Ticket to Ride (360)

So James Luff wanted to challenge me to this, eh? I bet he wishes he hadn't now, as I soundly thrashed him 2-1. Hurrah!

Ticket to Ride (360)

Played this again several times today, with my wife, and (because I am ace) won most of the games. Except she then won by such a margin on one game that she even got the "score 150 points" achievement - which I've not got myself yet!

Zack and Wiki (Wii)

Worked my way through all (well, all bar one) of the Fire World levels today. I don't know if they're actually getting easier, or that my brain is now becoming tuned to the way the game expects you to think, but I certainly found them easier.

Even the boss (although good, and clever) was much easier than the previous two.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii)

Having played this at my in-laws earlier in the week, my arm was twisted to buy it. And, having played it today, my arm was twisted some more. Literally.

The thing is, the events are either far too easy (Skeet Shooting, 100m) or far too hard (Swimming, Long Jump). The swimming in particular - I can do the first 50m easily (in first place), but then without changing rhythm, somehow get overtaken instantly and then come 8th. It makes no sense!

Ticket to Ride (360)

One game against the computer, two against my wife. I won two of the games, and was convinced I was going to win against my wife a second time when I'd blocked pretty much every sensible route from Miami to New York, only to find that by me forcing her to take the longest route imaginable, she won. Bah!

Lego Indiana Jones Demo (360)

It's good, but it just doesn't feel quite as good as Lego Star Wars did. I think the lack of a gun is a big issue, as the whip is too slow and inaccurate, and punching requires you to get too close. I did find a crossbow near the end of the demo level, but it only seemed to allow two shots before it vanished.

And it's far too easy to fall of cliffs. Grr.

Ticket to Ride (360)

I played the demo, and instantly warmed to it. In the same way Catan and Carcassonne have both been ace. So I had to buy it!

And then promptly lost to the computer. It would appear the AI improves once you've bought the game. The demo is a lie!

Zack and Wiki (Wii)

Completed all the remaining Ice World levels today, including the fiddly IMMA CHARGIN MAH LAZERS one. Then I opened up the Lava World levels (so... grass, ice, fire... desert next? Cave? Space? Thems the rules!).

Completed the first one there too.

Zack and Wiki (Wii)

Ah... for some reason the things I tried on the monkey-boss level last time I played didn't work, but this time, they worked fine. Very odd. But with that done, and the other "first world" level complete, it was onto the second world - the ice one.

Only done two levels here so far though.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii)

I'm at the in-laws at the moment, and they have this game. So we all played it for a while. It seems very good, but the games vary wildly from very easy (skeet shooting) to very hard (swimming) to seemingly random (long jump).

I was either very good, or absolutely terrible, as a result.

Zack and Wiki (Wii)

And today I played this. It too is very good!

It's a point and click adventure game (which are generally ace), but with Wii-specific controls for certain actions. For example, you turn a key in a lock by twisting the remote. You saw down a tree by thrusting the remote forwards and backwards like a saw, and so on. It's intuitive and doesn't feel tacked on in the slightest, unlike some other Wii games.

So far I've completed 5 "levels", and have attempted the "boss" once. But I got stuck.

No More Heroes (Wii)

I bought two new games today. I haven't bought any in ages, and finally got round to paying in some cheques for my birthday this morning. And they were on offer in Gamestation. So I thought, why not?

So I bought No More Heroes and Zack and Wiki, both for the Wii.

I've only played the former today, but so far, it has been excellent. I've done the training, killed the assassins ranked at 10 and 9, explored the town a bit, collected coconuts, assassinated a bloke in a car park, and went shopping. I love the style of it, and the controls are way better than I expected.

Spore Creature Creator Demo (Mac)

Look! I made stupid things!

This is Hoppy:


And this is Steve:

Here's Steve doing something:

And here's a nice photo of Steve:

Bomberman Land Wii (Wii)

You may have noticed I've not posted anything all week. That's not because I haven't played anything, it's just because I've been really busy. Besides, the only game I've touched is this one.

