kungfutoday's GameLogBlogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=692Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2) - Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:48:50https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3217Gameplay 2 Coming back to the game, rested and more aware I attempted to do a few more jobs, but I have also discovered that other than the mini car games, there are also time trials for me to do on motorcycles, pizza deliveries on mopeds, and if I were brave enough to steal a fire truck or police car I could do vigilante work, which ended up being ridiculously fun. I also discovered gang wars, and if I was in the wrong part of town I would randomly start being shot at. One of the most fun things that I discovered was that I could do tricks and find little premade ramps to go off of with either the dirtbike or the racing bike and I would get points and money for those tricks as well. But honestly, after an hour or so of doing jobs a not exactly being the most successful hit man, I ended up going as crazy as possible. I would drive through crowds of people, do drive by's up and down the street, anything to get my stars up and get the tanks and choppers to come out. I also went online and found codes so I could get every weapon, get a tank, and find out where the helicopters were so I could fly those. The speed boats were awesome too. There was one code that allowed me to drive on water, so I would take the tank and go crazy on land, the drive into the water and do some damage to the police out there too. I pretty much liked the chaos aspect of the game because It allowed me to blow off a little steam and laugh about it. I really like taking the racing bike and driving full speed into a wall and either slamming into it or going flying through the air if the wall was small enough. Design I thought this game was extremely well designed. The lighting and colors made it seem like an 80's music video mixed with episodes of Nash Bridges which I thought was the funniest thing because I know how corny that show is. I also really like the different mode of transportation because each one has perks and disadvantages in steering capability, armor and speed which were all crucial depending on what kind of job you were about to do. I also think the main characters fighting style without weapons was pretty funny and I liked it when random people fought back. I thought the area was also appropriate considering Miami's reputation for drug dealers and kingpins and stuff like that and the scenery was all very nice to drive through and set on fire. The weapons were one of the coolest things about the game because there were so many to choose from and they made killing people and destroying thins in many different way interesting because you could torch things, hit thing with bats or just shoot people in the knee caps.Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:48:50 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3217&iddiary=6054Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2) - Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:31:55https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3217Summary Grand Theft Auto is a game where you do jobs for the mob and whoever else offers to pay for your assistance. You can acquire guns, cars, money as well as stars which alert the police to how you've been behaving. If you've been too bad then on top of the jobs you are doing you also have to run from the cops. Gameplay Starting out was simple enough although simply running around everywhere wasn't cutting it for me. After I stole my first car and got my first star I was in the zone. The first few jobs were easy although I messed some of em up because I was kinda careless and still getting the feel for how the different cars drove, and how my opponents were going to react to what I was doing. As time wore on i started to do more extraneous activities instead of the jobs and realized that there is a whole other system of games that can be played. There were dirt bike tracks and mini RC car tracks where I could win more money as well as have a little bit of arcade type fun while I was waiting to whack my next victim. There was definitely a point though when I got tired of attempting missions over and over again because each time I would fail in a spot that I had passed the previous time.Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:31:55 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3217&iddiary=6053Goldeneye 007 (N64) - Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:00:10https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2925Gameplay 2 Coming back to the game, I still can't control the character very well and I thinks it's just me. I can't play newer games with similar controls either. Now that I have been playing for a little while I kinda have a better feel for the different levels although sometimes I can't figure out how to figure out where to go. I think the game really stays on topic with the Bond movies which are usually full of some pretty ridiculous stunts and guns. I am really liking the characters and I am starting to figure out that different characters have different attributes that make the character better suited for one action over another. The problem is the more I play, not only do I get a little more comfortable with the game and its controls, but so do my friends, and they were definitely pretty good when the game first came out and are now much better than me. This kind of ruins the flow of the game for me because everytime I try to get on some kind of role I get killed...sometimes embarrassingly like with the karate chop, or something dumb like that. Design Goldeneye is one of the first first person shooter games that I can remember, and definitely the first one that I had ever played. I