Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=561https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3133GAMEPLAY The next races would be done under multiplayer with 3 of my friends. We would all select small characters (Diddy Kong, Paratroopa, Baby Mario to name a few) to avoid someone gaining an advantage with better control and acceleration. Our first race took place at DK Mountain, which is known for it’s downhill path from the top of the mountain and Nintendo’s intricate level design made for drifting. But as long as you stay tight around the corners and avoid falling off the mountain (which will be provoked by both the elements of the course and your opponents), you could easily find yourself in first or second. Another thing to commend Nintendo on is how each race garners excitement until the very end. Stronger weapons are handed out more frequently to the players in lower (4th place and behind) positions, making the race an interesting one until the very last lap. DESIGN The design of Mario Kart compliments its easy-to-play, hard to master feel. Every theme you notice is directly related to the Mushroom Kingdom, and its interactive courses create a better strategy aspect every second you play. The game lacks in overall modes in which to entice the gamer (a fast single-player, a basic multiplayer, the general time trial additions, and a forgettable battle mode) but makes up in creative design of each character, kart, weapon, and track. Mario Kart’s simple formula along with its beautiful presentation of each race puts it on top of the ‘wacky-racing’ genre with the likes of its 64-predecessor and Crash Team Racing (ß yeah, I said it).Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:37:17 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3133&iddiary=5934https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3133SUMMARY Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a first-party kart racing game from Nintendo, which utilizes characters (16 total, 4 unlockable) directly from the Mario Bros. series. The game is simply Nintendo’s spin on a kart-racing syndicate, manned by both a driver and someone who uses weapons to corrupt the race and the other players. GAMEPLAY Considering how easy the premise of this game is (make it to finish, attack others) and how addicting it is due to how nostalgic every aspect is (the Nintendo spin-off formula), I’ve found myself playing Double Dash since earlier high school years. Despite only having sixteen stages (each either character themed course or originally made), every race is guaranteed a different result from the last whether you play against the computer or with three other friends. I first engaged myself into the ‘Mushroom Cup’ (made up of Luigi Circuit, Peach Beach, the popular Baby Park, and Dry Dry Desert), selecting my usual combination of characters (Toadette and Baby Bowser, with use of the blue Toad-kart). Double Dash should be commended for its racing physics under the design scheme of an unrealistic, cartoon-esque world, more specific the three weight classes of different characters. I dominated most of the races with the small character perks (better acceleration, better handling for boosting), and dominated with the usual weapons given when found in first place (banana peels, red shells, or fake mystery boxes) or the occasional “special weapon” from either Toadette or Baby Bowser, including the ‘golden mushroom’ for an large speed boost or the large Bowser shell.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:22:39 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3133&iddiary=5822https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2755DESIGN RRR looks and feels like a Ren & Stimpy spin-off from the humor to the art style. But that alone didn’t take it above its Wii mini-game rivals (the likes of Super Monkey Ball and Wario Ware: Smooth Moves for example), due to lack of overall game-play originality. While some games were accessible and generated interest, the majority felt rushed and disguised by the insane themes and level design. Flaws in the multiplayer included round-based mini-games (instead of real time multiplayer) and trouble with detecting Wii-mote at times. The level design for each mini-game is very unique however, and makes each separate game entertaining to watch. The idea of using the ‘rabbids’ as a centerpiece to the level design and story arc is fresh in this cinematic game era. The conflict and is decided by those who play it, as the story mode didn’t seem as appealing as just picking up and playing mini-games. But as wacky and fun loving as the game’s presentation is, it doesn’t foster as much innovation as the other Wii mini-games do.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:33:29 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2755&iddiary=5422https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2755SUMMARY ‘Rayman Raving Rabbids’ is a next generation game that rejuvenates the old Ubisoft mascot (dating back to games from the Atari Jaguar and Playstation) Rayman as the avatar in this wacky assortment of mini-games. The game places focus on incorporating the Wii-Mote and the continuous theme of ‘Raving Rabbids’ (Rabbits) during every mini-game. The challenges presented are through progressing in story mode to unlock more games, and breaking mini-game records. GAMEPLAY This was the same emotionless reaction I was expecting when I first came across Rayman Raving Rabbids. I never was that big of a fan of the Wii-based minigames, and I knew Rayman wasn’t going to make me a believer. A friend and I started out