Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1949https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6659At this point, I am feeling affirmed in my reasoning that Revolution would be better as a movie. The story and message are super interesting and I really like the conversation system. I have become more immersed in this game than in any previous mobile game. I love the historical significance and the use of real-world footage. The area in the Baba's space when I am trying to find his camera was interesting. I think the ability to play the family videotapes was brilliant. Unfortunately, the irritating controls take away from the immersive experience. I don't want to swipe left and right or examine a bunch of random objects. I would much rather Have the cutscenes linked together with my conversation inputs. Everything else is unnecessary. I understand it wants to be a third person adventure but I think it does damage to the message. The conversation system is really fun to interact. I feel the intensity of situations building with the dialogue and the timed responses. I wonder how much variation there is in the content. I feel like some of the choices have really big impacts like who I accuse and side with. It could also be clever design and in fact, none of it matters. I think this makes it worth a replay. I feel the game is very much in favor of none violent protest. It is blatantly clear that violent people are shunned and when I make a violent decision I am also shunned. Overall, I think it endorses peaceful protest and I think the interaction between the dialogue system and the game's message warrants more exploration.Thu, 29 Mar 2018 01:51:10 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6659&iddiary=11800https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6659I finally got past the swiping bug. It seemed to just finally work when I swiped in a very different place. Moral of the story, make sure UI directs players in the correct place to swipe and does not change the pattern they use in the past. At this point in the game, I am honestly wishing I could just watch the cinematics and see the story/conflict play out. This would make a great movie. The actual gameplay is getting irritating. It isn’t fun and seems pointless/tedious. I think a big part of the issue is it is a third person game on mobile and navigating the environments doesn’t work well. Some of the “minigames” are interesting but I only get to pull glass out of someone once. It is a lot of the same gimmick actions/games repeated over and over again just with different skins on them. I see that the game is trying to create an immersive narrative to which the player interacts but I feel it slows the pace of the narrative. Also, some parts are just ridiculous such as picking up after Babat, the leader of the revolution. Seriously, why would he be dropping everything including his glasses as he is being helped away after I saved his life? I admire the ingenuity to create the game parts but I honestly don’t have any interest in playing that. I think I can make a similar argument, as I have with previous game logs, that the frustrating and pointless gameplay takes away from the message of the game. I think the developers are on to something here and I love seeing how these events unfold from the eyes of a journalist, but I don’t want to take pictures anymore with a camera that is constantly unfocusing. Why is this a mechanic? It also doesn’t seem to impact whether or not I actually get the pictures and furthers me in the story. I am excited to see more of the plot unfold but I wish I could have someone else do the screen tapping. Thankfully there seems to be a lot of cutscenes.Wed, 28 Mar 2018 13:14:06 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6659&iddiary=11775https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6659After a little over an hour in 1979 Revolution, I am in love with the immersive storytelling of real-world conflict but frustrated by game breaking bugs and difficult controls. I was aware of the Iranian revolution in 1979 but had minimal knowledge of the surrounding events and details. I really enjoy the immersion of the game. I felt thrown in right off the bat into a stressful time-based situation. I really like how I actually wasn't able to get the plans and didn't have enough time to search the room. Time was actually of the essence and because of my lollygagging, I was captured by the police. My first thought was would it be possible for me to in fact escape with the plans and avoid the police. I might go back and try again. Once, I was captured I thought the interrogation scene was one of the best I have seen/played in a game. Some of the animations are janky and the audio shifts a few time, however, the dialogue and response time system is very interesting and engaging to play. I enjoyed this scene because there appears to be one way to navigate the scenario and the rest result in your death. I was very excited when the interrogator beat me to death. I feel many games offer a way out to progress the story without punishing the player but I think player death reinforces the seriousness of the situation. I personally love dying in games. The rest of my play session went well. I Compulsively took pictures of everything and enjoyed more of the timed dialogue system. My big issue with the games is the controls system. I bought it on my Google Pixel because I was curious how a 3d game such as Revolution would work. To say the least it is very mediocre. I do believe they