Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=352https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1465 (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:17:43.)Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:16:13 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1465&iddiary=3167https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1465Log Entry #1 Wow! I forgot how truly revolutionary this game was. This game was one of the first of many, many first person shooters. One of the first things that struck me about this game was its hit detection. As far as I know, no game before this one had such advanced hit detection. When you shoot an enemy in the foot he limps, if you shoot him in the head he is killed instantly, if you shoot his hat it flies off his head. This also makes stealth very important. Also, many levels have an alarm system that is activated if you are spotted or shoot your gun without a silencer. This game remains a cultural icon for my generation. When I was in sixth grade everybody had this game, and everybody was obsessed with it. I recall playing it over and over. Another rather revolutionary aspect of this game was the level design. The player can pretty much go anywhere he wants, but there are certain objectives he must complete to beat the level. The objectives range from taking a picture of some top-secret documents, disabling a computer, blowing up a building, or eliminating an enemy. There are also more objectives to complete when playing on higher levels of difficulty and objectives could sometimes be completed in any order allowing the player to take their own unique path to beat a level. This type of game play is extremely common today. Every first person shooter is structured in this way, with various objectives required to advance levels. First person shooters are perhaps the most popular game genre today and it’s all thanks to the release of Goldeneye007 nearly a decade ago. This game launched the James Bond 007 video game series that continues to produce successful games to this day. None however will ever compare to this one. I will now venture into multiplayer mode…. Log Entry #2 This game’s multiplayer mode was also very revolutionary and part of its wide appeal. It kept players playing even after they had beaten the game, kept their lusory attitude I guess. One of the great things about multiplayer mode is the challenge. Instead of playing a computer character, you are fighting an enemy controlled by another player, most likely somebody you know well who is sitting right next to you. This allows for much trash talk and some extrinsic glory for the winner. This multiplayer battle concept is now a staple in every first person shooter. In multiplayer mode, the player also gets to choose the weapon selection available and the character. Though this game is primarily based on the Goldeneye film, there are characters from many films in the Bond franchise. Some have attributes that make them harder to kill, like Odd Job, who is so short his opponent has to aim down to hit him and chances are odd job will get in a couple of knee shots before this happens. Also you can control what weapons are available so you could have a battle based on stealth and snipering or an all-out manic shooter. Another very significant aspect of multiplayer mode, as well as the main game, is Cheats. Cheats can be unlocked in a number of ways and some of them affect weapons, or armor, or just the way the enemies look. One cheat gives you access to the one-hit-kill golden gun, another makes you invisible, another gives you unlimited ammo, and another makes the heads of the enemies exceptionally large. Basically this simple game gives the player so many options that it is easy to keep playing it in new ways. It is very difficult to get bored of this game. Just the other day I walked into my buddy’s house and he and some friends were just sitting there having an intense goldeneye multiplayer battle, just as we all had a decade ago. Of course this time there was the added element of beer! (This entry has been edited2 times. It was last edited on Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:41:02.)Fri, 23 Feb 2007 19:06:25 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1465&iddiary=3081https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1267Guitar Hero 2 Log Entry #1 Yesterday, my buddy brought over Guitar Hero 2 and two guitar controllers. I had never played the game, I had only heard it was fun and addicting. I actually had no idea what it looked like or how it was played. At first I was a little taken aback. It seemed more like those Dance Dance Revolution games and less like a musical instrument, and essentially that what it was. This turned out not to be a bad thing. Almost instantly I was hooked. I started playing in Career Mode in order to unlock more songs. In the game there are four levels of difficulty: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert. Initially, even the Easy difficulty is tricky, but the best part of this game is how rapidly you learn how to play. What seems overwhelming at first can be mastered in no time. The way the game is played is simple. On the screen is a rapid succession of notes represented by colored circles, the colors correspond with the buttons on the guitar controller so when the green note is to be played the player must press the green button and “strum” the guitar at the right time and hold it for the amount of time indicated. The game is based on points and there are various ways to get points and point multipliers (such as hitting a certain number of notes consecutively without messing up). Once my friends and I unlocked more songs we decided to try multiplayer. This is what makes the game really fun. There are two multiplayer options: Face-off and Cooperative. In co-op one of the players plays lead guitar and the other player rhythm or bass. You work together to get the highest number of points. This whole time we all were playing on easy, but next we will attempt Medium difficulty. Log Entry #2 Medium difficulty adds a new element to the gameplay. On easy the player only has to worry