with the pick-up and play ‘Score’ mode, and started to customize our Rayman’s features similar to a Mii avatar. After selecting my stereotypical, dark colored, bandanna touting “Gangster” Rayman, the first game we were set to do was a simple rail-shooting duel for points that used plungers for ammunition and the ‘raving rabbids’ as targets. Sadly enough, this competitive, wacky rail-shooter would be one of the only mini-games that stand out during this first session. After watching how extensive and how detailed the shooting game was, it was disappointing to take part in the next game which was lousy a jump rope duel (jumping done by a quick flick of the nunchuk… that’s it). The next game following that would be you taking part as a dentist and trying your best to remove worms from out the rabbids’ teeth (which was done by pressing A and a lucky flick of the nunchuk). Thus far, the game might be rewarded for it’s bizarre design and the not-take-itself-seriously attitude that we love in most games, but its over saturating of basic motions of the Wii-Mote under elementary slow multiplayer games is becoming boring fast.Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:50:49 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2755&iddiary=5192https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2557GAMEPLAY After a trick competition in which I dominated after a random flick of the thumb into balancing down a sloping stair rail, I was given access to more clothes for my character (which didn’t make as big as a difference as I thought) and a sponsorship. This sponsorship directed me to learn the disappointing vert-skating features included the game. The gravity was flawed on vert skating, and the overall presentation of how to gain speed and grab moves (used with the trigger and, yes, tweaking of the analog stick)was horribly explained and hard to do once. This led me to believe skate. was more directed for street skating and linking lines together, instead of what you’d be able to do in the air with two analog sticks. I guess the game made up for it’s flawed vert system with difficult tilt of the analog stick to perform a manual, to be able to link up longer combos. But despite including almost every mainstream skating maneuver, the game lacks through exploration. There would be times when I would find myself caught at an obstacle because I’d have to ollie up every step and sidewalk curb that could easily be avoided with walking. This was how the game quickly became frustrating, along with nothing new introduced to the game, after you learn all the basic tricks and traveled through each area of the city (Suburbs, Downtown, etc.). The game felt boring after the repetitive competitions and challenges, and honestly, most of the challenges were pretty hard and were only completed through a lucky turn of events. But skate. shines through online capabilities, with the option to record live clips of yourself and post them online (similar to Halo 3) and the ability to host skating sessions with a group of online friends (which, might I add, wasn’t as entertaining as the old online Tony Hawk sessions). At the end of the day, where skate. succeeds in gameplay invasion, lacks in replay value for those who’ve learned to love the gimmicks originally drawn out by Tony Hawk. Guess I’m biased… DESIGN skate. is beautiful to look at when pushing your board down a traffic-ridden street during sunset. Great level design, not a detail missed when capturing the city feel translated into a video game. Though, the right-analog stick might seem like great idea to include for a skating title, I’ve been over how the right analog stick controls the entire rhythm of play and how it’s seen as one of the main selling point of a game. But the level design for gameplay is basically the same throughout the game (grind on a bench, jump a set of stairs, grind on the sidewalk, watch out for cars; basically found in every area of the game). And the game gets harder by basically increasing the difficulty and score achieved y repeating these same combos. The game doesn’t create much conflict or any entertaining aspects through the story, since it’s very easy to lose interest after gaining a third or fourth sponsor (right around the time the game gets harder as well), despite its unattractive ‘get skating exposure in your hometown by any means possible on your board’ demeanor. The game is very easy to see as frustrating, and its simple to see why the casual gamer won’t give much replay value to this after breezing through the challenges and trick competitions with various thumb flicks.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:35:21 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2557&iddiary=4862https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2557SUMMARY skate. uses its distinct character creation to make the player feel like a prodigy skater in a ‘lifelike’, city environment with realistic physics. The player travels throughout the city while gaining more money, collecting sponsors and defeating various challenges. GAMEPLAY I’ve grown up on Tony Hawk myself, so hearing all this fuss about how skate. “stumps” it made me quite intrigued. While Tony Hawk thrives on gimmicky challenges and easy-to-link combinations, skate. responds with sharper gameplay and authentic board and skating physics. The most realistic approach to skating that I’ve ever seen at least. After the long, crafty intro for your character (how your avatar gets into an accident via car collision, and you’re resurrected as some skating lord) and the fairly in-depth character creation, you’re