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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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Angry Birds Star Wars (iPd) by fanwar3 |
| Angry Birds Star Wars review
Rovio came out with another installment in the Angry Birds franchise. After a few weeks of teasers, Rovio released Angry Birds: Star Wars. The controls are familiar for anybody that has put time into an Angry Birds game. Players have to drag back birds in a sling shot, adjust force and angle, and release in order to destroy buildings and clear each level of pigs that are scattered throughout. This time, the pigs dress as stormtroopers, Darth Vader and even get to hop in Tie-Fighters and fire lasers of their own. Bonus points are awarded based on how few birds are used as well as how much destruction is caused, with a tally awarded out of three stars. Each bird in the game has their own unique abilities, which are activated by a tap when the birds are in mid-air. The red bird spins with a lightsaber, deflecting fire from Stormpiggies and taking down structures. The yellow bird dons Han Solo’s appearance and can open up fire over the course of his trajectory. Obi-wan Kenobi, the black bird can use The Force to push objects away from his trajectory. C3-PO and R2-D2 look similar to the egg-dropping bird in the original Angry Birds game, though they have entirely separate functions. C3-PO explodes into a bunch of damaging pieces while R2-D2 can electrocute enemies nearby. The unusual pink bird is dressed up as Leia, who has a laser-firing ability similar to Han’s. As for the story, every Angry Birds game has followed a loose and boring story. Green pigs capture the eggs that belong to the Angry Birds, and the birds use slingshots to pummel the pigs and get their eggs back. In this game, however, players follow the storyling from the Star Wars’s saga, starting with Episode IV when Princess Leia gets kidnapped by pig stormtroppers. The gameplay is incredibly fun and funny. When I launch the R2-D2 bird, it screams wildly until I tap the screen, which results in R2-D2 electrocuting areas close to its position. The C3-PO bird moans in a British accent once I launch him, and by tapping on the screen, he blows up in golden shrapnel. These awesome powers were never seen in previous Angry Birds games. Unlike previous Angry Birds games, the power of the birds actually change throughout the game. For example, the Luke Bird has no exceptional powers at first, but at one point when he discovers the Lightsaber, the weapon is added to the bird’s abilities, letting players do away with obstacles with the buzz and swing of the iconic laser sword. As I progress throughout the story, the Birds seem far more super powered than ever before, and its satisfying to use those powers, like Obi-Wans blue Force and Luke’s Lightsaber, which create a lot of exceptional opportunities for creative problem solving.
One of the complaints that I have about this game is that the camera automatically pans at the beginning of a level. If I notch a bird too early, this puts the slingshot out of the frame and can cause me to fire the bird backwards. It becomes frustrating when I burn up an Angry Falcon. Another complaint is that I have to zoom out in certain levels where the pigs are located far away. This makes it harder to see the birds and maintain their trajectories so they can kill the pigs at the desired locations. Another compliant is that the graphics are still as 2D as ever. This is not a really big complaint since there is a nice foreground and background perspective effects. All of the textures are well-done and really sharp. By the way, the audio is pretty interesting because it’s a mash up of familiar effects and music. The hollow speaker voices of Stormtroopers are a lot less menacing when they are relaying pig snorts or oinks. The blaster fire sound will cause pangs of reminiscence for those that have watched many Star Wars films. It is sill hard to say whether the gameplay is still fun at this point. Rovio has done some interesting twists and are throwing in some new abilities to play with in many Angry Birds games. It is the same core mechanic we have been playing for years. The first stages haven’t been much of a challenge but later stages can get tricky, especially if the goal is to get three stars. Many of the stages features core mechanics from Angry Birds Space, such as zero gravity and centripetal acceleration and gravity around certain celestial bodies. The cross-licensing going on here may be quite difficult to handle, but if Angry Birds and Star Wars have anything in common, its that they have hardcore fans after being merchandised to and back. This game maintains the charm that Rovio has become well-known for. |
