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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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Hadean Tactics (PC) by jp (Apr 7th, 2024 at 13:32:36) |
This game is supposed to be a deck-building tactical game and it sort of isn't, but very lightly is - at least in my experience so far.
So, like CD2: Trap Master this game REALLY wears it's Slay the Spire inspirations on its sleeve. Again, there's a path you that branches and you need to pick which nodes to visit - and there's fights, boss fights, resting spots, stores, artifact/rewards, and shops. Oh, there's also "story encounters" where you make a choice that often results in a benefit and a drawback. VERY Slay the Spire - though I noticed the way the events are distributed is different and that it's much more important to plan your way through it since the paths intersect a lot less and you can, for example in my last run, set yourself up with 4 rest/upgrade a card spots in a row!
In addition to a deck of cards you have the character you chose and two "minions" (they're all monsters) that exist on a 2D grid that's quite typical of tactical games. The enemies will spawn, you have energy to cast your cards - generally you cast your cards, unpause and wait for the timer to pause the game when it hits the threshold (7 seconds) for your hand to flush, a new hand is drawn, and you get more mana to cast spells. What isn't really tactical about it is that all the fighting on the tactical grid (which includes everyone having abilities they cast once their mana is full) happens automatically. You can't (afaik) give orders to anyone. At best, if you have the right spells, you can move creatures around (your own or enemy), but they then move back to whatever it is they want to do (e.g. attack the nearest enemy).
One of my runs used a character that had access to "trap" cards which are pretty neat since you lay them on the grid and then have to trigger them (with a different card) and ALL the trap laid will trigger. Some do damage, others heal your allies, and so on. So, the game isn't tactical at all in the turn-by-turn combat and movement decision-making sense. Yes, you choose whom to roll into a fight with, which spells to cast on whom, and when to cast things. But, since you don't directly control your combat units it all feels pretty indirect.
Where the game goes pretty wild (and above/beyond what Slay the Spire does) is that once you've cleared a run - you gain access to making your own hero - choose skills/talents from a list AND choose which spells will be available (again from a list, which only has the ones you've unlocked). So, in this sense the game has a lot, lot more options/replayability and that sort of thing. But, I'm not sure it's that much more interesting?
Oh, there is a meta-progression. When I beat my first run a giant death/reaper creature appeared and said "ok, now you can start to make progress towards winning - you have to collect wings". And I've collected a few since, you get them from killing the stage end bosses (which is nice in that you don't have to get all the way to the end). I need to get 7 - so I wonder if I'll just have to play over and over until I randomly get the right bosses or will the game feed me different ones until I get them all? I've also unlocked a new (third) character...but I kind of don't want to use it because I want to get all the wings with the character I've made some progress with.
I've played about 4 hours and I've really enjoyed the "decay" and "trap" mechanics... we'll see how it goes!
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Deathloop (PS4) by jp (Apr 4th, 2024 at 11:14:36) |
Argh. The longer you go without playing, the worse this game's experience becomes. This is almost entirely due to me forgetting both how to play, but also all the localized information and knowledge you pick up - like who is where, when, and so on.
I love the idea of a "clockwork" game where you deftly navigate your way through things that happen and certain times and places - there's a sense of beauty and elegance to the choreography you develop and create (sort of like when you watch those time loop movies and see a character weave through people and places because they know what's going to happen when and they've just learned it). BUT, that beauty also creates an entry barrier - at least a psychological one for me, because the game's on-ramp is past and now you're in the thick of it. But you've forgotten everything...
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Devil May Cry 5 (PS4) by jp (Apr 4th, 2024 at 11:09:05) |
So I took a break - and then came back to the game and had forgotten how to play. It took a bit to remember (I purposefully avoided looking stuff up because I wanted to see how easy it was for me to remember). So, some of the fights with V took longer than they should have - because I had forgotten that V has to "finish off" the enemies...lol.
While I often focus (for my own personal interests) on game play and game design aspects of a game - I realized as I was playing this game that..wow, the visual design of the large enemies really is phenomenal. They're both beautiful, awesome, creepy, gross, and disgusting. It's quite the accomplishment and I really appreciated it. And, this is in the context of me playing a game that is ~7 years old and running on last gen hardware. Perhaps I haven't played enough PS5 games yet so I'm still too impressionable? Have things moved that far in terms of photorealism?
