Kirby and the Amazing Mirror (3DS)

Actually, the GBA version I got as part of the 3DS Ambassador thing. I thought I’d played it before, but I don’t actually remember any of it. It’s very confusing, as there’s no linear progression from level to level (like in Kirby’s Dream Land) or a map where you can replay previous levels (like in Kirby’s Adventure). Instead, there’s a complicated map system where you have to find different exits to access other levels, with occasional mirrors that are found which then leave a permanent link from the main “room” of the game to parts of the map. I suppose it’s a little bit how games like Metroid work, but the map is useless at telling you where you need to go, and it’s too easy to get stuck in a one-way route and have to redo miles of the game before you can try to find another route. I’m sort of enjoying it, but it doesn’t work well with quick bursts of play.

Skyrim (360)

Not progressed much since last time I posted about this, but I have agreed to do some Thieves Guild work (which involves roughing up some locals for money) so started that. I also slaughtered loads of people in the Ratway. I didn’t want to, but they attacked me and things just spiralled into badness. Also: my Flame Atronach is awesome.

VVVVVV (3DS)

Having completed the main game, I was going to go back and collect some more trinkets. However, I got a bit sidetracked with the plethora of other game modes and alternative maps, and so went off and did some of those instead. I also stumbled across some of the “accessibility modes” in the options, so have set the game speed to 60% which makes some of the really hard sections a lot easier. I suppose it’s cheating, but meh – whatdahyahgonnado?

Mario Kart 7 (3DS)

There was a patch for this in the week, so I decided to give it another try online. Had some great games with randoms, and I didn’t even come last most of the time. Unsurprisingly, not a single person chose to play the now-fixed (thanks to the patch) Wuhu Loop track, which certainly made it more varied. I think I was suffering from nasty lag though, as some of the other racers appeared to be invincible to my shells, or seemed to get blown up randomly even though nothing seemed to hit them. That’s my connection though, not the game.

Skylanders (360)

I’ll post more about this another time, but it arrived today and my daughter thinks it’s amazing. I enjoyed the half and hour or so I played it for too, so could be a hit. Glad I got it for about £19 though, not the £60 or whatever it was when it came out last year.

Rayman Origins (Demo) (3DS)

Oh! It looks so lovely!

So since I last played, I’ve made my way to Windhelm (although didn’t do much there apart from get roped into a quest for an orphan who is a psycho), and then onto Winterhold from there. In Winterhold I joined Hogwarts, and went excavating some ruins or something. Read about zleventybillion books in the college, and then headed back to Whiterun for a bit.

I then realised that somewhere along the way, I’ve lost Lydia. No idea where, but I think the last time I saw her was when I was attacked by a dragon. She’s probably dead, but there’s no way of knowing if she is, or if it’s just a bug or something. Oh well.

I then went over to Riften, via a few mills and villages, and got attacked by a lot of bears and spiders. In Riften I completed a couple of quests, including killing the evil orphanage ruler for PsychoBoy, and now I’ve been given The Black Hand note. I think this is going to kick off the Dark Brotherhood questline.

I think I’ve also started a Thieves’ Guild one too, having stolen a ring and planted it on someone, as requested by some other guy in Riften.

I also now have 986289150962357 open quests. I will complete them all. YES.

Finally: I have no idea what I’m doing in the primary story quest any more. Or even which quest is the primary story quest.

And so it came to pass, that last week I bought some cheap games from one shop, took them straight to Game to trade in for £10 for more than I paid for them, and walked out with Skyrim for a net spend of £17. Bargainlicious.

Is it good? No. It’s awesome.

I was a bit concerned that, after Fallout and New Vegas, I wasn’t going to get on with the lack of VATS combat, no guns, and no excellent 1950s radio station. I mean, I loved Oblivion, but things have moved on. Thankfully, it has been nothing but amazing so far. The combat is fine. Dual-wielding magic and swords feels great, and picking every flower, berry and mushroom is a wonderful return to Oblivion OCDness. I don’t even need them as I’m not really going the alchemy route. Not yet, anyway.

What I am doing is trying to stick to the main story. What I’m also doing is failing this, having deviated to find some dragon claw or something at some old Nord temple just 50 minutes into the game. Oh well.

