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Feb 23rd, 2007 at 03:38:59 - Super Mario 64 (N64) |
So I played again and this time I was mainly bent on exploration rather than getting every star in the level before moving on to the next. Honestly, playing through this method made me burn out on the game far sooner than before. I still had a really fun time playing the game anyway. Jumping from level to level, without first getting a hang of the level brought down my enjoyment level. Also, the level where the ground is lava was very frustrating because it seemed that if you slipped ever so slightly, it was an immediate death.
Playing this game for the second time (probably more than that actually) was no where near as fun as the first. It was no longer a matter of figuring out where the stars were or how to get them. Instead, it became a battle against the controls. The retro feeling of the game did hold my interest because playing the game became me wondering if I remembered all the secrets in the different levels. (Many of them I did remember).
I found that this game had great level design, and reuse of the levels. You played through each level at least six times to get all of the stars from the level. Each time you played through it, you discover more and more about the level, and tricks to help you on the next time through. This is a very unique style of gameplay that doesn't exist in many other games. I also think it is a very successful style because of its ability to only have to make a limited number of levels, but extend the gameplay time. Overall, I really do like this game, but the controls are very difficult to get a hold of and many other platformers have much better control schemes.
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Feb 22nd, 2007 at 16:35:22 - Super Mario 64 (N64) |
Wow, this game brings back a lot of memories. This was the first game that I felt really had a social out of game aspect to it. Because everyone my age got the game at almost the same time, we worked together on how to solve the puzzles and such. The characters in this game are very generic, there's Mario, Toad(who wears a mushroom for a hat), Bomb-ombs that sometimes help you be activating their cannons, Bowser who you must duel with multiple times, then just generic monsters and enemies. The story line is the basic "go save the princess" and the dialog is almost only existent to give you a hint at what to do. This game is a perfect example of a case where storyline doesn't mean a thing. What drives this game is rock-solid gameplay and exploration of the levels.
Another great aspect of this game is the persistent world aspect. When you change something, say activate the red "flying" caps in the levels, it stays changed throughout the game. This makes you feel like when you discover a secret or activate the cannons in the level, you just made your playing experience easier or you opened up more possibilities, more places to go to. In this first hour, I was able to play through the first two levels (The First and the Snow Level) and I found two castle secrets (the flying caps and the slide extra level). After playing I felt very accomplished with myself. This game gives you a good sense of progression. As you gain stars by completing missions, you gain access to new levels and locations of the castle. This gives you the sense that your working towards something, which is very important for a game to keep their players interested. Overall, I find this to be a wonderful game, and I feel that every gamer should play through it at least once.
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Feb 9th, 2007 at 00:25:54 - Blitz: The League (XBX) |
Alright, I got really frustrated with the game this round. Apparently, it is nearly impossible to not have your men fumble the ball when it is an onside kick. This is very unrealistic and boring really. Also, the novelty of the super hardcore gameplay and attitude of the game definitely wore off during this second session.
One thing I found out about this game is that the reason that it is not called "NFL Blitz" is because EA Games bought the rights to NFL games. This means that they no longer had to abide by the requests of the NFL and they could make the game as gnarly as they wanted. This shows again when players are injured, the coach (you) can decide whether to treat the player, or "juice them up" and have them keep playing with whatever injury they had.
I got really tired of the constant cut scenes in between gameplay. They really destroyed the game. After you choose a blitz play or some "special" play, a cut scene would occur that usually consisted of one of the players taunting the others. I would much rather have cut scenes only in the campaign mode and only after or before games, not during plays.
One thing that is extremely spectacular about the game is the campaign mode. You have to take a failing team and pick Rookies, veterans, coaches and medics to make them the best team in "the League". You have control over what stadium you get, where your hometown is, and many other factors that is surprisingly in depth for a arcade like sports game. You really feel good when your team does well, and you really hate it when your players get injured, because they may be out of the game for a very long time. Possibly even for multiple games. Overall this game has some major unique play, but also some downfalls that prevent it from becoming as great as it's potential.
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Feb 8th, 2007 at 22:52:21 - Blitz: The League (XBX) |
This is a brutal game. To start, I played the tutorial to get a feel for the new features of this game (I have played earlier Blitz games). The characters in it do lot's of swearing and "offensive" things in mini-cut scenes after or before certain plays. Also, a new feature of this game is the "bullet time" also called clash. This allows you to do special moves that look cooler and have a higher chance of succeeding as you do a play on offense. Something new on the defensive spectrum is the ability to do "dirty hits". These hits demoralize the other players and have a chance of Injuring the player hit. When one of these hits are made in a high impact circumstance, the camera zooms in and looks at the limb getting hurt the worst. The view then goes into x-ray mode and shows the bone breaking.
I only played the tutorial and half of a game when the hour was up. The score was 22-14 my lead. Something I noticed from how I paused it is the cheerleaders. They are hardly wearing any clothes and you can actually see the curve of their ass. I have a feeling this game is going far out of their way to be "hard-core". However, it is still a fact that this is a fun and amusing game to play. I especially like playing with other because there is something very satisfying like shattering your friend's QB's Tibia.
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| Skwalin's GameLogs |
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Skwalin has been with GameLog for 17 years, 10 months, and 12 days |
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