Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=457https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3137GAMEPLAY: Now the second time around, things really began to take a change. My competitors and I became obsessed with getting strikes. There were many techniques I had discovered in the process of bowling. Some key moves that stood out to me and as well seemed very realistic, was a curve strike, the ability to bowl the ball really slow, and the speed a player was able to get. The curve strike was a killer and my goof friend was really good at them. It consisted of swinging the arm right next to the gutter and just before you let go of the B button (releasing the ball), you would have to tilt the controller to the left or right. It was a killer move to master and one of my friends was able to get seven in a row. I on the other hand got a couple. Secondly, bowling the ball really slow helped when there were only one or two remaining pins. You could swing slowly to the point where the character went directly up to the line and then release the ball at a very slow speed. Lastly, I was amazed at how fast I could throw the ball; you could really get some speed! Another thing I had noticed was the people in our room and my obsession with getting strikes. We actually forced our friend to stay longer (he was really good at the curve strikes) so as to see if he could beat his own score. The interaction between player/audience to the video game was thoroughly enjoyable. Overall, I believe the gameplay was a ten out of ten hands down and acceptable for anyone of any age. DESIGN: What was very interesting about Wii Sports when it came to the design of the overall game was its simplicity. I would think that with this new type of video game, new aspects and innovative techniques would be used when it came to design, but when it boils down to it, Wii Sports is an interactive game that is good old fashion fun. In bowling, the bowlers were these cartoon little characters, fun and cute looking; they set the tone for the game. They didn’t even have any arms! There was not much personality to the characters besides their obvious physical looks and there is not story whatsoever to Wii Sports. As for level design, the bowling arena looked exactly like a realistic one would look like. There were no extra cool features when bowling; it was simply exactly like the bowling arenas that you and I play on. What caught my attention though was how exactly when the payer was not playing, how the overall experience of bowling was captured in the video game. I saw it very much like a sports channel. First I would bowl, and lets say I would get a strike. There would be multiple slow-motion angles of my ball hitting the pins, and then “Wii Sports” would flash into the screen transitioning back to the player. I think its interesting that society watches these professional sports on the television, and now it’s the player interacting with and in the television, even though it’s the games character who represents the player. With Wii Sports simplicity and fun, I was able to interact with the videogame physically, interact with my opponents, and interact with the audience in a positive enjoyable manner.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:12:35 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3137&iddiary=5887https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3137SUMMARY: In Wii Sports for Wii, the player or players (up to four) have the choice to either partake in bowling, tennis, boxing, or golf. Instead of a just pressing buttons on a normal controller hooked into the game system, the players play the game according to the hand movement of the wireless controller. GAMEPLAY: This game was probably one of the best games I have ever played. This was my first experience with the Wii consol and it was really a fun game. Unlike typical games, the Wii makes you really get involved in the game when it came to playing the sports. The game that my friends and I chose to play was bowling, and it amazed me how accurate or should I say how realistically you had to throw the ball in order to get a good score. A slight movement on the controller could fatally lessen your score as your bowling ball went into the gutter. I believe that the really cool aspect of the game was the interaction I had with the people surrounding me. Cramped into a triple, eight of us played and watched the game. I remember feeling pressure from not only the competition I had but as well with the audience around me. There were tons of “Ohhhhhhhs” and “Ahhhhhhhhs,” it really was quite a scene. People were getting mad at each other, people were rejoicing, people were competitive, the game really brought out a sense of really fun interactive competition. Sure there are games that are competitive, but this physical interaction differs from them all. With Wii Sports, I believe the game makes its players have a significant presence in the magic circle, but because of its physical aspect, the game has a sense of reality as well.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:49:38 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3137&iddiary=5845https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2901Summary: In my second time playing, I began to get a really good sense of flow from the game. To put it into simple terms, I would get through a level (which implied killing every bad guy there was, getting various guns and ammo, and advancing through levels) so as to move on into the next. The next level would produce a new environment for me to interact with my enemies, therefore making the gameplay a continuous source of fun. What I began to notice at first unconsciously and then gradually consciously, was how comfortable I was shooting and aiming with my various guns. My ability to zoom in on people with certain guns and with my trusty aimer always in front of me, shooting was made much easier than lets say a game without an aimer or lock-ons. I do not really remember any other games made for the N64 at the moment, but I think that GoldenEye 007’s ease of play contributed significantly to its success. Design: I think that what this game lacks, especially for me now as being a previous player, is innovative aspects of the game. To be honest, I love this game to death, but really there isn’t any times where I feel like something within the game was very out of the ordinary and different from other games from the past. Every video game pretty much has variation if it has multiple levels, so I will commend GoldenEye 007 in its variation of levels. There are