Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=518https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3001GAMEPLAY The story behind Stalker is still rather cryptic at this point in the game, but the main quest line seems to promise answers. So far, the missions have largely involved me meeting with people who have information about where to find a certain person that I need to kill, with said meetings happening under extraordinary circumstances. Ensuring the safe escape of another character whose base was being raided by the military so that he could give me information was exciting and unique, with panicked movement through a base as a war that I had no part in took place around me. This portion really solidified the feeling that the NPCs had their own roles, lives, and agency in the world, and that it certainly did not revolve around me, as is the impression in many other first-person shooters. The weapon selection continues to expand, and has actually changed gameplay in significant ways. With the discovery of a scope that can be attached to certain weapons, the combat has changed from spraying from cover to strategic sniping, picking off enemies in as few shots as possible. Whereas before the player was mostly concerned with keeping their ammunition count as high as possible via dispatching human NPCs, the scope necessitates a balance be struck between carrying enough ammunition to be prepared for many firefights and carrying not so much as to weigh you down significantly. Ammunition is one of the heavier things you need to manage inventory-wise, with movement speed and stamina affected directly by how much you are burdened; however, since ammunition is a necessity for surviving, taking small amounts is very risky. The environments continue to be of amazing quality and detail. All of the game world areas make logical sense, and the player is given more the impression that the NPCs are utilizing the environment rather than having it built around them. Every aspect of the art design in the game is gritty and run down, and every location and item is intensely lovable as a result. Ironically, the buggy nature of the game itself contributes to this, as its state is almost parallel to the environment it is set in - pieces are hanging off, it's largely utilitarian, but damned if it isn't beautiful in its own way. DESIGN It is honestly difficult to tell whether the people who created this game were brilliant or just incredibly lucky. Every major aspect of the game falls into place and works in tandem with the other elements in a way that feels natural enough that it seems almost unlikely that it was engineered. The fact that the player is given extremely minimal instruction on how to play the game and none on how the core mechanics function make the player feel like they have figured the game out entirely on their own, exploiting certain mechanics and taming others, and the fact that the game can actually get away with what is for all intents and purposes a broken tutorial (which would normally be a cardinal sin in a game) is a testament to how natural it feels for the player to not have this information handed to them. Again, this plays right into the singular feel of the game as a whole, a scrappy, gritty, and stereotypically Russian vibe that is present in every nook and cranny of the game and its mechanics that I have been able to find. The fundamental gameplay here, in very much the same way that Diablo is about equipment selection and management, is about inventory management, primarily ammunition. There are many types of ammunition throughout the game, and different guns use different types. However, since you encounter members of factions (who generally use and therefore supply ammunition for different weapons) in different areas, you have to plan out which type of weapon you are going to take in order to maintain an ideal ammunition level in the areas you are going to be in. Choosing to take along an inappropriate weapon can be crippling, as you can end up running out of ammo with no source to replenish it. A weight system for the inventory has a direct effect on your speed and stamina while moving, limiting the player in what the can take along with them. This makes it infeasible to take more than two large weapons, meaning that the player can not simply take along one firearm of each type and simply be set. The weight system ultimately ties immediately back into ammunition management, as ammo is one of the heaviest things that the player can lug around. This means that the player is not able to simply stock up on obscene amounts of ammunition, either. The player is driven to maintain a constant ideal level of ammo on their person at all times, and has to choose the correct equipment and change their tactics accordingly to do so. Stalker also strays from normal FPS fare in its level design. The game world consists of nearly twenty expansive, largely open, interconnected areas, ranging from forests filled with wildlife of varying hostility to decrepit train yards watched over by trigger-happy snipers to old factories populated by squatters to underground military and scientific facilities being used for questionable purposes. More impressively, a constant level of detail is maintained between all of these areas, meaning that the game world feels contiguous and like it really does all exist in the same world. I've seen transitions between interior and exterior environments handled poorly in many games, but Stalker has managed to pull it off flawlessly. The artificial intelligence in Stalker is also of note. Human NPCs in the world use the environment astonishingly well, taking cover in bushes and behind trees and debris in exterior environments and using cover just as competently inside of structures. Their AI permits them to perform nearly every action the player can take, save a few odd omissions that, as I understand it, were removed to avoid breaking the game. They are capable of moving between areas in the game just as the player is, for example, which certainly has an impact when you recognize a character you remember from earlier in the game in later places. The human NPCs also have a complex faction system, where their reaction towards you depends on your interaction with members of certain factions, with the player given the chance to aid in a serious change in the factional topology of the game world. The creature AI is not to be underestimated either, with creatures assaulting you effectively in packs but fleeing when alone, and battles for food between different types of animals in the game world. The player is also given the option of driving attacking creatures away without having to kill them (and thus saving precious ammunition), as a few well placed shots will send certain types fleeing towards the hills. