Well, that’s the forest temple done now – Ghost Ganon is a fun boss, I reckon – and one of the easier ones. Now it’s back to the Temple of Time to see what I’m up to next.

I’m all growed up now! I finally finished trawling through Jabu Jabu’s Belly after getting myself totally confused because I had it in my mind it was different. The miniboss gave me some trouble too as I have a tendency to lean to the side when I’m running in a circle and this, of course, wreaks havoc with the 3D display. Anyway, I got it all done and then scampered off to the Temple of Time where I was made all growed up

Then it was off to Kakariko village, shortly followed by HOOKSHOT GET!  and WALLET GET!

Navigated the eternally annoying Lost Woods, ganked the irritating spear-wielding thingies, and gained access to the Forest Temple. Time for some crate puzzles.

What? A game diary entry? Surely not! Well, yes! I’ve been suffering from an extended period of gaming ennui of late, largely because between writing and working I never seem to have much in the way of time. On top of that, there really hasn’t been much of any interest happening gaming wise. Then the Nintendo 3DS arrived. I didn’t buy one on launch because I thought the price was really pretty ridiculous, but with the recent drop to around £120, I reckoned it was time to take the plunge (as I don’t currently have a DS of any kind anyway). A contributing factor, obviously, was the re-re-re-re-release of Ocarina of Time.

And oh-mi-god it’s lovely. Really. It’s one of the best Zelda games (in my opinion) to begin with, and in this incarnation it just looks magnificent. Long sweeping vistas, a real sense of depth, and greatly prettificated graphics make it gaming paradise for the likes of me. The placement of the face buttons (and in particular, the sliding joypad thingy) makes it  a cinch to play.

So far, I’ve done the usual Deku tree nonsense and have just arrived in Dodongo Caverns, which is pretty much the first real dungeon. The lighting is exquisite and the 3Dness of it all really brings it to life. It actually felt a bit creepy early on as it really does look like you’re controlling little blokes just through the window of the screen. Loving it so far, though – I can highly recommend both the console and, obviously, the game.

Crumbs! I doubt very much if Blizzard are weeping into their cornflakes at this one, but they probably should be. This is pretty similar to the Lego [Star Wars|Indiana jones|Batman] games, with one subtle difference. It’s an MMO. Yes, a bit like World of Warcraft. But with one major difference. It’s a lot of fun. Rather than spending all your time pointlessly grinding Instance Dungeons in the vain hope that some particular part of epic loot drops, Lego Universe is all about imagination and creativity. You can build just about anything you like. You can go adventuring on your own or as a team. Forget priests, mages and warriors – in this you get to be a ninja, or a pirate, or something equally awesome. And did I mention it’s a lot of fun?

Don’t let the 8-12 target age range fool you – I’m a 40 year old RPG fan and I’m having a blast. As are my teenage ‘twitch-shooter’ addict sons and my ten year old daughter. Everyone is getting something out of it.

So, while Blizzard needn’t be worried about losing subscribers to LU, they could take the lesson from it that mindlessly grinding 500 raptors in the hope that ten of them will drop a head (!) is less entertaining than building ‘poofy’ the giraffe out of lego and charging around the landscape on him.

Been stuck at the mid-level boss fight with Butthead, Elvis, and Barf, for about six months – not because it’s especially difficult, but because I hadn’t levelled sufficiently before entering the mission. Once in there, of course, it’s win or game over. No backing out. Anyway, I worked out a technique this afternoon, that enabled me to beat them, but was left with such a small amount of health that the bug swarm immediately afterwards ganked me, making me do it all over again. Honestly, Sonic Team, there are such a thing as save points you know.

Anyhoo, Chapter 6 is finally complete and I’ve learned my lesson – time to get levelling in earnest before continuing story mode. Don’t know what I was thinking – I’d never have done anything so daft in a final fantasy game (or I’d have at least kept more than one save).