Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=516https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3066GAMELOG #2 GAMEPLAY: As always, with customization, comes trends. Your defense isn't complete without a Troll carrying an accuracy-enhanced minigun or a Dwarf that can summon creatures and cast ice barriers. Offense will almost never capture a flag without an elf that has a sword paired with enhanced reflexes for bullet deflecting and increased speed. Certain exceptions always apply, and other combinations are usually more fun. But people always figure out what is most effective. The tutorials, as helpful as they are, grow boring and a bit tedious after a while. I got tired of hearing the instructors voice. He talked entirely too much to explain relatively self-explanatory things. I ended up ignoring most of what he said, spamming 'X' to continue through his talking, and talking to my roommate until I was able to move again. This game came out a long time ago. Around it's release date, I'm sure there was a lot of activity, but now there is next to none. I went online after the tutorials and there were about twenty matches happening, total. I joined a few, and the players were standing around beating their teammates with the flag they were supposed to capture. Nobody was actually playing. That left me with bot matches, and I had pretty much had my fill of those by the end of the tutorials. Overall, I'm really glad I didn't spend the money to buy this game, because I shot through pretty much all it had to offer in about three hours. DESIGN: The levels are designed to take advantage of the enhanced mobility and defensive capabilities of the spells. There are lots of high ledges and long drops, perfect to teleport up or fling someone from. There are rooms ideal for refuge where you can cast healing spells, and bridges and ramps for barricading. The environment combined with either offense or defense, and what stage in the match you happen to be at, really promote on-the-fly changes in style and strategy. I think this was well done. Not perfect, by any means, but well done. Each race looks distinct. Humans are rather default, Dwarves are about half their height, Trolls are very large and box shaped, and Elves are tall and very thin. This distinction is very important in games like this where what race you're fighting makes a large difference. I don't want to approach a Dwarf for fear of losing my mana, and I know if I get into trouble I can outrun that Troll. Magic objects are also very large and distinct. Trees of Life are stationary objects that heal you, and appear as a rather large golden tree with glowing particles floating from it. The ice move produces crystals about as tall as a Human that are rather hard to miss. Summoned monsters are taller than the other races and are colored very brightly as blue or red. The idea is, you always know what each object or creature is without having to concentrate on figuring it out. You can spend more time thinking of how to behave accordingly. The only issue I had with this was, while all of that is distinct, the team colors are very dull. I ended up concentrating on player heads and shoulders to figure out teams, as the red team wore a headband and the blue had shoulder pads. This wasn't that big of an issue, and I got past it relatively fast, but I think it would have been overlooked entirely if the colors had been more clear. I was really looking forward to a campaign and story behind this game. I'd heard good things about the Shadowrun RPGs that predated this game, and I have a soft spot for fantasy worlds. The campaign (or lack thereof) was disappointing, as I hope I've made clear. That didn't stop them from trying to add a backstory anyway. Before each tutorial mission was a sorry excuse for a cutscene, mostly consisting of still images and a female narrator telling you the story. You never participate in the story, it is merely giving some facts you don't care about as the character's motivation for shooting the other guys. I watched two and skipped the rest, as they felt like a waste of time. Essentially, they told you that people found magic, some people are trying to steal your artifacts, and we're going to train you to use magic so you can stop the thieves. That truncates to 'shoot the guys trying to take the shiny thing' and that's about all that matters.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:18:07 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3066&iddiary=5770https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3066GAMELOG #1 SUMMARY: Shadowrun is a first person shooter with a lot of fantasy elements. There are four races to choose from, each with different traits. Along side the weapon purchasing, is a menu to purchase magic and techniques as well. The game emphasizes customization of play style and the multiplayer to use it in. GAMEPLAY: Going into it, I was really excited to play this game. I had played the demo when it was released almost a year ago, and remember really enjoying it. They gave a taste of about half of the skills with tutorials, followed by a match against computer players. The surprise I ran into upon playing the full version was that it's the exact same thing, but there are tutorials for all skills and races, instead of just a handful. There is no campaign, just lessons and multiplayer (against bots or online versus humans). The tutorial has a voice telling you what to do, and has you apply each skill in one or two situations each. The match is you and a handful of bots against a team of the same size, and the goals are the same as the online multiplayer: either capture the flag, or kill everyone. After each tutorial, the skills you get to use during the match were the ones they just taught you to use. This ended up being a very good way to learn the menu navigation and the effects of each skill, without going too far and covering