31/05/2011

Goldfish - We Come Together



This video is a collection of retro games & icons from the starting Sonic "SEGA!!" to Angry Birds, Pitfall, Street Fighter 2, GTA, Pac-Man, Metal Gear Solid (Hide in the Box), Bomberman, Katamari to the Mario Bros end sequence.

Batman Arkham City - 17 reasons why its awesome


Tuesday A to Z - L

Time for a catch up on A to Z posts, I'm a few letters behind.

Lemmings (Atari ST) - It is up to you to guide them to saftey by using any of 8 skills from blocker, builder to digger. Press pause & look around the map to plan your strategy & then give the lemmings thier task to perform & guide them home. A simple enjoyable puzzle game that I wasted many hours completing.

Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360) - Zombies, the 80's had movie tie-ins, the 90s Lara Croft but the 00's Zombies. They are everywhere from puzzle games to first person shooters. Left 4 Dead has you taking the role of one of four survivors and battling the zombies to get to you extraction point. The PC version offers a lot of of customisation & mods which alas you cannot do on the 360 but the campaigns that have been released on the 360; No Mercy, Crash Course, Death Toll, Dead Air, Blood Harvest & Sacrifice are all very enjoyable & show you the story of the survivors along the way. You can play these campaigns online with friends and battle against Boomers, Hunter & the horde of Zombies that come charging at you from every direction. It is a very fast paced intense shooter & of course full of Zombies

30/05/2011

Sword & Poker - Completed

An enjoyable twist Poker with RPG undertones produces a very enjoyable portable game. Sword & Poker by Gaia is one of the most enjoyable games I have played on the iPod touch even if you do not play Poker all you need to understand is the strength of the poker hands to attack your enemy.

You need to redo some of the levels to get enough money so you can upgrade your health bar, purchase the strongest weapon, although I found the Morning Star weapon to be the strongest because if allows you to stun your enemies forcing them to miss their turn. You can also upgrade your shield although some enemies have a magic spell equip which causes them to take your shield to use against you.

Eventually you get to meet the Lord of Chaos who has a much larger health bar than you, does more damage but more annoying has the Chaos spell which cause all 4 corner cards on a new table to turn to Jokers. Then be prepared to take hits against Full House & Flush attacks. I failed on my first attempt to kill him, managing only to get his health down to 85. Second time round I was more lucky with the cards I got drawn & managed to defeat the Lord of Chaos.

Game Over you think now?
But no you are then given another further 10 dungeons to advance, these remaining 10 levels are very tough & the shops have some very powerful weapons inc the Excalibur Sword.
 
However because you have defeated Chaos you now get to use the Chaos spell. I wanted to get the Excalibur Sword so had to grind a few of these levels to get enough money. The best strategy for this is to equip the Morning Star which stuns your enemy when you play a Straight, Flush or Full House attack. Then equip the following spells like my image to the right Power Attack, Chaos & Heart Healing.

Start the fight & use Chaos to turn all the corner cards to Jokers, then just ensure you play Straight or Flush attacks, I found that trying to play a Full House attack resulted in a Four of a Kind attack instead which would not stun the enemy. When you have a lot of hearts in your playing pack press the heart spell to heal yourself.

Using this tactic you can easily get enough money to purchase the Excalibur Sword, also make sure you upgrade you health bar by purchasing improved bags.

With the Excalibur sword the End of Chaos fight is very easy because by using 5 of a Kind attacks you do 100+ damage and easily finish off Chaos for good.

I'm looking forward to playing the sequel Sword & Poker 2 to see what changes the developer has introduced in the gameplay. If you have not yet played Sword & Poker I can recommend it highly as one of the best gaming experiences on the iPod Touch.

20/05/2011

New Game - Splinter Cell Conviction

Finally on the 5th attempt Ubisoft have gotten me to play a Splinter Cell game but only because it has a co-op mode and Abbas does not want to play Lara Croft (XBLA). Stealth is king in this game, hide in the shadows,  take out your enemies silently either with melee or your trusted silenced pistol with unlimited ammo. I have not played a stealth based game since Metal Gear Solid on the PS1 (I really must play the sequels of these games).