handle the controls in an intuitive manner, however, the swipe detection has bugs. I am able to make it through much of the street run scene, however, as I try to crawl to my camera I am consistently trampled because the game does not detect my right swipe to dodge. This is enraging! My plan is to go back and not throw the rock hopefully preventing the soldiers from shooting and the whole runaway scene. I hope I am able to continue my journey from there.Tue, 27 Mar 2018 14:05:40 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6659&iddiary=11746https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6582I had an epiphany while romping through Mordor this fine afternoon. The game is amazingly fun and I have really enjoyed my experience as a medieval terrorist but the game has a terribly contradictory idea. Throughout my experience, I have been freeing slaves and trying to better the Mordor world through freedom. There is constantly an underlying tone that I am helping my bring freedom to those who are oppressed. However, I see a huge problem as I have also become the oppressor through my doing of “good”. As I use my magical mind abilities to manipulate the nemesis system and take control of orc captains and chieftains I have basically been constructing a slave army to fight for me. Upon his realization, I was like s**t that is actually brilliant game design in the sense of doing good you become evil. It occurred to me though that the game developers may not have done this on purpose. In that case, the game is horribly contradictory. And now thinking about it more the game really is horrible contradictory. From my experience so far the game has not addressed that I am enslaving a race of persons. What is also interesting is I am basically changing the orcs from Sauron's slaves to my own. What is also unfortunate is I only have the choice to enslave the orcs or kill them. Both suck for them and make me seem like an awful person. Basically, Shadow of Mordor makes the player into a magical serial killer terrorist who is trying to enslave for their own personal gain an already enslaved and oppressed minority. My guess is the developers did not think of the game this way. I think it would help a lot if there were other options to negotiate with orcs or to be able to free them, options other than enslavement or death. Don’t get me wrong, orcs are inherently evil. Some of the stuff the nemesis system comes up with is brilliant and definitely bad but who knows how they would function if they were not at Sauron’s mercy. Orcs should still be given a chance. Overall, I think this was a pretty interesting realization and I feel it is a substantial moral flaw to the game.Thu, 15 Feb 2018 23:12:06 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6582&iddiary=11689https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6582Well, today I got to rescue some slaves, killed a lot of orcs, encountered Golem and made some new enemies. Overall, pretty typical day in Mordor. I think I have definitely become more of a low level terrorist with supernatural abilities. They also have a name for me and orcs widely recognize who I am. This must be the type of fame that a serial killer feels. Additionally, I have gone from a small town ax murderer to full on Freddy Krueger. Through combos, I am annihilating entire groups of orcs. I really enjoy the progression so far and the different map areas. The Nemesis system is amazing and fighting my way up the chain is interesting. I am excited to see how I can manipulate this system down the road. I also am looking forward to fighting more of the big boss commanders at the top. Defeating one is really gratifying. My favorite part of the game is definitely the different fort situations. They feel like unique puzzles with options for the solution. I think the game offers a lot of great freedom on how to approach each base. Sometimes I jump in and go Rambo; other times, in more difficult situations, I stealth my way around and cause mischief. I have started to sympathies with the orcs because I am terrorizing them for really no apparent reason. I feel like in reality, I don’t have a justified reason to kill all the orcs. In some capacity, I am committing genocide. I am killing an entire race of creatures. My struggle is with the Black Hand of Sauron and Sauron himself. It would be interesting if the game offered a way for me to sneak pass every orc until I can finally fight my true nemesis. It really is a matter of perspective. In the end, I have just come to accept that I am merely a pawn in a much bigger conflict of which I cannot understand. I must carry out my orders.Tue, 13 Feb 2018 17:03:41 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6582&iddiary=11617https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6582So far the game is great. I love the environment and the gameplay. It is similar to Assassins Creed titles of which I am also a fan. I am so far enjoying the lore though it is pretty typical it makes for a good revenge story. Currently, orcs are more challenging to kill but I feel that is something that will become easier with time as I progress my way through the skill tree. What I find most interesting is how this experience could be interpreted from different perspectives. From my perspective as the player, I am definitely a good guy. My family was killed and that makes it okay for me to kill orcs. However, from the perspective of the orcs, I am basically a batshit crazy terrorist who possesses supernatural abilities. From their perspective, I