all of the ways the skills can be combined strategically. I seem to be developing a growing acceptance for FPS on consoles, so even though the dual analogue is certainly not preferred to mouse and keyboard it didn't bother me for very long. The movement seems to be slower and more appropriate for the controller. There was skepticism around the games release, because it also came out for Windows, as to how they would either strengthen the 360 owners or weaken the PC users to make the cross-platform matches fair but I didn't get a chance to experiment online. I can't imagine this game being as fun on the PC, though. With a mouse and keyboard I would want the pacing to be a lot faster than I experienced on my Xbox. As for the skills and races, I like how they implemented them. They narrowed it to four stereotypes: Human, Troll, Dwarf, and Elf. Humans, as always, are average and start with a bit more money. Trolls can take more hits, but move slower. Dwarves can drain the mana from other players or magical objects. Elves are faster and more fragile. The skills range from defensive ice patches, to teleporting and ressurecting teammates. The techniques include a glider that lets you jump really far, a sort of heat vision that can reveal the position of enemies through walls, and a move that enhances the accuracy and zoom of your weapons. I've only got to play as Humans so far, and have a few defensive and healing spells, but so far just these few options allow for a lot of decision making and freedom of travel.Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:55:39 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3066&iddiary=5738https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2817GAMELOG #2 GAMEPLAY: Each world has a miniboss and a boss. They reside at the end of their respective levels, the miniboss being in the level halfway through a world, and the boss being at the end of the last level. They added a bit of a story by making all of the last levels the castle of its world, and the kings have been transformed into animals. The boss after each world holds the wand that turns the kings to their human form. The bosses themselves are just enemies with a bit faster and more varied movement, and are aggressive toward the player. They will move side to side and jump at you, and the major bosses will zap their wand at you as well. Instead of taking one hit to kill, they each take three. Although there are no other enemies to fight simultaneously or platforms to traverse, the fights are still all about placing jumps and landings, because stomping on enemies is the main form of combat. On the overworld map, you can sometimes use your upgrades in different ways. I found out that one that lets you throw hammers, will also break rocks on the map, which gave me access to extra huts where I could acquire more lives and upgrades. This feature is in no way necessary, but I thought it was a very nice addition for those with a curious or explorative style. DESIGN: Everything is sized to fit on a grid, with most things being two by two. This being the case, I consider a two by two object the size of their normal tiles. This is very geometric, which I think is a good thing for a platformer because it is much easier to gauge whether or not you can make a jump versus having to find an alternate route. There is a large variety of obstacles, allowing a lot to be done. There are platforms that move, spin, disappear, and can be moved by the player. There are enemies that shoot bullets, lob hammers, jump, and even drop more enemies on you. Half of the gameplay is trying to reach the appropriate platform, the other half is trying to conquer the monster blocking your path. All of this is accomplished by jumping with the correct timing and precision. It is a simple gameplay element used in a multitude of circumstances, and it's well done. The colors are all bright, but the backgrounds and environment textures are kept simple, while the character, enemies, and critical objects have bold lines and are distinct. This keeps the focus on what is important, while still making the overall screen aesthetically pleasing. It also keeps it simple with regards to what will hurt and what won't. Generally speaking, if it is round, it's safe to hit, if it has spikes, it's not. Hidden rooms and items are usually very satisfying to find. Their reward is commonly one of the good upgrades, or a few extra lives. As someone with a long background in playing Mario games, RPGs, and the like, seeking out hidden things and exploring is part of my play style. I really like to find as many side paths, extra content, and easter eggs as I can, so jumping into thin air and having an invisible block be triggered feels really good.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:00:54 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2817&iddiary=5376https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2817GAMELOG #1 SUMMARY: Super Mario Bros. 3 is a platformer in which you proceed through levels only by running, jumping and swimming. Your travel is aided by occasional upgrades that let you take additional hits, jump farther, shoot fireballs, etc. The final goal is to rescue the kidnapped princess. GAMEPLAY: The directional pad moves your character left and right, and if you hold the B button down, he runs. The A button jumps, and the longer you hold it the higher his jump. With this control scheme, there is a lot of control over how far and how high you jump, allowing for a lot of variety and challenge given the limited modes of travel. The player can also change their horizontal velocity while in midair by holding either direction, sometimes allowing them to jump onto a platform directly above them. As free as this allows the player to be, there is a low friction between you and the ground, so landing on small platforms after a long jump is still quite a challenge. Your