I think I may have waxed lyrical about the ethos of Good Old Games before, they’re selling old games at $9.99 or less with any DRM removed. They also test the games to ensure compatibility with XP/Vista and apply the most recent patches. So a cheap bite of nostalgia for a few bucks, what better way to spend a Saturday?

I purchased Commandos, a game which I used to own and indeed still have the box but I’m damned if I can find the CD. So I guess you might view it as my having spent $5.99 to save having to search for it. The process of purchasing was jolly smooth; paid and had downloaded and installed the game within a couple of minutes.

Then I’m not even half way through the first level, which is a damned sight harder than I remember when the phone rings. It’s my credit card company checking that some iffy looking overseas transaction is above board. Well it was because it was the payment I’d just made to GOG. That’s not the first time my credit card issuer has been shall we say cautious about payments I’ve made. At least the procedure for confirming the transactions isn’t overly painful.

However what was overly painful was failing even to be able to complete the first level of Commandos: Beyond the call of duty. In my defence this was the follow-up to the original game which I hadn’t played before. A quick search online confirmed that reviewers felt the game was quite a step up in difficulty, so I feel slightly less bad. That said, even if frustration overcomes me before the day is out I still got several hours entertainment for less than a fiver which is damn good value these days.

I like game demos, they enable me to see if I’m actually going to like a game before purchasing it. Usually I want to see if the graphics are actually any good, and if the game play is engaging in terms of game play. Well today I was playing the demo of Company of Heroes, as I’d been wanting to get an RTS game and hadn’t really played one since the early Command and Conquer games.

But after playing the demo, I decided against purchasing the full game at least for the moment. Not that there was anything wrong with the game, it was seemed really good and was graphically excellent. My ability to play it however was sadly lacking. Even playing with the enemy set to “Easy” I was constantly having my arse handed to me, which after attempt 7 or 8 (I lost count) starts to be somewhat demoralising!

Perhaps owning a Wii has turned me into a total gaming lightweight.