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Pilotwings: smoother in 60Hz

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This is possibly the first time I've found the difference between 50Hz and 60Hz to have a significant impact on a game.  When I tried to play Pilotwings previously, I found that I was constantly fighting with the controls and didn't enjoy it.  Amusingly, I forecast at the time that I'd go back to the game "in a couple of years".


On the Wii U, it's the 60Hz version, and it feels much more responsive.  I still found control of the skydiver quite tricky, as it's difficult to see how to move forwards and keep a good speed, but the rocketpack was much easier to deal with.


My other main complaint previously was the difficulty in judging distances, and in particular how quickly you can descend to land.  I think that this simply requires a lot of practice, but the game doesn't let you repeat just one mission as far as I can see.


It looks like the landing zone is miles away here, but to get there requires a lot of diving and pushing the nose down, which of course then means you're going too fast to land.  I shall have to work out how to do this more consistently.

Red Dead Redemption – The Unexpected

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Aeris dying in Final Fantasy 7 was probably the greatest unexpected gaming event I've experienced. The sheer shock that a character you had developed over many hours was no more.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing John Marston but truth be told in could have been any character because it is the western setting that made the game. I'm a big fan of western movies and a chance to play that setting in a video game was an amazing experience. I only regret that it has taken me this long to finally getting round to play the game.

The scenery, the sunsets !! Oh my the sunsets, the duels, the swagger of cowboys with their no nonsense attitude. John Marston ticked all the western cowboy boxes. 

With the story events unfolding the way they were it should have come as no surprise when the law decided to attack the family ranch. Edgar Ross wanted to finish off the last surviving member of Duke's gang. Having used John to do his dirty work he arrived with an army of soldiers to kill one man.

Surely John must have known something like this was likely to happen? Why not uproot & move to Mexico under the watchful eye of Reyes. But John is a stubborn character & stayed put at the ranch.

Edgar & the army promptly attacked the ranch killing Uncle in the process. John fearing for his son & wife sent them off on horseback to safety.

In an alternative ending I now would have John riding out of the barn being chased by the law all the way to Mexico where Reyes men who are patrolling the crossing come to his rescue to kill the soldiers. Then with another set of missions John sets out to finish off the loose ends by killing Edgar, Archer & all who wanted him dead.

But alas that was not the story of John Marston. Instead he walks out of the barn shooting & taking out as many soldiers & lawmen before he is gunned down to his death. John Marston is dead.

This was always going to be the way he would die. The blaze of glory achieved in a gunfight except this time there was no crowning moment. Jack & Abigail return to the ranch to find John lying in a pool of blood. The story then moves on to Jack Marston looking over his parents grave & his thirst for revenge begins.

What follows is a disappointment, Jack should have been given a new set of missions which takes him all over the map meeting all of John's acquaintances & informing them of the death of John. The men involved in the attack on John should have been scattered all over & Jack follows clues before a showdown. 

Instead the game focuses on just Edgar Ross & you follow the clues to Mexico. Here you meet up with Edgar who is now retired & on a hunting holiday. You are then challenged to a duel & after Edgar is dead or in my case pumped full of lead that his body ends up floating down the river. The credits roll ...

No ending sequence or dialogue from Jack. Not even an epic monologue of John Marston to a wind rustling tune.

Maybe that is how it was in the Wild West the roar of a buffalo stampede followed by silence.

Super Mario World: the third attempt

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I played Super Mario Advance 2, but never got that far - which is surprising.  I played the Wii VC version of the game for a bit, but stopped for some reason after passing Donut Plains.  Now I've upgraded that to the Wii U VC version, I'm going to try to complete a game which many hail as the best of all time, but I've only scratched the surface of.

Yes, I know.  I'm still halfway through NSMBW and NSMBU.  Shh.


Initial impressions aren't great.  The text is really hard to read - had Nintendo never heard of kerning? - and the controls feel a bit imprecise.  This may be because of the travel on the buttons on the Wii gamepad, and the use of the analogue stick.  In any case, after a while the controls weren't an issue.


In this screen, you can see Mario rescuing Yoshi.  Two things to note here: Mario seems to be able to float in mid air, and Yoshi is singularly useless, getting captured around 100 metres from his home.  It hardly seems worth the effort.


I completed the first set of levels pretty quickly, and then got stuck on the first level where you can collect the feather that turns into a cape.  That cost me three lives, because I kept expecting Yoshi to be able to swallow the baseballs lobbed at him.


I finished at the second level in Donut Plains, annoyed with the red dot indicating that there's a secret exit on the first level.  I know how to get to it - you need the green switch palace - but I hate leaving it blinking there.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (3DS)

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Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate box artSo, today’s lunchtime was spent ganking a Gobul. Which sounds a little rude. But it wasn’t. It basically involved swimming around a lot and stabbing it in the face even more. I’m finding the underwater combat really fun and satisfying – more so than in any other version. Mostly because of the ‘monster lock’ function. Underwater, with 360 degrees of movement on all axis, you can move really smoothly and simply by pretty much just using the lock button and evading in various directions. Anyway – the Gigul was pretty straight-forward to defeat (once I worked out the being behind him is only a good idea if you enjoy a very long paralysis).