Outrun Online Arcade (360): COMPLETED!

Well, I did say that online was the main bit of Outrun, didn’t I? “Completed”, in case you’re wondering, entailed this: completing every Goal from A-E, and the 15 Stage mode, all on Normal difficulty. Yeah, a bit short, but never mind. I did try some time trials, but there’s no way on earth I’ll ever manage to get the achievements for them. 4:30 to reach a goal? My fastest time, with no mess-ups, crashes, and very little off-roading, was …

GTAIV: The Lost and Damned (360): COMPLETED!

Erm, right. That was a bit short, wasn’t it? Yeah, so I have 11 of the 12 races left, and some of the gang warfare stuff, but I’ve done everything else. And it took me about 8 hours. I’m sure I read somewhere that The Lost and Damned expansion was supposed to provide “around 35 hours” extra gameplay. If so, I’d love to know where it was. Not that it really matters as I enjoyed it all anyway. At first …

Mirror’s Edge (360): COMPLETED!

It would appear that Mirror’s Edge is somewhat shorter than I was expecting. There’s only 9 chapters, and aside from a couple of bits that I was obviously doing the wrong way (a car park and the security servers bits), it wasn’t that hard either – even though I was playing it on Normal and refusing to use guns. That isn’t to say it’s bad – far from it. It’s just over a bit soon, that’s all. I only paid …

Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine (360): COMPLETED!

One of the achievements for the Megadrive Collection on the 360 required the completion of this game. In fact, it’s the only achievement that actually requires you to complete a game. So I completed it. Strangely, Dr Robotnik (or Eggman, as he’s properly called) was actually easier than the three or four preceding opponents, as I beat him first attempt.

Lego Batman (360): COMPLETED!

Of course, I haven’t yet completed it 100%, but I’ve done all the story missions (and got Super Hero/Super Villain on them all) and the two bonus levels. It really is a great game, and so much bigger than Lego Indiana Jones. I do get the feeling some of the suits for Batman and Robin are a bit of a contrived device, and swapping characters and suits in Free Play mode is a bit of a chore as there are …

Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People – Episode 3 (Wii): COMPLETED!

Hurrah! I’m winner! This episode was, in general, easier than the previous two. I don’t know why, unless I’m just more closely tuned now to the way the logic in the game works or something. Anyway, second best episode so far. With the order being 1 > 3 > 2. But they’re all ace.

Miner Dig Deep (360): COMPLETED!

What a great Community Game. It really was a lot lie Diggers, but easier to control and with less resource management. I won’t spoil the end, but basically all you have to do to win is dig to a certain depth and find… something. It ws quite addictive, and the must-collect-everything gameplay was OCD heaven. And for what was what – £1.50? – an absolute bargain.

Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage (360): COMPLETED!

It would appear that the entire Anchorage simulation within Fallout 3 is only about 4 hours long in total. That’s not really a bad thing as such, it’s just I was hoping it might be a little bit longer. Having said that, I enjoyed it despite it not really feeling like Fallout 3 much. It was very linear, heavy on the shooting, and completely different in terms of ammo and health management. Looking forward to the other two planned extra …

Lego Indiana Jones (360): COMPLETED!

OK, so I haven’t 100%’d it yet. And I’ve only managed to get 17 of the 18 True Adventurer targets. Strangely, I managed all 17 first go without even trying, whereas the one I missed (“Motorcycle Escape” on Last Crusade) just seems impossible – not least because of all the rocket launcher men that appear right at the end. But I’ll keep playing – at least to get all 18, and I’ll probably go for all the parcels to post …

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS): COMPLETED!

Hurrah! My first game of the year completed, and the first since the birth of my daughter. It seems fatherhood and gaming can co-exist after all! Some of the final puzzles were very hard, but I’m pleased I managed to complete all of them (well, the 113 of the 120 I found) without losing any Picorats or spending any Hint Coins. After completing the game, I went back to find some more puzzles, managing to locate all bar one. I …

Banjo-Kazooie (360): COMPLETED!

Played this a lot yesterday and today, culminating in a 100% completion this afternoon. Although I’ve played it a few times before (on the N64), I never, ever, managed to defeat the final boss. Today, however, I did – and after only 4 or 5 attempts! She was still hard, but for some reason I found it very easy on my successful attempt, losing hardly any life at all (and none until the final Jinjonator bit). So, complete! I still …

World of Goo (Wii): COMPLETED!

It took about 5 or 6 hours in total, but I’ve completed World of Goo. And what a lovely game it was too – clever, original, fun and funny. The levels were varied, some were incredibly difficult, and the “narration” by the mysterious sign painter was often hilarious. And it was weird. Really weird. Especially the bit in the Information Superhighway.

A Kingdom for Keflings (360): COMPLETED!

Well, there’s no ending as such, but you get a message saying you’ve built a castle and now all that remains is to customise your kingdom. Since customising it doesn’t achieve anything, and I’ve now got all the single-player (and one of the multiplayer) achievements, I can call this “done”. Seven and a half hours of stress-free, dangerless gaming. Yay!