Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360)

Haven't played this in a few days, as Rocket Slime had taken over pretty much all of my gaming time this week. But, since I completed that earlier, I went back to SOTN.

It suddenly got hard. I've found loads of baddies who are difficult to kill and do stacks of damage. I've been trying to work my way back to the Entrance, or at least, where the entrance was in the right-way-up castle, and it's slow going. My brain refuses to rotate the castle I've got to know already, confusing me all the time. I've fought a few more bosses (including Medusa, who was easy), and found a few power-ups, though.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS): COMPLETED!

Finished working my way through the airship, and then fought Slival in his tank again at the end. Since he has no crew, he's really easy - especially if you go over to keep him busy while your crew hammer the tank.

After that was Don Clawleone, who was pretty easy to beat, but then he turned into The Dark One, who was a giant dragon tank thing. Erk!

Tankfully (oho!), Slival joined forced with me, and we merged our tanks to take on The Dark One, who had a staggering 1500HP. He drained my HP in under a minute, be we'd barely dented his - leaving me with no choice but to go over and try to top the ammo being loaded.

Luckily, there was only the possessed Clawleone inside, who, although a pain to kill, was kept from the controls whilst Slival slowly depleted the HP, before joining me to rush the engine. And lo! Game win!

...or not. I only had 90 slimes rescued! So, no end of game sequence. Off I went to revisit the other areas looking for slimes. It took a couple of hours, but I managed it. Most were in tanks I'd not seen first time through, and all the tank battles were really easy as I had an ubar-tank by then. One of the tanks was destroying in one hit - ace! Eventually, then, all the slimes were back in the town (helpfully, the last slime I found was the one who runs the shop, meaning I wasn't able to make use of the shop for the entire game...), and THEN it was game over and the credits rolled.

The pun-tacular credits. Listing all the "progoomers" and "gooduct management" team. The best one was the translation team - or rather, the "punslation" team. Now it all makes sense!

After that, I returned to the game as I'd unlocked Tank Masters mode - a series of tank-on-tank battles. Played through Rank C, then B, and now I'm on the last fight in Rank A. Incidently, my saved game file sits at about 14 hours.

What a great game. I'm amazed I really got into it, as I thought it was horrid just under a week ago...

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS)

Up to 84 slimes rescued now, and I think I must be nearing the end, as a giant airship has appeared with Don Clawleone on board. Yes, that's another pun right there.

I'm still missing slimes on earlier levels, though, and I can't find the two on Forewoods anywhere. I've searched the entire map, and even defeated the boss and tanks again just in case. Tch.

Have fought the first tank on board the airship, which was pretty easy. I have a great way of doing the tanks - just have your crew do most of the launching ammo, and nip over to the tank yourself and keep killing the enemy so they can't shoot stuff at you. Easy!

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS)

Saved all my family today - my sister first (after three tank battles in the Backwoods), and then my parents. The puns don't stop in this game, you know. Like one of the tanks I fought today: it was called "Fort Knight", and had the tagline "Not too weak". GONG!

It seems I can now do recipies too, having saved Krak Pot from the volcano. This means I can make use of my hoarding by mixing items to make more powerful ones. Excellent.

53 Slimes saved now!

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS)

45 Slimes GET! I'm slightly addicted to just collecting, well, stuff. Items, baddies, boxes, etc. I keep getting them and dumping them on the train, rather than using them and progressing any further into the game...

Also, I really should read the manual, as I didn't realise you could cycle the order of the items on your head using the R button. This made one of the puzzles somewhat easier.

Upped the HP of my tank a bit, and loaded some better ammo. Gone are the silly 3HP rocks, and in are the 22HP zapping 1000t weights! I've also ditched Hooly, and replaced him with a Jailcat, who seems to have a bit more in the way of brain cells.

Jetpac Refuelled (360)

Today's new XBLA game was this - a remake of the 1983 Spectrum game, which also includes the 1983 Spectrum game!

First up was a go on "Refuelled" mode (the new version). It's very much like the Jetpac of old, just with new graphics, some power-ups and smart-bombs. Thankfully, this just makes it feel like a very late sequel, rather than a new game hiding under the banner of a classic retro game (see: Sabrewulf for the GBA - urgh).