character starts off small, at about one tile wide and one tall. If during a level you hit a block that would give an upgrade, a mushroom will pop out and you will double in height. After that, you can get one further upgrade at a time. Fireballs will kill most enemies, the raccoon tail will let you jump farther, the frog suit will let you swim faster, and the famous Tanooki suit lets you jump farther AND turn into a statue that your enemies can't hurt. This last upgrade also lets you take one additional hit before dying. Each hit will remove your highest upgrade, unless you have none. Falling off the bottom of the screen results in death no matter how many upgrades you have. The stages are divided into levels and worlds. In between levels there is an essentially linear overworld map. You're character icon hovers over the last level you completed, and can be moved over all of the previous levels in the current world. When you complete the last level of a world, you proceed to the start of the next one. However, in between some levels are optional huts where you can play a small game of chance to get an upgrade that goes into your collection. Before starting a level, you can view your collection of upgrades that you won from these huts, and choose to use one of them before entering a level, so instead of starting off small, you start with a bonus. This is particularly useful if a level is giving you a hard time.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:07:11 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2817&iddiary=5303https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2477GAMELOG #2 GAMEPLAY: On the overworld map, you get from place to place on your motorbike. During this time, the only entertaining thing I've found to do is mow over as many pedestrians and streetlamps as I can between points a and b. The real downside, however, is the contact between other objects. If you hit a wall or something solid, you fall off your bike and take about 5 seconds to stand back up again. There is no reason to put this long of a wait, or any wait at all, if the only consequence is increasing the length of monotony. The lawn mowing reference I made happened to be the second of the odd side jobs. If it weren't for my roommate and a friend of mine being in the room and laughing about it with me, I don't think I would have appreciated the event as much as I did. It was silly and relatively short, and scored me a few bucks. There are also other side jobs that DO involve combat. It started with targeting some big business guy with no real story meaning, and killing a bunch of no-names, both for money. After, I notice the jobs involve stylistic challenges as well. One of them is to kill as many guys as I can in 'x' amount of time using only wrestling moves. These have a cash reward as well, but things like time limits and combat challenges make them more interesting. As you rank up, more places become available in the city, including a weapon shop, a gym, and a clothing store for a little customization. Some look useless, some look necessary. Though one thing is pretty constant: everything is expensive. DESIGN: The art style of this game is pretty amazing. They took full advantage of the fact the Wii doesn't have good graphics quality and had fun. It's almost entirely cell shaded, with a really gritty feel to it. The menus, GUI, icons, and all that other stuff is in a very 8-bit looking style. The sounds for acquiring items, ranking up, etc go with this theme, playing midi-like sounds reminiscent of Mario Bros or Metroid. The gore and violence is very over-the-top, to where it's almost silly. This trait seems to make the game though. Bodies split in half and heads fly off as blood sprays everywhere and it just makes each death feel so much more visceral. Without it, the game would seem quite dull. Word is the Japanese and European versions censor most of it out, but I just can't see this game being complete without it. The missions are given to you one at a time from two buildings in town. When you accept one, a marker for its location shows up on your minimap. The division of missions was done well, and the completion of each one is fun (those including combat at least). While I say the division is good, I mean the literal separation. They did well in creating lots of small, fun events. The division in distance on the map is not so great. I have a similar complaint in my Shadow of the Colossus review, so I guess I'm just becoming less patient with games. At least give me something to do while I wait. Once again, I'll talk about save points. If you are between missions, you can't simply save on the overworld map. You must go all the way back to your room. They could at least let you save and send you back to your room when you turn the game back on. And if you fail during most missions, you not only have to start over, but you have to accept the job and drive back to the location a second time. There's really no reason not to just start you back at the beginning of the mission, or just outside the building. They are all instanced, so I would imagine it's easier to keep it loaded and respawn the enemies than to kick you halfway across the city.