Guitar Hero III (360)

Just a few tracks on this to kill a bit of time before New Year actually happens. Improved my scores on two Medium tracks, and did a new track for the first time.

A friend of mine played too, on Easy. He was crap.

Super Luigi Galaxy (Wii)

Played through a bit more of this, nabbing about ten more stars. I only need about 12 now before I can face Bowser at the "end" of the game as Luigi.

I'm still convinced there are more baddies as Luigi. For example, when fighting King Kalicente (is that how you spell his name?) for the second time, he chucks one hell of a lot more of those blue flaming things at you.

Half-Life 2 (360): COMPLETED!

Well, I wasn't expecting to complete it tonight, but the last two chapters were very short and so I did. Erm, hurrah!

I won't spoil it for anyone else who hasn't played it yet, but the last few hours were mostly filled with huge battles with striders and gunships, and hordes of baddies. Luckily, you're accompanied by a team of other people for much of it, until you reach the Citadel, anyway.

The end boss was a bit easy, although I did die on him once. And the ending clearly leaves everything wide open again. At least I know there's Episodes One and Two to follow!

Overall then... really good. As I said before, however, it isn't a proper sequel to Half-Life, and there have been so many FPS alien invasion games in recent years that even the story isn't as great as it could be, but if you just take it for what it is, then you won't mind. 4/5, probably.

Half-Life 2 (360)

I've just realised, but "Eli Vance" sounds like "elephants". A bit. If you squint.

Anyway. I made it all the way through Nova Prospekt, including a few bits where I got to place some turrets of my own (before Alyx activated them). Found Eli, although couldn't actually release him at first, until I made it to a teleporter and Dr. Mossman went loopy and did a runner with him.

Eventually got my turn in the teleporter, and Alyx and I ended up back in City 17 at Dr. Kleiner's lab - a week after we'd teleported out! All sorts of things seem to have happened now, and I'm about to set foot back outside in the city with Dog...

Half-Life 2 (360)

Played loads of this today, and finished the whole buggy section. It took longer than was probably necessary as I stopped at every junction, house and building to see what was inside - usually ammo I didn't need and baddies I certainly didn't need.

The buggy section, like the airboat bit before it, seemed to go on far too long. It was more fun than the airboat bit, and you actually felt like you were getting somewhere in it (whereas with the airboat you seemed to go round in circles a lot), but it would have been better with less driving.

It didn't help that when I finally had to give up my buggy at the lighthouse, I was told to put it in the garage. So I did, and then died. No warning - just death. Bizarre.

I had to take down quite a few of those gunship crafts today as well. They're a pain, as you can only kill them with rockets, but you can only carry three at once, fire one at any one time, and although you can "steer" the rocket, the gunships can shoot the rockets down. So they take quite a while to destroy as you have to constantly go looking for more ammo.

Bumped into one of the best baddies just before the railway bridge - a man with poison headcrabs all over him. The reason he's great? He meows like a cat, and throws the headcrabs at you. Like the Mad Cat Woman from The Simpsons. Amazing.

After the buggy section, there was a long bit where you had to get across some sand, touching only the rocks, platforms and debris on the way. Touch the sand, and some antlions come out. There's an achievement for doing it all without touching the floor too, so I made an effort. Managed it too, but didn't get the achievement! Rubbish. Then had to kill an antlion queen (or something) and was then shown how to use the antlions on my side, and spent most of the trip into Nova Prospekt sending antlions out to do my bidding and kill the Combine soldiers. Aces.

Finally for today, I made it into Nova Prospekt, and it reminds me of Manhunt from the surroundings (it used to be a prison or mental hospital - or both). Had another antlion queen to defeat there too. My game save says about 8.5 hours now. I understand that there's around 12 hours play in the game, and I suspect I'm a little behind schedule, but there's not loads left now, I don't think...

Half-Life 2 (360)

So Ravenholm is straight out of Resident Evil. They might not be actual zombies, but they're no so different. And then there's The Predator who jumps around the rooftops and climbs drainpipes. Oh, and the harder versions of the headcrabs who poison you as well as jump on your face.


I didn't really like Ravenholm that much. Nothing about it seemed like Half-Life to me at all, and the loon from the church just detracted further. After that, it was onto the mines, which were full of headcrabs and poisonous headcrabs, and then it was out into the open and I got myself a car (of sorts) with a gun on it.

