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Nov 25th, 2009 at 21:10:49 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex (Wii) |
Gamelog Entry 4
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex
Summary
In this game you do some basic training, then you’re off on a mission. You’re a special op soldier with a group of about 4 other guys. There are various weapons you can use and movements you can make. You’re given an objective and with help on the screen and commands from the other members you’re guided through the scenario.
Gameplay
Right from the start, this game had me hooked. They started off by showing you short clips about the state of the world and how it needed someone to help get the bad guys. Kind of recruiting you. Then it took you to a training area and showed you how to do the very basics like pick up you weapon, move and shoot. This was a very low keyed area. Then you had to find your way to another area with a skills course. This is where the intensity started to rise. No one was shooting back, but the instructor was yelling at you what to do next. After a few falls, and bumps into walls, you were able to complete the course and asked if you wanted to practice again or go on a mission. The mission was very confusing and for the most part I was just trying to stay in sight of the rest of the team. As it went on I gained confidence and started participating in the fights.
I liked the way it taught you the skills; slow at first then moved quickly to a high stress level. There was very little time to get bored. If you get killed, it backs up a little in the mission and you get to try again. There is often a hint on what you did wrong. Like “Watch out for the grenade warning”. (That was a good hint). The commands are pretty easy to get used to, but the view is frustrating. The line of sight is very narrow, and it’s hard to look around. It’s also hard to know who is friend or foe.
2nd Gamelog Entry
Ok, now I can move around and follow the action, most of the time. But how do you stay alive? At first one of my main goals was to stay alive, now that’s switching to figuring out some strategies to get through the levels. I’m not sure that I like the idea of getting used to dying. To just wasting lives to test new theories. Seems like the lives should be more valuable. Maybe they are at higher levels.
One of the ways that this game could be innovative is that the controllers are the WII controllers, so you just point them at the screen to shoot. I really like that. I would like to have the “gun” system to see how that works. I think it would be easier if it was more like a real gun.
Design
The design is pretty impressive. The graphics are great, and the sound makes you feel like you’re there. It really adds to the gaming experience.
I wish there were more tutorials on how to use the weapons. At one point I was expected to pick up a bazooka type thing and blow up some tanks. It took me quite awhile to figure out how to make it shoot. That started to get frustrating and take away from the game. The difficulty level was getting too high.
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Nov 5th, 2009 at 22:14:21 - Spelunky (PC) |
Gamelog Entry 3
Summary
The game is Spelunky
The hero is short stocky guy who explores different underground areas. There is a tutorial area, and then the main entrance. Each time you play the game the underground area is different. He has tools that he takes with him and things he picks up in the game. The goal is to try to collect gold nuggets, stay alive, and rescue a frantic chic.
Gameplay
There are very few directions on what to do. Exploring is the main way to learn. The tutorial was helpful, and I did return to it several times to learn and practice, but trial by error was my main way to learn. I killed off quite a few “Spelunkies” at first. My favorite was when something red and blinking appeared in his hands. It looked like something to get rid of and away from, but I didn’t know how. Sure enough, a few seconds it when off and another Spelunky died.
After my first few times playing I did start to get some skill on moving around using the bombs and rope. And I was able to avoid some enemies and “whip” the others. But the frantic chic still eludes me. I don’t have any idea on how to help her out. Probable would help if I’d quit dropping her on her head.
2nd Gamelog Entry
Interesting that as you increase your skills your goals in playing can change too. Now that I can “survive” in the game environment I’ve started to do more than collect gold and try to move onto the next level. I find myself exploring the levels to see what’s new and, of course, trying to rescue the frantic chic.
There are still things on the levels I’m on that I know are important, but I don’t know how to use them. For example, the boxes. They’re all over the place, but I can’t move them or open them. In the Score area you can push the boxes, but not in the game area.
Design
I kind of like how the tutorial area gives you clues on how things work, but it doesn’t come right out and tell you to do this then do that. You have to take the clue, and then experiment with it.
One of the things that make this a good game is how you can have success early, but it can still remain challenging as you continue playing. There are plenty of areas to explore so it doesn’t get repetitious. Also, you can learn the basics of using the tools and accomplish basic tasks, but with practice you can use the same tools (rope, whip, bombs) to accomplish more complex tasks.
One thing that does bother me are the game controls. I haven’t played a lot of games just using the keyboard, but I’m having a real hard time remembering what the left hand keys do. I’d like some kind of mouse control to move, and then the left hand would be different enough to help remember.
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Oct 7th, 2009 at 22:16:36 - Aquaria (PC) |
Summary
The game is Aquaria.
In this game the hero is a mermaid type character that is exploring an underwater environment. We don’t know what the goal is at the beginning. We are just exploring the environment.
Gameplay
The first screen is an underwater cave complete with bubbles and a school of fish that follow the mouse. Here you can choose several options using rocks with directions that change from hyroglyphs to english.
