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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
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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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Super Mario 64 (N64) by blacklist2021 |
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most recent entry: Saturday 26 January, 2008
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Gamelog # 2 – part 2 (Super Mario 64)
Gameplay:
I’ve played Super Mario 64 two times now and I find that the more I play it the more I want to play it. At first I just figured I would play a few levels and then return the game to the library because I really don’t have enough time to play it, but I just can’t bring myself to return it. There is just something about the gameplay that makes Mario games so addictive and I don’t really know why, but I can hold testament to it. I would speculate that it definitely has something to do with collecting stars and achieving goal that are not too far out of reach. It seems similar to the satisfying feeling one gets when crossing something out on a to-do list. Of course there is also the atmosphere and the gameplay that are very important. Anyway, I’ll try to talk more about that later.
This time around I entered a couple more worlds and played the first level for a second time. I was surprised at how much harder the second world was because I thought that I had gotten a handle of the controls. Something about the new enemies and obstacles made Mario want to run off the side of the cliff about ten times. I also enjoyed how each world had a distinct feel to it. I liked the ice world just because for some reason I like the idea of snowy places and because I was fun to slide down the hill (at least it was fun when I intended to slide down the hills).
Playing through the fist world a couple more times I realized that the world changed a little bit and I realized that some task were much more difficult then others. It’s was interesting to see how many different task there were to do in the world and things that seemed to have no purpose in the first run through were suddenly keys to unlocking stars. I thought that this added a lot to the replay value of the game and I could see myself trying to get all the stars on each stage.
As far as general gameplay goes I did have some more experiences. For one thing it seemed like the enemies became more of a challenge. Another cool thing was that I learned that I could dive and snatch up small enemies, it didn’t mean much but it was fun. Also I found that if I paused the game I could get a good zoomed out view of the surrounding area.
I did have some not so exciting experiences the second time around. For example, I constantly found myself accidentally sliding and not being able to get out of it and my joystick had sensitivity issued because it is old and worn down. Also I still found the bosses and most of to be fairly easy to beat
Design:
Most gamers would agree that Super Mario 64 has excellent game design but it is hard to pin point exactly what makes it so good. I would argue that the key elements to the games success are its atmosphere and its gameplay.
One of the game strongest attributes is its ability to set up and maintain a powerful atmosphere or tone which ensnares the player. One of the ways the game does this is with its graphical and audio style. For example the game immediately starts off with a positive tone by showering you with color and familiar upbeat music. In addition, through having slightly less detailed and unrealistic art the game gives off the feeling of a surrealism and fantasy. Believe me when Mario is drawn in full detail it is really creepy and so by not including creepy details the game designers are able to make Mario’s world feel light hearted and charming. The style of the artwork generally stays the same throughout the levels, but through exaggerated colors and shapes each level is able to pull of its own unique atmosphere. For example, the ice world is showered in blue and has very steep inclines and sudden drops which can’t help but give you the feeling of being high on top a mountain; even though a real mountain would look nothing like that.
The music is just as important if not more important than the graphics. The music can make you feel happy go lucky like it usually does, but it can also give you a feeling of urgency and importance, like it often does in boss fights. The sound effects are also very good as conveying atmosphere and emotion, whether it is the diabolical sound of Bowser laughing, the simple sound of you sliding down a slope, or the pleasant sounds related to getting a star, all the sounds put you deeper into the world.
Other key parts of the atmosphere are the story and the characters. The story is one part of the atmosphere that his mixed results. On the one hand its simplicity allows for it to be understood and followed by a large audience. On the other hand you could argue that the story is to simple and subsequently not very engaging. I feel that one way the game could improve on this would be to put some more story based cut scene into the game and to at least make the text bubbles more readable by using a bolder font and a solid background, if not spicing up the contents of the text. Of course just because the story is not very engaging it does not mean that the characters are not, in fact the characters are very engaging. The characters are able to show a great range of emotion through facial expression, body language, and sound effects. All of these aspects add up to create very realistic characters which have personalities other their own. Ultimately this game makes great use of graphical, audio, and character design to create an engaging atmosphere.
But of course if atmosphere was all Super Mario 64 had it would just be a movie. What make Super Mario 64 a game is its superb gameplay. One of the best aspects of Mario’s gameplay is that it has very simple control mechanics in that it only uses a few buttons, but when you combine the buttons you are able to create many different outcomes. The simplicity makes the game accessible to people who are not very apt at gameplay and the possibility for complexity gives experienced players more to learn from the game and more options for play style. Another factor that leads to a wide audience is that many of the obstacles require both mental and gameplay skills to overcome.
Along with the gameplay comes the gameworld design. The gameworld often feels free and wide open because of the 3D graphics and the seemingly extra areas of land, but when you examine the game closely you realize that there is really one route to progress through the game. However more freedom can be seen within the path in that the player can get past obstacles in more than one way. This gameworld approach has multiple benefits because it gives the player a feeling of freedom and choice, but the game designer still maintains most of the control on the overall gameplay experience.
In particular the levels of the game maintain the same core gameworld foundations and gameplay, but somehow every level seems fresh and varied. Part of this is due to the different atmospheres of the levels, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that in every level there are new obstacles and enemies introduced that challenge the player and require them to learn more about the game. The levels also do a good job of pacing the difficulty, each level seems to get harder at a steady rate and there are no huge jumps in difficulty. The only problem I did have with difficulty was that the bosses seemed a little too easy, and therefore more of an afterthought than an actual challenge. Another good aspect of the level design is that each level has multiple goals that have to be accomplished this is definitely a good economic use of the levels and adds to the replay value of the game. Also when you see how many different things there are to accomplish in a world it makes the world seem very large.
The game also has an excellent reward system which makes you feel good when you succeed and reinforces you with consistent victory animation and sound. The reward system also keeps you hooked because you want to keep getting stars and unlocking new stages. Also you get smaller rewards such as coins for smaller task such as defeating an enemy which makes it seem like almost nothing you do in the game is unproductive.
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