Psychonauts (Xbox)

So this was a surprise. In several ways. Firstly, I'm amazed my wife managed to get hold of a copy of this for me for Christmas. Then there's the fact she thought to buy it in the first place (as it's been on my Amazon wishlist for years). Then, and most amazingly, there's the number of things that made me think about Super Mario Galaxy. It doesn't lessen Mario, it just made me re-evaluate some of the "new-ness" of it. Even the Psychonauts title screen is like a Mario Galaxy planetoid. Amazing.

So far then - I've done the first "level", inside the army bloke's brain. I've run around the camp loads, found some other areas, talked to lots of people, collected loads of arrowheads, found Ford's secret lab, leveled up to level 12, learned the "pyrokenesis" power, used it to torch squirrels and birds (and explode seagulls), and entered my own mind. Oh, and got two items from the Scavenger Hunt list.

It's funny, well written, varied (already), and at least two thousand times better than Kameo. It's just a slight shame there's no widescreen mode.

Peggle (iPod)

Working through the Challenge mode now, and some of them are bloody hard! Managed to do all the 35/45/55 peg challenges, and a few All Clears, but the 300,000 point ones are almost all beyond reach.

Half-Life 2 (360)

Played through a bit more of this this morning. There was a huge section on an air boat thing, which did seem to go on for longer than it really needed too, ending in a fight with the helicopter that had been chasing me for most of the game so far.

After that, I found Eli's lab, with Alyx inside, and spent a while playing catch with Dog - a robot. I could play catch, since I had been given the Gravity Gun - aces!

Then the Combine found us in the lab and I had to leg it down towards Ravenholm, which I thought was a place in World of Warcraft.

Half-Life 2 (360)

Now, you see, I bought The Orange Box for Portal. And nothing else. Although I did think that perhaps I'd like Team Fortress 2 a bit, as although not my usual sort of game, the unseriousness of it appealed. And so It Was Done, and The Game of Orange was Purchased, and Lo, Portal was Divine and Team Fortress 2 was Lovely. There was much rejoicing.

And today, I was going to play TF2 a bit more, for I thought, why not try Half-Life 2 for a bit? After all, I did love the first game, and completed it several times so many moons ago. I never bothered with the sequel as the story didn't sound so great. I mean, I loved the running round the Black Mesa facility, so being in the open world? Just seemed too much like every other FPS ever. And aliens taking over the world? Yawn, Halo 2.

But. It's great! Not as great as the original (yet), and missing things like the brilliant intro and stuff, but it has many of the same characters and stuff.

So far, I've been incorrectly teleported, got my crowbar (yay!), and escaped through the sewers and beyond on a hovercraft thing. Lots of shooting, a bit of puzzling, ace!

Sensible World of Soccer (360)

Things have not improved overnight with regards to online play. Which is a shame. Once again couldn't finish any online matches as they all froze part way though. Some guy I was playing sent me a message to say it's been happening to him all day too, so it isn't just me.

Did play some single player games though, and also played through a whole season of the Premier League managing "Manchester Reds", who you'd have thought would have been pretty reasonable, yes? No. They finished second from last, and my star striker spent about 30 of the 38 matches banned from getting red carded. Rubbish.

Carcassonne (360)

Haven't played this in quite a while, although not as long ago as this diary would have you believe as I don't always record playing it (especially if it's just one or two goes).

As usual, I played against my wife, and unusually she won one of the three games. By quite some way, as well. This must not happen again!

Sensible World of Soccer (360)

Yay! I bought it and it's ace and just like SWOS ever was and brilliant and everything! But! There are problems. Which is a shame.

Firstly, the 360 pad just isn't right for this game. You need proper 8-way digital control, and the stick can't provide that, and the d-pad is (as always) in the wrong place. This isn't a huge issue, but I can't help feeling I'd be playing better if I had a proper controller.

Far more serious are the online problems. Basically, online, SWOS is broken. For starters, there's the lag. It's not terrible lag, but it does make the game pause momentarily occasionally. Then there's the real killer - the fact that in 15 online games, I've so far completed just one. Why? Because the game crashed on every other one. Froze.

