My game of 2005 - Trackmania Sunrise

Trackmania: Sunrise is the follow up to the sleeper hit Trackmania, from Digital Jesters. Boasting new game modes and more insane tracks then the original can TM: Sunrise improve on the originals winning formula?

The short answer is yes. The game successfully straddles three genres (racing, platform and puzzle) to make a game that is fiendishly hard but extremely addictive, there is a strong “one more go” factor urging you to have one last try at getting that gold medal.

The Racing mode sees you competing against three AI controlled cars, one representing bronze, one silver and one gold. Put simply, beat the bronze car and you’ll gain a bronze ranking for that track. The medals are extremely well balanced, making it relatively easy to score a bronze ranking but you will have to put in a solid amount of playing time before you can even think of getting on a par with the gold car.
Crucially, the other cars are all ghosts, so you bumping into them is impossible, making the game seem more like a rally then an out and out race. Despite the fact there are only three different types of cars to race as (and you can’t pick which car you have for the race) you wont get bored with your vehicle as there is a good deal of customizing you can to alter your cars appearance to make it stand out from the pack.

The platform mode is where, in my opinion, TM: Sunrise really stands out from the crowded racing game market. The aim is to get your car through a series of checkpoints on a course that is insanely put together. You will have to make huge jumps, squeeze through tiny gaps and even bounce off water to get around the courses. Naturally with a mode like this the design of the levels is critical and TM seems to come good on this too. The tracks are extremely well made and so you never feel lost on the roads. One of the greatest challenges TM has to offer is to get all the way around the track in one clean run and while this may get frustrating due to the sheer difficulty of some of the tracks, there is a strong sense of achievement in getting all the way round a course and gaining the gold ranking.

Of course, you’ll want to share these experiences with friends and fortunately TM offers some pretty good multiplayer options. These work as a hot seat mode, so you can have a large group of people taking it in turns racing on a track and it is fun to see your own ghost racing along with the person actually playing at the time.

Overall TM: Sunrise really is excellent. The games difficulty is pitched perfectly meaning you can dive straight in and have fun, but it will take a considerable amount of skill to complete some of the gold medal tracks, ensuring you will be playing TM for a long time.

Reflections on Reviewing Games

Are you enjoying Games Reviewing?

I have to say I am really enjoying this module as I have always liked English lessons right the way through my school life and this module is pretty much an English lesson.

Is it easy or hard?

I have no problem writing reviews about games, indeed I enjoy it. The main difficulty I find is trying to keep within certain word limits. Once I get started I find it hard to stop, so finding things to write about is easy for me, knowing when to stop is the hard part.

Are you getting better at it?

Most definitely. I have found some of things we have looked at, for example transitions, to be extremely beneficial and I enjoy trying to apply the things we learn into my reviews.

Are you enjoying working with others?

I have found all through my school life I tended to work better when part of a team then I did when working on something alone and this trend is continuing now in my university life. I can get on with most people and feel comfortable about working with them towards a joint target.

GarageGames Reviews

Most people nowadays think of computer games as bloody, violent affairs, in which almost every task you must complete involves killing or destruction. This in turn discourages people who don't play games to try them out. The truth is that this is not the case, but it's hard to make a convincing argument. Thankfully, there are solutions at hand, one of which is GarageGames. A variety of simple yet entertaining titles awaits here, each designed as a fun way to waste a hour or two. We have picked out three nicely accessible titles that should provide you with some enjoyment.


Bridge Construction Set is an entertaining puzzle game. On each level, you will find a river over which you must build a bridge. This bridge not only has to stand up on its own but must also be able to support the weight of the vehicles that cross it when you test it out. Finding the right combination and arrangement of materials to create a viable bridge is a challenge, but your budget provides a limit on what you can do. The game can be difficult, but the feeling you get when completing a tougher puzzle is supremely satisfying.

Gish, quite weird name, very weird game.
Basically, you're a blob of gel. Your mission is to travel through the various levels, puzzles and mazes any way you can. Sticking to walls, jumping over enemies, sliming through small spaces and breaking floors. Gish is quite easy to control although doing a few things at once, eg. Moving, jumping then sticking to the roof, takes a bit of getting used to. The game is suitable for all age groups and will have anyone playing for hours. It's certainly worth a download, especially if you've never played a game like this before.

Marble Blast: Gold is a fun and easy to play game from GarageGames. The aim of the game is to lead your marble safely through the hazard strewn levels. The game gently builds up the difficulty and introduces new features such as power ups one by one so you never feel that the game is trying to swamp you with 101 things to do.
With about a hundred levels included you are guaranteed to be playing Marble Blast for a long time and you will feel compelled to keep returning just one more time. This game will certainly keep you entertained!