levels in which I was able to just go entirely through without having to back trace my steps, and there were some in which I had to figure out exactly I would have to retrace my steps. But really, it’s nothing to be amazed about. The game creates conflict in two different ways. One obvious way is the interaction with the bad guys. In order for me to complete a level, I needed to kill those who were strictly created to kill me. The second way in which the game creates a sense of conflict is the level design. In many ways, I did not have freedom to move about in my levels, because there was only one way to go, one bridge to go on, one hallway to go down, one vent to climb through, etc. The tone of the game is neither a happy one nor dark one; it’s more of an adventurous feel. The sounds of bullets whizzing by, the sometimes overwhelming amount of bad guys, and just the fact that I was James Bond gave the game this adventurous feeling. What I thought was interesting about the game was its reward structure which was a folder at the end of each level telling the player his or hers stats. These included: The time in which you had finished the game, the best time, accuracy, weapon of choice, shots total, kills total, and the percentages of head shots, body shots, limb shots, and other shots. It made me feel that I had done a good job in killing and getting through a level, and sometimes made me feel as if I slacked and didn’t really get as involved in the game as I could have. Overall I would rate this game a 10 out of 10 simply because it a classic that I have grown to continually enjoy.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:44:56 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2901&iddiary=5438https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2901Summary: In N64’s GoldenEye 007, the single and multi-player aspects of the game, control James Bond: a man based on the character from the movie GoldenEye. The game is a first person shooter and the goal of the game is to work ones way around and complete each level without being killed. Gameplay: When playing games from N64, its hard not to have a good time, especially because of the fact that the N64 represented a part of my youth. In playing this game, I could not help but to reminisce over the countless hours playing GoldenEye 007. It felt good to go back to my roots and hear the soundtracks, the sounds of shooting and reloading guns, the way in which James Bond would make this particular breathing sound when hurt, it was all ever so familiar. When playing games from the past, I tend to feel very comfortable with the game. There is nothing new when I hear the sound of those alarms, or the sound of my sniper. And in a way, the game is almost too comfortable, which most definitely good, but I believe a video game should keep its player on edge and curious. When it came to characters within the game, I believe there really was not much to critique. Although the player, or I was not able to see myself in GoldenEye 007, being a man such as 007 from the movie makes the player have an already preconditioned view of what he or she actually is. James Bond’s personality is not gradually revealed as the game progresses and therefore has no room for change. The only change that James Bond would receive was getting hurt and switching up his guns. As for the ‘bad’ guys, all I could really say about them is that they shot at me. Sure their outfits changed and their guns changed, but I felt as if each bad guy throughout the levels I have played so far is basically the same. The game itself was of course really fun to play. The only reason is because of my past involvement as a kid and also because the game has a simple goal which is fun and not too hard to overcome. This goal of course is to get through levels without dying.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:44:23 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2901&iddiary=5437https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2503SUMMARY: In Spyro 2 Ripos Rage for Playstation 2, the single player controls a small fire-breathing dragon accompanied by a color-changing dragonfly. The main objective is to complete levels, either torch or ram bad guys, while attaining gems and orbs at the same time. GAMEPLAY: I remember watching my younger brothers play the first version of this game and enjoying the overall game. My very first impressions of the game were that the game was a really happy and very cute game. Killing was never so cute and I noticed that the creators of the game took extra steps to make their game seem harmless to anyone playing it. One example included when Spyro was talking to a monk-like fellow, the monk asked Spyro to kill the beat that was rampaging his town. In the text at the bottom of the screen where the dialogue was, instead of the word ‘kill,’ it was replaced with torch. It was funny to see that even the bad guys looked cutesy and not exactly similar to the average bag guy in other games. The game made me feel like it had a very ‘kid-like’ appeal and I wonder what age-range the game designers were hoping to design the game for. The music was very upbeat and happy feeling even when Spyro were to face a boss, there was no sense of negativity. The only thing that bothered me while playing this game was the amount of gems that I needed to get. I am not a man of great detail and to be honest I didn’t want to collect the large amount of gems, I wanted to simply get through the levels while still managing to have a good time. But there were points where I had to collect a certain amount of gems in order to continue or advance through a certain part of the level, which I wasn’t a huge fan of. This made some game play somewhat obnoxious for me, but I can see how it may appeal to other players. One cool aspect of the design of the game was that there were many secret locations I had found, and getting the gems or earning them by finding these secret ways I felt that it was worth my time. Overall the game play was pretty fun and I would give it a 7.5 out of 10.Fri, 08 Feb 2008 23:10:33 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2503&iddiary=4709https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2503GAMEPLAY: The second time around playing the game I began to ease up on finding and getting gems and actually started to enjoy finding them. The game still remained a very happy and upbeat tone as the levels increased. I realized that this game required a lot of going back to places where I had already been and a lot of exploring. When I learned or when Spyro learned how