Toki Tori: How good can a 49 cent game be?

I would be willing to bet that everyone who doesn't have Steam would have no idea what the hell Toki Tori was.  Heck, I have Steam and I had no idea what it was.  All I knew is that it kept popping up in my suggested games to buy during the last few Steam Sales.  After the 20th time seeing this, I decided to finally click on it to see what it was.

It turns out it was a puzzle platformer, and most importantly, it was 49 CENTS!  I immediately bought it, along with Heavy Weapon which was suggested with it (and also 49 cents!)  Then it sat, untouched for over a month (come to think of it, I haven't played Heavy Weapon, either). Today, I shall try to play it. 

When I first turned it on:

FUCKING LOUD!

The screen was loud and the music was decidedly louder than just about anything I've ever heard.  I turned the volume down to 30% just to get it to a normal volume.  After the ringing in my ears stopped, I started the game.

As I said, Toki Tori is a puzzle platformer.  You play a chick (the animal, not a woman) that is collecting eggs and you cannot jump or fly.  However, you do get items such as bridges, or teleportation pads to help you overcome this handicap.  It looks very nice, both in the background, and the foreground.  As the game goes on the puzzles get harder and harder, and once you beat all of the easy puzzles in a land, you move on to the next environment.

Overall, 49 cents was an amazing price for this game.  I played over 40 minutes, I was never bored, and the time flew by.  One the main menu page, there was an advertisement for Toki Tori 2.  If I'm done with Toki Tori, and the sequel is any less than, say, five bucks, I'll definitely be buying.  So next Steam Sale, check it out!

So, Euro Truck Simulator 2...

Nice, addictive, relaxing fun.

I put 8 hours into it this weekend, alone.

My only problem with it is a "me" problem in that I preferred the early few hours of the game when I was driving for other trucking companies, making money, but having no pressure. Now I own 2 trucks and have a driver working for me, and i have a €400,000 loan I have to pay off, so there more pressure on me to make the daily payments which takes away some of the relaxation.

Still, once that settles down, I can see me adding this to my list of games I play when I just want to wind down and listen to a podcast or two.

My Second Minecraft House

I went a little nuts with the glass.  So much so that there's an underwater viewing area...even though there's no visible fish in Minecraft.

Also...flat roof.

My First Nancy Drew Game - Hour 1

(Repost from the Hitman Observer Newsletter)

 So, during the Summer Steam Sale, a game appeared in my games list that I had never seen before.  It was a Nancy Drew game.  I know for a fact, I never bought a Nancy Drew game.  Why would I?  I'm pretty sure those are for girls.  I think they may have come with a bundle that I bought.  I don't know.  What I do know is that my experiences playing this game must be recorded.  Where better to record these experiences that the return of the Hitman Observer Newsletter?

Okay. The menu is a stack of books. Clever!

My first decision is whether or not I'm a Junior or Senior Detective or to take the tutorial. I chose Senior Detective, because I'm a real man (playing a girls game)!

Nancy Drew sounds like she's in hew thirties. I always thought she was akid.

Oh man. Someone stole a horse from a carousel? The carousel spins by itself? Creepy!

The first thing I did was look around the hotel room they placed me in. Laptop! There's something called Flag Game on the laptop. I must play it. It's basically Bejeweled with Nautical Flags. I spent 20 minutes beating the game twice before moving on.

The laptop also has Things to Do and a Journal with both actually seem like they'll be helpful on my quest.

Also there's email. Apparently I've signed up for Sassy Detective Online. I'm hoping that that Board is the female equivalent to the one I'm used to, because I'm so there if it is.

Just noticed I have a cell phone. After the pre-requisite attempt at calling 1-900-HOTSLUT, I checked the directory and saw I have the Hardy Boys number! Unfortunately it's Frank and Joe not Matt and Jeff. Okay, they offer me some advice that I really wasn't listening to so now I guess that it's time to actually play the game.

Apparently I'm supposed to call the woman who wanted me to solve the mystery. She pretty much rehashes what I've already been told, so I'm going to head to the Amusement park.

Lot's of talking! First I talked to the security guard, who let me into the place and gave me a ride and games card! Sweet! After like five minutes of talking, I got to see a security tape of the Haunted Carousel! Spooky!

