10 years ago today, on the 1st January 2005, I posted my very first Gaming Diary post. Back then, I was using Blogger and it uploaded posts via FTP to my own server when I published. After a few years, Google decided to discontinue this ability, leaving me with three options: give my domain name to Google and continue with Blogger, change to a Blogger or Blogspot URL and continue with Blogger, or cut the cord and import the lot …
In a (very) late entry into completed games in the year 2014, I give you Pop’n TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventures! It’s not a shoot ’em up like the other Pop’n TwinBee games – instead being a platformer with some elements borrowed from the likes of Castle of Illusion, Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario World, but somehow totally different from all of them. Whereas in the shooter games in the series you pilot a cute spacecraft and take down other …
Fantasy Life (3DS) It’s like 8 RPGs in one! I chose my first life to be a Paladin, applying the logic that any combat required in the other lives may benefit from my skills as a trained killer. Or something. I’m not very far in, only a couple of hours, but I’m already engrossed in the seemingly endless number of sidequests (which, unlike most RPGs, actually affect your progression in the game in a big way), and the game is …
After the slight drop in quality that Mega Man 5 brought to the series, I was glad to see that things improved for the final NES Mega Man outing. As I’ve mentioned before, each game so far has added some new move, add-on or feature to the series. Mega Man 6 sort of brings two, as Rush is removed as a rocket/trampoline and becomes a sort of exoskeleton for Mega Man, giving him two new powers – a jetpack (which …
Perhaps I was a little hard on this. I gave it another go, and found I really started to enjoy it. Yes, it’s still a Super Space Invaders clone, but the levels are more varied and the power-ups you can collect add something to the game. In fact, I not only completed Titan Attacks!, I looped the entire game twice, picking up all the trophies in the process. Which makes it my first Playstation title where I’ve got all the …
Roundup time! Hyrule Warriors (Wii U) With over 80 hours racked up now, this became my most played Wii U title some time ago. No matter how repetitive it seems to be, even playing exactly the same mission over and over with the same character, it never gets boring. I have now at least started the Master Quest from the first set of DLC, albeit to just play about four missions to see what they were like. Since then, there’s …
Yes, this did take a while longer than previous Mega Mans (Men?). Not in terms of actual play time, as this came in at a little over 4 hours, so slightly shorter than Mega Man 4 (bucking the trend of Mega Man games getting longer in sequence!), but in terms of number of weeks over which I played it. My excuse is HYRULE WARRIORS, which has eaten most of any game time I have. I’ll turn the Wii U on, …
What? Two Vita games completed? What will the neighbours say? I mainly bought this game as a bit of a joke. I didn’t think I’d get drawn in and certainly didn’t expect to complete it. I just thought it was a silly game with a silly premise and wouldn’t really be very good. I was wrong. For the first few hours, I had issues with the controls and the camera. I wasn’t enjoying the combat, and there was a massive …
Let me tell you all about this game and I will tell you all about this game now: You’re a boy who goes for a job interview then wakes up strapped to a table before being told he’s going to be a vampire or something then a girl in a negligee carrying a parasol rescues you and you fight and flee but are mortally injured and all that can save you is this girl’s blood so she bites her lip …
My first completed Vita game! And probably my last, seeing as I don’t see myself ever playing on it again. Rather like my PSP, actually. But the game, though, was fun. The just one more go factor was extremely high, and the need for greed too strong to just go for the win too early. So many attempts at finding a new boss to beat ended up becoming treasure runs, and once I’d unlocked Spelunker as a character class, I …
It’s a been a little while since I posted, so a round-up of recent gaming adventures… Hyrule Warriors (Wii U) Almost 50 hours have been spent on this now. It’s such an addictive game, and considering how few level maps there are (maybe 10?) there’s so much actual game content and variety. With loads of weapons still to unlock, and several characters still mostly unused, never mind a yet-to-be-started Master Quest mode, there’s a lot left to do. Most recently, …
On the one hand, this is a perfectly serviceable Metroidvania style game with meaty Batman Arkham type combat and a story to follow on from the Arkham Origins game. On the other hand, it’s a 2D game that tries to fit into a 3D space, with the plane you’re on frequently changing and disorientating you, and a map that serves to confuse as much as direct. Detective Mode returns, but is rarely sufficient to show where to go or what …
I was able to get hold of a free copy of this from someone, and felt a little guilty I hadn’t spent the feeble 89p or whatever it usually costs. Having played it, though, I’m not any more. It isn’t a bad game at all, but it suffers from two problems: It’s too random, and it’s too short. The idea is to tap on grey blocks, making all of them disappear, leaving a single red block balanced somewhere without it …
Finally! After $hlmun attempts at beating the Emperor in the final country, I won! Why did it take so many attempts? Because it’s entirely down to luck whether you win or not. You see, unlike the previous battles where you can choose how many of each type of army to use, and the order to send them out (and the ability to spy on the enemy to find out what they’re going to send out), the final battle is five random …
I hope my B, and to a slightly lesser extent, Y buttons are OK. In my twelve hours running through the main Legend Mode campaign, I’ve pressed them rather a lot. I don’t think they’re worn out, but not since I played one of those “shooting watch” games have I hit a button so many times. Mash mash mash mash mash. BBY. BBBY. BBBBY. Other variations, peppered with ZR (bombs, usually) and the odd X to pull off a special …
