it is totally acebest.

Animal Crossing (Wii)

My wife bought me this for my birthday yesterday. Doesn't she realise I lost three months of my like to the Gamecube version, and a whole year to the DS one? Surely that means I'll be old and dead before the Wii iteration relents?

Anyway, I moved in, met everyone, got my mortgage, went to the city, watched Dr. Shrunk, and entered myself into the fishing competition. As I left it, I was winning with a Black Bass of 27 inches or so.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)

Downloaded all the downloadable weekly puzzles since whenever it was I last played it, and then set about completing them all. There was one that was a real pain, as I was convinced I had the answer right but it wasn't. Then I realised it was a trick question!

Banjo Tooie (360)

I actually bought this when it came out a couple of weeks ago, but haven't mentioned it here for some reason. So far, I've got most of the jiggies in the first world, and two in the second. And opened the third.

Not really enjoying it as much as the original. There's too much back-tracking and jumping in and out of worlds. I know there was a bit of this in the first one, but, like the collecting, it's taken to new depths of rubbishness in the sequel. It isn't rubbish - just not as good.

Burnout Paradise (360)

'A' Licence GET!

I hadn't realised that by not doing any of the races, Marked Man events, or Road Rage events (well, not many) for most of the game, it had left them all pretty easy to complete. So I finished off the 25 wins with mostly races and Road Rages, getting me my A licence.

I found a cheat, of sorts, for Marked Man too. Just drive very slowly. You can't get hit hard enough to crash, so it's really easy to finish. A bit stupid, really!

Also went looking for more banners, smashes, super jumps and so on, but didn't find very many. I have around 75-80% of each now, though. Still have 5 events and 3 drive throughs to find too.

Adventure Island: The Beginning (Wii): COMPLETED!

I know I was saying how hard this was, but in fact, it got easier as it went along. This was mainly due to being able to buy new moves and upgraded weapons; the double-jump and flying jump combined made some bits of the later levels very, very easy.

I'm also convinced the end of game boss was easier than the second boss too. Once I'd figured out his pattern, anyway.

After completing the game, you get another marker on the map - Relics. I was hoping it was going to be some extra hard level or a link to an entirely new world or something, but sadly it wasn't. It's just a Boss Rush. Boo!

Trivial Pursuit (360)

Played this against my wife for the last three nights. Score so far: 2-1 to me!

Burnout Paradise (360)

It seems I did get quite a few new games this week - Burnout Paradise, Adventure Island, Bit Trip Beat, Strong Bad Episode 5, Trivial Pursuit...

On Friday I made a start on Burnout Paradise. Very quickly, I'd managed to get my C licence, and then I played online for a couple of hours. Most of my game time since then has been spent just cruising the streets, looking for smashes, jumps and billboards; of which I have found at least half of each.

Today I gained my B licence, and then set about doing lots of stunt runs and road rage events - the two types of event I prefer. I'm really enjoying the game, actually. Far more than I thought I would. However, I'm sort of dreading the millions of races I'll need to complete in order to gain my A licence, and the licence you get after that.

Adventure Island: The Beginning (Wii)

Whilst having another loads-of-points-in-my-account-but-I-am-weak moment, I bought this from the Wii Ware shop in the week.

I'm not impressed with the quality of the presentation, to be honest. The graphics are a bit shoddy, in that 2.5D way games sometimes are, and the screen fonts look like they're poorly scaled, and it's not in widescreen. However, it plays like a great platformer from days gone by. It's hard (I'm at World 2-2 and it's difficult already), but that's good - yes?

Bubble Bobble Plus (Wii)

Played co-op with my wife this afternoon. All was going well, until we reached level 72. Which is impossible.

I remembered it from the arcade version, and although it was bit fiddly there, on Bubble Bobble Plus it is, in fact, impossable. You start in a narrow column, and can't get out without jumping on bubbles. Problem is, you're too enclosed to blow any as they burst immediately.

In the arcade version, you can put your back to the left wall and just about get clearance. But in this version, you can't. If you're up against the left wall, you can't face right without moving away from the wall, reducing the space you have for bubbles. It's difficult to describe, so here's Adam Dawes on Youtube showing us how to do the arcade version.

Now imagine that, but without being able to jam yourself into the left side of the level. That's Bubble Bobble Plus! Grr!

Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People - Episode 4 (Wii): COMPLETED!

I only started playing it this morning, but already it's completed. It wasn't shorter than previous episodes, just a little easier and I had quite a bit of play on it throughout the day.

It was different to previous episodes in that you're acting out a film that Strong Bad has made, called Dangeresque 3. A badly made film, of course. As a result, all the usual locations in the game have been repurposed as bits of set, and all the characters are new characters. If you see what I mean.

