In order to receive the one-star "puzzle gamer" badge over at 360voice.com (where my xbox blogs!) I need a further 1183 points in a select list of "puzzle" games.
Astropop
Bejeweled 2
Boogie Bunnies
Buku Sudoku
Coffeetime Crosswords™
Hexic 2
Hexic HD
Jewel Quest
Poker Smash
Puzzle Fighter HD
Roogoo
Tetris Evolution
Tetris Splash
TiQal
Word Puzzle
Zuma
A few I already own, like Luxor and Roogoo. Tetris Evolution, which I'm going to borrow from a friend, is the only retail game - the others are all XBLA.
To kick it off I bought Buku Soduku yesterday morning. It's a cute little game, with nice graphics but poor sound. It also has an "auto-pencil" feature that renders most of the Soduku gameplay irrelevant. All you have to do is click on the dark colored number. Also, the game is old enough that no one at all is playing it online anymore. I sat for nearly 10 minutes waiting, but couldn't find a match. So I can't get all the cheevos on this one without boosting. Dang it.
The second game I bought is TiQal which is a tetris rip off, skinned in a South American -psudo - indian way. There are some interesting facts about actual cultures on some of the load screens. You have to make cubes of same colored bricks in order to advance, and it's a little harder than it sounds! It actually quite will done and I'm looking forward to continuing to play it.
Yesterday I achieved 120 points playing these two games. Yeah! Now only 1063 more points left to get. Wish me luck because these puzzles make themselves hard to complete!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Bionic Commando Multiplayer Demo -First Look
I'm not much of a demo person, or a multiplayer person for that matter, but I am interested in the updated mechanics in the new Bionic Commando game - so I thought that I'd check it out. Much to my surprise I enjoyed the few rounds I played. I think a large part of that involved the fact that chat was not enabled and there fore I couldn't get annoyed at the constant stream of inane chatter. I hope it stays this way in the final release!
The demo pops you into a 5 minute deathmatch against 7 other players (so 8 people including you), with only one map at the time being. There is no tutorial on how to traverse the world, just trial and error. While the game is loading there is an innovative method of conveying the control layout. A 3-D render of the 360 controller floats in space and you can hit buttons to see what they do. Unfortunately the load time is not that long and it took me multiple rounds before I was able to push every button to see what it does.
The matches themselves are pretty fast and furious, and favor those who really have the swing mechanic down pat. Around the map are points where gun or armor are located. the glow brightly and tend to be focus points for the action as players converge on the spot. A handy feature is the ability to grab the guns or armor with the bionic arm and pull it back to you. Several times I was able to use cover, grab a gun, and then head around a corner and blow some dude away who was camping there to try and mow people down.
You are also brightly colored on a fairly drab background, so it's not an option to hide through camouflage. the catch is that there is some vertical layering to the levels, and you can grapple your way up and then reign terror down on your opponents.
There are melee attacks, but weapon use was so prevalent that I never had a chance to get close enough to an opponent to take them down by that method.
A leveling up system seemed to be present, but did not persist from match to match in the demo.
Initially after the release of the 360 demo there were some reports that people had problems finding and connecting to matches, by Saturday afternoon when I was playing this was not an issue. A minute was about the longest I waited to be matched with the maximum amount of other players.
I am going to continue to play the demo and see how it holds up as I learn the map and controls better, and may be picking the retail release up as well.
The demo pops you into a 5 minute deathmatch against 7 other players (so 8 people including you), with only one map at the time being. There is no tutorial on how to traverse the world, just trial and error. While the game is loading there is an innovative method of conveying the control layout. A 3-D render of the 360 controller floats in space and you can hit buttons to see what they do. Unfortunately the load time is not that long and it took me multiple rounds before I was able to push every button to see what it does.
The matches themselves are pretty fast and furious, and favor those who really have the swing mechanic down pat. Around the map are points where gun or armor are located. the glow brightly and tend to be focus points for the action as players converge on the spot. A handy feature is the ability to grab the guns or armor with the bionic arm and pull it back to you. Several times I was able to use cover, grab a gun, and then head around a corner and blow some dude away who was camping there to try and mow people down.
