Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=292https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1483I think SMB3 is a pretty good game. The gameplay is solid and straightforward. I like the levels that allow me to run and jump really fast, non-stop. The ship levels are boring in my honest opinion. The water levels are pretty boring too. Playing those levels feel like walking to the grocery store. It's a slow walk with lots of stops and cautions from the traffic lights. The game itself is a pretty big challenge. Levels get slightly harder as you progress, but core gameplay never changes. I like the powerups in the game but wish there were more different types, such as in Kirby's Adventure. All in all, it's a good game.Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:11:10 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1483&iddiary=3121https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1483For today's gamelog assignment, I chose SMB3. The graphics are simple. Not many gradients or shading, but thats alright. The levels are good. They are a moderately long and challenging. The sound is nice. Too bad there are only three-five songs that are spammed throughout the game. The controls feel close to the original SMB. When you jump and try to swing yourself backwards, it'll feel very friction-y, which led to death a couple of times for me. The buttons were pressure sensitive, which was rather nice.Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:10:53 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1483&iddiary=3120https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1263For my second session with Stepmania, I broke out of my normal routine and downloaded two new mixes. These were called Pop*Candy and Pop*Candy 2, where the asterisk is actually a star. I tried going through every song, one by one, but eventually I gave up on that and just played the ones I found to be interesting from what I hear in the preview. The songs were nice, and in a way resembles candy and happiness. A few tunes were catchy, but I don't think they were good enough to go on my list of routine songs. Sadly, after 15 minutes, I went back to playing my routine songs. I spend a lot of time just looking at the huge playlist and deciding what to play. I think I need a break from Stepmania now. It's time for my technical review. First off, the whole system is perfect if you are comparing to the arcade version. Same graphics, same sound effects, same modes. In fact, Stepmania is designed to be used as arcade software if you're interested in building an actually dancing stage, then you can. It's kind of sad, but Stepmania is better than the arcade DDR. This is because Stepmania has everything DDR has plus more customization and it's free to play. Unlike playing DDR at the arcade, you can have thousands of songs at your disposal. If Konami ever released a new DDR game, people can just rip the songs out and make simfiles to upload into Stepmania. Playing at the arcade has two advantages though. One, you get videos for all the songs you play. They're not all that great and you probably won't really notice them when your eyes are focused on the arrows, but it's a nice exclusive feature. Secondly, you get to play in front of people. That can be either good or bad, depending how good you are. With Stepmania, if you practice with a dance pad, you can become a professional player AND THEN go to the arcade to show off. Frankly, I get bored of playing Stepmania with my fingers. I bought an adapter so that I can hook up a dance pad to my PC and play, but didn't bring it to campus this quarter so I'll have to wait until the next time I come home to fetch it. I think that wraps things up for what I want to say about this game/program. If anyone knows where I can download good song packs (not individual songs), then please tell me. I need new stuff.Fri, 09 Feb 2007 19:12:43 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1263&iddiary=2714https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1263People usually listen to music in a passive state while doing other activities. I guess when you are really bored and not in a mood to do anything, you play Stepmania. It's the game where you take "doing nothing" to a whole new level. As you listen to music, you press the arrow keys to the beat, obtaining a higher score depending on how accurate you are. Long ago, I downloaded a huge pack of songs off some torrent website that contained every DDR mix that you can possibly name. With these 1000-2000+ songs, I can last myself a lifetime. If that still isn't enough for you, you can find other various packs online that are fan-made. New songs always emerge, so Step-mania doesn't get old... That is, until you no longer receive joy from perfecting three-finger DDR. Stepmania is a very interesting tool. You can customize it to your liking and it's so easy to use. I just downloaded a new skin/theme called "Pop*Candy" today and it gives Stepmania a fresh new look after seeing the same old skin for a long time. Gameplay is always a constant "good." I find myself hand-picking a group of songs that I consider my favorite and only play those. On the console versions of DDR, I play through every song and try to pass them all at every difficulty, but with Stepmania, there are simply too many. That's all I have to say for now. I'll do my second gamelog for this week in a bit later on, and tell you what it's like to play a second hour of Stepmania. I'm already tired of it and when through my usual songs. Also, I will expand into a further technical review of the game/system.Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:58:58 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1263&iddiary=2690https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1039I just finished beating the boss of Butter Hill/Zone. The difficulty of the game slightly increases as you progress. Chances of getting hit are higher and so is the chance of death by falling. I find it amazing that new monsters with new abilities are still being introduced with every level. If this trend continues, then I'm going to have lots of skills to play with. According to my game file, I'm only around 30% done with the game. This game does absorb me and makes me thirst for more. Although, I wish there was more music. The music is good, but not enough. I have nothing much to say about this game, so I will list the flaws. First off, the player information interface on the bottom of the screen is thick. It takes about 1/4 of the screen. Accompanying that flaw is the game screen boundary. Since Kirby can fly, you'd think that you would be able to soar in the sky and explore, but in actuality the top of the screen is the limit and you can proceed no further than that. Because of this, sometimes the game can feel very cramped. That is all.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:21:16 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1039&iddiary=2382https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1039Kirby's Adventure is very unique. I have always believed that Kirby was a second-to-best franchise next to Mario. In this game log, I played Kirby's Adventure. I've played a bit of it awhile ago (maybe a year?) and it still proves to be a truly amazing game. Every aspect of the game is original and has it's own style. The graphics in this game are very cute. The introduction shows how to draw Kirby in a few simple steps. Who knew a a few circles stuck at the right places could create such a memorable and lovable creature? The monsters you encounter are also fun to look at. There were many situations where I left these things alone and just watched them walk back and forth. The overall game animations are very smooth. I'm surprised by the lack of color though. I don't really remember how colors were on the NES, but this game reminds me of playing non-Gameboy Color games on the Gameboy Color, where two or three colors would be chosen and distributed among the graphics according to their shade. The music is decent. It sounds really simple and catchy, but eventually feels repetitive. I don't think there is big array of songs in Kirby, but I could be wrong since I have not gone too deep into the game. Music is eventually something I lost focus on when playing the game. The controls of the game are somewhat decent. There were some times when I'm trying to suck in an enemy, but end up facing the wrong way. There is a bit of lag in turning from left to right, which makes it hard to fight bosses when you really need to be agile. Besides that, the controls work very well for overall gameplay. One thing that surprises me is that the game doesn't feel linear. The arsenal of abilities in this game makes the gameplay feel different every time. It's very easy to lose your current ability, but also very easy to obtain a new one. I found myself replaying through levels with different abilities which adds different challenges and flavor. Even some abilities can help you access hidden areas of the level. All the weapons are unique and have their own special kick to them. I didn't find any particular abilities to be useless. Some monsters are easier to kill with certain weapons and bosses have weaknesses against particular weapons too. Right now, I'm stuck at some place called "Buttercup Tower/World" or something alike. You clear these worlds which contain a set of levels and challenges. The last level of these worlds usually ends in boss battle. I'm currently at the boss which I find to be a big challenge. I will resume playing later when I feel motivated to dominate that level.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:02:35 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1039&iddiary=2244https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=775I don't know what to think of this game. It seems that the "chillin' with your homies" scenario is only part of the beginning, and later comes this whole bunch of weird stuff. The main hero, Carl Johnson, is betrayed by his friends and forcefully works for the corrupted cop, Officer Tenpenny. More stuff happens such as dating some psychotic, hispanic girl that has an obsession with robbing stuff. Right now, I'm located at San Fierro, GTA's equivalent to San Francisco. I'm setting up my new headquarters at some garage/warehouse place. There were many annoying missions that I had to do earlier, but I finally finished them after so many tries. Those missions included racing missions, racing missions, and more racing missions. The controlling of cars in GTA is very loose and free, so turning and navigating is not a problem. However, the camera system is very bad. Instead of keeping the camera fixed to where you set it to, the camera decides to sneak its way down and back behind your car, so you can't see what is ahead of you. The only way to drive properly is to keep on tapping the second analog stick so