Progressed to level 8, getting a score of around 190,000. I thought that was pretty good, until I saw that SomethingWitty had over 260,000. Bah. Thankfully, I shot his feeble sub-7000 score on "Retro" mode to bits, with a 20,000 beater. TAKE THAT!

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS)

Am I keeping track of the number of slimes I'd saved? I can't remember. Anyway, I've saved 35 after today's play, which is (I would predict based on the number of "spaces" to fill) 35% complete! Hurrah!

Really into this now. I went back to Forewood Forest and have some more tank battles and saved some slimes, then progressed to the volcano level and did the same. One of the tanks I fought made me laugh, as it was called "Chrono Twigger". You know, like Chrono Trigger, see? Guffaws all round.

I've beefed up my tank a fair bit today too, and it now has a hefty 240HP instead of the 100HP it had at the start of play. I can also make use of a crew in my tank, so I plumped for two who could operate the cannons, and Hooly who could sabotage the other tank. Aces.

Castlevania (Wii)

The very first NES Castlevania at that. It appeared on the Wii's Virtual Console downloads last Friday, so I downloaded it but didn't play it until today.

Some people have said that Super Castlevania IV is a sort of remake of the original game, rather than a proper sequel. Konami themselves have retconned the story a couple of times themselves, so that it was, and then it wasn't - so I'm not sure how it stands officially now. Either way, going back to Castlevania and it's clear that they're similar. Very similar, in fact.

I'm on Stage 6, where things have started to get difficult. There's no fancy effects, no whippy-swingy, and some enemies are missing, but so far, it's all given me a bit of deja vu...

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360)

After a very short journey to the middle of the map where I needed to use the two rings I had and met Maria again, it was off to kill Richter with my new Holy-resistant garb and Holy-killingerating sword. And lo - he was easy. Really easy, in fact, since none of his attacks could now do more than 1 damage, whereas previously 80+ was the norm. Excellent.

In fact, I didn't kill Richter at all, but Shaft, the thing controlling Richter making him Bad.

And then... the whole world turned upside-down. Literally. There's a second castle, which is the same as the first one, only the other way up! And harder! Gah! That means I'm only half-way through the game. Thankfully, though, I do have all the powers I need to navigate the new castle unhindered (I hope), and so I set about finding a save point and defeated two bosses, who gave me bits of Dracula. Yes, just like in, uh, Harmony of Dissonance. I think.

8 hours in, 125% complete. Ace.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS)

Ahaha! It's clicked! I see the point of the game now: it isn't just about exploring places and smacking baddies and collecting stuff - you get a huge hulking great tank and have giant tank battles! Amazing scenes!

And I had my first tank battle today, as well as rescuing some more slimes for my town. Really getting into this now. Hurrah!

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360)

A bit of a mammoth gaming session on this today, in several segments rather than in one go, however. In now particular order, I managed the following:

Got the Mist transformation, quickly followed by the Bat transformation and then all five Familiars. It seems the familiars all level up too, as you use them, starting out crap (where they don't attack anything) slowly becoming more intelligent. My pet sword is actually pretty helpful now, especially when I was killing Legion.

Have defeated a few more bosses, and found Evil Richter Belmont in Dracula's throne room. I couldn't kill him. In fact, I barely scratched him, so I retreated and then found I probably reached him far too early, and explored more of the castle, finding armour and a sword which should help as they're powerful versus Holy.

I've also got two rings now, gold and silver, which are telling me where to go next. I suspect it's a quick stop somewhere before returning to Richter.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS)

Rescued another slime person thing, and generally got a bit lost. I'm not actually all that sure I'm enjoying this yet, but then, I haven't played it much and as such it's a bit early to make any decisions.

I also don't seem to be able to kill the "digging baddies" in the mine thing I've found. They just get dazed for a bit, and then all their chums gang up on me - I had 9 of them surrounding me at one point. Can't I get a gun or something?

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS)

With Touch Detective out of the way, it was time to move on to yet another DS game. And it isn't exactly what I was expecting...

I thought, considering both it's pedigree and reviews I've read, that Rocket Slime was going to be an RPG. But it seems that it isn't. It's a sort of arcade adventure with puzzles, not unlike Zelda, but with a little bit of Pokémon mentality chucked in.

My character (the big blue slime on the box there) has eaten a big flute thing, escaped being kidnapped, and rescued three residents of Boingburg (where I live) from some platypusses. No, really.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360)

Aha! Double-jump GET! That opened up huge amounts of map for me to get to, although lots of items are still out of reach. I suspect a flying or super-jumping ability to become available at some point.

