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Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (PS4) by jp (Apr 21st, 2024 at 00:26:13) |
This game is way more interesting than I initially gave it credit for (and I might even play all the cases, I'm that curious!)
There's a bunch of cases, you're Sherlock and you gather clues, investigate locations, use your special "eyesight", interrogate suspects, and more. So far, this is what you'd expect.
Some clues become more important and they show up in your "brain" where you can pair it up with another clue (if it's the correct one) to deduce something. Once you have enough of those, you can reach a conclusion. ALSO, once you've reached a conclusion you can decide how to act on it (usually it's either call the cops or call Mycroft - i think...).
What's really wild is that in the brain-connecting clues interface, you can reach lots of different conclusions! (I think it's 4 per case, at least it has been that so far and I've completed two cases). OH! And, as far as I can tell, the you can get it wrong! And, you just move on...the game calls some of them moral choices - which I'm confused by. But the idea that you could arrive at an incorrect conclusion and the game just moves on to the next case is pretty wild. So far, I've gotten both right (because there's abutton you can press that even warns you - like "spoiler alert" and it shows my result in green - which I assume is that I got it right).
Anyways, that's super cool!
Oh, and the game haslots of little mini-games that you play once, and they're part of the story (e.g. taking sherlock's pulse, or arm-wrestling with a sailor)..
The 2nd case is pretty neat - it takes place in the UK, there's a missing train...and there are rich Chilean (and Mexican) businessmen involved! Whoah.
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Fights in Tight Spaces (PC) by jp (Apr 21st, 2024 at 00:19:38) |
This one's a bit weird and I'll confess I didn't play it that much (just played one mission - which is like 1/5 of a full run?). It looks like it wants to be SuperHot, but it isn't - that's ok. But, it has a "play the movie" of what you just did in a level that you would think would play fast and smooth and super action-y. But now, it's slow and it even pauses between card plays...so it looks rather boring, which is a real shame.
As for the game, there's interesting stuff going on, but I haven't fully understood everything:
a. There's a typical energy system for casting, but a secondary system (combo) that lets you play some cards with a combo cost. If you move in your turn you lose combo so it's sometimes tricky to get everything to pull off.
b. While playing I was disappointed (because it seemed unfair) that there are objectives (bonus ones) in each level - and I wasn't getting any because I didn't know what they were! Apparently they're actually shown on screen, but in a place I did not see or notice.
c. The game seemed a bit slow - I was just moving and getting out of the way as I waited to draw into a good hand of cards. This cuts the momentum for sure and also made it hard/impossible to accidentally hit the secret (not really secret) objectives. So, I'm curious to go back and try again with awareness of the objectives. They should help a lot - in that I'm more likely to try to "solve the puzzle" of each turn and hopefully get the bonus objectives.
d. It's strange that you have to pay to heal, but I thought it was neat that you can upgrade several cards (if you have the money) and that some cards are cheap to upgrade - there's different pricing for them!
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Hadean Tactics (PC) by jp (Apr 21st, 2024 at 00:11:34) |
Ok, I've now cleared the game (not unlocked everything, of course) and it really is quite fun and interesting. The 3rd character (which I was waiting on to try out because I wanted to clear the game with the 2nd one) is pretty neat as well though as I write this all I can really remember is that it has an orb mechanic similar to one of the characters in Slay the Spire.
The harder ending is basically another 3 levels, but they get shorter! The last one, if I remember correctly, is just the boss. I don't remember what deck I was running, but it was pretty good - in the sense that I had picked up some good combos..traps and all.
I'm going to stop playing, for now, mostly because the list of games too look at keeps on growing - one a week - because of the design seminar I'm teaching.
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Before Your Eyes (PC) by dkirschner (Apr 14th, 2024 at 13:51:13) |
I've been looking forward to playing this, especially after playing One Hand Clapping, which had a singing mechanic. That game activates your mic and you use your voice, raising and lowering pitch, to interact with the game. Before Your Eyes was similar in that the game activates your webcam and uses your eye blinks as input. Before Your Eyes works WAY better than One Hand Clapping, and it's the better game all around. I figure that detecting blinks (yes/no) is easier than detecting notes along the range of human vocal pitch, so kudos to One Hand Clapping for trying.