think it influenced a lot of games that are extremely popular today like the Halo series. I see many similarities in the two games, not only in the actual play, but everything from multiple weapons, multiple players, and also the following of games that it has. I remember when goldeneye was popular it was as big as Halo is now (but everything is bigger when you are younger). I still think that the levels are a bit confusing, and the fact that the controls are so touchy doesn't help the movement of the character through the halls. The were many times when I started to get a bit dizzy because I couldn't correct my position in the room. The conflict of the game is simple, and because it is based on movies, it is a pretty well known conflict- kill the other guy, and do it as much as you can. Overall it was fun to play again, but it's nice to see the advancement in graphics.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:00:10 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2925&iddiary=5516Goldeneye 007 (N64) - Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:44:36https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2925Summary Goldeneye is a first person shooter based on the 007 James Bond films where you can play as characters from the game against one another. Gameplay I haven't played this game in many years and it take a while to get used to the graphics again as well as the controls and the view. The first person perspective is pretty jumpy but maybe it is just because I haven't played a game like this in a very long time. The scenery and the rooms are quite confusing to me and I felt like I was running in circles most of the time that I was playing the game. As I was looking for other players in the game it seemed like I was just guessing and checking where I was going and each corner was another surprise. I like all of the different weapons that are possible to use and the effect after you have made a kill is a really good chance to talk some trash to the other players.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:44:36 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2925&iddiary=5515Rock Band (360) - Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:30:16https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1897 GamePlay 2 Coming back to the game, my throat is a little sore so I pick up the bass (remember I’m not so hot with the guitar riffs). This is my kind of instrument, simply yet carrying. The bass allowed me to play along on expert mode with the other guys (minus the singer who was not as good as I was) but as I was playing one of the instruments I was no longer paying as much attention to the rest of the guys or the game. I found myself so much more focused on just myself as opposed to when I was singing and could interact more so with who ever I felt like. Also, the song list isn’t quite as deep as I would like. The good songs are really good, but from there it’s a pretty big drop-off to lesser heard, older (before my time) songs whose lyrics and riffs are not as familiar to my friends and I. Design Rock Band is a very interactive game, more so on the person to machine level than the person controlling a character. Each Rock Show is a different level where you need to gain a bigger and bigger fan base. The graphics are pretty lame, but it’s cool that you can create your own character. Each show is put on in a different venue, for example: London, LA, Rome… so pretty much all over the world, each spot with its own landmarks and structures, so in that respect there are some okay backgrounds. My biggest problem with the game is that it hurts my eyes because I am pretty sure that I don’t blink the whole the song. But again, the characters are all pretty cheesy. It’s kind of like a super old school WWF game where you can create your own wrestler, but then you can perform songs with them.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:30:16 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1897&iddiary=4926Rock Band (360) - Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:29:44https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1897Summary Rock Band is a game where you play shows with remote control instruments to become a successful Rock Band. GamePlay First of all, I played with 4 other players. Two of which I know had a musical background, and all of which had prior Guitar Hero experience (myself a past musician as well, but not so good at GH). We had a great time playing, and it wasn’t long before we could complete several of the songs on Expert. I really enjoy the microphone aspect of the game because it brings about much more involvement than just hitting a few buttons. Matching the pitch of the singers’ voice in the song as well as staying on track with the beat was pretty interesting especially when the drummer loses the beat and has to be saved. I was mostly surprised in my ability to sing along with the songs even though I had to adjust my pitch an octave lower, not to mention learn the lyrics to many of the songs that I hear on the radio on a regular basis.