Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=234https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1490The next few colossi weren't too hard, though one of them help me up for a while until i figured out the trick. design continues to be impressively varied without deviating from an overall motif of sorta... nearly-evil-looking supernaturally-created-metallic/organic beings. The movements of the colossi combined with the grip meter make for some suspenseful situations, and the battles can be fairly epic, though after spending ten minutes scaling a colossus, to be shaken off before dealing the final blow is a wee bit frustrating. But never so much that there is any serious urge to give up. Landscapes continue to be impressive in both scope and craftsmanship, and I'm pretty sure the game is more of a showcase of the graphical capabilities and draw distance of the console than a game for gaming's sake. Fine by me!Sat, 24 Feb 2007 03:39:21 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1490&iddiary=3133https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1490I had heard of this game a back in the early days of the PS2, and it sounded both cool and confusing. How could a game be stretched out to full length if there are only 16 monsters to defeat? I started the game, watched the intro. Interesting indeed; someone was very excited about the ability to create large sweeping landscapes. Story was minimal, though it seemed pretty obvious: something happened to a girl, let's save her. The booming voice from above then explains further: to save her, kill a buncha colossi. K. I ventured forth to the first one, making slight detours at the direction of my friend, whose game it is. Once I got to the colossus, i dispatched him relatively easily, as was intended; it was mostly to help me learn to controls. The "grip meter" is a cool idea, and certainly a necessary limitation for a game like this. The next colossus showed creativity in design, but wasn't much different strategy-wise. I started to realize that the colossi, though the point o the game proper, are really just anchoring points for a bunch of extraneous design. Little surprises abound here and there; regular geysers spouting from the earth, scurrying turtles and lizards, vast beautiful panoramic views, the ability to stand on your horse as he gallops. Interesting indeed.Sat, 24 Feb 2007 03:33:09 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1490&iddiary=3131https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1210I suppose predictably, the game gets darker and less tropical, while introducing some fairly run-of-the-mill plot points; nefarious research, evil scientist, there's a girl, etc. However, it's pulled off rather well, and the resulting mutants from the nefarious research are sufficiently more difficult than regular soldiers, without being obnoxious, but while still providing a boost of adrenaline when they pounce. The weapon system is nice; instead of simply having the 10 possible weapons 0-9, there is a reasonable variety but only four can be carried at any given moment. Choices have to be made, as almost all have a good use (aside from the pistol, which is only useful at the beginning when there's nothing else). Fortunately, I know that, for example, the next time I find sniper rifle ammo is probably going to be in the form of an actual sniper rifle, so I can safely discard the one I have in favor of a shotgun for the current indoor level, and then trade it out when the time comes. The continuing dialogue between the mercenaries on the island is cheesy but welcome. It is also the first of two reasons that using binoculars is actually useful in this game (as opposed to most). So firstly, the dialogue can only be heard if you view the mercs from afar without their knowledge, using the binoculars. Secondly, in an interesting gameplay mechanic, enemies will only show up on the radar thingy once they've been spotted through the binoculars. This is a nice addition and prevents me, the player, from magically knowing where enemies are in the foliage until the game is reasonably sure I've actually found them. Stealth is an important part of this game; after all, you're one guy against an island full of hardened mercenaries. An all-out guns-blazing approach will end in tears for all involved, and it is integral to get at least the first kill or two in any sortie before others are alerted. The game provides satisfying distances and vantage points such that the sniper rifle can be an extremely fun weapon; I chuckle along with the game designers as I spot two soldiers chatting near an explosive barrel, and fire, creating some amusing rag-doll entertainment. There is a meter which purports to show how close you are to being discovered by enemies in the area, but it sometimes lies. Another interesting twist is the ability to throw rocks to distract an enemy. This can backfire, however; when grenades are found, the game automatically replaces rocks with grenades as the thing to be thrown when G is pressed. Aside from these minor grievances, however, the stealth aspect makes this the sort of game which is right up my alley, and I look forward to beating it.Fri, 09 Feb 2007 05:10:23 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1210&iddiary=2590https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1210I recently acquired this game after years of vaguely wanting to. I had never played it, but it was always in the atmosphere, beckoning to me... I knew of the basic theme and was intrigued; i always prefer bright environments to sewers/swamps/underground research facilities/etc. I also knew that the game would run well even on lower-end computers like my laptop is fast becoming, and I didn't have a good FPS for mindless shooting during downtime. The initial area is a fairly generic learn-to-move area, done reasonably well. The first enemy I encountered was also the first who spoke in-game to his superior or whoever, a pattern which would be repeated throughout the game in varied and impressively optional manners. It's a good way to advance the story without forced cutscenes or finding "notes" a la