Yoshi Touch & Go

Ditto for this game. Balloon Pop mode, with a target of 127 or higher (to place me 3rd on Cyberscore). Sadly, it was not to be. I managed 123 (an improvement on my previous score of 103), which got me 4th place, however. I can't see how the current top score of 161 is possible. I'm sure I only missed 10 balloons at most, and even adding a bit of randomness, I can't see the maximum reaching that high.

Meteos

I was mainly playing today to try and improve some of my scores to add them to Cyberscore. Specifically, I tried to drop my 100 Meteo War time down from 9.17s to nearer 7s. No chance. AT the time of writing, 9.17 gets me 12th place on the Cyberscore chart for that mode. Pants.

Outrun 2

Some Xbox Live play on this today, mainly against madm0nkey, but also some other random people joined after the first race. I didn't win them all, but I didn't finish worse off than 2nd at all. My simian chum was rubbish, and lost all bar one. HA.

Meteos

Since all my unlocked planets had rubbish Deluge high scores of about 50,000, I decided to bump them all up to at least 60,000. Which is still rubbish, but some of them are now 70,000 or higher. Which, again, is still rubbish.

Tried to beat my 100 Meteo Time War time of 9.17 seconds, but failed. Mostly got times of about 10.50. Did manage to bring my 1000 Meteo time down to 1:47 from 3:03 though, which was good. Beat my scores for 2:00 Time War (now at 72,000ish) and 5:00 Time War (now 162,000ish), however.

With all that play, I'd managed to acrue enough meteos to unlock two more planets, so got scores of at least 60,000 for each of them. Played various Deluge planets trying to gain meteos in the hope I could unlock more, but after getting some 2,000 of almost every meteo type (except Dark, Glow, Soul and Time), nothing else became unlockable.

Astro Boy: Omega Factor: THE OMEGA!

Well. Luckily, the SuckySuck(TM) bit was only three bosses long, and, even though the third one was that stupid as-big-as-the-screen dung beetle thing, which kills you if you touch it (but you can't really avoid it as it's so huge), I managed it after many, many attempts. I'm sure developers put bits like that in otherwise excellent games just to irritate me.

After that, I had to kill Three Eyes (Sharaku), which was as easy as before only I had to avoid the middle of the screen due to a giant Death Mask thing there. And, finally, the end of game boss. Who was bloody simple. A relief, but also a bit strange.

But wait! That isn't the end! There's a bit somewhat like the end of Sonic 2 where you have to fly along and avoid stuff. Luckily, it wasn't hard.

And then the game was over! Hurrah!

Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Hoorah! The World's Strongest Robots si teh defeat0rised. Again. Turns out they were not quite as difficult as I was expecting this time round, and Pluto only took 326325 attempts instead of 9843965839. After that, it was Stage Hoppathon time, meeting people and collecting "clues". I would repeat them here, but they're both spoilers, and completely hatstand. So, fought a huuuuge great ninja robot, jousted with a robot on a robot horse, and generally got very, very confused.

And then the evil Dragonball Z reject baddie (Sharaku?) appeared, and I was forced off into another level. Firstly, there was the world's hardest shooty bit, with Super Giant Baddies of all sorts, and then, the entire game was let down.

SuckySuck(TM) Bit! GAH!

Boss-after-boss-after-boss, with no respite, no extra energy, and no save points between them. HATE.

Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Gah! Who decided to make the second run-through of the game about 89263864 times harder than the first? For starters, the baddies are now harder to kill (despite me being pretty well powered up compared to the first run), which doesn't help. Then there's the fact you have fewer restart points, so you have to get further through levels without dying.

Managed to make my way up to level 7-1 again - where the World's Strongest Robots are waiting. Again. Only harder.

The storyline has been a bit odd too, and I've found a few extra characters to talk to as well, which improves my power. Still sodding hard though!

Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Er, OK. So "Pluto" (no, not Mickey Mouse's dog, the big hornéd robot thing) wasn't impossible after all. Sodding hard, but not impossible. I've spent more time trying to kill him than actually playing the rest of the game so far.

Yes, "so far". Despite being the end of game boss, Pluto isn't the end of the game. Oh no - there's more. Lots more. Only, it's the same as before only different. Er. Yes.

Basically, after killing Pluto, you die. And so does everyone else. Game Over, credits, all that stuff. And then, you're resurrected at the beginning of the game, only knowing everything you knew already and are now supposed to prevent the nastiness that occurs (robots take over the world). This does explain how you're supposed to fill up the list of people you've met, I suppose.

In practice, this means you play all the levels again, only with a few differences here and there. I've done all of Stage 1, and three "bonus" bits. It isn't linear any more though, since you can jump from level to level at will, which allows you to "get clues" and open new areas. Or something.

The storyline was already confusing, and now it has become even more so. Tch.

