Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=578https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3224Gameplay Playing Soul Caliber III a second time was very fun again. I called a friend over to play with since I found the one player mode boring. Since both of us were more familiar with the controls the second time around, the battles became closer and more heated. The game did not offer anything to me the second time I played it, but I still found it to be enjoyable, and will probably play this game many times in the future. Design As far as fighting games go Soul Caliber III is one of the best designed games I’ve ever played. With very solid fundamental fighting game elements like punching, kicking, and throwing, SC3 also brings a lot of innovation to the table. Each level has its own unique 3-D design that the player can interact with. Some levels have wall’s characters can be thrown against, other level’s have fatal cliffs the player can fall off. Players can really use each level strategically to their advantage. The weapon system SC3 uses is very unique, and I can’t recall ever playing a fighting game that incorporated weapons into the gameplay so much. Every character has a unique weapon, ranging from nun-chucks to swords. Each weapon has its own strategic strength and weakness, dictating the style of play you must use. SC3 does a good job of turning fighting games from button mashing fiestas to controlled strategic battles. The graphics of the SC3 are not too impressive by today’s standards, but are very pleasing to look at. Each level has its own special theme and atmosphere. The characters costumes are very detailed, with their battle moves being very complicated and cool to watch. All in all SC3 is a very well made fighting game that I will enjoy playing for many days to come.Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:56:43 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3224&iddiary=6070https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3224Summary In Soul Caliber III the player will fight their warrior through many battles to obtain the weapon “Soul Caliber”. The game is a 3-D fighting game, with each character having a unique weapon they do battle with. Gameplay I found the gameplay to be very enjoyable my first time playing Soul Caliber III. Although it follows the formula for most fighting games, there are some very unique aspects of SC3 that distinguish it from the competition. There is a single player story mode that I found to be very bland. Each character has their own story, while they all share the same goal of finding this weapon. The stories were not very interesting, and I find myself becoming bored with the first person mode. When playing the 2 player mode against another person, the game became much more fun for me. The 3-D gameplay was executed excellently, and allows for some very lively battles between players. The animation for each characters moves were very detailed, and made executing complicated moves feel very rewarding. People playing and watching were yelling and groaning with the battle. The game is fun to continue playing because each character has their own weapon, and a completely unique fighting style. I enjoyed experimenting with each character during my time playing. The game flow’s well, with the only dead time occurring in between battles.Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:42:34 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3224&iddiary=6069https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2996Gameplay After picking the game up for a second time, the story threw a new character at me. I am now playing as a less masculine character named Raiden. This disappointed me a little bit. Snake was always a favorite character of mine, and to replace him with an inferior character bothered me a little bit. The level now takes place on the facility created to clean up the boat we destroyed in level 1. The gameplay is still fun, and will keep me coming back for more. Design The designers of this game did an excellent job. The gameplay of MGS2 is so dynamic that the player can play the game however they’d like. My favorite aspect of the game is the way you can switch between third and first person. This allows the player to eliminate enemies with a softer touch from a distance, or run into a room Rambo style guns a blazing. The controls are extremely nice, and easy to use. It’s not too hard but not to easy to lock onto enemies. If you press lightly on the circle button, Snake will aim his gun with a laser pointer. If pressed and released, Snake will fire the gun. This enables the player to either “hold up” the enemy, or just disable them on the spot. I found the level design of the oil clean up facility to be very bland and repetitive. Every section of the level looks almost identical, and none of them are very appealing. The game does an excellent job of providing the player with conflict. While constantly sneaking around various types of enemies, the game provides the player with many different conflicts. The player is given a number of bombs scattered across the level to diffuse. There are numerous boss battles, each unique in its own way. There are many incentives to playing the game again, rewards like invisibility cloaks, and ammo replenishing headbands are given upon playing the game over again. The story line albeit a little confusing is designed very well, and kept me immersed in the gameworld. Between nanotechnology conversations with allies, and action packed cut scenes, the story is constantly advancing. All in all MGS2 is one of my favorite games, and I expect I will play it over and over again. Anybody that enjoys playing console games should purchase MGS2. Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:23:33 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2996&iddiary=5639https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2996Summary In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the player controls an extremely deadly secret agent on a mission to save the world. Armed with various weapons, tools, and stealth training the player will have to bypass an army of enemies to accomplish their goal. Gameplay My first experience with MGS2 was extremely satisfying. I enjoyed every aspect of the game, and can’t find any real problems with it. The cut scenes and storyline add a lot to the game experience right off the bat. The sharp and detailed graphics make MGS2 easy on the eyes. The gameplay is dynamic, and allows the player to play the game how they want. You can try to sneak past all the enemies in a room, or you can eliminate them one by one. I found the storyline of MGS2 to be very interesting, and I found myself being pulled further into the game with every cut scene. I liked the way the game used 2 different styles of narration to advance the storyline. The most common form of narration is the nanobyte technology that allows Snake to communicate with his partner Otacon. This is most commonly used to give background information on what is currently going on. The other form is cut scenes. These are shorter, and less detailed, but I enjoyed the sharp picture and constant action of the cut scenes. The gameplay of MGS2 was excellent. The player is given so many different ways to interact with the environment, it’s almost overwhelming at first. The game keeps the player playing by giving them many different options of overcoming enemies. The player can disable, kill, or sneak by enemies. The extremely detailed and interactive world of MGS2 allows the player to move through a room in countless ways, adding much replay value. The player is kept on their toes though, because if an enemy spots them, more enemies are called as back up, and accomplishing your objectives becomes much more difficult. One innovative aspect of MGS2 is the radar Snake is given. Using the radar the player can locate enemies in close proximity. This becomes a valuable tool, but if spotted by enemies the radar is temporarily disabled. The flow of the game may be its one weak point. After being spotted the game almost forces the player to standby until a period of time has elapsed. Although this is a good punishment for the reward system, it can interrupt the flow of the game after you’ve been spotted by the same enemy a few times in a row. MGS2 is very fun to play with friends also. Adding humorous elements to the open ended environment of MGS2, the game makers left room for a lot of entertaining scenarios to take place. I found myself enjoying the gameplay and laughing along with the game even when I wasn’t holding a controller. Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:49:53 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2996&iddiary=5637https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2531Gameplay My second experience with Call of Duty 4 has made me question the hype. All the problems i experienced in my first run i found in the second session too. The gameplay seemed to be weak, and far to dependent on pretty graphics. I mentioned the way it the AI bots seemed to carry me through the first level. Well during the second level they became much less effective, and the game became much more dependent on you. Although this is what i wanted, the quality of gameplay did not seem to increase. With no AI to lead the way, i found myself loitering around the same places, unable to advance in the level. The compass mechanic you are given to navigate the levels frustrated me. Although the single player was disappointing, the multiplayer mode was much more fun. I don't think there were any spectacular improvements made from single player to multiplayer. But being able to play with 3 friends makes the game much more fun. I did not play the game online yet, but i will probably get around to that soon. Design Call of Duty 4 is nothing special in the sea of first person shooter games. The graphics are probably some of the best I've seen in a first person shooter, but i attribute that to how new the game is. There is nothing very innovative about the gameplay. The most innovative thing i noticed was the way your gun locks onto enemies when you "look down the sight" of your gun. There was a relatively insignificant element of the game, and one i did not enjoy. It seems like the lock on mechanism is there to compensate for the bad aiming design already present. I think the main problems i found with the game were the way the levels were designed. After turning on the multiplayer, i found very little to be wrong with the game. The way you aim the gun seemed to improve when you weren't shooting at stationary enemies hiding in the distance. You are given a radar in multiplayer instead of a compass, so navigating the level becomes much less frustrating. The levels in single player were driven by mini objectives you must complete to advance in the level. I didn't like this because if you were unable to complete one mini objective, the game would begin to lag, hurting the flow of the game. I would have eliminated the compass leading you to each mini objective if i could have changed anything about single player. The levels did not have very much variety either. The enemies always seemed to behave the same way. The most notable change between each level was the equipment you would receive. After playing Call of Duty 4 a second time, the game has not lived up to my expectations and i am sorely disappointed. The interactive levels and beautiful graphics do not make up for the shabby gameplay. If playing the game with friends, i found it to be very enjoyable. The single player mode left me wanting more.