Last night was cold and dark and cold. And dark. But mainly cold. So cold that the roads had started to freeze over while I was out on the bike, making junctions and corners much slower than normal and I generally just had to be more careful. However, despite all this, I took my “miles cycled to date this year” figure to just over 100 miles. That’s 103 miles in 17 days – and yes, I’ve managed a bike ride …
Back in the day, I completed this on the GBA. But that was about 8 years ago, and it is such a good game that I really got into playing it again when I got it for free on my 3DS. It is still excellent, and still the best Wario Ware title. Not that the others were bad – just that this one is the most pure. Or something. Completed it today, and found it far easier than I remember …
You know how I said it was a bit meh to start with? Well, it got a lot better and I was really getting into it. And then the final level happened. What follows is spoilers, so you may wish to look away. 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 …
Although I’d have ended up buying this at some point anyway (it’s a Mario game, so obviously), there was an issue doing so due to last year’s £18 Rule – and Mario games almost never dip much in price. That rule has now expired though, replaced with the far more gruelling Pound-A-Mile Rule, which still encourages finding the lowest price for anything without the limit. Instead, there’s just the limit of how far my little legs can cycle. But I digress. As …
Look! Mario Kart is out for the iPhone! Sorry, not Mario Kart. Some other game that’s nothing like it.
So, I’ve had 8 days of the Pound-a-Mile challenge. My legs hurt. In a good way, though. I think. In those 8 days, I have already blown my required 17.5 miles-a-week average out of the water, cycling over 50 miles. OK, that’s 8 days not 7, but still. It was 40 on the 7th day anyway. And you know what? I’ve enjoyed it. Sure, I’ve not enjoyed the oh-god-its-2-degrees-outside, 25-mph-winds-WHATness of last week, but after a couple of miles on each …
I decided to plod on with this some more, mainly because it wasn’t terrible and I’ve not got anything else on the go at the moment. I’m glad I did. 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 …
My first completed game of 2012! Unlike Super Street Fighter IV, I didn’t class this as complete by beating the final boss as every character. Instead, I’m basing it on completing Story Mode (or Chronicle, as it’s called). In this mode, you play through the plot of all the Dead or Alive series, one after another. Well, I say plot – it’s all a bit bizarre and doesn’t make a lot of sense. Mind you, I’ve never really played Dead …
In previous years, I’ve attempted to curb my game spending and encourage myself to actually complete games I have by gradually reducing the amount of money I’m allowed to spend on them. These were known as the £25, £20 and £18 Rules. Last year, I kept to the £18 Rule – meaning I’ve currently missed out on Mario 3D Land, Skyrim and Batman Arkham City, as they’re not cheap enough (yet) for me to buy. That isn’t a problem though, …
At the start of 2010, I began recording the price of everything I bought that was gaming related. At the end of the year, I put together the stats. That was all well and good at the time, but without anything to compare it to, it meant nothing. Until now! I’ve not bothered with a dull list of each and every game I’ve bought in this post (they’re pretty much all on my Gaming Diary anyway), but I do have …
A roundup of some of the games I’ve been playing in the last couple of weeks: Pullblox (3DS) Completed this a while back, but have gone back to finish some of the bonus levels that you unlock, and some of the user generated ones I’ve found strewn across the internets. It’s still lovely. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (360) Returned to mop up a few more achievements and actually play some of the side missions and games I’d totally missed. There are …
Despite enjoying the original Scribblenauts, I didn’t buy the sequel (until I saw it for a fiver in Morrisons this week) for several reasons. Firstly, the later levels on the original were too hard. Not hard to find the items you have to draw, but more hard because of the fiddly controls (mainly moving Maxwell) and trying not to knock stuff over or position things slightly wrongly. There were also a lot of platforming sections, or “peril” situations where it …
I got this for Christmas, and it’s the main thing I’ve been playing then and all this week. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is the best Mario Kart game yet. It doesn’t have the silly gimmicks of the GC and Wii games. It’s graphically better than all previous titles. It doesn’t have the big empty tracks of the N64 version. And it has a return of the coins from the GBA and SNES games. It also seems that …
Another game series ruined by Sega. The first two Super Monkey Ball games were awesome, but they slid down to this – an overly simplified, challenge-free entry into the series. Levels have barriers or “grooves” so you don’t die. There are no tricky turns, no jumps, no difficult levels at all. In fact, I found myself finishing most worlds with more lives than I started with. Still, it was fun. Ish. Shame it didn’t carry on with another 8 worlds …
14 hours in, and the main 198 levels are, finally, completed! There were some real head scratchers in the last few sets of puzzles, but thankfully my “tactic” of leaving a level I was finding impossible, then returning the next day, seemed to help. Of course, there are now the 50 or so bonus levels, and untold user-made levels to work through, so it isn’t the end really. Fantastic game, well worth the £5.40 or whatever it was, and far …