I'm really loving this, although I think I've found the entrance to Dracula's room already. I can't get there yet (there's a jump I can't make), but I'm running out of places to go. I did find out that my save file data shows how much of the castle you've explored - I'm at around 50% so far. That can't be right, surely?

Touch Detective (DS): COMPLETED!

Although I'm not really sure I understand all the motives behind the final case, nor about the "earthquake!" scene. I'm still very confused.

But after doing the last case, I spent an hour or so clearing up the Bonus Episode, which although I seem to have finished (no-one else is giving me tasks), I haven't filled the Investigation Journal. I wonder why? Anyway. The game is done and the touch log is at almost 100% done, so it's not like I've just skipped half the stuff you can do.

Nice game - a bit short, a bit obtuse in some of the investigating, but fun all the same.

Touch Detective (DS)

So close! In fact, the credits started, but they were interrupted and there was more to do!

I'm investigating some "doings" at the circus. It's all gone very odd. I won't say much more as it might spoil it for people, but it involves fleas...

Now my battery is dead. Bah.

Touch Detective (DS)

Ahhh - so you have to click on that exact pixel at the hot-dog stand. Grr. How irritating.

Anyway, so I sorted the hot-dog problem, and did a few more things, and then Penelope turned into an angel (no, she didn't die), and I completed Episode 3. I've made a brief start on Episode 4 (Chloe seems to be able to walk through walls...) and it's a murder case. Or isn't. It's all very confusing...

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360)

Being so like Circle of the Moon is actually disturbing me somewhat now, as I feel I've played the game before, but not quite. It's odd. I had a go flicking the "enhanced graphics" off and on, but aside from Som--uh, Alucard, it doesn't make a lot of difference to my eyes.

I killed my clone, who was somewhat easy, found a thing that turns me into a wolf (which I haven't found a use for yet) and braved the Clock Tower, only to find I couldn't actually progress very far. Found a warp point which took me back to near the entrance to the castle, and then took a route up the left tower. Found another boss up there - a griffon or something - who was pretty easy, and then went back to the Library and found an old man who sold me potions and stuff. It doesn't show what percentage of the map you've unlocked, which is a pain, as it doesn't really give you clue as to how far into the game you've got.

I'm also well overdue a power-up or too - I really think I need a double-jump or something...

Worms (360)

Some more two-player Worms with my wife again this evening. It's actually pretty much the only two-player game we can play on the 360.

Anyway. I won all 5 games. Only just on at least one though, when a badly aimed banana bomb rebounded and killed two of my own worms leaving her totally unscathed. Tch.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360)

Finally! Symphony of the Night is in my grasp! Well, sort of - it's on my Xbox 360's hard drive. This is the first of the "Metroidvania" style Castlevania games, and I've just been playing it.

As always (well, except for that GB one and the PS2 one...), it's great. I'm Alucard, who plays much like Soma did in Aria of Sorrow, and the graphical style is much like Circle of the Moon, so it's like a kind of mish mash of all the CV games I've played over the last few months. I know this came first, but that's what it feels like.

So I've killed the first boss, met Maria, and explored quite a bit of castle. It's ACE!

Touch Detective (DS)

Hmm. I'm stuck.

The walrus who lives in the skating rink won't turn the air conditioning on (to keep the snow fairy cool) until he's too hot. He's also hungry, and I have some hot sauce in my inventory, and there's a hot-dog stand outside...

So you'd expect you get a hot-dog, put the hot sauce on it, and give it to the walrus yes? Of course you would.

But no. Everything I try at the hot-dog stand does nothing. I've even resorted to reading a walkthrough, which also says I need to get a hot-dog. BUT I CAN'T! Gah!

Touch Detective (DS)

And now I'm onto Part 2 of Case 3. There are four cases in total, it seems, which lots of "mini-episodes" to play too, so I'm not sure how far in that is overall. I don't even know if the mini-episodes count.

This case is about a snow fairy who lives in a skating rink. Yes, really.

Touch Detective (DS)

Completed the first case, which was total lunacy, and then moved onto the second case. This time, instead of dreams being stolen, Penelope herself has been!

The Planetarium is now open for visiting too, and there's a creepy guy who stands outside it with a wind-up music box thing. He's quite scary. I've managed to get onto the second part of this case.