You are also brightly colored on a fairly drab background, so it's not an option to hide through camouflage. the catch is that there is some vertical layering to the levels, and you can grapple your way up and then reign terror down on your opponents.
There are melee attacks, but weapon use was so prevalent that I never had a chance to get close enough to an opponent to take them down by that method.
A leveling up system seemed to be present, but did not persist from match to match in the demo.
Initially after the release of the 360 demo there were some reports that people had problems finding and connecting to matches, by Saturday afternoon when I was playing this was not an issue. A minute was about the longest I waited to be matched with the maximum amount of other players.
I am going to continue to play the demo and see how it holds up as I learn the map and controls better, and may be picking the retail release up as well.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Review of Bully (360)
Late in the PS2's life came Rockstar Vancouver's view of high school society in the form of 'Bully.' It would take nearly two years for imperfect ports of the game to hit the Wii, Xbox 360 (March 2008) and the PC (Oct. 2008). Like the GTA games that Rockstar is better known for, Bully is an openworld sandbox game with a cynical view of Americana. However, with a smaller game world and shorter missions, Bully is actually a much tighter game than its big brothers.
Jimmy, the main character, finds himself dropped off at Bullworth academy by uncaring parents. He quickly discovers that the school is rigidly divided in to cliques, such as the Nerds, Jocks, and Preps. Sort of like a real high school. The game involves him negotiating his way through classes, and taking the cliques on one by one. Classes are done as mini-games, and are generally entertaining. The Scholarship Editions on the Wii, 360, and PC contain a few classes not found in the original PS2 version, and these seem to be tailor made for the Wii controller, and therefore end up being a bit awkward on the other systems.
One of the most notable aspects of the game is the passage of the seasons as you progress in the game. Holidays like Halloween and Christmas come and go, each with their own special events. Winter buries the school campus and the entire town under a blanket of white. If you receive detention during this time you'll be shovelling snow instead of mowing the lawn!
Little touches in the game world and dialog show off the high production value of this game. Several different collectibles are scattered throughout the entire gameworld, and more than 300 articles of clothing can be found or bought, thus giving completionist gamers something to obsess over.
Controls on the console editions of the game are tight, with vehicles such as bikes and go carts being as easy to control as Jimmy himself. The PC controls are a little harder to adapt to and seem a shoehorned on after thought.
Overall the game is extremely fun to play. It's everything you like about a GTA game, but with all the annoying stuff removed. The atmosphere is light hearted and the subject material not as dark. I can't recommend this game highly enough.
Jimmy, the main character, finds himself dropped off at Bullworth academy by uncaring parents. He quickly discovers that the school is rigidly divided in to cliques, such as the Nerds, Jocks, and Preps. Sort of like a real high school. The game involves him negotiating his way through classes, and taking the cliques on one by one. Classes are done as mini-games, and are generally entertaining. The Scholarship Editions on the Wii, 360, and PC contain a few classes not found in the original PS2 version, and these seem to be tailor made for the Wii controller, and therefore end up being a bit awkward on the other systems.
One of the most notable aspects of the game is the passage of the seasons as you progress in the game. Holidays like Halloween and Christmas come and go, each with their own special events. Winter buries the school campus and the entire town under a blanket of white. If you receive detention during this time you'll be shovelling snow instead of mowing the lawn!
Little touches in the game world and dialog show off the high production value of this game. Several different collectibles are scattered throughout the entire gameworld, and more than 300 articles of clothing can be found or bought, thus giving completionist gamers something to obsess over.
Controls on the console editions of the game are tight, with vehicles such as bikes and go carts being as easy to control as Jimmy himself. The PC controls are a little harder to adapt to and seem a shoehorned on after thought.
Overall the game is extremely fun to play. It's everything you like about a GTA game, but with all the annoying stuff removed. The atmosphere is light hearted and the subject material not as dark. I can't recommend this game highly enough.
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