to swim, I went back in the level to find out there was a completely different underwater aspect to the game and I began to find more new locations. That’s one of the main aspects of my second game play that I really enjoyed, the ability of exploration, it really makes the game fun and worth the play. DESIGN: What I thought was innovative and really cool was the portal aspect. When I completed a level, I didn’t advance to the next level, lets say by walking, but by portal. When I had finished a level, at the end there was this portal and you could look into it and it would be a sky and instantly when you crossed through it, you were flying. I really liked that design aspect. Another aspect of design that I really enjoyed was the tasks that I had to complete in some certain levels. It made the game much more intriguing and made the game very fun. Some examples include when I would have to hit a bunch of gems in a certain order while flying in order to brighten a larger gem. What made it fun was the fact I was able to fly as opposed to gliding, it was hard with the increased speed to get eat gem, in order, and in the end the reward a gem. These challenges made the game more exciting and I found myself wanting for more as the game progressed. The game makers as well did a very good job of mixing up levels; they were each different and had their own personalities. Again, they as well managed to keep the game very friendly and happy. I don’t think that a parent could refuse their child from playing such a game and I think that is why the game was rated E for everyone.Fri, 08 Feb 2008 23:08:51 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2503&iddiary=4707https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2203GAMEPLAY Playing Super Mario World for a second session proved to be more rewarding than the first. My partner and I were simply addicted, oftentimes screaming because we both would die at the same locations or at just the sheer frustration of some hard levels. Level after level, I think we began to grow much more sensitive to the controller, being smoother and getting through levels with more grace and agility. I am not a huge video game fan and really have never really been, but Super Mario World has me. Like the first session, the game was simply a process or flow, getting from the beginning to the end and like machines–we did. Those around us began even to get jealous of our newfound addiction and demanded that they play! DESIGN There were two major aspects that stood out to me when playing Super Mario World. One included the vast variation of levels there were. I think initially what drew me to the game and I’m sure many others, is the array of levels I was able to play: caves, trees, cliffs, haunted houses, clouds, and more! As each level progressed, the environment changed and as well as its bad guys. These bad guys became much better at attempting to hurt me as I progressed. For example, more towards the beginning, bad guys would attempt to just jump on me and further into the game there came to be bad guys who would spew multiple fireballs in my direction. Also what was interesting was at the end of some levels there were bosses. These bosses oftentimes were very different from the bad guys within levels, giving them a more ‘special feeling’ when fighting them, This was a change from the typical beginning/end playing, I had to begin and not only get through the level, I had to beat a boss in order to advance. This only made the playing experience much more addicting and fun. The second aspect of design that really stood out to me was the sound in the game. It was all just so classic! There was a very wide arrange on songs that went with and fitted with each level that were really corny and yet at the same time so awesome. It gave the game a really fun feeling and really creates the mood for which you play in. Some sounds that really stood out in my mind were: the noise that occurs when you get a coin, when you are small Mario or Luigi and you get a mushroom that makes you grow, the ‘invisible mode’, and when you die. These are all so classic sounding and again, I think this classic-ness is what really contributes to the awesomeness of Super Mario World.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:10:58 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2203&iddiary=4174https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2186SUMMARY In Super Mario World for Super Nintendo, the player or players (the game enables a one-player or two-player mode) are in control of either two characters by the names of Mario and Luigi. These two characters are able to jump, run, grow, and even receive powers such as the ability to shoot flame balls or the ability to fly. The main goal is to avoid ‘bad guys’ and to work your way around obstacles in the many different levels to further your way into the game. GAMEPLAY This game would have to be one of the most enticing games to ever be created in my opinion; I couldn’t put the controller down! This game is really fun not only alone, but as well as with the two-player mode. You automatically build a bond with your partner as you attempt to further yourselves through each level, pushing each other and getting psyched up. Mario (and Luigi alike) is able to do many things that enabled me to make ease of things. One beneficial factor within the game included the ability to hop onto Yoshi (a green little dinosaur with an appetite) and eat bad guys who approached me. Mario is able to grow from being small, run really fast, fly, shoot fire balls, and I’m sure further into the game more powers will be available. Mario is very well rounded and with this, I was able to solidly get through levels getting coins and extra lives. The amount of constant flow in the game was very much present. It’s a simple concept; I would start at the beginning of a level and finish at the end. This beginning/end flow resonates throughout each level of the game and makes the players eagerly wait for the next and the next level. When playing, I played with an audience of four people, and what was interesting was that not only the players were the ones who were into the game, but also everyone watching was really into the game. At times I would look over and the audience would emulate Mario or Luigi’s movements with their mouths or heads because they were so into it. Super Mario World is a very social game and I think that is what really makes this game one of the best.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:31:11 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2186&iddiary=4147