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Sonic the Hedgehog: collecting emeralds

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The original Mega Drive game was available on the PS3 for around a pound, so I bought it.  Of course.  I now own that game on the Mega Drive, Saturn (in Sonic Jam), Gamecube and Xbox (in Sonic Mega Collection), DS (in Sonic Classic Collection), Xbox 360 and PS3.  And I've completed it on every platform other than the PS3.

This pales into insignificance when you compare it to Andy's collection, but I've no doubt I'll buy the 3DS version at some point ...

After getting annoyed with the battle in Tomb Raider, I decided to play through this.  Rather than a straight run-through, I decided to try to get as many trophies as possible.  This means not dying, completing the first act of Green Hill and Marble in relatively quick times, collecting all the chaos emeralds, and completing the game in less than 40 minutes.  I was saving after every stage and had to restart the special stages a couple of times, but I've now got a save game with five chaos emeralds, at the start of Spring Yard 3.  I think that the overall time might be more than 40 minutes by the time I get to the end though, so I might need to play through another time without trying for the special stages.

Tomb Raider: fights

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I must be getting to the end now, since the enemies I face are no longer normal soldiers, but undead Japanese soldiers with lots of armour on.  Blasting them with a fully-upgraded shotgun from close range doesn't kill them.

I entered the monastery being very careful not to make a scene.  I crept past two guards and through a huge hall of soldiers.  Then as I climbed out the window, I was spotted, and had to run away from an inferno.  Since then I've been making my way through a pretty linear level with hundreds of enemies, who keep killing me.  I've gone past five checkpoints so far, but last night I got stuck just outside the main temple and turned the console off.  I really hope those checkpoints saved.

New Game – Dead Island Riptide

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I got bored of playing Borderlands 2 & GTAV multi-player was only a short lived experience. Developers seem to be focussing on multiplayer or single player experiences so not many more co-op games left to play on the 360. Next gen seems to be moving towards introducing the MMO experience which I'm looking forward to playing with Destiny & The Division.

Back to the 360 & Dead Island Riptide, the story follows on from the first game with the same characters. I did not keep my save from the first game so started a new character with Xian. Your helicopter lands on a military ship & after quite a bit of FMV to lay down the foundations for the story you finally get to control your character through a prologue section. The prologue section is a tutorial to the games control, I lost sound part way through which lessened the experience but good to see the game keeps its trademarks bugs from the first game.

After the prologue surprise surprise you land on another island, I'm disappointed that the developer seems to have stuck with the same formula from the first game. When you land on the island you can then send out party invites & join up for some 4 player questing, zombie slashing & looting.

Beggars can't be choosers & the Claptrap Boys don't really have anything to play....


The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)

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I_love_beesMore not-actually-aimless wandering led to the accidental discovery of Turtle Rock, and the completion of it. The actual dungeon was very small, but involved several “layers” on each of the two floors and was actually quite complicated.

It was pretty easy though, brain-twisty puzzles aside, and the boss was easily seen off.

After that, I set about looking for entrances to other dungeons, finding my way to the Dark Palace (which had a rubbish stealth section before it – mercifully, it was easy and very short) and whatever the one in Lorule’s Lost Words equivalent is called. Triggering the weather vanes outside will make getting to each of these easier later on. While in those woods, I found a guy who wanted to sell me “a treasure” for 888 rupees. Since I have a billion rupees, I said yes – and he gave me a golden bee which I passed on to Bee Guy for a Bee Badge. Apparently, bees won’t pester me any more. Not that they ever did, mind.

Edge: clunky rolling

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Edge is a game that really benefits from physical controls.  I tried it on a friend's iPhone and found that it was tricky to control, and I felt I was always fighting against the game to get the block where I wanted it to go.  On top of the control issues, it felt clunky and unresponsive.  It wasn't fun.

With a proper control stick, though, it's a joy.  It still feels clunky, but with the veil of control issues stripped away it's clear that this is a design decision, with the cube having its own momentum issues as it rolls from one side to another.  It takes time to move the cube, and you have to consider this when playing.


I bought this initially for the Wii U, but because it was cheap at the time I have bought it again for the 3DS, since it's not the most taxing of games (although I have noticed a few framerate problems on the handheld).  I'm far more likely to make progress on the 3DS; each of the levels may only take a few minutes to complete, but it looks as if there are over a hundred of them, and I think later levels may get much larger.


The game relies more on spatial puzzle solving than reflexes and speed, which suits me well.  However, there are occasions where you need to be quick and accurate - one section in particular in an early level sees you traversing a section full of collapsing tiles, and you need to follow the exact path in order to not paint yourself into a corner.  That relies on precise movements and timing - and took me several attempts even using proper controls.  The below level had a conveyor belt section in it, with tiles disappearing from the back and moving to the front - again requiring precision.


I suspect some of the later levels might get tricky - some of the last levels I played (around level 25) were getting difficult, with a need to balance the cube on the edge of a moving block - but it's a solid game which was a bargain at under £2 for each format.

If the game had been £5 for both in the first place, I'd have paid that immediately.  It makes no sense to have to buy things twice, once on the Wii U and once on the 3DS.  A conversion fee, maybe - charge an extra £1 to have it on one format if you have it on the other.  It's one of my main complaints about the Virtual Console service; I'd have spent a huge amount in there if I could have the games both on the Wii U and the 3DS.