Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)

After yesterday’s rampage, I spent ages getting my garden back together. Looking back, it probably would have been easier to start again from scratch in a new garden, as there was nothing left worth keeping (a few flutterscotches, whirlms and bispottis was about it). With much rebuilding, I finally had a garden full of stuff again. I suppose it’s about time I started concentrating on romancing various species, but with sours coming in every five seconds (not to mention Professor …

Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS): COMPLETED!

Well, hand cramp or no, I completed it this afternoon. It had to be done in three sittings as it hurt so much, but eventually I managed it. So, yeah. Not a bad game, just not really suited for the DS. And the track list is, aside from a few songs, somewhat worse than other Guitar Hero games. But I only paid £12 for it, so I’m not going to complain too much.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)

Played up as far as level 21 today. I had loads of stuff in my garden, pinata aplenty, and then two sours came in at once and left a pile of hemlock seeds. Which multiplied faster than I could get rid of them, and soon 90% of my pinata were dead or dying, and I had no money to use to “sell” the weeds, or cure my pinata. Disaster! In the end, I had to dig a river to cut …

Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)

It’s Guitar Hero! On the DS! With added hand cramp! That’s right – hand cramp. It’s pretty much all the DS version brings to the game, actually. No matter which way I hold it, I get cramp on my little finger and wrist. Not that my little finger is of much use, as I can barely reach the blue button with it, meaning I have no hope at all with the harder difficulty levels. But I persevered with it, and …

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)

I 100%ed the original Viva Pinata. Every reward, every achievement, every pinata, every plant… everything. It took about 60 hours. The sequel arrived this week. It’s bigger. Yes, bigger than 60 hours. So I made a start. After around two hours play, I was on level 14, having gained no achievements, but filling my garden with loads of different pinata. I’ve had a few from the pinartic, a couple from the desert, and loads of wander-in-ers. But there’s too much …

Still Alive DS (DS)

Still Alive DS is a freeware game you can run on your DS if you have one of those evil, obviously only used for piracy, flash cards. Like an R4 or something. It’s a 2D sort-of remake of Portal, featuring the same sorts of puzzles, turrets, cubes and plasma balls, as well as the two-portal gameplay. It’s a bit fiddly to control, and it doesn’t look all that amazing, but it’s a solid, clever puzzler. Unfortunately, I’ve now come to …

Pure Demo (360)

I’m actually rather impressed! It looks great, controls pretty well, and was fun to play! Quite a surprise, actually. I’m not sure I want to buy it, but if I see it really cheap I’d certainly be tempted.

The Simpsons Game (360): COMPLETED!

After yesterday’s play, there was actually just one level remaining: Heaven. And oh. My. If the previous levels were funny, this was twice that. Or more. From having to beat God at Dance Dance Revolution, to God saying “Oh f–“, to God saying he’ll do anything to get his Oblivion save game back as he was on the end boss. I don’t think I’ve ever played a game as funny as this. Yeah, there are nasty control and camera issues, …

The Simpsons Game (360)

I finished the remaining game-parody levels in The Game Engine today. I loved the Gauntlet and Joust sections of NeverQuest. “Save keys to open doors!” was amazing. Medal of Homer was better than I was anticipating too, especially the way they called the French “cheese eating surrender monkeys”. Then it was into Matt Groening’s mansion. Oh my. It was a boss battle, but was amazing! From his dig at Seth “Family Guy” MacFarlane, to the way he kept drawing Bender …

The Simpsons Game (360)

Started, played, and completed the Grand Theft Scratchy level. It was OK, although a little repetitive. Once again however, the references improve things tenfold. There’s the way the level starts in a close-enough replica of Grove Street from GTA San Andreas. Then there’s the Missile Command subgame. And the fact that Poochy is the end of level boss. And, of course, Marge yelling “all my bitches” and stuff. Amaze.

The Simpsons Game (360)

I bought this yesterday, in a deal where I got this and Mass Effect for £22.50, which was pretty good. It’s also the only thing I’ve played (so far) this weekend. First of all, I should point out that as a game, it’s nothing new. It suffers from the same irritations as most cheap and crap platformers (wonky camera, dodgy controls, item collection, and so on). However, it knows this. It even takes the michael out of itself as a …

Beautiful Katamari (360)

GAAAAAaaAGH! Hate hate hate! I spent ages making more planets and suns and stuff, so I had plenty in the sky to roll up to make the 1,500,000km Katamari. And guess what? Fail! Again! Once more, I ended up with a 1,250,000km-ish Katamari, and an accidental fall into the black hole. So! Annoying!

Xbox Live Arcade New Game Day Demos (360)

There were three new games on XBLA today, and I tried the demos of them all. Oh, what a bad week… Shred NebulaRubbish shooter with wonky controls. Pirates vs Ninjas DodgeballRubbish fighting game (well, it is!) with stupid too-far-away camera. Gin RummyRubbish card game. Well, OK – it isn’t rubbish, but it’s not very exciting.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP)

I’ve been playing this a bit for the last few days. It’s very good, but I can’t help thinking the GBA Tactics game is better. I keep getting frustrated with the default camera angle, and the way I have to adjust the field rotation every couple of moves. But it’s a more-than-decent SRPG, and the story is already full of twists and betrayals and all sorts. I’m slightly concerned that, after 9 hours play, I’m still only on level 8 …