am the bad guy and they are the good guys. I actually feel bad for the orcs since they don't really have a choice. They are slaves of Sauron and I am there for justified to kill them because Sauron did me wrong. It just seems a little shady. Overall, the gameplay and mechanics are solid. I do feel like not a lot of it is groundbreaking though. The Nemesis System is pretty neat. I enjoy developing that personal narrative experience with my opponents though for them it must be really confusing on how I keep coming back. Honestly, it is just an unfair advantage. It would be hilarious if this game functioned like Minecraft's hardcore mode with no respawn. My guess is then no one would play it since it can be quite challenging at times. I think I am starting to understand why this game is on the list and why it has some conflicting messages.Mon, 12 Feb 2018 19:49:50 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6582&iddiary=11596https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6534Well, I started the game up and I basically had no opportunity to make a choice before I was arrested by the FBI. I went to jail and it kicked me out to the start menu. I didn't really like this. I felt I had been duped after my supreme reign of terror. I guess the moral of the story is if you do bad things you go to jail. I wish I would have had an opportunity to escape or use my mafia connections to my advantage. I started up another playthrough and played in a kinder opposite manner than my original play strategy. I have arrived at a few conclusions, first off their is a large illusion of choice in this game. No matter what, you end up having to work with the mafia in some capacity. Second, you must walk this fine line between being good and bad which I find to be an interesting ethical situation. In some capacity, you are very much self-serving since you are constantly violating your morals or doing something good even though you just did a horrid act a few seconds earlier. This I think puts you in the position of a politician and really asks the ultimate ethical question, what will you do both good and bad, in order to succeed. Overall, the game is made up of minor ethical dilemmas or moral challenges but the bigger picture encourages you to do whatever must be done so you can retire. I am not against this situation, I think the point comes across loud and clear that the police will do whatever needs to be done to serve themselves or at least the police chief will. That being said, I wish the game allowed for the player to create and discover their own message rather than make it very apparent when you play a second time.Thu, 18 Jan 2018 18:48:51 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6534&iddiary=11551https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6534So I have now allied with the mafia which is pretty great. I let civilians be murdered and casinos robbed as I get paid. Once again it is fascinating to see the moral choices I am confronted with. The best part of the game is it really lets you play how you want. I am not forced to kill my officers or tumble down the slippery slope of corruption. I can choose to make these terrible decisions. I then have to face the repercussions of my actions. I feel this is a well-done simulation of ethical choices. I have a variety of tools at my disposal. It is still just a game and I am able to sleep at night after my appalling actions but I enjoy watching this ecosystem evolve before my eyes. I am still shocked by the creativity of the moral choices/conflicts and some of the absurd scenarios I am put through. I could see a game like this receiving harsh criticism for its content but I think it is making a point on the corruption in police forces. It addresses the issue of police at a time when police violence is in the spotlight. So far, I think This Is The Police is doing a wonderful job of making its point and I wish more games had the courage to do as powerful moral questioning in other areas of society as this does.Wed, 17 Jan 2018 22:27:58 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6534&iddiary=11511https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6534The moral choices you face while playing This Is Police are brilliant. I wanted to see how far I could push it and after setting up the death of my own black officers to prevent my station from coming under the scrutiny of racist gangs I felt like a pretty shitty person. In the end, I recognize it is just a game but I love how it shows the corruption in the police force. Now give this game may be a dramatized experience, I think a lot can be learned. I like the seriousness of the game from its vulgar language to its grapple with drug abuse, alcoholism, violence, the list just goes on and on. I wasn't uncomfortable at any point but I was a bit surprised when our main character called Troy Starr as he was in a sexual engagement, only to say "F**k you". Overall, I feel the content is very appropriate for the subject manner and is important to communicate the story and message. I felt there was an instant thought when I was forced to make a choice that I didn't really want. I had to either help Kendrick or watch his family die. I didn't want to do either, but I chose to help the poor fellow and watch myself descend into an abyss of mafia entanglement. I look forward to seeing what other terrible things I can do in the game as I become an even more corrupt police chief.Tue, 16 Jan 2018 19:27:19 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6534&iddiary=11459