Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=167https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1438After playing GTA San Andreas a little more I found a few bugs or just bad coding problems in the AI. There are times when you can hide behind a wall and shoot people on the other side of the wall by sticking your hands through said wall. The cops and other enemies in the game have no pathfinding so they frequently get stuck on things while chasing you. They will just keep running in a straight line towards you right into a wall while you shoot through the wall and kill them. I was able to build up 6 stars from scratch by killing some people for a couple basic pistols and then hiding behind a wall and shooting everything I could for a couple minutes. A basic but really important fix would be giving the enemies some AI to just walk around the wall, for a company able to produce this caliber game it shouldn't be hard. Usually you aren't in a situation where you can exploit this kind of lame pathfinding so it doesn't completely ruin the game but it would be nice to shoot at things that don't just run right into your bullets.Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:06:47 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1438&iddiary=3095https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1438There are many great things about GTA San Andreas that set itself apart from all the other games out there on the market. The ability to go out and go where ever you want and do whatever you want is a huge advance in gaming. These sandbox games let you either play along with the story by doing missions or go out and explore without any limitations. Compared to the previous GTA games, San Andreas really stands out bringing lots of new content to the series. You are given the ability to completely customize your characters appearance. A huge step forward for the series is the recently added ability to swim. You used to be eaten by sharks the second you stepped 2 feet into water but this new ability to swim and dive give the game a huge leap forward. Other things like ridable bikes and gang turf wars add a lot to an already great series.Fri, 23 Feb 2007 17:19:21 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1438&iddiary=3048https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1218There's something about frustration that I enjoy so much when it comes to these games. It just makes it all the more satisfying to solve a puzzle that has stumped you for hours. But when the puzzle doesn't have a reasonably logical solution then you just stay upset for having to keep trying random things to solve it. It's the puzzles like this that brought the pure adventure game to near extinction. Grim Fandango definitely has its share of mostly guessing puzzles which really bring the game down. There is a difference between hard and impossible and no one likes an impossible puzzle. Combine this with long load times between scenes and you might have some really upset gamers. The hardcore players will tough it out and keep trying things while the sissies will run to their faq and get it done so basically everyone will be happy in the end. One last major thing is the soundtrack. It is brilliantly done and will keep you entertained while you run around hunting the next clue. Aside for some obscure puzzles Grim Fandango is at the top of adventure games with a cool theme and enjoyable puzzles.Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:53:26 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1218&iddiary=2630https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1218I have previously played Grim Fandango but found this an opportunity to replay a long time favorite of mine. This is one of the best adventure games out there combining excellent plot, witty dialogue, and creative puzzles. The game starts off with a cutscene depicting your character's dilemma. You are then given control with little more than a background and have to fix the problem. The game is completely open ended and you can explore the game world accomplishing things in the order you want. Having played it already, I can recall most of the solutions to the puzzles you encounter but having spent hours solving these puzzles in the past I can definitely remember the kind of unique and rewarding gameplay the game has to offer to those into the genre. The developers designed it just right with a good balance between deductive reasoning and experimentation to progress in the game. You have to take in the environment and analyze everything you come across. After taking in the situation and what you have to work with you have to make feasible solutions and try them out. You wont get far randomly guessing what objects will interact together and have to actually stop and think about it.Fri, 09 Feb 2007 05:28:17 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1218&iddiary=2594https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1033The thing that I believe makes Goldeneye so great is its story and how each mission is designed. Everyone loves a good James Bond movie so the storyline is already gonna be excellent. The game is a great way to relive one of the best Bond movies out there. The do a great job incorporating that storyline into the game through cutscenes and the gameplay. Missions are done ingeniously with the objective based gameplay. Instead of just killing everything in your path and going in a straight line, most of the time you can go several ways to get to the same objective. This open ended map design gives the player more freedom and makes the game all the better. Considering the technology and knowledge designers had at the time, this is a shining example of a great game. There is nothing they could do within their power to make this game any better than it already is. Goldeneye 007's got it all.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:53:14 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1033&iddiary=2227https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1033After years of retirement, it seems Goldeneye 007 will get one last spin. This game has been one of the most influential games. It was also years ahead of its time. Even after all the years, it is still apparent why this game was as good as it was. The graphics were top notch, the gameplay I can still consider a great thing, and the story is of course genius. As I play along I am reminded of everything that made this game so great. Most shooters were very linear and just get you from point A to B. In 007 you are giving much more freedom and can explore the map in any way you want. You are given several objects that you must complete in order to finish a map. This is kinda refreshing, letting you do things in the order you choose. Now that I have seen the pathfinding and AI of current games it is easy to go back and make fun of those aspects of 007. The AI just kinda runs around into walls trying to get you sometimes and when they finally get an opening to attack they will stand still and start shooting. None of this can be blamed on the development team though, all this was revolutionary at the time.