Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1609https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5469The game that I have chosen to write about this week is an addition to the Tom Clancy series of games and is called EndWar. EndWar is a real-time strategy game, where the user uses a headset to issue commands to your units by speaking your wishes to your squads. The basic core of the game is revolved around the three factions of the future, the United States of America, Russia, and Europe and their battle to conquer the world. All of the factions create the same kinds of troops and attack vehicles with each being particularly strong against a different troop or vehicle and also weak against another kind of troop or vehicle. It is the players job to command their force to victory by taking strategic places in the world and defending places as they conquer the other two factions. Your headset has an enormous impact on the experience and is the basis of the gameplay of the game. To order your units about, you issue a series of preset commands by holding a trigger and speaking your directive into the microphone. This runs the gamut from attacking enemy squads ("Unit two, attack hostile four") and bringing in reinforcements when they are available ("Deploy gunships") to centering your view on a particular group ("Unit three, camera") and ordering special attacks ("Air strike, hostile six"). There are limited possibilities, so don't expect to plan out multiple waypoints or set up tank patrols. Nor can you rely completely on the microphone--at least, not if you intend to be competitive. Actions like garrisoning infantry into a building or ordering your units to unleash special attacks require some button presses, so there is a bit of light micromanagement in this regard. Additionally, if you don't have a microphone or just don't want to use one, you can use just the controller, though given the uniqueness of the voice commands, that isn't ideal. Overall EndWar is a great game and a cool experience to be able to use your headset fluently in a game and I would recommend this game.Mon, 10 Dec 2012 21:37:53 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5469&iddiary=9764https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5467The game that I have chosen to write about this week is the sequel to the popular video game based off of the fantasy book and movie series, The Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II is a large scale real-time strategy game filled with creatures and characters from the popular series. The campaign mode of the game allows you to rewrite the history of the War of the Ring as either the forces of good or the forces of evil. The game does this by combining an overarching turn-based campaign that's stitched together with real-time strategy missions, allowing you to decide where to take the fight to next. This way, you can control the armies of good or evil as you march across the world of Middle-earth, conquering province after province along the way. The gameplay of the game revolves around skirmishes, or individual battles. Matches can have a number of opponents ranging from two to four. The choices of who to play with are between numerous different factions, the Dwarves, Elves, Humans, Orcs, Uruk-Hai, or Goblins. Each faction has the basic range and melee platoons of troops but after that every faction differs in the kinds of troops one can deploy. Some can deploy enormous troops like trolls and giants which are large and very powerful but only come in singles and therefor can be outnumbered. Other sets of troops contain more soldiers in a platoon than others but the soldiers are also weaker and therefore do not have any major advantage. The game also implements hero characters which are single units which are much more powerful than the average troop and have special powers such as super powerful attacks and leadership experience to boost the troops on the field. Overall Battle for Middle-Earth II is a great real time strategy with a lot of different factors to make each battle unique and different without one force being overwhelmingly more powerful than another. I would highly recommend this game.Mon, 10 Dec 2012 21:14:25 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5467&iddiary=9763https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5456The game that I have chosen to write about is called Zoids: Assault and is a title for the XBOX 360 system. It is a turn based, RPG style based off of the popular animated tv show called Zoids. The story that kicks off the action is actually pretty engaging, but presented through a series of still anime artwork and text screens. There's a voiceover that carries on for entirely too long and by the time you're actually on the battlefield you'll likely have forgotten everything about the story line anyway. The most dedicated strategists are more concerned with battle tactics than with looks, and Zoids Assault does at least offer the basics. You command the same squad of five Zoids for the entirety, maneuvering about the battle grid one turn at a time, gunning down enemy bots while accomplishing mission objectives. These objectives are the usual suspects: take out radar dishes within a dozen turns, eliminate all enemy forces, and so on. Yet with only 14 missions and few reasons to return once you've finished, Zoids gives players only a brief time of enjoyment before having to repeat missions. As for gameplay the game's calling card is its support mechanic. Assuming you have Zoids in attack range, a single turn can prompt support fire from up to three additional units. You can also volley return fire when on the defensive in much the same way, so unit placement is the single greatest factor in every battle. The other major factor of gameplay in the game is outfitting your Zoids is also a strategic factor, of course, since each weapon determines how far the unit can move during a turn, how much damage the attack does, and so on. You also earn points to spend on equipping various special moves, and grab data discs that you enhance weapons and armor, or simply paint your bots different colors. Overall Zoids is a decent strategy RPG, if you’re looking for a game to challenge your mind this may or may not be the game for you.Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:33:22 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5456&iddiary=9758https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5417The game that I have chosen to review for this week is the most recent release to the Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim. Skyrim is a hugely successful successor to the also successful Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. The plot behind Skyrim is rather simple: Dragons are coming back to Tamriel and they’re very angry, having been ousted from power aeons ago. The province of Skyrim is engaged in a brutal civil war between separatist and imperialist factions, so nobody’s really treating these giant lizards as a serious threat. You, however, are about to discover your latent powers as the ‘Dragonborn’, meaning that the defence of the realm is entirely down to you. As far as forging your own story within this colossal open-world RPG goes, the rest is laid out in a series of action/consequence decisions, from the moment you complete the intro and step out into the wilderness of Skyrim. As you traverse through the world of Skyrim and encounter various enemies your character will gain stronger in his or her abilities based on how much you use them For every skill you use, be it lock-picking, destruction magic, heavy armour, blacksmithing, or whatever else, there is an attached skill tree with several or more perks. These perks grant you special abilities or unlock new options within that particular skill, but the clever part is that you can’t simply learn any perk you like straight away. These perks allow your character to become stronger and add extra abilities to attacks depending on the style of attack. Besides killing vicious animals and evil vampires along with whatever else decides to attack you there’s more to Skyrim than just the killing as you can also marry, buy houses and horses, and even open a shop. So whether it is for the killing and cool cut scenes and beheading of enemies or the adventurous aspect of the game Skyrim is one of the best games and I would recommend it to anyone.Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:01:00 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5417&iddiary=9711https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5416The game that I have chosen to review for this week is the second to latest edition of the popular Call of Duty series. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a first-person shooter game based on a timeline in a near future. In this future the United States secret forces and militia are involved in a war against terrorist from various Middle East countries and envelops the player into a plot full of various twists and turns. The game incorporates many underlying core gameplay mechanics that make it a terrific game besides its stunning graphics of the battlefield. It places heavy influence on three major mechanics, player interaction, conflict, and outcome. Each of these factors plays into each gameplay mode of Modern Warfare 3 and work together to create an intense game experience. Modern Warfare 3 has three major gameplay modes, multiplayer, campaign, and special ops. All of these modes include the basic player mechanics giving the option of choosing from a wide variety of firearms and other military equipment to give a player the option to choose specifically to their own play style. The biggest of the modes is multiplayer mode which has been a fan favorite since the beginning of the series. Multiplayer pits players on designated maps to battle against one another with the options of even more weapons, different objectives to strive for, and a larger participation pool. With more players involved the variation of play styles increases and creates for different scenarios. Also in this mode the option of perks is included which adds rewards to benefit the individual or the team which adds more roles for those who may want to be a team player versus those who want to remain a lone wolf. Overall Modern Warfare 3 is a great game that deserves all of the accolades it has received and is great expansion to this great franchise. I would personally recommend this game.Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:27:14 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5416&iddiary=9710https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5415The game that I have chosen to review for this week is a game for the iOS system called FunRun. The basic of the game is that the character plays as a seemingly cute and cuddly animal, either a fox, a rabbit, a turtle, or a bear. From the beginning the player is restricted to playing as only the fox. All of the animals run and jump the same height making the game completely based on one’s skill and not an overpowered character. The game play of the game is about races between the animals through various maps filled with hills, boulders, cliffs, clouds, bridges, and more obstacles. All of the obstacles can either aid a player in their run, serving as a shortcut or provide access to more items, or hinder them and allow their opponents to catch up to them. Along the race way there are item cubes which hold a variety of items such as a magnet to pull opponents towards the player, a saw blade which is thrown to cut opponents in half, and various others to hurt other players or protect a player. The controls to the game really basic with only two buttons used by the player, the button to use any item the player may have collected and the jump button. The player’s character automatically runs forward through the stage which makes the timing used for jumps critical. A unique part of this game is its multiplayer capability. From the beginning players make a username and it is through this that they can be found by friends who also have the game to join in a race. This also plays in the role of playing with random players across the world as a form of “quick play mode”. Overall FunRun is an addictive iOS game that provides a lot of fun and thrill between friends and I would recommend it.Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:12:45 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5415&iddiary=9709https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5262The game that I have chosen to review this week is the recently released installment to the 2K gaming series, NBA 2K13. The game is successor to the previous NBA 2K12, but with added features, up-to-date rosters, and a new control system. The new features in 2K13 are mostly revolved around the player’s created MyPlayer. The biggest change is the implementation of a currency system in the game. The currency, or VC as it is called, is earned in variety of fashions from playing in online games with other players across to world to using one’s created player in career mode or on the blacktop. The amount earned is varied based on individual performance in the specified event and difficulty of the event. So using a team with a lower rating will earn the user a larger amount than using a much better team. In turn these VC’s earned can be used to buy things such as gear for the user’s created player to be used on the black top or in career mode. Also these can be used to increase the created player’s attributes making the player better overall. The gameplay control mechanics are laid out in a new way for this year’s edition to give the user more control over how they move their player and perform special crossovers and spins to gain separation from defenders. These are all controlled by the right analog stick which previously served as solely to control shot attempts. These changes have served to create a more unique and involving gameplay experience than the previous year. I would highly recommend this game.Mon, 15 Oct 2012 22:56:08 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5262&iddiary=9541https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5240The game that I have chosen to review this week is NFL Pro 2013 for the iPhone. The game is a three dimensional sports game based off of the American sport of football. The game starts off with the player choosing his or her favorite professional football organization. From there the game leads into the tutorial where it teaches the player the basics of the game such as snapping the ball, passing the ball and running with the ball. After the tutorial is finished the player is automatically gifted with enough experience points to upgrade their team, or more specifically to increase attributes to any of their players. After the tutorial phase the game begins at the beginning of your team’s regular season. From here the player plays different teams each week in order to attain the best overall record. The individual games consist of four two minute quarters where the team with the most points at the end is decided the victor. In cases of a tie there is an additional quarter where the first team to score is the winner. The graphics and controls for the game are surprisingly effective for such a complex game as a mobile phone app. Movement is determined by an on-screen joystick. The only downside is that after the screen shifts around the player often times will be forced to go in a direction other than what they desire. To go along with running there are special moves done while running such as tackling and spinning are usable by other on-screen buttons opposite of the joystick. The other major control scheming is when trying to pass the ball where the player looks through the thrower’s helmet and chooses an appropriate number to a receiver that is open. Overall this is a good game and very enjoyable for any sports and football fans.Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:16:10 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5240&iddiary=9515https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5183This week for my gamelog I have chosen to speak about the multi-part decision making game, The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead is a game centered around you and a young female child and the troubles and tribulations that you face in a zombie infested world. In this game each decision has an effect on the next outcome of the game and how those around you choose to act. This often places the player in a state of conflict when it comes down to choosing which side to take. While some players may want to make all good choices and appear as the good guy of the story, this route will often times make surviving much harder for you and your crew. Others may choose to be the bad guy and live by the ‘survive by any means necessary’ motto. While this is not a bad way to make sure your team stays adequately filled on supplies and food, certain members may begin to look at you differently because of these choices. As for gameplay the game is pretty simple, the player walks around and finds circle indicators which yield different options and often lead to further discoveries to enhance the story line. All the action scenes that are time based reflect around the same system, mostly relying on timing of button presses to do several functions ranging from killing a zombie a certain way to moving something out of the way in time to save your own life. Along with the timely button presses there are also several parts which require multiple button mashing scenes to keep zombies and enemies away from you and protect your life.Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:57:47 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5183&iddiary=9454https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5144The game that I have chosen to review for this week is the popular baseball game for the iPhone Baseball Superstars 2012. This is just one edition of the popular franchise that releases a new edition each year. The gameplay of the game is entertaining with various modes to satisfy each individual. There is the ‘My Team’ option which enables the ability to control and run your own team and manage rosters and play the games. Then there is the ‘My Batter’ mode where the player takes control of a rookie batter from his first year and controls everything the batter does, from how often they train to occupying their time working a part-time job to raise money. Alongside the extracurricular activities, the player also controls their batter in each game and is responsible for the stats that ensue. The next mode is the ‘My Pitcher’ mode where the player controls their rookie pitcher from their first year and is essential the same as ‘My Batter’ mode besides the position change. Finally there is the classic exhibition mode where the player can enjoy a simple match immediately without all of the extras, thus keeping the game simple and enjoyable for a short time. The controls of the game are rather simple when it comes the fielding and pitching side of the ball. Every play can enacted through a few taps here and there without much complex thinking required. As for the batter side there is two variations, classic mode and smart mode. In classic mode the player only has the options to move the batter closer or farther away from the base and then to time their swing. While in smart mode they must move a indicator to the location of the ball by tilting the iPhone in order to get an effective hit. Overall I feel that this is a good game to play and is useful for wasting time or even as a primary form of entertainment.Sun, 16 Sep 2012 19:11:27 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5144&iddiary=9409