I have, however, started to notice a few niggley things about Touch Detective. Firstly, some of the puzzles are a bit counter-intuitive, and result in you trying every object on every other object, place, or person. This is bad point-and-click adventure design. The other thing is the artificial game-lengthening device of "go and do X to everyone!" - *BZZT!* Wrong idea!

Luckily, the quirkiness and humour is keeping me interested.

Touch Detective (DS)

Sunday night is turning into Start A New Game night for me, it seems. Last week it was Hotel Dusk, and today it's Touch Detective.

First impressions, then: Bizarre. It's a point and click adventure, with a very odd setting. The first detective case you get, for instance, is about you trying to find the thief who steals dreams. Yes, that's what I said.

The humour is great too, but mostly lost for people who don't look at the top screen while playing - that's where Mackenzie (the main character) has her "thoughts" - basically a sort of commentary on what is going on. Or something entirely separate, like the "my tea is cold" thing she thinks about when trying to interview a victim.

The game is full of totally bizarre characters, not least your pet mushroom, or the chicken landlady (everyone else so far is human - or at least, a close approximation). And your butler is creepy to the point where you really wonder if he should be sharing a house with a young girl. Anyway...

In terms of how much I've played, I'm only part two of the first case. I don't know how many parts there are, so have no way of knowing how far into the game that is.

Worms (360): COMPLETED!

I've been playing this a fair bit today, firstly in two-player with my wife, but then I went back to Challenge Mode and worked my way through the remaining few levels.

And I completed them! None of those left were especially hard (compared to Level 13, at any rate), although I only won the final one because it went to Sudden Death and the two remaining Boffins got drowned...

But that's it complete - all single player modes and levels done, and all achievements gained!

Excite Truck (Wii)

You know how last time I played this, I spent about 57235428737 hours trying to get an A Rank on the second Bronze race on Super Excite mode? And I couldn't even get near it?

Well, on my first (and only) go today, I not only managed it without trying, but beat the required number of stars by about 40 points. Amazing.

Sadly, it was still only an A Rank, and not an S. Bah.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (360): COMPLETED! AGAIN!

In case you hadn't spotted the trend this evening, this too was played in two-player mode, and after about half an hour's play, we'd completed it. I managed another achievement too - destroying everything destructible in the entire game.

Now there's an achievement to be proud of. If you're an ASBO'd up teenager.

Lumines Live (360)

This too was played in two-player mode, and, this too was mostly won by me. The overall score being 9-3 or something I think, before we decided the two-player mode wasn't actually all that great so we stopped playing.

Worms (360)

A friend of mine came round this evening and we played a few rounds of Worms in two-player mode.

Needless to say, I WAS WINNER, as I've been playing it somewhat more than he has. Either that, or he was crap.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii)

Look. I want to like it, I really do, but I can't make myself like it. There's just something fundamentally wrong with it.

Firstly, you don't have much control of Sonic. You can veer (not even steer) left and right, and speed up and slow down. And jump. That's it. Actually, you don't really have a huge amount of control over jumping either, since you can't choose a direction to jump in. You have to "charge" your jump to jump higher, which is rubbish as you slow down as you charge, which means you can have height, but no distance.

Secondly, the way you perform homing attacks is stupid. You have to twist the remote forwards quickly, and often you do this in quick succession. Why can't I just press a button? It'd be so much better.

And then there's the other problems. The awful "missions" - like "Don't break any jars!". The can't-see-what's-coming-next gameplay (on the dinosaur level, I just kept running into cacti simply because I'm not psychic. And multiplayer? Just... dull.

Oh yes! And the worst voice acting ever!

And there's more! Some of the on-screen instructions (especially in multiplayer) are wrong! Aces!

I'm most of the way through Dinosaur Forest, and I'm really not sure if I can bring myself to play any more.

Worms (360)

Hurrah! I've managed to beat Level 17 of Challenge Mode. I not only managed it, but I managed it with three worms remaining, one of which never took any damage at all. Ace.

But then 18 went horribly wrong. I'd wiped out all of one team, just misjudged a fireball punch move thing, which put two of my worms on the edge of a cliff, where they were promptly shot off next go. I had a decent stab at clawing my way back, but never managed it.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii)

I... I don't know what to say.

It's awful. Really, really awful.