Astro Boy: Omega Factor

OK, so I killed Buzzsaw Bloke, finally. In fact, on the go I actually killed him, I didn't even take a hit. The next boss, some kind of girly underwater bloke who summoned whales and purple spore things, was really easy, and was dead before I even realised what he was doing.

But.

The boss after that. A big green robot with horns and lasers and stuff. Who turns into a tornado thing and kills you in milliseconds. Who often even gets a hit in before you get a chance to move.

He is not nice. I have lost an hour's play to him so far, and he still isn't dead. I haven't even made him nearly dead. Impossible. FACT.

Astro Boy: Omega Factor

This game is a bit bloody hard, isn't it? I managed the green golum bit, and waded through more levels. Baddies so far have included flying fish, Easter Island heads on stone unicycles, ninja robots, a train, men in trenchcoats, bizarre Inca pigmies, and flying boats with rocket launchers. Some of the shooty sections are very much like Parodius, it would seem.

Now I'm on level 7, and it's boss-fight-a-go-go. It's almost a SuckySuck(TM) bit, but since I haven't fought any of these bosses before, it narrowly avoids it. Phew, eh?

That doesn't stop this robot who keeps turning into a circular saw any easier though. Stuck!

Astro Boy: Omega Factor

This was cheap at Evil Game at the weekend, so I bought it. Yes, I am weak. Again. But it's great! Platformy without much in the way of platforms, shooty but not really a shooter, and fighty but not a beat 'em up.

Up to level 2-4 so far, after beating up some bees and spiders, and a giant metal spider, and some other baddies, and a horse, duck and a rabbit in a tyre, and a soldier who can grow in size. And the sun.

I'm now stuck trying to kill four golem things simultaneously. It isn't working, even with my Arse Mounted Machine Gun.

Meteos

More Deluge mode play today. Does anyone know which planets I'm most likely to get Soul and Time meteos on? I'd really like to unlock more thingies...

Meteos

Just playing-to-unlock today. Managed my 13th planet, another weapon, another sound set, and found that you can create Soul and Time meteos from combinations of other meteos, which helps somewhat.

Timesplitters: Future Perfect: PERFECTED!

Yes indeed! Worked my way through the final four or five chapters, with a robot in tow for much of the way. Which was handy, since he killed more baddies than I did because I'm cowardly. Highlights included driving a tank with your future self as gunner (then swapping over), taking remote control of a giant Mech, destroying a giant Mech, taking out Jakob Crow in his bizarre part-man, part-machine, part-Timesplitter guise, and doing some other things which are spoilers.

Spotted more jokes and game/film asides today too, including "I am Legion!", "Rosebud!", several Terminator references, and stuff. Great.

And then I completed it. Hurrah!

Timesplitters: Future Perfect

Two-player Xbox Live fun and japes today, mainly in million-way deathmatch. We are crap in comparison to those we played against, although we never came last, which is always nice. One of the maps we played on seemed to be "player designed", as it was really small, and rubbish. There was one section you could get in, which was great for sniping, but you couldn't get out again. Stupid.

Meteos

Deluge mode again. I have 12 planets unlocked now, so went through them all trying to get high scores on each of over 50,000. Yes, I know that isn't very high.

I need more Glow and Time meteos though, and I don't know how the heck you're supposed to get them.

Meteos

More play on Deluge mode today, racking up the Meteos and unlocked a few more things - mostly sounds, I think. I think I'm getting the hang of the more-than-frantic hold-the-drop-button-down-constantly way of playing, although I sometimes feel I'm just randomly rubbing the screen, or at best vaguely rubbing in the right place.

Timesplitters: Future Perfect

Two more levels completed now - both set in 2052 or something. Some more gaming in-jokes here too, with you picking up a lab suit and being called "Gordon" (from Half-Life), and some Doom 3 type sections too. And mutants who explode themselves at you. Nice.

Oh yes! There's a cleaning robot you activate too, not unlike the skutters from Red Dwarf, and plenty of Robocop bits. Excellent. And forget two Cortezeses, as one of the sections has four. BEST.

So, following a blunder by Cortez (basically outlining to Jakob Crow, the evil baddie, what his world domination plans should be before he thinks of them - duh!), I'm now even further into the future. And it's all gone Terminator. Hurrah!

Meteos

No way in hell am I going to beat 9.17s for 100-Meteo War mode now. So I didn't try. Instead, I attempted 1000-Meteo War mode several times, finally completing it in 3:03.58. Pretty poor, but at least it is done.

"Fused" a few more items, and then fused some planets and played on those for a bit. My "Deluge" mode scores range from 35,000 to 120,000 currently. Not sure if that's good or bad. Bad, probably.

Meteos

HAHAHAHAHAHA! I AM BEST! FOR I, BESTEST EVAAR, GOT A BEST TIME OF 9.17 SECONDS FOR 100-METEO WAR MODE. BEST! ME! WINNAR!