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:21:13 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2477&iddiary=4751https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2477GAMELOG #1 SUMMARY: No More Heroes is a third person action game, in which you play an assassin with a very lightsaber-esque sword called a Beam Katana. The goal is to earn money with side jobs so that you can enter in fights against higher ranking assassins and work your way up to the #1. GAMEPLAY: The combat is the dominant element of the game, fighting either hordes of henchmen or a single strong target. The hordes create an amusing slaughter scene, though they aren't very challenging. The single targets are usually other assassins above you, acting as boss fights and proving hard to kill, though it seems the player is hard to kill as well. The style of fighting is based mostly on the sword, with some wrestling moves thrown in. The sword is rather hack and slash, with lots of lock-on and smash the A button, but if you knock the enemy in a particular way, or get them to almost-dead health, then an arrow pops on screen, and if you swing the wiimote in the direction it's facing, you do a particularly bloody finishing move with the sword. The sword can also charge to unleash a strong attack either striking a single enemy, or swiping across and hitting many. The catch with using the sword, and the consequence for the charge attacks, is that your sword has a charge. With each swing the charge goes down, and charge attacks take extra. You recharge it by shaking the wiimote, but this is risky because you can be hit while charging, quickly turning a slaughter into running for a safe place. The wrestling style moves start with striking a guarding enemy in the correct place to stun them. While stunned, you can either slash at them with the sword for a bit, or grab them. If you grab, you can slam them into the ground, just like in a wrestling match, and it looks like you unlock better ones as the game progresses. The command to grab an enemy is simply the B button, but the act of throwing them is motion based like the finishing moves. However, instead of swinging just the wiimote, you also have to swing the nunchuk in it's specified direction simultaneously. Also, there are multiple steps (for example, you would have to swing them each twice in unison). In between assassination fights, you have to drive from place to place on the overworld map to get to your objectives. This is an unnecessarily large and open world with nothing to do in between, so this part is pretty boring. Also, there are small jobs that you need to do for money, but involve no fighting whatsoever. The first of these was to collect coconuts for some guy on the beach, and I've seen screenshots of the main character mowing a lawn. I think this was a pretty bad mechanic to add, but if you can be humored by this and think the funny-to-work ratio is worth it then more power to ya. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:37:41.)Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:09:14 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2477&iddiary=4674https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2130So I beat it... The challenge level certainly increases with each colossus to the point where (assuming you haven't played it before) the last two colossi can take about an hour to defeat. I definitely appreciate this. Normally, I would say that no single fight should take an hour, but since individual fights are the primary gameplay, and limited to a total of 16, I am fine with this. Granted, a lot of this time is borderline (or full-on) frustration trying to figure out how to get to the colossus's vitals, but the feeling when you succeed is amplified by the time spent in this way. It's the emotional cost & reward system, and I think they pulled it off well. Well enough for me to voluntarily finish the game over the weekend, at least. And that intoxicated horse? I grew attached to it... I really did. It's a savage, and after all the time I spent cursing at it, it still cooperated and pulled some badass stunts that helped me reach my goals. The last few fights (final two especially) were a little tedious, but all of them remained enjoyable. I'm impressed with the platforming elements they managed to put on moving creatures and make it work so fluidly. No spoilers here, but I also wanted to say that I thought the ending was a little predictable, but good nonetheless. My roommate watched it and thought it was bad, but I haven't witnessed him consent to the quality of any endings, so I'm not really going to let it bug me. Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:07:15 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2130&iddiary=4408https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2130GAMELOG #2 GAMEPLAY The gameplay seems to be the same throughout. Ride to the location of the next colossus, defeat the colossus, rinse repeat. Mostly I just want to update my critique from the last log. [I also wanted to say that I found that you can skip the large intro cinematic, and all small cutscenes during the game, but I find the short ones give a helpful description of the colossi's locations.] I've gotten a little better with the horse. Occasionally it will still sprint in the opposite direction when I tell it to slow down, or avoid running when I really want it to, but that happens at a fraction of the frequency it used to. That said, I believe its more of me learning to deal with their fault, more than a lack of one. I'm still displeased with its control. I also found a way to switch the camera in the options, but by the time I did I was finding myself using the other controls because I'd gotten used to them. They stayed. As for the repetition, when it comes to fighting the colossi, I really don't mind. I thoroughly enjoy those sequences. Riding to each colossus on the other hand, gets boring. I'll talk a little more on these subjects in the Design section. Weapons. When the game begins, it lets you scroll through Sword, Bow, and Unarmed. This stays the same through the rest of the game. The sword is your primary weapon, used to stab the colossi in their weak points. It is also used to reflect daylight to point at the location of the next colossus, and to reveal the weak points on them (it's some sort of ancient magic sword). The bow basically has one function: get the colossus's attention. It deals next to no damage, and there is no use for weapons as any sort of puzzle. Unarmed is about as useless out of combat as in it. There is no reason to be