Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=432https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2967Last Gamelog 2nd entry Gameplay In my session with the of Trauma Center I saw the narrative side of the game progress. I encountered an inner virus that’s destroying patients from within called the GUILT. This virus adds a bit of a sci-fi feel to the story. A cool addition that was not in the DS version of the game is the “defibrillator.” The defibrillator lets you take the wiimote and nunchuck and press them forward on a patient to zap them and bring them back to life. Second Opinion really shows off what the Wii is all about. If anyone checks it out, you’ll agree that it is a great example of a wii game. Just for the sake of fun, I found myself purposely killing my patients. It’s amazing how this is a game where you have full control of a person’s life. Trauma Center may be one of the only Operating games out, but it isn’t exactly a simulator. Operations that’ll take countless hours in the real world can be completed here in 5-20 minutes. I removed a patient’s tumor in 3 minutes. Aside from that, the game has a tremendously innovative gameplay and is perfect for the Wii. Design The Design choices in the game are both appreciated and questionable. One design choice that I must mention is the music which was composed by Shoji Meguro, who is known for composing the music for the Shin Megami Tensei series and the Digital Devil Sage series. In my opinion (no pun intended), Trauma Center has some of the best music in gaming history. It’s memorable, catchy, creative, relaxing, and yet intense. Drum beats follow slow piano and keyboards. The music is simply beautiful. Another design choice that must be mention is the gorgeous hand drawn artwork. There are no CG cut-scenes, only handdrawn artwork. Honestly, I’d prefer this than an extremely expensive 3d cinematic. The most important design choice that Atlus made with Second opinion is the full wiimote functionality. It works very well, and takes advantage of the sensor bar and the gyroscope technology that’s built inside of the wiimote. The designs for the visuals are a huge a step from the DS, but yet have a last-gen feel. Another con with the design of the game is the lack of voice over work. There is a small amount of VO work, but not enough. You’ll find yourself reading text box after text box. Another interesting design choice is how this game that is all about opening someone up. If you explain this concept to someone they could think that it’s filled with blood and guts and not at all safe for kids. This is not the case. The game’s visuals are “player friendly.” There is blood, but not enough where the player will be too disgusted to play. The art style is so eye friendly, that it even attracted some friends of mine and convinced them to play.Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:11:53 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2967&iddiary=5582https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2967Last GameLog 1st Entry Summary Trauma Center: Second Opinion is “wiimake” of the cult classic “Trauma Center: Under the Knife.” The DS version sold tons of copies and is still to this date one the most innovative DS games out. Second Opinion is no different on Wii as it takes full advantage of the Wii’s functionalities. You play as the young new Doctor, Dr. Styles, as he is set to save the world from suffering patients. Gameplay This game is all about being a Doctor for those who don’t know. Players can operate with scalpels, needles and threads, ultrasounds, disinfective gels, surgical lasers, and all the tools found in an operating room. In this version, the players uses the nunchuck and wiimote rather than using the stylus and touchscreen on the DS. It works perfectly fine. I was a fan of the DS trauma center and I picked Second Opinion with the Wii’s launch. I remember feeling skeptical when this game was approaching its release. However, after playing it, I realized that there is no reason to feel skepticism. When you make incisions, you’ll actually see your cursor shaking on screen because of your hand. This makes the game a lot more exciting than the DS version. It’s far more intense and entertaining. The game starts off like many games with introductory tasks like making incisions on a person’s surface and pulling shards of glass from a person. It’ll become more difficult with levels involving cutting out tumors. All of the tasks in this game feel intuitive. I often immediately knew how the controls were going to be for some operations just by reading what my goal was. For Example, pull out tumors. I knew already that I was going to have to use the Wiimote to cut, drain blood, and pull.Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:23:27 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2967&iddiary=5580https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=26654th assignment 2nd entry Gameplay A lot of games have a light/dark world type gameplay. Including the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Ocarina of Time has gameplay like this as well, but instead displays it through a time travel mechanic. You can go 7 years in the future. A really memorable part of the game is when you're older and you are told about stories of a boy with a fairy, and evetually you go back in time to play through those events. Also, the game features a fishing mini game. This mini game alone can be sold as a game on its own. Also, you get to ride your horse Epona. This horse riding element had yet to be done in 3D before Zelda. The control felt right. The fighting is amazing in this game as well. You can lock on to enemies with the Z button which was introduced in this game. Countless games have copied the lock on feature. It's really interesting when your enemies have shields and your attacks are blocked. This really shows off the game's A.I. while providing difficulty during battle. After playing this game for far longer than two 45 minute sessions, i realized that i had to write a game log about the entire game, rather than my 2 sessions. Design There is so much to mention in the game's design. The controls in the game were like no other at the time. The B button is used to swing your sword. However, Link isn't limited to sword fighting. He can use a large number of weapons to defeat enemeis including a bow and arrows, slingshots, hookshots, bombs, and many more. Also, the design for the puzzles is awesome. Having to light sticks on fire to light torches in the first dungeon is smart and clever. The graphics are jaw-dropping. Even to today's standards, I am still visually impressed. For its time, Ocarina of Time was the best looking game out. Aside from that, it was the biggest game out. The world is so massive, that calling it huge would be an understatement. Walking around Hyruleand going to a village is satisfying. While you walk from town to town, the game shows off its night and day system. When it turns night, wearwolves and skeletons come out and attack you until the break of dawn. Another design element is the fully interactive world. You can avoid the main objective and go to shops, find small hidden caves and even tease chickens. There is so much to talk about about this game that I would have to write the equivalent of 20 game logs. It's an epic game. This game has huge bosses, enormous environments, smart puzzles, impressive combat, beautiful graphics, fun control, great sound, an innovative target-system, an unforgettable story, and a fully interactive world. Ocarina of Time was revolutionary and remains as one of the greatest games of all time.Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:45:41 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2665&iddiary=5079https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=26654th assignment 1st entry Summary The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time begins with the main character Link waking up from the Kokiri village. He is awaken by a fairy named Navi after having a nightmare about a young princess being kidnapped by the evil Ganondorf. Link was the only kokiri without a fairy and soon sets off to the biggest adventure of his life. The quest inventually turns into a rescue mission for Princess Zelda. Players must travel through dark dungeons, inside a volcano, inside a giant tree, inside a giant fish, and more. Gameplay Around the time of the game's release, there were only a handful of games that did 3D right. Nintendo was the king of 3d exploring at the time with Mario 64. It single-handedly invented the 3d platforming genre. With that said, the control feels very familiar to Super Mario 64. Better examples exist today, but Mario 64 was the only other true 3D platformer at the time, so I'm comparing them. However, Ocarina of Time is not a platformer. There is no jump button. You can still jump at certain points in the game, but it's an automatic action that Link does when walking off a ledge or bridge etc. Ocarina of Time was the first game to include an auto-jump feature if I'm correct. Fans of the series will be familiar to the objecives. The same puzzle solving is here, but instead in full 3d. But Ocarina of Time does more than simply keep the old Zelda formula; it adds new innovative features as well. The main feature is the Ocarina which is like a flute. You can use it to solve puzzles, play simon says games, and just to jam out. When you actually use the Ocarina the buttons become different notes. This makes this game more than just an action-adventure game.Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:45:50 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2665&iddiary=5052https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=23343rd assignment 2nd entry Gameplay My second session with the game was spent completing the game. Actually, all I needed was to complete one level. Once I completed the final level, I had to face the final boss, Baby Bowser. This battle felt like the easiest final boss fight ever. After the final boss was defeated, a colorful cut scene appears showing all of the pop-up pages of the Yoshi’ Story. Once the game has been finished, the player can play it over but this time with the other sub-levels. There are a total of 24 levels, but only 6 are needed to pass the game’s story mode. I found myself reminiscing about my childhood after playing this game. I first purchased this game when I was nine or so. Therefore I may seem a bit biased when I write about this game. It isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it is a solid, fun, and beautiful game that should be in every gamer’s collection. Yoshi’s Story substitutes challenge and difficulty with plain fun. Design One design aspect of Yoshi’s Story that’s interesting is the jumping mechanic. Jumping is one of the most important elements in a platformer, and Yoshi’s Story does it right. You can control the direction of Yoshi’s leap smoothly which is a problem in a lot of platform games. Many platformers have a strong gravitational pull programmed inside of them. Yoshi’s Story has realistic gravity that feels right. Also, if you hold the jump button, Yoshi extends his jump for higher platforms. The art style is another important design element in the game. All of the environments and characters have this realistic look to them, even though the game is a 2D game. It doesn’t look aged to me at all. I am still visually impressed by the game even though it is a 10 year old game. The main design element that can be noticed by any gamer who gets their hands on Yoshi’s Story is the difficulty. It feels like that game is always on easy mode. A hardcore gamer can possibly complete the story in a half hour. The bosses feel like mini-bosses and the puzzles only take a mili-second to think about. This game is aimed for kids. However, that does not mean that it’s a bad game. This game does what any 2D platformer does, but better. It’s smooth, pretty, and never boring.Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:38:50 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2334&iddiary=4484https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=23343rd assignment 1st entry Summary Yoshi's Story is a fun, simple, and short 2D platformer with 3D character models starring none other than Yoshi. The game was released in 1998 on the N64 and was the successor to "Yoshi's Island" on the SNES. However, it wasn't accepted by gamers as the true sequel to Yoshi Island due to its simple difficulty level and its short length. Yoshi's Story had big shoes to fill since Yoshi's Island is considered by many to be one the best sidescrollers of all time. There is also a story in the game, well not really. The Yoshi's tree has been stolen by baby bowser and you're on a quest to find it and take it back. Gameplay In the game, you play as Yoshi trying to find fruit to eat. You need to eat 30 servings to complete a level. Some fruits are inside of bubbles that you must pop by tossing eggs. There are special blocks that give Yoshi eggs to use as your projectiles. Also, after swallowing enemies they become eggs as well. They game has 6 levels with 4 sub level. Most games make the player complete all the sublevel before moving on to the next level, but that isn't the case in Yoshi's Story. All that's required is the completion of one sub level. This makes the game extremely short.Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:03:31 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2334&iddiary=4468https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=21622nd Entry Summary My second 45 minute session with Super Smash Bros included playin multiplayer with some friends. It brought back some nice memories of my childhood when I first purchased Smash Bros. It's strange how a game can trigger memories. I remember having a blast thunderbolting my brother to hell with pikachu. This is what the gameplay did to me. It was so fun that it transported me nine years ago when this masterpiece was first released. I spent a lot of my time trying to master the fighting system. I wanted to test my skills agaisnt my friends so I disabled all the items. This way, we can see who was truly better. We basically were playing Smash Bros competively, rather than playing it like the way it's intended to be played: as a party game. Design A design element in Smash Bros that is different in other fighters is the "look" or artstyle of the game. Smash Bros has a 3D look, but yet plays as a 2D fighter. Most fighting games around that time were hand drawn 2D fighters, or fully 3D like Tekken or Virtual Fighter. Even the stages in Smash Bros are designed differently from other fighters. They interfere with the fight against your opponents. For example, in the pokemon level "Safron City," numerous pokemon attack you, and in the Kirby level a tree tries to blow you off the stage. Most fighters don't do this. Usually fighting games have a flat level to showcase your combos. Smash Bros allows players to mix their skills with the level interference. Another design choice that is not a traditional fighting game element is the items systems. Smash Bros include dozens of items from classic Nintendo games. Examples are pokeballs from pokemon, fireflowers from Super Mario Bros, and the Hammer from Donkey Kong. This adds a strategy to the game along with chaos. The graphical design is nice as well, however not up close. The characters look blocky when the game zooms in on the fight. The game is still visually impressive though. When four-players are in action the camera tends to zoom out and thats when the game's graphics shine. The explosion effects from the items are beautiful. The stages are also easy on the eyes with gorgeous hand drawn backgrounds.