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Well, other than drink beer and enjoy the weather (and not chasing after the kids, which seems to take up the most time of all!) I've been spending quite a bit of time playing on my Gameboy Advance, namely the new Pokemon Sapphire (a "Ruby" version is also available), which arrived from the states just in time for my holiday (thanks Dave!) and a game which I bought second-hand a while back but hadn't gotten around to playing, Advance Wars.
First things first, Pokemon Sapphire is another evolution of the game more known for its merchandising spinoffs and unabashed pitch towards the kids' market than is really fair, as it's actually quite a lot of genteel fun. This version represents its first outing solely for the GBA, making better use of its resources, such as its wider screen and more powerful graphics and sound capabilities, as well as introducing some new features not seen before in previous iterations.
The game begins gently enough in much the same way as its predecessors - you awaken in your room at your parents house, speak to your mum and dad, leave the house and wander around a bit, getting the lye of the land. You soon become involved in a quest which sees you obtain one pokemon from an initial choice of three - your first step to becoming a top pokemon trainer. From there, you must battle to capture other wild pokemon or defeat other would-be trainers to gain experience and enable your team of pokemon to grow ever stronger.
Much in the same way as a game of "paper, scissors stone", some classes of pokemon are more effective against certain types than others; for instance, water-type pokemon are more effective (their attacks hurt more, and attacks against them hurt less) against fire-type pokemon, who are more effective against grass-type pokemon, etc. This isn't to say that you can't defeat a water pokemon with a fire pokemon - it's just a lot harder, and you need to have a lot more experience in order to pull it off successfully.
After a while, your pokemon become strong enough to challenge "gym leaders", trainers skilled in battling with particular classes of pokemon, and eventually, hopefully, be able to face and defeat the "Elite Four" at the Champion's League, and the pokemon champion him/herself.
As the game progresses, your pokemon learn new skills, and as they become more experienced, can even evolve into new, stronger types of pokemon. You can also teach your pokemon new skills by using special items called "TM"s and "HM"s you collect along the way. Other items have other effects, such as restoring health during a battle, or increasing attack or defense capabilities of your pokemon, for example.
The major challenge of the game however is the successful completion of various quests and subquests which take you all over the map, learning new skills, and battling your way to the top. Although none of the puzzles are particularly challenging (although one did have me scratching my head for a while) they are usually engaging and fun to complete.
As I mentioned before, whilst representing only an evolution of the series, some features are new and/or improved, specifically: "pokemon contests" that allow you to enter your pokemon in a kind of "crufts" competition where you display your pokemon's skills in front of a panel of judges against another four pokemon, the whole "berries" system (including the blending of "pokeblocks" with others), an improved pokenav and pokedex, TV interviews, and team battles (where four pokemon battle against each other, with two on each side).
The graphics and sound are much better than in previous series, but hardly push the GBA to its limits. But to be honest, the appeal of pokemon games has never been visual or aural. It's been the delightful journey, the exploration, and the feeling of achievement you get upon beating a particularly tough opponent.
It's an enjoyable game, requires little brain (albeit a fairly good memory, if only to remember where everything is and who is good against what) and one that I have no hesitation in recommending to youngsters and oldsters alike, if only to take a break from super-fast high-reflex games like Sonic Advance 2 (another doozy, but one I'll leave for later), or games like...
Advance Wars. If you can remember that far back, you'll recall that I bought this second hand and didn't play it for a while. The problem was this: the game saves your progress as you go through, and there is no obvious mechanism for removing this data, and I'd inherited the games played by the previous owner. Fortunately, there is a way of doing it, involving holding down the left shoulder button, pushing right on the controller pad and holding down the "select" button when you switch the game on. How obvious is that? Thank goodness for the Internet.
Anyway. I digress. This game is outstanding. It's a turn-based strategy game (where each team takes turns to move, like old war games/x-com games of yore) unlike real-time strategy games pioneered by Dune 2 and Command and Conquer, but it's superb. Great graphics, amazingly well-balanced units, beautifully presented. Even the basic training missions are excellent (although seeing that they take several hours to complete, so they should!). New features continue to be introduced throughout the main missions too, so there's never a dull moment as you try to balance your resources and hold onto a city for another turn...
I've not even begun to scape the surface of this game yet though, so I'll stop there before I layer on the superlatives any thicker... and I think I've spent long enough already wibbling on about them, so I'll end here.
Anyway, it's only a few days before I'm back, so I'll probably write something else then. It doesn't appear that I'll be finishing that new site anytime soon either - I've done some work on it, but it's not enough to run with right now... ;-)
I found some site with Puzzle games here. Check it out and have fun