Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=592https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3103Gameplay Like Starcraft, Blizzard developed the factions to represent extremes of game play style, and include a balanced choice. Like the Zerg, Night Elves build quickly and cost less, with powerful ranged damage, but their units have low hit points. The Orcs have massive amounts of hit points and powerful melee units, but are extremely expensive to build, and build slower, The humans and Undead lie in between these two extremes. This careful balance allowed me to pick the race most suitable to my play style and kick some ass. If I was feeling defensive, I would go casters with humans, and if I was feeling bloodlust, I’d go melee with the orcs. This choice of strategy through race adds a lot of replay value and fun to the game. Design Following the success of Starcraft, Blizzard continued its real time strategy series with Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, released in 2002. Warcraft III contined Blizzard’s RTS tradition of unique but balanced factions, adding two more playable factions on top of the Orcs and Humans available in Warcraft II: the Night Elves and Undead. To further complicate balance issues within the different factions, Blizzard introduced an entirely new aspect of game design to Warcraft III: Heroes. Heroes are special units available at the start of the game, that gain experience with kills, leveling up, getting more powerful and learning unique abilities over time. Heroes can add defense to nearby units, like Paladins with Auras, damage masses of units at a time, as Far Seers do with the earthquake ability, and even heal units, as the Undead Death Knight. With the introduction of Hero units, Blizzard blurred the line between real time strategy and RPG, creating this amazing hybrid game. In addition, each faction had three unique heroes, each with its own unique set of four abilities, a major balance headache. Blizzard solved this problem rather cheaply by mirroring. Instead of truly unique heroes, each faction has the same collection of hero types. There are melee heroes, capable of absorbing lots of damage, ranged, damage dealing heroes, which deal massive amounts of damage but are fragile, and balanced heroes, which are in between, and often have healing abilities. Each faction gets one of each type-and though they do have minor differences, such as the Night Elf abilities to cloak during the night, the heroes do not stray vastly from their designated type. Though a bit disappointing, the game still demonstrates a careful balance amongst the factions, if not amongst the hero units.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:27:21 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3103&iddiary=5777https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3103Summary Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is a real time strategy game for the computer which has players mine and manage resources and build and battle with armies in a fantasy setting. Gameplay I’m not going to lie. When I first popped in the disc and saw the flashy intro cinematic, I was shaking with excitement. I started the campaign immediately, and my jaw hit the floor at the beautiful, full 3D graphics I beheld! An interesting new feature in WCIII’s story mode- the briefings all happen in game-which is great, especially with the improved Campaign editor. Now people can make entire movies in the game, which the game itself seemed to become at parts. The story was captivating- it kept me plowing on through the single player mode madly, I had to know what happened next! WCII is a great example of narrative driving the game, at least in single player.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:27:03 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3103&iddiary=5776https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2718Gameplay Like I said earlier the gameplay is pretty simple. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t ingenious. With the addition of more players, either people or CPU players of varying difficulty, the game becomes chaotic. Characters bounce across the screen madly, punching and shooting everywhere-everything! Things start exploding! My eyes widen and my fingers cry out in protest as I rapidly smash the buttons-but I can’t stop, I must destroy my foes! It's this madness, this frenzy that makes the game so damn fun. It's unpredictable, and in that, gives every player involved about the same change to win. Well, since I’ve been blabbing about the multiplayer side of the game, I should at least mention Single Player. In single player there is some strange, lame attempt at a narrative, where the Nintendo characters are dolls coming to life (think Chucky from Child’s Play) controlled by a mysterious white glove (Michael Jackson?!). Choose a character and fight through the levels and opponents to unlock more characters and levels for multiplayer. Throw in a half-assed boss fight every now and then (Metal Mario?), and huzzah, there it is. The fun in Smash in all in the multiplayer, so gather some friends. Design A very neat design feature of Smash is the symbiosis of fighting game and platformer elements. For example, the levels have jumpable platforms and power ups (ranging from lightsabres to the giant sledge hammer from the original Mario game), which are unheard of in most fighting games. This adds a whole new, refreshing feeling to Smash, compared to the more standard fighting games, like the old Street Fighters, or Tekken. Another great design feature is the nostalgic character selection. I don’t think the game would be anywhere near as successful if it had used original characters. By using characters already established in the Nintendo games, Smash lures in the players of the original games who are happy to revisit their old favorites-it’s like an all star game, full of celebrities. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:12:39.)Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:07:52 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2718&iddiary=5108https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2718Summary Supers Smash Bros is a brawler fighting game for the Nintendo 64 featuring characters from various Nintendo franchises. Players choose a character and fight it out in a free for all or team battle. Gameplay Witness to the dramatic addiction effect of Super Smash Bros Melee on my peers, I decided to investigate its predecessor on the N64. Initially I was surprised of how simple the game was. First of all, pick a character. The characters in the game come from the various Nintendo games, which is quite fun. You can be Link from the Legend of Zelda games, Samus from Metroid, and of course, Mario. The levels mirror the characters-there is a Hyjal castle level for Link, a level with pipes and plant monsters for Mario, etc. Each level is relatively small-this is a fighting game after all-with maybe a few jumpable platforms. After characters are chosen and a level is selected, it’s time to fight. I found the controls pretty easy to grasp-with the basic jump around, block, punch and kick basics. Characters also have their little unique aspects, for example Kirby can fly and devour other characters, then gaining their likeness, Link can throw his boomerang and Samus can shoot her gun and power it up to shoot huge plasma-balls. My personal favorite is Captain Falcon’s (an unlockable character from single player) “Falcon punch,” a super punch that sends characters flying.Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:07:20 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2718&iddiary=5107https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2384Game Play In the more advanced levels the gameplay remains fundamentally the same. Single player consists of repetitive quests and endless monster grinding (killing the same monsters over and over for experience). Group combat is also the same; healers heal, damage dealers to damage, and tanks absorb enemy damage. A feature available for players at the top level allows ranked PVP (player versus player) arena combat. Players can form teams and compete for rank, as well as accumulate points used for powerful gear. This new feature is enjoyable once again, based more on the social interactivity rather than the gameplay itself. The gameplay stays the same, but now I can play with a team of my friends against other people competitively. Design World of Warcraft designs its content to force players to interact socially, which makes the game fun. Players are forced to find groups to take down harder monsters, and each member must play an active role within the group for the group to function. The fact that all the people on the screen are players also makes this game a more believable world, rather than a game. I went into a capital city, and it was filled with hundreds of players, talking, trading, repairing and socializing, just like a real city. Except full of trolls and orcs. The artwork of the game is very stylized, more like a cartoon than realistic, and consistent. Orcs are stooped and exaggeratedly muscular. The people all look perfect, the men handsome and muscular and the women slim and beautiful. Orc cities are filled with spikes and yurts, while human cities have cottages and Though the art is certainly interesting, I would prefer a more detailed, realistic style. Many of the enemy characters also look the same, just with a different name and colored blue, or slightly larger. The game is designed to be a social game. The cities have open forums for people to interact and trade on the auction houses. The instance dungeons require groups to complete. Arena combat requires teams of players. This social dynamic is what makes WoW so addicting. I've already made some friends by joining a guild (a player organization, complete with its own customizable tabard), and enjoy the feeling of comaradery when raiding or PVPing together with them. Despite the repetitiveness of the gameplay, and even the cartoony design, the social aspect of the game is keeping me hooked. The move to make WoW an open multiplayer world outshines the gameplay itself. Most of the time I log on now, I don't even "play" much, but help around the guild, chat, trade, or wander around. And I enjoy it! (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:23:49.)Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:21:20 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2384&iddiary=4788https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2384Summary World of Warcraft is a massive multiplayer role playing game. The objectives are optional but involve completing quests and killing monsters to gain levels and items, and PVP (Player versus player) combat through battlegrounds. Gameplay The first step in game is character creation. Race and gender are only cosmetic, but class determines play experience. The classes each have their own flavors, but usually breakdown into three types: Damage dealers, tanks (damage absorbers), and healers. The game's tasks are divided into quests, which award experience and items. Quests almost always involve killing monsters, retrieving items, or a combination of the two. Performing these tasks quickly grows tedious, especially since the length of time to gain levels seems to exponentially increase each level. But these tasks are part of the single player aspects of the game; it is in its multiplayer aspects that World of Warcraft becomes enjoyable. Since its a massive online multiplayer, almost every character is another player. Players group together to complete quests, some quests even require a group to complete, so Warcraft forces social interaction on the players, which is fun. The fact that the opponents in the battlegrounds are actual players also adds a lot of enjoyment to the experience. The night elf hunter I just flattened is screaming in agony somewhere! Sometimes the gameplay isn't even a factor when I play; I simply enjoy hanging out with my new found friends in the WoW universe. It is this social aspect that makes WoW so enjoyable and addictive.Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:45:36 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2384&iddiary=4555https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2049So I sat down for another few rounds of Goldeneye with my friends with a heavy sigh. As usual, I was destroyed in every round, the game making my shortcomings all the more painful by adding notes such as "Most Harmless," and "Most Cowardly" after each battle. It was annoying enough listening to my friends shreik with laughter at my noobishness, but now the fucking video game itself is insulting me?! AGRAA! This is not incentive to practice...but to smash the thing. My incompetence aside, I can understand how the competitive aspect of the game is so engaging to those who invest years of practice into mastering it. Battles and firefights can be intense and close, often sending my friends into a manic state. It's almost worth playing just to participate in the experience... until I spawn gunless in the middle of said firefight, running around very slowly and jerkily, chopping at nothing as I'm blasted into oblivion. Design I played a little single player on my own and found it pretty boring. Shoot a bunch of soldiers. Shoot a bunch of scientists. Shoot a bunch of whatever. The aesthetics change from level to level, but there is no variation to the game play, which gets old quick. Like I said, people don't play Goldeneye for its single player mode; they live for multiplayer. An interesting note about the game's reward structure I found out was that it was purely psychological (regarding multiplayer, single player unlocks levels and characters, but like I said, nobody plays the single player mode; it was beaten fifty times in fifth grade already). Players compete to win various reward titles at the end of the game, such as "Most Deadly," or "Most Professional." My neanderthalic friends always eagerly shout their reward titles after every match with glee, totally oblivious that there really is NO reward; they have all been duped by the game into believing having the title "Most Deadly" for a round of multiplayers bears some kind of significance, or that its something to be proud of, even though it vanishes after a few seconds when they begin yet another match. I tried to point this out to them, but they reacted with violence. I'm reminded of Plato's allegory of the cave, when the enlightened being tries to help free those trapped who can only see the shadows of real things. They resist, preferring their familiar lie over the scary truth. Whatever. As I stated in my last post I hate the radar, which makes hiding or ambush impossible, There is no character customization, infact, some of the characters are badly designed: Jaws, for example, is so tall that he basically always head shots any normal character. On the other spectrum, Oddjob is so short that he's incredibly hard to shoot at all. Guns are near impossible to see against the often dark grey backgrounds. The character models themselves are hideous blocky looking things, with big polygonal heads and hands. The unofficial sequal to Goldeneye, "Perfect Dark," addresses many of the aforementioned concerns, improving graphics tremendously, varying level play by adding co-op mode and vehicles (though its still fundamentally just shooting hordes of evil doers), and letting you model and name your own character for multiplayer play. The controls are also more responsive and sensitive. Nobody ever plays this game over Goldeneye though, despite the clear improvements. It's the nostalgic value of Goldeneye that makes people keep playing it. These kids were blown away by it in fifth grade when it came out, when it knocked all previous FPS games out of the water. Their young eyes couldn't get enough guns, blood and James Bond. To them I say, keep your memories, but it's time to grow up. Let's play some Halo.