And I'm around 8.5 hours into single player mode now. I've completed the Ring and Delta zones (both with ease), but now I'm on to the Diamond Zone and it's suddenly become really hard.

There are three games making it difficult for me to progress. The hardest is "Water Skipping". It's impossible. The second is "Bomb Smash", which is impossible. Then there's the multiplayer "Bomb Balloon", which is impossible.

So I'm stuck and frustrated and I don't like the game any more. Bah.

Bomberman Land Wii (Wii)

I went back to the single player story mode on this today, and finished off all of the first zone - coming first over all. I was quite surprised I managed to come first, as after the first (of four) rounds, I was so far behind the leader there was no way I was going to be able to win.

But I did - with 114 points compared to my nearest rival on 81.

Unfortunately, I have found a large flaw in the game. To play the minigames (to earn "pieces" - the points you need to win), you need tokens, and you're given more tokens than there are games to play. However, if you get top score on a game, you can't play it again. So, basically, if you're good, you run out of games to play before you're out of tokens. Which is silly.

Oh, and you rack up hundreds of training points (which you spend on things) in the training games, but there's nothing to spend them on. You buy all the best stuff from the shop, and you still have hundreds and hundreds of spendable points left.

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword Demo (DS)

That's right - a DS demo! The new Nintendo Channel on the Wii allows the download of DS game demos, which is pretty ace. Well, except I had all the games already. Apart from this one!

And it's pretty good. It seems very similar in style to the Ninja Gaiden II demo on the 360 I played last week, only you do everything with the stylus. And it works better than you'd expect too. I was quite impressed, although I don't think I'll be buying it.

Link's Crossbow Training (Wii): COMPLETED!

Or at least, completed to the point I will consider it so: I've managed a Silver or better on every level, and killed the bosses. In fact, I have only three Silvers, I think - two Platinums and the rest are all Gold. Not bad!

I also amazed myself by getting over 65,000 on just Zora's River - which gave me a Gold without even adding the other two scenarios on that level. Ace!

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Well, that's all the cars nicked for Stevie - all 30 of them. One was a little tricky as it was parking in a police station car park - next to a policeman. Managed to escape having shot the cop before stealing the car though.

And then it was on to races for Brucie. Could I find a decent car anywhere though? No . So I turned up in this rubbish Mondeo-alike only to find a starting lineup of Infernuses. So I tried "cheating" by blowing the cars up as we pulled away from the line. Sadly, that abandons the race. As does popping the tyres before the flag goes up. And killing the drivers. Luckily, even in Infernuses, they drive as slow as you - so I beat them in the end without resorting to anything less sportsmanlike. Tch, eh?

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

First up this evening was nicking more cars for Stevie. One of them was a real pain to find - it said it was next to the Liberty Transport Authority building on Rotterdam Hill, but it was actually miles away. I spent a good 45 minutes trying to find it. Anyway, I've nicked 20 cars for him now.

Then I played online for a few games, mainly in Ranked Team Deathmatch. I was disappointed not to get the achievement for killing at least 5 people from other teams, even though I killed 19 (and yes, there were at least five different people that I killed - I managed to rocket-kill 9 of them in one shot!).

Assorted Xbox 360 Demos (360)

Caught up a bit tonight with some of the recent demos on the 360's mrketplace.

Frogger 2
No. No no no. It's like a horrible cute reimagining of Frogger, designed by a three year old. It's horrible. And why on earth are there rotate button? And a bloody UFO?! And! The most irritating music and sound effect combo ever (especially when collecting lots of coins in one go - yes coins: why the hell does a frog need coins?). It's all just wrongness.

Commando 3
Actually... it isn't bad. It isn't close enough to the original for my brain to let it in as a sequel, but as a mindless scrolly shooter in the same sort of vein as the original, then it's more than acceptable.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Space marines = yawn. Someone yelling "I'm a medic!" every three seconds = annoying. ET:QW = crap.

