The Sims 3 (PC)

My review is written. It's not, I don't think, the best review ever, but I really wanted to get across the point that the game now works the way I've always thought it should and is therefore the best Sims game by a long, long way.

The Sims 3 Review

Peggle World of Warcraft Edition (PC)

I've finished the ten-level adventure and the first three challenges, but there's still a fair amount to do. Seven more challenges, then getting the high scores and 100% of the pegs on each level. Not bad for free, not bad at all.

Peggle World of Warcraft Edition (PC)

Ten free levels of Peggle with a World of Warcraft theme. Can't complain about that!

Oh, wait, yes I can - there's no Mac version, despite both Peggle and WoW being available on OSX.

The Sims 3 (PC)

Sims now properly autonomous - except for fact they won't come home from trips out unless you tell them to, as far as I can see. Left to their own devices, they will do what needs doing, including peeing, showering, sleeping and cleaning. This is a major step. My wife likes to micro-manage her sims, I prefer to watch them and then prod them gently or get them doing things they wouldn't normally do.

Making friends seems to take ages. Acquaintances are easy to get, but building up relationships seems hard.

La'Quisha grew up to school age. Once she's going off to school each day, I'm going to have Steve explore the town a bit during the days before he gets a job.

Used build mode to extend the house, as it was far too small. Very easy to do, doesn't cost the earth. Good. Restrictions, though, like not being able to move walls with counters attached to them. Reasonable, understandable, annoying.

The Sims 3 (PC)

I'm reviewing this - I have an actual free copy from EA and everything - so this post will just be some notes of things I need to remember when I write up the review.

Install takes ages. How much disk space did it take up? I'll have to check.

Runs like a dog on default settings on my PC, but so did The Sims 2. Taking everything down to low means it runs fine and doesn't really seem to look any different to my eyes. No different from medium settings, no different from The Sims 2.

Set up a family - Steve and Sasha Beato and their baby daughter, whose name is something like De'Quesha. I let my wife name her and she watches far too much Maury. Steve is evil, Sasha is reasonably good, but not overly so.

Moved them into a small house in town. It's not a trailer... it just looks like one. I've fulfilled a few small wishes for them - a new sofa, a crib for the baby, etc. Steve, though evil, loves his little daughter very much and most of his wishes involve taking care of her.

While he was doing that, Sasha went out to the grocery store - fancy new feature alert! - and bought some food. And a duck. For the bath. The bath they don't have. Then she came home and got a job on the journalism career track, as she wished. Steve wants to have a criminal career, but I'm keeping him home to look after the baby for now. Global domination can wait.

I experimented with letting my sims get on with their lives themselves and they went to the toilet, ate food, went to bed and went to work without me having to tell them to. That's an improvement from The Sims 2 right there. I think they were meant to do it in the last game, but they never seemed to actually do it.

When I left, Sasha was still at work - her first day - and Steve was looking after the baby. I think I might get Sasha to invite her co-workers over for a party soon, see some interation.

Steve and Sasha love each other very much and when they can they spend a lot of time talking and canoodling. Sasha wants another baby - they've not tried that yet.

Plants Vs Zombies (PC/Mac)

Adventure, puzzles and mini games completed. Am now dividing my time between a second tun through the adventure (it seems quite a bit harder this time round), the survival games and tending to my zen garden.

No, it's not as good as Peggle. Why there don't seem to be any high score modes when some of the game types are crying out for scores I don't know. But it's still ace.

Plants Vs Zombies (PC/Mac)

Yeah, I'm playing on both operating systems. Doesn't seem to be much between them, though the Mac version has crashed a couple of times for me.

Anyway, this is the new sensation sweeping the nation (Internet), so I'm sure you know all about it. PopCap do tower defense, basically, though it's different from any other TD game I've played. (You're always actually playing - you don't get to set up your defenses and then sit back and watch. If you're not adding more plants, then you're at least collecting sunlight.) It's very polished and hugely addictive, but the story mode has been very, very easy so far. I'm up to level 5-8 and haven't died yet. It's getting harder, though, so I don't think I'll be able to complete the adventure without dying.

It's not Peggle, by any means, but it's very good.

Peggle Nights (PC)

And for the sake of completeness, I suppose I'll mention that I played this for a while last night. I was trying to get over 350,000 on some level, I forget what it's called or where it is, and failing dismally.

Peggle Nights (PC)

Meant to play more Monster Hunter after I got home last night, but Peggle has a way of disrupting plans. Was trying a 800,000 point challenge - and failing, lots.

Peggle Nights (PC)

Popcap have released a set of free spring-themed levels for Peggle Nights, which installed easily (though they wouldn't install to my D: drive, where I like to keep game files.) I've been having fun with them - the "ace" scores seem really quite high and trying to get those scores and the 100% award will keep me going a long time.

Quake Live Beta (PC)

I got an unexpected beta key through in my email.

Installed it, grabbed a USB mouse, then tried to play.

Two problems.

1) I have to sit hunched over, leaning way down onto the keyboard and mouse, which is very uncomfortable.

2) My cat finds the mouse the most interesting thing ever and wouldn't leave me alone as I tried to play. I didn't even manage to finish the ten-minute training match. D'oh.

Dawn of War: Dark Avatar (PC)

Two pounds and seventy pence from Impulse this weekend. Massive bargain. Just played one quick skirmish as my friends the Orks. I set it on Easy and had a fun rampage. Just like old times. Trackpad works well enough at that level, though a mouse would be nice.

Seems to run absolutely fine on the NC10 in the no-frills safe mode.

