Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=438https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2974GAMEPLAY In my second run of Professor Layton, the same game design plagued my character. However, I was getting more and more frusterated by each puzzle that came up. I almost always had to use at least one hint in order to solve it, which really just makes me, the player, feel more stupid. However, there is a great sense of completion and success whenever I can solve a puzzle without using any hints. So far the narrative in Professor Layton has been pretty boring. Some lady lost her cat, and now I'm being forced to chase it. Along the way, I find a bunch of people who have seen it, but will only tell me where the cat is once I solve one of their ridiculous puzzles. I hope the story progresses in a more intense way, or I may not be able to remain optimistic about this game. DESIGN Design in this game is extremely innovative. The overworld is simple enough I'm sure so that the programmers did not have to much work, but it also makes the gameplay extremely easygoing for the player. Each puzzle has its own unique feel to it, which makes it a lot more like a wario ware game than an actual puzzle game. Level design is very mist like. You are given a drawn background and must choose which directiont to go. It has no character movement, other than that, and is given to us in a kind of first person camera mode. This makes the game very easy to navigate, and also easy to find new puzzles. Rewards in this game are very minimal so far. There are promises of more luxurious rewards once you progress further into the game, however I have not been able to see any large rewards 2 hours into it. Every now and then, for clicking all over the screen, I find a bonus coin which can be used to give me hints in the game, but it sometimes seems like thats a lame way to give out coins. The game is great so far, as a Nintendo DS game, and works well on the console as something that someone can just pick up and go, but for the long haul, it certainly doesn't pay off.Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:15:50 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2974&iddiary=5595https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2974SUMMARY Professor Layton and the Curious Village is about the great mind of Professor Layton, who travels with his young apprentice Luke. Together, they have been called to a city to investigate a case by one of the princess-like ladies. As Professor Layton, you are well known as a person who loves to solve puzzles. Your apprentice, Luke, is just learning the basics and would also love to be a puzzle solver. The end result is a game where in order to progress, you solve a variety of puzzles one after the other. GAMEPLAY Professor Layton is quite the amusing game. Perhaps one of the funniest aspects of it is that the world makes such a big deal out of puzzles. I suppose that since this game revolves around puzzles, it makes sense that it is the primary way to progress...However, if you even want to do mundane tasks such as crossing a river, you must solve a puzzle. The characters in this game for very likable. Professor Layton and Luke are fun characters who you root for the entire way through. They meet a wide array of characters and character designs. From the fat and short to the tall and skinny, each character has their own unique look and feel that makes the game seem very open ended. They also each have their own personalities, which brings an added depth to the gameplay design. Flow through this game seemed very straightforward. The agents give you a task, and you pursue it. The game tends to give the player hints if they are moving in the wrong direction. This forced game play makes the game linear, but still fun to play. Lastly, there are the puzzles. Each one has its own unique way of solving it, and is typically very different than the last. One of the more interesting things about the puzzles, is the game tells you the background story behind a puzzle and whose culture it may be from. This makes the game not only educational, but also informative and interesting. So far Professor Layton is proving to be a fun game, and I can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead.Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:52:50 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2974&iddiary=5588https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2702GAMEPLAY It is only fitting that as I write this gamelog entry, I listen to the Katamari Damacy soundtrack. Which is what I am doing… The music in Katamari Damacy is amazing! Most of the songs are in Japanese, which doesn’t make too big of a difference, as they are all very catchy. Katamari games have always been known for their music, and the original has a very mixed amount of music that just makes me very happy when I hear it. It’s funny. When I booted up this game tonight to finish up my gamelog, my housemates and their friends all came into the room, ready to watch me and this game’s silly antics. They were all familiar with the game, and ready to watch in amazement of just how pure of an idea it is. As we gathered in, we all reminisced about our first times playing this game, and how weird it was to people watching, but how great it was for the player. We agreed that although it may not be a game you can sit down and play for hours on end, it certainly is a game you can come back to over and over again with small game times. DESIGN When the King of Cosmos sends you to earth to roll up Katamari, he intends for you to roll them up to use as stars. This is how