Rock Band (360)

Yesterday I decided to practice guitar playing on Medium in the solo tour. It's mostly very easy, but getting harder. The chorus of Celebrity Skin is beyond me right now. Lots of reds, yellows and blues in a confusing pattern.

Still, I've not failed a song yet. Hopefully my skills will have improved enough to get through Enter Sandman by the time I reach it.

Rock Band (360)

I was playing guitar on Easy, but we got the maximum fans for that level, so I thought I'd step up to Medium.

That was fine for a few songs, but then we got to Enter Sandman, which I just can't do. And my wife can't save me because I die minutes before the vocals start.

Ugh.

Rock Band (360)

Oh man.

Traded some stuff in for this today and when I got home my wife and I set up a band with me on guitar and her on vocals and started playing our World Tour.

It's awesome stuff. I've been really enjoying it and so has she, except for the time a 2-song random set list threw up a French song followed by a German song.

I enjoyed them both immensely.

HEIR! KOMMT! ALEX!

It's brilliant. It's the Singstar/Guitar Hero combination we've always dreamed of.

Top Trumps: Doctor Who (DS)

Oh, how I sneered when this was announced! A cheap, lazy cash in that only children, idiots and the kind of fans who grab any old tat with a Dalek sticker on it would buy! Haw haw haw!

My wife, however, insisted we get it. And, as I'm also a Doctor Who fan who'll grab any old tat with a Dalek sticker on it, I needed only minimal persuasion.

You want to know the shocking truth?

It's actually really good fun. I went to bed late last night because we were playing so much multiplayer. (It only needs a single cart to play two player games, excellently.) There is a classic Top Trumps mode, but it's not nearly as fun as using Adventure rules, where you get special powers to use, which really spice up the game. Turns Top Trumps from a "timewaster" game into "must... play... more..." game.

So, that's me told.

Is it worth £20 more than a pack of cards, though? Well, I've not really investigated single player, but from my wife's progress it seems to be addictive but short. The multiplayer is certainly far more fun than just a deck of cards. However, there only seems to be one deck in the game. It's a very good deck and much more balanced than some other Top Trumps decks (the Angel one springs to mind as being completely unplayable), but for the money I'd expect at least three or four decks to choose from. It really does seem like a wasted opportunity in that respect.

So, yes, it's far more fun than I ever expected it to be, but twenty-five quid is a little off. At a tenner, though, it would be great value for any Doctor-loving household with a couple of DS consoles.

The Simpsons Game (360)

I went back to this last night and I'm very glad that I did.

The bit I'd got stuck on was only a problem because I'd forgotten one of Bart's moves. Once I remembered it the puzzle was very easy indeed.

I played quite a few levels after that. The gameplay quality varied from "rather good" to "average bordering on annoying", but I didn't get stuck for long on anything. The quality of the script is what carries the game, though. It's The Simpsons doing games, like the Halloween episodes are The Simpsons doing horror. Will Wright's appearance is absolute genius and generated actual, real laughter.

I'm wondering how long it takes people who haven't played Joust to work out how to pass the homage to the game on the Neverquest level, though?

I'm hoping to get a good, long session tonight to finish it off, ready for trade. Not a keeper, but I'm very glad I played it.

Haze Demo (PS3)

When it comes to first person shooters I'm easily pleased, but Haze has slightly off controls, terrible dialogue and when I fell backwards off a cliff I couldn't be bothered to continue.

I actually quite enjoyed it in a lot of ways and I liked the Nectar stuff, but overall it's a miss so far. I have a feeling I might like the full game more.

The Simpsons Game (360)

Fairy enjoyable until I got to a part where I kept falling off a climbing section and had to start over. Finally got to the end and couldn't see what to do, so turned the game off in frustration.

That might be it for the game now, if I use it as trade-in fodder on Friday.

R-Type Command (PSP)

Yes, I get annoyed by long tutorials that tell you exactly what to do and don't let you actually really play a game for a couple of hours after starting. But they do at least tell you what you need to know.

R-Type Command doesn't seem to have a tutorial at all. It starts with a Training mission, which I assumed would have some, well, training in it. But no, it drops you into the game and expects you to swim.

I sunk.

It's not that I couldn't work out the basics. I managed to move units, attack the enemy and end my turns. All that. But I got killed horribly and I'm not too sure what I could have done to avoid it.

Fable (360)

Screens of Fable 2 filled me with love, so I decided to play Fable again. I've got a US copy, but luckily it's region free, so it plays on my UK 360. Result.