Peggle Nights (PC)

Completed all the duel challenges without any real problems. I'm now onto the "best X number of random levels in a row" challenges, which are good fun.

Operation Flashpoint Demo (PC)

The other day, I posted my memories of Operation Flashpoint online. They were -

"Start level. Get into back of jeep thing with other soldiers. Get dropped off near enemy. Crawl through woods into open ground. Lie there for hours, too scared to move. Finally make a move towards enemy settlement. Dead."

Decided to try out the demo and exactly the same thing happened again. Just, exactly. No idea who was shooting me, either. Being a soldier is hard. (Especially when you're trying to zoom, fire and aim on a trackpad.)

Lux Delux (PC/Mac)

This is a game I've played a lot in odd lunchtime moments over the years, but never remember to blog about. It's a Risk clone, but it works, has good controls, AI at my level and an overwhelming amount of interesting maps. I'm currently enjoying the Idaho and Dark Ages maps.

It runs fine on the NC10 - as it should - but the vertical resolution makes some maps a little small and fiddly to play. Still worth a look, though.

Peggle Nights (PC)

Stuck on a "do three levels in fifteen balls challenge" - but it's a fun challenge, not an annoying one. So all's good.

Peggle Nights (PC)

Have given up on the "six unique style shots" challenge. I think you need a mix of Extreme Slide, Long Shot, Free Ball Skills, Lucky Bounce, the one for getting both green balls in one shot and, um, an extra long shot or something. Not really doable.

So I've moved on to easier and more fun challenges. I'll go back sometime and get the one I've skipped.

Majesty Demo (PC)

Old RTS, notable for lack of direct control over your units, or something. That's what I've read about it, anyway. I tried the demo, which doesn't really give you much guidance. I was happily pottering about, when huge monsters wandered over and destroyed my castle, with my guards putting up only the barest hint of resistance before keeling over. I think I must have been missing something.

Main annoyance: Moving cursor to edge of screen scrolls the map at a million miles per hour.

Midnight Club 2 Demo (PC)

Wanted to see if this'd run on the NC10. Runs pretty slowly and the handling with the keyboard is pants. No sale, not even for the Steam price of £4. Interestingly, or not, it looks to me like it's using the same map as the PSP version of Midnight Club LA. But I could be wrong - I just definitely recognised some sections.

Trials 2: Second Edition (PC)

Finally finished the tutorials, which got very, very hard. Then raced through the early non-tutorial levels having great fun. It's got hard again now, though. Not sure if it's too hard... but it might be.

Sam and Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die (PC)

Wow. I loved the original Sam & Max adventure game, way back in the mid-nineties. Started this (free!) game up and - lo! - it's... correct! Sam & Max sound right, the jokes are funny and it's point and click with no fluff or distractions. Excellent stuff. Didn't play much - I don't often get a chance to use my NC10 with sound on - but I throughly enjoyed what I did play. Yay.

Peggle Nights (PC)

Did the challenges I was stuck on, raced through the next page without any problems, am now stuck on a "Get 200,000 style points" level. No idea how to go about that.

Europa Universalis II (PC)

Spent ten euros on this last night as a download from GamersGate. So, ten quid. Bit expensive, maybe, but I love the game. (And if I can't afford to buy proper console games any more, at least I can treat myself to an old PC game when I get paid.) This is, I think, the third time I've bought it. PC CD (lost in time), Mac CD (in the closet somewhere, effectively lost) and now PC download.

I've completely forgotten how to play since I last played it $hlmun years ago, though. So I'll be wading through all the tutorials again at some point.

But, hooray for a strategy game that runs in 800x600!

Peggle Nights (PC)

No success last night, but I have a new strategy for one of the levels I think might work, given enough time, luck and, most importantly, thoughtful shot selection.

Bookworm Adventures (PC)

Got past the annoying boss after another random death.

On the level I've just reached, the enemies seem to be able to do the "infinite damage in a single turn" thing, which is very annoying. Won't stop me playing, though, as the game is excellent.

Bookworm Adventures (PC)

I've got to a boss who would be easy, but who can destroy half my health bar in one hit. As I tend not to use healing potions until I'm nearly dead, I keep dying unexpectedly just as I'm about to kill him. Hasn't stopped the fun, though.

Peggle Nights (PC)

The challenges have got stupidly difficult now. I haven't managed to complete one in about three days. I'm not sure if this is a bad thing or not. I suspect it is, with the difficulty coming from limited balls and levels that just aren't quite as nice as the ones in the original.

Space Rangers 2 (PC)

Some success last night. So much so that I had to save and quit the game at bedtime, rather than just dying. I avoided all combat and simply did some trading, some smuggling and a delivery mission. I've got myself quite a few credits now. I'll just have to avoid my starting system - the smuggling didn't go down too well with them.

Peggle Nights (PC)

Ah, good, the challenges have now got hard. I'm stuck on a "get 250,000 in seven balls on an awkward level" one. This is a good thing.

Space Rangers 2 (PC)

Started a new game. Went to Venus and did the planetary battle tutorial. Well, sort of. I couldn't do the first part, so just won the level without any tutorial messages. Might try that again some time, then. Hard to control with a trackpad without knowing any shortcut keys. Might see if I can find if it installed a manual when I downloaded it from Impulse.

Anyway, after the planetary battle, I decided to go and help the military take on the evil Dominators. Except my ship was far too slow and I was only a third of the way to the rally point by the deadline. I heard, though, that there was a black hole about to open up in a nearby system, so went there. Either it had been and gone or I couldn't detect it, though. Not seeing any sign of a black hole, I decided it might be nice to go and scavenge some stuff from a system the Dominators were invading.