about pressing three of the five buttons on the guitars neck. Now it is four. Also, in medium difficulty the player may have to press multiple buttons simultaneously. My buddies and I decided to battle each other in the face-off multiplayer mode. In this mode both players play different portions of the same song and get individual point totals. Also, each player can choose their own difficulty level. Unfortunately, difficulty doesn’t affect point total, so when I upgraded to medium and my friend stayed at easy he ended up with a higher point total than I did, because I made more mistakes. I see this as a flaw. Medium was almost unbearable my first try, but it is astonishing how quickly a player can adapt, especially if they know the song they are playing. After a few attempts the controls and the rhythm become almost second nature and you don’t focus so much on how to play but what to play and when. I actually found myself zoning out at certain points and still hitting all my notes. I also discovered another way to rack up points. On long notes you can use the Whammy bar (the same as on a real guitar) and add more points to your total. Overall this game is highly addictive, probably because it makes you feel like a real guitar hero for those brief moments when you hit all your notes. There are a few flaws I noticed. The main one was in career mode. In career mode you rise to stardom playing various gigs and earning more and more money each time depending on how well you do. However, the money is essentially useless. It allows you to buy newer cooler guitars and stuff, but these are merely nice looking objects and don’t sound any better or give you a better point total. I think in the next guitar hero they should adjust this feature so that the money you make in career mode can actually affect the game. Other than these few flaws the game is great fun especially after a few beers with some buddies! (This entry has been edited2 times. It was last edited on Fri, 09 Feb 2007 19:42:56.)Fri, 09 Feb 2007 19:21:36 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1267&iddiary=2720https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1110NOTE: I'm not sure if anybody's caught this yet but the gamelog time seems to be off. it is currently 5:10pm and the gamelog says this was posted at around 7:30. Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:34:44 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1110&iddiary=2387https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1110As I continue to play I am reminded of the narrative of this game. Much like the original Mario’s Peach is kidnapped by Bowser and it is up to Mario to complete the necessary tasks to save her, in this case it is obtaining 70 stars. When I first played I got all 121 stars available, but I forget what happens, I think it involved Yoshi. Regardless, this shows that the game exhaustion in this game is not narrative exhaustion but gameworld exhaustion. This is also a game of spatial segmentation. In order to obtain stars and unlock other places in the game, Mario needs to enter various game worlds by jumping into pictures on the walls. The game is segmented in this way and once Mario has obtained the required number of stars in one area he can move on to the next. Sometimes Mario can find stars in the gameworld itself, not just the mini worlds within the pictures. This was a very complex game for its time. I just looked on Wikipedia and it confirmed that this was the first 3D game. I can’t wait to keep playing, this game is loads of fun and frankly the graphics don’t really seem that dated. This game has all the features of the great games that came after it. It is really the foundation of games released to this day. (This entry has been edited2 times. It was last edited on Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:39:09.)Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:31:13 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1110&iddiary=2386https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1110I remember the first time I played a Nintendo 64, it was a demo at Blockbuster and the game was Mario 64. I remember being completely confused about how I was supposed to move around. I had never seen, let alone played a 3D game like this before. So when I got out my old Nintendo 64 today to play this game I took note of how the character moves around. I realized what had thrown me off when I initially played this game ten years ago, and it was the moveable camera. This “camera” feature was something I hadn’t seen before, but it has become a necessity in all games since. I really consider this one of the greatest games ever made. I am not too knowledgeable about game history, but I believe this game was the first to have a number of things. This game came with the Nintendo 64 console and I believe it was very responsible for the system’s success. For kids my age there was a whole culture around this game. I remember beating the game when I initially played it, and I can see why. As I play it now I am finding it very difficult to put it down. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:40:02.)Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:15:18 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1110&iddiary=2378https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=872This is my second entry for the first game log assignment, sorry it’s so late but I just added the class last week: As I continue to play the Wii, in particular, Wii Sports, I’ve realized just how good the Wii controller is. I began playing Wii sports by just swinging wildly and wondering why the character wasn’t reacting exactly the way I wanted. As I played on I realized that the key to using the controller in Wii Sports and any Wii game is subtle, controlled movements. As a played the Boxing game, I learned that quick “flicks” of the controller as opposed to crazy, fast swinging was much more effective. And with the Golf game it is vital to have a controlled swing. Now, many people when they first play Wii are put off by this, they expect it to be able to recognize big movements as well as small, and for the most