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:07:59 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2049&iddiary=3971https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2049Summary Goldeneye is a first person shooter game based on the James Bond movies. In single player story mode, the player progresses through levels shooting and killing hundreds of drone like enemies in various evil villain complexes, as well as the evil villains themselves, which include classic Bond enemies such as Jaws and Oddjob (though he cannot throw his hat!). The game also features multiplayer mode (which is why it is still popular), allowing up to four players fight it out in any of the single player levels, minus the computer controlled enemies. There are variations on the multiplayer modes that limit the type of weapons available, such as "Proximity Mines" mode (my personal favorite), "Automatics," "Pistols," and even "Throwing Knives." Game Play I was expecting a whole lot from this game when I sat down to play it. All of my friends rant, often frothing at the mouth, of how awesome Goldeneye is, how it's the best game ever made forever and how anyone who disagrees is clearly a stupid fucking idiot. Well, I disagreed. I hate this game. Yes, yes, it was innovative. It defined what the first person shooter was, and would become. That's great; I acknowledge this. It did do a lot for modern FPS games, but its far from perfect, and now outdated. Though my friends will probably continue to play it until their sixties, I've found much more enjoyable FPS titles such as Halo or Unreal Tournament. Okay, about the game itself. I hate the controls. Everything is awful and inverted and wrong. The joystick in the middle of the N64 controller controls the direction the character faces, but I can only work this thing with one thumb while my other fingers rest on "Z" (fire weapon), "A" (change weapon), and "B" (open doors). My other hand works the yellow directional pad which allows me to side step, which assists in dodging gunfire. Anyway, I'm working the joystick with that one thumb furiously (...pause) and I keep pushing the damn thing up or down instead of sideways, so I keep looking up and down too much and shooting at nothing while I get killed. The avatar is also incredibly slow to respond (especially when compared to modern FPS games). I run at an agonizingly slow pace, making escape from enemies impossible. And I can't see the damn guns (first of all, what magic gun fairy leaves nice little bundles of ammunition and automatic weapons lying around everywhere?)! The guns are so dark they blend in with also dark (and often grey and ugly) tilesets. Without a trained 007 eye developed over years of obsession, I find myself often unable to find a gun, while my friends blast me to pieces with RPC 90s. I hate the radar system, which points a nice arrow in your direction for your enemies, making ambush or hiding impossible. All these stupid little things take getting used to, and when playing in a room full of veterans, there is NO learning curve. I'm essentially canon fodder in multiplayer, which gets frustrating as hell. I can only conclude that this game has retained its popularity due to its nostalgic value, especially considering the new FPS games on the market right now with features ranging from character customization, less aggravating and more responsive controls, interactive environments (beyond the power to open doors), and of course, much, much better graphics. Aesthetics count too.Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:20:43 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2049&iddiary=3959https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1737Game Play I recently returned to Altered Beast to refresh my mind for another entry, to see if my opinions had changed. I must admit, with the addition of my friends, I had a lot more fun with the co-op mode offered from the game. Strangely enough, the game doesn't actually increase in difficulty with the addition of another player; there are exactly the same amount of monsters and bosses. Like I said in my earlier entry, the game is cheesy. The story is cliche (rescue the princess!), the graphics are primitive (its on the genesis), and the controls are simple (move, duck, jump, punch, kick). Come to think of it, a blocking move would help a lot, and add a little more strategic thinking to the game, rather than the current formula, which is spamming punch/kick until your thumbs hurt. Why do I keep playing it then? I would say that my friends and I are drawn more to it by its cheesiness (is that a word?). We smile slyly as Zeus commands us to "rise from your grave." We're captivated by the speech proceeding all boss battles ("Welcome to your doom!") We grin after completing each level, when a giant evil head cackles and steals our power ups. It's not the