So I jumped there. Picked up some nice equipment... then realised that I had a problem. FIrst, I noticed that the Dominator invasion was over - and they'd won. No friendly ships or planets in the system. Just me. Alone. Second, I realised that I used all my fuel travelling to this system, so couldn't jump out again.

No fuel. Nowhere to refuel. And a ton of Dominator ships bearing down on me.

Game over.

(I've also realised that I can't remember how to unlock areas of the map that are blanked out when you start. I thought if I got close to them they'd be uncovered, but that's not the case. Hmm.)

Birth of America Demo (PC)

Turn-based strategy, which seems very hardcore to me, but which is probably incredibly simple by the standards of beardy PC wargamers. On my 1024x600 screen I can't see much of the map and the armies list screen seems hard coded to 1024x768, so the bottom is cut off, but otherwise it runs okay. I got through the first tutorial and won, even though the "Entrench" button it asked me to press didn't exist.

(I also tried the same company's Civil War game demo, which is very similar and in a time period I'm more interested in, but that has many more screens that get cut off at the bottom, rendering it unplayable. D'oh.)

Space Rangers 2 (PC)

I'd forgotten how much this game likes to kill you. I played one game, in which I did the tutorial missions, then got killed by a pirate as soon as I'd finished.

I started a second game, did the tutorial missions again (with a quick detour to sell some weapons to a planet experiencing a civil war), then got a mission to deliver an historic computer virus named "Windows" to some chaps who wanted it for research purposes. The first problem was that I had to deliver it to a system that wasn't on my map. So I headed out in the direction of uncharted space and, er, was shot down by a pirate. (I might have made it to safety, but I was also being shot by a transport ship I'd tried to rob earlier, who obviously decided to bear a grudge.)

Two games, two early deaths. I could reload, I guess, but I think I'll start again.

Also, the planetary missions crashed the game when I tried to play them. I think I've worked out why, though, so they may be okay in future. Though I'm not sure I want to play an RTS on a trackpad, so I may just avoid them.

Peggle Nights (PC)

This is Peggle, but with different levels. Okay, there's an additional Peggle master with a (seemingly rubbish) power, slightly different challenge types and at least one extra skill shot, but it's more a level pack than a new game. Taken with that in mind, this is excellent. I've played every level in the original Peggle countless times, so this is wonderful. I get my Peggle fix without the familiarity. I've been through Adventure mode once and am now doing the challenges. None have been very hard so far, but it's early days. I'm sure it'll be making me cry before too long.

Bookworm Adventures (PC)

Or "Bookworm Adventures Deluxe", if you're being extra picky.

See, I've always liked the original Bookworm, but it goes on forever, because there's no real danger if you're being careful. Bookworm Adventures puts a structure around the game and changes some rules. You've got a much smaller grid, letters you're using don't have to be adjacent to each other, you have special power-up gems and, most importantly, you use your words to damage enemies. The better the word, the more damage you cause. Add a silly story around all this and some mini games (some of which are ace, some of which... aren't) and you've got a game which is much better than the original.

Still, it's no match for Peggle, despite what some reviewers would have you believe. And talking of Peggle...

Space Rangers 2 (PC)

Except, not.

It was crashing out on start up and it took me so long to find a fix that I didn't get a chance to actually play it. It at least gets to the main menu now, though.

Peggle Extreme (PC)

Oh. I polished off the final two challenge levels in about five minutes. Ah well. I've found my old activation code for the full version of Peggle, so I've got that now. Come payday, Peggle Nights will be mine. I may not have any money, but I think I can put six quid aside for new Peggle.

BreakQuest (PC)

Yesterday I found my old Stardock details, which includes licences for a lot of old games. Some good, some bad. I installed Impulse (Stardock's Steam-aper) and BreakQuest was the first game I downloaded. It works reasonably well the trackpad, though the game seems harder than I remember. Still it's good fun.

Peggle Extreme (PC)

Did three of the challenges last night. Slightly difficult without any real super powers, but none of those three levels took me very long. The fourth level looks like it might take a while, though.

Dawn of War: Soulstorm Demo (PC)

Should probably be "Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm Demo" or some such nonsense, but life's too short.

Anyway, I got it running. Had to reinstall DirectX, install a Virtual C++ runtime (why?) and reboot the computer, but it works. And works well. Just did a little bit of the tutorial, so haven't seen what it's like with lots of units onscreen, but it was fine. Perfectly smooth and all that.

Defense Grid: The Awakening Demo (PC)

Starts up fine on my little NC10, but is unplayably slow, even with everything else closed, all settings on Low and the computer set to Max Performance. Ah well.

At least that's better than Dawn of War: Soulstorm, which just refuses to start. In Steam I get a "Game Unavailable" message, starting it directly results in Windows popping up a box about a configuration error. Ah well.

Lumines Demo (PC)

Works suprisingly well on a tiny keyboard without sound. As a puzzle game it's good enough to stand up when you take away the presentation. Still, I'm not sure I can bear to buy it again. I've bought it twice on the PSP and once on the 360 already.

Peggle Extreme (PC)

I finished Adventure mode last night, what with it being only ten levels and all. Still got some challenges to do, mind.

Peggle Extreme (PC)

Free. New. Peggle.

New. Peggle. Free.

PEGGLE!

(Okay, I know it's not new, at all, but it hasn't been free for all that long and it's new to me. Only ten levels, but ten free levels of Peggle are worth a million free levels of, um, something rubbish.)

Trials 2: Second Edition (PC)

An actual 3D game! Runs very smoothly and seems fun, in a slightly QWOP-like way. Only testing out for five minutes - in a slightly less-slumped position, but not exactly upright - doesn't make for much to blog about.