that your camera can constantly bounce up and down allowing you to catch "glimpses" of the view of the road ahead. Not doing so will resort you in driving off a cliff and into a river that you can't see. Yes. Off a cliff and into a river... during a race. Right now, I'm helping, or was helping some nerd in a mission that required me to kill people riding bikes. The way I had to kill them was to radio-control a small toy helicopter and gun down these guys. In conclusion, the controls sucked so bad that it led me to quit this game. That's right. I'm through with this game. It was good while it lasted, but I don't really have the patience to try to master this sort of thing. As I have mentioned in my previous post, this is one of those games I play a bit and then quit. Graphics : 7.5 (not great graphics, but works really well with GTA) Sound: 8.0 Gameplay: 9.0 (when not annoying) Controls: 8.5 (when not doing those annoying missions) Story: 9.5 (reminds me of home) Overall: 9.0Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:25:52 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=775&iddiary=1904https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=775What can I possibly say? Thugs are funny. The one major thing that I found most appealing about this game are the cast of characters. Nearly everyone you encounter is a person to be remembered. The dialogue is not excessively obscene, yet not too fictitious and has a spin of humor. Coming from Los Angeles, I've encountered many of the stereotypes represented in this game. The way Rockstar portrays the people in GTA is superb and keeps me lauging all throughout my gameplay. The challenge level has been mildly easy, but from my past experiences with the previous GTA games, I know it will get harder. One thing I dislike is that you must finish all your missions at some point in order to progress. Some of these missions can just be plain annoying. Some take a big chunk of time, so that if you mess up, it forces you to start all over each time. Many missions can drive you crazy if you are not skilled in doing certain tasks. For example, if you absolutely cannot control a motorcyle with grace and ease, then many parts in this game will result in you and the breaking of your controller as you smash it onto the floor for the 13th time or so. Music is good. Exploration is good. Controls are alright. Overall, this is a game I play when I'm in the mood for... this type of game. This is a game I'm sure that I'll never finish, just as the previous ones. I enjoy the game, but it's not a game I take too seriously. A good time-waster to play while your friends watch. There will be a lot of talk.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:53:04 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=775&iddiary=1722https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=553Funny. From my previous post, I had saved my game at this train station where I encountered this huge, mechanical spider thing. I believe it's called a Strider. I resumed my progress a few minutes ago and to my surprise, after going through that part, the game ended. The game felt very short. I knew people had said that this would be a 3-5 hour game, but I usually take my time and look through every nook and cranny; so I am very surprised to finish it so soon. For $20, I expected it to be longer. The original HL2 was long and double the price. I expected Episode: One to have half as much content as HL2, but that proved to be false. The final part was a strange way to end the game. Normally, I would expect some kind of boss to appear that takes some sort of clever objective to defeat, but I just found myself running up and down a train yard and killing a strider with my rocket launcher. I've had so many rocket launching battles that it's not all too exciting anymore. Strafe. Rocket. Strafe. Rocket. Strafe. Rocket. Win. That's normally how it goes. As for the ending, or whatever I had just watched, was pretty cool. As usual, it was another "wtf" cliffhanger that SHOULD have led to the death of Gordon and Alyx, but with Episode: 2 coming out soon, that is most unlikely. Overall, it was a good game. Not many changes in this one and it felt really short. If you were expecting for a glimpse of the G-Man or Lamarr, then you will be disappointed to find out that they didn't quite make an appearance here.Fri, 12 Jan 2007 18:35:21 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=553&iddiary=1451https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=553This is my second session with Half-life 2: Episode One. I played an hour of it awhile back during Winter break and have not gotten back into it until now. First off, the gameplay is identical to Half-life 2. Everything feels familiar and there really isn't anything new offered. I'm about 2-3 hours into the game and the only difference from the original HL2 so far is that Alyx follows you around most of the time, giving a more co-op flavor to the game. In addition to that, the only new monster I have encountered are the Zombine, a combination of a Combine soldier and a headcrab. Currently, I'm just trying to escape the city, which I have a feeling will be most of the game. I'm enjoying everything so far, except for some really dark places (difficult to see) and the lack of new levels/maps. I'd love to see more unique levels, such as Xen from HL1.Fri, 12 Jan 2007 14:19:45 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=553&iddiary=1406