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is an excellent game in an unusual position. While it is somewhat marred by the fact that it is incomplete in places and buggy in many others, it is also very much enhanced by the fact. The state that the game is in works astonishingly well with the themes and feel of the game. Stalker is an absolute gem if you can tolerate the slightly dysfunctional state that it is in, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:39:33 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3001&iddiary=6010https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3001SUMMARY S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a first-person shooter blended with a healthy dose of traditional role playing game elements, such as inventory management, small-scale objective based gameplay, and complex interactions with non-player characters. The gameplay ends up heavily focused on ammunition and inventory management, with the player challenged to avoid taking so much as to weigh them down significantly but enough so to be prepared for a majority of challenges ahead. The game is set in a alternate-reality version of Chernobyl and its surrounding areas, and the expansive environment plays a very important role in the game, both in terms of narration, combat, and movement. Players in the game are set upon a main mission-line which pushes them through the game world, supplemented with side-missions that the player can complete at their own choosing. Missions usually require killing certain NPCs, retrieving certain items, or defending certain areas from assaults. GAMEPLAY The gameplay of Stalker follows a precedent set by the very beginning of the game. The rough translations from Russian to English (and complete lack of translations in some non-vital areas), the way the other characters immediately treat you as a means to their own ends, and even the starting tutorial (in which at one point the person explaining the player's PDA cuts the tutorial short, commenting that "it's all very simple, I'm sure you can figure it out") all contribute to a feeling that the game is neither going to hold your hand nor limit you in many ways. The game thus far has maintained this feel, with the interactions with the NPCs open and free, and the player allowed to approach missions in a variety of manners. The game is intensely atmospheric, with the player being drawn into the game world easily. The grittiness of every aspect of the game helps facilitate this, with a constant film grain effect over the player's view, excellent use of color tone and temperature, solid sound effects, and every object in the world being in extreme states of disrepair and decay. A constant level of detail is maintained both in interior and exterior environments, something that is not usually seen in games that span both areas and which helps contribute to the believability of the world. Stalker starts by throwing the player right into the wilderness, literally handing them a pistol and telling them to go clear out a camp of bandits. The combat involves a good amount of bullet spamming at this point, with all of the starting weapons very inaccurate. The human AI is competent and at times lethal, with NPCs using cover in an effective manner, flanking the player, working as a team, and generally being much more intelligent than you would expect at first. The monster AI shows no lack of depth, either, with fighting between creatures over territory and food, weaving movement when assaulting the player, and startlingly effective pack behavior that genuinely puts you in danger. The game is fun and has moved quickly so far, and promises to expand a great amount. I look forward to exploring more complex AI interactions and seeing the path the combat takes as the game progresses.Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:41:49 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3001&iddiary=5759https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2664GAMEPLAY The second session with Shadow of the Colossus both resolved some issues and brought up some new ones. I have become more accustomed to the controls through further gameplay, and while the camera controls and I still refuse to talk to each other, I have somewhat come to terms with the situation. Instead of relying on direct visual contact to track the colossi at the expense of sight of myself, I simply track them by sound, periphery glances, and memory (as they have tended to be rather slow so far). The battles with the colossi are, not surprisingly, the highlights of this game. The frequency of near-slips of your grip and of being flailed around like a toy create the impression that you are almost always under the threat of being dislodged, and when it does happen it tends to do so in a spectacular manner. The portions of the battles against the colossi when you are ascending them and striking blows are near-perfectly executed, generally thrilling and interesting all the way through (with the bonus of looking completely awesome to onlookers when you make a daring leap off of one