Scribblenauts Remix - Completed

First day of the new year & I am adamant to play some proper games on the iOS platform this year no silly time management games or endless runners.


I did think about going through my steam pile of shame but that would take time away from playing the consoles so I am going to trawl through the endless iOS purchases over the past few years to find something enjoyable to play.


50 levels of Scribblenauts had me making everything from dinosaurs, cars & zombies. Each level sets you a challenge & you need to use the crayon to type what you want to create in the world. You can almost create anything, the levels can be completed in many ways & by using different objects.

It's quite a quick game with only the last two worlds proving a challenge, easily finished in a few hours. There are some extra content which can be purchased via in-app but I'll leave my character riding his mech.

Next, one of the first iOS games I purchased Rolando but have never played.

New Game - XCom Enemy Unknown

The A to Z of games never played only made it to the letter O. When it gets to the letter X, XCom will be on the list. I have never played any of the original games although I did own Enemy Unknown & Terror from the Deep on the Playstation I just never got the time to play them.

So after playing the demo this was an instant purchase which Abbas took to straight away and started playing a few days ago. Watching him play for a few hours I ignored that Uncharted 2 had not been touched for a few months & I started Halo 4 & Renegade Ops recently, I know I should go and finish these games first but the lure of a turn based strategy game forced me to starting XCom.

When you start the game you can choose your difficulty & I would recommend to disable the tutorial (You can play the tutorial if you wish but then I would suggest you start a new game after completing it, because you are then in control of what you want to do with your soldiers, money & base).

Choosing your base location is your first decision & I opted for USA (50% reduction in cost/maintenance). Africa is the other good option for a early money boost. Then into your first fight you go, only advice I can give is take it slow, use overwatch & save often.

After playing for a few hours I have quite a few high level soldiers & my base is growing slowly. I have not played a turn based strategy game on a console since Civilization Revolution (if you can call that TBS). My next target is to excavate the base so I can build my thermo power generator & research some better armour.

Fifa 13 - Liverpool

After spending 120K purchasing Sterling my Liverpool squad is complete.

I have now hit a wall in that I have no other player I want to purchase in ultimate team, so the game is stuck in limbo.

Hoping the game updates after the January transfer window which will give me the incentive to start playing again & hopefully purchase some new players.

Halo 4 - Hello Master Chief

I know after completing AC3 I said I would return to Uncharted 2 but the lure of Halo 4 was too great & I have started playing the main campaign on local co-op with Abbas.

The story so far starts with Cortana losing her mind & the Chief is adamant he wants to save her. The game feels like a Halo game & it's good to finally play with the Master Chief again after ODST & Reach.

The Covenant are obviously back but there is also a new foe in the Promethean. These enemies are more challenging and brings a nice fresh challenge to the Halo universe.

Without spoiling anymore of the storyline infinity awaits !!

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)