each level is broken up. You are rolling a Katamari per level to create a star, or, in some cases, create a constellation. This is a great level design, as they can say that some stars are brighter and bigger than others, and that is why your Katamari will vary in size. One of the more interesting ways of creating conflict in this game is the way your father, the King of Cosmos, treats your player, the prince. He is extremely mean, and almost always disappointed in you. This makes the player want to make their father happy, by constantly trying to make the Katamari as large as possible. Dabadaba! I’m so in love with youuuu. I want to roll you up into my life. Lets lump up to make…a single starrr, in the skyyyyy. Sorry, need I remind you the music is VERY catchy!! Anyways, on to other things. One of the largest complaints I have about Katamari Damacy is that this game is really doing the same thing over and over. There is little variance in its actual gameplay mechanic, making it difficult to play for a long time. Which brings me back to my point in the last paragraph, that this game is not meant to be played hours on end, mostly because it is very repetitive. However, for $20 (its starting price in the US), it was a game I certainly could not turn down, and one that has been a golden “star” in my collection.Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:33:19 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2702&iddiary=5270https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2702SUMMARY Katamari Damacy stars a prince, whose father, the King of all Cosmos, accidentally destroyed all of the stars in the sky. The King sends you to earth, armed with a device called a Katamari, which has the ability to roll over and attach to itself anything that is smaller than its current size. This is a third person game, using the Playstation 2 controller’s two thumbsticks as its primary control mechanism. The goal of each level is to roll up enough objects into the Katamari so that it reaches a certain size in the time limit given. GAMEPLAY Where Katamari Damacy excels can be its ultimate downfall with many consumers. Katamari is a game with an oddball storyline and an even more crazy gameplay style. Many normal consumers would be turned off by the silly idea of playing a character who can roll up random objects. I, however, was not. I found the games sense of humor and wacky ideas both refreshing and appealing. This was a game that originally was never intended to be released in the United States, but because of its large popularity at game developer’s conferences, they decided to make it a limited release. Many US Playstation 2 owners were glad they did. Perhaps one of my favorite things about Katamari Damacy is its sense of size. In early levels, you begin by rolling up small items: thumb tacs, paper clips, etc. As the game progresses, you slowly work your way up. In my first play session, I got my Katamari to over a meter in the third level, and was rolling up small home animals such as cats and dogs. This sense of how large the world is makes the player more willing to continue to keep at the mundane task at hand. Another unique thing about Katamari Damacy is its artstyle. Everything in the game is extremely blocky, a gamble of an artstyle in a world where people prey on games with next gen graphics and flashy effects. However, although simple, its artstyle compliments the games silly gameplay ideas and even more bizarre storyline. I have finished the first 3 levels so far and can’t wait to experience more Katamari! (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:28:54.)Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:42:42 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2702&iddiary=5091https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2465GAMEPLAY I will admit that in my second gamelog, I spent a lot more than 45 minutes playing through the game. Snake has now been captured by Ocelot, and is sitting in a jail, waiting for me to bust him out. The game has become much more emotional. Meryl, the Colonel's niece, has been fighting side by side with snake for a lot of the game. She was just shot down by Sniper Wolf as a trap to lure Snake out so she can get a clear shot off on him. The game offers the player a variety of emotions. I felt sad when Meryl was shot, and even more concerned about Snake and his efforts to save her. When fighting Psycho Mantis, he plays numerous unique tricks on the player, something that no other game does. He tricks the player by making the screen go entirely black, with the word Hideo written in the top right. This makes the player think the game console was unplugged. He also criticizes your game style, and then reads your memory card and states other nintendo games you have been playing. Lastly, he tells you to put the controller on the floor, and (by the force feedback), he moves it across the floor. All of this humor, and innovative touch add to the creativity of this boss. DESIGN Level design in Metal Gear Solid is broken up into numerous sections, each with their own loading zones. There are also elevators for each section that break it up into floors. This level design works great for this game, especially since when you are seen by an enemy, the caution timer resets upon entering a new zone. Metal Gear Solid delivers a tone in its gameworld of a cold and dark environment. Many of the walls are metallic. The outside areas are covered in snow. You can actually see many of the enemies cold breath in the air. These small little details help enhance the gaming experience. Cutscenes occur very often in this game. To some extent, they can be obtrusive because they occur so often and typically last anywhere from 10-20 minutes. Also, the radio transmission messages can also be long, and contain no animation. Metal Gear Solid 2 at least had 3D radio transmissions, and it certainly enhanced this mode of cutscenes. Although this game is not a multiplayer game, my housemate did sit and watch me play for a good 3-4 hours today. The reason is its cutscenes, environments, and character development make it more like a movie than a video game. By giving a very creative storyline with unique characters the player actually cares about, Metal Gear Solid enriches the players gaming experience and keeps them coming back for more. I was very happy to get as far as I did for this gamelog assignment, and will probably be finishing it later tonight.