Crash Time
Take the original 3DO version of Need for Speed (even the visuals are the same), add a few bits from Chase HQ and Burnout, splash it with RTL branding and awful voice "acting", and you get what is probably the worst game I've ever played. Ever. Well, one of them. It's not even bad in a Lady Cruncher-style bad way - it's just shit.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

I'm starting to run out of things to do now, which is a shame. Having said that, I'm not going to milk it for all it's achievement points, because some of them simply aren't fun and will spoil my memory of the game.

I finished off nicking all of the cars Brucie wanted (it turned out my email inbox was full, so wasn't getting emails from him), which took most of today's play. I went on some heli tours - lots of them, in fact, but didn't get the achievement for them all. I don't know how you're supposed to know when you've done them all - I've been in all three helicopters from all six helipads, but nothing.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Dwayne's special "power" GET! Jacob's special "power" GET! And, thanks to finally getting hold of Brucie and taking him out loads of times, Brucie's "power" GET!

But I still can't nick cars for Brucie, even though his like for me is now 94%.

GTA Glitch Watch
Aside from Brucie's not-sending-me-emails bug, the game stops working every time I try to got for a heli ride with him. I call him up for one, drive to his house, and the game "takes over", I get out the car, and him and two women walk up to me. He says something about "taking the bitches for a spin the chopper" and nothing happens. The game continues to play out - cars go past, Niko shuffles on the spot, people walk by, but nothing else. I can't walk anywhere, no cut scenes, we don't get in the helicopter, and no-one says or does anything. I can't move the camera either - just like the bug earlier in the game when the same thing happened at a burger stand near Firefly Island. Hmm.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

I'm trying to build up relationships with all my in-game friends at the moment. Packie and Jacob in particular, as their like for me are both very low. Spent most of today's play doing that, but also nicked another couple of cars for Stevie. No emails from Brucie though about nicking more cars for him, although he only likes me 35% so that might be it...

Civilisation Revolution Demo (360)

I was really hoping this was going to be rubbish. Because I tend to get hooked on Civ games and since I don't play computer games any more I thought I was safe...

But, as I feared, my "one quick go" lasted over an hour and I ended up running out of turns in the demo. So it has to go on my "want" list. I blame The Rev. It's all his fault.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Yeah so anyway. It's complete but there's still stuff to do! By day, I'm friend-to-all, taking my chums out for meals and drinks and games, and by night I'm nicking cars for Brucie and Stevie. It's an ace double life!

Only Brucie isn't sending me emails with requests for cars any more. I think it's because his like for me is only 35%, but I can't increase it as he never answers the phone! Pff.

What percentage do you have to get your friends at to trigger their special ability anyway?

Battlefield: Bad Company Demo (360)

As I've said before, I don't like soldier games. Medal of Honour and Call of Duty both bore me to tears. Every other soldier game I've played since, well, Cannon Fodder I suppose, has been "meh" to me.

So imagine my surprise when I found this to be just as tedious.

OK, so it's pretty and funny and the way you can blow holes in walls is nice, but it's the whole "being a soldier" thing I don't like about games like this. And in this particular game, the way LT is accelerate whereas in every other game ever made ever, RT is, just upsets me.

Toki Tori (Wii)

Completed all of the remaining "Scary Castle" levels today, followed by the first six or so in the Sewers. But now I'm stuck. Bah.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360): COMPLETED!

At 57 hours game time, and on my third attempt, I completed the final mission and killed Dimitri. Game over! And around 20 minutes of credits too - they even name the office receptionist...

But I wasn't happy with the outcome. Someone dies, and I didn't like it. So I went back to a previous save and chose to kill Dimitri then rather than work with him. The result? Another death. A different death, sure, but one that was a bit easier to take in, even though I still didn't like it. Then the "new" final mission, which was much like the other one to begin with, but with a different chase sequence and a different "boss" - who was much easier to kill once he was on foot.

And then the end again.

I decided to "keep" this ending, and carry on playing from it rather than return to the other one. I then spent ages taking friends out eating, drinking, going to see shows, going to strip clubs and playing darts. It's going to be a long process getting them all up to 100% though - most are still less than 40% even after the wining and dining.