Then there's the issue which plagues lots of online titles (especially one-on-one games) and I'm amazed there's no solution yet. When you try a "quick match", 90% of the time you get told the session is full. The same happens (although less often) when you search for a custom match and try and join that. I know why the session is full - someone else joined first, but why is it that all these sessions fill instantly, and when I start a match, no-one joins for a good 20-30 seconds?

Finally, there's the bloody stupid issue with team picking. Both players have full control of picking both teams, so with some games I played tonight, the other player either picked my team for me, fought with me over control of the cursor to pick my team, or once I'd chosen my team deselected it and chose Munich instead. Grr!

But offline, it is lovely. The graphics haven't been broken, the gameplay is just the same, and the additions (you can zoom in, and out, of the pitch) are really actually very nice. And it plays Goal Scoring Superstar Hero on the title screen! Amazing.

Assorted Xbox 360 Demos (Demo) (360)

And today's 360 demos? This pair of thingies:

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men
Hmm. It's a squad-based shooter (which I don't like), but you play as the bad guys (which I do like), but it's a bit clunky and they didn't really choose the best location to show off the graphics (dull grey interiors). Nice that you can shoot chunks out of the walls though. Overall? Not my bag (baby).

Burnout Paradise
It's Test Drive Unlimited crossed with Burnout. The map looks huuuuuuge, and it's all very pretty. And fast! But there's that annoying EA DJ idiot talking all over the game (which I hope you can turn off). There's plenty of scope for make-your-own-fun and exploration though. I was actually pleasantly surprised!

Super Luigi Galaxy (Wii)

Haven't played this in a while, as I've had a lot of Team Fortress 2-ing to do, and Peggle and other stuff, so I felt a bit bad about neglecting it.

But no more! For I returned with Luigi and got him 7 more stars, taking his total to 35, and 155 overall. Just, erm, lots left to go!

Got my first green star with Luigi, and my first letter from Luigi to Luigi, which is all a bit strange. You'd have thought you swapped places with Mario on the second run through, but no. And why is it that the other Luigi is taller than me? Very odd.

Team Fortress 2 (360)

I actually played this for much of the afternoon, but thought I'd combine it all into one eye-friendly post.

So I've played it a lot today, almost entirely on 2Fort. Again. Had a great time this afternoon with a group of people, and we were all pretty devious. As soon as a "hole" was found, they plugged it. So we found another hole. And so on. It was really good, and we won (which was even better).

This evening, SomethingWitty joined me for some 2Fort "action", and then we moved on to Attack/Defend (which I don't like quite so much).

Sensible World of Soccer (Demo) (360)

After a false start earlier in the week, it finally made it onto XBLA in (seemingly) full working order today. And I think I may just have to buy it, as it's exactly how I remembered.

Well, not exactly. It plays the same, of course, but there's now "pitch damage", where mud shows through from tackles and stuff. And the spinning replay "R" is a different font. But they don't matter! It's SWOS! Amazing!

Team Fortress 2 (360)

I am best! Well, OK, so I'm not. My first few games on Attack/Defend resulted in complete failure, but I think my choice of Sniper and the fact we were down a player (and I'd not played that map before) didn't help.

Then the host quit. So I joined a game of CTF on 2Fort. Yeah, again. And we won! Lots! It is true that I didn't manage to get all that many points, and everyone on my team bar one person was better than me, but I managed to capture the flag myself once and had several assists moving it around. Aces!

Small Arms (360)

The wonderful SomethingWitty, despite his humiliating defeat on Guitar Hero III at the hands of me, gave me a copy of this today by way of some code i could redeem.

Yeah, I played the demo ages ago and thought it was too crap to ever play ever again, but gift horses mouths and stuff, right? Right. Urgh.

Imagine Super Smash Bros, and then remove all fun from it. Then remove pretty much every bit of style. Finally, scrape it clean of all gameplay. Ta dah! Small Arms! Yes. It is rubbish. THANKS WITTY!

Team Fortress 2 (360)

Hurrah! We won again! Twice!

Played three games (all CTF on 2Fort), but the host left part way through the first game, so I joined another instead. For the next two, I played as a Demoman, and had much fun with sticky remote mines. Managed to unlock an achievement for winning by shutout on 2Fort as well.

