Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=465https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2984GAMEPLAY As I got through more of the game, some of the best fights were with the bosses. Each boss is completely unique from the others,a and each has its own particular weaknesses. By far the best part of the boss fights however, is when they become temporarily stunned. When that happens, if you grab them with Nero's arm, it goes into a prolonged grab that looks fantastic and does a ridiculous amount of damage. They were some of the best finishing moves I've seen in any game. While you play as Nero for the majority of the game, the game throws a curve ball the players way about three quarters of the way through. Nero gets captured by the bad guys, and the player plays as Dante for almost the rest of the game. Dante is a half demon bad-ass from the previous Devil May Cry games, and he plays very differently from Nero. To begin with, Dante doesn't have a demon arm. To make up for this, he has multiple "styles" that he can switch between, each with its own abilities. The trickster style makes Dante more acrobatic and nimble, able to dodge attacks and jump higher. The royal guard style gives Dante a powerful block, which absorbs damage and can release it for damage. The gunslinger style focuses on ranged combat with Dante's guns, and the swordmaster style focuses on using Dante's melee weapons. Because of all the styles, Dante has many more combat options then Nero, despite lacking any throws. Players also receive a new weapon for Dante after defeating every boss, with Dante having three melee weapons and three ranged weapons by the end of the game. This character switch was surprising, but was a nice change of pace, and Dante's levels are some of the most fun in the game. DESIGN Devil May Cry 4 doesn't make any huge innovations, but what it does it does well, and there is enough new content to make it interesting. One of my few complaints with the game is the level design. While the levels themselves are fairly unique, players go through the same areas multiple times. In fact, when playing as Dante, you are backtracking through EXACTLY the same levels that you just went through as Nero. In fact, you even fight the same bosses again, in reverse order, in exactly the same way and place. Combine this with the fact that in the last level you refight all of the bosses in rapid succession, and you actually fight most bosses three times! Aside from that complaint, the rest of Devil May Cry 4 is fairly solid. The story is actually fairly deep and complex, if you actually pay attention to it rather than just skipping to the next fight. There are several betrayals and reveals, as well as a comical scene between Dante and one of the bosses where they have an almost Shakespearian exchange of dialog (complete with spotlights, soliloquies, and even a guy talking to a skull!). Throughout it all there is also the story of Nero trying to save his love, as well as the intense rivalry between Nero and Dante. Overall, Devil May Cry 4 is a game I enjoyed playing, and would willingly play again.Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:41:33 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2984&iddiary=5615https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2984SUMMARY Devil May Cry 4 is a pretty standard hack and slash game, in which you play as punk kid Nero through most of the game. Nero has white hair, a giant revvable sword, a double barreled pistol, and a demonic left arm. He starts out the game trying to save his girlfriend Kyrie from a demonic invasion, but ends up uncovering a huge conspiracy involving a local semi-religious group, various giant demon gates, and a mysterious stranger named Dante. GAMEPLAY Devil May Cry 4 has been described as a "hack-and-slash-and-shoot" game, and it is an apt description. The basic game play involves moving from area to area hacking your way through groups of enemies, interspersed with occasional boss battles. However, there are a multitude of combos and abilities to use in completing that goal. Nero can freely switch between melee attacks with his sword, shooting with his gun, as well as grabbing and throwing enemies with his demon arm. In between levels, the player can buy more powerful combos and abilities for his various weapons. Because of the versatility in Nero's arsenal, no two fights play out the same way. While going through the game, Nero picks up several new abilities as well. One such ability, called the demon trigger, allows Nero to temporarily turn into a demon, giving him increased damage and more powerful throws. He also gains the ability to grab distant targets with his arm, and to slow down time temporarily. All of these abilities can be further upgraded, giving Nero more time in demon form, or allowing him to grab enemies from farther away. Although teh formula of the game is familiar, there is enough innovation to make the game interesting and fun.Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:57:45 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2984&iddiary=5610https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2623GAMEPLAY In bowling, any number of players play 10 frames of a bowling game. Players can adjust where they are aiming the bowling ball, and they swing the Wiimote underhand as if they were actually throwing a bowling ball. You can also twist the Wiimote as you swing it to put spin on the bowling ball. At the end of ten frames, whoever has the most points wins the game. In baseball, players take turns playing as the pitcher or the batter. The pitcher holds down a button and swings the Wiimote overhand to pitch the ball. The batter has to swing the Wiimote at the right time to make the Mii swing the bat. How many bases are ran depends on how far the ball goes, not whether or not the ball gets to a base. Aside from that and the fact that there are only 3 innings, the rules are the same as baseball. In golf, players take turns trying to hit a golf ball into a hole. Players have control over the direction and which type of club to use. Players swing the Wiimote like a golf club in order to actually hit the ball. How hard the player swings determines how far the ball goes. DESIGN Wii sports is interesting in that is one of the few games that takes full advantage of the Wii's unique capabilities. Each game has the player using the Wiimote's motion sensing capabilities to its full effect. The games themselves are fairly simple and easy, but they are a lot of fun when playing with friends. The game is fairly lighthearted, with the avatars being bobble headed and cartoony. This fits well with the feel of the mechanic, in that it feels childish in a good way. It lets people get in touch with their inner child, something that many people need. Wii sports does a very good job of creating social interactions. All of the games are at their most fun when there is a group of people playing. Even when not playing, it is fun to watch others wave their arms around while having comical avatars run around on screen. Overall, Wii sports is a fun, if rather minimal game that sets landmarks for what can be done with the Wii's motion sensing abilities.Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:51:48 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2623&iddiary=4974https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2623SUMMARY Wii sports is a collection of five small games, each game is based on a real world sport, and each utilizes the Wii remote in a unique way. There are five sports: tennis, baseball, golf, bowling, and boxing. The avatars on the screen for each game are Miis created by each player before hand. Although you can play against computers, Wii sports is meant to be played against other people. GAMEPLAY Each game is based on a different sport, and so each game has its own style of play. Tennis is one of the easiest of the games to pick up, and it is also my favorite game. You play a doubles game of tennis, with each player swinging the Wii remote to swing the tennis racket. If there are four players, each controls one player, while if there are two players, swinging the remote makes both players on a team swing. The Miis move around the field on their own to get to a position from which they can hit the ball. Every time a player misses a ball, the other team gets 10 points, up to 40 points. Players can play one game, or best out of three or best out of five. Boxing is one of the more complicated games to get good at. players use both the Wiimote and the nunchuck attachment. Punching with the Wiimote makes the Mii punch with his right hand, while punching with the nunchuck makes the Mii punch with his left hand. You can also block by holding up the Wiimote and nunchuck, as well as dodge by moving the Wiimote and nunchuck from side to side. The point is to knock out the other Mii, but sometimes your punches don't seem to correspond to the actions on screen. Nevertheless, it is still fun beating up on the other mii, and boxing is also the best exhausting of the games.Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:51:58 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2623&iddiary=4972https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2369GAMEPLAY While you're playing Evil Genius, you aren't left on your own. Almost as soon as you start, agents of justice will invade your island looking for incriminating evidence. They will leave on their own after awhile, but it is much easier to deal with them directly. You can tag agents for either death, capture, or weakening. If they are tagged for death, any minions or henchmen that see the tagged agent will run up to him and start attacking him. However, if you kill an agent, or anyone else, a body bag will be left behind. Body bags sap the stats of nearby minions, and are also incredibly incriminating. The best thing to do to deal with the body bags is to build a freezer to keep the bags in. Agents tagged for capture will be knocked out and taken to a holding cell, where you can interrogate them or execute them. Agents tagged for weakening will attract the attention of any valet minions around them, who will proceed to confuse the agent, making him forget everything he has seen. Aside from agents, tourists will also appear on your island. While they won't go looking for incriminating evidence, they can wander into it, causing them to panic, and bringing even more agents to your island. To prevent this, you can eventually build a hotel, which will entertain any tourists on the island. If you are ruthless, you could also just kill any tourist that dares to wander onto your island. DESIGN The art and game play of Evil Genius takes many cues from old James Bond and spy films, as well as being more tongue in cheek, a la Austin Powers. Many of the Evil Geniuses, henchmen, and super agents are modeled after characters from James Bond films. One of the Evil Geniuses you can choose from looks very similar to Dr Evil and the Bond villain Blofeld, there is a henchman named Eli Barracuda, after the Bond villain Jaws, and there is even a British super agent who is almost identical to James Bond himself. I enjoyed the slightly cartooney, tongue in cheek world of Evil Genius, as it does a good job of making you feel evil without being unnecessarily gruesome or truly vile. Even things such as interrogation an agent are made funny, as almost anything can be used as an interrogation device, including a giant blender and a centrifuge. There are also a myriad of hilarious traps, such as a pit that shoots agents back out in a gout of flames, and a giant fan that blows agents into walls. The only major problems I had with the game was that it wasn't that difficult to beat, and there wasn't a huge amount of replay value. Despite this, it is a very fun game, and I would heartily recommend it to anyone who hasn't played it.Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:57:20 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2369&iddiary=4534https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2369SUMMARY In Evil Genius, you play as one of three budding Evil Geniuses bent on world domination. You arrive on an empty island, and proceed to carve out a secret base inside the mountain on the island. You don't do any pf the work yourself, you do it indirectly by ordering your henchmen and minions around. Eventually, you steal a doomsday device and hold the world for ransom, thereby cementing your place as a true Evil Genius. GAMEPLAY Evil Genius is played from a "God-View" perspective, that is you are basically a camera floating above the island that you move around. The only characters you actually control directly are the Evil Genius himself (or herself), and your henchmen, unique characters each with their own strengths and powers. Players start out with only one henchman, and (obviously) only one Evil Genius. The rest of your manpower is created by your minions, who you constantly replenish every minute, and who you can only control by creating orders tags. Whenever you create a new room, buy a new object, or order the death of an agent, you do so by creating a tag over the appropriate object, and minions are then assigned to that task as soon as they are able. As the game progresses, you can recruit more and more minions, and you also receive specialized types of minions. You may eventually find soldiers to guard your base, technicians to repair damaged objects, and even valets to help your minions from collapsing from overwork. Another major part of the game is the world domination screen. The screen is a map of the world, divided into five agencies of justice, and further divided into four territories for each agency. From this screen you can order your henchmen and minions to go to the different territories and steal money and objects. If you order minions to steal, they send back a mixed amount of money per minute, the amont of which depends on how many minions you send and what territory they are in. Their are also special missions on the screen called acts of infamy, which when completed usually give you some reward, as well as increasing your noteriety, which allows you to recruit more minions.Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:54:26 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2369&iddiary=4512https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2051GAMEPLAY As I got farther into the game, one thing that stood out was just how many abilities there were. There was everything from missiles to power bombs, to grapple beams and x-ray visors. And the thing was that none of them felt superfluous, they all felt like they were there for a reason. The game is challenging, and I found myself dying a fair amount, however that was never much of a problem as there were save stations every few rooms. You could also find energy tanks that increased how much damage you could take before dying. I only had one major problem, and that was my own fault rather than the games. I had foregone reading the manual, and so didn't actually know all of the controls. In one place in the game, the only way to progress is to press a button that lets you sprint. However, because I hadn't read the manual, I didn't know there was a sprint button, and so spent 20 minutes trying everything else I could think of before figuring it out. DESIGN When it came out, Super Metroid was a pioneer in its field. It took everything that was great about the earlier games, added some new items, made a new storyline, and packed it all into a huge graphical update. Many of Super Metroid's innovations were adapted into other games, such as Castlvania, as well as the newer Metroid sequels. The different areas you go through all have there own look, enemies, and music, making each unique. The rooms inside each area are all unique as well. No room looks exactly like any other, and each room presents its own set of puzzles and challenges. The Metroid series has its own unique reward system, in that each reward you receive in turn helps you find a new reward. This system, along with having many nonessential but helpful rewards, keeps the player going through the game. The game is also fairly open, allowing the player to backtrack and re-search rooms as often as he wants to. The ability to see a room, realize you can't do anything in it yet, and then come back with the right ability to do something in the room is one of the major draws of Metroid. It also encourages people to "speedrun" through the game, as the faster you complete the game, the better of an ending you get.