Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=290https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1487With a free evening and nothing to do, my friends and I endeavored to play the greatest game of Mario Party the world has ever known. With four players in attendance, we were sure to have the complete immersion experience. We chose Bowser's Magma Mountain as our level. The oninous, magma-spewing volcanoes looming on the screen enticed us to play, as did the threat of Bowser himself. Once we had started, one thing became apparent. The random element of the game played such a huge part in the progression of the game, that more skilled players were often at a loss as to what to do. I myself am rather pathetic at the game, but my friend Anders seems to have mastered it. Despite his skill, the poor boy could not roll more than a 6 throught the course of the entire game, save for three occasions. This put him at a severe disadvantage. Even though he had enough coins to buy a star (he won almost every mini-game) he was never far enough along the board to purchase the star. Even when the location of the star changed, it always seemed to be as far away from his as it could possibly be. One might argue that his dominance in the mini games would mean noone else would be rich enough to buy a star, but that isn't true. Because many of the games are 2v2 or 1v3, the distribution of coints wasn't balanced, but was always maintained so that every player could buy a star. This, however, is an inherent trait, and, indeed, a designed one, in the game. Unlike frustrating games like Counter-Strike or Street-Fighter, the random aspect of play actually helps to level the playing field, making it possible for even the worst players to score a landslide victory. (Go me!)Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:35:47 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1487&iddiary=3127https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1487The Mario Party Series has alwaeys been a party favorite. The group interaction required (as well as the short attention span required) has made this game perfect for big parties. The turn based, board game style video game was unique when it was released years ago for the N64, and it is that version I will review tonight. The game is set up to be a competition between players, to gather as many stars as you can in a certain timeframe, dictated by turn limits. Withing this basic structure of the game, lies a more coplex one; movement around the board will determine player alliance on a turn to turn basis. This alliance dictates teams for the next, most important, aspect of gameplay, the mini-games. The games are either 1v3, 2v2 or free-for-all. These games award coins, and coins are used to buy stars. They also act as tie-breakers when players have the same number of stars. What made this game so revolutionary for its time was its layers. Even on the surface, the game is rich and complex; a player navigates around the non-linear gameboard in the most advantageous way, and all the while he is managing resources. Even beyond this, the mini-games add the most substance.Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:25:10 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1487&iddiary=3125https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1301After playing SC II for hours, I can safely say this game is my favorite game in the genre. Playing with my friends and roomates for the past few months, I've safely adopted a character and strategy. Using KIlik, a character with a Bo staff, I've adapted to using long range strikes and simple side-stepping to avoid attacks. The use of unblockable attacks, slow to charge but lethal once charged, are also a major part of my arsenal. Kiliks unblockable is less-powerful, but faster to charge, making at a perfect tool.Sat, 10 Feb 2007 01:58:43 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1301&iddiary=2768https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1301Soul Caliber is the Street FIghter of the next generation. The fighter genre has evolved and spawned from the Street Fighter series, and Soul Caliber can carry it's own weight. The three demensional cardinality is one thing I like over the SF series. The ability to move in three dimensions adds an enormous amount of possibilities to game. Unlike street fighter, where the player can only attack, block or parry, a character in SC can block, parry, roll, jump, move, sidestep or attack. These extra options, seemingly innocuous at first, help make the game much better.Sat, 10 Feb 2007 01:50:55 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1301&iddiary=2767https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=795This time I'll go into actual gameplay during my GameLog. While playing OOT, the you're struck by how intuitive, yet complex the control system really is. Despite it's complexity, the controls truly are easy to learn. Playing as child Link, I had a battle against two Wolfos (wolf monsters, as the name suggests). Using the ingenious z-targeting, Link flawlessly follows and targets the monsters. THe mapping of the controls onto the N64 controller fits the game beautifully as well. While z-targeting one of the wolfos, a quick flick of the C-Left button threw a barrage of Deku Nuts (stun bombs) at their feet. With the Wolfos stunned, I simply slashed away with my sword. The game, in my opinion, is the closest thing to gaming perfection I have ever played.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 13:35:50 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=795&iddiary=1771https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=795Beginning a couple of days ago, I revisited a title that has a special place in my heart. No other game has this nostalgic feeling, and no other game conjurs up memories like this for me. I started to play Legend of Zeldda: Ocarina of Time (OOT). Oehaps it is the emotions stirred up by this game that truly lets you recognoize its greatness. Few, if any, games have ever been able to captivate audiences so well, for so long. One of the reasons for the game's continued sucess is the sheer size of the playable environment. The wonder of this aspect is sometimes lost, though, when comparing it to the size and complexity of modern RPGs. But one must put content in context, and examine what this game did when it entered the market in 1998. THe sheer depth of the pysical environment leaves many gamers astounded; but is only when one gets to recognize the depth of the story that the game is truly appreciated. Without these two aspects, any RPG will fail. With the release of OOT, the gold standard for RPGs was blown apart.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 13:27:23 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=795&iddiary=1770https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=555Company of Heroes, Relic's new WWII-era Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game, is a vast improvement over all other games in the genera. Relic paid close attention to the shortcomings of their pervious RTS, Warhammer 40k Dawn of War, to perfect the newest installment of their already star-studded RTS line-up. Awarded Game of the Year by most electronic gaming websites, the game pits the player against a ferociously intelligent AI system, or in multiplayer mode, another human player. Choosing either the Allies or the Axis as his playable side, the player has a myriad of different strategy choices left to him. Each side has three "rewards points" unlock trees available to it; Terror, Defensive and Propaganda for the Axis, and Infantry, Airborne and Armor for the Allies. These trees are the keys to victory; choosing a tree that best fits your playing style is essential. Capitalizing on the different rewards from each tree is the only way to stay alive. The rewards vary; some increase the unit production times for a certain kind of unit, other airdrop or summon elite units onto the battlefield. For one of my skirmishes against one medium opponent, I elected to play as the Allies on a four player map. The map I chose seemed perfect for my style of play; take advantage of chokepoints, set up defense, then amass and attack. I chose the Infantry branch to suit my plan of attack, and fortified my defenses with the unlockable 105mm Howitzer. The map only has one main chokepoint; by heavily fortifying this, I was essentially assured that I could use my time to amass a large enough army to wipe out the enemy. I used the Howitzers to great effect, decimating their defenses and quickly sweeping their base with masses of infantry. However, other times I have used this strategy, it has failed miserably. The tactic, often referred to as "turtling", doesn't work very well in COH; defneses are designed to be inherently weak, and unless you have massive amounts of them in early phases of the game, at geographic chokepoints, turtling will fail you. I expect to return to CoH several times throughout the blogs in this class; it's depth of strategy offers many things to write about.Fri, 12 Jan 2007 03:25:16 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=555&iddiary=1332