Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=267https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1471After playing Katamari Damacy for a few hours, I realized that I would have loved to see the plot developed more than it is; the writers for the game are clearly talented and, if not clinically insane, rather humorous. The game affords you little choice to steer the storyline, which is entirely encompassed by a single decision made at the start of the game. Almost all of the non-action gameplay involves the King of All Cosmos berating or congratulating the player, or giving occasionally helpful hints. Oddly enough, another story runs parallel to your own adventure. It chronicles the life of a rather mundane family, consisting of two children witnessing the Prince's demolition of the world, and their parents who tell them to stop imagining things. These cutscenes are not terribly interesting. Frankly, in my point of view, any cutscene that doesn't involve the King is a waste of time- I've become completely enamoured with this character.Fri, 23 Feb 2007 21:43:02 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1471&iddiary=3098https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1471Katamari Damacy is an action-puzzle game for the PS2 designed by Keita Takahashi and published by Namco. The object of the game is to rebuild celestial bodies, such as stars and the moon, that your character's father destroyed in a fit of drunkenness. The means by which you, the Prince, must accomplish this is rather unorthodox: you must roll up ordinary objects into a gigantic ball, similar to how snowmen are made, though you can only roll up objects that are currently smaller than the ball. This unique gameplay mechanic is as entertaining as it is odd; much Katamari Damacy's appeal resides within its novelty. Character design is also a strong selling point; at many times the Prince's father, the King of All Cosmos, will inform you of your progress using condescending, nonsensical imagery. In accordance with its whimsical nature, the game presents a vivid world flush with rainbow motifs and bright colors. I found that these quirky aspects of the game all lend themselves towards a "trippy" experience, and indeed it has been remarked on many occasions that the game designers "must have been high" when making the game. (This entry has been edited2 times. It was last edited on Fri, 23 Feb 2007 21:31:20.)Fri, 23 Feb 2007 21:23:25 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1471&iddiary=3096https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1302The plot of Dark Messiah is largely predictable, though it does afford the player the option succumb to evil or vanquish it. The impressive artwork, cut scenes, voice acting, and attention to detail allows to game to overcome its humble storyline to become an immersive experience. My favorite aspect of the fantasy genre has always been the casting of spells, and though there are no classes in Dark Messiah, you can specialize yourself by allocating skill points in certain areas. Skill points accrue over time as you accomplish a variety of goals and defeat monstrous bosses, and you can spend these points advancing a number of tech trees that split off into even more specialized trees. To create a mage, I spent most of my points advancing my knowledge of offensive spells as well as increasing my mana pool and regeneration.Sat, 10 Feb 2007 02:19:50 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1302&iddiary=2776https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1302Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is an impressive first person shooter game for the PC. Set in a fantasy world, known as Ashan, most aspects of the game are conventions of the genre: wizards that can produce flaming projectiles, undead that crawl out of graves, and stalwart knights of unfathomable bravery. Despite a notable lack of originality, the combat system is refreshingly intuitive and the character development system very rewarding. Dark Messiah's physics engine, Source Engine, is extremely powerful. It has been used in over 20 other games to great success, due to its "large degree of modularity and flexibility, an artist-driven, shader-based renderer, industry-leading lip sync and facial expression technology, and a powerful, efficient and completely network-enabled physics system" (Wikipedia). Source Engine allows Dark Messiah to enjoy a fantastic combat system in which patient stalking, varying levels of force, weapon choice, and attention to parrying all must be considered in order to achieve victory. Combat is fluid and dynamic; if you focus all your attention on one enemy, his friend might sneak up and shank your flank.Sat, 10 Feb 2007 02:19:45 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1302&iddiary=2775https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1077Playing Super Smash Brothers is a thoroughly enjoyable experience, something that can largely be attributed to the thoughtful level design. The levels each take after actual locations depicted in previous Nintendo titles, mirroring the origins of the characters. Hazards, platforms, ceilings, floors, and pits are all used in creative ways on each level; their placement can and often do dictated a player's strategy, as certain locations can prove advantageous to the experienced gamer. If a map is smaller, attacks that send a foe flying a great distance can be more effective than combos that deal more damage. One problem I encountered in Super Smash Brothers is that the characters are not equally powerful. It is widely recognized that Kirby is the strongest character, and not by a small amount. The other characters can be mastered by players and be used extremely effectively, but any new player can pick up Kirby and be a serious contender, possibly leading to a great deal of frustration. This could be related to the fact that the designer of SSB also was the designer behind the Kirby series. In SSBM, the sequel, this balance issue is recognized and compensated for. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:28:56.)Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:28:09 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1077&iddiary=2329https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1077Super Smash Bros is a wildly successful fighting game for the Nintendo 64. It was released in 1999, though due to its great popularity and demand for a continuation of the series, SSB was succeeded by Super Smash Bros Melee a mere two years later. A novel idea executed perfectly, Super Smash Bros features 12 playable characters, all derived from previous Nintendo titles, as well as comprehensive yet elaborate multi-player combat. I recently played Super Smash Brothers with three of my friends, as the maximum number of players in a given match is four. One conclusion I came to after a couple hours of gameplay is that, although the number of moves is finite, there are a multitude of strategies that requires these moves to be utilized in drastically different ways. Knowing when to use a strategy is the most important skill in SSB. For instance, the character Kirby has a rather good aerial attack that pounds its opponent into the ground; when used on an opponent not above ground, however, the move is incredibly effective at "spiking" an enemy to their doom. The constant shifting of tactics allows SSB to indefinitely avoid game exhaustion. The way Super Smash Brothers realizes damage is unique; instead of losing vitality or lives when hit, a character accumulates percent, though percent of what is unclear. What is known is that higher percent results in the character flying further away when struck. This means that an undamaged character hardly recoils from blows at all, while a heavily damaged character is in danger of flying off screen, which usually results in death. In addition to being innovative, the lack of blood, gore, or even visible death makes this game accessible to gamers of all ages.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:14:48 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1077&iddiary=2314https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=566SC3's combat system is easy to learn but hard to master; button mashing can sometimes produce a victory, but usually is suicidal against an experienced player. Characters can be hit in three zones: the high, middle, and low sections of their bodies. Blocking normally, a character fends off all high and middle attacks, but the feet are completely unguarded. Blocking low will dodge high attacks and fend off low attacks, but is vulnerable to middle attacks. Hopping can evade low attacks, but is largely a showy and ineffective maneuver. To attack, one must press one or more of the three action buttons; doing this in the correct order or in conjunction with a directional button will reveal an almost limitless arsenal of attacks. Combining different attacks and directions will almost always execute a unique attack, and experimentation is a great way to learn new techniques. The sheer quantity of attacks available to each character is sure to keep players engaged, encouraging them to always search for the best moves and to know when that move will be the most effective. I have been playing Soul Calibur games for a very long time, and the navigating its virtual battlefield has become almost second nature to me. Even if I have never played a particular character before, I have a reasonably good idea of what it can or cannot do, and how to do it. Thus, when I sat down recently with my friends Eric and Lauren to play SC3, we choose not to play in a loser-out system, as I am significantly (read:unfathomably) more skilled than them. I started off with one of my favorite characters: Ivy. (It should be noted that at this point in my writing of the article, I lost The Game.) Ivy wields a short sword that has the ability to extend into a chain whip, and is typically clothe in dominatrix-style apparel. A good strategy to employ with Ivy is to keep foes at a distance with her whip for as long as possible, and then move in with her powerful grabs, trips, and horizontal strikes. This method was effective, as I have always found it to be. I moved on to the ninja Taki, who specializes in quick and fierce attacks, administered liberally by her twin daggers and lighting-fast feet. This method was also effective. Finally, I usedXianghua, the graceful and nimble pre-adolescent who specializes in dancing about her opponent and striking whenever her opponent presents an opening. This method was, yet again, effective.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:06:30 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=566&iddiary=1867https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=566Soul Calibur III is the latest iteration in the remarkable Soul series of fighting games developed and published by Namco. In tradition with the previous Soul games, SC3 offers a plethora of exquisitely detailed characters, an unparallelled variety of moves, and a fully 3D environment, which allows for strafing and aerial moves. A cursory examination of SC3 would not reveal its considerable back story, an aspect that pervades almost every aspect of the game play, especially affecting the 24 characters and their individual motives and personalities. Admittedly, one does not need to know anything of the game's history to beat it, but the characters' frequently shouted exclamations seem almost ridiculous when taken out of context. A player may be driven to learn more about the story if he or she doesn't skip the opening cinematic; it is as compelling, intriguing, and beautifully conceived as any movie trailer I have ever seen. It introduces the characters with a series of dramatic shots of them fighting each other in a variety of exotic locales, many of which are actually playable arenas, and frequently alludes to the enchantments and sorcery that lend the game its powerful sense of fantasy. Outside this cinematic, however, only the single player "Tales of Souls" and "Chronicles of the Sword" modes reveal information about the characters and their pursuits; unfortunately, the tidbits they offer are often too concise beimmersive , and sometimes serve as an annoyance to more combat-oriented players. Conversely, a wealth of thorough biographies are available online, provoking the question: Why did the developers elect to obscure SC3's rich story when it could have added so much to game play? In my view, a simple gallery of characters and their back stories would have been an immensely rewarding feature and a reasonably strong selling point. Namco made an intuitive yet revolutionary decision when it created Soul Calibur- all the characters were to be humanoid and bear melee weapons, unlike many other fighting games on the market, which sometime permit for the unlikely scenario in which an anthropomorphic animal squares off against a martial artist. Though rife with fantasy elements, SoulCalibur is presented in a strikingly realistic fashion. The characters are rendered as convincingly as the hardware allows, the weapons are for the most part conventional, and the matches are notably cinematic despite the lack of cut scenes. This realism aids immensely when it comes to identifying with your avatar; immersion is attained much quicker when a player recognizes that the battle he wages on screen is largely possible in real life, save for his character's resistance to seemingly fatal attacks.