This makes me sad.

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS): COMPLETED!

Aaaaaaand done. Wow. That was amazing. I don't think I've ever been so sucked into a game's storyline. In fact, it isn't a game. It's a remarkable work of interactive fiction. Yeah, so it's not "art", and yeah, the dialogue could have done with some improvement, but the story wins out.

I can't say much more, except the ending seemed to be a little, unfinished. I still have questions that need answers, and I need to know more about some of the links between characters. And why were there so many coincidences? I've put it down to the Wish room actually granting wishes, but that seems a bit too vague to me. Did Bradley arrange for everyone to be there? Where did Mila get the Hotel Dusk pamphlet? Surely she'd not hung onto it all that time.

Sequel, mayhaps?

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)

I didn't think it was possible to tangle the lives of the people staying at the hotel any further, but clearly Cing found another dimension somewhere to expand the tangleness. You know how your telephone cord gets all tangled when you're talking to Great Aunt Maud about her cat, and you keep twisting it round your finger? It's like that. Only more.

So I'm now well into Chapter 8, which Timmy (he loves that name) had warned me about, in terms of the number of coincidences. And lo, there were many more, involving Rosa this time, and (I expect) Dunning.

DAHN DAHN DAHHHHHHHHHHHN!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (360): COMPLETED!

What? Turtles? Eh? That's right chums and chummettes - today's XBLA download was the original 1989 TMNT arcade game. And look what I did! I downloaded it, and then completed it! Go me!

It was actually shorter than I expected, taking maybe 40 minutes to do in total. But then, how many people play a game in the arcade for longer than that?

Anyway, I played all the way through as Mikey (BECAUSE HE IS BEST), and now I can't get "Cowabunga!", "Shell shock!" and other sound-bites out of my head. If you've not got it already, GET IT NOW, for it is just 400 bargainlicious points.

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)

This game is very engrossing. The story, although slow, is gripping. There are many twists, and now the coincidences are starting to reach melting point. Virtually every character is now linked to every other character (and me) in some way or another.

I'm convinced I'm going to reach then end and find it's all been a dream or something.

Anyway. I'm onto Chapter 7 now, and it looks like the next person to "tackle" is going to be Iris...

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)

It's kind of difficult to do a "running commentary" of Hotel Dusk, as it has so many plot twists that I'd ruin the game for anyone reading who is going to play it for themselves.

I can, however, say a little. Firstly, I've noticed that each chapter seems to focus on certain characters more than others. For example, one chapter is mainly about the little girl you meet right near the start of the game (and her parents), one is mostly about Louie/Louis (make your mind up, Cing!), and Chapter 4 was mainly about the author.

I'm now part way through Chapter 5, and I've just finished "chatting" with the spooky girl wot can't speak.

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)

Yes, yes yes. I've started yet another game even though I still haven't completed Contact and Excite Truck and ten billion other games.

Hotel Dusk is AMAZING. It's a book that you play. A detective mystery book with plot twists and strange characters and more coincidences than is physically possible to cram into one small place. Everyone staying in the hotel seems to be linked to each other in several different ways. It's very odd indeed, but also totally compelling.

So I'm some four and a half hours in so far, have just finished the first bit of Chapter 3, and can't really say a lot as virtually everything would be a plot-ruining spoiler for anyone reading who hasn't played it.

I will say, though, that although the game isn't "funny", it did have me in stitches when Kyle is asked if his room was fine, to which he replied "Yeah, everything's aces". HE SAID ACES! Best!

Worms (360)

After many more tries at Level 13 (which Beck assures me is the hardest of them all), I finally managed it. I didn't realise previously, but different teams have different personalities, and the Blue Team were way more deadly than the Green Team. Killing the Blues off first, then, was the way to go.

After 13 was complete, reaching 17 was pretty simple. I only have one Achievement left to go now too - to complete Challenge Mode.

Kirby Squeak Squad (DS)

I've now done all the secret levels (I think!) and have all the treasure on 4 of the 8 worlds. I've completed one of the jigsaws, and something odd happened when I completed the Ghost Medal in the collection - loads of ghost came out and one went into each world. What do I do now? Find them? Kill them? Collect them? Do nothing? QUESTIONS!