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:43:49 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2531&iddiary=4806https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2531Summary Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first person shooter game. It takes place as the name of the game implies in the modern world, and you play some sort of special ops soldier. The player uses an assortment of weapons to eliminate enemies, and accomplish the mission. Gameplay After turning on Call of Duty 4, it looked like the usual first person shooter game. It did not take me long to become familiar with the controls, and the game begins with a short tutorial on how to control your character. The simplicity of the game is nice, and allows the player to jump into the action relatively fast. The games first impression left me wanting a little bit. The first mission took place in a very dark environment, so it was hard to see enemies and travel around the level. I felt like the game compensated for this by making the computer controlled allies too helpful. I felt like they would have accomplished my mission with or without me. I found myself following them around the levels, and relying on them to find and eliminate the enemies. I would have preferred the game make the success of the mission be more dependent on the player. The game made a feeble attempt to develop some sort of plot. You play a rookie soldier being initiated into this elite group of seasoned veterans. There is minimal character interaction, but there seems to be some sort of bond developing between the player and the captain. Although the gameplay of Call of Duty 4 seemed to be mediocre, i enjoyed playing the game the first time i picked it up, and look forward to playing again. The graphics are very detailed and pretty, with an interactive environment to go with them. Pipes will burst if shot, your guns can shoot through certain walls, and you are able to interact with many random objects in the environment.Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:55:34 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2531&iddiary=4770https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2167Entry 2 Gameplay After playing it a second time, shadow of the colossus made me question why it is known as one of the best games to come out on ps2. The graphics are without a doubt amazing. I like the way you can go almost anywhere you can see on your map. The world is beautiful, if not a little barren. The story is pretty basic, and never really drew me in. Outside of killing the colossi to save your girlfriend, we are not given very much. I was able to fight the second colossus in my second session, and it didn't dissapoint me. This game would have been much better if it was constant battles against the colossi. I feel like i waste to much of my time running around the large world trying to find the monsters. Design This game has some design flaws, but i think it is a well designed game. My biggest complaint about the game is the camera movement, and the horse controls. It seems like the designers probably put a lot of time into designing the world you travel through, which turned out very nicely, and not enough time into making the controls user friendly. One thing that was done well was the camera controls during a colossus battle. While battling a colossus pressing L1 will automatically face your character towards the enemy. If i were to just critique the game based on the boss battles, i would have a much higher opinion. The way you climb the colossi like a puzzle, and find their weak points was very innovative. I like the way the designers left it to me to find my route up the colossus. I even found i could climb colossi multiple ways. If the boss battles weren't so fun, i would have no motivation to play this game. The world is giant, but the game does not make use of this space. The dead time while hunting for colossi hurts the flow of the game, and makes me think twice before turning it on. It seems like if there were more enemies to fight in between boss battles the game might be more interesting.Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:38:24 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2167&iddiary=4278https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2167Summary Shadow of the Colossus takes place in a world of colossal monsters and divine beings. You play a hero of unknown origins trying to resurrect his dead love. The game begins with a voice at the edge of the world telling you to slay all the colossi across the world in trade for her life. With a colossi-tracking sword and a horse, you hunt and kill colossi scattered across the world in hopes of saving your beloved. Gameplay Right off the bat i found this game to be a little frustrating. It opens with a long cutscene of nothing important, and explains very little. Leaving us with no tutorial, the makers of this game probably thought we'd figure out the simple controls on our own. You are given all the basic commands like jump, grab, attack, etc... The main tool we are given for tracking colossi is a sword that pinpoints the sun's light onto a given target. Although this was something i've never seen before i prefer the mini map radar that most games give