game play that had us playing this game over and over, but its silliness. And I had fun. Isn't that the point of a video game anyway? Design Another game play feature I hadn't gone into earlier were the boss battles. They're terrible! The bosses appear at the end of each level as a significantly larger, unique looking monster. Each must be destroyed using the special moves available in beast form. Since the boss only appears after all players have achieved beast form anyway, this is not a problem. Furthermore, in beast form, you only have two different moves (since the genesis only has an 'A' and 'B' button), so it takes only a few seconds to realize which of the two moves works best. You then repeat that move rapidly and the boss dies. Easy. To make matters worse, all the bosses are defeated like this. The last boss of the game, a giant rhino monster, is poorly programmed; if a player holds the 'down' button, making the avatar duck, then the boss is unable to harm the player at all! From the ducking position, the player can just shoot fireballs using 'A' over and over until the boss dies. How very anti-climactic for this epic five level game! Something else the game was lacking was length. With only five levels, I've come to beat the entire game now in around ten to fifteen minutes. This is WAY too short. True, the game does offer an increased difficulty replay after beating the game, but I'd rather see more content than just repeat the same levels with increased difficulty. I would love to see around ten more levels, complete with new backgrounds, bosses, and music. It would add a lot to the game. As I mentioned earlier in this post, the basic pattern for the game (with the exception of the boss battles) is to just mash 'A' and 'B' for punch and kick. Monster approaches. Punch punch punch punch. Monster dies. After a few minutes of this, my thumbs are tired. Instead of this simple combat pattern I'd like to see a less mindless, strategic one. Adding a block move for example, or even adding combos, or throws would enrich the actualy play. Different weapons to pick up would be a lot of fun too, but maybe that's asking for a bit too much. But with a few minor changes and additions I think people would enjoy the monster killing grunt work of the game way more. Well, with the completion of this game for the billionth time, I think I've had enough. This game isn't innovative, the game play is very simple, the boss battles are too easy, and there are only five levels, but the attraction to Altered Beast isn't in any of those elements. Altered Beast is a cheesy, crappy game that I enjoy on a casual evening, hanging out with my friends. We're not too serious with it, and we have a lot of fun. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Thu, 24 Jan 2008 07:29:48.)Thu, 24 Jan 2008 07:27:25 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1737&iddiary=3901https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1737In the Sega Genesis game "Altered Beast" (another botched translation to English from Japanese) you find yourself in ancient Greece, summoned from your grave by Zeus himself to rescue his kidnapped daughter, Athena. You must defeat hordes of monsters, zombies, ogres, and even spear wielding anthropomorphic animal demons straight out of a Hieronymus Bosch painting to do so. Thankfully, you are no ordinary human. With the collection of power ups, you increase in size and strength until you transform into your devastating "beast form," which depending on the game level, can be a wolf, dragon, bear, or tiger. The game follows a standard side scrolling formula. Various monsters approach you, and as you kill them, you progress to the right. Special two-headed blue wolves drop power ups after death, which must be collected until you transform into your beast form. Only after this may the level boss appear. After the boss is defeated, your power ups are taken and you begin the next level. Repeat! The controls are simple enough to grasp. In addition to moving left or right, you can punch, kick, and jump! Beast form unlocks new powers, which replace punch and kick, such as the ability to shoot fireballs when in wolf form (why? who knows?) or the power to electricate nearby foes in dragon form. The gameplay varies so little that it quickly becomes tedious. Every level is essentially the same, the only differences being cosmetic (woa, now the walls are GREEN!). The player also only gets three lives for the duration of the game (all 5 levels), with no way to heal or save, making the game almost impossible to complete. The game does offer co-op mode with two players however, which adds to its enjoyability greatly. Alone I would quickly tire of the game, but with an ally I find myself much more drawn in and involved. The game also has great music, with eerie, medieval sounding organs that get stuck in your head for weeks. In terms of game play, Altered Beast is nothing special, in fact, it's rather boring. But with the addition of co-op, its eerie soundtrack, and its dark art and style, Altered Beast becomes almost... cool. Well, in a cheesy way.Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:18:35 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1737&iddiary=3456