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:04:45 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2465&iddiary=4827https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2465SUMMARY In Metal Gear Solid:The Twin Snakes, you play Solid Snake, a secret agent spy sent into a nuclear base taken over by terrorists on a hostage rescue situation. Originally, your mission is simple, rescue the DARPA chief Donald Andersen and the ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker. However, as you progress further in the game, you realize that the terrorists plan on doing more than launching a nuclear strike, they plan on deploying a large tank like walking robot capable of launching its own weapons...Metal Gear Rex. Solid Snake has had past run ins with Metal Gear in the past, and so it becomes his primary goal to take down the new Metal Gear at all costs. Metal Gear Solid was originally a Playstation game, and Twin Snakes is a port of it, with updated graphics, gameplay, cinematics, voice overs, and added bonus content. It is a third person stealth action game. GAMEPLAY I first played the original Metal Gear game when it came out. I was in Junior High at the time. To date, Metal Gear remains one of the greatest games of all time in my mind, combining great gameplay with an amazing storyline. Revisiting Metal Gear Solid in an updated form floods my memory with reminders of just how amazing of a game it really is. I felt sympathy for the characters again, knowing what was going to happen to them, and what their future held for them. I felt nervous as Snake was wandering the depths of Shadow Moses Island by himself, with only his radio to comfort him. Emotions ranging from sad to anxious overwhelmed me. One of my favorite elements of the game is the vast array of characters they present, particularly in the bosses. Having only played up to Revolver Ocelot at this point, I remember how amazing of a character he is, and how profound of a character he becomes in Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3. With the ability to use a revolver accurately and precisely, he proves to be a deadly foe. They also presented us to Psycho Mantis, a character who has the ability to read minds and thoughts. Liquid Snake, the main enemy of the game, is presented in the beginning with very few details. All we know is he is the leader of the terrorist group Foxhound. By keeping the player in the dark during the game about who it is we are actually chasing, they increase the players curiosity and desire to finish the game. Metal Gear Solid's story is told through a variety of cutscenes and radio transmissions. The cutscenes in this updated version of the game are extremely exaggerated, using a lot of quick cuts and intense fighting scenes. I felt as though many clips were taken straight out of a John Woo movie. This game relies on stealth as its gameplay mechanic. The player is not supposed to be seen by enemies, nor are they supposed to go on a bloodfest killing everyone in their path. In fact, the entire game can be played through without killing a single enemy. Stealth is key in this game. The player must use all sorts of clever tricks to hide from enemies. For example, at one point, the player has access to a cardboard box that Snake can hide inside of. My heart was pounding when one of the enemy soldiers saw the box, and was curious as to where it came from. Its amazing how profound those types of scenarios can become on a player. When this occurred, I kept silent in real life, thinking that even if I spoke a word, the enemy in the game would hear me. Overall Metal Gear has an amazing gameplay mechanic, and I can't wait to play some more.Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:43:15 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2465&iddiary=4690https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2221GAMEPLAY For my second round of Goldeneye, I decided to give the single player a quick run through. I started from scratch, and on the easiest difficulty level. Some gameworld elements in this game became obvious. First is the inability to jump. Although the gameworld can be quite expansive, by not allowing the player to jump, they created a linear pathworld for the game. For the most part, I never really cared about killing every single enemy, and on this run through, I pretty much just ran through almost every bad guy and just kept running towards the final goal. DESIGN Goldeneye was praised upon release as being an innovative and unique game. To this day, it stands the test of time as a solid first person shooter, and many people look at it as the beginning of console shooters. There are numerous design elements that make this game unique. First and foremost, level design is extremely creative. Each level has a distinct setting, and in