part of the colossus onto another while it roils and heaves beneath you). Unfortunately, the manner in which you need to grab your first foothold on their bodies is not always readily apparent, nearing the point of obscurity in some situations. Half the time I have to wait until a blunt and immersion-breaking message is delivered to me by a literal god floating in the sky, which it then proceeds to repeat constantly through my many attempts to decipher and execute the unusual hints. Most of the tactics require that you visually grasp and identify aspects of the environment and actions by the colossus, a task which is hindered by the fact that sometimes these things are not actually visible to the player unless they actively know to investigate it. In several situations the advice delivered to me by the game actually put me in a situation where I was not able to see the action I was supposed to react to. The game has more than a few brilliantly designed but poorly executed aspects. One of the colossi, for example, shoots lightning bolts from its mouth at regular intervals, which then proceed to electrify the impact area for a prolonged time, during which if the player wanders into them, they will receive damage. Problem is, not only are the effects that signify the area is electrified very missable, but there is absolutely no feedback that you are taking damage when you are standing in such an area. The art design in Shadow of the Colossus is absolutely brilliant, with a muted palette, effective use of bloom lighting, and wonderfully detailed texture work on characters and geometry. The colossi and architecture in the game have a distinctly Aztec feel to them, with a heavy focus on repeating geometric patterns and orthogonal line work. The environment makes good use of vertical space, with leaping canyon walls and diving basins, waterfalls tracing the path down and accentuating the dizzying heights. Lighting also is utilized well, with shifts between bright and dark areas emphasizing the geometry. Artistically, this game is a masterpiece, and by and large, the game is brilliant, innovative, beautiful, and a blast to play, but simply lacks polish in portions. DESIGN Said lack of polish is found in the areas traditionally associated with shortcomings. Minor gameplay oversights, such as the obscuring of view of significant geometry during colossus battles, argumentative camera controls, and jerky player movement could all probably have been ironed out through additional playtesting, as these are readily apparently and easy for people to give feedback on. The game is oddly hindered by perhaps too much artistic direction; for example, the lead designer apparently insisted that the horse not always respond to player commands because real horses do not always do so, either. Unfortunately, it is not communicated to the player that this is what is happening, and the person is left with the impression that the horse simply controls poorly. Another example is the character animations. The player character flails about awkwardly, stumbling upon landing from jumps (if not sprawling completely). While this certainly adds to the drama and feels very fluid, it tends to give the player the feeling that they are stumbling around on the verge of falling throughout the entire game. The movement of the boss battles into the space of level design was a brilliant and innovative move that works very well. The player ends up performing actions while ascending the colossi that are more similar to those typically associated with environmental puzzles than with boss encounters, such as climbing, leaping, locating specific places, and avoiding getting displaced to an undesirable location. The actions typically associated with boss encounters are less prevalent, with the player mostly fighting to avoid being dislodged, timing their stabs, and avoiding blows. Many traditional boss activities, such as dodging patterned attacks, are absent in favor of more environmentally-focused activities. The lack of structured activities to be performed outside of the hunts for the colossi is also notable. There are no items to collect in the game, and generally exploration will yield nothing but vistas. The player character also has a distinct lack of gear, wielding only a blade and a bow. This puts an emphasis on the player's wits instead of their gear for the purpose of downing a colossus. The simple (if not always perfectly responsive) controls also free up the player to simply think about the game in an environmental puzzle sense instead of demanding their attention for complex actions. The intention of the design of this game is clear. It strives to push the boundaries of games and move into new territories in storytelling and drama. Shadow of the Colossus is a brilliant game slightly hindered by artistic ambition.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:17:11 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2664&iddiary=5457https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2664SUMMARY In Shadow of the Colossus, you are charged with taking down a number of colossi throughout the game world. This task is made complicated by the fact that they are on average well over a hundred feet tall, not to mention your arsenal is distinctly limited. Instead of taking them by force, the player has to climb upon the beasts, ascending to certain points to strike with their blade. This usually involves much jumping, being thrown about, and hanging on for dear life as the colossus flails beneath them. The battles are environmentally-focused puzzles and a good deal of platforming, moving the creatures themselves into the area of level design. GAMEPLAY Perhaps the most distinctive element of Shadow of the Colossus is the colossi themselves. Whereas in most games boss encounters and the level design tend to be relatively separate in that the boss resides in the level and sometimes interacts with it on a limited basis, the