It didn't help that I simply can't do Jacob's package deliveries, and his Like for me drops every time I fail.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Played mainly online today. Started off with a bit of Free Play, then Deathmatched for a game or to, before finishing off the session with several rounds of Mafiya Work. The latter of which was actually better than I was expecting, but seemed far too random to require much skill - whoever was nearest the target when it appeared tended to "win".

After that, I was kicked off Live for some reason, so played offline for a bit. I attempted the final mission - going after Dimitri - and failed when he blew up my boat with a rocket. And it takes aaaaages to get back to that point. Grr!

Aces of the Galaxy Demo (360)

This was on XBLA this week. It's crap.

Toki Tori (Wii)

Just two levels on this tonight. I'd hoped to have done more, but 2-7 was far too hard. Well, it wasn't in the end, I was just looking at it the wrong way.

Roogoo Demo (360)

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

OK, cute and rubbish.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

So I tooled up and retried the mission, completing it without any problems this time. After which it was time for Roman's wedding - a wedding which I was told was going to take place at 10am. I hung around a safe house, shopped for a new suit, and went for a walk while waiting. But the game never told me where to actually go. Come 1pm, I decided to save my game, and then immediately afterwards got a call from Roman asking where the hell I was. Bizarre! (GTA Glitch Watch?)

Anyway, the wedding happened and then a nasty spoiler. A nasty spoiler which didn't sit well with me and I didn't like at all. So much so, I'm going to go back to an earlier save and kill Dimitri.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

I think I'm almost done! I went back to the main story, and found Darko Brevic - who I decided not to kill. I don't know if that was the right decision or not, but since I've saved everyone I could so far, and Roman was quite insistent I spare him, I thought it best.

And then I attempted what I assume is the final mission. I was given the choice of working with Dimitri, or killing him. I chose to work with him, but as expected, he double-crossed me. And I died trying to finish the mission. Pff.

Ninja Gaiden II Demo (360)

It was very easy and felt like Kung Fu Panda only with more gore. I've been told the full version is harder and more varied, but if the demo doesn't win me over I'm not likely to buy the full game.

Mind you, I've done it before and everything worked out for the best...

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Just vigilante missions again today, and completed them all. Which netted me another achievement! Some of them were pretty good too - far better and more varied than the usual stuff from previous games in the series.

I then played online for a while, on Ranked Deathmatch. Picked up another two achievements there as well, even though I didn't do especially well.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Just Vigilante missions again today. I've finished all the Most Wanted missions in the Bohan/Broker areas, and completed two in Alderney too.

I'm also over 51 hours in now. And I've still not completed it. It's also just about the only game I've played for almost two weeks now too. Yes, it is very good.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Mainly spent my time on vigilante missions today, getting the achievement for taking down 20 criminals found on the police computer, and then completing all the Algonquin "Most Wanted" missions.

After that I did Gravelli's (or whatever his name is - old bloke in the hospital) next mission - blowing up some vans filled with cocaine. I took an indirect route around some rooftops, which made it much easier than it originally looked. Then I retried Phil's mission getting some drugs from a boatyard. Found that much easier than last time, completing it easily.

Finally, I took Kate out on a date. It didn't go well, as to start with I turned up just one minute late, then se complained about my clothes, my bike riding skillz (she didn't like being on an NRG 900 for some reason) and then when we arrived at the bowling place it wouldn't let us start a game, so we left and I accidentally threw her from the bike when I clipped a kerb. So she went home on her own. Smooth, Niko, really smooth.

GTA Glitch Watch
Glitches in abundance today! Lots and lots of objects popping in after I've hit them, and the tunnel from Alderney to Algonquin was completely black for a good 1/3 of its length before any of it was drawn in.

One of my cars parked outside my East Holland safehouse vanished too - even though it was in the designated parking, and, in fact, had been there for around 20-odd hours play at least.

Then there was the problem with Kate's date. I got to the bowling place but it wouldn't let me play. No idea why - and no, she hadn't requested a particular sort of date (in fact I rang her) and when I'd picked her up it was shown on my map as a "valid" place to do. Very odd.