You have to take a different approach to playing, slow & steady will always win out against fast and kamikaze (take note Abbas). The co-op mode has you playing as Third Echelon secret agents Archer & Voron to stop rogue elements of the Russian military selling warheads. Deciding to opt for Realistic difficulty (Hard) so we can unlock the completion achievement, you soon realise that this difficulty setting is really quite easy thanks to unlimited ammo on your pistol. By using melee on an enemy you have an option to mark & shoot a certain number of targets which when triggered has you quickly dispatching enemies. This makes the game seem too easy to me but is satisfying when you can pull off multiple kills.

After managing to compete the first level of the co-op mode my skills were slightly lacking so I decided to start the single player campaign to hone my skills. This mode is a slightly tougher because you can’t rely on your co-op partner to come and revive you. If you get shot, you die & back to the previous checkpoint you go. There were quite a few stages I messed up on the first attempt but you learn through failure and eventually find a tactic that works. Unlike the co-op mode, single player does not give you all the gadgets at the start but introduces them slowly which gives you a better understanding on how & when to use them. I especially like the snake cam which lets your peer under doors before opening them & sticky camera which can create noise to attract the attention of an enemy, you can use this to sneak pass them or press x to make it explode.

I’m enjoying the single player game & hopefully this will make me more useful when I next play the co-op storyline with Abbas.

18/05/2011

Carcassonne Tournament - Round 1 inc Results

Round 1 - There are 12 players who will be split into 4 groups of 3 players each, you will play 3 games in round 1.

1 each against the other players & a group match with all three players. You will get 1 point for each vs match win. 3 points for winning the group match & 1 point for finishing 2nd in the group match.

The top two players from each group will go through, if needed a knock-out match for the 2nd & 3rd player in the group will happen if they are equal on points.

The groups picked randomly below, can the first person in the group create the 3 player match. Use my email I sent you with everyone's registered address to add the other players to your friends list. Good luck & let me know the result of the match when finished.

Group A
Neil (4 Point)
John
Poppa_F (2 Point)

Results
Poppa_f (109) vs Neil (95) - Poppa_f (1 Point)
Neil (110) vs John (80) - Neil (1 Point)
Neil (71), Poppa_F (71) & John (59) - Neil (3 Points) & Poppa_F (1 Point)

Neil & Poppa_F go through to the next round

Group B
Kerumba (1 Point)
Niaz (5 Points)
William (1 Point)

Results
gospvg (101) vs Willaim (73) - 1 Point to gospvg
gospvg (115) vs Kerumba (110) - 1 point to gospvg
Group Match - gospvg (92), William (55) & Kerumba (52) - 3 points to gospvg & 1 point to William
kerumba (140) vs William (117) - 1 point to Kerumba

Playoff match Kerumba (128) vs William (114) - 1 Point to Kerumba

gospvg & Kerumba are into the next round

Group C
Carl (4 Points)
Mohsin
James (3 Points)

Results
James (159) vs Mohsin (104) - James 1 Point
Carl (150) vs Mohsin (109) - Carl 1 Point
James vs Carl - Result unknown but James won - James 1 Point

Carl (105), James (100) & Mohsin (80) - Carl (3 Points) & James (1 Point)

Carl & James through to 2nd round

Group D
Abbas (1 Point)
Chris
Bill

Results
Abbas (106) vs Chris (95) - Abbas 1 Point

Bill has not managed to show up for the games so is out thus Abbas & Chris are through to round 2

Ok Round 1 over now onto Round 2 - With 8 players left, it's knock-out time. 1 vs 1 matches with the loser going out.  I will do the draw shortly.

Words with Friends - Worst defeat ever

It only seems fair that on a day I am gloating about getting a new highest scoring word that I should also post about my worst defeat ever. Losing 537 to 275 against thermalsatsuma

I just had the most horrid letters :(

Words with Friends - Highest scoring word

My previous highest scoring word Analgias for 125 points played way back in November 2010. It has taken me another 6 months to beat that by only 3 points to get Lynches against DJLD for 128 points.