colossi in this game function as level design themselves, with the player navigating their bodies, clinging to them as they heave about, and attacking certain points. A majority of the effort against the bosses consists of scaling them and locating their vulnerable points, and virtually none of it consists of standard action/adventure combat activities (such as predicting sequences attacks). By and large, Shadow of the Colossus provides a new and refreshing take on the genre. Another unusual deviation from the status quo is the presentation of the world outside of the colossi battles. The world is large, fully open from the start, and has no monetary units or trinkets or goodies to collect. The player is simply tasked with locating and navigating to the next colossus, and is free to simply admire the scenery and wildlife along the way. Unfortunately, this does tend to get boring after a while, especially when the trips out to the locations of the colossi tend to lengthen. I found myself actually looking away from the screen and even actively engaging in other activities while en route to some locations. The environment was not really interesting enough to keep my attention for anything but vital tasks at times, as the areas tended to be barren, devoid of interesting features in many places, non-interactive, and repetitive. A major pitfall for the game is its control scheme and the camera. The player character tends to bob and weave like a drunk turkey independent of the player's degree of input, leaving me constantly struggling to get my character oriented correctly and moving in the right direction. The horse is no better, as it has an incredibly slow turning speed, takes a frustratingly long amount of time and button mashing to get to any decent speed, will lose said all of said speed in an instant if you manage to clip a wall, and generally weaves in the same manner. The horse has proven to be nothing more than a "go faster and do weird things to the controls" ability to me, and has in fact been a liability fairly often when I get into combat with colossi. The camera only facilitates the awkward controls, with it swinging wildly and insisting on an artistically interesting but functionally frustrating framing of the character in relation to the environment. Often the player will be pushed almost entirely off screen, meaning that you can either watch where you're running and not be able to see the colossus, or be able to track the colossus but not be able to see where the hell you're going. Even the player-enabled camera movement is sluggish and off-kilter, with it significantly disrupting your movement and other actions. Shadow of the Colossus is undeniably fun, interesting, and unique, but is marred by simple flaws that can make it frustrating. I genuinely look forward to playing more, and hope that I get accustomed to the movement and camera soon.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:55:21 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2664&iddiary=5368https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2466GAMEPLAY Phantom Hourglass has delivered standard Zelda fare so far. Although one could enter a Pulp Fiction-esque "little differences" diatribe, the main elements are still there - the puzzles based on environmental details, the constant rewards of varying value for varying tasks, the patterned boss fights, the acquisition of new tools and abilities for the purpose of solving puzzles and opening new paths, and the slow but steady expansion of the game world as the player progresses. As mentioned in the previous post, what sets this game apart from previous Zelda games is its interface and the degree to which it is integrated. During the gameplay after my previous post, I encountered several shining examples of the utilization of the DS's capabilities. One such example required the player to create their own map of an island, and then unify the image they've traced with clues as to where to do certain things and in what order. The notion that I would have to be the cartographer myself seemed preposterous at first, as I had been trained by countless previous games that a pre-made map hidden by some omniscient cartographer would inevitably be found within five or so minutes. Once I gave in and decided to try sketching the map with the built-in capabilities that the game offered, however, it seemed a completely natural and logical thing to do, and I felt silly for not considering it straight off. Another example of the game using the stylus to better immerse the player is in treasure hunting. Hints are laid around to connect certain points on the map and investigate whatever results, usually leading to some goodie or another. I found this particularly successful at making me feel like I had honestly discovered it on my own, and on a higher mental level than similar treasure situations in previous Zelda games. This resulted in much more satisfaction from the find than usual and gave me a genuine sense of accomplishment. Combat, a major facet of the game as well, continues to be fidgety, but I seem to have adapted to the controls a bit more. The serial nature of the control of the player character still presents a problem, but I have become more fluid with it, meaning the transition between movement and attacking is no longer quite as jarring. Finally, the characters continue to be deeper and more likable than ones in other Zelda games, with a very noticeable streak of humor present throughout. The player is often offered the chance to respond to non-player character remarks in a binary but often humorously befuddled manner, which drew me in to the world a bit more than I would have expected. The character development is definitely a highlight of this game. DESIGN The high level of integration of the control scheme into the game has a very noticable impact on the game. Puzzles, a major aspect of any Zelda game, are very player-centric, relying on them to keep