multiplayer, they are full of tight corridors and wide open arenas. Movement is also very flexible. While playing, I felt as though the Nintendo 64 controller was designed for this game, which makes is a difficuly feat to pull off. They give the player a wide variety of movement, from strafing to looking up and down. The game offers 3 levels of difficulty. With each increasing difficulty, the number of enemies increases, their accuracy increases, and the amount of shots it takes to kill an enemy increases. One of my favorite design elements of Goldeneye is the stealth element. In single player, many levels are easier to complete if you use a gun with a silencer while preventing enemies from sounding off the alarm. This innovative design in gameplay creates a tense environment, and a very rewarding game. Overall, Goldeneye will forever remain a classic to me. As the father of first person console games, I was very happy to relive my childhood and dust off my Nintendo 64 to relive a classic. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:15:47.)Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:08:58 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2221&iddiary=4253https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2221SUMMARY Goldeneye is a first person shooter game for the Nintendo 64 released by Rare in 1997. In its single player mode, you control James Bond, and fight your way through a large variety of levels that mimic the movie. This game is better known for its split screen multiplayer mode, which allows up to four player to battle in a large array of levels using an arsenal of weapons from the movie. GAMEPLAY I used to play Goldeneye a lot as a kid. Growing up in elementary and junior high, other classmates of mine would let me borrow the game, just so I could unlock the hard cheats for them, which are obtained by running through extensive time trials. Kids in my neighborhood would curse my name, because multiplayer games always had to be 3vs1, with me being the "one" Coming back to this game so many years later was quite exhilarating. For my first log, I decided to go back to the famed multiplayer, and give it a run through with my current housemates. We started with the proximity mines on facility. Although they are hard to see, proximity mines can be an instant kill, thus making it extremely competitive. Afterwards, we switched to power weapons. The uniqueness in this game is the variety. The vast difference between using proximity mines and power weapons proved amazing, even after all these years. Just like when I was a kid, I had the sense of euphoria while playing through this game with my housemates. Childhood memories came flooding back, as I annihilated my roommates, just as I had destroyed my neighborhood friends as a kid. My housemates had originally said they wouldn't play with me for very long, but because the game is so entertaining and rewarding, they stayed at it for the entire 45 minutes. I now plan on revisiting the single player mode.Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:17:01 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2221&iddiary=4215https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1613GAMEPLAY Today I finished up to the seventh colossus, and have still been amazed by the character design and implementation. I have now fought a flying monstor that carried me through the soaring skies, and an underwater electric eel that brought me down to try and drown me. Each colossus I fight has a very distinct strategy to it. One thing that is starting to allow me to appreciate this game more is my growing sympathy for each colossus. As you are climbing to the top of each enemy, they begin to cry and moan, begging for you to get off. And although I can not understand their language, there is a sad tone to their voice that cries "What did I do to you?" DESIGN Overall the design is fantastic, but not without its flaws. The design of each colossus and the overall puzzle element of the entire game make for a great combination of action/adventure/problem solving. I was not too fond of the level design for this game, as really, there is just one big world with little zones in which to fight each colossus. To me, it seems like the travel from the main castle to each colossus is simply a filler, and doesn't even necessarily need to be there. Second, the map is a complete waste, as it is completely blurry and extremely confusing. The biggest challenge of this game is discovering how exactly to take down each colossus. Most of the time, I found myself waiting for the clue from the outside voice, which triggers if you wait 10 minutes or so without attempting to take down the enemy. I found this annoying, as the clues only slightly helped, and should just be given at the beginning of the fight. When trying to categorize the design of this game, it is very difficult. It could be argued to be a puzzle game, in that each colossus is a puzzle in itself on how to destroy it. Many would call it an adventure game, catching glimpses of similarity to the Zelda franchise. Others might call it an action game, as it can become fast paced at times, especially when you are on top of the colossus holding on for dear life. It is this combination of elements that truly helps this game succeed.Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:28:55 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1613&iddiary=3488https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1671 (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:31:10.)Sun, 13 Jan 2008 17:04:50 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1671&iddiary=3385