I’ve slain my first dragon, learned some Words of Power (shouting at things can kill them? uh…) and done lots and lots of turning iron daggers into fine iron daggers. Oh yeah, I’m a blacksmith as well as a magician swordfighter who can destroy by shouting. Lovely.

Oh, and the Nord accents? Utterly superb in their rubbishness. Some of them are the worst Norwegians ever! It doesn’t matter, of course.

Then it becomes a different sort of platform game, which is more puzzley (you have to figure out how to rotate the playfield to progress), and somewhat explorey as you search for  cubes and bits of cubes which eventually open doors.

As you wander the game world, which is mostly lovely with bouncey-bright colours and blue skies and stuff, you take in the architecture. The markings on the walls. The pictures and posters in the rooms. Then you realise – they’re not just for show. They’re telling you things. Secret things.

In fact, there’s a whole alphabet to decipher, a counting system, and even a set of shapes that correspond to buttons on your controller. Figuring these all out, and what to do in certain rooms with these clues and others, is where the real game is. Getting 32 cubes and seeing the end? That’s just platforming. Exploring and getting 100% is a totally different game, with a different way of playing and even a different set of rules and ways of looking at things. Two games in one, pretty much.

It’s funny too, and filled with references to other games. One of the areas of the game is all original Gameboy monochrome too, and accessed via a pipe. The way your hypercubeic guide says “Hey, Listen!” in a homage to Navi was great as well.

Getting the first 32 cubes to complete the game, like I did today, is fun and mostly simple. There’s no real fear of death (you always respawn instantly on the last solid platform you were on), so you don’t have to worry about pixel-perfect jumps. There’s nothing especially tricky, and you don’t even hit many puzzles before the end sequence. After that, in New Game+ (where you restart the game, keeping everything already gained and with the map kept as “open” as before), the puzzles and real quirky stuff starts properly. I’ll certainly be trying to get 100% in this, as it’s fantastic.

Sadly, the game is tinged slightly with silly bugs and performance issues. It’s too easy to “fall out” of the world, especially inside rooms. Moving from area to area is often really jerky, and the sound frequently breaks up. It’s easy to get stuck in a “death loop” where you respawn in an area that instantly kills you, and at least twice I got killed by acid at the same time as being sucked into a black hole, which hangs the game. Still, you never lose more than a few seconds progress, so it’s just a bit disappointing when the rest of the game is so very, very good.

Anyway, that’s pretty much all the non-multiplayer achievements done, aside from a few I really can’t be bothered with (not least because some of them involve playing the first person bits again!), so time to move on to something else, whilst waiting for Assassin’s Creed III…

Besides that, I’ve now collected all of the Animus data fragments (thankfully, once you’ve found 50 the other 50 appear on the map), all the Memoir pages, all the books bar those horrifically overpriced ones in Cappadoccia, which I’m now saving up for whilst buying the last few buildings in Constantinople. All the shops are mine, and I’ve finished the Vlad the Impaler’s Prison DLC too.

Awesome.

I am a big fan of your historically almost-accurate hood-wearing murderous free-runner simulators, but despite having played your three most recent in relatively quick succession and anxiously anticipating the finale of the “Ezio Trilogy” and its associated Revelations, I was shocked to discover that you seem to have forgotten to include any.

Unless, of course, I have to unlock them by playing this poor Welltris/Mirror’s Edge minigame to completion, which, frankly, isn’t going to happen. Not least because it is the worst thing in all of creation.

Once I’d sat through the 462 minute long end credits sequence, where you name each and every person who ever existed throughout the entirety of time and space, before switching on a random name generator and churning out another 14 billion people who never existed throughout the entirety of time and space, I was still awaiting any form of revelation. But none came.

Unless no revelation was the revelation? How very meta of you!

Anyway. Keep up the good work. I hope to be completing Stabby Hood Tomahawk Man Death III later this year.

Love,

deKay xxx

After a few more hours, though, I’m finding it excellent again. I’ve adjusted to the controls and new weapons (I don’t bother with the bombs), and it’s all become business as usual. Marvellous.

Until I unlocked and decided to do a “Desmond Chapter”. Oh dear.

Who decided that a first person platforming puzzle game would be a good fit squeezed into a third person free-roaming stabby stealth action game? This and the tower defence bits of the main game just don’t fit. Silly.