Doom (PC)

Another game I played on my sparkling new NC10 last night. Ran fine, as you'd expect, but I had trouble with the controls. Doom was wonderful before all those extra keys got shoved into the bottom row of the keyboard.

Again, though, my slumped position probably didn't help.

Spelunky (PC)

A great idea, a roguelike 2D platform game. Rick Dangerous meets NetHack, or something.

However, I found the controls very hard to use... but that may have been because I was slumped down with my laptop resting on my chest, so couldn't actually see the keyboard. I think I'll try again in a sitting position.

Peggle (iPod)

How am I having trouble with the 300K challenges? I'm sure they fell easily when I played on the PC.

Harumph.

Defcon (PC/Mac)

Some chaps over on BETEO have been playing this so I dug old my registration code and joined them for a game last night.

I was the USA and allied with South Asia. This alliance lasted the whole game, more due to having more important targets than any real sense of loyalty, I think. I started the game and failed to notice that South America was actually in the game, so had a bit of a surprise when I was attacked from that direction - having already lost most of my navy to the Russians.

The guy playing the Russians then dropped out due to a bad connection and a CPU player took over. Which was a bit annoying, as the CPU then went on to win handily against the four remaining human players. Only South America put up a proper fight.

I ended up coming third - a huge strike against Russia from my fleet of subs in the North Sea saw to that - but that third was a long, long way behind the top two players.

Denver and Memphis were the only two American cities not to be hit with nukes. I think I ended up losing eighty percent of my population, but at least I did some damage.

Excellent fun and I hope to play again as soon as possible.

Spore (PC)

Well, I got through the Creature stage without looking up and down. Made a few friends, but I mainly just ate everyone.

Then did the Tribal stage, which involved me killing and eating most species, but just killing the sentient ones. I'd have eaten them happily if the game had let me.

I am not a very nice species.

I've just got to the Civilization stage. The game wouldn't let me save my City Hall until I just stacked three simple blocks on top of each other. Any doors, windows or extra stuff and it gave an error message. Nothing useful, just an unhelpful one saying the building couldn't be saved. It did let me make an excellent car after that, though.

And then I had to stop playing.

If anyone wants to see my stuff, add "therev" to your buddy list.

Spore (PC)

Please tell me there's a way to invert the y-axis in the Creature stage! Please!

(Apart from that, I'm enjoying it.)

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

Played this for the first time in ages at lunchtime. Didn't do much, really. Had a quest to slaughter some peasants, so went off and duly killed them. Died twice, once because I got surrounded, once because I haven't played for so long I'd forgotten where I put "Sprint". No real problems, though. Didn't find any good loot, didn't do anything very interesting, but I had fun.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

Today I killed some farmers and got a few measly silver coins for my troubles.

I need new daggers. I've had my current ones for many levels now and I'm sure I should be doing more damage.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

You know you've set a buyout price too low for your auction when someone grabs it before your six feet away from the auction house. Bother. I guess that staff I just sold for eighteen gold could have gone for a lot more if I'd priced it correctly. It's all guesswork, though.

Anyway, I'm happy, because after two days of looking for Jailer Eston I finally found and killed him. Hoorah.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

Rogue poisons quest - finished! Hooray!

Also, I desecrated another bonfire.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

Oh for pity's sake!

I tried my rogue poisons mission and this time I managed to get all the way to the top of the tower and by some sort of fluke I managed to kill the boss. I had no visible health left when he was died, it was that close.

So all that was left was to open the chest and remove the MacGuffin inside. Except - gnnnnnng - apparently my lock-picking skills are too low to even let me attempt to open the chest. Nothing I could do. I had to leave. So near, yet so far.

Sometimes I really, really hate this game. Now I have to remember where I found some locked chests so I can grind my lock-picking skills. Sounds like fun, eh?

And will I ever manage to beat that boss again? Doesn't seem likely, at least not for a while.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

I did quite a lot today, but my abiding memories will be of desecrating an Alliance bonfire and catching torches.

Happy Midsummer Fire Festival everyone!

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

Still can't do the poisons quest. I can't even kill one enemy in the tower. Not a single one. I can't sneak up on them. They see me if I get within six feet of them. It's highly annoying.

Went to Ashenvale to deliver some reports. Got ganked several times. Made a night elf run away though by attacking him while he was having some food, though, so that was nice. Ended up only delivering one report then called it a day.

Too. Much. Running.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

A quick go at lunchtime. Indulged in some Summer Festival activities, then went and stole some plans from some goblins up in Windshear Crag. Also reached level twenty-two, but I don't think there's any point flying off to get my new skills until I've completed the poisons quest in The Barrens. The enemies are all level twenty-five, so I'm not sure I'm quite ready even now, despite it being a quest you're meant to do at level twenty.

Sid Meier's SimGolf (PC)

A blast from the past. All the Civilization stuff lately has got me thinking about other Sid Meier games, so I dug this out and played it for an hour so. It was fun and I designed some nice holes, but money comes in far too slowly for my liking.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

So I was wandering around Silvermoon when a Tauren gave me a quest, which was win a match in Warsong Gulch. So I decided to give it a try. All I knew was that it was some sort of PvP thing. Turns out it's a Capture the Flag gam, played between teams of Alliance and Horde. Jumped into a match that we lost within a couple of minutes of me joining. Then I joined another match from the start. I couldn't do much, as I'm only level 21 and everyone else was 28/29, but I helped on quite a few kills. We won that match and I completed my quest and got a lot of honor points. Not quite sure what they are or what they do, but I think it might be something to do with the guys I've seen in cities with blue question marks over their heads. Not sure. Anyway, it's good fun, if appallingly laggy.

