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Mar 20th, 2016 at 15:54:41 - Shenmue (DC) |
Shenume Chapter 1: Yokosuka
Created by Yu Suzuki for Sega AM2
Main Protagonist: Ryo Hazuki, Japanese teenager and son of martial arts a master.
Main Antagonist: Lan Di is a Chinese gangster and kung fu master.
Secondary Antagonists: Lan Di’s henchmen and the Mad Angels the motorcycle gang.
Story Synopsis:
Ryo Hazuki comes home to find his father is fighting a Chinese gangster in their family’s dojo. He rushes to save him but Lan Di smacks him to the ground. Lan Di does some fancy kung fu and uses the death touch technique on Ryo’s father, Hazuki Sensei. The gangsters are apparently looking for a mirror that is a talisman. The gangster’s get away and you start your search to find the perps. Along the way you meet a lot of cool people. Some mysterious old Chinese people doing Tai Chi in the park. Eventually you figure out that in order to find Lan Di, you have to talk to a bunch of bikers called the Mad Angels.
Objectives:
Solve the mystery behind your father’s murder. Find out what the mirror talismans are for. Explore the open world and collect clues. Talk to different people. Beat up bad guys. All your basic RPG type of objectives.
Gameplay and Review:
Shenmue is one of my all-time favorite games. This game is the reason why I modified my Dreamcast at 14 years old to be able to play Japanese import games. I ordered the Japanese release long before the English version. I printed out an entire walkthrough translation of the game from Japanese to English and even started learning Japanese to be able to play it. I beat the Japanese version and the English version.
I don't know what it was about the game that fascinated me so much. I guess the story was really appealing to me. My love for martial arts and Japan were represented amazingly in this game. I’ve always wanted to know what life is like in 1986 Japan. Every detail creates the ambience of life as a Japanese teenager in the 80’s.
Shenmue is in a persistent state virtual world. The level of complexity is mind blowing to me. The weather changes, the time of day changes. There are even vending machines in the game where you can buy drinks and toys. You can do mini game jobs to save up money, like driving a fork-lift at the docks. There are arcade mini games form old Sega classics. Every little detail in this game is superb at capturing the vibe and feel of the era and place. You can open sliding Japanese doors, open closets, and drawers. This realness is what gives the game its appeal. Simple everyday moments give the game its level of fun. It is truly open world and you can explore everything.
The fighting in the game is very unique with the Quick Time events where you have to react quickly in order to pull of the combo techniques. The cool thing about this fighting system is that it allows for more animations to be played rather than sprites transitioning. When a sprite transitions from one animation to another, you lose the smoothness of movement that is shown in a movie sequence. The graphics are really amazing so it was a chance to show off the game art and also some of the martial arts choreography for Ryo. You can learn new fighting techniques from scrolls which I thought wasn’t very unique but still fun. One of my favorite parts in the game is when these two drunk guys try to jump you in an alley and you just whoop the crap out of them. Throwing them into crates and boxes. It’s so good. The martial arts that Ryo uses is classic Bujutsu or Japanese warrior arts. All the Japanese styles such as Karate, Judo, and Jujitsu are under the umbrella of Bujutsu. The Chinese Kungfu styles were also equally awesome.
I found little to be improved upon in the game. Some people in previous reviews thought the mechanics were rough and the game-play was ultimately boring. They said there was too much dialogue to move through. I guess if you're not into the story line, the game would be rather boring. Although I'm a big fan of Yu Suzuki, I'm not really a big fan of Virtua Fighter's game-play. It always felt jerky and complicated to me. It was a pioneer though. I think it was the first polygon based fighting game. Yu Suzuki is really a genius game designer. His contribution is probably more in the graphics arena than in game-play.
The game and its sequel Shenmue 2 were considered commercial failures because they spent way more money making the games than they made back from them. That’s a real shame because it’s one of the best games ever made and definitely ambitious for its time. It was a pioneer in open world cities paving the way for GTA in the future. I have heard they are making a Shenmue 3 but I’m not sure.
This entry has been edited 3 times. It was last edited on Mar 20th, 2016 at 16:17:42.
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Feb 10th, 2016 at 22:36:29 - Pokemon Trading Card Game (Other) |
Pokemon Trading Card Game
Objectives:
The player will use a unique deck of 60 Pokemon who are sent out into battle.
You must power them up with energy and use the Trainer cards as aids in battle.
The main goal is to defeat your opponent's hand of Pokemon. The elements associated with this would be Capture and Outwit.
Basics of Game-play:
1. Shuffle the deck and each player draws 7 cards. The types of cards are Pokemon, Energy, Trainer, Items, Tools, and Stadium. You have to put at least 1 basic Pokemon in play. If you don't have a basic Pokemon, you must show your hand to your opponent in what is called a Mulligan.Then redraw 7 more cards.
2. Then you place six cards to the left, these are your Prize Cards.
3. Once both players have a basic Pokemon out (face down), flip a coin to see who goes first.
4. Once the game starts, flip over your Pokemon card in play.
5. Draw a card. If you run out of cards, you lose the game.
6. You have various actions you can perform such as attaching energy to a Pokemon, attacking, playing a trainer card which allows you to draw more cards, healing your Pokemon, using items, activate abilities, evolving, or retreating.
7. Asses the damage from battle on both sides to help you decide your next action. If a Pokemon is knocked out, you win a prize card.
8. To win the game you must draw all six prize cards, knock out all your opponent's Pokemon, or if they have zero cards left in the deck, then you win.
Resources - Types of Cards:
- Pokemon - Pokemon in their various stages of evolution
- Energy - Match the symbols of the attack to the types of energy (types)
- Trainer - Items, Supporters, Tools, and Stadiums a trainer can use.
Parts of a Pokemon Card:
- Pokemon Type
- HP
- Card Name
- Stage
- What they evolve from
- Collector card number
- Rarity symbol
- Expansion symbol
Parts of a Trainer Card:
- Card Name
- Card Type
- Trainer Type
- Text Box
- Trainer Rule
Limitations and Affordances:
Just a few limitations in the game are that you must gain energy before you attack. I thought this was an interesting aspect of game play, but definitely made it more challenging. Energy can also be seen as an affordance because the more energy you have, the stronger your attacks get. The Trainer Cards are the best example of an affordance in the game. These cards allow you to do a lot of things that can give you leverage during a battle.
Game Review:
I played the game several times to get a good feel for it. I had a lot of fun playing the game. The rules are similar to the video game so it was fairly easy to understand. I have always been a big fan of the video game so it was a natural fit for me.
It wasn't too difficult to learn, but I was beaten several times before I started getting good at it. It seems that the strategy to win involves giving your Pokemon enough energy for attacks and using certain cards that give you more advantages. This is true for most card RPG games. It also seems like your deck has a lot to do with how well you do.
This entry has been edited 4 times. It was last edited on Feb 11th, 2016 at 15:31:19.
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