What Have You Played This Week?

Not a lot this week. I wasn't as far into Batman as I thought so that took up some time. I got some Demo's in and enjoyed both of them.

Football Manager 09 – PC – I'm Still With Bayern Munich but i'm also now the Italy National Manager. I've never been their manager before so this should be interesting. Would love to get the new game, but unfortunately I can't afford it, but what is great about the Football Manager games is that you can play them for a long time, even if a new version has come out (typically as the newest Football Manager needs 1 patch for it to get great.)


Bayonetta – Demo - PS3 – I downloaded this big demo not really knowing what to expect. Its not a bad demo, it shows the battle, gameplay, and some of the story, but it throws it at you very quick. You may also need to change some of the options, like camera sensitivity and axis. The gameplay is very hack and slash but its done well. It was very fluid and very easy to pull together combo's and huge attacks. The graphics looked ok. The detail looks a little flat/washed out, but it doesn't detract from the gameplay.

Batman Arkham Asylum – PS3 – I finished this game and enjoyed all of it. The story was interesting with a few good plot twists. There was a predictable ending but it fitted with the story and doesn't feel cheap. I never felt things got repetitive, I had all the equipment and enjoyed trying it all out on the bad guys, coming up with new ways to defeat them. The thing that disappointed me was the end boss battle. It became very traditional and simple which is a shame. The scarecrow parts of the game were a nice way to break things up and offered a nice change of style, especially a interesting re-cap of the start of the game. I highly recommend this game. It is a great Batman game, and a great game in general. I tried the challenge rooms...and I couldn't get a high score on any of them. But I did enjoy trying them, and the Joker rooms were good enough to get the PS3 version alone.

Little Big Planet – Demo – PSP – This demo was great. The graphics on the PSP looked really good and it felt like Little Big Planet. It only had 2 levels which is a shame, but those levels alone show how the game level design has improved since the PS3 version. They were simple levels but, like the PS3 version, you can see key object markers which will make you come back. The load times were also very good. I recommend if you have played or are interested in Little Big Planet, get the demo. Its a small download and will quickly show how good it is.

What have you been playing this week? feel free to add your weeks gaming selection in the comments, or comment on my selection for this week

Android Game Of The Week – Cosmic Trails

Cosmic Trails
Developed By ActionXL
Free
Version: 1.0
Size: 4.77MB

The Good
Graphics
Gameplay
Music

The Average
Controls
Game Size

The Bad
A bit Buggy
Game Modes

Cosmic Trails is perhaps a game that not many people have come across in the Android Market. I honestly don't know how long it has been on the Market, but I only found it when I searched the entire list of most popular games. The game has one of the biggest file sizes i've seen on the Market and it only comes with one mode. The music in the game and sharp graphics show why the game has such a big file size.

The one mode in the game isn't titled as anything, so for this it'll be referred to as a Endless Mode. Endless Mode lasts as long as you can. The aim in this mode is to move your ship, which looks like the ship from Every Extend Extra, and touch the top of shapes, avoiding their tales, to clear the shapes and tails of the screen. The game starts with no background music. One you have cleared a few shapes, the beat starts to come in. as more shapes are cleared, the background beat increases and so does the speed and amount of shapes. The shapes, themselves, have a note that plays when you clear each of them. You can string together bonuses by clearing the same shape and playing the same note.

Each shape has its own individual tone that fits in with the background. Because of this, each time you play the game, the music created will be different. Behind each shape is a tail that cannot be removed from the screen until you either clear the shape or lose a life and fly into the tail. These tails can be a big hindrance if left unchecked, completely cutting one end of the screen off from the ship. You get 3 lives to start of with more lives coming everytime you break 2000 points. In the beginning this may seem too easy, but as things get a bit more chaotic the points come quick, and so do the enemies, its easy to lose a life.

The game is controlled using the Phones accelerator. There is no button controls beyond pressing menu to pause the game and bring up the main menu, over the paused game. The game controls are generally good. There is a little issue when you tilt the phone away from, more so depending on your phones screen, but you never tilt it away for long periods. The game has a option to adjust the sensitivity of the controls. The other options let you change the sound and music levels.

The game does have a few issues. The lack of any other game modes is a shame. A time attack mode would fit perfectly for the game. Only having one mode means people can tire of the game quickly. The game is also a little buggy. On occasion, the framerate can dip or the music can go silent for a very short, but noticeable, time. The game also uses a lot of the phones resources, so its best to check what you have running in the background before playing the game.

Even if the game has only one mode and can be a little buggy, the Endless gameplay and music is pretty addictive and very accessible. The graphics are simple, but they are done very well. The use of music and tones work great together. This maynot be a must have for everyone, but it will be highly enjoyable for those who enjoy this type of game.