Managed to outrun the SA-X this time. I didn’t realise you could shoot it with ice missiles to freeze it. I didn’t have a lot of energy left afterwards, so had to limp my way to a save point. The SA-X can kill you in two hits, even if you have some 600 units of health. Nasty. After that, I found the cause of the vegetation growth – another boss. This one was pretty wasy, but took some 753265 missiles …
It took another three attempts, but Mr Spider is teh dead. WIN. Well, WIN for a bit, since there’s more of the game left. He did give me the Space Jump, however, which was nice. Not that I can control it properly, of course. Wandered around a bit looking for the “cause of the vegetation” that is blocking up the main power silo of the research lab. Found an entrance to somewhere, but the SA-X was lurking in there too …
Jumpy shooty killy explodey fun later (including another run-in and escape-from the SA-X Evil Me), and I make it back to my ship. There I’m told that the power is down everywhere, and I need to find the cause. Some maze navigation ensues, and I kill some X-Space Pirate thingies, and run into a giant spider. Who kills me in about three hits. Boo.
Still plugging my way through this. Started and got through Sector 3, killed a security robot, and then had to move onto Sector 6. Picked up the Varia suit from the boss at the end, which means I can now go in ice and fire areas. One of which was Sector 5, which was next. “Completed” Sector 5, and an alarm went off – I had to rush back to Sector 3 and run through it all to a room …
It looks like I spoke to soon about always having your hand held as to what to do next, since I spent a merry half an hour stuck. Finally found a route through Sector 2, and killed the eyeball boss thing. Then moved on to Sector 4, which was somewhat simpler to get around. Killed the boss there too – Sector 3 next, it seems. I have the super jump, ball jump, and power boost now too.
OK, so it’s more linear than Zero Mission. In a way, that’s actually a good thing. I did spend a fair amount of Zero wondering where the hell I was supposed to go next, so actually being told this time around is a good thing. Probably. I’ve done the bit at the beginning, and found and fixed the five atmospheric controller thingies, and then got into Area 2. I have the Charge Beam, Morph Ball and Power Bomb so far, …
Gah! I’m sure there’s a bug in this game, which randomly causes your mission to end when you blow up Orion capital ships. The mission I’m on, takes the form of a scouting session round a load of mostly destroyed ISS ships. And the mission is long, like 20 minutes or so. Then, as I’m heading back to the Excelsior, Orion pirates appear again. I blow up the ship, and even though I’m some 260,000, er, “things” away (you need …
The “Field of Hono(u)r” mission was really annoying me for much of today’s play. It’s a rock-Klingon-rock mission, but then two Orion ships appear and loads of fighters. I managed to kill the Klingons and the rocks, and one of the two Orion capital ships (the other ran away) – but the Orion fighters are so quick that they’re hard to kill. Invariably, that left the Excelsior blown up. That wasn’t the most irritating thing though – the time it …
I completed Metroid Zero Mission for the GBA some time before Christmas, and although this is considered to be not as good, I’ve just had a quick go and it seems to be more of the same. I don’t have any weapon power-ups or anything yet though, so things may change then. The graphics and sound are near identical too.
This arrived today, so I thought I’d give it a go. Chose Ken (since he is best), and set about Aracde Mode. The first thing I noticed, was that trying any fireball-type moves that need the L button on the GBA is pointless as they’re not possible. That aside, it plays well enough. The sound is bizarrely tinny and rubbish though. Beat Ryu with ease, ditto T. Hawk and Fei Long. Guile was harder (I lost a round), and then …
As expected, Brazil beat me. Although they didn’t beat me as badly as I thought they might – it was 1-0 to them in the second half of extra time. Bother. The match for third place was on, against The Netherlands. This too went into extra time, only this time it was I who scored in the dying minutes. Hurrah. Probably. Decided to start a league then. Chose Liverp^H^H^H^H^H^HMerseyside Red. My first match was against “West Midlands” or something, which …
Just the one track today. Technically, I played it more than once, trying out the other control methods. They’re rubbish, though, so I quit. Went back to d-pad control, and won the race – just getting first place on the last straight. I really need to figure out how to play without pinballing my way around the track.
Another attempt at an International Cup (as England) this evening. My group consisted of Japan, Latvia and Slovenia – all of which I drew with 0-0. Luckily, that got me enough points to limp through to the next round. There it was Czech Republic again. I beat them 1-0, although they were bloody hard to get the ball off. And onto the next round! Sweden. Bah. I got a goal past them in the first half, and thought I was …
This game really doesn’t want you to do much other than shoot things, does it? I finally managed to figure out how to release the Excelsior from the dry dock in time, before some big ships arrived to try and destroy me. But I defeated them, and it was onto the next mission. I had to destroy some more ships, then pick up some dilithium crystals, and then shoot more ships. Then the Enterprise appeared again, so I shot it …
So I shot some more Klingons, shot a rock for minerals, then shot some Klingons, then shot a rock for more minerals. Then I shot some Klingons, and then shot a rock. After that, I shot some Klingons, followed by a rock. Then Klingons. Then a rock. And some Klingons. And a rock. Riveting stuff, no? Finally, with all the Klingons and rocks out of the way, I flew back to the Excelsior. Sadly, there were some Klingons (but no …