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3D Streets of Rage (3DS): COMPLETED!

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3dsorThis is not what I expected one of my first completed games of 2014 to be, what with having got A Link Between Worlds and Duck Tales recently. Something made me want to buy and start playing this yesterday (perhaps because I’d just finished Steamworld Dig), and I finished it today.

It’s the same game as it ever was, although you’ll notice I opted for the Japanese version (mainly because I’ve never played it). It made little difference bar the title screen and the small amount of text though.

The 3D effect, however, is impressive. Like 3D Sonic the Hedgehog, it’s entirely superfluous, but the sprites just look gorgeous in the 3D playfield.

There were no surprises – I’ve completed Streets of Rage $hlmun times before after all – but I enjoyed it a great deal. I also found a tactic to deal with the “Blaze Twins” that I don’t think I’d ever realised before: Blaze’s reverse kick. Excellent.

Hungry Giraffe: ouch, my head

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A fun little diversion, definitely, but maybe not worth being billed as a full 'game' in the PS Vita 10-game package.  Well worth £2.50 though.

Hungry Giraffe is a tilt-controlled steering game.  You have to get the giraffe to eat food that's hovering in the air, which will then give him energy to reach higher.  If you don't eat enough food, the giraffe's neck will wilt and it's game over.  If you hit the giraffe's head on an anvil, you have to act quickly to recover from a death spiral.


I'm a little sceptical that the difficulty's been fiddled with to encourage further spending.  There are some golden feathers that allow you to rescue a wilting giraffe, but I used all these in my first game expecting them to be replenished in the second game.  They weren't.  I've not investigated to see if you can buy these for real money, but if you can then I suspect this'll be deleted off my memory card to free up space for something else.

Hungry Giraffe: ouch, my head

Posted on Written by

A fun little diversion, definitely, but maybe not worth being billed as a full 'game' in the PS Vita 10-game package.  Well worth £2.50 though.

Hungry Giraffe is a tilt-controlled steering game.  You have to get the giraffe to eat food that's hovering in the air, which will then give him energy to reach higher.  If you don't eat enough food, the giraffe's neck will wilt and it's game over.  If you hit the giraffe's head on an anvil, you have to act quickly to recover from a death spiral.


I'm a little sceptical that the difficulty's been fiddled with to encourage further spending.  There are some golden feathers that allow you to rescue a wilting giraffe, but I used all these in my first game expecting them to be replenished in the second game.  They weren't.  I've not investigated to see if you can buy these for real money, but if you can then I suspect this'll be deleted off my memory card to free up space for something else.

Hungry Giraffe: ouch, my head

Posted on Written by

A fun little diversion, definitely, but maybe not worth being billed as a full 'game' in the PS Vita 10-game package.  Well worth £2.50 though.

Hungry Giraffe is a tilt-controlled steering game.  You have to get the giraffe to eat food that's hovering in the air, which will then give him energy to reach higher.  If you don't eat enough food, the giraffe's neck will wilt and it's game over.  If you hit the giraffe's head on an anvil, you have to act quickly to recover from a death spiral.


I'm a little sceptical that the difficulty's been fiddled with to encourage further spending.  There are some golden feathers that allow you to rescue a wilting giraffe, but I used all these in my first game expecting them to be replenished in the second game.  They weren't.  I've not investigated to see if you can buy these for real money, but if you can then I suspect this'll be deleted off my memory card to free up space for something else.

SteamWorld Dig (3DS): COMPLETED!

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steamworldendbossFirst game of 2014 to be completed! Woo!

I was a big fan of the 360 indie game Miner Dig Deep, and many years ago loved Diggers on the Acorn and Amiga, and it was my enjoyment of those two games that made me want SteamWorld Dig. The stars aligned and I was given some eShop credit just as this was on offer, and so I snapped it up.

I’m glad I did. It’s very much in the same vein as those two games I’ve already mentioned, with more combat and much more impressive graphics. Being able to wall jump gets rid of the concern you might dig your way into an inescapable pit, and the ability to carry a teleporter (which takes you back to the surface) means you never need to be too far from home, and the upgrades shop.

It’s a short title (I clocked it at just over five hours), but it’s well worth the journey. The only real downside to the length is it’s difficult to stop playing so the end comes all too quickly.