Blinking in Before Your Eyes doesn't do anything unless you do it over a prompt (mouse over the prompt, then blink to interact) or unless you do it when the metronome icon is visible, which progresses the story to the next scene. The rules are simple, and it became a game in and of itself for me to blink strategically. I imagined that at the end of A Clockwork Orange, Alex's eyes are forced open so that he could successfully complete this game. At times, I felt like holding my eyes open with my fingers. This is because your eyes will get tired/dry/itchy while playing and you will screw up and blink when you don't mean to, skipping dialogue or ending a scene early. That's frustrating enough. Make sure you do the blink calibration, but I think that no matter how well you do it, it will still occasionally register some non-blinks as blinks. This really didn't happen much for me; through calibration, I think I turned the sensitivity way down, and I wonder what effect wearing glasses had. But like I said, it works surprisingly well.
So, the game itself is narrative-heavy. It's an obvious play on the idea that a life can pass in the "blink of an eye." You're picked up by a ferryman of souls who asks you to tell the story of your life. Back in time you go to remember it: your childhood, your parents, your career, etc., blinking your way through each scene. I won't spoil the story, but there is a twist that I absolutely did not see coming (though I should have paid more attention to the mysterious dark scenes) that changes the narrative and the tone of the game. This is one you can spend time reflecting on.
Aesthetically, it's got a simple visual presentation, sort of painterly, with some really nice piano music. The voice acting is good, with the exception of the girl-next-door (who sounds the same at 10 as she does at 40). For some reason, they also used the same voice actor for your dad and her dad, which made the one scene with her dad calling her very confusing ("Why is my dad at her house?!"). But I liked the dad and mom's performances. I was wondering through the whole game if your character was mute and/or on the spectrum because he doesn't talk--only through a typewriter later in the game--and otherwise expresses himself through his prodigious musical and artistic talents. But I think he's just a silent main character, not actually mute.
Anyway, the game won a BAFTA for a reason. It didn't blow my mind, but it's a neat experience that's worth having. It's short too, doesn't waste your time. I'm considering incorporating it into a class.
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Stray (PC) by dkirschner (Apr 13th, 2024 at 12:00:39) |
Patrick and I have been playing this together this semester, and finished it a couple weeks ago. We were talking after beating it about despite how simple and straightforward of a game this is, it manages to be something new. Playing as a cat (and being able to do cat things like curl up and sleep, scratch things, knock objects off tables, etc., so cuuuute) was novel, and the setting and story were interesting. But really, playing as a cat. I smiled a whole lot throughout the game. The lil companion robot was cute too.
On the other hand, I was often tired and bored while playing, and literally fell asleep during several sessions. Patrick would be making dinner or something in the kitchen, and I'd snap awake, cat walking into a wall, and I'd pretend I had not fallen asleep, and that I was just watching the cat walk into the wall and thinking. Like how my dad always used to claim he was "resting his eyes" when he'd fall asleep on the couch.
I would not call the game exciting. It was a lot of wandering around the city and talking to robot NPCs, fetching things for them. The city is a really good-looking dystopia, and the robots are quirky, but I wish they had more dialogue. You don't get a sense that many of them have personalities besides whatever one-note thing they do. I mean, the lack of dialogue makes sense, and it's not really "dialogue" since the cat can't talk. The fact that you are a cat adds a whole layer of silly to the game. Like, why has this lil robot befriended a cat? Why are all these robots putting all their faith in a cat to save them? Cats don't understand what we're saying to them, and cats do whatever they want! Playing as a cat in a game where you're doing fetch quests (fetching is dog stuff!) and doing things to help people is very un-cat-like.
But, you know what? The ability to play as a cat and do cat things trumps how little sense it makes, and I would play as a cat in this dystopia again. Idea for next time: more cats. And what do you think? Were there cats at the end?! Optimistically, I think so.
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GameLog hopes to be a site where gamers such as yourself keep track of the games that
they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
you still consider yourself to be playing the game. If it's closed, you finished playing the game. (it doesn't matter
if you got bored, frustrated,etc.) You can also attach short comments to each of your games or even maintain a diary (with more detailed entries)
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2157 registered gamers and 3105 games. 7607 GameLogs with 13096 journal entries. 5074 games are currently being played.