Resident Evil, and rewards careful characters who don't simply shoot everyone they see on first sight. At any rate, this first enemy was also my first chance to use stealth, a chance which I heartily failed to take advantage of, and I was down to half health by the time I got to safety. I cursed myself, as I am normally a more stealthy character. As the game progressed, I became more and more impressed with the design. The lush forest setting manages not to completely destroy the frame rate, and also gives you a good feeling of creeping through the grass; of course, the enemies couldn't care less about the 2-d grass sprites, and so if they see you first, it can be a lot harder to figure out where they are without being killed first. The level design is certainly progressive and mostly linear, but does a tremendous job at pretending it's not; instead of simply not allowing the player to leave a path or general direction, there simply isn't anything interesting over there. I never found myself wanting to stray off to the side for any length of time, because i could see the huts in the direction i was supposed to go with lots of targets and so forth. There are of course still physical impediments to travel in certain directions, but there's definitely no feeling of being ushered along by the game. It's quite possible to get lost in some areas. The shooting mechanics are a little weak; the sensation of recoil is plasticky, and the enemy reactions to being shot are at the level of Medal of Honor, in terms of being nearly inconsequential. It can be hard to aim accurately for any period of time, but then I think this is more realistic than anything else. One advantage handed to you by the game is that when driving a vehicle with a weapon, there is a limited auto-aim (invaluable for shooting while moving swiftly). more to come!Fri, 09 Feb 2007 04:05:23 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1210&iddiary=2576https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1078I lost the Jungle level after reaching the end, because I apparently missed a drone gun that I was supposed to destroy. So I couldn't bring myself to replay it, and instead replayed the first levels on Secret Agent mode. The difficulty levels are well-executed in this game; as a real 00 agent, one couldn't be expected to simply run through and escape from the dam in the first level; there are objectives to achieve which require more skill and time. In this manner, the game implies that to truly be playing as James Bond, one must play on the hardest difficulty, although one could play as a regular or Secret agent for the purposes of the game. The level designs are based on the movie, of course, but most of it is pure innovation on Rare's part. There's a good mix of wide-open outside levels and corridor-filled inside levels. The Cuban jungle level in particular does quite well at emulating a jungle while allowing enough freedom of movement that it's possible to get lost, but not so much that the designers can't direct the player experience. In general, I think that given the hardware and capabilities of the N64, the enemies are stupendously well-crafted. The AI leaves a lot to be desired, of course, but this is made up for by the many and varied animations (reacting to a bullet striking near them, several styles of shooting for each kind of gun or guns being wielded, several amusing and realistic idle animations, impressive walking/running animations). I have played lots and lots of shooters, but never again did I virtually shoot someone with so much satisfaction as I did in Goldeneye. There are even reasonable physics which take effect during explosions; enemies will fly away from the explosion, other objects might fall off a destroyed table or crate (although the fact that the tables and chairs explode is a bit strange). The story had to be stretched to fit around the number of levels in the game, but then i wasn't looking for narrative involvement anyway. In short, Goldeneye embraced the strengths of its console while working around the weaknesses, as well as seamlessly integrating fantastic level and game design with a pre-existing property without defying or limiting either one.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:09:22 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1078&iddiary=2312https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1078Goldeneye was one of the foremost games of my youth; as far as I was concerned, all sniper rifles in the world looked like Super-Soakers and were silenced. It was one of the few games I enjoyed enough to replay, and I did so over and over. However, I hadn't played for at least a few years before checking it out from the library, so the excitement was palpable. I started a new game and only took a few seconds to get used to the control scheme again. The weak point is the manual aiming system, which is a bit shaky, only part of which is intentional. I was able to breeze through the first ten or so levels without difficulty, although my hubris led to some unnecessary damage a few times. One thing I appreciate about the design of the game is that, without making a big deal of it, there is a stealth option. That is to say, it's not like Oblivion or Thief or something where stealth is a separate paradigm of gameplay; it's simply something that's incidentally possible with the right use of silenced weapons and keeping out of lines of sight. I think this is more realistic in a sense, although it does mean that certain aspects aren't very well-developed, and often there is no stealth option, if there are no silenced weapons (and hand-to-hand combat is a difficult proposition at times). It also means there are a few different ways to play each level; 1) go through in a balanced manner, killing anything you find, clearing the area, and then achieving whatever objectives are necessary; 2) sneaking through the level, silently dispatching only those who would blow your cover; or 3) rushing as fast as possible, using a rapid-fire weapon to kill or at least injure anyone directly in your way and relying on speed and evasion to keep you alive. Certainly not all of these are viable possibilities for every level, which forces the player to adjust strategy in a very subconscious way.