So there you have it. We at GarageGames believe that these three games in particular should provide gamers and non-gamers alike with plenty of entertainment at home, at school, or even at work, although we accept no responsibility for any glares you receive from your teacher or boss for playing instead of working! Even if these reviews haven't inspired you, we ask that you just take a few minutes to try the games out. You may be pleasantly surprised with them! We hope that you'll visit our website at www.garagegames.com some time in the near future.

ThinkTanks Review

A stream of bullets blast past you, narrowly missing your smoking wreck of a tank. You know just over that ridge is a health pick up, if you can just make it. Another hail of bullets gets perilously close as your hulk limps up the hill, you can hear the enemy tanks getting nearer, scenting an easy kill as you get closer still. You manage to get the health pick up and suddenly the tables turn! Dispatching shots left, right and centre and two tanks go down, flipping over to indicate their destruction. A warm glow envelopes you in the midst of your self made destruction. This is how gaming should be, this is ThinkTanks!

The first thing that impressed me about ThinkTanks was just how accessible it was and how easy it was to play. After a brief tutorial where the controls were explained, as well as some of the power ups, I was thrust into an exciting world of dog-eat-dog (should that be tank-eat-tank?) action.

Boasting both offline and online multiplayer game options, you certainly aren’t starved for choice and I jumped straight into a deathmatch mode against AI controlled tanks. Although movement itself is easy to get to grips with, the aiming is a different kettle of fish altogether. Essentially, you move the mouse over where you want to shoot and press the left mouse button. Sounds easy? Well think again as I found the aiming to be particularly sensitive and spent most of my initial time on the game being fodder for the ruthless AI tanks. After mastering the aiming I was able to claim some kills of my own and started shooting up the leaderboard.

To complement the action is a very light and bouncy soundtrack which at first may seem at odds with the action with almost a type of jungle beat providing the soundtrack to your fighting. However, the music is charming in an offensive way and it will quickly grow on you.

The game runs very smoothly and although graphically could certainly not be considered stunning, they are functional and the tanks are well drawn. Coupled with the music then this makes for a very fun looking and sounding game. Another big plus in this department is the fact that I encountered no lag whilst playing online.

The online game is what I consider to be the strongest feature of the overall ThinkTanks package. There is a good selection of servers available for you to play on, and helpfully they are split up into categories of difficulty allowing you to break yourself into the online game gently. I had the most fun playing a variant of capture the flag, where the flag would randomly appear in the level, provoking a mad dash by all the players to grab it and take it to the “goal.”

Overall I was thoroughly impressed with ThinkTanks. The game is pure fun, sorely missing in some of today’s blockbuster games, where realism rather then enjoyment seems to rule the gaming charts.

Edited by Phil Abram: http://www.phillabram.blogspot.com

Neverwinter Nights Tutorial Review

Ok, so your soon to be hero is freshly created and eager to get out into the big wide world of demon-slaying and treasure hunting. Before you carve a legacy that will last through all ages of time, there is the small matter of the tutorial to get through.

After the brief introduction sequence, which provides a brief bit of exposition about the world that the game is set in, you get round to actually playing the game.

The first thing that will strike you is the poor control you have over your character. Movements are made using the W,A,S and D keys, but your character moves like a tank, you can only move forward, then to change direction you have to stop, turn, then start moving again. This system is shockingly unwieldy and takes a while to get used to.

Once you have got the basics of movement you will be taught other controls and game features. These tutorials are played out through a conversation with non player characters in the academy where you are “learning” to become a hero.

You would expect plenty of voice acting for this segment and you do get the stereotypes for example the old grumpy dwarf rears his ugly head. Sadly the voice acting is brief and doesn’t cover all of the text, leaving you to wade through several lines of text making decisions that have little impact on the game, serving only to provide you with a little more back story.

Overall I thought this wasn’t a bad tutorial, you are taught everything you need to know to start playing the game, but enough is left out to give you a sense of achievement when you discover things in the game proper and crucially you don’t feel the like game is “holding your hand” all the way through.

8 out of 10

FreeCiv is a turn based strategy game much in the mould of the Civilization series of games. After downloading the game and opening it the first thing that struck me was how many options were available to edit before you started playing. Whilst having a large variety of game options is a good thing, I found myself swamped with stats and figures to tweak, such as “food required for a city to grow” and “Chance for conquering building destruction.” Many of these options seem superfluous to the actual game experience and I decided to leave things as they were for now.