released into a carefully crafted, free, lifelike city. You control the skater behind an angle shown through your cameraman’s lens, as you drift down the road avoiding injury-causing cars and people that were only created as obstacles. The first goal was to be able to complete the basics: ollie, grinding, and flip tricks. These were done by precise flicking of the right analog stick mirroring how they would be done on an actual board. Playing the game after this tutorial and two other challenges (provided by actual well-known skaters), cruising and experiencing the environment alone was fun enough. Great free-roaming and a very realistic feel behind the controller contributed to my overall appreciation of the game. But doing the same tricks and trying to find specific challenges under an unreliable map was growing old after the first hour, but I would hope more would open up with my second hour of play.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:54:17 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2557&iddiary=4815https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2192GAMEPLAY When the second round of Wii Play came about, I was ready to mimic the excitement I achieved the first time. But somewhere in-between Fishing and Pose Mii, I realized this game is not something you’d have fun with everyday. In fact, the people who I played with both agreed they wouldn’t ‘ever play again’. This should give you an idea of how dry and repetitive Wii Play can become in under a day. Sure the new games I played in the second half were fun for what they were, but the overall package still feels like a Wiimote tutorial. Wii Play is a good way to pass the time when a few friends are visiting, and those are its only real true merits. I enjoy how often the Miis are incorporated in this game, but that’s as expected in the personal Wii-game series. In terms of replay value, I definitely wouldn’t recommend Wii Play considering your peak interest with each of the game is reached in a day. And even the Wiimote wasn’t as responsive for the majority of the game, as I can recall the true difficulty was gaining control of the Wiimote’s cursor. DESIGN The most innovative piece of this game are the versatile elements of the Wiimote. The game was a clever transition of classic gaming (including Duck Hunt elements, Pong elements, and Billards), and made it very enjoyable with the constant addition of Miis. Nintendo did the usual appealing job with the playful level designs and interactivity, but even that couldn’t remove the dry feel after playing a certain game more than three times. Wii Play relies on the multiplayer aspect to maintain a certain level of interest as this game can be mastered in a short amount of time. I cannot blame Nintendo for a lacking game because I didn’t anticipate what would be included in a package simply entitled Wii Play. If I were to change anything, it would probably be a quick addition of more games and more responsive controls. Until then, Wii Play will slowly becoming nothing more than a watered down version of its Sports counterpart. While the games do not spark much emotion out of the players (unlike Wii Sports), Wii Play keeps a surprising competitive nature when played. But I honestly will not be bothered with it anytime soon, as the game doesn’t feel very rewarding.Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:21:33 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2192&iddiary=4318https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2192SUMMARY Wii Play is a game created directly from Nintendo and is the second released apart of the Wii Series (which include Wii Sports, Wii Music, etc.). Wii Play consists of straight forward mini-games that can be accessed with two players, or in order to achieve a high score with single player. You play the assortment of games (including Billards, Shooting Range, Pose Mii, etc.) with prompt use of the Wiimote controller, all under the role of your custom Mii-avatar. GAMEPLAY I didn’t expect much out of Wii Play, I mean, the title itself already mirrored how excited I was. To my surprise, I cycled through briefing screens that did not resemble those of Wii Sports, yet, little would I know my attention span would soon resemble how I felt towards most Wii-inspired mini-games; thus my best efforts were needed in attempt to reach the minimal forty-five minutes required when asked to log a game. But who could remain pessimistic when you’re given the option to play under the role of your decorated “Mii”? I leaped in preparing for the first game (which was called ‘Tanks’: me and my opponent would control a small tank around obstacles to fire at the stationed ‘enemy tank’ before the other.) ‘Tanks’ was fairly simple and easy enough for the casual gamer to experience (as were most of the other games). As easy as the games were, the competitive nature between two players was still in high effect considering the trash-talking during these playful games remained quite strong. The rest of the games in the first half of play remained elementary (which included ‘Cow Race’, an obstacle course with ‘token’ collecting for points, a genuine fishing game that required a quick flick of the wrist, an easily Wii-translated version of 9 Ball, and an excruciating version of air-hockey), but I would be a liar if I said I didn’t enjoy playing these games when they were still fresh.