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:33:37 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2162&iddiary=4151https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2162Summary Super Smash Bros is a very popular fighting game for the N64 that took the videogame world by storm in April of 1999. Developed by the team who brought us the Kirby games, Hal Laboratory, you fight as one of twelve classic Nintendo characters against other Nintendo mascots. You fight on stages that are based on the games of these mascots. Gameplay Smash Bros is very easy to pick up. It's a fighting game, but it doesn't have traditional fighting elements, well at least for that time in 1999. The combos that are excuted in traditional fighting games like Street Fighter, King of Fighters, and Mortal Kombat are quite difficult and require long button combinations. Smash Bros on the other hand, only needs a button and a tap on the analog stick to perform a special attack. The controls are great and very simple, and yet it remains highly addictive. This game is for eveyone. It's not intimidating to play like a complex 2D fighter. Children who aren't hardcore gamers can put their hands on a controller and actually put up a fight. That is how simple the controls are.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:27:56 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2162&iddiary=4122https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=19362nd Entry Gameplay Link's Crossbow training isn't a long game at all. This game can be completed in less than an hour. However, I did manage to play it for 45 minutes more without feeling close to bored. This is because of the game's score system. Twenty thousand points is all thats needed to complete a level and its easily attainable, however thats to recieve a bronze medal. You'll need a lot more points to get up to a platinum medal. The replay value in Link's Crossbow is where this game shines. From attempting to reach 80000 points to multiplayer this game delivers to Zelda fans. I'm not going to be biased and say that its ground breaking simply because its a Zelda game, but I will say that the game is a lot more interesting than other light-gun shooters based on the fact that you play as Link. Design New light-gun shooters have been ignored for quite some time, since they have brought little to nothing new to the table. However Link's Crossbow Training offers a videogame icon as your playable character. Every Zelda game usually offers dozens of innovative design elements, but Link's Crossbow does not. Nintendo just took the light-gun shooter recipe and plastered Link's face on it. In Crossbow Training there are three gameplay types. Having more than one way to shoot enemies is what seperates this shooting game from other light-gun shooters. One type is an on-rail system where you point and shoot like any other arcade shooter. Another type are still levels where Link is stationed in the center of enemies and the player controls the camera in 360 degrees. And the last type of gameplay contains areas in which you must fully control Link using the nunchuk's analog stick and target enemies with the Wii remote.Tue, 15 Jan 2008 03:16:39 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1936&iddiary=3790https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1921Summary In Link's Crossbow Training for the Wii, you play as non-other than Link from the Legend of Zelda. You shoot yourself through nine levels with three sub-stages each. The game is simple and is not a traditional Zelda game. Instead this time around, Nintendo puts Link in a light-gun shooter game in attempt to sell their Wii Zapper for only twenty bucks. Gameplay Since the Zelda formula was pushed aside in order to sell Zappers, I wasn't nearly as excited to play Link's Crossbow as I would be for a new traditional Zelda game. However, Link's Crossbow doesn't disappoint. It takes advantage of the Zelda: Twilight Princess art style and world. I was noticing my eyes becoming glued to TV as characters and environments from Twilight Princess appeared. I have always been a huge Zelda fan, and I really wasn't looking forward to this game. I turned on my Wii, tried out that game and became hooked in a minute. I blasted my way through the game in under 45 minutes. The game felt like any other light-gun shooter, but since Link was the main character I was having more fun. Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:39:11 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1921&iddiary=3761