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:59:58 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2051&iddiary=3990https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2051SUMMARY Super Metroid has you controlling the bounty hunter Samus Aran in the far future. You are tasked with rescuing the last metroid in the galaxy, which was stolen by the evil Space Pirates. The game play is in essence a side scrolling shooter, but there is also a huge emphasis on exploration. As you move through the game you find power-ups which in turn allow to access new areas and find new abilities. GAMEPLAY I have liked all of the Metroid games I have played before, so I started playing with great expectations. I was happily correct in my assumptions, as Super Metroid is just as fun, if not more so, than the other games in the series I've played. The game never supplies you with hints, so from the get go you have to figure out what to do completely on your own. The game takes place on the same planet as the original, so there was also some nostalgia about the game. In fact, when you first arrive on the planet, you actually enter through the same rooms that you left through at the end of the first game. You can even see the remains of the last boss in its chamber. Even some of the items are in the same place, which gives old players a slight advantage when it comes to finding things.Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:26:46 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2051&iddiary=3962https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1612GAMEPLAY After playing Assassin's Creed for another couple of hours, the fun parts of the game remain, but several flaws also show up. Before you can assassinate your target, you must first complete investigations. There are three types of investigations: interrogation, informers, and eavesdropping. The problem is that these are the only investigations you do, which means that over the course of the nine assassinations, you will be doing these side-quests a lot. However, the rest of the gameplay remains solid, and the actual assassinations are definitely a high point of the game. By completing the investigations, you learn information about your target, such as where he has his guards stationed or where he is likely to run. With this information, you can plan out your route to the target ahead of time, avoiding guards until you finally kill the target. The assassinations are also the most unique parts of the game, with no one being anything like any of the others. DESIGN Assassin's Creed's free-running ability has been done before, most notably in the recent Prince of Persia games, but Assassin's Creed is the first to take this ability and put it into a free-roaming environment. All three cities are unique from each other, which means that you rarely feel like you've been somewhere before. The only issue I had with the level design was that after every assassination you had to go back to the assassins' home base to talk to your master. The problem was that you then had to go all the way back down the mountain to get to your next target. It got a bit frustrating, especially when your next target was in the same city. The story was very engaging and well presented. As Altair assassinates his targets, he converses with them as they die. Through these conversations Altair starts to question whether he is right in killing them, as they all believe what they are doing is just. Through these and conversations with the master of assassins, Altair is shown the link between all of the men he kills, as well as why they must die. Overall the game is slightly repetitive and on the easy side, but it is also very fun with an engaging story and fun mechanics. Squabbles aside, this is still one of the best games I've played in awhile. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:38:47.)Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:38:37 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1612&iddiary=3377https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1612SUMMARY Assassin's Creed has the player controlling Altair, a member of a group of assassins in the crusader-era Holy Land. Altair is demoted at the beginning of the game, and must complete assassinations to regain his rank, and in the process end the war between crusaders and Muslims. One of the main draws of the game is that the world is completely open, and the player is free to run, climb, and jump almost anywhere he wants to using an ability called free-running. GAMEPLAY When I started Assassin’s Creed, I was amazed by just how well the free-running aspect of the game was. You simply hold down a button, run towards a wall, and suddenly you’re on the rooftops. Not only that, but the actions Altair takes seem completely natural and fluid. There were no strange clipping issues or jerky climbing routines. While the free-running would be fun on its own, the game actually rewards you for climbing as high as you can. In every city there are certain “vantage points,” marked by an eagle circling a high tower or building. If you climb to the top of the vantage point, more of your map is filled in, revealing objectives and other vantage points in the surrounding area. The vantage pints also lead to one of the most fun parts of the game. Once you are on top of the vantage point, you can make a leap of faith, swan diving off the top of the tower into a tiny bale of hay at the bottom. The first time I did this I was stunned, and it never got old afterwards. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:39:59.)Sat, 12 Jan 2008 15:19:37 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1612&iddiary=3331