track of information and transform it into a usable format. As a result, the dungeons have shifted away from the traditional Zelda spatial skillset (block pushing, combat, navigation) and towards one that is based on the ability of the player to draw figures and keep track of multiple pieces of information simultaneously. Time-based gameplay is also significant in the game, requiring the player to manage their time resource (the Phantom Hourglass) while in dungeons to avoid damage for just occupying any space but specific safe zones. This means that any space but those safe zones takes on an immediate air of danger and instability, as the timer will count down in there, but stop when in a safe zone. The fact that the player can not regularly recharge or regenerate the timer without leaving the dungeon puts a high priority on the time resource. This puts the player continually on edge while in the dungeons, as the physical space they're occupying is actually trying to kill them. The continual deliverance of rewards is always present, as with all Zelda games. The rewards range from small scale and high frequency (a rupee or heart every few seconds, from grass or enemies or some other common source) to large scale and low frequency (the new piece of equipment you pick up in a dungeon, vital to continuing onward, picked up once every few hours). This continually encourages the player and compels them to push onward, as they quickly learn the reward structure and become driven by it. Aside from the unique puzzles that populate Zelda games, the reward structure is perhaps the most important and recognizable aspect of the games, and Phantom Hourglass is no exception.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 06:52:55 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2466&iddiary=4903https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2466SUMMARY The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is a typical hand held Zelda game, meaning that it is a superb overhead adventure game. Where it distances itself from previous iterations, however, is its interface. Players use the stylus to guide their character and make him perform actions, and even use the built-in microphone from time to time. The player is, as usual, tasked with rescuing someone, which is accomplished through successive dungeon crawls filled with puzzles and combat. Useful items are encountered and obtained along the way to aid you in solving puzzles and in combat, many of which are staples of Zelda games, but a few of which are brand new. GAMEPLAY What struck me first about Phantom Hourglass was how much more character-oriented it was than previous Zelda games. You develop a strong (but not necessarily good) relationship with one non-player character fairly early on, with genuine back-and-forth going on between him and your fairy. This kind of dialogue was rare in previous iterations, with characters only speaking directly to you, and even then delivering either convenient advice, critical messages, or throw-away lines. The occurrence of one NPC bantering and bickering with another brought the characters into a new space, one where other characters in the world finally acknowledged each other as occupying the game world. It adds a depth to the characters that I haven't seen in a Zelda game before, filling a void that I honestly didn't even notice until now. The gameplay in Phantom Hourglass is aesthetically similar to previous Zelda games, but feels entirely different. This is largely due to the interface-centric design. The entire game was engineered around the unique capabilities of the Nintendo DS, with the character controlled entirely by the stylus and no buttons actually required for gameplay. While interesting, this system doesn't always work out for the best, however. Combat is noticeably awkward, with the player required to either draw lines on the screen to swing the sword or circles to spin attack, meaning that movement is almost entirely out of the question while on the offensive. It also forces all of your actions into a serial format, where you have to stop one action to initiate another, as opposed to a multi-input format (multiple buttons traditionally), where you are allowed to perform separate actions fully independently of each other (movement and attacking, for example). The game is easier than previous Zelda games, and I suspect it is because of the previously noted issue. Most of the dungeon and overworld puzzles are based around using the interface in some way, whether it be blowing into the microphone to extinguish candles, marking several points on a map, or drawing lines for your boomerang to fly along. This is, for all intents and purposes, a highly successful integration of the new elements, but it tends to make you feel like the game has either been dumbed down or that the real opponent in the game is the interface itself. I found myself struggling with it in combat more than once, which is very discouraging so early on in the game. Actions such as rolling and slashing frequently fail to execute when I believe that I have given the proper input, and the game is unclear about how exactly to make them work reliably in the first place. I am anxious to see if I become to adjusted to the interface as the game continues. It would be very nice to be able to perform actions without difficulty, but the fact that the dungeons are so interface-puzzle-centric suggests that may not happen.Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:36:13 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2466&iddiary=4687https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1985GAMEPLAY I decided to try some Rayman Raving Rabbids games with just two players this time, which opened up the option of the first-person co-op rail shooter. The shooter has the players moving together through varied environments with a toilet plunger launcher, firing at attacking rabbids. The players attempt to hit the rabbids with plungers before they get close enough to inflict damage and frequently enough to rack up a high score. This created gameplay that varied between conservative shot placement and wild firing which was very engaging. Playing it cooperatively with another player created a level of communication based on who was supposed to shoot which rabbid, and we would essentially take turns to chain together 'kills.' I also ran into some of the worse minigames of Raving Rabbids. Primarily marred by interface and control issues, these games tended to be frustrating and kill the mood the game was previously perpetuating. Difficult-to-control game characters and oddly timed pattern games were significantly less interesting and fun. The social aspect of the game, however, tended to salvage them somewhat, as other players would do as poorly as you had done, and it became a challenge not against the intended game mechanics but against the game itself. Narrative was not an aspect I deliberately chose to pursue with this game, as the single player portion served simply as a means to unlock the minigames for multiplayer accessibility. The games themselves, however, created some sense of narrative, with the different minigames connected in themes and locations. For example, in one game you attempt to launch a rabbid dressed as Superman out of a mine shaft and through the air as far as possible, at which point he becomes stuck face-down in the desert ground outside. Another game has you hovering above the desert landscape in a flying saucer, trying to rescue rabbids dressed as Superman who fly into the game area and become stuck face-first in the ground. These sort of narrative connections are present throughout many minigames, and suggest at a form of progression through the different levels. The social experience of the game is a major draw. Even with only two people the game creates a fiercely competitive or cooperative atmosphere. Bystanders also tend to get into the game, cheering for players or simply commenting on the demented nature of many of the various minigames. I get the feeling that Raving Rabbids would be not nearly as fun alone, as a major source of enjoyment comes from the other players themselves and the interactions you have with them. With that removed, the game would be much less attractive. DESIGN This game makes heavy use of the unique nature of the Wii controller. Very few (if not none) of the minigames use a traditional control system, preferring to use the motion sensing and pointing capabilities of the Wiimote and Nunchuck instead. This requires that the player get physically involved with the game and gameplay, drawing them into the game to a higher degree. The game also uses the physical nature of the game to create a frenetic pace, with the player becoming physically exhausted by some of the challenges. The game successfully combines the hectic art style, fast gameplay, and unique control system to create a largely hysterical and frenetic game. The rail shooter games are an odd experience in themselves. The player is punished for allowing the rabbids to get close enough to inflict damage, but rewarded for chaining five consecutive hits together, creating gameplay that swings between wild and deliberate. In my experience, the players would take turns with shots when possible, communicating what they needed to rack up higher scores. Once a major offensive wave is launched by the rabbids, however, that tends to go out the window in favor of wild firing and fast-paced targeting. This creates a series of highs and lows in gameplay that are satisfying and contribute to an enjoyable pace. Not all of the minigames are as good as others, however. Some of the different dancing minigames (in which players essentially drum with the Wiimote and Nunchuck) could become very frustrating, as the drum patterns weren't necessarily in time to the beat of the song in any way. That combined with the manner in which the drum beats are presented to the player (rabbids slide in from opposite sides of the screen, making it difficult to track one side without losing track of the other) make for a jarring break in the mostly satisfying gameplay. Additionally, controls for other minigames (such as one where you are flying a pterodactyl) are oddly counterintuitive and clunky, requiring you to spend your time fighting them instead of the intended game mechanics. These minigames are massively outnumbered by well-implemented games, however, and can easily just be neglected. The game also suffers from a period of down-time between the end of one minigame and the start of another. Making the players agree on one minigame and getting into it causes a hitch in the flow, and an option where you simply play a random string of games was strangely absent. I am also unconvinced that the game has a great deal of replayability, as I found myself avoiding many of the minigames that I had already played. The game does make an attempt at adding longevity by including different levels of difficulty for some of the games, but by and large each one offers a very limited scope of play that once fully tapped does not offer a lot of draw. Rayman Raving Rabbids is best described as a very fun game. Every aspect of it has been engineered to make players laugh and throw themselves completely into the gameplay. The show-stealing rabbids are a welcome addition to the previously mediocre Rayman universe, and offer a whole new direction for the franchise. The game makes very worthy use of the unique control scheme of the Wii, and all of the elements of the game come together to create a frenetic and exciting style of play. The artistic direction of the game is wildly varied, well executed, and very memorable, and the minigames themselves make good use of the Wiimote control scheme to create a variety of unique experiences. All in all, Rayman Raving Rabbids is a very good game.Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:08:07 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1985&iddiary=4385https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1985SUMMARY Rayman Raving Rabbids is primarily a party game for the Wii, although the minigames to be played as a group are unlocked via a story mode (which I decided to forgo in this case to get to the meat of the game). Players utilize the Wiimotes (and Nunchucks in several cases) to mime actions, point at the screen, and control their characters in order to obtain the highest score in that particular round. Minigames include shearing sheep, shooting streams of carrot juice at rabbids, skydiving through rings, playing a version of Simon Says on the exposed gray matter of a rabbit, and flinging a bovine projectile as far as possible. The minigames all generally consist of the player using some form of the Wiimote's motion sensing abilities to pantomime the necessary action, resulting in a frenetic pace and a high-energy atmosphere. All of this combined with the absurd art style of the game creates a gameplay experience that can best be described as "hilarious." GAMEPLAY The game is very easy to pick up, with rabbids demonstrating what the player needs to do with the Wiimote and Nunchuck to play the particular minigame before each one starts. Each one is self-contained, though they often seem to reference others through locales and themes. Individually, the games are fast-paced (due to the inclusion of a timer or some time-critical element in almost every minigame) and very fun to actually play. The sound and art have a large influence on this, with the rabbids serving as comedic relief any time they are on screen, punctuating their actions with their trademark wail. The frenetic pacing of the minigames provide near-instant feedback, and the challenges all seem to be unique enough that it would be worth playing each. The social aspect of this game is a major draw. It allows up to four people to participate in the minigames, either by taking turns or allowing them to all to play simultaneously. The competition between the players creates a generally mirthful atmosphere, with the short-term nature of the minigames mitigating the pains of defeat, as you tend to simply become more determined to win the next round. The fact that the minigames are also very easy to pick up and do decently at means that even against veteran players you feel like you have a genuine chance at winning. All in all, Rayman Raving Rabbids is a huge success as a party game, with the players generally having fun at almost all points and a high maintained by the pace and variety of the gameplay. All in all I enjoyed the game, but it seems a bit confined by its party-game style and status. I have a hard time imagining myself pulling this out and playing it by myself, and see it more as something that only comes out when you've got a group available. The gameplay seems a bit hampered by the lull in between minigames, as it takes a while for the group to select the next one to play, although I'll need to investigate the existence of a "random" button before I pass any real judgment on the issue, as it seems like that would solve the problem. I plan to try it with only one other person next and see how that changes the experience. For now, however, I highly recommend the game.Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:15:12 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1985&iddiary=3874https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1640GAMEPLAY Hotel Dusk has failed to pick up. The game continues its molasses-like pace and shows absolutely no signs of nearing any event that would cause any sort of acceleration in the gameplay whatsoever. It has not improved in any way since the previous entry, and in fact has revealed strange new bits of gameplay that have in fact lowered my opinion of the game. Hotel Dusk has continued in its habit of not teaching the player how to do things. Basic interface tasks, such as giving items to characters, making a person turn around, and using one item on another, are presented to the player and it is just assumed that they know what the designers intended them to do. For the most part it is relatively simple to figure out (assuming you are used to conventional game mechanics), but it can often get to the point of obscurity where you deduce the solution simply by scrawling randomly all over with the stylus. The game is also frequently unclear as to what your objectives are or what you need to do to advance the plot. Probably the most annoying example of this was when I was put in the ridiculous situation of systematically knocking on every door in an attempt to find someone to engage in conversation so that I could go back to my room and have a package arrive. There is no indication whatsoever that the player needs to talk with the character before the package can arrive, and even less indication that the person is even able to be talked to. Situations like these make the game nigh unplayable. Another odd gameplay portion appeared that managed to confuse and even insult me a bit. Apparently, at the end of every chapter, you are quizzed on the basic details of what occurred during said chapter. Do they assume that I am not paying attention? This portion was completely unexpected and really threw me off-kilter. Finally, and perhaps above all else, the speed of this game and its plot is absolutely glacial. The player is tasked with the most menial of tasks that take positively forever to actually accomplish. The player arrives at the hotel at 5:00PM in the game, and at least three hours in, I have only managed to advance the in-game clock by forty minutes. The game is, in a single word, catatonic. DESIGN This game is SLOW. Normally in stories you have high points and low points, and this generally carries over to games as well. The changes in the pacing is important, as if it is always high-tension the player gets fatigued, and if it is always