Let us begin with how rubbish the 360 version is. Let us say how many times I ran through walls or fell through the floor and died. This many times: 7. Let us now say how I died once for no discernible reason, by having lots of rings, running along a badnikless corridor, and suddenly the game loaded again and put me back at the most recent checkpoint. Let us also tell you how at one point I couldn’t progress on the Planet Wisp level because even though I had the Rocket Wisp power, pressing Y did nothing, and I had to quit and reload the stage. Let us tell you all these things.

Let us now complain about the Modern Sonic levels. Let us anguish over how, despite being far, far better than most Modern Sonic games previously, they still end up not actually being very good. Even the very best Modern Sonic level (Green Hill Zone) is worse than the very worst (Crisis City) Classic Sonic level.

Let us take a moment to recount the horror that is the requirement to replay bits of previous levels, as “challenges”, just to open up the Boss Gates. Let us try hard to forget the Vector the Crocodile level challenge, for it is the worst piece of videogaming created in the last 25 years. Let us never have to homing attack musical notes while the camera spins like a drunken mouse dancing on a Wonder Stuff LP as it plays, ever again.

Let us burn from our eyes, and especially our ears, the array of beastly chums Sonic has dragged along. Let us hope in the next game when they get sucked into a Time Vortex, that time they stay gone forever.

Let us briefly mention how poor the bosses are. Let us also mention how they get worse through the game, and how with all the amazing bosses Sega could have plucked from the Sonic series, they managed to pull exactly none of them into Sonic Generations. And the final boss is a shambling, random mess of polygons and purple with graphical glitching and seemingly irrelevant controls.

Let us list all of the good things about the game: The music. The nostalgia. Some of the Classic Sonic levels. The inclusion of the original Sonic game. This is all.

Somehow, this version was even worse than the 3DS game. It improved in some ways (Classic Sonic remains Classic Sonic, so the later levels still feel like two different Sonics – this was not the case on the 3DS), but broke it in others (mainly the Boss Gates and the challenge level completion requirements).

Let us say this, however: Sonic Generations is the best home console based Sonic game in years. Given the other games out in that time, though, that’s not really a complement.

It seems the best way to make money is to buy all the houses and shops, then just leave the Xbox on all day. So I did that. Now I have over 8 million gold, can pay off all my debts, and progress with the story. In doing so, I’ve revisited Aurora, pilfered a diamond from a cave, bought more shops and houses, and am now on the trail of a white Balverine in Silverpines.

I also changed my gun for a different one, because I realised that being able to do 79 damage was certainly better than just managing 33. Makes a bit of a difference.

Kirby’s Block Ball (3DS)

I’ve not bought a 3DS Virtual Console game in a while, but since I had to add some more money to my account to buy Mighty Switch Force (see later) I thought I’d pick up some. One was this, a Kirby Breakout game where some levels have paddles at the top and sides of the screen, and have baddies wandering round. After reaching World 4, I also realised you could activate Kirby’s powers by pressing B. That would have made earlier levels somewhat easier, non?

Trip World (3DS)

This was another 3DS VC game purchase. The video on the eShop made it look like fun, but I’ve no idea what I’m doing. You control (well, you try to control) a little cute catbunnyblobthing. Thing is, he doesn’t jump very far and there are spikes. I did, through random button mashing, did manage to turn him into a fish (useless) and a thing with big ears (which can sort of fly but then drops to the ground for no discernible reason), neither of which I can reproduce nor were they of any help.

Mighty Switch Force (3DS)

ACEBEST. So good, in fact, I rattled through the first 14 levels in half an hour. Then I found there are only actually 16 levels. This was a bit disappointing. However, I’ve spent over an hour since then and haven’t finished it yet as Level 16 is nuts.

In case you know nothing of the game, it’s a platform shooter puzzle game where the main “gimmick” is you press a button to make blocks move between the foreground and background. You can’t pass them when they’re in the foreground, but you can stand on them, and you don’t want to be moving them to the foreground when you’re standing in front of them. Unless they’re a special type of block. It’s all excellent though, and different to anything that looks vaguely similar.