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:54:14 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1078&iddiary=2305https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=772The next 45 minutes were spent trying and retrying one level, never quite successfully, although with improved results each time. This game fights a battle with its own camera; the center of the view is a ball which you are supposed to increase in size, but the bigger it is, the harder it is to see where you're going. The game tries to compensate in a few ways: at certain thresholds, the camera zooms out, effectively reducing the relative size of the ball in in the camera. It also provides a "jump" command, which allows the player to instantly take a more birds-eye view of the surrounding area to scope out targets and obstacles. However, I still found myself attempting to lean over to look around the ball, which of course is impossible. Another camera problem is simply that it cannot be controlled, since the analog sticks are both mapped to movement. This means that in more enclosed areas one can get stuck and not be able to even see the ball anymore, having to resort to trial-and-error movements until one is freed. However, this kind of problem only comes up very rarely, and for the most part, the game does an incredible job of actually making replaying a level reasonably fun and worth it. there are a few frustrating moments when fast-moving projectiles which you are unable to amalgamate in your ball knock some of your hard-earned amalgamations off, but I think it's just enough frustration to make it a game which provides a reasonable level of challenge even for a fairly avid video-game player, without resorting to super-powered boss attacks or anything of the like.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:38:48 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=772&iddiary=1718https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=772I had played Katamari before, but never for long, and it was a long time ago. I knew the concepts and oddities behind it, but it felt like playing a new game. It is the sort of game where story and logic are thrown to the wayside in favor of pure gameplay and amusing content. I can imagine the designers must have had great fun in creating it, and the extensive original soundtrack is genuinely good while fitting in with the offbeat nature of the game. I was bothered at the beginning by the controls, which make use of both analog sticks on the PS2 controller, in tandem. Turning in particular seems like something which could have been more elegant. But the game is pleasantly merciful in many respects, and the sound effects and visual qualities of the items you collect add more than a few chuckle moments to each game. There is an impressive array of items, which definitely adds to the experience by not recycling item sets extensively. The levels so far are decently varied, with different theme areas per level, but can sometimes be hard to navigate between until having familiarized oneself with the level by playing several times.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:30:53 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=772&iddiary=1716https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=463[several hours later] After acquiring a Death Star, I now had the galaxy at my feet. It comes with its own "garrison" of a sizable fleet, as well as a wonderful little superlaser which can target and instantly destroy any enemy capital ship or space station. A real timesaver, and perfect for defensive playing; simply hold back until it recharges, then send out a scout to spot targets, and in no time they're fleeing! Each opposing side has one way to destroy the Death Star: the Rebels have to defeat the rest of the fleet AND have a certain "hero" unit (Wedge Antilles) in their own fleet. The Consortium can send one of their heroes (IG-88) to "Hack the Death Star" for a sizeable chunk of cash, which causes it to destroy whichever planet it's currently orbiting, and has a good chance of destroying the Death Star itself as well. To attempt to avoid this, I kept my Death Star in movement so there wasn't any time for it to be "hacked." I have steadily gained ground and staunched the flow of new fleets against my planets. Cash is also building up, which goes toward building up defenses on border planets and de-corrupting the core planets. The "heroes" aspect of the game is a reasonable one, considering that it's a game based on movies featuring all the "heroes" of the Galactic Civil War, but in some cases they seem overpowered; I have been invading whole planets with two heroes, thereby avoiding sending costly troops and machinery. When heroes die, they almost always return after a significant period of time (every so often they're removed forever). Even when I realize I can't win, or when the enemy ambushes a lightly-protected system, I pull the ol' "load up a previous save" trick and then make a remarkably prescient move to avoid it. I think this would be a wonderful game to play with a friend; the only problem is that one would need many hours at one's disposal to finish a reasonable game. Another irksome thing is that there are several recurrent and glaring bugs which really should not have made it past testing. None are game-breaking, but sometimes very annoying (my expensive space stations suddenly thinking they belong to the Consortium). This is even after a patch, which as far as I can tell simply added more issues. Apart from this, though, the game is of the sort that keeps me up all night, as there is always something more to do in the very near future, and each given action requires several tangential actions on the way there, and will probably be interrupted by an unexpected battle. I'd better finish up now, else I won't have much of a weekend...Fri, 12 Jan 2007 01:44:51 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=463&iddiary=1293https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=463This game is a