Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=185https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1308Now I have tried both single player--computer opponent--and multiplayer--human opponent and it is safe to say that playing with another human being is infinitely more fun. In fact, playing the computer is about as fun as playing chess on the computer. NFL Blitz creates fun, excitement, and stimulation by establishing a game world that real people can occupy. Some other games I would classify likewise include, Super Smash Bros., Mario Tennis, etc. These games can certainly be played in single player mode, but because they lack any kind of story, individual entertainment value is low. I call these games, "party games" because they are perfect for when there are a bunch of people hanging out who need a medium for fun. Imagine playing monopoly with three robots, it just wouldn't be that fun. This said, there remains a lot of strategy to be had. The honing of this strategy can be a personally fulfilling activity for many players. For example, every time there is a new play to be had, each player is allowed to select a play from about 12 optional set ups. Once the play is in action, as quarter back the player may choose how long to wait before throwing the ball, who to throw it to, and where to run. This game seems to be both proggressive and emergence. While gameplay presents the players with a definite set of potential moves that can be put together in any different combination for unique outcomes, the game also progresses in a very set and regular way. This includes half-time, first downs, touch downs, punts, etc. This is a great game and I love it.Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:49:53 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1308&iddiary=2795https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1308NFL Blitz is interesting because unlike many other video games, the world it creates and the rules that dictate its function are all taken from reality. Football is a sport that has been played for a very long time by many people. The question I am drawn to ask is, what makes video game football different from regular football. Asside from the laziness factor, what about playing Blitz is different from actually playing football. The biggest difference I can distinguish is this: NFL Blitz gives the players the ability to control the entire team, which makes for a game that, although it follows the same basic rules, requires a completely different set of skills. Regular football wants a high degree of physical prowess and the ability to work fluidly with team members to achieve a goal. NFL Blitz puts players in control of an entire team simultaneously. With the press of a button it is possible to switch control to any player on the team. Once in control of a given player, movement and action is farely simple. It is possible to make the player run fast or slow, to pass, to juke, and to tackle. The computer does a lot of the hardest work for you. Any time you switch from player to player it automatically selects the player who is closest to the ball. This means it is farely possible to mash random buttons and successfully gain yardage. However, mashing buttons is not going to win you the game unless you are playing someone else who is mashing random buttons worse than you. This game is fun in a different way from real football, yet provides much of the same violent and reckless glee.Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:30:40 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1308&iddiary=2794https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=998My second hour of gameplay did not offer me anything new or interesting. I was unable to even consider playing it in single player mode as the social aspect is the only redeeming characteristic I can discern. I can see on a variety of different levels why it might be interesting, engaging, even addicting, but for some reason it just does not stick with me. I have grown fairly competent and rarely come in last place, but every minute of gameplay moves like an eternity. In the second hour I tried several new characters including Kirby, Seamus, and Donkey Kong but none of these choices seemed to give me a competitive advantage. In the end I chose to stay with Link so I could focus my energy on developing my skills with one character instead of sucking with everyone. My increased skill offered me little in the way of entertainment value, I just died less. I have been able to pin down my biggest complaints about this game and they all stem from the annoying tone of the game. But I could get over this if only the game were more satisfying. When I play this game I have no emotional attachment to the outcome. I really don’t care if I win or lose because there are too many wins and losses per second of gameplay to have any kind of investment in the result of the net match. Oh well, hopefully I won’t have to play this game for a while.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 01:16:12 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=998&iddiary=2154https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=998Super Smash Brothers has always been one of those games that everyone loves except for me. Sometimes it seems as though my entire life, or at least a large and significant portion of it, has been spent trying to not play Super Smash Brothers. Whenever it comes up, I always remember all the reading I have to do and skip out. But when I saw it on the classics list, I could run no longer. It was time once and for all to settle my unexplained and certainly unexplored dislike for this game everyone else seems to think is something amazing. The first thing I don’t like about the game are its characters. Sure, individually most of them are reasonably loveable, but something about having all those characters from different games come together is just really irritating. I have always been turned off by video games I perceive to be too “cute.” I know this is not very rational, but it is the truth. The way all these characters move, look, and attack is extremely childish and meaningless to me. But I promised myself I would try to enjoy myself, so I puckered up and selected “Link,” who I suppose is the coolest character. He is also good because he can throw his sword or pull enemies in close before smashing them off the many little island arenas that plague the game. I figured out the controls easily enough, there are only 5 different move options not counting special moves, but found using them to great effect to be extremely difficult. This game is clearly a game of emergence, the very fact that it has characters from all Nintendo’s different games proves this fact. There is absolutely no storyline whatsoever. I suppose I may have perceived this wrong, especially since I was playing in multiplayer mode, but the game set up does not leave any real room for story. The game play is quite frantic and overwhelming. In any given round there are four little characters running around blowing up, powering up, and jumping. The levels are very simple in layout, and the goal is to kick other characters off the island level or to kill them. Wins are extremely unsatisfying because the opponent you just crushed returns to the arena almost instantly. The categorizing quality, “easy to learn, difficult to master,” really applies to this game and I have a sneaking suspicion that I am blowing it off too easily because I feel like I have learned everything there is to know about it already just because I can do some of the attacks. Hopefully my second hour of game play will be more fruitful.