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:43:32 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2192&iddiary=4158https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1794GAMEPLAY After we toured through most of the U.S. cities, we acquired many of the cliché band tools needed towards success (roadies, soundman, private jet, etc.) after playing large sets of shows. The songs become moderately harder as the time progresses and more demands are made from the fans (playing at a “higher difficulty”, playing more songs at a time). Each song varies in difficulty, seeing as how I could easily match up with the mid 90-percentile on one song and barely break 80 percent on the next. This game still hasn’t lost any of its musters considering I still play it as much as I first got it. Sure the format is the same, but the ability to make every point count in order to have your band rank amongst everyone else playing Rock Band around the world does wonders with its replay value. I even started to sing in a lot of the songs, and I have just as much fun doing that, as I would be playing drums. Rock Band is very easy to get into, my only complaint is how quickly the game expects you to leap up difficulties. DESIGN Rock Band takes the innovation of many other rhythm-based games before it, and molds them together as clean as possible. Where Rock Band lacks in storyline and cutscenes, it makes up with an extensive library of catchy songs whether independent or well known. But even the small details make this game just that more enjoyable. For example, the developers focused a lot on the bands’ animations for those who’re watching, each ‘note’ physically played are mirrored in the game. Even the small introductions for each band member before every show make the experience more authentic. Not to mention the crowd singing along with you if you’re really that good. And everybody should always love create-a-character mode, in every game possible. With that said, Rock Band is the best party game since… well, Guitar Hero. Along with the appeal of being able to act like you created the timeless classics you’re playing with up to three other friends, the game is very easy to pick up, play, and do well at. My only complaint would be a more diverse library of songs to choose from (honestly, more songs I’m familiar with so I can put to work my microphone talents), but hopefully this possibility will be fixed due to the constant update of songs available for download.Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:14:23 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1794&iddiary=3638https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1794[SUMMARY] - In Rock Band, the player is designed to take his/her pick of using the Guitar, Bass, Drums, or even the Microphone on a quest for cover-band supremacy. During the experience, the simulated band (either controlled by one player or up to a four players) tours through various ‘big’ cities to gain exposure from the smallest shanty bar to huge arenas while playing an all-star list of licensed music from the past five decades. The objectives when playing ‘online’ varies as “Rock Bands” around the world can rank against the other and set target high scores from any of the songs making the Rock Band experience seemingly endless as everyone battles to become the greatest fake-cover band on the planet. [GAMEPLAY] At first I was skeptical to want to play Rock Band, considering this was basically hyped up to be the “Guitar Hero Killer” and I was one of the only 73 people on the planet to not be swept up by the universal hype of putting one of those plastic Gibson’s over my shoulder and engage in the next-generation of DDR. Two of my friends accompany me during the opening cinematic and we are welcomed by the surprising ‘Multiplayer: Band World Tour’ feature. Luckily for me, these two friends have Guitar Hero experience so that left me, someone with no prior ability of how to use a musical instrument a shot at the… (insert drum roll) …highly anticipated drums. We called ourselves the Terrordactyls and played our first gig at this small bar in San Francisco. Surprisingly enough we got a five-star rating and ranked on the high score list online for the song. I was very impressed with the simple in-game interface (originally perfected by Guitar Hero) and how quickly I enjoyed playing the game from behind the drums. Games focused solely around music (karaoke-type games) are not my usual cup of tea, but I found myself playing more Rock Band than anticipated. Sure the story wasn’t as deep as I anticipated (go to a city, play a gig, do good, get rewarded, rinse wash repeat), but you don’t play Rock Band to live 'Behind The Music', you do it with a collective of friends to experience playing challenging, known songs and feeling like a band afterwards (as sad as that sounds). Soon I would find myself saying ‘nice show’ or ‘great solo!’ in the middle or after we played at a virtual venue. And of course, making the transition from Easy to Medium makes you feel one step closer to wanting to learn how to play actual drums (when you have the 44,300th something best score for “In Bloom” by Nirvana, you would feel untouchable as well). But the most interesting aspect I found about the game was not the gameplay it self, but the affect it has on the player. I for one am not that big of a rock fan, if anything I’m attracted to more hip-hop/rap in terms of music. But with Rock Band, after playing and singing along to most of the songs with my band, I’ve developed a new found respect for the bands and instruments presented. I’ve found myself humming a lot of the songs on occasion and I commend Rock Band for making this game a great one even for "rock noobs".Mon, 14 Jan 2008 03:55:51 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1794&iddiary=3564