Angry Birds Winter Wonderham

Christmas for me is obviously not a day to celebrate yet more a time for me to catch up on some gaming time.

I do play along with the advent calender tradition in the form of Angry Birds seasons.

Alas the regular challengers of Tim & Jochta did not complete his year but I did have some competition from my youngest son. 

All the levels three starred & 1-24 is a pain in the xmas tree !!

I tried to play Angry Birds Star Wars but it just feels all the same so I will leave Angry Birds alone until next xmas.

New Logo - Mech Addiction

Old Logo - Not enough borders

Time for a new logo, Borderlands 2 is enjoyable but to me it just feels like more of the same.

It was difficult to decide what to have for a new logo, time for a change instead of games I am playing or recently completed I decided to go instead for a mech from the Front Mission series of games I have played over the years.

New Logo - Mech Addiction

 

Tiny Tower - Kaboom !! Again !!

Enough !!

KABOOM !!

http://towers.nimblebit.com/1009414887

UGVM Tower is no more, time to move on from this endless grind.

Middle Manager of Justice - Completed

I am a real sucker for these grinding type of games like Tiny Tower. Middle Manager of Justice is more of the same. Recruit some heroes, train them up & go beat up villains & save civilians.

It was enjoyable for the few days over the xmas period & is very quick & easy to complete.
Next? Shoot me if you see me playing another grinding game.

Assassin's Creed 3 - Completed

Anyone who has played the last few games of the series will tell you they miss Ezio. Having played three games with Ezio you became comfortable with the character, so it was a brave move by Ubisoft to end the Ezio storyline & start again with Conner.

Playing Conner you relive the sequences of the American revolution whilst continuing the fight against the Templars & try to protect your home village. The previous games have mainly been set in one large city but in AC3 you are given the cities of New York & Boston. The vast Frontier land & Homestead give you the wilderness to explore.

The sequences flow the storyline along whilst allowing you the option to pause for any of the many side quests from homestead, liberation to various challenges.Completing the main campaign Connor has his revenge & Desmond make his choice to save the world.

It is not the reinvention on the series but does offer some glimpse of freshness & I am curious to see what direction Ubisoft takes with the games.I never did complete the first game but I have thoroughly enjoyed the trilogy of Ezio games & Assassin Creed 3 whilst not quite matching the standard set by those three is still an enjoyable experience & a game worth playing.

Splurge - 2012

I am posting this dangerously a few days early but I don't envisage buying any more games except maybe if Xcom is on sale below £15 anywhere not that I have stuck to that price target. Looking over they ear my impulse purchase price seems to be once a game goes below £20.

Overall total coming in just under 1K at £982.03. The Xbox 360 being the most popular console with £647.99 & the DS the least with only £6.

Just under 1K is not bad for a years expenditure but next year will be different especially if we see new console releases by Microsoft & Sony.

26/12 - Update

Now Purchased XCom & I forgot to add Assassins Creed 3 to the list. Total now stands at  £1,036.51

28/12 - Update

Another update !! I tried an hour of Episode 1 of Walking Dead, it's good so I needed to buy more Xbox points to purchase all the episodes.

Total now at £1053.50

I'm here Huckleberry

Time? maybe partly. Apathy? yes a little. Chore? quite possibly.

For whatever reason I've not been posting much on his blog for the last few months.

I'm still playing Assassins Creed 3, finishing a sequence & then completing the various side quests from The Hunting Society to the Homestead missions. Abbas has complained much about this game & is overall disappointed. I think the main issue is after three games with Ezio he misses the character.

I however am enjoying the game very much & like how they have not forced any of the side missions on you, the climbing of trees can be a bit hit & miss & the generation of money is a slower process.

Apart from AC3, I have Borderlands 2 overkill with four games on the go, two UGVM pmgs (usually Monday/Thursday), local co-op with my daughter & a single player campaign I have not touched for weeks.

Fifa 13 I have hit the inevitable decline partly due to the fact I now have a full Liverpool squad including Gerard, Suarez & Sterling. I have not played a match in a few weeks but I am keeping an eye on my trade pile via the web or iphone app.

Everything else on the consoles is in limbo.

iOS gaming is mostly still multi-player in Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Lost Cities, Disc Drivin & Words. Single player is taken up by the Angry Birds advent calender in Seasons & current favourite Middle Manager of Justice.

Expect a few more posts on some of the above games over the next few days whilst I try to rekindle my love for this blog  I also need to update the splurge since August.

New Game - Assassins Creed 3

The problem with this time of year is that far too many games get released that I want to play.

Borderlands 2, Fifa13, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Halo 4 & of course Assassins Creed 3.

There are of course many other games released (Dishonoured & X-Com are on my radar) but my approach of buying a game to play now & not later will make me wait for those (Yes, I know Guild Wars 2).

Not to forget the games in limbo, hello Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas DLC & Uncharted 2.

Anyway back to my current dilemma, after a couple of weeks of Borderlands 2 overload this game has now fallen into the regular Monday PMG thus I am playing the story with the Claptrap Boys.

FIFA 13 after a few weeks of ultimate team will now fall into the regular quick fix gaming slot.

Conveniently this leaves a slot open for another game, yes like the three I have in limbo. So step forward Assassins Creed 3 & the playground of colonial America awaits.

The culmination of Desmond's story & the impending destruction of the world is more than enough to enjoy but with AC3 we also get the chance to play with a new character in Connor.