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Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360) by jrboone2 |
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most recent entry: Monday 28 September, 2009
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Entry 1:
SUMMARY
Oblivion is an open world RPG where the player creates their own avatar that they will control in the massive world in which Oblivion takes place. After a helpful tutorial and a bit of story development, the player is thrown into the world, free to choose to do anything they want. Oblivion could be considered more a toy than a game; the player has no obligation to follow the main quest, and may explore the world in any way they see fit.
GAMEPLAY
I initially played this game a number of years ago on the PC, before any of the expansions had been released. I was recently walking through Best Buy and saw this version of the game on sale, which included the two expansions that had been released for it. I decided that I would give it another try, but this time on the XBox 360.
In the beginning of the game, the player is forced through a somewhat lengthy story and tutorial section, where they learn the story behind the main quest as well as how to control their character in the world. After learning the controls, which were not too difficult to become comfortable with, I couldn't help but compare them with the PC version. The PC version allows for greater accuracy; however the 360 version feels much smoother.
The story draws the play in almost as soon as they start playing. At the end of the tutorial/story section, the player is released into the world and presented with the choice to continue the main story, or go on their own path. I really like this choice since it allows the player to make their own story and explore the world as they see fit, following the main quest when they choose to.
There are also a large number of characters in the world, almost all of which have their own dialogue. Many of the more unique characters such as the ones that give you quests or shop owners, tend to have their own unique personality and story. In many of the events that take place in the game, the player finds himself accompanied by any number of NPCs fighting alongside him. All of these elements add up to create a very enveloping experience that can draw the player in for hours at a time.
Entry 2:
GAMEPLAY
My second session picked up just after I had finished the first bit of the story line and the tutorial. I was now free to do whatever I wanted. I soon realized that for some people that this might not be such a virtue, especially if they enjoy a fairly linear game. But lucky for them, they can just as easily follow the main quest and do nothing else. I, however, choose to play as a thief in order to increase my wealth early in the game. By following this path, I was able to break into other NPCs houses and steal and valuable goods that I could see. One of the nice features is that when you look at an item you are shown its base value, allowing the player to quickly discern what is valuable and what is not. I found this to be quite enjoyable and satisfying; breaking into a rich persons abode, stealing anything I could carry, and returning to a merchant to sell it.
I would occasionally complete a quest for the main story line here and there to see what options it might open up for me. Most of the time however, I enjoyed going to the various cities found in the world, and completing small tasks. Since the world is so large, the designers decided to add in a useful feature where the player could automatically travel from location to location, only having to wait for the extent of the loading time. This is an excellent time saver; whereas running from one town to another could take 10 minutes or more.
Oblivion has way too much to do to be able to cover a lot in a single hour game session, which I guess shows how much work actually went into the game to create a quality product and great gameplay experience.
DESIGN
As I have stated many times before, Oblivion is a massive game with many many things for the player to do, and many ways to do these things, creating one of the most emergent games ever. These methods range from using brute force strength to plow through a group of enemies to stealthily taking them out one by one with a bow and arrows. I personally enjoy the more stealthy methods; however if I ever wanted to change it up and start being more direct in my attacks, I could very well do that. The player is not locked into a single way of playing the game at any point. You can even leave a quest right in the middle of it and go do something else, picking up the other quest at any time. This all allows for a great amount of flexibility in gameplay.
Oblivion could be considered a social game in the sense that the player’s character has to continually interact with other NPCs in a social like manner in order to progress the game, but there is not social interaction outside the game itself. There is no multiplayer capability in the game, limiting it to a purely single player experience. While interacting with various NPCs the player is constantly have to make choices as to the path they wish to follow. This greatly furthers the number of way the game can be played.
Level design in Oblivion is an interesting concept to tackle. The concept is more about areas rather than levels. An area will have specific characteristics, and these will be shared with any finer grained areas found within the encompassing area. The characteristics could be things such as tree or building types, a coastal, mountainous or swampy region, or the kinds of enemies found in the area. Other areas such as caves or elvin ruins also have their own characteristics.
I feel that one of the more notable features is the effort that was put into the sound for the game. The music seems to wonderfully set the scene when the player is wandering around the country side, or in a battle or dire situation. The voice acting is very well done, and most of the time, the characters are quite believable, even if there are some glitches in the tone of voice that a character uses ever once in a while.
Over all Oblivion is an extremely well designed game, even with the few flaws that it actually has. But since it is so massive, I think giving it the benefit of the doubt and letting these slide is the least a critic can do.
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