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Jan 21st, 2007 at 04:44:33 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) |
Katamari Damacy Session 1
Never played this game before. My friend is here with me and loves this game so I let him play while I take notes.
The first thing that hits me is the solo male vocal music introduction, ala Bobby McFerrin. It is pleasant and disarming and very simple. The colors are bright and childlike.
There is encouraging text from the King, giving instructions and such, he’s your dad afterall: but then there are the zingers, “your absent-mindendness”, but this banter is balanced with some downright poetic passages in the backstory. The text is reminiscent of text-based chat room text, and other components like the various sizes, and variety of objects reminds me of a board game. The lure of possible presents is enticing, and the camera can actually take pictures of gameplay.
There is the sound of dj scratching as the text writes out across the screen, pushing the X button will skip this animation (text writing out) and puts the entire phrase up at once. This is good for when you are playing to win the same object for the 5th or 6th time, to skip through quickly.
I ask my friend Phoenix how I can avoid dying, and he says, “you can’t die.” Well this is definitely my kind of game. Not violent, not silly, rolling a ball around picking up stuff. Fun.
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Jan 14th, 2007 at 02:30:11 - Rez (DC) |
Second Session today lasted 90 minutes during which time I played 10 games. By the tenth game I was able to get through the first 7 or 8 levels fairly quickly but couldn't get passed level ten.
Still I think it's important to conduct analysis from the perspective of someone who does not score easily.
There are some really beautiful objects in this game, and they were very distracting - I wanted to look at them rather than destroy them.
There is little emergent complexity in REZ since gameplay is fixed, however, being distracted by the beauty of the graphic art may have contributed to the overall experience in an unusual way.
The cutscenes were interesting but might have provided more information about upcoming actions.
I would enjoy this game more if I could fly around more, and interact with the objects rather than destroying them. Also, the sound elements were not all that engaging and might be more interesting if there were more variety.
The vibration pulses with the music and is also synchronized to getting hit. It is a little distracting with all of the other stuff going on and I prefer having it switched off.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Jan 29th, 2007 at 20:32:14.
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Jan 14th, 2007 at 01:50:39 - Rez (DC) |
First Session: REZ
What follows are comments over a one-hour session. I am not a gamer, per se, but there are certain games I like a lot, Jet Set Radio and Gran Tourismo are two - skating and racing respectively. For me, the more abstract and ungame-like the better, that is, eschewing rules in favor of a more alternate reality type experience than a death and destruction scenario.
Rez has been referred to as a "fast-action shooter" - it is an FPS for the most part, which gets old after a while.
There's only one character, the shooter, who "flies" forward only - the graphics are very "griddy", that is, a lot of wireframe, a sort of unfinished look, although the targets are more elaborate.
The story is fairly simple: fly forward, shoot stuff, make music. don't get hit. simple.
Gameplay is tied to generating accents to the techno music playing, that is, trigger=handclaps, scoring=synth and percussion lines, etc.
Some levels are much easier to get through than others and this helps to keep things moving along.
Game three - get to level 10 - intuitively I being to simply smash down on all four cursor directions leaning harder towards the way I want to go - my thumb gives out and I have to switch to forefinger and then to middle. The music is getting more and more intense and pulsating, with more elaborate sections for high scoring.
Game 5 : can't get past level 10.
Now I'm hungry and am craving cheese - I must snack.
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Jan 8th, 2007 at 15:38:08 - Jet Set Radio (DC) |
I love this game because I am a roller skater, and defacing public property is a lot of fun.
This was just a test entry on the first day of class and can be deleted but I don't know how.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Jan 17th, 2007 at 17:53:44.
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Synthia has been with GameLog for 17 years, 10 months, and 13 days |
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