Think of this as a filler photo :p Crap week last week and never really saw anything worth taking a photo of

Went for a walk along a nearby pond with some friends. Lovely weather for it.

I’ve been distinctly lacking in inspiration lately. Various things have come up in my personal life that’s made things a bit difficult of late, meaning that I guess my brain just hasn’t really bothered with thinking creatively. So for now, and to show you readers that I do still exist, you can have a fairly predictable games update to see what I’ve been playing lately!

I went on a bit of a points spending spree not long ago, acquiring Peggle, both Fable 2 DLCs, the newest Tomb Raider Underworld DLC: Lara’s Shadow and the Fallout 3 DLC: Broken Steel.

Peggle is horribly addictive just as people warned me. It’s the kind of game that I play for five minutes and then an hour has passed without me even blinking. However, now that I just have the challenges to complete, it is annoyingly tough too! I wouldn’t be surprised if I purchase it on the App Store for my iPhone too despite it being the exact same game.

I’ve purchased Broken Steel for Fallout 3 but I haven’t played it yet. I’m saving it for when I’ve got plenty of time to get absorbed into it. However I did have a brief go of Knothole Island for Fable 2 earlier and it didn’t go as planned. I felt no urge to really play it and ended up playing something else as it just wasn’t interesting me. I found it quite shocking. At launch, I adored Fable 2. It was hugely flawed but I still loved it, more so than Fallout 3 in fact. But this just felt wrong. Maybe it was the extended break, or maybe it was Knothole Island being a bit rubbish. I’m not sure. I will go back to it and figure it out though, hopefully things will improve. I don’t want my fond memories being tarnished by this dull return trip.

I’ve not played Lara’s Shadow for Tomb Raider Underworld yet, been busy completing the game. Underworld was good fun, it was very predictable and essentially the same gameplay that the original Tomb Raider introduced but that’s no bad thing for me. I enjoyed it enough that I think I’ll return to Tomb Raider Legend sometime and possibly pick up Tomb Raider Anniversary too. Underworld has also been quite generous with the achievement points, meaning I’ve nearly reached 81k despite not really playing the game for the points. In fact I’ve lost my achievement whoring urge at the moment. I had both Paintball 2009 and Disney’s Bolt to play for that and I just couldn’t be bothered. Paintball 2009 just wasn’t my kind of thing and I didn’t want to waste my time, and Disney’s Bolt was initially ok but quickly became very dull. I’m sure my achievement whoring days aren’t over forever, but for now there’s just too many good games to play, to bother with average ones.

Unfortunately there are still times where I’m forced to play average games, namely when I’m reviewing them, as is the case with Afro Samurai. The game’s not great. It is stylistically fantastic, however the camera is iffy to say the least and the action is mediocre, your typical hack n slasher. I’ve no doubt that fans of the anime series will like it, however I very much doubt gamers will. Certainly not when there are better games such as Ninja Gaiden 2 or Devil May Cry 4 are available.

On the reviewing front, I’m also busy with Ninja Bee’s Kaloki Adventure for the iPhone which is great fun. The review should be up shortly, along with other iPhone reviews as I haven’t got round to posting them on here yet. I’m also reviewing Grand Ages Rome on the PC, it’s not bad but nor is it particularly special either. Again, expect a review of it over the coming days.

And finally, I’m loving Rock Band 2. I’m so glad I found the Rock Band Band in a Box reduced, it really was worth the initial outlay. It’s just pure and simple good fun. Plus the drums are ideal stress relief! All I can request is I’d love to have more Muse and Killers tracks but I’ll live. Plenty of The Who tracks which is good!

Oh and in case you’ve got to the end of this and you’re still wondering ‘what’s with the pigeon picture?’, I received a new camera today and I’ve been out taking pictures I really liked this one and didn’t know what to use for an image for this entry anyway, so it made sense! If I get a chance, I might set up a gallery or extra category for ‘proper’ photos now that I’m not restricted to my iPhone camera!

One of the very few perks of the job! Having said that, I bet I throw it out within the week! It’s a bit erm large

Yes with hindsight, I should have put the Mcvities wrapper back on!

As well as this, I’m now writing a few reviews for ThePortableGamer. They’re much shorter than what I’m used to writing and it is taking quite a bit of adjustment for me. After writing 1,000-2,000 words per review for nearly two years, it’s a bit of a shock to the system trying to fit everything into 500ish words. Anyway, here’s some more links: Wordology (far too addictive and yet so simple!) and Bookworm (if only it had been Bookworm Adventure rather than regular Bookworm).

A Silent Hill Homecoming review should be forthcoming next week too Seems a little odd to only have the one review to do at the moment!

Anyways, moving away from work. I’ve been rather hooked on Fallout 3 again. It’s hypocritical after my earlier comment about the Oblivion style of RPG but I am enjoying it. I’m still not quite convinced that it deserves some of the near perfect reviews I’ve seen but it is still well worth a purchase if you’re still one of the few people yet to try it! I enjoyed the Operation Anchorage DLC, it made a nice change of pace. In a strange sort of way it reminded me of Goldeneye, I’m still not quite sure why, but it did! Also plenty of exp to be had too. I haven’t played The Pitt yet, I’m waiting till I’m over level 14 (for the sake of the karma achievements) then I’ll go give it a shot.

I’ve also been playing a rental copy of Broken Sword: Director’s Cut on the Wii. I’m still not convinced about the Wii being the console for me. What can I say, I’m a lazy gamer. I like being able to sit back and ‘slob out’ on the sofa while I game. I feel like I have to sit to attention for the Wii a bit because of the Wiimote controls. However I’m enjoying Broken Sword. I’m a huge fan of the original on the PC (and Broken Sword 2) so that helps a lot. It does look pretty dated admittedly but I can forgive it. Not sure about some of the new Wii-centric puzzles, one involving opening a safe felt a bit irritating but I think a lot of that was down to the fact that the disc kept jamming (why do people rent games then treat them so appalling? ). I’m intrigued to see what the DS version is like so might see if I can find a cheap copy of that sometime.

Must try the DS version of Chrono Trigger too, and GTA:Chinatown……hmm might need to dust down my DS I think! For once, there are games I want to play for it.

Best sign off now, long drive to Chester in the morning!

Don’t forget you can stalk follow me on Twitter.

For fun, I haven’t really settled on much. Often been too tired to play much for fun. I finished off Fallout 3 with a respectable 700/1100. I will 100% it but I’ll wait till all the DLC is out before I get it again, I might rent it instead this time too but we’ll see. It was a good game after the very slow start, not one of my favourites of all time or anything but certainly kept me entertained. As mentioned, I’ve started playing Silent Hill: Homecoming, initial reactions are that it’s definitely creepy (mainly because the world is so odd, as you’d expect from a Silent Hill game) however the combat so far is absolutely shocking. I hope it improves! Talking of creepy games, after owning it for 18 months, I’ve finally started playing Condemned. I played it initially with a friend and liked it but I’m rubbish with scary games so I never quite had the nerve. But as I fancied a game with a strong storyline, I gave this a shot. I’ve finished Chapter 4 now and absolutely loving it. It’s not even aged very badly which is good going for a launch title.

Anyway, not a long update. I’ve not got much to say admittedly and I’m tired. Giving myself a day off tomorrow as I worked all weekend either the paid sort or the writing sort.