Super Luigi Galaxy (Wii)

Played through a bit more of this, nabbing about ten more stars. I only need about 12 now before I can face Bowser at the “end” of the game as Luigi. I’m still convinced there are more baddies as Luigi. For example, when fighting King Kalicente (is that how you spell his name?) for the second time, he chucks one hell of a lot more of those blue flaming things at you.

2007: A Year in Gaming – Epilogue

Phew, eh? That’s a lot of games. Overall, I’ve completed 61 this year, and played around 200 (if you include demos).¬¨‚Ć So what was best?¬¨‚Ć What was unexpected? Biggest Surprise Almost certainly Halo 3. I didn’t like the campaign mode (which I played a fair bit of in co-op – I actually completed it too, although didn’t play every chapter). The surprise was enjoying online multiplayer as much as I did. Team Fortress 2 is better, in my opinion (especially …

2007: A Year in Gaming – Part 3

September The beginning of The Big Game Crunch of 2007.¬¨‚Ć Basically, every game in the world arrived in the post and I had to play them all. Most played in September (once RE4 was out of the way) was probably Super Paper Mario.¬¨‚Ć A fantastic game, by all accounts, and coupled with RE4, Mercury Meltdown Revolution and MySims proved that the Wii certainly was a fantastic console. Sonic the Hedgehog made himself known this month too, with Sonic 2 on …

2007: A Year in Gaming – Part 2

May May was more varied than previous months this year.¬¨‚Ć There was Eledees and Wing Island on the Wii, Crackdown, Lego Star Wars II and Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland on the 360, and the amazing Ouendan 2 on the DS, as well a plethora of 360 demos, XBLA games, and Wii VC titles. I struggled with the original NES Castlevania (on the VC) for a while too, and never did manage to complete it.¬¨‚Ć It’s just too hard! June Oh …

Half-Life 2 (360): COMPLETED!

Well, I wasn’t expecting to complete it tonight, but the last two chapters were very short and so I did. Erm, hurrah! I won’t spoil it for anyone else who hasn’t played it yet, but the last few hours were mostly filled with huge battles with striders and gunships, and hordes of baddies. Luckily, you’re accompanied by a team of other people for much of it, until you reach the Citadel, anyway. The end boss was a bit easy, although …

2007: A Year in Gaming – Part 1

So, the end of the year is nigh, and I thought I’d round up this year’s games. That is, the games I’ve played this year, rather than just those that have come out this year, although in most cases it’s the same thing. January The year started as 2006 ended – with Castlevania. Specifically, Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance on the GBA, supplemented by Super Castlevania IV for the Wii’s Virtual Console. There was also a lot …

Half-Life 2 (360)

I’ve just realised, but “Eli Vance” sounds like “elephants”. A bit. If you squint. Anyway. I made it all the way through Nova Prospekt, including a few bits where I got to place some turrets of my own (before Alyx activated them). Found Eli, although couldn’t actually release him at first, until I made it to a teleporter and Dr. Mossman went loopy and did a runner with him. Eventually got my turn in the teleporter, and Alyx and I …

Half-Life 2 (360)

Played loads of this today, and finished the whole buggy section. It took longer than was probably necessary as I stopped at every junction, house and building to see what was inside – usually ammo I didn’t need and baddies I certainly didn’t need. The buggy section, like the airboat bit before it, seemed to go on far too long. It was more fun than the airboat bit, and you actually felt like you were getting somewhere in it (whereas …

Half-Life 2 (360)

So Ravenholm is straight out of Resident Evil. They might not be actual zombies, but they’re no so different. And then there’s The Predator who jumps around the rooftops and climbs drainpipes. Oh, and the harder versions of the headcrabs who poison you as well as jump on your face. I didn’t really like Ravenholm that much. Nothing about it seemed like Half-Life to me at all, and the loon from the church just detracted further. After that, it was …

Psychonauts (Xbox)

So this was a surprise. In several ways. Firstly, I’m amazed my wife managed to get hold of a copy of this for me for Christmas. Then there’s the fact she thought to buy it in the first place (as it’s been on my Amazon wishlist for years). Then, and most amazingly, there’s the number of things that made me think about Super Mario Galaxy. It doesn’t lessen Mario, it just made me re-evaluate some of the “new-ness” of it. …

Peggle (iPod)

Working through the Challenge mode now, and some of them are bloody hard! Managed to do all the 35/45/55 peg challenges, and a few All Clears, but the 300,000 point ones are almost all beyond reach.

The day of presents

Hurrah! Big Hairy Jesus Day is upon us, and gifts galore were unwrapped. So, in the style of first day of term playgroud boasting, what did you get? Personally, I snagged a pile of games I’ve been after for a while, including Psychonauts, Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, and camp-tastic Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland. Amazing! Also: David Bowie albums FTW!

Did you know it’s Christmas time?

At all? Of course you did. It has been blatently obvious for the last three months, hasn’t it? Apparently, they want to remove religious connections to the event, so we don’t offend non-Christians. Or, alternatively (and perhaps more cynically) to allow non-Christians to take part in the happy spending of their money safe in the knowledge they won’t be upsetting their own god(s). Possibly. So my money is spent and the spoils are wrapped ready for tomorrow’s Great Unwrapping. And …

Half-Life 2 (360)

Played through a bit more of this this morning. There was a huge section on an air boat thing, which did seem to go on for longer than it really needed too, ending in a fight with the helicopter that had been chasing me for most of the game so far. After that, I found Eli’s lab, with Alyx inside, and spent a while playing catch with Dog – a robot. I could play catch, since I had been given …

Half-Life 2 (360)

Now, you see, I bought The Orange Box for Portal. And nothing else. Although I did think that perhaps I’d like Team Fortress 2 a bit, as although not my usual sort of game, the unseriousness of it appealed. And so It Was Done, and The Game of Orange was Purchased, and Lo, Portal was Divine and Team Fortress 2 was Lovely. There was much rejoicing. And today, I was going to play TF2 a bit more, for I thought, …