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:29:44 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1897&iddiary=4925Age of Empires (PC) - Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:27:26https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2591Game Play So now I have been online and read about a few of the uses of the buildings for which I had no idea how to use, and it was very helpful. I also talked to some of my house mates about how I am supposed to keep getting food if I can't farm, and they pointed out that there was an arrow to another page once I made it past the stone age which probably would have been helpful when I first started playing. I kinda expected the menu to fill up before there were arrows telling me that there were more pages, oh well. The game is still challenging but I was able to get much farther along than I ever had. I really think that watching my friends play every once in a while will help me figure out some better strategies and allocation of resources. Design The design of the game is simple enough. The characters are all small enough that they don't require too much detail to get the image across. I kinda have a problem with the jaggedness of the movements but I guess thats what I get with the original version of the game, still fun though. I think it was a very good choice of theme because there are quite a few possibilities in the characters and outcomes depending on who you are and what route you decide to go with, whether it be more sea or land or force or religion (kind of an odd aspect I thought). The game really keeps you interacting with it until you attack because you are providing your entire civilization with instructions. When you finally attack, you are pretty much just throwing all of your guys into the other city (although you can organize however you like).Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:27:26 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2591&iddiary=4924Age of Empires (PC) - Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:18:28https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2591Summary Age of Empires is a strategy game where you are a specific race of people starting out in the stone age and as you advance in terms of food, gold and other various elements of your world, you can advance into the iron age, bronze age and so on. (I haven't made it past the iron age so I'm not really sure what happens in those other ones). The point of the game is to create a civilization with an army/navy large enough to defeat your opponent. Game Play It took me several times to figure out what to do to become successful in the game and yet I have nothing to show for it. The first time I played I took a very frivolous approach and spread myself much too thin before I could advance and I found myself stuck trying to defend my civilization with 2 warriors. The next couple rounds that I played I was a little less spendy at first and tried to advance myself which worked, but when I couldn't figure out what any of the buildings were for I was again at another loss. I can tell this game is going to take a lot of time to get good at.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:18:28 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2591&iddiary=4923Wii Sports (Wii) - Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:48:57https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2289Summary Wii Sports is an interactive game in either single player or multi-player mode where the player competes in sporting events such tennis, bowling, baseball, boxing, and golf. There is also a training function and a fitness test function where you can test your skill level and endurance. Gameplay This game was awesome. It was easy to get the hang of at first, although I know that it would probably be pretty tough and take quite a while to get really good at it. Easy as it was however, I found myself quite tired after just a few games. I really enjoyed the create a Wii function because it let my imagination run free as well as let me create some of my friends almost down to the freckles on their faces. Playing with friends was super cool because of the trash talking that went on, and also the injuries made the games a little more realistic. There are a few more holes in my house than there were before we moved in, but they are really high up on the walls so hopefully its not that big of a deal. I enjoyed taking the physical fitness tests to see my “age” and also the training aspect because it made a great house competition to see who could get the records, and then even more difficult, the medals.Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:48:57 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2289&iddiary=4444Wii Sports (Wii) - Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:01:31https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2289Gameplay 2 Coming back to Wii Sports, I have found that I may not be in as good of shape as I thought I was. This is quite possibly the most sore I have ever been, and definitely the most sore I have ever been after simply playing a video game. Wii sports however, is not just a video game. The competition has been fierce and there are injuries to all who have played. Now we have made it a fact to see how far away from the tv we can stand and still perform the sports. We have also set up the wireless portion of the Wii and are taking on friends who aren’t even in the room. My friends and I have found the respective sport that each of us are the best at and now I am trying to branch out to beat them in their “own” game. The competitive nature of myself and my friends really adds a different aspect to playing this video game, as well as the fact that it is a sports game, we can all become more involved. Design As I have talked about already, the way that Wii Sports can bring together such intense competition among several people is an amazing aspect of the games design. More literally, I think the way the game looks is simple enough to get the point across but not too confusing with real life, because its obviously a video game, and the importance is not placed on the fact of realism, its on the point of competition. I think the “create a player” function is a great aspect of the game that allows the players to have more of a connection between the athlete and the character. Plus, when you are playing on teams, it clears any confusion on who messed up the last point.Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:01:31 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2289&iddiary=4391