unarmed, ever. DESIGN Massiveness is a huge factor in this game. It is the root of the game's highlights, but in other areas it can be improved upon. The game takes place in an expansive, natural themed world. The scenery is all vegetation and cliff-sides, with stone temples and pillars, while the colossi look as though they are furry creatures with stone elements in their exoskeleton. Riding to each colossus gets old because of how long it takes. Granted, the vast plane upon which you ride really makes you feel small, and makes your journey feel great. But a virtual world does not have to be proportional. I think it may have been worth the aesthetic sacrifice to cut down the distance needed to travel. Killing each colossus, however, has remained enjoyable. I have killed six out of the sixteen, and I savor each encounter. Each one brings something new. A new way to grapple to its weak points, a new way to use the environment to your advantage, a new risk being posed as you climb across its shoulders, and so on. Gripping in game by gripping the trigger on the controller feels like you're actually clinging for your life. Paired with finite strength, you know you have to let go at some point, so there is loads of suspense as you are forced to risk yourself. Out of the six I've fought thus far, the fourth and the sixth have required the player to utilize the environment. The fourth stomps the ground as you swoop through a tunnel to its lowered back. The sixth leans down to look for you as you hide under a ledge and you leap onto it's upper half, taking it by surprise. I thought these elements were clever, but underused and a little basic. Given that I'm still roughly in the first third of the game, that's acceptable, but I'd like to see more later. I also expected to use the environment in battles where I didn't have to, which caused problems. With some minor level changes, those problems would not have occurred. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:22:24.)Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:20:12 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2130&iddiary=4141https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2130GAMELOG #1 SUMMARY Shadow of the Colossus seems like an action adventure game. It takes place in an expansive realm, where there is a god-like being with the power to bring back the souls of the dead. Your character brings a girl to this place at the start of the game, and the god instructs you to destroy the 16 collosi that live in this land. Your pursuit and conflict with these collosi is the entirety of the game. GAMEPLAY Going into the game, I had very high expectations, as I have only heard positive things about it. After the first hour or so, my feelings are still positive, but there are more flaws than I had expected. The game itself is a wonderful concept. It definitely feels epic when you ride across a massive bridge, and engage in combat with something whose tooth is the size of your torso. As a colossus tries to fling you from its back as you're holding for dear life, and you give a quick leap and thrust your sword into its skull, you feel a whole new kind of bad-ass. My issues don't lie here, but mostly in controls. That epic horse ride loses a hearty chunk of its "cool" when it looks like your horse just downed a keg. Just trying to get it to run was an issue, and then you have to make it run -straight-. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but I think I got that to happen twice. You can't just ditch the horse and foot it, either, because with a world this vast, even a drunk horse gets you from a to b faster than walking, so its just something I had to put up with every time I ran to a colossus. My other control issue was the camera. Occasionally it will guide the camera's movement automatically when you are on a cliffside-like location, but other than that, you move it on your own with the right analog stick. The left to right sensitivity is far different from the up and down, and the directions are inverted horizontally, but not vertically. I really hope this is a setting that I can change, because it made lots of the combat unpleasant focusing half my efforts on just seeing my enemies. I'll definitely look into it before continuing. The intro and cutscenes: The intro was very drawn out. I was well done, and I felt like I was watching a movie. I knew something awesome was coming. But it was at least 15 minutes before I could push a button. The cutscenes in the rest of the game are tolerable. I like seeing each colossus's sequence. The temple scene after each colossus, however, looks almost the same every time. I don't really want to complain about this, though, because I personally can't think of a way to improve upon them, and they teleport you back to the temple into the center of the map each time. I would much rather watch thirty seconds of cutscene than to run all the way back on my substance abusing horse.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:59:44 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2130&iddiary=4083https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1639GAMELOG #2 GAMEPLAY The morph ball returns to Metroid Prime 3. The morph ball ability tucks your character into a sphere, pushing the camera out to third person and adding a new puzzle/platform element. While in this mode, you can roll around and leave up to three small bombs at a time in your path. Stopping on top of one of these bombs allows you to hop while still in the ball form, and certain switches are activated by rolling into a receptacle and planting one of these charges. They managed to do at least one really cool, new thing with it this time around, which was forcing the character to fight while rolling around in a pipeline, foreshadowing the following boss fight. However, they also failed to realize that some players may not be familiar with the series. A handful