Sorry DJLD I think I may have lynched you this game :)

16/05/2011

Game Completed - AC Brotherhood

Loose ends, lots of loose ends to tie up even after I completed the main quest. Subject 16 puzzles, collecting flags to Christina quests.

Firstly the main quest, it continues from AC2. Ezio is sitting at home chilling with family & friends then BOOM !! the town is under attack by Cesare Borgia. The game throws you into the thick of the action, you are fighting enemies with your trusted swords & then get the opportunity to fire some cannons at the advancing forces to save your town.

Alas it was not to be & you are forced to retreat. In the attack your uncle "It's me Mario !!" is killed. Oh! dear Mama Mia !! Revenge !! Revenge !!

The game now moves to Rome, it's huge !!, lots of famous landmarks are there for you to climb & get viewpoints & then those lovely leap of faith. There are some changes from the previous game, you can now recruit people to become assassin's & join your brotherhood (I know let's call it Assassin's Creed Brotherhood). These assassin's can then be sent on missions to gain experience points & level up, you have a 3-bar charging meter & when one bar is full you can call a group of assassins to fight for you. When all three bars are full you can perform an arrow storm attack which will kill all enemies.

But where is the fun in letting your trained assassin's do all the killing for you? Combat in this game is great fun & you have lots of weapons from crossbows, pistol to smoke bomb & poison darts at your disposal. You need money to shop & you can generate this by rebuilding Rome. Each area will have a tailor, bank, weapon shop , doctor & other buildings to restore. It is simply a case of you purchasing these buildings to generate income you can collect from the bank. You can then use this money to purchase weapons or restock on supplies like medicine. But you do not need to spend money on supplies if needed because you can always loot your enemies.

There are a ton of side quests in this game from Romulus Lairs, Subject 16 to Abstergo Agents. The main quest ultimately leads you to a final showdown with Cesare Borgia. The timer starts & you have to run to go grab the Apple of Eden. This section of the game I found way too easy because all you had to do was hold a button to release the power from the Apple to destroy your enemies. After avenging your uncles death you then decide to hide the Apple of Eden in the Santa Maria temple.

Now return to the present day, Desmond & his crew have been doing all this just to find the location of the Apple of Eden. So off you go then, go get it. When you reach the temple you have the most annoying jumping sequence in the game which if you do not do within a certain time limit it resets & you have to go back to the start. I managed to complete it after a few attempts & then Desmond touches the Apple. He is then controlled to stab Lucy & THE END.

Sit back & watch the longest credits in a game ever !!

It has a few annoying bits in the game, I hate the countdown timer events, the chase me & catch me sequences but overall it is an enjoyable game & continues the story of Desmond & Ezio.

Recently announced AC: Revelations will be the next game releasing Winter 2011. Ubisoft are milking the cow, but like the zombies who buy release after release of Fifa or COD games at least the AC game have a story that you are playing & for this reason I will probably be buying AC Revelations on release.

08/05/2011

Wordfeud - Highest scoring word

New highest scoring word on a random board on Wordfeud. A simple word "Puja" but with the J on a TL tile getting 37 points for the word & then a DW to 74 followed by a TW tile to get 222 !!

So bow down & worship my skill at Wordfeud :)

Fancy a game send me an invite my username is gospvg & please select the language to be English

05/05/2011

Tuesday A to Z - K

Kingdon for Keflings (XBLA) – It’s the music !! The hypnotic music I tell you !! Why else would anyone play a game that has you wondering around mining for materials to build & repeat the process a billion times !! I have no other reason why I enjoyed playing this game, it’s the music I tell you.

Kick Off (Atari ST) – I love football, I enjoy supporting my teams (LFC & OUFC), I enjoy watching MOTD, I enjoy the occasional kick-about with family & friends but & a big BUT I hate playing football video games. I’m crap at them is a big factor but also the yearly Fifa squeals (intentional spelling mistake) & other constant clones has bored me to death. There was once a time when I did play them most notably ISS on the SNES or Kick Off on the Atari ST (Much better than the Amiga). Top down view footballing gaming at its best, so when is the iOS version coming out?