Shinobi (3DS)

Picked this up cheap from The Game Collection the other day. It’s very much a 2.5D spiritual sequel to the Megadrive “Revenge of Shinobi” game. The graphics are sort of stark and plain, but it’s fun. For some reason it reminds me of the DS launch title Spiderman 2, though. Maybe it’s the graphic style and all the fire.

I’m stuck though. Went on a raft into a cave, then wall-jumped up to a higher level. Now there’s a huge gap to the left too big to jump, and I can’t latch onto the cave roof to get across that way because there are spikes. Hmm.

Samurai Warriors: Chronicles (3DS)

Very much a Mash Y And Sometimes X game, but it’s fun. There’s a hook to get me back in with the RPG elements (leveling up your character, merging weapons to make better ones, and so on) though, and you do have to have a bit of strategy in the game to ensure your allies aren’t overwhelmed by foes and die because you’ve wandered off to cause carnage elsewhere or because you didn’t run to their side when they asked you to. Well worth the £7 Morrisons (yes, them again) wanted for it anyway.

That came about far quicker than I expected it to. I’ve not done that many side quests though, which might be why. I don’t know how far from complete this means I now am, but I’m guessing I’m half way there, perhaps?

First things to do as King: decide whether to execute my brother or not (I didn’t), then decide if I’m going to be an evil-for-their-own-good ruler or a loved-but-may-end-up-getting-everyone-killed ruler. This was mainly determined by my decisions on spending the castle funds, and since I went the “good” route, I’m now horribly overdrawn and somehow need to raise not only 6.5 million gold just to “win” against The Darkness (no, not the band), but also the 1.5 million or so I’m overspent by.

Or millions will perish. Sigh.

Now begins a tedious and dull run of making money before I can do the next bit of the story. Who thought that would be a good idea? Oh yeah, Peter Molyneux. Tch.

In other Fable news, I got married before becoming King, had a child (called Dave) and then moved my family into the castle once I was crowned.

It’s actually quite good so far. I’ve not played Fable II, so some of the initial story of this is lost on me. In addition, I have played the original Fable, and this doesn’t really play much like it. At least, it doesn’t seem to. It has been a while though.

So far, I’ve recovered my father’s music box (uh, right), and beaten the mercenaries (sparing their boss, who now seems to be an ally). Mostly though, I’ve been shaking hands with people, holding hands with people and trying to take them to bed, and playing Lute Hero. As you do.

I’m enjoying it, I think.

The last section of the game takes place in Central Park. Which has mostly been raised into the sky. As you walk (or run) through it, bits crumble away so paths are cut off and stuff. Except that barely affected anything. There are baddies to kill, or stealth past and ignore. Then you get to a section where there are stealthed baddies, except I had a suit upgrade that negated that, and they’re stupidly easy to kill – any that got close were punched in the face, and most got stuck trying to jump up to the platform I was on so were easy pickings for my gun. I don’t think I took any damage at all.

Finally, a tunnel opens. “The final boss?” I thought, “Or a huge fight at least?”. No. Nothing. Game completed.

Like they forgot to include a whole level or something. Damp squib. Oh well.

Despite not really changing the formula all that much (aside from there being fewer soldiers to shoot and more aliens), somehow Crysis 2 has gone from mediocre to pretty actually fantastic. I’m not sure why.

I am now drawn into the story, and often with me a decent story is enough of a carrot to get me to progress. It’s not necessarily a great story but I do want to know what happens next, at least. I’m also on top of the controls, which are now not so overwhelming. I’m not struggling with ammo so much either, as I generally kill everything with stealth melee attacks rather than shooting stuff. All in all, much more fun than it was previously.

Currently, I’ve just caused the Otis building (I think?) to collapse. I don’t know how far into the game that is, but judging from the number of remaining locked cutscenes, I’d have to say I’m about 80% of the way through.

Just one main issue I have with it now: Why is it, that when you get shot too much, you die, but when you get launched a billion feet into the air, land on your head, get shot at by aliens, stomped on, then start to get organically deconstructed by a giant cockroach, you simply have to wait for your suit to reboot and all is well again? Hmm.

I’ve spent most of my time plundering the Lairs of Romulus, and also finishing off the remaining Leonardo’s Machines bits (although one still needs to be done), as well as mopping up all the feathers, some Borgia Flags, and lots of treasures. I’ve also tried completing the Shop Quests, but I’m still a few items short.

