Progress Bar Champion (360)

I didn’t intend to play this game, but every time I’ve turned my Xbox on this week it has decided to make me play it anyway. I’ve not been able to play anything else much, as each “level” of Progress Bar Champion is between 45 minutes and an hour long and I’m locked into the game until the level is complete. I have managed to reach level 4, but they don’t really get any harder. Or different, in fact. All …

There are no words, only pictures

There are few people on the internet I’d consider a friend. You know, like a “proper” friend, like you’d have offline. One was Owen Allaway, also known variously as username takeup would allow, as The Rev and That Rev Chap. He’d been a part of pretty much every online community I frequent for more than 10 years, and I’d played happy fun blue sky games like Animal Crossing and Viva Pinata online with him and his wife more times than …

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 (iPhone): COMPLETED!

Er, hurrah? I think? I’ll write more about the game itself at a later date when I’m in a more ranty, wordy mood, but needless to say it wasn’t great. There were great bits, and the idea was mostly sound, but the wrong physics and totally not-Sonic feel to it (despite visually being a clone of previous (better) Sonic titles just broke it. But I’ve completed it now. Sans emeralds, but the Special Stage is too ridiculous to attempt any …

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 (iPhone)

I said I wouldn’t buy it. I wasn’t going to buy it. I really didn’t want to buy it. Really. But of course, I did. Rubbish. But is it actually any good? Could it be a surprise? In many ways, it does a lot right. Like, very right. Splash Hill, for instance – it’s ace. First level of Lost Labyrinth? Excellent. Mad Gear 3? Lovely. But some of it, like the nonsense of “get 100,000 points!” in Casino Nig^H^H^HStreet 2, …

Peggle Nights (iPhone): COMPLETED!

Since I’d never played Peggle Nights, but have completed Peggle on both the iPod Nano and XBLA, I thought I’d play Nights first. And… it’s just Peggle. Only with different levels. After a couple of days play (doing levels here and there) I completed it. There’s not a lot to say, really, except that as before, it’s addictive and frustrating in equal measure. And is only 59p! Er, so long as you’ve already bought Peggle (which was also 59p) of …

Let’s Play! Flunky

In the Spectrum days, some of the most graphically impressive games came from Don Priestley. Oversized graphics were his trademark, and his games were a mixture of puzzle and arcade. The first I ever played was Flunky, where you play a hard working butler in the Royal household. Find freckles for Fergie! Help Prince Andrew play boats in his bath! Avoid being shot by beefeaters, for seemingly no reason! Amazing.

I hate myself

Clearly this is true. If it were not true, why would I punish myself so? Why, after all my posts and tweets and moans about Sega and Sonic and how I hate them now and never ever want to see another Sonic game, did this happen? In case it isn’t obvious, this is a screenshot of the end of the first level of the iPhone version Sonic 4. Which I downloaded in my lunchbreak. YES. I BOUGHT SONIC 4. Don’t …

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor (iPhone): COMPLETED!

T’other day, there was a big sale on the App Store, with loads of iPhone games reduced to 59p and £1.19. S:TSOBM was one of those, and I bought it. And so it came to pass, it was the second iPhone game I completed! Took about 3 hours in total, I’d say. Yes, I could have done it quicker, but I tried to get every insect on every level, so it took longer. So there. Perhaps I should explain the …

Monster Hunter Tri (Wii)

Another week of playing very little but this. After the stumbling block of getting the water sword, I’ve been progressing quickly – seeing off many of the 4* quests without any bother, including the Great Baggi quest, and the combo of a Great Jaggi and a Barroth – together. The Jaggi/Barroth quest was made somewhat harder by the mid-fight arrival of a Qurupeco, so I had to fight all three at once. I also saw off the Lagiacrus much more …

Monster Hunter Tri (Wii)

Hooray! I’m back in! After more than 70 kills or captures of Royal Ludroths, I finally got a crest drop! It came on a(nother) replay of the 3* Royal Ludroth hunt quest, appearing in the quest rewards after defeating him. Many many times I’ve already done this quest, and nothing. Gah! But I’m over that little hurdle now, and am well away again. With the crest, I forged a new sword with water powaz, which I used to slaughter the …

Why Sega should just give up and die

When I got my Megadrive in the early 1990s, it was for one single game – Sonic the Hedgehog. I’d played it often at the local game shop, and didn’t just want it, I needed it. Once I had my own Sega console to play it on, I was hooked on Sega games. In fact, for a good decade or so, I loved pretty much all of Sega’s major-title output – I suppose I was a Sega Fanboy (although Mario …