part it does. But the more controlled movements are much more effective and once you master it it’s great fun. Also, the Wii controller “seems” to be lacking buttons, but I would argue that this controller has more “buttons” than any controller in history because each movement you make with the control (and there are a lot of different choices) creates a different action, and do these movements while holding one of the controller's buttons and there are even more actions. By playing the various Wii Sports games I have realized this and am very confident that the Wii games in the future will have even more complex control schemes and have the potential to be an entirely new gameplay experience. Fri, 26 Jan 2007 21:35:41 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=872&iddiary=2015https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=900This is the Second Log for Ocarina of Time. Once again I added the class late so this is for last weeks assignment. As I continue to play Ocarina of Time I am beginning to notice a few things about it. Most significantly I've notice the segmentation of the gameplay in Ocarina is a combination of Narrative segmentation with many aspects of Challenge segmentation. It is a game of Progression and the narrative is what drives the game and segments it. However, within this narrative there are various “temples” and when you are in a temple the game becomes a game of challenge segmentation. I am enjoying the game a little more now that I’ve almost adjusted to the dated graphics, but it’s still difficult for me to enjoy the gameplay after having played the later games in the Zelda Series. I have also noticed that the newest Zelda installment, The Twilight Princess, is almost exactly like this with a semi-different plot. I’ve noticed that the new game makes many references to Ocarina of Time that I am just now understanding. I am excited to see how this game turns out. Fri, 26 Jan 2007 21:20:25 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=900&iddiary=2014https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=912This is the Second Log for Ocarina of Time. Once again I added the class late so this is for last weeks assignment. As I continue to play Ocarina of Time I am beginning to notice a few things about it. Most significantly I've notice the segmentation of the gameplay in Ocarina is a combination of Narrative segmentation with many aspects of Challenge segmentation. It is a game of Progression and the narrative is what drives the game and segments it. However, within this narrative there are various “temples” and when you are in a temple the game becomes a game of challenge segmentation. I am enjoying the game a little more now that I’ve almost adjusted to the dated graphics, but it’s still difficult for me to enjoy the gameplay after having played the later games in the Zelda Series. I have also noticed that the newest Zelda installment, The Twilight Princess, is almost exactly like this with a semi-different plot. I’ve noticed that the new game makes many references to Ocarina of Time that I am just now understanding. I am excited to see how this game turns out. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Fri, 26 Jan 2007 21:18:54.)Fri, 26 Jan 2007 21:17:40 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=912&iddiary=2013https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=900Since I did just recently join the class this is my first entry for the second gamelog assignment, from the classics: I have decided to play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I have had the Nintendo 64 game on a promotional Zelda disc for the gamecube, but have never gotten around to playing it. Though I did play a lot of 64 when I was younger, I never got into the Zelda series. The first Zelda game I ever played was Windwaker, and it remains one of the most enjoyable video game experiences of my life. Since then I have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of Twilight Princess, and have begun playing that as well. Now that you know my Zelda background you can probably understand that I had a rather different experience with Ocarina of Time than most people who played it when it initially came out. When I played Windwaker everything was new to me: the storyline, the gameplay, the items, etc. But as I play Ocarina I realize all the stuff I loved in Windwaker were just updated versions of Ocarina. Suddenly I have a depreciated view of the series. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing these games, but I feel that the Zelda games following Ocarina aren’t as “original” as they should be: many aspects are reused over and over again. Also, it is difficult to go backwards. What I’m sure would have been sensational graphics and gameplay to me 10 years ago, now seem so primitive compared to the newer Zelda’s and I’m finding it quite difficult to adjust to what I, unfortunately, view as a dated version of Windwaker and Twilight Princess. I will, however, look past that and focus on a few key aspects of the game that initially struck me. First, I noticed the “lock-on targeting” form of gameplay, a feature I believe is original to this game. You are actually able the lock onto an enemy and move around them while keeping them in your sights, this was revolutionary at the time and became a standard in all future Zelda games. Second, the narrative seems to follow a very distinct pattern, one repeated in future games in the series. There is usually an item Link (the main character) must obtain. It is usually in three pieces scattered across the game world. Each piece is usually inside a temple in which you have to solve various puzzles and kill a number of enemies (often a mini-boss) and eventually find and defeat the main “boss” of the temple, at which point the boss will give you a piece of whatever it is you’re trying to assemble. The use of a “boss” is a classic video game element and the Legend of Zelda series uses it very well. I will continue playing and see what else strikes me. Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:17:24 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=900&iddiary=1985