I have decided to move on even though I realize, from the back of the box, that I'll miss out on the 3rd playable character. It's no fault or problem with DMC5...it's just that I've got too many games to play and I think I've understood enough about this game to move on to another.
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Ratchet and Clank (PS2) by Jeshie |
No comment, yet. |
most recent entry: Monday 21 March, 2016
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Ratchet And Clank (2002): Saturday, March 19th (Session 1) Monday, March 21st (Session 2)
Created by Insomniac Games for the Play Station 2.
>>Overview<<
Ratchet And Clank (2002) can be is a 3D platformer, third-person shooter, action-adventure game for the PS2. This game was the first entry into the Ratchet And Clank franchise and is a childhood favorite of mine. It plays as a single-player campaign game, where the protagonists, Ratchet and Clank, have to save the galaxy from the evil chairman Drek who is plotting to take parts of other planets and put them together to make a new home planet for his alien-race. Its a fun game with quirky humor, platforming puzzles, and some skill based combat that I can never find to be too repetitive or boring.
>>Formal Elements<<
The game is a single-player game versus the environment and enemy monsters/robots, but can very easily be a game where you take turns with a friend beating smaller levels within a planet.
As for objectives, the game has tons ranging from capture (defeating enemies), race (hoverboard mini-game), alignment (platforming puzzles), exploration (hidden levels on a planet/collectibles), and solution (puzzles and minigames).
Most of the game procedures are quite simple. Before you can play, you have to select a planet, so you can then explore it to complete tasks. Another is the player must traverse down certain paths on the planet to usually run into a cut-scene of some sort where you get a reward like a new planet or gun. Then whenever you want to leave the planet you just hop into your ship or go down another path you might not have explored. You also have control procedures like firing your guns, melee attacks with the wrench, and jumping. There are also probably some artificial intelligence procedures that tell the enemies how to behave.
The rules of basic platforming and shooting gameplay of Ratchet and Clank are also pretty simple. If you run out of health (nanotech) you'll die, can only go to planets you have unlocked, can't buy a gun if you don't have enough bolts, are some examples of rules within the game. There also several mini-games that have their own set of rules as well.
The three main resources in this game are bolts(money), ammo for guns, and the players health. A fourth resource is golden bolts, which are used to upgrade guns to their omega version and are treated as hidden collectibles. The mini-games within the game also have varying resources such as the racing mini-game having a boost resource.
The overall conflict is the fact that chairman Drek is willing to destroy several populations of entire planets within the galaxy and if Ratchet doesn't find a way to stop him he'll lose his home. Other sub-conflicts are more puzzle or planet specific, but there are some character conflicts, especially with Captain Quark not being who everyone thinks he is.
Obvious boundaries are just the edges of levels, the boundaries of platforms you can land on and not fall into a pit of death, and you can't actually fly to planets manually, but just pick one to automatically go to it.
>>Dramatic Elements<<
The challenge and ability balance within the game seems to be well done. If you ever get a little frustrated with an area you can easily take a break by going to a mini-game planet and then try again once you have regrouped. Nothing seems exceptionally impossible, but its not a cake-walk either. You have to pay attention to enemy patterns, conserve ammo in some cases, and bosses tend to take a couple tries, but not too many. The puzzles have never stumped me either, but they do require a little thought.
This game tends to attract the types of players who like to explore, collect, and a little bit of a joker type character with some of the goofy stuff the game has in it.
The premise of the game is that some man is destroying planets and Ratchet wants to find the well known super hero Captain Quark to stop him. As he travels from planet to planet he has to fight through chairman Drek's army of robots using his weapons and gain Captain Quark's assistance. Since its understandable that different planets would be unique it allows many environments and different puzzle situations to arise.
The game has specific characters with predefined personalities. Quark ends up being a huge coward with a big lying mouth, Ratchet kind of has this well somebody's got to do it, but I also get to do all this cool stuff attitude, and Clank tends to be very logical and covers all the advanced sci-fi technology this universe would have. Out of all the main characters, Ratchet is only playable one except for certain sequences where you get to play as Clank for a little bit. In both situations the characters are in the complete control of the player.