Ahem.

Timesplitters: Future Perfect

Online-only play on Timesplitters this evening. Had about 6 Deathmatches - mainly against random people, but did play against someone from the Retro Gamer forums in one of the matches.

Didn't do fantastically well, but did manage to come third or fourth on all of the rounds - with 6 to 9 players in each round. Not too bad then.

Timesplitters: Future Perfect

Enjoying this so far. I might even complete it. You never know. Went back and completed the level with Harry Tipper, and the train level following it. Homage to Goldeneye, by the same developers? Perhaps... At the end of the level there was a puzzle thing to stop the nuclear missile being launched, and a fight with a guy with a rocket pack. Obviously.

The next two levels were obviously inspired by Resident Evil. Firstly, it was set in a mansion (with hidden underground lab), secondly, it was full of zombies, and thirdly, some of the zombies looked like characters from Resident Evil. It wasn't nearly as hard as that other game though - not even the giant boss in the middle (who also made a return at the end). Oh yes, and there's a mine cart section - hurrah!

Meteos

Nothing specific on this, although I did manage to get the 100-Meteos mode time down to about 15 seconds. Apparently, you need to drop it below 10 to be hardcore super-1337. So that won't be happening any time soon, then.

Played a few of the other modes too, and unlocked some more sounds in the Fusion section.

Devilish

World 3 completed now. I see they've started recycling bosses already though - the one at the end here was just two of the spiders from World 1. The game's flaws are becoming apparent now too - bounce angles are only in 45 degree steps, for a start. And it is pretty repetitive. But still fun.

Devilish

Just worked my way through World 2 on this. Not that it took very long, although the boss at the end was a bit of a pain. Luckily, my ball got trapped between its head and the wall on my third attempt, and it died pretty quickly.

Bomberman

I hadn't realised that you could play multiplayer mode on your own, and have bots make up the rest of the players, until Tim Miller mentioned it in uk.games.video.handheld today. So I did a bit o'that. And very good it is too - especially the mode where there are a billion powerups available right at the start.

Meteos

More play on this. Managed to complete the other Star Trip "levels", and finished more trials and stuff. Played "simple" mode for a while too, against three CPU players - mainly to gain Meteos to fuse in the Fusion section.

Meteos

I completed the first Star Trip mode today. It was actually pretty easy. Also played some of the Deluge and timed modes, but didn't get any particularly impressive scores.

Found an option called "Fusion", which seems to let me create new planets and Meteos and sound test things and stuff, so I did some of them too.

Meteos

The US version of this DS puzzle game arrived from Videogamesplus this morning - just in time for me to take it away to a conference with me. Played it a little this evening.

BEST EVAAR.

Hectic, frantic, spastic, fantastic, arsenic and other words ending with "ic". It is sort of like Columns, only a bit more like Zoo Keeper. Only not like either. And it has rockets.

But it is very good.

Timesplitters: Future Perfect

Played a bit more on this this evening. Mainly had a go at the challenges, but didn't get very far. I have completed all three cat racing levels though.

Had a few online games against the Retro Gamer forums people - one hit kills with only baseball bats and bricks as weapons. Excellent. Even though I was crap and came last.

Timesplitters: Future Perfect

Spent a couple of hours on this today. I completed the "pre-mission mission", and also the first proper mission in the castle thing. It all seems much like Timesplitters 2 so far. I failed the mission with Harry Tipper, though. I don't understand how Cortez doesn't know who he is, even though he met him in TS2. Very odd. I died once I'd set the water running, and didn't realise that people would then see through my disguise and try and shoot me. Tch.

Had a go online then, but the game we were playing on was set up so that the only weapons available seemed to be remote mines (that I couldn't detonate), a baseball bat, and grenades. Even though I didn't get blown up, I still seemed to die with one-hit kills, despite that setting being turned off. Bizarre.

Tried a few challenges then, including a brick throwing one (failed), and the BEST GAME EVAAR - Cat Racing. Excellent.

Bomberman: EXPLODED!

What a shock! There was an Ice World, a Lava World and a Castle World! I must be psychic or something. And then there was a Crystal World, with the most irritating baddies in the world EVAR in it - giant bomb creatures that explode themselves (but don't die). On the one hand, they're great as they wipe out some of the other baddies by themselves. On the other hand, they tend to sit next to the exit and blow it up (which releases more baddies).

But that doesn't matter now, as World 10-9 was completed, and the End of Game Boss was defeated. And The Game Was Over.

Bomberman

World 5-5 now. Looks as though all the game stereotypical stages are in this one - Desert World, Grass World, Forest World, etc. Ice World is up next, I think, and then Lava World. There's bound to be a castle at some point too.

I have racked up so many powerups now that it is just silly. I have over 60 bombs I can activate, should I die, but I'm sticking to four at a time for the moment. I have five speedups, and five fire-enlongerers at a time too.