It really is fun, this.

Peggle (iPod): COMPLETED!

I think this would be my very first completed iPod game. Hurrah! The last five levels were indeed somewhat hard, with the moving helix on the last one being a pain especially, but they're all pretty tough.

And that's it! Well, except all the Challenge Levels. Ace!

Peggle (iPod)

When I looked at the iTunes store last night, I intended to only buy the recently added Sonic the Hedgehog. But somehow, I bought Peggle as well. And ohmygodwhat? It's a bit bloody addictive, isn't it?

I played a bit at work (it is last day of term!), then in the pub waiting for my wife to finish work, then most of the evening. I've done 50 of the first 55 levels, and love it. So much fun for just £3.99! Amazing.

Endless Ocean (Wii)

I went into The Abyss today. It's a bit bloody dark down there, but I did find a sperm whale and loads of new (and mostly bizarre) fish species, including a really long stringy jellyfish thing.

Also found a load of dolphins too, although I couldn't make any of them my "partner". And there was a walrus on my boat when I re-surfaced!

Endless Ocean (Wii)

Hmm. I've just realised that I didn't add this game to my database when I was updating it yesterday. Hence no little box art thing. Bah.

Anyway. Today I took Oldman for another dive (isn't there anyone else who needs a tour?), and found a few more items (like a picture frame). I also unlock the Aquarium, which I filled with assorted fishes. Mostly sharks and rays, of course. And a sea lion.

After that, I went night diving looking for the Mermaid's Cave, and supposedly "saw" a mermaid. I don't think. There's a maze down there and I got completely lost and couldn't find the way into the big hall I could see through some cracks. I did find some green turtles though. Which are actually orange - rather like how the tiger ray thing has a leopard pattern.

Halo 3 (360)

I turned my 360 on to find a couple of friends from work in a Halo 3 Campaign lobby, so I put the game in and joined them. It turned out that they were starting on the final level, although I didn't realise this. Well, not until I completed it for them.

Um, that's it really. Too much jeep-thing action and not enough shooting. And you can't drive properly as you have to steer with the camera controls, and everything is just so slow. And you have to jump off bits in the jeep-thing and you can't tell if there's anything to land on, so the level is just a test of memory and trial and error. Rubbish.

Guitar Hero III (360): COMPLETED!

"Lou" was totally impossible yesterday. I couldn't even come close to beating him. And yet, for some reason, I managed it on my first try today without realising I was almost there. Amazing.

You have to "finish him" after that (which is basically just finishing the song), and then it was credits time - complete with another track to play over (or, more literally, under) them. With that all done, I went and bought all the rest of the bonus tracks, and played a few, then went back and played the few tracks I'd missed in Career Mode.

Finally, I played a few tracks on Easy, and then tried to play randoms on Xbox Live Ranked Mode, but the game crashed every time it said "Joining Game...". Pff.

Guitar Hero III (360)

So I beat Slash and made it up as far as Satan. Sorry, Lou, not Satan. Pff. And he's impossible as the notes are completely random and move far too fast for mere humans. Which is probably why he wins, what with not being human and all.

It's a shame, because I'd managed to 4 or 5 star every track leading up to him without too much difficulty. I even mastered hammer-ons and pull-offs, but only for one track, but couldn't defeat Lou.

So I bought a couple more tracks (Ruby and She Bangs the Drums) which are both better than half the main set of tracks (although I did unearth a few more decent ones), and then set about THRASHING SomethingWitty on Xbox Live. HA! I'M WINNER!

Guitar Hero III (360)

Rock! Again!

This arrived yesterday, but I was out all evening so didn't give it a play until this evening. I'm not really sure what to say, actually. It's just more of the same. Sort of.

Of course, there's the new track listing, but I'm finding it somewhat lacking at the moment. There haven't been many great songs (yet) - no Bowie, nothing like Bark at the Moon or Surrender, and lots of those available I've never even heard of (which wasn't the case with the previous two games).

I'm playing through on Medium, and haven't failed a track yet. Well, I say that - I did fail at defeating Slash on the "end of level boss" section (new to this version). I don't like those bits, and stopped playing after that.

Assorted Xbox 360 Demos (360)

Tried out today's Arcade offerings...