The framerate is awful - which may be a problem a with backwards compatibility rather than the game, I honestly can't remember - and I keep trying to use the right stick as a "normal" third person camera, which it's not, but it still looks beautiful. I've gone through the long, long training process and have done a couple of quests out in the big wide world.

I really thought I'd be evil this time round, as I was such a good boy last time I played, but I can't seem to do it. Apart from killing a couple of traders by mistake I've just been very lovely to everybody so far.

Boom Blox (Wii)

I got home last night and the first thing I did was try an "impossible" level my wife had got stuck on while I was at work. I flexed my manly gaming muscles and gave it a go. Turns out, it actually is impossible. Or as near as you can get to it. You have to protect four kittens from eighty-five attacking skeletons. I can only manage to kill about fifty, at best, before the kittens get killed. Ah well.

So I went through Explore mode on my profile instead. That unlock Expert Explore mode, where I managed to fail a long level. Boo.

And then it was time to play some co-op, because my wife's arm had recovered enough from her afternoon with the game. Co-op is definitely the best part of the game that I've seen so far. We got through several levels very easily, but are now stuck trying to topple a very solid tower with bowling balls. I have some theories as to how best to go about it, but they don't seem to be working.

It's really a very good game. It's not as polished as I'd like, though. The cross-hairs freeze for a second every now and again. It's never been at an important time, but it's annoying when you're trying to line up a shot. And once it ended a level saying we'd failed when my last ball was still knocking things over. The game showed a gold medal winning score, but said we'd failed but made us retry. And once I managed to knock a gem into a wooden block - luckily a bit was sticking out and hitting it freed it. I've seen some incredible slow down in co-op, too, but it's never been a gameplay issue.

Anyway, they're just minor niggles that reviewers don't seem to be reporting. Not enough to knock any points off the score, but worth mentioning in passing.

Boom Blox (Wii)

It's not really a mini-games compilation, it's too well-themed for that. But they do get an awful lot of play styles from the basic premise of blocks falling around. There's Jenga, which is probably the best bit of the package so far. There's, um, bowling or something, where you have to use balls to topple blocks or to destroy baddies that are coming to break down your castle. There are shooting range levels where you simply have to point at moving blocks and shoot them. There are quite possibly other styles of play, too.

Last night I did the training and a few simple single player puzzles, but I spent most of my time playing the co-op levels with my wife. It's all very, very good fun. We had a devil of a time where you work simultaneously to remove blocks from a see-saw, but we didn't get grumpy and it was a sweet, sweet feeling when we won. The Wii controls feel exactly the way they should and the physics engine seems very sensible. I'm not surprised it's been getting such good reviews.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Five Achievements today.

I finally beat a friend at pool. Roman, in this case.

I unlocked the final friend ability.

I got all my friends' "like" ratings over 90%.

I finally lost a four-star wanted rating. It was very easy, actually. It was a very foggy day, which seemed to limit cop visibility, so I just drove straight out of the wanted circle and hid behind a wall.

And I got the last Achievement of the day for completing twenty vigilante missions.

Magic Pen (Web)

I know, I know, it's a shock to see something that's not GTA here.

Anyway, this is a nice little physics puzzle Flash game.

http://magic.pen.fizzlebot.com/

I've got my score down to 84. (i.e. I've solved all the levels using a total of 84 pieces.)

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Lots of side missions this evening and two or three Achievements.

Very nice.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Story mode- complete!

Awesome final few hours, emotionally and in gaming terms. The last mission is a real [expletive deleted] but awesome.

Phew.

No bad missions in the whole game. Amazing.

Thank you Rockstar.

Wow.

Game progress - 69.67%
Playing time - 56:13:02

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Another few hours last night, mainly doing missions. Some excellent shoot outs and car chases. I think I'm nearing the end now. I seem to have two story missions left on the map right now and I'm not sure how many will open up once those are done. Maybe one final mission, maybe a series. Or the game could twist away and give me a lot more to do before the end.

I left one mission I attempted uncompleted last night. It was a massive shoot out and I did it pretty easily, but couldn't find the final enemy. He, however, could see me. I tried to hunt him and flush him out, but he got the better of me in the end and I died. Not too annoying, though. It was a fun mission and I don't mind doing it again. And the camera moved around to show me where I'd been shot from when I died, so at least I found out where the guy was.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

I'm around fifty hours in now and don't think I'm even very close to the end of the story, looking at the number of missions I've got left for contacts I know about. If there are more to come I've got even further to go. And I've not been rampaging around the city, which is what I've always done in previous GTAs more than anything else. Unless someone really annoys me - usually be running me over - I try to avoid civilian casualties.