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:06:18 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=566&iddiary=1866https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=512When I was handed the controller a second time, I lasted much longer than I did previously, mostly due to my extensive use of blocking. Having studied the other players during my off matches, I employed my knowledge of flight in a jerky, haphazard fashion that would more often than not hurl me into an incoming fireball rather than dodge it. I began to anticipate enemy attacks, defending against them the best I could, until I was ruthlessly cut down by a Genki Dama. (From Wikipedia: "A move taught to Gokū by North Kaiō, it is a blue ball of energy collected from all living things. [...] Gokū makes a huge Genki Dama from as much energy as the people of Earth could give, as well as from other planets and even the afterlife. [...] The name of the attack is also a pun on Denki Gama, which means 'electric rice cooker'.") I must admit, I was somewhat incredulous when I saw three health-bars worth of life drain my from character. Indeed, my friend assures me that he feels "somewhat bad" about using the over-powered technique on a noob, though I suspect that he is a dirty liar. It was after that match that I started picking Piccolo, and I immediately took a liking to his style; one of his combos smashes the opponent with his elbow in the chest, face, and back, sending him hurtling towards the ground. I soon realized that I could chain my melee attacks quickly and effectively, rarely giving my adversary a chance to reply, and even in those cases I had seen enough to anticipate these reprisals and minimize their effect. Still not knowing how to perform special attacks, I never wasted the time required to charge and unleash them; instead, I relentlessly harassed my opponent, barring him from using his advanced knowledge against me, like he had done with the Genki Dama. An important facet of the game that I had overlooked is that if the two duelists are close to each other but seemingly out of striking range, executing an attack will jump one character towards the other so that the blows do indeed land, which allowed me to initiate my melee chains more easily. It was with these adaptations that I won my third match of Budokai Tenkaichi 2. And my fourth. And my fifth. And my sixth, all the way up to my fifteenth, at which point all the other players quit, disgusted with my winning streak. In conclusion, this game is almost as fun as I am awesome.Thu, 18 Jan 2007 15:23:24 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=512&iddiary=1595https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=512Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 was the first game I had ever played on the Wii, and from what I have experienced it is a fair introduction to the console's revolutionary motion-sensor remote (though some of the special moves are prohibitively difficult to execute). Budokai Tenkaichi, which roughly translates to "Strongest Under the Heavens Martial Arts Tournament", is a fully 3D fighting game based on the hit anime series "Dragon Ball Z". Vividly colored and tastefully cell-shaded, even navigating the character select menu was an energizing experience. The voice talents are the same used for the show and the music isn't terribly annoying, which is about as much as you can ask from a fighting game based on an anime. Gameplay appears complex but is surprisingly intuitive for anyone with a history of playing fighting games. Characters exist in a fully 3D environment, wherein they may dash, fly, and even teleport. Offensive maneuvers take three forms: ranged attacks, melee attacks, and special attacks. Ranged attacks are typically low damage, but can be charged up to deal more and knock the opponent down. Melee attacks can be counters, used to throw a foe, or chained into combos. Special attacks, which I personally have yet to master, usually involve a short cinematic scene and ludicrous, table-turning quantities of luminescent pain. Because the game features over 129 characters, I decided the only way I could discover one that matched my play style would be to just pick at random. However, as I was playing against human opponents in a "loser-out" rotation, I had to quickly find a solid primary character, lest I be condemned to playing every fifth match. After a couple battles, I eventually settled on the green-skinned Piccolo, due to his supremely satisfying smackdown combos and highly effective counter attacks. My first battle was an exercise in abject humiliation; as I desperately mashed my controller, failing to locate any button or trigger that invoked either a defense or an attack, my character was summarily violated by a relentless brute sporting spiky black hair and an orange and blue get-up. It was later conveyed to me that my efforts might have reached any degree of fruition if I had been pointing my remote at the screen, to which I replied with a vocalization that could have been interpreted as prior knowledge of this particular factoid, though I secretly resolved to not flail my controller about quite so much the next time. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Thu, 18 Jan 2007 15:23:17.)Fri, 12 Jan 2007 02:42:50 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=512&iddiary=1315