It was as funny as previous episodes, and I've downloaded Episode 5 ready for next time! Looks like that's the last one though, which is a shame. Boo! At least there's Wallace and Gromit and Sam and Max here or almost here to fill the void!

Penny Arcade Adventures On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1 (360): COMPLETED!

It turned out I didn't have a lot left to do in the game. I wiped out the last of the evil mimes with invisible items, then killed the last of the, uh, robots, fully upgraded my weapons, and then set off after the end of game boss.

Who was actually pretty easy to beat. He took a fair while to take down, but I had so many items that even when he got a few full unblocked attacks in I didn't suffer much.

And then the achievements just rolled in. It's odd, that you get two achievements in the first 10 minutes of the game, then 6 or 7 in the last 10 minutes of the game. And none in the middle (well, unless you'd read them first and realised you had to defeat baddies in certain ways).

Overall, a funny but actually quite clever and original game with an unusual battle system. It's a bit repetitive, but it wasn't too long a game so it was over before that grated. Well recommended, and with hindsight, 1600 points probably wouldn't have been too much to pay for it. I'm happy to pay that much for Episode 2 now, at least.

Family Game Night (360)

Look, I didn't buy this, OK? I got a free copy of Connect 4 with something I ordered from SoftUK, and then today I won a competition to win Yahtzee, Battleship and another (great!) copy of Connect 4. Joy!

What do I think? I think it's... alright? Stupidly expensive if you fork out 800 points each for the games, and the real-life versions of the games are more, well, usable (and don't have Mr Potato Head prancing around all the time slowing the game down), but there's online play and a few extra game modes to make up for that. A bit.

Thrashed the pants off someone online on Connect 4. That was pretty good. I played the other two games offline, and they were, well, exactly what I expected them to be.

Oh, and a bizarre thing happened. I created a game lobby, then someone joined. I chose to play Connect 4, but the other player didn't have it, so the game awarded me an achievement for Yahtzee. What?

Bubble Bobble Plus (Wii)

Who can resist Bubble Bobble? Nobody! Which is why I bought it! Again!

I'm sure I now have about 50 different copies of this for every console and computer ever made ever. And then I bought it again! But wait! This version has extra game modes, and 2.5D graphics!

And the same stuck-in-your-head theme tune. So it's ace.

Penny Arcade Adventures On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1 (360)

I bought this a couple of weeks ago when it was on offer, but it's only at the weekend that I had a chance to play it. I had enjoyed the demo previously, but 1600 points was a bit too much to pay for one episode of a game when I had loads of other games to play. 800 points, though, is a bargain.

The story so far: is nuts. I didn't really expect anything else, though. I've already cleared out Desperation Road, killed all the hobos in Hobo Alley, and killed the golden-haired boss of the robot factory. Next I need to sort out Pelican Bay...

Outrun Online Arcade (360): COMPLETED!

Well, I did say that online was the main bit of Outrun, didn't I?

"Completed", in case you're wondering, entailed this: completing every Goal from A-E, and the 15 Stage mode, all on Normal difficulty. Yeah, a bit short, but never mind.

I did try some time trials, but there's no way on earth I'll ever manage to get the achievements for them. 4:30 to reach a goal? My fastest time, with no mess-ups, crashes, and very little off-roading, was done in 4:56. Rubbish.

Outrun Online Arcade (360)

It's Outrun 2006 Coast 2 Coast! Only not quite! For 800 points on Xbox Live Arcade!

What is ace: It's FUN. Like the older versions. It's also SHINY. What is not ace: There's less there in the previous games. It has Arcade mode and Heat Attack mode, but no mission mode or anything.

What is a real killer: online mode, the main point of the game, is broken. It's all too easy to get the BSOD - where the track vanishes and you can't see the road, essentially making you lose. Not only that, but the leaderboards are arranged so as to be pointless - you can't use the leaderboard of friends, as the friends leaderboard is arranged alphabetically rather than by time. Rubbish!

But... it's Outrun and fantastic. So all is well.

GTAIV: The Lost and Damned (360): COMPLETED!

Erm, right. That was a bit short, wasn't it? Yeah, so I have 11 of the 12 races left, and some of the gang warfare stuff, but I've done everything else. And it took me about 8 hours.

I'm sure I read somewhere that The Lost and Damned expansion was supposed to provide "around 35 hours" extra gameplay. If so, I'd love to know where it was.

Not that it really matters as I enjoyed it all anyway. At first I wasn't sure, but I soon got sucked into the story and really liked all the crossover stuff with Nico. The final mission was the easiest mission in GTA history, though, so was a little disappointing. Every other GTA finale has been stupidly hard requiring $hlmun retries, but not this time. Again though, it didn't really matter.

More DLC on the way, Rockstar?