Wii Sports (Wii)

My sister-in-law (who doesn't play games) and her boyfriend came up this evening, and for some of the time we played on Wii Sports. After a few goes on Bowling, Tennis and Baseball (Golf is too difficult and Boxing too strenuous) it seems that she has now decided she wants to get a Wii. Amazing scenes.

Kirby Squeak Squad (DS)

Didn't play this for very long today, just to get some more treasure chests and to try and find the three secret levels I'm missing. Managed to find one secret level, and a few chests, taking my total to about 86/120.

Worms (360)

Played through more of Challenge Mode today, reaching Level 13, which is completely and utterly impossible.

I also played a few more games with my wife, and then a few games online with random people. The online games weren't particularly successful, as people kept quitting. In fact, in one game that I was hosting, some other guy left and I got a message telling me the game had ended because the host had quit. But I was the host. And I certainly didn't quit.

Worms (360)

Firstly, I played some more of Challenge Mode, and won two games with ease. Then, I played online. My first game against two other people didn't last long, as one surrendered on his first go, and the other then quit. My second game, however, was much better.

It was against three other people, and I won. Aces. Only just though, and mainly only because it went to sudden death just before my turn. I got a few achievements too, including one for playing a 4-player online game.

After that, I played against Beck (no, not the singer/songwriter, this Beck here) and some random person. I lost, she came second. I think she cheated. Well, clearly she cheated. Ahem.

Finally, I played a few games offline with my wife. I won them all.

Kirby Squeak Squad (DS)

I think, but I'm not sure, that the "xx/120" counter is in fact number of chests found, not number of levels completed. You see, I went back and unlocked another secret level, and completed that, and the counter went up from 76 to 81.

I still have a ? for part of the collection screen too. I assume I get something there for getting all of the treasure chests or something. Or maybe it's to do with that yellow Kirby I see sometimes but never manage to catch.

Kirby Squeak Squad (DS): COMPLETED!

What? Already? Yes indeed. I thought there was at least another world after 8, but no. And World 8 was somewhat shorter than previous ones too. The final boss battle was quite hard, until - yes - I got a Tornado power-up, and then after that there was another boss. I sort of expected it, as it seems to be the norm with Kirby games. You even get a weapon not unlike the Star Rod from Kirby's Adventure.

I seem to have only 76 levels complete out of 120, however. I know I've missed three secret levels, but what about the rest, eh?

Worms (360)

So I bought it. I had to really, because it's Worms. Yeah, so it's a cut-down version of Worms, but it is still pretty ace and multiplayer is fantastic as always.

But there's no baseball bat. Pff.

I played a few rounds with my wife, and won them all (only just on one though). It's a shame there aren't many sound schemes, and only (seemingly) three level graphic themes though.

After two-player, I tried to join some online games but got connection errors, so moved onto Training mode (which I completed) then Challenge mode (where I won the first three levels).

Kirby Squeak Squad (DS)

I'm well en-route to finishing this quite soon now. I ripped through levels 4 to 7 in double-quick time, although I did miss out on finding one secret level (and I haven't got all the chests in every level yet either).

I've died maybe 5 times now, mostly on bosses. The trick (as always with Kirby) for bosses is having the right power-up when you get to them.

So I'm on Level 8 now, which I thought was going to be the final one (when you look at the map), but things took a detour and opened up somewhere else, so I think there's at least one more after this. I'm about 70 levels through the 120 too, so it appears that I'm missing something...

Assorted Xbox 360 Arcade Demos (360)

I turned my Xbox 360 on today for the first time in over a month (I think - perhaps longer), and set about downloading demos of all the Xbox Live Arcade additions since I last looked. I then played them:

Alien Hominid HD:
Pretty, Metal Slug-type game with a stupidly hard difficulty setting. It isn't the mid and end of level bosses that caused me any grief, really - unlike everyone else - since they have simple patterns you can avoid. They do take far too long to kill, though. No, the real difficulty was the fact you can't see the bullets that baddies shoot at you when the screen gets busy. And you can't shoot diagonally either, which is a pain. Completed the demo level, but I won't be buying the full game.

Paperboy:
It's exactly what you expect it to be - the arcade game emulated. I used to love it in the arcade (and on the Spectrum, and assorted other machines), but I was always rubbish at it. I don't think I've ever done a full week. I completed the demo level, and it was fun, but something is missing. Perhaps the game has just lost its sheen over the years? I might buy it, if I have a dull moment.