Alongside all this, I’ve also been sending my assassins off on missions, and they’ve all reached the highest rank now. Oh yeah, and I’ve grabbed a few more achievements – including the one for killing a guard with a broom. Ace.

I mean, I was expecting to finish it, of course – but I didn’t expect to play though Sequence 5 and get to the end and have “Sequence 9 Complete” come up. Turns out I was much further through the game than I thought. Since I’ve spent about 80% of the game “off-story”, that means the main story was very, very short compared to Assassin’s Creed 2. I don’t really mind as there’s been plenty to do (and I still have lots of Lairs and Machines and some of the DLC left as well), and I’ve spent well over 20 hours on it so far, but if I were just going for the main plot I’d be a bit disappointed, I think.

Still, it was fantastic. Although I hated the end bit with Desmond. It was like that bit in Prey that I didn’t want to play all over again. Tch.

Jumped straight back in and continued sending my recruits on missions and buying up property. Aces.

Yet, it’s also very different. For starters, there’s the whole Assassin’s Guild thing. You “save” people from nasty guards, and they pledge to follow you. They then become your apprentices – so you can use them in battle, trigger them like a smart bomb to blanket the guards with arrows, or send them off on missions in far off exotic locations to rough up traders, protect nobelmen, or steal stuff from Templars. Then, like it’s an RPG or something, they gain XP and level up to become more proficient and can take on harder missions. Not that you take part in these missions – they’re all done in the background and you just see the spoils at the end. Strangely, it feels like playing Championship Manager or something, and I am somehow addicted to this part of the game.

Another change is the way you can upgrade and rebuild parts of Rome. OK, so you did the same in Monteriggioni in the previous game, but here it’s essential. You can’t shop without opening shops to shop in. You can’t get at your earned cash from the bank without building a bank. And more than once I’ve been in the situation where I need money, have loads in the bank, but there’s no bank nearby except for ones I’ve not yet restored and I don’t have the money to pay to do that. Gnngh!

Perhaps more important a change to all of these is the introduction of the Borgia Towers. Whereas in ACII you could just climb to high places and synchronise in order to get the map for an area, most of these high places are now protected Borgia towers. Anything in the same region as a tower is under Borgia control, and you’re prevented from renovating buildings nearby until the tower is destroyed. To do that, you have to find and kill the captain of the tower, who is usually hidden or protected. If he sees you, he’ll run – and fail to catch him and you’ve missed your chance until the next guard shift change when you have to try again. Kill him, and you can scale the tower and torch it, releasing the region of it’s Borgia influence and opening it up to rebuilding and stuff. I hated this at first, but now I’m really enjoying the tower parts of the game.

In terms of how far into the game I am, I’ve just assassinated the French captain bloke. It’s maybe a third of the way into the game, I think, but I’ve spent so much time on side things (like the towers) that I would have completed it by now otherwise!

Really enjoying it, although perhaps not quite as much as the last game. I’m not sure yet…

I don’t know whether or not the final episode was shorter, or if the puzzles were just more obvious, but it didn’t seem to take me very long to save Hell (and by extension, the world). A very Soda Poppers (sorry, %$&* Poppers) heavy episode, but that was OK given the outcome. Is that spoilers?

I might give Sam and Max a bit of a break now though, until the next series is found cheap somewhere!

I’ve played about the first hour or so of Brotherhood now. It carries on directly from the previous game, and there’s a quite clever sequence where you lose most of your weapons, armour and health points from the previous game, which is better than in other games where it is unexplained, or something.

At the moment, I’m in Monteriggioni – as Desmond. Which is awesome. I’d be very surprised if a later Assassin’s Creed game isn’t almost entirely Desmond. Anyway, it’s great so far!

EDIT: Haha! Look!

View Larger Map

By far the best of the series. Unless Episode 5 beats it, of course. Loved Superball again, mainly because he’s so deadpan. The mariachis were all sorts of amaze, and the Max/Ms Bosco “relationship” was fantastic. The baby making machine, and the various possible Bosco outcomes awesome too.

And, best of all, it relied upon proper, logical puzzles instead of try everything on everything puzzles. Yay!