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Dec 11th, 2012 at 19:10:05 - Far Cry 3 (360) |
Last week I bought the recently released Far Cry 3. Although I haven’t played any previous Far Cry game before, I decided to pick this up because of the marketing for this game. Touted as Skyrim with guns, I decided to see if this was the case. I liked Skyrim before, and a game with guns is usually a winning combination, so I decided to try it out. Upon playing the game, I realized that this game was exactly what it said. Far Cry 3 is Skyrim with guns, but it is a lot more than that as well.
At the beginning, the game tells the brief introduction story about how you play as a trust fund kid who is rather unlikeable. Him and his friends all get trapped on an island by a scary guy named Vaas, who is about to sell the player and his friends into slavery. Then a break out happens and the world opens up from there. The bulk of the beginning of the game is finding the missing friends and finding a way of the island. However, after a while, more story elements start to develop, and before you know it, you are participating in a civil war.
While the game’s story plays it straight forward, the gameplay is really where this game shines. Although it plays like a first person shooter, there are lots of different elements that separate it. For example, because you play as a person who doesn’t have a lot of experience using guns, the guns tend to sway and accuracy is a bit off. That is, until you upgrade the character by hunting or other missions that boost his attributes. It kind of feels like Skyrim in a way, yet, does enough things differently to distinguish itself. Overall, Far Cry 3 was a satisfying game with some cool ideas and some nice gameplay elements.
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Dec 11th, 2012 at 16:43:52 - Super Hexagon (iPd) |
This week, I decided to buy the game Super Hexagon on the iPad, and to be honest, it is one of the most frustrating game I have ever played. However, I mean that in the best way possible, as the frustrating nature of the game is the most addictive aspect to it. It is one of those games where, once a person starts to play it, it is really hard to put it down. Similar to the feeling I had with Super Meat Boy, the immense difficulty attributed to the greatness of the game. It is so simplistic and yet it beats out a lot of games I’ve played this year.
The core of this game is basically moving a triangle to avoid incoming lines on a hexagonal plane. It sounds complex, but in practice it is devilishly simple. The goal in the game is to see how long you can last until you hit an obstacle. Super Hexagon is a game where you will die over and over again. The first time I played, I think I might have lasted about 2 seconds before dying. At first, the game played like a weird acid trip, as I had no idea what was going on. However, after trying and trying over and over again, I finally got the hang of what I was suppose to do. Granted that didn’t make me any better at the game, but it did make it a lot more fun.
This die and starting over again is certainly an extreme hook to have. There are some games that do this, but I can’t think of one better. Super Hexagon does something different, however, in that it sports some great music. That was basically the reason why I kept playing. It’s kind of ingenious in that the game presents music that you want to hear, but can’t because of constant death. Playing it over and over again to get a higher time basically equates to listening to more of the music. Only hearing the track for a few seconds at a time makes me want to improve my score so I can hear more of the track. It’s a smart way to implement music to this type of game.
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Nov 25th, 2012 at 12:26:20 - Hitman: Absolution (360) |
This weekend, I decided to rent the new game Hitman: Absolution. I have never played a Hitman game before, but I did know what it was. I’ve recently been hearing good things about the game, so I decided to try it out. The core concept was appealing enough for me to warrant a try, even though I haven’t played previous installments. Upon playing the game, I can definitely say that it is certainly enjoyable and very ambitious, but the biggest highlight was something I wasn’t expecting.
Hitman Absolution isn’t just about killing people. This game is more about how to kill people and is the biggest factor in this game. The story is decent enough and the gameplay is well done, but the biggest strength is actually something that I did not expect from a game like this: choice. While the choice system in this game is nothing like, say, The Walking Dead Game, it is still very intriguing. Players choose how to kill their assigned targets. A person can be sneaky, not having to kill a single person other than their target. Someone could also blast their way through the level, killing everybody in sight and causing mass chaos. The different ways to approach a mission really sells the game as the choice players make are really exciting to watch.
In one mission, I decided to sneak through with non-violent tactics and using disguises. The next mission I exploded my target in an alleyway full of fireworks. Every different mission can warrant different tactics, and that is very appealing. Much of this mechanic is heavily relying on level design. Without a good level to explore choices, this game would fall apart. However, the developer did an excellent job crafting each level to maintain the semblance of varying choices. In one level, the player must enter a building to get to the target, and in all honesty, can conceivably enter through 5 different places. The game gives numerous amounts of choices for the player to make, which really separates this game from many other games that have similar elements.
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Nov 18th, 2012 at 19:43:04 - Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360) |
This week, I got the new iteration of Call of Duty. I wasn’t really excited about Black Ops II, but upon further playing, it has been surprisingly fun. I haven’t really gotten into a Call of Duty game since Modern Warfare 2. Every iteration after that game seemed to be repeating the same formula, and with its yearly releases, it eventually got really repetitive. However, with Black Ops II, the developers really seemed to make things different and make the series less stagnant, and it looks like they have accomplished just that.
I’ll say that the campaign isn’t really the best part of the game. The stories before weren’t really anything to write home about, but in this iteration it felt overly complicated and corny. The multiplayer on the other hand has undergone a significant change to the status quo. The new create a class system has been overhauled into something called “pick ten.” This system allows the player to pick any ten items, perks, grenades, etc., and put them in their class. At first I thought that this might unbalance the game, but in reality, it actually helps in making the game less frustrating. This new system doesn’t really provide any overpowered class and it really gives the player to build a class that suits them. It really is an improvement over previous versions of the multiplayer.
The biggest change is probably in the side mode called Zombies. In previous games, players were regulated to one map and after a while it could get repetitive, until the developer released new maps. In Black Ops II, there are 4 or 5 maps all interconnected with one road that a bus drives along. This really improves the zombies mode, as it gets less stale after a while. New places to explore and a new mechanic, the bus, really adds to this already great game mode. Add on the new head to head zombies game type and custom zombie games, Black Ops II has really changed the Call of Duty status quo for the better.
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dmullig2 has been with GameLog for 12 years, 2 months, and 25 days |
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