Things I like -

Driving around. I just really enjoying cruising around.

Getting drunk.

Shooting. For the first time in a GTA I really love the gunplay. Took me a while to get used to everything, especially the cover system, but now it's clicked I adore it. I actually seek out huge gunfights, which is something I tried to avoid in previous GTAs. I adore it. Especially when enemies use cars for cover. Heh heh heh.

The missions. I've enjoyed every mission so far, I think. There's been some frustration, but not in a bad way. A huge improvement - and keeping your weapons after a hospital visit really helps with that. Sometimes when I complete a mission I'm even slightly disappointed, because I won't get to try again. It's got some of the best missions in all of gaming, up there with the Dark Brotherhood in Oblivion.

The GPS system - I don't always use it, but it's great to have it there.

The characters. I like my friends and I love Niko. It's a big step up. I liked CJ in San Andreas, but never felt the same connection to him and definitely not to other characters in that game. They're mostly amazing.

The radio stations. Don't like the jazz or hardcore stations, but all the rest are worth listening to. Current favourite is Beats 102.

Moral choices. Not even for the benefits or otherwise of making them. Just having the choices themselves is enough with characters this well drawn. I agonise over some of them.

The city. I like knowing bits of it, but having other areas I barely know or, indeed, have never seen. Makes it feel more real and bigger than it really is.

TV stations. They're nice to have on when I'm having some food in real life, but don't want to turn off the game.

News reports about my exploits. Especially when filtered through Weasel's War on Terror agenda.

Getting Achievements after awesome missions. They've really chosen those well. Somehow they always pop up after the most amazing missions.

Euphoria. Makes bullets and explosions have far more eye-pleasing effects than in previous games.

Grenades. Best grenades in a game ever? Quite possibly.

Things I don't like -

When people don't answer my calls or refuse to go out with me and then five minutes later text me to tell me they don't like me because I've not been in touch.

Darts. Far too easy. I still like going out and playing darts with friends, because it's nice and quick, but it could do with being a bit harder.

Landing helicopters. By far the most difficult thing I have to do in the game.

Texture and object pop in. I've only hit something once before it appeared (a fence in an alley on Aldernay) but it should never, ever happen. And it's quite ugly at times.

Not having as many moral choices as I'd like. There are several occasions where I thought I'd have a choice as to whether or not to kill someone, only to be forced to kill them.

Cars magically moving during cut scenes. The "where did the game park my car" game isn't much fun. Especially when the game sometimes magics it away entirely.

Conclusion -

Pretty much one of the best games of all time, but there's still room for improvement in the next version.

10/10

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Must have played for nearly fifty hours now and still haven't finished the story.

I'm really liking the missions still. They're not too hard or unfair and they're not annoying. Which is a GTA first.

I love this game.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Three words.

Three. Leaf. Clover.

One of the best missions in any game. Ever. Took me several attempts, but I've done it now. I almost wish I hadn't. I miss it.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Game progress - 32.34%
Playing time - 24:02:28
Longest non-stop game - 06:06:06

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Another five hours or so last night.

It's funny, I don't have time for gaming normally, but when a game I really want to play comes out somehow I manage to magically the time to play it. Strange...

Anyway, lots of good stuff last. Missions, socialising and several car chases, one of which was absolutely epic.

At 22.35% completion, still limited to the first couple of islands available at the start.

The thrill's not worn off yet.

Grand Theft Auto IV (360)

Hooray!

Last night I had an excellent shoot out. That's never really been possible in GTA games before. In the past, I've always ended up running around desperately hitting in the Lock On button and spraying fire in roughly the right direction. In GTA IV, though, it's different. I was in a park, in a thunderstorm, taking cover behind trees, sprinting from cover to cover, popping out to shoot bad guys, all that. A proper gun fight. I won with a tiny sliver of health left and it was amazing.

Bit of a shame that by the time I ran over to where the bad guys had been most of their corpses had disappeared and I could only tell where they'd fallen by their dropped guns, but you can't have everything I suppose.

Apart from that, it was mostly more of the same. A few missions and lots of socialising. Roman and I had an epic trip to a strip club. Left about 8:30pm and got home at 5:30am after some lap dancing and police chases.

The only big new feature I think I found last night was the Internet cafe. I didn't investigate it much, though, just got a mission and went off to steal a bike.