Gripshift:
Um. Am I missing something, or is this just some crap collectathon? In a car?

Arkadian Warriors:
Like Gauntlet. Sort of. With RPG elements. Seemed quite good, actually. Reminded me of Angband for some reason.

Endless Ocean (Wii)

I HAVE A DOLPHIN! And, in a rare moment of humour, I named it "John West". We did some tricks, although I'm not really sure how, and went swimming.

Then I took Oldman for another swim to find a clown triggerfish (which we did), and he sent me an email with some gloves as an attachment. I assume I must have printed them out and folded them up to wear them, or something.

And then I went and found loads of sharks, although, sadly, not of the killing variety. Found a hammerhead, and lots of zebra sharks. Zebra sharks with leopard print on them. Makes no sense!

Super Luigi Galaxy (Wii)

I've opened up the Bedroom now, and have 28 Weegi stars to my name. I managed to get the wrong star in the Freezeflame Galaxy too, somehow, by going completely the wrong way. I'm pretty sure there were more flying ice blob things and ice bats than with Mario, though.

And I was right about Luigi sliding around on the ice more than Mario. It's like he's been greased up or something.

Halo 3 (360)

Well, the ugvm boys were supposedly going to play this tonight. But they didn't turn up until I'd been hanging around for an hour so I left. Pff.

I'd played a few match-making games while waiting, and didn't lose any (although I didn't do especially well), but it just isn't fun when you don't know the people you're playing with (unlike Team Fortress 2 which is ace regardless).

Super Luigi Galaxy (Wii)

Four more stars, taking me to 18 Weegi-stars and 138 stars in total. I've also found out today that there isn't 241 stars overall, but 242. Amazing!

Getting used to Luigi's slippery movement now, but not looking forward to coping on the ice-based galaxies! Oh, and Cosmic Luigi is waaaaay faster than Cosmic Mario, and constantly long-jumps to go even faster. I couldn't beat him on Honeyhive. Grr.

Team Fortress 2 (360)

OH! MY! GOD!

I was actually not only not crap, but actually absolutely vital to my team's success today! I played a looooooong game of 8-on-8 Capture the Flag on the 2Forts map, as a Pyro.

To start off, I thought I'd defend the flag (briefcase), seeing as no-one else was doing that, and saw off a fair few would-be thieves, but after a while my team got their act together defending, with gun turrets a-plenty and snipers and guards, and I felt a bit left out.

So I decided to go on the attack instead. Our first point was an assist by me. One of our team had snatched the briefcase and ran for it, but was killed about half-way out of the enemy base. I ran in and picked it up, and made it to half-way into our base, before a spy stabbed me in the back. Luckily, a team-mate picked him off and completed the steal. 1-0!

Sadly, it was quickly 1-1, as we'd not been paying attention to our case in the excitement.

Then a good 15 minutes passed with some failed snatches (they'd set up several turrets in the room their case was in), before I followed a Heavy and a Soldier in on a three pronged turret attack. We destroyed the turrets (and killed the few enemy team also in the room), but they Heavy and the Soldier died, and I was on just 14 health. I thought, "Sod it", and grabbed the case, and legged it out.

And ran! And ran more! I tried to take a route out that would avoid the remaining turrets and guards, and got wounded on the bridge between bases (7 health!). Our base was swarming with enemy, but I killed a couple and my team mates helped secure a safe route, but for the final run I was on my own. And I did it!

2-1 and WINNAR! Amazing.

Super Luigi Galaxy (Wii)

Not really much to say today, apart from that I'm still loving it, and managed to get up to 14 Luigi Stars, making 134 in total.

This time through, I'm trying to do as many later levels as possible, so I get left with the easier ones nearer the end of the game (if that makes sense). I know it's not really possible, as you have to do early stars to unlock later galaxies, but once all the galaxies are open I'll be doing the last ones first.

Or something.

Viva Pinata (360)

Another brief stint on this, as someone else was after my remaining animals. My gardens are somewhat bare now, and even more so after I pimped up a Roario, called him "Keith Chegwin" and sent him off to Nils Tanner.

I seem to just have whirlms and mothdrops left now!