After selecting my nation (Slovenia) from an impressive array of possible countries, I began the task of playing the game proper. The in game action is viewed through a window taking up roughly half the screen. The rest of the screen is taken up with information letting me know the year, game time and other tidbits of data necessary for a ruler bent on expansion and conquest. The game itself is relatively easy to play. You simply select one of your units and drag the arrow to wherever you want your unit to go. There are several functions your units can serve, ranging from telling settlers to form a city to telling your warriors to attack units from another player.

It was while using one of these functions that my main gripe about FreeCiv popped up again. After my settlers had created a city I was bombarded with a plethora of information, figures and statistics, making the game seriously heavy going and taking away some of the enjoyment and pride you should get from expanding your empire.

When expanding your nation you would expect some stirring music to accompany your gaming, perhaps your chosen countries national anthem to whip up some patriotism, or some kind of fanfare to accompany your army’s unstoppable march to victory after victory. There is no doubting music greatly enhances an in game experience but sadly FreeCiv lacks any music or sound effects at all, which is a shame as the game feels a little hollow without it.

Attempting to fill over these holes is the sense of involvement you get with the game. With the amount of options and advancements there is no doubting that it is YOUR Empire and things get done how you want it. The war mongerers will want to build barracks to get your warrior units out there as soon as possible. The more peace loving players can choose to develop more technologically first, perhaps build courthouses and make your nation a lawful one. You could expand through trade, establishing trade routes with other cities and making your cities one of the “wonders of the world.”

Overall FreeCiv is a slow burning, gentle paced game that will give you hours of relaxed gameplay. The replay value is almost limitless due to the several ways you can expand. This game is like a jar of marmite, you love it or you hate it, there is no middle ground here.

English Tests

Well after trying the three tests (the BBC one and the two BISSTO ones) I found some mixed results. For the BBC test I only managed a paltry 14/20 which i was dissappointed about, I guess it would be about average for the whole class though. I was quite surprised to discover the national average for that test is 16, but then again that is only people who actually took the test, if everyone in the country was compelled to take the test then the average would be significantly lower.

I fared a lot better in the BISSTO tests however. I managed full marks on both of the tests, Nouns and pronouns and Confusing Words. I was happy with this result needless to say! I found both tests to be relatively easy but still overall I was dissappointed with my score in the BBC test.

Games Reviews

Bejewelled

Interesting… I say. Like Tetris, only different. A minute to learn, a lifetime to master. Make lines of 3! You will lose a lot. Enjoy!

Bookworm

This word game is entertaining and intellectually challenging. Its simple premise is enhanced by various bonus opportunities. Finding long words is a great challenge.

Rocket Mania

Connect the lines by rotating them via clicking. A complete line gains you 100 points. The more lines simultaneously connected, the more points scored!

Tip Top

Match 3 or more similar objects to score points. Make objects disappear to stop screen getting cluttered. Combos gain bonus points.

Website Reviews - http://popcap.com and http://www.realarcade.com

Both of these sites seem to be attracting the same kind of audience, although most definitely RealArcade looks more professional. (And well it might with RealNetworks behind it) The audience I get the impression they are aiming for is people bored at work or perhaps in class, with a few minutes to kill. There is nothing too involving and most of the games are/do exactly what they say on the tin, e.g. Monopoly or Card Games. However I find the popcap site is more accessible in that you can simply play the games online, a feature lacking on RealArcade.

Bissto: We're going off the rails on a gravy train!

This is my paragraph done for the last exercise on the bissto page:

The students and staff weren't surprised to learn of the Privy Council's decision to make Bolton a university. They'd always believed in Mollie Temple's case. The students' reaction was to go immediately to the Student Union bar to celebrate. The day's events had been exciting and it's hoped that the forthcoming party will be more so.

I managed to get it done okay but i had a few problems initially with getting re- acquainted with the rules on possesive apostrophes for example the sheep's fleeces.

Despite studying English Language at A level I have never done a test like this before and made me realise that I wasnt quite as up to scratch with my English skills as I should be. Generally I am extremely confident in my ability to write good English but this test most definitely was more difficult then I imagined it would be.

As a former English student I do definitely believe these things are important and good to learn. There is the saying "you only get one chance to make a first impression" and if someones first impression of you is diminished because of your lack of writing/punctuation skills then you only have yourself to blame ultimately! Overall I managed to complete the test without too much difficulty after initially getting a couple wrong and I think I did about as well as I could expect to do.

The Blog is up!

Hi everyone this is my Blog for all my university work, expect to see big things soon