low-tension (as in this case) the player tends to get bored. The three hours of gameplay I experienced could be used as an example of how not to pace games and stories in general. The art direction of the game, on the other hand, is absolutely fantastic. Everything has a sketch-y quality to it, with the characters literally being roughly animated sketches, and the environment fading out to a blank canvas in areas of no importance (the blank stretch of wall between a sitting area and a door, for example). The environment that is detailed maintains a hand-illustrated feel, with a painted feel to the areas with color. The art is one of my favorite parts of the game, and feels creative and fresh. Likewise, the characters are developed to a degree that is uncommon in games, and the conflicts that arise with them, as well as their responses, feel natural and believable. These two things are perhaps the only thing keeping me playing at this time, as the gameplay and plot certainly fail to provide incentive for continuing. The game is largely based around conversation with characters, with the player doing a lot of passive dialogue absorption. Every so often you are allowed the honor of tapping a blinking button on the screen to "follow up" on something, which simply results in more text to read. You are also given the option to ask certain people about certain things, which while interesting from a character perspective is not particularly engaging nor fun. Very rarely do the choices of things to ask about hit on any really interesting or difficult choices, but every so often you have to give pause to honestly think about it. Being on the DS, the game offers some interesting features as far as gameplay goes. The occasional puzzle requires you to interact directly with objects, moving things around and grabbing certain places. The DS also presents problems, however, as moving around in first-person is accomplished by moving a cursor around on an overhead map, which requires you to focus on that instead of the actual first-person view. There are also load times between menus, rooms, and views that are encountered often enough to significantly contribute to the slow pace of the game. All in all, Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is a game with great writing and art direction that is made nigh-unplayable by the pacing, lack of proper instruction for the player, and lack of gameplay-based incentive for continuation of play.Mon, 14 Jan 2008 03:24:51 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1640&iddiary=3561https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1640SUMMARY Hotel Dusk is an Adventure game for the Nintendo DS with a heavy noir influence. You play as a washed up detective named Kyle Hyde, guiding him around environments, examining objects, taking notes, and engaging in dialogue with non-player characters. The game is set in a small hotel in Nevada, with Kyle Hyde investigating events leading to the disappearance of his former partner. The goal of the game is pretty vague even at over an hour in, with the player left to themselves to find what to do next in order to trigger plot advancement. To accomplish this, the player explores the hotel, initiates dialogue via options with people, and collects items to solve puzzles. GAMEPLAY This game is mind-numbingly slow. Almost every aspect of the game contributes to a pace that can be generously described as plodding. You are dumped into the game world with nothing but the high-level objective of checking into the hotel and the player is left to their own devices to figure out movement, interaction, and the interface. While not particularly befuddling, it still takes a while to fully grasp these things on your own. Dialogue, a major facet of the game, is tedious at many times, with the characters being by and large evasive and insubstantial in their conversations. You may gleam one or two bits of helpful or interesting information out of a conversation, but it takes you a good ten minutes to actually extricate it from the stumbling back and forth between your character and others. The rest of the gameplay is not much better. Movement through areas is relatively slow, and the loading time between areas is roughly a second (which wouldn't be bad if the areas weren't tiny sitting rooms and hallways). This makes moving from one end of the small hotel to the other a trial of patience. A similar pause is noticeable when going between menus in your inventory or notepad, which again, would not be nearly so bad if you were not trying to navigate them at any tolerable speed. Hotel Dusk's story is similarly paced. Over the course of the first eighty minutes I played it, I had managed to check in, chat it up with the proprietor, bump into several people in the hallway, and make it to my room. Very little is revealed to the player in terms of the character's motivation or as to why he thinks that he will find the things he believes are at the hotel. It is clear that they do have a decent plot based around this, but they are so reluctant to reveal any of it to the player that it just ended up turning me off. The characters in the game are by and large unique, well thought-out, and all indicate that they will have been developed by the end of the game. This is actually one of the few things that really compelled me to continue playing. The player is given very little freedom in how and when they interact with them, however, as when you're on your way to your room and a door to another room opens, you're having a long conversation about why they're here and that's that. Overall, the game is very slow, but interesting enough to keep me playing. I haven't had much fun to be bluntly honest, but hopefully the game will hit its stride eventually. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:20:34.)Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:28:25 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1640&iddiary=3367