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most recent entry: Saturday 24 November, 2012
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Angry Birds Star Wars review
Rovio came out with another installment in the Angry Birds franchise. After a few weeks of teasers, Rovio released Angry Birds: Star Wars. The controls are familiar for anybody that has put time into an Angry Birds game. Players have to drag back birds in a sling shot, adjust force and angle, and release in order to destroy buildings and clear each level of pigs that are scattered throughout. This time, the pigs dress as stormtroopers, Darth Vader and even get to hop in Tie-Fighters and fire lasers of their own. Bonus points are awarded based on how few birds are used as well as how much destruction is caused, with a tally awarded out of three stars. Each bird in the game has their own unique abilities, which are activated by a tap when the birds are in mid-air. The red bird spins with a lightsaber, deflecting fire from Stormpiggies and taking down structures. The yellow bird dons Han Solo’s appearance and can open up fire over the course of his trajectory. Obi-wan Kenobi, the black bird can use The Force to push objects away from his trajectory. C3-PO and R2-D2 look similar to the egg-dropping bird in the original Angry Birds game, though they have entirely separate functions. C3-PO explodes into a bunch of damaging pieces while R2-D2 can electrocute enemies nearby. The unusual pink bird is dressed up as Leia, who has a laser-firing ability similar to Han’s. As for the story, every Angry Birds game has followed a loose and boring story. Green pigs capture the eggs that belong to the Angry Birds, and the birds use slingshots to pummel the pigs and get their eggs back. In this game, however, players follow the storyling from the Star Wars’s saga, starting with Episode IV when Princess Leia gets kidnapped by pig stormtroppers. The gameplay is incredibly fun and funny. When I launch the R2-D2 bird, it screams wildly until I tap the screen, which results in R2-D2 electrocuting areas close to its position. The C3-PO bird moans in a British accent once I launch him, and by tapping on the screen, he blows up in golden shrapnel. These awesome powers were never seen in previous Angry Birds games. Unlike previous Angry Birds games, the power of the birds actually change throughout the game. For example, the Luke Bird has no exceptional powers at first, but at one point when he discovers the Lightsaber, the weapon is added to the bird’s abilities, letting players do away with obstacles with the buzz and swing of the iconic laser sword. As I progress throughout the story, the Birds seem far more super powered than ever before, and its satisfying to use those powers, like Obi-Wans blue Force and Luke’s Lightsaber, which create a lot of exceptional opportunities for creative problem solving.
One of the complaints that I have about this game is that the camera automatically pans at the beginning of a level. If I notch a bird too early, this puts the slingshot out of the frame and can cause me to fire the bird backwards. It becomes frustrating when I burn up an Angry Falcon. Another complaint is that I have to zoom out in certain levels where the pigs are located far away. This makes it harder to see the birds and maintain their trajectories so they can kill the pigs at the desired locations. Another compliant is that the graphics are still as 2D as ever. This is not a really big complaint since there is a nice foreground and background perspective effects. All of the textures are well-done and really sharp. By the way, the audio is pretty interesting because it’s a mash up of familiar effects and music. The hollow speaker voices of Stormtroopers are a lot less menacing when they are relaying pig snorts or oinks. The blaster fire sound will cause pangs of reminiscence for those that have watched many Star Wars films. It is sill hard to say whether the gameplay is still fun at this point. Rovio has done some interesting twists and are throwing in some new abilities to play with in many Angry Birds games. It is the same core mechanic we have been playing for years. The first stages haven’t been much of a challenge but later stages can get tricky, especially if the goal is to get three stars. Many of the stages features core mechanics from Angry Birds Space, such as zero gravity and centripetal acceleration and gravity around certain celestial bodies. The cross-licensing going on here may be quite difficult to handle, but if Angry Birds and Star Wars have anything in common, its that they have hardcore fans after being merchandised to and back. This game maintains the charm that Rovio has become well-known for.
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