Oh, and I got up to Exalted status in Tranquillien and got my posh cloak.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

Right, yes.

Today I spent most of lunchtime travelling or dead. I did get a couple of quests done in Deatholme, but it was a highly frustrating hour or so.

I only seem to have two quests left in Tranquilien, both of which require groups, so I won't be doing them. Annoyingly, I'm only 750 points off reaching Exalted status and being able to buy a special cloak. Maybe I need to farm some more rotting hearts and spinal dust.

Not sure what to do next. My rogue poisons quest seems to be impossible to do at my level and the only other quest I've got takes me from The Barrens into contested territory, where I'm sure to be ganked every couple of steps.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

A somewhat frustrating lunchtime spent teamed up with someone who didn't speak English and didn't share a quest.

Still, I got one of my quests done and got up to level twenty, so it wasn't wasted time at all.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

This lunchtime I killed a lot of trolls. And then poisoned their food for good measure.

But they were bad trolls, so that's okay.

Civilization IV (PC)

I certainly didn't mean to play this until half past three in the morning. But the Americans needed conquering and then the Egyptians got in the way and I couldn't find their final city and then it was so near the end of the game that it didn't make sense stopping...

I won a Time Victory in the end. That seems to be based on who has the most points in 2050AD. Hurrah, I guess.

(Culture seems to be a bit different in this game compared to Civ 3. I only had two small cities revolt and join my civilization due to culture and I'd been pumping out wonders and temples and libraries like nobody's business.)

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

Somehow, logging on to check my auctions saw me run around Silverpine Forest for an hour or so completing a couple of quests. That wasn't meant to happen.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

Quick session today got me sent off to the Undercity to deliver a necklace.

Now I have the choice of going back and doing missions in Tranquillien or doing some quests in the Forsaken areas.

The Forsaken quests look a bit too easy - i.e. will get me no XP - but I'm struggling with the Blood Elf quests I've got left. Tricky.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

This lunchtime my rogue teamed up with someone for the first time. I got to a quest destination at the same time as a Warlock and, as we were both obviously doing the same thing, he invited me into a group. So we ran around together killing night elves, completed the quest and then I left the group because it was time to stop playing games and get back to work.

Quite nice, was that.

Civilization IV (PC)

Installed this last night. Then installed the patch. Then went hunting round the Internet for the solution to the DirectX error that occurred once the patch was installed.

Finally got to play for an hour or so before bed. I chose a random civilization and ended up as the Malinese. Not an empire I know much about, but that's no problem. I'm playing on the easiest difficulty and pretty much choosing tech and build orders at random, but generally going for culture above everything else. I've founded several religions, built many wonders and build the city of Spoiler just to cut the American empire in half. Unless they've got boats, they're not going to be able to get between their cities. (I never agree to Open Border requests. Get off my land!)

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

My rogue is now level fourteen and has some fun powers. I especially like Garrote, which makes the "Kill X of Y" quests much quicker. Had a lot of trouble stealing some plans from a Dark Elf ship yesterday, but got there in the end.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

Time spent downloading and installing updates:16 hours. (It's been a long time since I last played on the PC here.)

Time spent playing: 15 minutes, just to show my wife what it looks like.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

I spent the first few minutes of today's session dying over and over again, then didn't die for the rest of the day. Odd.

Anyway, I killed some monsters, assassinated a dwarf, turned some guys into giant pig things and learned skinning and leather working so I could make myself some decent new armor. All looks a bit homemade but, well, it is.

Very good day overall. Tomorrow I'm going to try and hit level ten so I can finally dual wield some daggers.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

Started a new character this lunchtime. Catwhisper, a Blood Elf rogue on Daggerspine. I feel a bit dirty playing as an elf, but at least they're Horde elves. There's no way I could ever play an Alliance character, I don't think.

Anyway, after some confusion over combo points, I managed to get him up to level five and out of the starting area. I think I like playing as a rogue. Stealth is nice and there doesn't seem to be much downtime at all. Bit early to judge, but he seems fun.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

Picked up a load of quests, delivered some meat, destroyed a fire altar with a stone and ran all the way to Thunderbluff from The Crossroads to see if the trainer there could get my staff skill about sixty. Which they couldn't. Still, it was a nice run and I only killed once by loading pauses.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac)

I've been playing a fair bit of this over the last week. My old account is tied to an inactive email address and the requirements for changing it are silly, so I started a new account, which meant I could download the trial and play for free. Hooray!

Much as I wanted to see some new stuff I couldn't bring myself to play as the Alliance - I just can't, they're the enemy! - so I played three new Horde characters. An orc warrior, who I got up to level ten before deciding that warriors are quite astoundingly boring to play, an orc warlock, who's up to level eleven and is now my main character, and an undead mage, who I started simply because the game was crashing when I tried to play as either of my other characters. I played him for a short while, then tried my warlock again, who loaded without a hitch. (Seems like the trial has big problems with its dynamic loading system when you zeppelin across to a new area.)

I had a lot of trouble doing my voidwalker quest solo - going up against loads of opponents with voidwalkers when you don't have one is tough - but my Fear and Curse of Agony spells got me through in the end. Now I've been sent to The Crossroads, where there seem to be about a billion quests waiting for me to do.

Which is nice.

Quake 2 (PC)

As well as finishing Bioshock yesterday, I also finished this, but forgot to post about it.