I have only played the first few hours of the game which has you controlling Haytham Kenway (Connor's father).

A British assassin who arrives in America with a key to what? A temple? Lair? Chest? I don't know yet but so far I am enjoying the story telling & gameplay.

With the 21st December approaching fast I don't think I'll be playing anything else much.

Note - with the possible exception of Halo 4 Spartan Ops.

Fifa 13 - Gerrard

Ultimate Team is no different to any other time sink game. The lure of buying & selling players, playing matches & winning trophies. All in the pursuit of having enough coins to purchase Steven Gerrard of course !!

Taking the words from my kids mouth "You are stingy!!"

That is true when I got to 20k, I could have spent the money on improving my silver team or laying the foundations for the gold team but no I continued to play matches & dabble in the players market for bargains to buy.


Those bargains I would then sell at a higher price to increase my wealth. 30k came around very quickly & then 40k. I could easily have purchase a 442 Gerrard & still have 20k left in change.

After many more frustrating screams from the boys I decided to at least look. Playing a 442 system I wanted a CM Gerrard which was difficult with the majority CAM listed. The two 442 CMs that were listed, the asking price of 26K & 28K was too much for me to splash out.

Having played nearly 90 matches & only EA knows how many cards I have sold on the trade pile to accumulate my cash. I don't want to spend it on one player with 70+ pace.

I was happy to buy Beckham, Allen, Borini, Carroll etc for my gold squad because they only cost me around 500 coins each but 25K+ !! for one player?!

The other option was to purchase a cheap CAM & then buy a player change card CAM > CM but these were costing around 3K if you could find them !!

One of my big annoyances with ultimate team is the search engine when looking for managers, formations cards or player cards you can't drill down the search to a specific type which results in either spending a lot of time searching for an auction or going silly money on a buy it now. Usually after a few minutes of searching I would give up.

Anyhow gripe over back to Gerrard a cheap CAM was out of the question thanks to the over inflated prices for player change cards.

I had purchased some 442 formation cards a few days earlier approx 1K each although I did get one for a bargain 200 coins.

I amended the search and found a 14K 541 CM Gerrard on a buy it now.

BUY !! Shouted the boys so I obliged.

To cut a long story short (yes I know this post is long enough already)

I changed the formation to 442, applied gold contracts upto 98, played a couple of matches with Gerrard in my silver squad.

Then the del boy trotter came out in me & I listed him for 30K (he has not yet sold)

New Game - Fifa 13

The last few weeks apart from the odd session on Borderlands 2 most of my time has been spent playing Fifa 13 & in particular the Ultimate Team mode.

For those that do not know Ultimate Team is management mode in which you buy & sell players to build your squad & compete in various tournaments & seasons.

By winning in matches & selling players you get coins which you can use to purchase players, contracts & other items.

It is very addictive gameplay which is why Borderlands 2, Uncharted 2 & Skyrim have taken a back seat.

I have played 50 matches with 49 wins & one defeat. My bronze squad is now complete with all 70+ pace players & even quite a few 80+ players. My silver squad is still a work in progress because finding English 442 players are very difficult on the cheap.

I have managed to purchase quite a few bargains inc a 94 contract bronze LM (Left Midfield)  for only 200 coins !!

Now I just need to find some English Silver CB (Centre Back)

Draw Something - Furby

I'm still playing Draw Something on the iPad, apologies for taking nearly 30 days to play my current turn.

Ticket to Ride - New High Score

A new high score against Abbas :)

I did also managed to complete 10 tickets in another game with Monster but did not take a screenshot of that.

Ticket to Ride - Beginner's Guide

Really enjoying playing ticket to ride on the iOS platform so I'd thought a beginner's guide might tempt a few more to purchase. It is £1.49 on the app store & just like Carcassonne great value for money.



So start a new game against a CPU character.

You first need to choose some train tickets, you can take all three that are given or just only choose two tickets.

Each ticket with give you two stations you need to join by building the train track.

After you have chosen your tickets, you need to collect the correct number of cards to build a section of track. You can choose two cards from the five on offer or press the blue section below for two randoms.

A coloured section obviously you need to collect the same coloured cards but the clear (don't confuse with white) sections of the track you can use any colour. From the cards on offer I went for two red cards.

When it comes to your turn you can either select two cards or place the cards you have on track. So the two reds I picked up I placed on a blank section to build my first section of train track.

You carry on picking your cards & building sections of track to join your stations together.

A special card you can choose is the  'Rainbow' coloured card this card can basically be any colour you want but bear in mind if you select this from the five cards on offer you will not get to select a 2nd card. If you get this card via the random pack then you can choose a second card.

By collecting the cards I have managed to complete the two tickets I selected at the start of the game.

The CPU player obviously has not tried to block me completing my track but you can use blocking tactics to stop the other player so they have to then build an alternative longer route to join their stations.

Once you have completed the tickets you selected at the beginning of the game, press your tickets at the bottom right corner & press the + button to select some new tickets.

Bear in mind that next to my number 18 in the top left corner there is a smaller number 29 this is how many train carriages you have left to build. So do not choose a new ticket if you do not have enough carriages left to complete that ticket.

Carry on playing the game until all of your carriages are used. If you have tickets that have not been completed you will get a red x for them & that ticket score will be taken off your total score.

If you have any further questions post in the comments section below & I'll answer.




I would suggest you play against the CPU a few games to get comfortable with how to play the game then load up a multi-player game & send me an invite.