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:35:28 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=998&iddiary=2145https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=862In my second hour of game play, I became more adept at beating levels. Now I am much more capable with the controls and can better utilize power ups to my advantage. At first I moved through the levels too fast, assuming that I was still the master I once was. This, sadly, was not true though and after the first hour I was frustrated into slowing down. This greatly increased my efficiency and reduced my deaths to a minimum. I have pretty much forgotten the story at this point and am focusing much more on memorizing the levels and building up my reflexes. I'm not sure if there is some way to save the game, but I suppose it doesn't matter because I can't figure it out. This makes the overall experience of playing the game very intense because the further through the level I get the higher the stakes rise. I find myself cursing and contorting in new and interesting ways. Usually when I die I have to take a short breather before I can try again because otherwise I would probably spontaneously combust. The simplicity of this game makes it very easy to have fun.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:28:13 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=862&iddiary=1907https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=862Today I finally made my way down to the Engineering Library and picked up an NES so I could try out some of the classic games on the play list. After careful and studious deliberation I decided to check out Super Mario Bros. 3. Although I am quite familiar with the original, I had never played the third installment and was curious as to how the two versions might compare. Ironically enough, I noticed relatively few major differences in game play. The level layout was different, and of course new bosses were added, but the game play experience was much the same. This was hardly disappointing though because the original game is one of my favorite games of all time. One of the things I love about the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) is the simplicity of game play. I find many of the games coming out nowadays are too complicated both in internal design and physical control for me to enjoy in the same way. I like having two main buttons and a square controller with a non-analog direction control. I like the two-dimensional world and easy to understand objectives: don’t die. The story is more of a placeholder than a game driver, but manages not to be completely obsolete. It’s just involved enough to explain things, but not too much so that you have to waste a bunch of time involved in something other than game play. The power-ups make things interesting, and only further enhance the element of strategy so necessary in this game. After nearly eight years since I last played this game, it remains a classic and entertaining waste of time.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:23:18 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=862&iddiary=1900https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=399It seems as though there are two components to this game. First of all there is the part where you learn how to move and aim well. Then there is the more strategy-based element in which you have to figure out what is meant by the vague objective descriptions. Level one of 007 Goldeneye has two objectives in the secret agent mode, both of which are quite easy once you understand how they are completed. Unfortunately, it is usually pretty confusing figuring out how to satisfy these objectives. For example, the simple and vague instructions: disable the alarm system. The key word “system” makes it seem like there is some kind of control room with a lot of computers that have to be hacked using a special gadget. I definitely over thought this one though, because it turns out you just have to go into several of the towers and shoot the red alarms which are on the wall until they explode in a little burst of flame. The different levels of difficulty are well designed because in order to beat the levels on “00 agent,” several additional objectives must be met and many more enemies must be eliminated. These skill-based levels of hardness are good because they keep the game fresh for a long time. Even once the game has been beaten on “agent,” to repeat the levels on “00 agent” is a completely different thing. New problems must be solved and new degrees of skill must be acquired. With any game that sports the “007” name, there is a plethora of expectations about what the game play will be like. It is kind of similar to a Bond movie in that a broad, well-informed audience is already quite familiar with the concept before the game or movie is released. A Bond video game can be expected to be exciting, violent, and very secret agent. These expectations are not necessarily limiting though because they allow the game to be successful in ways a newly developed concept could never achieve, regardless of how good it is. Goldeneye’s chief function is to cater to this critical audience of Bond aficionados and gaming experts and I find it to be extremely effective in both these aspects. I would also like to comment on the soundtrack, which plays a critical role in game atmosphere. The music is haunting, frantic, and repetitive. I find the experience of game play with audio to be far more intense and far less successful than game play with the sound turned way down and some calming music from my computer. The music is cool because it puts the game in an emotional context that could not be achieved in any other way. Without the music, I wouldn’t feel the stress and agitation Bond must feel as he works a mission. I wish I could have two guns at the same time and use grenades, but that would be too easy.Wed, 10 Jan 2007 13:59:38 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=399&iddiary=1124https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=399I have decided to dedicate my first experiments with gamelog.cl to one of my all-time favorite games: 007 Goldeneye. Growing up at home I never had video games, but this game has always stuck out in my mind as a good example of great, engaging game design. Since I have never actually played the game all the way through, I want to take this opportunity for purposeful reflection to further my understanding of what makes this game so great. I started on the first level, and selected the difficulty level “secret agent,” which is half way between “agent” and “00 agent.” I wanted to be able to do relatively well, but I didn’t want to run out of people to kill. One of the most thrilling elements of this game is the fact that when I play it, I feel like I am James Bond. The wide variety of game play options allows me to be stealth, or not stealth. I can run like a kamikaze through the levels trying harder not to get shot than to kill the enemy, or I can move slowly and try to eliminate all risk before moving forward. One thing I notice right away when I play the game is that the enemies manage to be both incredibly stupid and incredibly annoying. Their movement is very predictable and lacking in grace, but they will shoot you. The levels are divided interestingly into different zones. Even in a three-dimensional world working in real time, there are different components to the level. These are expressed in “mission objectives” which are mentioned at the beginning of the level but usually lack in descriptive details. It tells you what to do but not how to do it. This game is an interesting case because—unlike later Bond games—its story parallels the Bond movie “Goldeneye” very closely. This means that it is pretty coherent and engaging. But, like most games, the real interest here is less in the story than in joyfully performing simple tasks requiring concentration, hand-eye coordination, and basic problem solving. I found the controls to be very easy and quick to pick up. Movement is controlled mainly by the joystick, but side to side motion is also possible by using the yellow buttons. An interesting component is the constant need for ammunition and deciding which gun to use. In some instances, a sniper rifle is the best decision, but overall I used the AK-47 mostly. Occasionally I would run out of bullets and revert to my hand gun, but this usually meant that I would die very soon. Unfortunately, in my first hour of game play I was unable to beat the first level. However, this could be because I am not very good at video games. Maybe in my next hour I will beat it and get better.Tue, 09 Jan 2007 19:31:52 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=399&iddiary=1090