Then I had to go talk to the accountant. She was whiny and boring. I looked around her office, being the great detective that I am of course, and I found a note! Apparently somebody tried to sell one of the horses from the carousel. SUSPICIOUS!

I've had enough detective work for one day! I'm going to the midway to play some games. The first game was a swimmer's game that was a lot like tht parking game on my phone. I won a token for beating three levels! Next was squid toss. This was a frustrating squid tossing game and now I'm out of fun credits. I guess that means I'm done with the game.

Well, that was an hour of fun.


I'm sure in the coming months I will play again.  We shall see.  If I do, I will certainly be reporting my meandering through the game.

Driving a Train - Days 2 & 3

Today is my third day in a row playing Train Simulator 2012.  I really can't explain why I like this game so much, I just do.  Yesterday, I completed my second scenario, and I decided to start today by trying the Expert Controls tutorial.

As it turns out, I used Expert Controls to complete the two scenarios that I've completed already.  So I had no trouble with this tutorial.  As a matter of fact, I figured out why I was emergency braking on the first real scenario I tried.  You see, this alarm was going off, but it went off about 10 seconds before it would brake on me.  I thought the alarm was telling me "I'M BRAKING ASSHOLE"...as it turns out, the alarm was for a signal, which I was supposed to acknowledge.  How do you do this?  You hit the Q key.  That's it!  So with this knowledge in my pocket, I think it's time I try the original scenario, and see if I can do it without any problems.

Aaaaand I did.  The alert started flashing, I hit the Q, and it was smooth sailing from there.  I thought I might get bored at the beginning, because the top speed was 45mph at the beginning which was pretty unbearable, but after the first stop, it opened up to 65, and I pushed it to 75, and I was back to shouting CHOO CHOO MOTHERFUCKER.

So there's your report on days 2 & 3, I'm gonna get back to driving my train now.  Have a great day!

Train Simulator 2012 Meanderings

My grandpa used to be heavy into collecting and setting up model trains, and, while I was always interested in this, I never had the money or the space to actually follow through on this hobby. Well, for $7.19, I've now got the electronic equivalent to model trains: Train Simulator 2012. Here's some of my thoughts as I first experienced this game.

First off, I decided to try the tutorials. After all, all I know about driving a train came from Captain Kirk (new) and Denzel Washington.

Was very happy to find out there was a Simple Controls control scheme. This will make things a lot easier.

I did great on my first tutorial! I'm gonna skip the second one for now (harder controls) and I'm going to derail a train!

This thing takes awhile to load. That makes me sad...oops, here we go! Going to try to derail a train on a run from New York to Boston.

Couldn't figure out how to get out of the station. There wasn't any instructions about switching tracks in the one tutorial. I'll try one more scenario before I try another tutorial. This one starts in Philly, so hopefully it will be less confusing to get out of.

It is! After a tight turn, I see a long straightaway. i'm gonna see how fast I can get this Acela Express going after that turn! Looks like I've topped out at 100 mph. The scenery and sense of speed is pretty good!

Now that I'm perfectly straight, I'm doing over 120. I just made it through a small turn, but I see a tight one on the horizon with a 50 mph speed limit.

I did it! That was fun! Unfortunately, when I tried to take a screenshot, it just took a picture of the setup menu instead. That sucks. Oh well, maybe I'll learn how to play properly now.

I've decided to just try an easy scenario. Maybe later I can do a tutorial.

I'll try a regular Amtrak train, like the one I've ridden on a dozen times in my life. It has an easy scenario, so hopefully a rookie like me will be able to succeed. Okay, I just stopped, and I don't know why. Now I'm going again. Now I'm stopped again. I have to Google this. This is frustrating. I'm going again, but I'll probably be late. Stopped. Turning this off for google.

Couldn't find anything. Guess I'll just have to try this again, and be more aware of what I'm doing.

This time, I got an alert before it stopped. This sucks. Maybe the game is mad after I derailed a train last time. I can't find anything. I'm going to go cool down (literally, in a pool) then come back and do the other tutorials

UPDATE:  After swimming, I turned off "Simple Controls" and tried this scenario with the intermediate ones.  The train didn't keep stopping when I did it this way.  I felt a strange sense of accomplishment when I finished the 40 minute scenario.  Still hundreds more to try...another day.  I've had enough driving a train for today.  Don't want to end up like that Crockett fella.