GameLog 80

Civ4:BtS (35h) - Been leaving this game on for long periods while doing other stuff, but the main focus this week has been playing the English in the Road the War mod; a remake of WWII.

There were a couple of points in the war that I hadn't picked up on (like Russia was actually working with Germany at the start) that made the game really interesting from a historical perspective, even to the point that once Germany blitzed through the Netherlands and into heartland France I really felt exposed to an insurmountable enemy. Obviously it's not the same as living through the war first hand, but it gave me a glimpse of what the English battleroom must have been like when thoughts of survival are more prominent than victory.

Unfortunately the German AI also tried to push past the Menigot line fortifications that they historically had bypassed, and the losses turned the tide of the war. They couldn't push down into France and by the time Barbarossa started I had their measure in aircraft and France had reclaimed the lowlands.

Started out another game as the Germans to see if wiping out all of Europe is a possibility. Still in the build up stage and playing on Emperor level, so it's not clear whether I'll have the type of raw numbers that the AI had in the last game, but I'll be focusing on air superiority. I hadn't realised that Germany actually had Air superiority at the start of the war. They had claimed that too in my previous game, but didn't press the advantage. In Civ4 you really need to hunt down aircraft and wipe them out. Once you have a substantial lead it is almost impossible to come back. The same goes for naval warfare too. I had wiped out Germany's whole naval fleet in my England game to be relatively comfortable over on my island, but Italy was amassing a MASSIVE airforce and fleet that was going to be very hairy. Not sure when Italy were supposed to join the war, but I'm sure it was before the Russian invasion (Tobruk and all that). Another reason for the restart..



Skate 2 (10h) - Getting better at just cruising around and doing the trick I want. Cameron's got the hang of jumping now and even pulled off some handplants! I should probably make a video of his stuff so he can watch what he was like as I feel he's going to be playing this one for a looong time.

Street Fighter IV (2h) - Picked up the Collector's Edition as retail therapy but almost baulked when I heard the price: $170!

Got it home and found nothing of real value inside apart from some figurines. The game itself doesn't seem to have a campaign mode, so it's mainly like playing at the arcades. Pretty disappointed all round (although it still is going to be a stalwart of the PS3 for a long time to come)