Sensible World of Soccer (360)

I don’t know why I returned to this today, but I did. No online play, however, for two reasons: 1) they haven’t patched it yet, so I would assume it’s as crap and impossible to play as it was previously, and 2) no-one is playing online any more, presumably because of point 1. So I played lots of friendlies offline, won a lot (playing as Parma), then completed a few leagues coaching “London Reds”, eventually winning the Premier League. Aces!

Commanders: Attack (360)

Tried the demo, thought “OMG! It’s Advance Wars!”, and bought the full game. Played the training and first mission again once I’d bought it, and it really is very nice indeed. I think the points system (you can attack twice if you move less) and the few other differences to Advance Wars will take some getting used to, but it’s easing me in slowly so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Adventures of Lolo 2 (Wii)

I bought and downloaded this for the VC at the weekend, but for reasons explained elsewhere, didn’t really get a chance to play it. But today, I did. And very lovely it is to. Basically, it’s the same as the first game, which I played (and enjoyed) last year. If you don’t recall, it’s a Sokoban type game, where you have to collect hearts, then some treasure, then escape the room. However, you have to push blocks and take certain …

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii)

I played the original Saturn NiGHTS last year when I was having a Saturn Game Playing Phase, and was shocked at how badly it had aged. I could forgive the graphics, but the gameplay was dull, shallow, repetitive and simply not fun. Which meant I was sceptical about a new Wii version. And, sadly, it seems I was right to be. It’s the same. Of course, I shouldn’t really have expected anything else, should I? What I did expect, however, …

Half-Life 2: Episode One (360)

Erm, that was very quick. I know the game is meant to be short, but I’d heard around 5-6 hours. Imagine my surprise, then, when I killed the game’s one and only Strider and then the game finished, just three and a half hours in. So yes, it was good, but as well as it’s length it didn’t do anything new. The whole episode was made up of bits from Half-Life 2, only in a different order. Time for another …

ActiveSync and ZoneAlarm: Happy at last

I upgraded the free ZoneAlarm a few days ago, haven’t not done so in about 6 months, and was annoyed when it started asking me if I wanted to allow all the programs I’d previously allowed.¬¨‚Ć I thought upgrades were supposed to carry over the settings too? However, I’d noticed this morning that ActiveSync, which I use with my PDA/phone, wasn’t able to fully connect. It’ll see the phone when I plug it in, but can’t sync. Looking in ZoneAlarm’s …

Half-Life 2: Episode One (360)

With a few games since Half-Life 2 was completed, I felt it time to return to the story. I’d heard Episode One was pretty short too, so it’ll be good for a quick play before starting something else. So far, it’s more of the same. Sort of. No crowbar though! There was a bit at the start getting back into the Citadel, stablising the core, then getting the hell out. Then a train crash, then a bit in a multistory …

Onkyo breaks Wii Virtual Console: The Horror!

Noooo! My lovely shiny expensive sexy audio equipment has a flaw! A nasty horrid flaw! It seems that you can’t play Wii Virtual Console games through it. The picture splits in half, and the left half is on the right and vice versa. Then the screen goes black. And then I can’t use the Home button to bring up the menu, as when I do, the Wii crashes. Rubbish! Thankfully, I figured ot a workaround. Until now, everything that goes …

Rez HD (360)

Gah! I swear this is harder than when I played it on the PS2. Or even on the Dreamcast. I just can’t beat the Level 2 boss. In fact, this time, I didn’t even manage to reach it with better than just the starting “form” of your player. Rubbish.

Geometry Wars Galaxies (Wii): COMPLETED!

With two earlier levels completed on Silver (actually one was Silver, the other Gold), I had enough geoms to unlock the final planet. Which was really easy – I even got Gold on it! So that’s it – all done. Apart from going back and bettering my scores and leveling up the other drone states I’d not used much. Sweep and Turret are at max, Attack is almost there, but pretty much everything else is untouched. After completing the game, …