Super Luigi Galaxy (Wii)

Luigi slides all over the place, jumps higher (and seemingly further) than Mario, and says "Yoshi" every time he uses a launch star. He also makes a noise that sounds like it's taken straight from Pretty Fly for a White Guy when he gets a power star. Oh, and he looks stupid in a bee suit.

Aside from all that, it's the same so far. Well, except for one thing which I'm not sure if I'm imagining or not: the levels all seem to have extra baddies on. So far, they've mainly been those blue bouncing blob things, but I'm pretty sure they weren't there as Mario. Oh, and Weegi gets 20 1Ups from Peach, not 5. I always knew Luigi was doing her on the side...

Endless Ocean (Wii)

Would you believe it - the Wii's disc slot actually takes games that aren't Mario Galaxy! I'm shocked and amazed! Although technically, I suppose, Endless Ocean isn't a game, as it's more of a diving simulator.

I played it for about an hour, and found around 15 species of fish. Also found a dolphin medal, have acquired a pet penguin, chased a dolphin, took some old bloke for a swim to look for wrasse, and found a bit of a bronze mirror.

It's all very nice and everything, and it does suck you in, but I can't really see the point. Of course, there may not actually be a point, and that's just fine, but still...

Poking fish in the face is ace though.

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii): COMPLETED! AGAIN!

With the last of the stars collected yesterday, all that was left was to defeat Bowser again. For some reason, I had problems getting to him this time - losing several lives (all regained through mushroom collection) on the way.

He was just as easy as before (of course, he was exactly the same, that's why), and then the end sequence with a bit extra.

And then! "You may now play as Luigi!" comes up on the screen, and Luigi says "Super Weegi Galaxy!". AMAZING! Of course, it's just the same game again, although Luigi can jump higher and slides all over the place like he's got greased feet. Collected the first three stars as him too.

What a fantastic game. From start to finish I thought it was brilliant - well designed, varied, and even plenty of genius moments. Best game ever? Perhaps. Mario 64 was one of the best games ever - probably in my top 5 - and this beats it. Amazing.

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

120 STARS!

Amazing! I came to it today with just four stars remaining - all of which were actually comet stars, it turned out. First up was a Daredevil Comet on the Deep Dark Galaxy (killing the big Magikoopa without getting hit - easy!), and then I braved the Luigi's Purple Coins star, which drained a good 8 or 9 lives before I nailed it. The last two (another purple coin one, and Fast Foe one) were both waaaaaay easier than Luigi's coins.

So, 120 stars! Just have to kill Bowser again now, I think!

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

So close to the end now, with 116 stars complete. Just three more comet ones left, including what seems to be the hardest of all the stars by seven million miles - Luigi's Purple Coins. Gah!

Oh, and I finally managed to find the hidden star on Deep Dark Galaxy. It turns out it was under the wreck of a boat (well, it wasn't, but the route to get to it was), where I'm pretty sure I'd looked at least twice already.

Assorted Xbox 360 Demos (360)

Did a bit of catching up with the last few weeks' XBLA releases.

Screwjumper:
NO.

Shrek 'n' Roll:
NO.

Undertow:
NO.

Asteriods:
Not bad, but it just doesn't feel right in these days of twin-stick shooters like Geometry Wars.

Team Fortress 2 (360)

I've been having internet problems this week (a man from Virgin came and fixed them a short while ago), and I'd also, before any problems, bought some new networking kit to replace my aging stuff. I was hoping all this would fix any lag issues I'd been getting on Xbox Live. And they did!

Played two full games, with a load of Americans, and barely a glitch or jump in the action. Excellent!

Not that I managed to do particularly well. We were playing Attack/Defend in the Dustbowl, and although I thought I was holding my own, killing off attackers and not dying much, and we managed to win, I scored bottom out of everyone. Pff.

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

113 Stars! Cleared out the last of the "normal" stars in the Garden and Engine Room, and now it's just hidden and comet stars left. Also managed to find a couple of hidden stars, and one of the Speed Comet runs on Dreadnought Galaxy, the latter of which was much easier than I was expecting.

There's a Purple Coin collecting star on Dreadnought that I'm not looking forward to doing. I had one go, and it's not easy! I'm also unable to find the hidden star on the Dark Galaxy (Dark Dark? I forget the name). I've looked everywhere!