of times I found myself thinking that someone who has not played any Metroid games before might not recognize that a round switch, or a crack at the base of a wall, are asking to be detonated. The only explanation I recall with regards to the morph ball told me that it can fit in small places and hit certain, ambiguous switches. The grappling hook also returns, after being added only recently. It's more of a beam than a hook, allowing adhesion to a larger variety of surfaces without the audience jeering about physics. The nunchuck attachment is cast forward to deploy the beam, and jerked back to withdraw it. This beam adds a platforming element, swinging between ledges, as well as combat and exploration features. It is capable of yanking enemy shields away, and pulling statues and blocks from walls. It opens a creative and curious thought process in me, because now I know it is good for more than swinging, and I wonder what else they may have me use it for. Combined with the smooth, interactive feel of actually throwing and retracting it, the grappling beam makes a nice addition to your arsenal. A new feature is Hypermode. It takes some of your life and adds a temporary boost of firepower. This is needed to destroy certain resilient obstacles, but can be used any time. At the moment, it seems like no big deal, but certain things have hinted that later, you may be able to go beyond the "safe" time limit, but put yourself at risk of corrupting your body with the substance that fuels this added power. This clearly connects to the title of the game, and makes me very curious about its potential later on. Falling is a big issue when platforming. The common result is death or major setback, and this is something that tends to frustrate me when platforming from a first person view. The player can never actually see their feet, and shouldn't be looking down anyway. In Metroid Prime 3, I fell, and I was devastated until I saw that it took me right back up to the platform I fell from, without freezing time, sending me to the entrance of the area, or killing me entirely. At that point I was thrilled. This feature is something you can't exploit, as you don't recover any health or ammunition from it, nor do the enemies that may have been near you disappear. Also, it does not force you to repeat content. I think this was a very smart decision. DESIGN Primarily, I would like to vent about save points. They are few and far between. Even though they make sure to put one before boss battles and at the start of each zone, so much time is spent in each area, that you could potentially play for an hour without seeing one. If worst comes to worst, the player can usually run back to their ship and save there, keeping the puzzles and upgrades they have finished and found, but spending some time running through empty, pre-cleared areas. I was unfortunate enough to find one spot where this was not possible, right as I wanted to shut off the game and have dinner. It was impossible to go any direction but forward, as I could not yet swing across large gaps, while behind me was a gap, and in front of me I was lost. I eventually figured out how to proceed, but it took me an extra ten or fifteen minutes while others waited for me to finish. After playing games with Quicksave features I see no reason for this to happen. Quicksave is something implemented in Fire Emblem and lots of RPGs, which allows you to quit at any point, and resume at that point, but once the game is resumed, it behaves as though you have not saved since the last "official" save point. I think something like this would have helped me enjoy this game at least a little more. A major element of the game is finding new upgrades and weapons that allow you to open doors that you previously could not. Going through the first couple planets I see doors in passing that I currently cannot open. However, there are probably fewer of these doors than save points, so I'm doubting that I will ever return to these places to seek out these doors for the single health or ammo boost that most likely lies behind it. There is certainly a spirit of exploration in this game, and I love discovering new things, but the environment is so vast that I would have to lean from explorer to completionist if I were to ever return to places I had already seen and explored for a small and unnecessary boost. Doors and hallways are key limitations in this game. They separate areas, giving each one an isolated feeling, and allowing them to take on a theme. I find they usually feel like either a puzzle (if there are switches, morphball paths, and blocks), a platforming trial (given lots of ledges and things to swing from), or an arena (with open space, some plateaus, and nowhere to fall to your death). This distinction is usually helpful getting the player thinking in the right direction about how to proceed. Hallways are the relief gaps, sometimes with small enemies but usually containing a room with a health or ammo boost, or a save point. The environment is an interesting combination of technology and ancient civilization. Despite the colonization of other planets, humans seem to be absent from most of the places the player is sent. Instead of a bunch of cities and modern influence, the player sees the ruins of ancient cultures, and wild creatures all over be them hostile or ambivalent. With the feature of the scan visor (and an interest in the background of the game) the player has the option of finding out a lot about what happened on each planet that left it the way it is. The scan visor is a feature that lets you scan objects for a description of what it is, and its function, but can also be used on artifacts to find some story about the culture. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:32:25.)Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:06:53 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1639&iddiary=3365