It really is an exceptionally entertaining shooter. I was playing it through on Easy with sound off and was never bored or annoyed with it. The look of it still works, too, with the chunky design looking "classic" rather than "eye-breakingly horrible", even using the software driver (because the OpenGL version is far too dark on my PC, for some reason).

Excellent game all round and one that's stood the test of time very well indeed. It's not complicated, or deep, but as a fast-paced run-and-gun arcade shooter it's brilliant.

Now, if I can find a copy of the 360 version of Quake IV for less than a tenner I might be tempted to get that.

Quake 2 (PC)

Ah, I remember back in the day when Quake 2 came out and the single player mode seemed like a huge step up from the first Quake. Looking back now, I don't see that. They're really very similar indeed. Still, Quake is great fun, so Quake 2 is too. I'm not complaining.

Quake (PC)

I played Quake yesterday for the first time in many years and seems to be a better single player now than it was at the time. I remember thinking it was a bit dull at the time, but now I'm seeing a lovely quick arcade blast, with some ingenious level design and great set pieces. I think at the time I wanted something epic and huge, but now I'm just happy being able to zoom around at a hundred miles an hour shooting things in the face.

But most of all, maybe, is that now I'm so used to the keyboard and mouse interface I can play it as id intended all along. There's no interface now, if you know what I mean, and it feels a lot like Doom to me. Surprisingly so.

It's actually really good fun.

But, yes, it really is as brown as I remember. Maybe browner.

ZAngbandTk (PC)

Suddenly, I've got a character doing quite well. He got some lucky, lucky equipment early on and that meant he could cut straight through the early enemies and earned him enough cash to get properly started, with scrolls of Identify and Recall. He's now down deeper than I've ever been, killing invisible enemies and even, on one memorable occassion, seeing off a whole kobold army by dazzling them, so that in their confusion they ripped into each other and he managed to kill those on the sidelines and even the leader of army himself. Sweet. So, when Creep the Beastman Chaos Warrior finally dies, as he will, he'll be top of the scoreboard, easily.

ZAngbandTk (PC)

I'm not sure how the scoring works. The character I talked about in my last post - Your Mam's Face - managed to get more than a thousand points before dying stupidly. (He was killed by cave spiders. Cave spiders! I didn't even think of them as a threat and so wasn't paying attention.)

My next character - Mexico Shooter - didn't do too badly, either, before dying stupidly. (He read a random scroll he'd found and it turned out to be a scroll of summon monsters, so found himself surrounded by dragons and bees without a way out.) However, he only ended up with 24 points, which is about as many points as I normally ever get.

So where did these hundreds and hundreds of extra points come from for Your Mam's Face? I wish I could find a scoring guide somewhere.

ZAngbandTk (PC)

So I've gone back to this. Tried some spectre characters with no success. Currently have a chaos warror who started off as a beastman, but got turned into a nie... nib... nil... nieblu... type of dwarf by a Chaos God. Fair enough. At least he can see in the dark now.

I wish this ran on OSX.

CastlevaniaRL (PC)

Okay, I think that's it. I can't work out how to heal in the church, with is annoying me more than it should, but, more than that, I keep dying very early and doing the initial forest stuff over and over gets tiring.

CastlevaniaRL (PC)

Not an official Castlevania game, but a roguelike in a Castlevania skin. At first it was annoying because I kept dying really early, but then I discovered I should be attacking (a) with my weapon and not firing (f) my weapon. Then it was annoying because I kept falling into a lake from which there seems to be no way out. But I discovered the jump (j) key and all was well. Now it's annoying because I'm in a town, I need to heal myself at the church, but nobody will tell me where it is and I can't find it. And some people say I need to heal by shouting outside the church, some by resting inside the church, but there's no church and no key to rest and no key to shout and I'm getting very annoyed indeed.

I'm probably being really stupid, but I just can't tell what I'm meant to do.

Peggle Deluxe (PC)

I'm now on the 400,000 point levels. They are really rather tricky, but great fun.

I've got my wife addicted now.

Peggle Deluxe (PC)

Adventure mode was finished off quite quickly, so I'm now working through Challenge mode. I'm currently on the "get 300,000" points levels, which are very satisfying. I've settled on the Zen ball as my preferred power-up.

Peggle Deluxe (PC)

It's sort of like pachinko, but different. It's good fun. Fine. Okay.

What I don't like one little bit is the demo model. You download the full game, you can play it for an hour, then it kicks you out and asks for money. Twenty dollars in this case. The itch was there, but I didn't scratch. I could resist. But! Here comes the evil bit. After your hour is up, the game lets you start it up for two minute sessions. Yes, just two minutes. Just enough to keep the craving alive, but not enough to satisfy it. After several of the two minute sessions I threw my hands up in defeat (possibly literally, I don't remember) and paid my twenty bucks to carry on playing. The payment takes place inside the game. You don't even have to open a browser or wait for an email.

I'll probably be bored it after two hours of play, but that hour just wasn't enough and those two minute sessions meant I couldn't forget.

I'm so weak. I wish companies wouldn't take advantage.

The Sims 2 (PC)

Breaking news!

My wife's family hasn't met the Voorhees family yet, but Pamela Voorhees just stole their garden gnome.

I feel strangely guilty.

The Sims 2 (PC)

My wife's playing this, so I created a family to move in near her family. I'm not going to play them, I'm just hoping they might meet up now and again.

There's Pamela Voorhees, with her young son Jason and her teenage daughter Biscuit. They've moved into town with Pamela's new husband Bob and their two dogs, Machete and Goalie.

Play, Want, Bin

PLAY

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS) - It's very good and I'm now enjoying the two-character mechanics more than I was initially, but I'm finding the bosses deeply annoying. I've not found a fun one yet, but I've found several whose difficulty is way out of line with the rest of the game and I've had to make some cash and stock up on potions and tonics to get past them.

