Friday, October 19, 2012

Picross e: completed!

I have very little willpower. This has become even more apparent as I've worked my way through the puzzles in Picross e, making increasing use of the game's feature which highlights which rows and columns have a possible move in them.  While I am able to say "no" at the start of each puzzle, when it asks if I want any hints (meaning it doesn't fill in a random row and column to start), I find it hard to not press the shoulder buttons to reveal the the row and column highlighting as soon as get remotely stuck.  This is made worse by the fact that I try to do it even on the puzzles where it's not available.

There wasn't anything particularly difficult, though I did work out a new technique (thanks to the row highlighting) which allows you to put a blank in space 2 if space 3 is filled and the sequence starts with a 1.  The end pictures were normally quite evident from the outlines, but I did struggle to understand what the pelican was until the name appeared.

More please.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Batman Arkham Asylum: taking over the island

I was stuck in one room for ages.  There were seven (I think) armed guards, and I could only ever lure two or three to their deaths under a gargoyle before the others spotted me and gunned me down.

I got past in the end more by luck than judgement, as the enemies kept on walking around in a circle underneath me.  It was very tense gliding down to take the last one out.

Now Poison Ivy is making plants grow all over the place, so I have to find her.  I should have captured her when I had the chance.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Mr Driller Drill Spirits: reminiscing

Last year, I played Peggle.  At the time, I vowed to never again play Peggle, due to the unfairness of its randomness and impossible goals.  of course, its randomness and impossible goals are one of the things that makes it so compelling, and I've played it many times since.

But screaming and shouting at a console is not the way to remember Owen, and so this morning I played Mr Driller instead.  I'm rather rusty at it, but after fifteen minutes or so I was back into the rhythm the game demands, dodging under fused X blocks, dashing for air across the screen, and rushing to the two-colour stages which give a break from the action to some extent.  I played the 2000m stage, it being the only one that's not completed yet (other than the moon, which has items so is a bit of a variation from the pure Mr Driller experience).

Mr Driller remains a fine game, and the DS version is probably still the best version available to me.  Drill Land requires the GameCube to be set up (with Freeloader), and its unique modes are mostly multiplayer.  Mr Driller Online has virtually nobody online.  The Dreamcast version of the original works well but is hampered by the controller.

Of course, a 3DS download game which is always available could be better still.