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Wipeout 2048: hitting the sides

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This is a stunning game, with possibly too much going on at a time for me to cope with.  I've only completed a few events so far, with slow ships and easy opponents, but I'm finding it tricky to keep on the track without hitting the sides.  It doesn't help that I can't remember which button the airbrake is on; I keep expecting there to be two different triggers, and then my finger waves in mid-air while my ship hits the wall.

I still feel that it's not as good as Wipeout 3 Special Edition, but that's likely nostalgia talking.

Saints Row the Third: losing Matt

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Last night I arranged to meet Matt on PSN, a meeting that was interrupted by Nicholas being restless, Justine needing chocolate deliveries, and Gaby returning home.  But eventually we were able to get the same game running, following interminable updates, and that game was Saints Row the Third.  Having never played the previous games in the series, Matt filled me in on the detail a bit as we drove around town creating havoc.

It's not a bad game, by any stretch.  It's massively over-the-top, with items such as a car with a people cannon attached, and missions involving flying a helicopter through the streets, exploding cars with rockets, and skydiving through a debris field.  In some missions you're effectively alone, and the cutscenes always show your character, which was confusing at first; especially once I'd changed my character's costume to be just a pair of pants and Matt couldn't tell what I was laughing about.

Talking of being alone, Kieron may have some competition in the 'wandering off' competition.  Frequently I had to stop whatever I was doing in order to find Matt and either get him out of a fight or guide him to the next objective.  Still, he was having fun.

FIFA 13: loss after loss

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I'm rubbish at this.  I'm rubbish at most football games (with the possible exception of International Sensible Soccer on the Mega Drive), but this is harder than most.  As well as the standard controls to battle with - in particular, I can never remember which is shoot and which is a high pass - EA have included a number of touch-screen controls on this.  You can tap a player to pass to him, except by the time you've tapped there he's probably moved and you'd be better off passing with the B button.  You can tap on an area of the screen to shoot in the goal (tap top-left to shoot top-left), but by the time you've looked down at the pad to accurately aim, you've missed your chance.

I do like playing football games, but that enjoyment mostly comes in the five seconds of the match when I manage to score a goal.  That happened only once.


The thing is, as hopeless as I am at this, and as much as I find real-life football boring, there's an attraction about videogame football that I can't ignore.  This is one of the better versions I've played, and I'm sure I'll get used to the touch controls at some point.

Tearaway: lots of bugs

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On the way home last night, the majority of people got off the train two stops before me.  I saw my chance to progress in Tearaway, so got the Vita out and turned it on; it's great that I can be back in the game within a couple of seconds, something we've taken for granted since the DS and PSP.

I pressed Y to record a sound, called "hello" into the microphone, and nothing happened.  Surely it can't actually recognise a roar?  I pressed Y again and growled into the mic.  Again, nothing.  No matter what i did, the game didn't recognise that I'd made a sound.

I wondered if there was too much background noise.  I waited until I got into the car, and tried again.  No luck.  Nothing I did let me either cancel the request for a sound or record anything.  Searching the Internet today, it seems that there's a bug in the game, which should theoretically be solved by completely turning off the system and then restarting.  I'll try that tonight.

Tomb Raider: sighteeing

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I've been through quite a few spectacular sections in this now - running through burning buildings with things collapsing as I go, jumping across a bridge as it was being demolished, ziplining from the top of a mountain down to the beach.




In some ways it's similar to a Metroid structure of game, where as you progress you're given new upgrades which allow you to access parts of the world which were previously hidden away.  The main difference here is that there is very little back-tracking, and I can only think of a couple of places where I went past a room or entrance without getting the ability to enter it very soon afterwards.


Having said that, there may well have been a number of hidden areas that I didn't notice.  A few hours into the game you're given the ability to upgrade your pick, which allows you to climb walls like the above.  The indicators of where you can use upgrades are generally well hidden until you know what to look for - bundles of white cloth, ropes wound around timbers, chalky walls.
 

 After escaping the burning monastery, Lara has to avoid several machine gun emplacements and make her way down the mountain.  After the first descent, you find a stunning area with a ship suspended by ropes.  This ship is huge - and you have to zipline down onto its surface.  By the end of the sequence, the ship's hanging by a single rope and Lara's no longer on board ...




Then down to the sea, and meeting up with the survivors.  They want to repair a boat to escape the island, but we know that's not going to happen - Lara wants to take the boat inland.  Before that can happen, Lara's off to explore shipwrecks to pick up a pulley system and play around on the masts.




Stunning game, and fun with it.  I hope it throws in some new ideas soon, though, or even finishes - it's starting to get a little samey in terms of gameplay, even if the location changes.