Naked War (PC) - I won a game a few days ago! Yay! I've got a couple of games on the go right now, but I'm winding down for Christmas. I'll probably be firing off some more challenges in the new year.

Assault Heroes (360) - It's a shooter and it's clean and crisp and very playable without being particularly inspiring. Not sure yet if I should have paid 800 points for it, but I when I got to the end of the demo I really wanted more.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (WII) - Got a good few hours in yesterday, after about a week off. I made a fair amount of progress, but got stuck on one boss for an hour or so before tripping over the solution. I'm currently in the, I think, third dungeon and I am utterly, completely, super-glue stuck. Still, RGB cable arrived this morning so maybe next time I play I'll see something I missed.

Gunstar Heroes (WII) - I love this game. Since last playing it, though, I seem to have lost any skills I once had, as I haven't managed to get past the Pink Roader yet.

Alien Crush (WII) - Argh! It's a great pinball game and well worth a download, but on my first ever go I got 1,750,000 points and since then my best has been 1,112,000. I hate it when my first go at a game is my best ever.

Bonk's Adventure (WII) - I've got to level 2-6, but that's my best. It's really, really difficult. Or I'm rubbish. Or both. I'll keep trying, though it may be years before I make any progress.

Super Mario 64 (WII) - Played quite a lot of this. I've lost my cap and I can't get it back. It fell down into quicksand when I tried to steal it back from the talons of the big bird. I'm sad. I love my cap. Also: this game is much more difficult than it was back in '96 or '97 or whenever it was I first played it.

WANT

Friday The 13th (360/DS) - I've recently been watching all the Friday The 13th films and I've been wondering how they could be turned into a game. (Yes, I know about the Spectrum version.) Should you be Jason, or run from Jason, or what? Anyway, inspiration hit in bed last night after The New Blood and my wife and I sketched out a plan for a game. You prepare a camp/house (depending on level), populate it with teen stereotypes and then trigger the arrival of Jason. You then control your characters RTS-style in order to either get them killed as quickly as possible, survive as long as possible, or disable Jason, thus winning the level. Setting time records unlock extras, such as lovely fluffy teddy-bear suit for Jason. Characters have "Jason attraction" circles round them that increase when they indulge in drug taking, skinny dipping or pre-marital sex. And stuff. It's The Sims, with a Sim City-style disaster, with a movie-based level structure. Sort of. And if the interface worked and it could be balanced properly it could be brilliant. I want it very much.

BIN

Donkey Kong (WII) - Meh, I think. Either the NES version is a bit rubbish or I just don't like Donkey Kong as much as I think I do. I know it's missing a level, but the levels that are there don't feel as fun as I remember. I still love the "jumping over barrels" sound, though.

Roboblitz (360) - Found it impressive for the size, but clunky and dull. Turned it off before completing the demo, which isn't a good sign.

Getting old and worse at games. Bah.

Naked War (PC)

There are sentences I never thought I'd write. Here's a good example:

My current favourite game is a turn-based play-by-email strategy game on the PC.

Here's another:

I have fallen in love with a game with no single-player component and which I play against total strangers.

Yet both those sentences are true. My current favourite game, by quite some way, is low-budget indie title Naked War.

I've mentioned it before, but not in any great depth. I'm going to write more now, though, because this isn't a game that you're going to be seeing everywhere. For starters, you won't find it in the shops. No adverts on the sides of buses. No flash ads on IGN or Gamespot. No front covers on the magazines in your local newsagents.

This is because the world is very, very wrong. Naked War is simply one the best-balanced and most fun strategy games I've ever played. It's up there with Advance Wars in terms of... of... well, everything. And what it loses in portability, it makes up for in human opposition. Yes, this is a game where playing random real human beings is a good thing. This is not a game crawling with cheaters, stat-whores and quitters. I don't think anyone's managed to cheat so far, at least not intentionally. Everyone I've met so far is after a good game, rather than a certain and easy win. And anyone who stops replying to turns to avoid a loss is out of luck - their opponent can, after a week or so without reply, choose to end the game and take the win.

It's also a very simple game, in terms of rules, but endlessly varied in terms tactics and how games develop. It may take a couple of games to really get to grips with things, but the current players are very helpful to newbies and your first game or two will usually be free, so you're not losing money when you're learning.

Which seems like a good time to mention the payment structure. It's easy. When someone challenges you to a match, you play for free. If you want to challenge someone, you have to use a credit. That's it.

You get one credit free when you download the game and can buy more from the web site. They cost a dollar each if you buy twenty, but cost less if you buy more at one time. (If you're worried about burning through the credits, then you're guaranteed at least twenty hours of play if you buy twenty credits. And that's a worst case scenario. I've still got half my credits left, five or six games on the go and I've played for over fifteen hours.)

And you can get free credits if you top the various charts each month, or even if you're on the winning team. (When you create an account you're assigned to the red or blue team. If you've been playing the game one month and your team wins, you get a free challenge credit. Generous, don't you think?)

Now, you may be thinking that you don't know anyone playing the game so you don't have anyone to play. Wrong. First off, you're welcome to challenge me. My username is therev and that's all you need. Secondly, you will probably get a challenge from one of the developers when you register. Thirdly, you can look on the web site for player names. Fourthly, you can issue a challenge to "Anyone" and someone will pick up the game. (There's also the special case of "Everyone", but I don't want to muddy the waters too much at this point.)