Root Beer Tapper:
I've NEVER liked this game, in any of its guises. It's too much like a Game and Watch game, which although isn't a bad thing, isn't really good for extended play. I got onto level 3 or something but I have no desire ever to play it again.

Worms:
The Rev posted his comments about Worms up on his blog, and although I don't have the full game (yet - I suspect I will), I agree with what he says. Basically, it's cut-down Worms. The main thing that is missing for me is the baseball bat. That was my most-used weapon, and it just doesn't feel right having it missing. Also absent is one of the jumps - there used to be jump-forwards, jump-up-high-and-forward-a-little, and backflip. The middle one is gone. It's also annoying that you can't choose which worm you want to move at the beginning of your turn. I'm sure that isn't a "pure Worms" option, but it's how we always played it. Perhaps the full version has it as a configurable setting?

Kirby Squeak Squad (DS)

Only a short session on this today, but I did play for long enough to complete all of the rest of World 3 (including a secret level). I died for the first time too - on the end of world boss. En-route to him, you get two power-ups: fire and tornado. Based on my death, I would suggest you use the latter rather than the former.

Cleared two levels of Jam Jungle then too, which is World 4. Looks like there are 120 levels to do, and I've done about 35 of them so far.

Kirby Squeak Squad (DS)

Sssh! Don't tell anyone, but I've started a new game even though I haven't finished Excite Truck, Contact or Military Madness yet! It's a secret to everybody!

It's a proper Kirby game this time around. Not that Canvas Curse thing, which was good but not "right". This, however, is right in everything.

It differs from other Kirby games in two main ways: firstly, you can store up to five power-ups for later use (although the treasure you need to collect takes up some of these slots too), and secondly, you have a section in each level where you have to retrieve a treasure chest from one of the Squeak Squad thieves. These bits are sort of mid-boss fights, but often with some chasing involved.

Is it any good? YES.

I've done all of the first two worlds, found a secret level on each, and have done two levels in the third world. And I haven't died yet!

Excite Truck (Wii)

Good lord. This Super Excite mode is a bit on the difficult side, isn't it? I mean, I spent a good hour on it tonight, and managed to scrape through the first Bronze race, eventually (81 points gained, 80 needed), and can't even get near the amount needed for the second race. I did, however, unlock a new truck which is a bit slower that my previous one, but has much better steering and more scope for aerial tricks.

It didn't help.

Cruncher in Mazeland (PC)

That's right - not only did I buy the staggering game that is Lady Cruncher, I found next to it another game: Cruncher in Mazeland. You heard me. It's a sequel!

Here's a quick review:

Cruncher in Mazeland is a Pac-Mania clone, only from the same camera angle as the Saturn game Bug! and stars a toilet/robot hybrid in drag. On each level you collect balls, bananas or coconuts (instead of dots) and giant balls or apples (instead of power-pills) which let you grow huge and eat the marauding evil robots. Sometimes you need to collect keys to open pathways.

The graphics are crap, the camera angle makes depth perception difficult (artificially making certain levels harder), and the sound effects are rubbish.

Overall, not worth a pound.

The astute amongst you may have spotted the similarity between this Cruncher and the other one. In fact, the only difference is the main "character" and the fact you get to choose a "world" to start on. Joy.

I did three levels then slit my wrists.

Lady Cruncher (PC)

Remember this? Well, I bought it today, as it was only a pound. It took a bit of convincing to run on my MacBook (under Parallels) as it kept flicking screen mode, but eventually I made it work.

And OH MY, was it so not worth bothering.

Here's a brief review:

Lady Cruncher is a Pac-Mania clone, only from the same camera angle as the Saturn game Bug! and stars a toilet/robot hybrid in drag. On each level you collect flowers, bananas or coconuts (instead of dots) and giant bananas or apples (instead of power-pills) which let you grow huge and eat the marauding evil robots. Sometimes you need to collect keys to open pathways.

The graphics are crap, the camera angle makes depth perception difficult (artificially making certain levels harder), and the sound effects are rubbish.

Overall, not worth a pound.

I got to "Girl Power Level 9" before I died and gave up.

Excite Truck (Wii)

Excite Mode DONE! S ranks GET! Super Excite Mode UNLOCKED! Game Hardness INCREASED! Frustration Factor ENHANCED! Wii Controller NEAR BREAKING POINT!

Game ACE ANYWAY!