Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=433https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2981Gameplay 2: Not much to add to the gameplay this time around. I have managed to get up to level 6 or 7 on the timed and standard game modes. After playing for a while on both I have mixed feelings about the special gems you get for larger combos. While they are fun, especially using a 5 in a row cube to remove a bunch of gems from the board, the fact that they replace one of the gems that would otherwise create an opening for other gems to fall is somewhat annoying. Part of me feels cheated every time a gem doesn't fall to replace it. I also spent a little time playing through all the puzzles (I've been playing the online version, which only has, I think, 7 levels of puzzle play). While they're interesting and a nice addition to the game they don't provide me much motivation to play. You can receive infinite hints, meaning that a player isn't even required to actually play, they can just keep doing what the hint tells them to. Also, there doesn't seem to be any real reward for solving the puzzle other than you beat it. It claims over 75+ more puzzles in the full version, which may add more variety, but it doesn't feel very meaningful to play them. Design: Visually, Bejeweled 2 provides a very nice update on the original game. I like the addition of different landscape backgrounds that change as you progress. Also, the pieces look cleaner and brighter than in the original game. The design of gameplay remained mostly the same from the previous game, but it seemed odd to me that they added a level structure. For a puzzle style game like this the short term level goals seem overdone. While in the first game the bonus that would remove random gems was a nice regular reward. In Bejeweled 2 the level increase causes a break in the flow of gameplay without providing any clear reward to the player. That is, in the original you got bonus points as it destroyed random gems (and a subtle 'level up' as things went faster/were worth more points), but in 2 there is no clear bonus, just the level up. The design of the puzzle mode was an interesting addition. The developers created a menu that lets you easily select and replay any levels you've completed already. However, there is also an infinite hint system and the undo button which lets you go back any number of moves, which eliminates a lot of the reward from the puzzle mode. Since the only reward is the accomplishment of finishing each puzzle, it seems somewhat cheapened that anytime you are stuck you can simply be told the next move.Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:24:37 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2981&iddiary=5628https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2981Summary: In Bejeweled 2 you match 3 or more gems of the same color in a row to remove them from the board and earn points. Gems fall to replace removed gems, possibly creating more matches. You gain more points the more chained matches you have. Gameplay: At face value the gameplay has changed very little from the original Bejeweled. The player still performs swaps of adjacent gems to try and make three or more gems in a row. This is pretty fun, as there is an 8x8 grid with 64 gems at a time, giving a very satisfying number of possible moves and patterns. As you continue to play the game you begin to recognize patterns and act more on instinct than on thought. Also, as in the first game, there is a time trial version and a version where you play until there are no moves left. Bejeweled 2 does some things differently. To start, it adds a Puzzle version. The puzzle version has a set number of gems on the field and the player must make the correct set of moves to remove all of them. The gameplay of the standard two versions is also different. In Bejeweled, you simply eliminated gems. In Bejeweled 2, if you match 4 gems in a row, one of the gems is replaced by an exploding gem, which detonates when you next use it in a match. Get 5 gems in a row and you get an "Energy Cube" which will destroy all gems of whatever color you try to swap it with. The biggest change, for me, was the addition of distinct levels. In Bejeweled, when you got enough points a certain number of gems were removed as bonus and, if it were a timed game, the timer started decreasing faster. In Bejeweled 2, when you reach that point limit you go to the next level, which has a new background and a completely new set of gems. This is the most frustrating part of the game for me, as I often feel I've set up a perfect combo, only to "level up" just before using it. The breaks to switch levels also break the flow of gameplay for me, making me less inclined to keep playing for long periods of time.Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:09:28 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2981&iddiary=5604https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2687Gameplay 2: After another bout with DKC2 I've started to get back in the rhythm of the game. Unfortunately, every time I think I've got it they throw something completely different in. Some of the more recent stalls I've hit were a set of hot air balloons, which you move by walking to the edge of them, and then continuing to try to move (my only remaining question is what finally prompted me to try walking off a balloon into a pit of lava). Next was the giant spider you can ride, which can't jump on enemies (that was a fairly quick discovery). Finally was a parrot whose flight is much like the swimming levels, but if you or the fairly large parrot get touched you lose a monkey (there are two monkeys, and when they both are gone you lose a life). Though extremely frustrating at times, DKC2 is still an enjoyable game. It does all the things the first one did right, including an entertaining story, interesting bosses, and lots of secrets hidden everywhere. Still, I found myself going back to the first DKC whenever I needed a break. Design: The game clearly used DKC as a starting point for the design (and why not, DKC was an amazing game). They added some slight graphics upgrades (including giving Diddy a bellybutton), and many many many new elements to the gameplay. The game has a very strong sense of uniqueness, which is supported by the design of the levels and backgrounds throughout the game. The character is rewarded on a regular basis and each level has a half dozen secrets to discover. All that being said, there is very little that is original about this game and I've been unable to understand why it's on the classics list instead of the first DKC. Most of the elements of DKC2 are expanded from DKC1, such as a different variety of large animals to ride (a springy snake instead of a frog, a giant spider, and a parrot), and the secrets are now in more varied locations. Dixie's helicopter hovering had been done in Sonic a year earlier. The largest design difference I've found is that DKC2 has a large number of vertical levels that involve climbing and firing from barrels upwards instead of horizontally. Which, while an interesting idea, leads to no end of frustration as these levels tend to be sparsely populated with platforms, meaning a fall can often be a very long one. It's a good game, but the first one was immensely better.Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:52:58 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2687&iddiary=5092https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2687Summary: In Donkey Kong Country 2 you trade off playing as Diddy and Dixie Kong, spinning, climbing, jumping, and swimming around to defeat K. Rool and his Kremling Crew. Gameplay: While the game employs the same basic style of gameplay as the first Donkey Kong Country (two monkeys running around jumping on things) I found myself increasingly frustrated with some of the newer elements. After finding I could only jump from rope rigging while climbing it if I was on a far edge of the rigging and that I had a fairly difficult control of when I caught onto the rigging again I gave up and played the original DK Country to bring my spirits back up. Having improved my spirits I resolved to get back to work. DKC 2 does maintain the same level of humor and variety of scenery as the first DKC, but it also adds several new gameplay elements. Dixie Kong replaces Donkey Kong as a playable character, and she has the ability to twirl her hair to float (much like Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog did a year before) and to catch her hair on hooks to swing to higher places. One of the better added elements is the ability to throw the other monkey, which creates a whole new set of puzzles to find.Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:06:27 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2687&iddiary=5063https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2327Gameplay: There are definitely some key factors that increase or decrease the enjoyment of Brain Age 2. Some of the more notable ones today involved how you play the game with other people. While I have not had a chance to play the true multiplayer on Brain Age (it allows for people on multiple DS systems to play head to head on many of the games) I have been playing on a friend's DS. Brain Age keeps track of three different people on a single DS and keeps ranking as well as publicly displaying people's "brain age." This adds a bit of a competitive element to the game, which I enjoyed when I first started. That being said, today I quickly realized how much of a difference owning the game vs. playing your friend's makes. A game that I could beat my friend's score at four days ago I can now not come close to. This is common in most games, but the major reward structure in Brain Age revolves around you competing against yourself, and you competing against your friends' scores. A few of the games also have a limited maximum score and once you've attained it there is little motivation to ever play that minigame again. In specific, one game involves you keeping track of what place a runner is in as other runnings pass or are passed by him. There are 5 rounds and each round you are either correct or incorrect, meaning you can not do better than 5. If I owned a DS I imagine the competitive element would be much more entertaining, but, as it stands, practice makes for a much better score than I can get. Design: The design of the game is very simple and clean, which is attractive at first as it seems professional and adds credibility to the assumed claim that the game is helping your brain. However, the same cleanliness of the game makes it start to feel like work after a while. There is very little visually pleasing elements to the game. The lack of a creative element makes it seem much more regimented than I, at least, like my games to be. Another interesting design choice was the emphasis on competition. Every time you train it shows you a graph of your previous scores and comments on your 'progress.' It also will show you the other players scores so you can see how you measure up. This adds a level of challenge to the game that makes it more entertaining than simply training would be. Another small but interesting element is it occasionally has one player make sketches in response to prompts and then will ask the other players what they think the drawings are of. There may be other interactions that I haven't seen as well.Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:34:10 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2327&iddiary=4627https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2327Summary: In Brain Age 2 you play various mini-games that revolve around mental skills. The goal of the game is to train your brain to achieve the lowest "brain age" possible (20 being the perfect age). Gameplay: The game is certainly entertaining. The puzzles and problems they present you with are fun to play and compete with friends at and the feedback is immediate for how you're doing. The game encourages you to play through the minigames available once per day, telling you that it will help to train your brain. Some of the minigames include: memorizing a grid with 25 numbers and then filling in the numbers, selecting the highest number among a spread of numbers of varying sizes scattered on the screen, and keeping track of what position a silhouette runner has in a race. While the game is fun it is also limiting in a major sense. Each minigame can only be played for a score once per day, and likewise you can only earn a new 'brain age' once each day. To keep you coming back, each day you play adds another mini-game (until you have them all). This is somewhat effective, as I do want to play again, but the short duration of competitive play each day makes me likely to forget, and because it's purely a puzzle game I'm not left with a sense of wanting to know what will happen next. Also, a minor(major) annoyance is that the game recognizes a 4 as a 9 if you try to write it as a single pen stroke.Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:06:13 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2327&iddiary=4455https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1971Gameplay: Continuing on the quest we meet a number of stereotypic parody characters, including the orphan who's questing to find his parents, the wise old frog that fills you in on the details (and is named Frogfucious), and a doll brought to life by a shooting star. The gameplay remains standard RPG fare, with lots of the same fight repeated so that you can level up to keep up with the enemies. The minimal equipment and character development means there isn't anything too special about finding all the treasure chests; especially since a lot of the chests contain coins and I've already found an upper limit of 999 coins that you can carry. You do occasionally run into a minigame, which can be entertaining. Looking around I found one that involved jumping on tadpoles to play a song, and playing the correct one let you purchase new items. Another one has you riding barrels and jumping to collect coins. The minigames seem well spaced and are somewhat enjoyable. Design: The game seems to be aimed at a young crowd who are familiar with Mario, but may be unfamiliar with the RPG genre. To this end it seems very well designed. The characters often make self-depricating remarks about Bowser having kidnapped the princess again, the colors are bright and cartoonish, and the action is very simple and straightforward. This would have been a great game when I was seven. The choice to simplify the gameplay to such a low level, however, make it uninteresting when thought of as an RPG. The minigames, while well spaced, are also fairly simple and after a quick read of the directions provided they require very little skill/thought to complete. For its time and age group, Super Mario RPG is a great game. For anyone who enjoys an engaging storyline and a complex RPG system this just plays too much to the cutesy audience.Mon, 21 Jan 2008 03:36:00 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1971&iddiary=3859https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1971Summary: The princess has, once again, been kidnapped by Bowser. Bowser only takes about five minutes to defeat, however, and victory is all but assured until a giant, talking space-sword shows up and announces plans to conquer the world. As Mushroom Kingdom's only hope, Mario must once again battle enemies to save the princess and stop the bad guy...thing, but this time in an RPG. Gameplay: This game lands somewhere between the normal RPG style and the classic Mario sidescroller. While there are some very unique elements, I found much of the game to be somewhat lacking. After a few hours of gameplay I found myself getting quite bored of the simplified RPG rules (such as only having three item slots--weapon, armor, and accessory) and fairly basic character progression (one new skill every so many levels and a choice of boost to power, hp, or magic every level). Also, the story is a very simple and well-used Mario story, which works fine when the point of the game is challenging, fast-paced levels, but is somewhat lacking in a full RPG style game. That being said, there are some very interesting elements that were added to the genre. Mario RPG borrows from its sidescroller predecessors in both its map traversal and in the way you navigate levels. Some basic jumping puzzles