long-awaited triumph from LucasArts, who has tried several times to produce a reasonable RTS. It is arguably the spiritual successor to 1998's Rebellion, in which the player chose to play as either the Rebel Alliance or the Empire, and, using a combination of diplomacy, subterfuge, and all-out war, fought on a planet-by-planet basis for control of the galaxy. That, in my mind, was the last good non-flight sim Star Wars until Lego Star Wars in 2005. LucasArts tried to cash in on the RTS field with 2000's Force Commander. The gameplay was bulky and stodgy, and the 3d models left much to be desired; furthermore, the single-player campaign forced the player to start as the Empire and then defect to the Rebels, rather than getting to choose one and play it through to the end. It was perhaps too early for a 3-D RTS, so LucasArts next released Galactic Battlegrounds (2001), an Age of Empires clone which was adequate but unexciting. Just as the situation seemed hopeless for a good RTS or an updated and improved Rebellion, LucasArts released one game which pulled off both. Developed by Petroglyph, the game takes place in three planes: the Galactic view, where the player manages and builds fleets, armies, and defensive/productive structures on each of the planets or areas they control. This part is very much like Rebellion, although simplified in a few ways; diplomacy is no longer an option and one needn't worry about popular support. On the other hand, one cannot use popular support to start a revolt on an enemy planet. Therefore, fleets and armies are all the more important, and these are dealt with in the two other modes: Space Tactical Battles and Land Tactical Battles. Each planet has its own maps for each sort of battle. Rebellion also featured a 3-D space battle portion, but the new and improved graphics and engine of Empire at War allow for tastier battle scenes, including piece-by-piece destruction (one should always take out the enemy's engines first so they cannot escape). The textures and effects manage to work out quite well even on my aging laptop, which is quite pleasant. If one wins the space battle above an enemy planet, one can then invade the planet proper, and thus starts the Land Tactical Battle. Rebellion had no such plane, and simply dice-rolled the various armies until someone lost everything. Because it's only a third of the game, this part isn't quite a full-fledged RTS, but comes awfully close. the attacker lands their forces (up to a limit determined by the number of "reinforcement points" they've captured), and hopes to use them to defeat the home army as well as all their buildings (many of which produce garrison units until destroyed). To help both sides, there are scattered and strategically-placed Build Pads, which, upon being captured (by having infantry units of only one faction near them for 10 seconds), can be used to build turrets of either the anti-vehicle, anti-infantry, or anti-aircraft sort, or structures to heal infantry or vehicles. As a defensive player, I tend to seek out and hoard these pads, especially for use as anti-aircraft turrets. As well, there are sometimes special buildings on a map which either provide free units, paid units and upgrades, a cash influx, or reveal the entire map. If the right sort of fleet is overhead, one can call in bombing runs or orbital bombardments to devastate enemy emplacements. Alternatively, one can choose to play Skirmish battles in either Space or Land. This works much the same on the surface, but inherits all the usual Galactic tasks. Space stations are directly upgraded, units, upgrades, bombing runs, etc. are directly bought and produced, and both sides have bases on the map, so both are attacking and defending. Late last year the expansion Forces of Corruption was released, which not only added new units for the Empire and Rebels, but added a whole new faction, the Zann Consortium. Set up as a criminal syndicate, it is a little contrived that such a consortium could seriously challenge the supposedly behemoth Empire, but Petroglyph managed it fairly well, with significant play differences that truly add to the game on all sides. I have been playing as the Empire since my very first Star Wars game (The flight sim TIE Fighter from 1994), and the opportunity to place galactic policeman against not just the plain ol' Rebels but some real criminals was a tasty one. Little did I know that the computer knew just how to manage the Consortium in a most annoying way. As the Corrupt side, the Consortium has the ability to "corrupt" planets without actually controlling them. Various types of corruption can provide cash, strategic info or advantages (like preventing structures from producing garrisons), allow the building of enemy types of ships, provide access to the "Black Market" where significant unit upgrades can be purchases, or provide easy access for saboteurs. Although when I played as the Consortium earlier I found that corrupting many planets instead of simply invading them was prohibitively expensive and not terribly useful, when I was on the other side, I found that I was being overwhelmed by the yellow clouds which indicate corruption has taken hold on my planets. A certain few "hero" units have the ability to remove corruption; for a price even greater than the Consortium spent on corrupting them in the first place. I was having trouble even making enough fleets to head off the Rebels, and I certainly couldn't afford to decontaminate all my planets. The Rebel AI is also sort of monotonous and repetitive, sending fleet after fleet at the same two planets. A blessing on sort, since I didn't have to worry about spreading my limited forces out, but it gets to the point where i can't manage my galactic stuff for more than 20 seconds without being thrown into another battle. The game allows you to "auto-resolve" any given battle, but almost assuredly will completely destroy your fleet, even against underwhelming odds. Recently, however, I have started to build a Death Star, which I imagine will help to turn the tide.Thu, 11 Jan 2007 23:38:50 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=463&iddiary=1257