Kick Off World (PS1) – My first introduction to spread sheet gaming, I took Liverpool to the top of the league & rampaged across Europe winning many trophies ..& then I got bored.

Klonoa (PS1) – Cute, Cute & Cute with the usual platform affair. Jump, jump higher, jump higher & fall. Back to square 1 to start again. I was obviously a more patient gamer back then because I completed the game.

Koudelka (PS1) – Oh! PS1 I Love You, there I said it I love my PS1, so many games, so much enjoyment. Oh Koudelka, another Jap RPG .. moving on….

Kula World (PS1) – I am ball, a beach ball and that makes me a cool BALL. Oh yeah check me out, I’m bouncing, rolling everywhere collecting items I don’t need to advance to the next level. In fact I am so cool that SEGA copied me & put a monkey inside me !!

Kartia - World of Fate (PS1) - Is there an earlier example of an RPG with card-based play mechanisms? The Japanese market is lousy with them, but in the west the
original properties are outnumbered by the ones that are actually based around real trading card games. PSO Episode III and the SNK Card Fighter games come to mind. Another game on the backlog I mean to get back to at some point. I think the last time I touched Kartia was in 2002.

What someone already wrote this? Who? Kendrick? Nah !! Seriously?!

Kingdom Hearts (PS2) – Squaresoft & Disney get busy and out pops Kingdom Hearts. Your favourite Disney characters are all here from Mickey, Donald, Goofy to Tinkerbell & Lady Gaga (Oh wait sorry not her) !! Obviously designed for the younger generation it is a great collaboration & Disney really need to use their characters more in video games. Sequel? Um not played it.

04/05/2011

Tuesday A to Z - J

It took me a while to think of anything with J at all.

Jet Set Willy (Acorn Electron) – Control Willy to tidy up your house by avoiding enemies & collecting items. Very simple gameplay in left, right & jump but gave me my first platform game experience.

Jet Set Radio (Dreamcast) – Graffiti is bad kids unless you are playing a video game where you have to spray your tag everywhere to get recognition to advance to the next level. This is Sega at its best taking a simple idea of roller-blading & spraying graffiti to produce an amazing arcade like experience. I have not played the sequel Jet Set Radio Future (Nudge Nudge Toby), thoroughly enjoyable game & long overdue for a sequel on the current gen consoles.

Jungle Strike (Megadrive) – Ok I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel here, I could not think of anything else I had played with the letter J. This is a helicopter flying game, get your mission, save the people & blow up the bad guys. You get the idea now let’s move onto the next letter.

02/05/2011

Costume Quest - Completed

Even though I have completed the main quest, I still have a few things to do in Assassins Creed Brotherhood thus the completed post on that is on hold for now.

Costume Quest was 1200 points on release but I purchased for 600 points in a recent sale. Is there any reason to buy an xbox live arcade game on release? Anyhow that is a different topic.

Costume Quest has you playing the role of Reynold (or Wren if you want) & it is Halloween. So you set off for some trick or treating but Wren is kidnapped by monsters who mistake her for candy. Now begins your quest to get your sister back. It is a simple RPG turn-based game & the costumes you wear determine which attacks you can perform.

It is a very short game approx 6 hours but enjoyable in it's simplicity & cartoon style graphics. You are given various quests to complete form finding materials for new costumes to trick & treating a set number of buildings.

The various costumes including Robot, Knight to Unicorn all offer different abilities whilst in battle from healing, stunning & performing a power attack help you along the way in various quest. I mostly played the game using the Robot, Knight (later Ninja) & Statue of Liberty costumes with battle stamps for counter attack & auto-healing.

There is a level cap of 10 which make the last boss fights slightly tougher because they are level 20 but by carefully choosing which costumes & battle stamps to use it is easily completed.

A DLC pack has been released which gives an extra few hours of gaming for 400 points but I will not be buying that because I prefer to spend those 400 points on a game instead. If the DLC content is ever on sale though & reduced to 200 points I may consider it.

Now back to AC Brotherhood to finish off the remaining side-quests & try and get some of the multi-player achievements.