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:21:46 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1033&iddiary=2220https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=764After I played Shadow of the Colossus a second round all I really have to report are more minor annoyances that come with the world map. I had just killed another colossus and start heading out to the next one. I recall the clue talking about a temple and water or something like that so I assume its another water boss. Following the light from the sword I essentially come to a fork in the road where my destination lied somewhere in between the two roads. So I casually choose right since most of the time paths seem to converge somewhere else. I encounter a lake and a waterfall with some ruins in the middle, the whole place surround by a large cliff wall. This was obviously the location of a colossus but as I swam around this large arena no colossus came out. From experience, I knew you had to usually approach a certain area to trigger the fight so I kept swimming all over this lake for ten minutes or maybe even more. I figured this had to be wrong after wasting a lot of time in this stupid lake. Backtracking, I took the left path and ended up behind the cliff wall of that lake and found the real boss. With the system they put in to find the colossi they really made a mistake here. The 'compass' you use doesn't tell you how far away you are from the bosses so having two fights along the same line isn't a good idea. A simple change in the order of the boss fights would have been the best solution. If I fought the water boss first then on the next one I would have just known to go further to get to the next boss. Well, looking beyond this little fault, Shadow of the Colossus has provided some of the most unique and rewarding play experience out there. There's a real sense of accomplishment killing each of the bosses.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 12:52:27 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=764&iddiary=1764https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=764This is a game all about epic boss fights. Who needs hours of slaping up a bosses minions for a five minute boss fight? In Shadow of the Colossus, we start out with bosses and end with bosses. These aren't your average every day boss either. These are huge baddies you got to climb all over to find its weaknesses. A very interesting concept that I think was developed well. The game starts with a lengthy cutscene which doesn't really tell much of a story. I kinda get whats going on, gotta save my girlfriend by killing these colosi things and these immortal things are supposed to revive her ... I guess. It would have been nice to beef up the story but that's okay, lets just get into the game already. The controls are fairly simple and work well with the game. The climbing system is like Prince of Persia which is a favorite of mine so that's already a plus. You seem to start each new boss encounter at your little 'home base' of a temple and have to follow your sword to where your target resides. It is sometimes frustrating finding the thing since they throw all sorts of obstacles inbetween you and the boss. After navigating the maze that is the surrounding terrain you run into one of these huge beasties and jump right into it and have to take it down. The boss fights are amazing. Its not just brute force, you have to find ways to exploit the terrain around you and the weaknesses of the colossus to get onto the thing. It almost reminds me of adventure games with puzzle solving. You have to move from place to place and do certain things to trigger different behaviors of the colossus to be able to beat it. These fights are very fun and can last up to several hours to down them if you haven't seen it done before. Other than the weak plot the developers have really put out a solid game. From what I have seen so far this will be a fun game.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 02:31:55 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=764&iddiary=1703https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=477After a bit more play and diving deeper in the game I noticed a similar theme with difficulty involved in this Heroes V. I would consider myself a good player at the game. I can maximize the efficiency of my cities. I can usually find ways to get through battles with the least losses as possible. With the way missions are set up, you can barely squeeze by even when you play your best. Enemies sometimes start out with four full cities while you are on the other side of the map with a completely fresh city to develop. All you can do is hold them off long enough through skillful manipulation of your troops in combat until you get a large enough army to attack one of their cities. It's possible I'm just not as good at the game as I think but since I'm playing on Normal (also known as Easy since the lowest difficult is Normal) I'd hope not.I don't really mind the difficulty since I'm a fan of hard games, but it just is kinda odd the way it works. The storyline is getting better after each mission I beat. They really did a good job with hooking you on the game, trying to beat more missions to try and get information on all the pieces of storyline they left hanging. That reminds me, I need to go finish this mission ...Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:29:02 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=477&iddiary=1265https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=477Having played all the previous games in this series, I had high expectations for the most current installment Heroes V. Heroes IV and III both fell a little short in comparison to the first two so I was a little worried going into number five. After a quick play session my fears were over; this time around I was not disappointed. Even though a whole new publisher hosted the game they have expertly restored the greatness of the original while adding their own unique and rewarding twists to it. The first thing I noticed about the game is the deep storyline which is supplemented by brilliant cutscenes. It is the first time in any of the Heroes games that I could really get into the story happening within the game. The only problem I have with it is that they put in such great visuals and voice acting but they couldn't animate the characters mouths to move. You see people talking and just see an unmoving face associated with it. That is only a minor annoyance but it really doesn't take anything from the game as a whole. The gameplay is very similar to all the others but it seems as though your hero has more influence on a battle than in the others which is great since the game is called Heroes. For instance, my undermanned army of little skeletons and zombies can take on titans if have my minions dodge and avoid the titans while my hero casts powerful spells on the my stronger enemy. There is much more strategy involved with combat. You have to properly predict the enemies movements and counter them. If I make an army of several powerful ranged units and few melee units, I will have to quickly eliminate the opposing players archers and mages and take free shots at their other units as they march forwards trying to get in range of my archers. So far this has been a very fun play experience and it will be a game I definitely finish up.Thu, 11 Jan 2007 14:26:39 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=477&iddiary=1181