show up early in the game and I was even able to receive star power for a brief time (which knocks enemies away and prevents battles from taking place). The game also adds a small amount of skill into the fights, as hitting a button at the right moment will increase your attack damage or decrease the damage you take. Some spells also require you to tap a button repeatedly when casting them. All in all, I don't think I'll be finishing the game after a second session. It has some interesting elements, but after the main storyline had me spend 30 minutes chasing a crocodile who stole a frog/tadpole's (he looks like an egg with arms and legs) money and ignoring the captured princess problem I'm not overly excited to find out what happens next.Mon, 21 Jan 2008 01:33:49 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1971&iddiary=3855https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1620Gameplay: After playing a few more hours of Bully I am starting to get bored of it. While the dialog is well written and entertaining, the inflexibility of the missions doesn't fit well with the rest of the game. It may be that we've been spoiled for a while with games that let us make decisions about what type of actions we take. In Bully, each mission has a very limited solution set and doesn't seem to give you any options about whose side you want to take. Rockstar did add a few touches to make the game feel more like a school and less like GTA, but mostly they are cosmetic changes. For instance, instead of picking up hookers to regain health, you give presents to girls to get a kiss. Also, instead of an assortment of high powered weapons you get bricks, firecrackers, smoke bombs, and trash can lids. Still, since nearly everything takes less than 20 minutes to complete Bully makes for an excellent casual game, and the minigames effectively break up the normal gameplay. Design: Bully is a well designed game, as it should be, since GTA3 was also a well designed game. The graphics fit very well with the atmosphere of the game, and there are lots of small touches that add atmosphere to the game as well. There were a large number of common models to complement the custom character models and gave the school a more realistic feel. Also, the non-unique chars had some basic behavior beyond just walking around, as well. When the bell rang you'd see most of them run off to class. The biggest disappointment to the design of this game was its unoriginal play. It really feels like GTA3 with a different set of graphics on top of it. From a design point of view this likely saved a lot of time and it's not uncommon for a game engine to be reused, however, most of the time this is accompanied by enough changes or something creative enough to not leave it feeling like the game that first used the engine. Another design choice that irked me in Bully is that they give the player very little personal choice during the game. I've seen, at most, two available missions at a time, and I had to complete both of them before another mission would become available. And each mission has a very straightforward goal and way of accomplishing it. All in all, this is a fun game to play, and has some very entertaining cutscenes, but it's nothing new.Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:15:30 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1620&iddiary=3454https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1620Summary: Bully is a game in which you play a 'troubled' kid starting at a private school for children of rich parents who don't want to deal with their kids. The came consists mainly of running around and hitting other students while avoiding being caught by the prefects. The game is from Rockstar (think GTA). Gameplay: If you've played any of the GTA games in the past few years (San Andreas, Vice City, etc.) then you're already familiar with the gameplay. The main part of the game involves completing missions, of which there seems to be three main types. The first is protecting someone, the second is beating a certain person up, and the third is retrieving an object. These types of missions are fairly common and nothing new, and, just like in GTA, you fail if you're caught by an authority figure--prefect--at any point during the mission. While this is all old hat, it's still pretty fun. Where the game really does well is in the minigames. There are numerous classes that you can attend (or skip) including math, english, art, gym, science, etc. Each class has its own minigame and doing well gives you a new ability. The minigames are both simple and enjoyable and are so far my favorite part of the game. Unfortunately, classes can sometimes be difficult to get to, as you aren't told where they'll be until the class starts, and they last for about 3.5 minutes and you have to find them. However, if you're lazy you can let a prefect catch you outside of class and he'll "bust" you and take you to class. Something Rockstar brought back in this game is factions, however, each set of missions seems to increase for only a single faction and decrease another faction. I'm reminded of GTA2 which let you do missions for one of three factions to change how much each liked you, but you don't get to choose missions from different factions in Bully (at least not yet). Instead, you do a series of missions for one faction and then move on.Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:18:53 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1620&iddiary=3336