Then, you are given some background and play info from a screen with the face of the hero. Finally you are dropped into another cave and you’re ready to play.
At the beginning you’re learning how to move the hero. She follows the mouse when you left click, but can jump from wall to wall. She can sing, right click and hold, or you can interact with certain elements, right click.
By using a help map, you can explore the cave. As you move into different areas a voice gives you clues on what to do. This is definitely a learning area. You’re learning how to move, protect youself, and collect items. You even have to “learn” how to save the current game by listening to the voice and guessing what to do.
The graphics are great, and the music is amazingly not too anoying.
2nd Gamelog Entry
At the beginning of the second zone you meet a spirit type character and they send you on what seems to be an impossible trip. I was attacked and didn’t know how to defend myself and quickly died. But it was only a dream. Like a sneak preview. It did peak my interest and make me want to learn how to defend myself and/or fight back. More incentive to learn the game.
Then I went on into the next zone and swam around, a lot. The learning curve was slower here, and by the end was getting a little boring. I’d explored the whole zone and appeared to be at a dead end. I even cooked myself a fish loaf of some kind. Might have missed a clue on what was next. I was kind of hoping the “Voice would come and help out, but no.
By the end I was really hoping to find a way to fight back against the things stinging me and shooting me. Singing at them wasn’t very satisfying. Not sure if I’d pay to play more with out knowing some of the fighting possibilities.
Design
The game itself is beautiful. Things move around very smoothly and it’s easy to stay tuned into the game. I think the way the background moves is pretty inovative. Although it is just a scrolling game, it really has a 3D feel.
It’s pretty challenging figuring out what to stay away from, and how to use the different elements. I started to feel like I want to go look for the cheats after awhile.
The energence complexity is learning about the world and how it works. You have to explore different area so you need to learn how to read the map. You need to learn what creatures to stay away from and what plants can help. You have to learn how to move the hero to get to where you want to go and how to avoid danger.
All in all it’s a pretty fun game. The second time I played I could have used more rewards and more diversity. Perhaps if I was playing the real game instead of the demo it would move faster.
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Sep 13th, 2009 at 21:39:38 - Guitar Hero 5 (Wii) |
Gamelog Entry 1
Summary
The game is Guitar Hero 5.
Basically you use a controller (a guitar, drum, microphone) to play the notes of a song that are being streamed on the screen. You can play individually using one type of controller, or you can play in a band using several controllers. Your band members can be there with you or online. You can also play freestyle to background music provided, or make the whole song yourself.
You can create an individual avitar and play songs at different difficulty levels trying to get the high score. You can also create a band and try to finish “gigs” (sets of songs).
Gameplay
I’ve played several other versions of the game and they are all pretty similar. The graphics are cartoonlike and targetted for a teen audience. The layouts and features are similar enough, between all the versions, that you can easily navigate the instructions and determine what is going on durning the game.
This version seems to have less of a kiddie feel. The scenes between songs go quicker with less animations. The avitars that play are about the same, most are rather punk.
The storyline for the career area doesn’t seem to attempt to engage the player as much as other versions. It’s more just play the 4 songs correctly and move to the next gig. There’s no scenes about so and so wanting to sign you up to a contract, or a headline from the paper about how great the band was at the gig. I kind of miss that part. It gave you more of a sense of accomplishment.
I didn’t play the online group part, but I could see that that would be pretty fun. You could meet random people that are at your same level. I’ll bet its always hard to find a good drummer.
I think the most important part about the fun factor is the songs. If you like the songs you’ll like the game. This game has 85 songs from a wide varitey of artists. It’s probably enough songs for everyone to find songs they know and like, with a few they didn’t know, but like.
2nd Gamelog Entry
This time I took some time to modify one of the avitars. There are quite a few modifications you can make: clothes (type and color), peircings, sun glasses, accessories, etc. I can see where this would be fun for certain demograpics (girls? Yes). You can pick the avitars for the whole band. Strangely, the gender of the singer doesn’t have to match the gender of who actually sings the song.
One of the innovations of this version is that you can have up to 8 people playing each song. Apparently, there can be multiple people playing the guitar or singing and the game keeps track of each.
One of the things that makes this a good game is variety. You can make a lot of changes. For example, the diffculty of the song, the instrument you play, what your avitar looks like, playing together in a band or on your own. You can challenge other players online or in person, etc. So for each song, there are many ways you can play it.
I’m not sold on the aesthetics. It has a cartoon feel, or maybe annime. But to me it has a kid feel. I think there is an older market for a game that is more sophisticated. Concentrate on the music and make it more like playing a real guitar. More variations on the controller like different strings, bending the strings. Better action on the buttons. They could let the player have something to work towards.
The energence complexity is definitely the difficulty of the songs. You move from simply hitting the right button when it reaches the right spot on the screen to hitting a series of buttons because it feels like the music you’re listening too.
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