The game has an overarching story, where Ratchet just wants to get the help of someone he believes to be very powerful only to find out he is a wuss and has to save the galaxy himself. The planets have their own tiny sub-plots, so you kind of get a feel for what kind of people live their, but its not anything too deep or serious. Most of the planet storytelling is done through the environment.
>>Session 1<<
The game opens up with some simple cutscenes with Ratchet working on a ship hes putting together and he ends up seeing another ship crash on his planet, so he decides to check it out. Something is up with this ship though, as tons of killing robots are now suddenly here and Ratchet has to fight through them to reach the crashed ship. I immediately remember some of the controls and mechanics, which leads me to change my camera settings because I hate inverted controls. I begin hacking my way through these tiny robot chicken/raptor things with the wrench and start to get my first glimpse of the juicy resource known as bolts. As I traversed the level I caught myself constantly looking around to see if I was passing up crates or enemies to smash so I could get every single bolt possible. I also would hit props in the environment as I recall some being breakable and giving tons of bolts, but there didn't seem to be any on this level. Later in the level I run into the first ranged robot that shoots some weird lazer ray thing, but its super short ranged and the game reminds me that I have a bomb glove. I instantly use it to lob small bombs on top of them from out of their range and easily start clearing the level, until I eventually get to the crashed ship. Here another cutscene occurs and I meet my trusty companion for the rest of the game, Clank, who tells Ratchet about Chairman Drek's plans to destroy planets. They then head back to the ship and Clank is able to be the missing piece Ratchet didn't have to finish it. They then leave for the planet Novalis, which is where the coordinates of Chairman Drek's last transmission.
>>Session 2<<
I begin on planet Novalis and instanly notice a crate that says gadgetron floating above it(gadgetron is like the store in this game), and check whats available. I see a new gun named the pyrocitor, seems like a flamethrower, and realize I'm about 1000 bolts short of its 2.5k bolt price. I then notice I have two path options, an elevator platform that brings me down into a field, and a cave like path. I choose the elevator platform and find another chicken/raptor like robot and start smashing them. I'm trying to conserve ammo by using my wrench as I'm not too sure whats ahead. With the pyrocitor in my mind, I'm more bolt hungry than ever, and check every nook and cranny for crates or monsters to harvest for cold, hard bolts. As I travel further, I run into a new enemy that shoots bullets at a slow semi-automatic rate and seem to reload or re-position themselves after 3 shots. Once they start shooting their turn radius is also slow, so when they are alone I simply dodge and smash with the wrench, otherwise I take them out swiftly with my bomb glove. Now I'm at a split, there is a bridge to left and some stairs a little further and to my right. I end up choosing the stairs because I see at the bottom their are quite a few enemies to harvest and I haven't reached that total bolt count for that pyrocitor. After killing some more enemies and some simple platforming, I run into a big circular area where a ship comes down with several of the robots who shoot 3 times. I make quick work of them and get another cutscene that results in a reward for coordinates of the planet Kerwan who has a shop that specializes in electronic gadgets and weapons. Afterwards a small bridge forms that leads me very close to my ship and that last fight got me to a little 2500 bolts. I dash towards the gadgetron and by the pyrocitor. I quickly run into the cave real quick to test it out on some small chicken/raptor things and yep its a flamethrower, but at least it's got higher firepower than my wrench for close range combat. After that I end this session and taking a break before I decide to head to the new planet or maybe check out the other paths on this one.
>>Conclusion<<
Combat in the game is as I remember it, slightly clunky, but in a manner that doesn't bother me or hinder my experience. So far I haven't noticed a strafing mechanic, but that might be something they added in the second game on. The basic storytelling and animations make the characters look humorous with their exaggerated movements and silly voices. The overall attitude gives off a we're serious in a goofy way and makes it hard to get upset at the game. I also found it quite funny how easily hooked I was at seeking out bolts as soon as the game started and how eagerly I wanted to try out a new gun even though I knew what it was probably going to do. The game is intuitive and gives very quick and non-intrusive instructions, which makes it very easy to just start diving into it. Its a game I would recommend to anyone and their isn't a better time to get into Ratchet And Clank with the remake coming out later this year.
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