When someone challenges you or replies to your challenge you'll get an email. You'll open the attachment, Naked War will start up, you'll play your turn and Naked War will close and you'll just wait for the next email. And wait you will. During a particularly tense game you may well find yourself hammering your email client's Send & Receive button, hoping for that next email... And at other times you'll be content to play a game over several weeks, with turns being swapped every day or two.

You'll grow very attached to your cartoon soldiers. You can name them yourself, so my team consists of Ventress, Dooku, Sidious and Maul. (Star Wars names, if you're looking blank.) You give them orders - move, fire, use an upgrade, jump into a vehicle, etc. - and then choose to play your turn. It's sent off to the server and then you watch everything unfold. Which is incredibly tense when you're not sure if you've got quite enough firepower to kill the final enemy...

Everything's so well-balanced, that's the nicest thing. Not in a rock-scissors-paper way like, say, Pokemon, but just in the way that everything has strengths and weaknesses. Turrets are immensely powerful, but static and you need to have four shots to fire them. Helicopters pack a punch, but have very weak armour. Boats can zoom around the waterways, but don't have much firepower. And soldiers on their own start weak, but can become powerhouses if you promote them up to Sergeant-Major level. Every turn has you wondering where to go, whether to use a vehicle or stay on foot, whether to use the cover of the forests or stay out in the open where you'll be better placed next turn if you survive and a whole galaxy of other choices that come from the simple rules and finely-tuned maps.

In short, it's a great game, everyone playing is very nice, you won't have any trouble finding someone to play and there's no complicated network setup or anything. So what's stopping you following the link up above and downloading?

Maybe you're rubbish at strategy games. Well, so am I, and even I have won a few games of this. And it's still fun to lose, amazingly. The game's been successfully designed to always be fun and to never get dull - it's always possible to come back and win, right up until the end.

Maybe your PC is rubbish. Well, this game runs on terrible PCs. I should know. I'm playing this on a PC with everything set to minimum and it still sometimes chugs when it plays back a turn. But when I'm ordering everyone around, it's absolutely fine.

Maybe you have a Power PC Mac. Well, then, yes, you'll have to grit your teeth and wait for a Mac version. Or you're using Lunix, or some other operating system. BeOS, maybe. You have a reasonable excuse.

Really, though, if you've got a PC with any sort of 3D capability, you should try this game out. It's far less intimidating than it sounds. It's cute, friendly, easy to pick up, often tense, sometimes hilarious and, most importantly, never boring.

As I said, it's my current favourite game.

Naked War (PC)

A lunchtime turn and another game won.

I started pretty badly, but pulled it back in the end, mainly thanks to Sidious managing to run halfway across the map one turn to blow up a turret just before my opponent could reach it. That was my favourite turn ever.

I really love this game.

Naked War (PC)

I'm losing my current games and turns are coming in slowly, but I'm really enjoying it when I play.

(Except when I seem to find a bug which means one of my men doesn't move or use his healing items on his turn.)

Naked War (PC)

I am enjoying this an incredible amount. It's really quite brilliant.

Oh, yes, I'm losing, but I'm getting better, training my eyes to see in the right way.

Blocking, that's what I need to remember.

Naked War (PC)

This is actually fantastic.

Even though I'm fantastically bad at it.

There's an incredible amount of different stuff to do on the small maps and - most importantly - there always seems to be hope, even when I'm losing badly.

Though on my bad PC (using the lowest graphical settings) I find it very hard to see which square a crate is actually on at times.

I'm definitely still learning the game and given my record with strategy games I doubt I'll ever be any good, but I'm really enjoying it.

Naked War (PC)

I'm currently play three games. One against an online acquaintance, one against a reviewer and one against someone I don't know who picked up a challenge I posted on the web site. A good mix. It's too early to tell who's winning in two of them, but in one of them I'm already very much on the back foot.

It's a really good game, actually. Great to play in short bursts, but also checking-mail-every-ten-secondsly addictive. Er... you know what I mean.

Naked War (PC)

I've completed one game and had an excellent time.

I lost horribly - I was playing one of the game's programmers, after all - but by the end I almost knew what I was doing... Except when I didn't jump out of tank even though I thought I'd asked myself to.

Odd.

Anyway, it's great fun and well worth investigating.

Naked War (PC)

Multiplayer turn-based strategy played over email.

Only done a few turns so far, but the interface is nice, it runs on rubbish PCs and it's got a nice style to it.

Stay tuned for future updates, but first impressions are that it's well worth a look. Could be an indie sleeper smash. Or something.

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic Demo (PC)

Oooh pretty.

Freezes for half a second whenever it fancies - maybe when it loads a new sound effect? - which shouldn't be a big deal, but as it tends to happen during combat and set pieces kind of ruins the game.

Same problem as in Half-Life 2, as it happens, but it happens to a much greater extent here.

Half-Life 2: Episode One (PC)

COMPLETED!

Very good game when it wasn't crashing all over the place. I'm thinking about playing Half-Life 2 through again now, but I might wait for the 360 version and play it there instead.

Company Of Heroes (PC)

Just had to defend a French town from a German invasion.

Awesome.

I failed the first time, but was far better prepared the second time and withstood the onslaught with the use of barbed wire, mines, anti-tank guns, sandbags, machine guns and, eventually, tanks.

And a sniper.

Very, very intense.

Company of Heroes (PC)

Another mission. I had to capture a town. The main thing I discovered is that snipers are utter, utter bastards.

I'm really loving this game. It's nice to have a few small squads that you care about, rather than billions of tanks.

It's a really about using everyone to the full and trying to make sure they survive. I'm doing far fewer suicide runs in this than in a standard RTS.