us. After following my sword i encountered the first colossus. Before the first boss fight i was a little skeptical about this game. I had been playing for a good 20 minutes and was given no enemies to fight except the camera controls. The fight with the colossus was very interesting. You are about as tall as the colossus' foot, and are left to fight it with a sword that locates its weak points. After dying once i figured out i could climb up its back, and stab it in the head to kill it. Although it was the only fun part of the game, fighting the colossus left me wanting to play more. Unfortunately i was not clever enough to figure out how to advance in the game, and was content to end my session there. The game had few redeeming qualities. The graphics are very nice, and the world is extremely large and detailed. The music is pleasant and blends with the game well. Perhaps i am just bad at working the camera, but i found it hard to use. The game leaves a lot up to the gamer to figure out which can be nice, but hurt the "flow" of the game for me. All in all it's a fun game, and the colossi battles are enough to keep me playing.Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:10:27 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=2167&iddiary=4136https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1723Session 2 Gameplay Returning to Assassins Creed was not as fun as picking it up for the first time. Although it is a very well made game with a lot to offer, it became a little repetitive, and progressing through the games story is not something i find myself very interested in doing. The first hour i played i was given 4-5 different missions that would build up to an assassination. The second hour i played i was given the exact same series of missions (maybe a little more difficult), that lead up to another assassination. Although the gameplay is fun, and the graphics are nice to look at, i was left wanting a little more diversity. Once the guards of the city you are in become aware of your presence, they will attack you on sight, and will continue to do so until you escape their line of sight and hide in a bale of hay, hut, etc... I felt like this system hurt the "flow" of the game. I found myself running circles around my destinations trying to locate a bale of hay to hide from the guards. Design Although my opinion of the gameplay went down during my second session, i still think this game was designed very nicely. The landscaping of the various cities impressed me the most. Each different city you visit had different buildings, layouts, and colors. The Terrain between the cities would change as you would cover more distance. The concept of being able to control your character during cutscenes was new. Although it really didn't make a big deal, for those of us with short attention spans being able to control your character during particularly long cutscenes was nice. The story of Assassin's Creed never really pulled me in. It takes place in the far away past, and the not to distant future. Although this idea was interesting, i don't think they tied the two timelines together very well. All in all Assassins creed is a fun game to play, although a bit repetitive. The gameplay is innovative, and the graphics are like a work of art. If a sequel was released i would probably buy it.Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:58:41 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1723&iddiary=3919https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1723Summary: In Assassins Creed you play as the ancestor of an ancient assassin in a futuristic world. You enter the world your assassin ancestor lived in through a machine, and complete missions and tasks to gain information for the people you work for. You use various weapons, and assassin skills to accomplish your goals. Gameplay: When i first turned on the game i was very excited to play it. There was a lot of hype before the game came out, and i heard a lot of good reviews. The graphics were extremely sharp, probably better than any game I've played before. The controls of the game were relatively easy to pick up, although there was a tricky tutorial that took me a few tries to complete. Some of the concepts in the game were a little confusing though. A large part of the game is the Sychronization meter that tells you how well you are following the "assassins creed". I found it difficult to tell which actions would hurt your sychronization meter. Although it hurts the sychronization meter, my favorite part of the game was running around the city like a super hero. You can swing from poles, jump across rooftops, and scale tall buildings. *Spoiler Warning* (just in case we're supposed to?) The story of the game was very confusing. You start the game as an assassin in an ancient civilization, but before long you find that you are in fact a modern man living in a virtual reality. From what i gathered you are going into this virtual reality to recover some type of information for your boss. I did not find the story to be to interesting. I remember when i first turned this game on at home, my sister who never plays games saw it, and asked me if she could play. I'm assuming it was the sharp graphics and not the violent assasinations that drew her to this game. Even though it is only a 1 player game, we both had a good time watching the other test the complex physics of assasins creed. Although i found the story to be bland and confusing, the good graphics and innovating gameplay were enough to keep me coming back. Sun, 13 Jan 2008 22:15:40 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1723&iddiary=3441