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Jan 31st, 2007 at 00:29:27 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (XBX) |
So, for the second time I had to play this game (I have actually played this game a decent amount last summer) I chose to not progress the story and plot by doing the missions. Instead, I decided to explore the games redeeming aspect, the massive city. And it is one massive city. This was actually more fun for me than playing the actual "game", mainly because I was already pretty tired of the GTA style missions and the plot did not interest me at all.
It was amazing to me that I could spend so much time driving around and checking out cool things. I spent a full hour without touching the main storyline, only driving around the city. There is actually two more cities that are still locked because it is required that you complete the storyline of one city to get to the next.
I especially liked the really high tower that you could jump from with a parachute. This is similar to the Spider Man 2 game, where I would play chicken seeing how close I could get to the ground before swinging away to safety when I jumped from the highest building. The level design is really good in this game. I was frustrated with GTA Vice City because the entire map was flat. But in this game there are many levels to launch cars off from and many interesting obstacles while driving fast.
It is amazing to me that so much detail was put into such a large game. Each fence, building, and tree was individually placed; I can really respect the massive undertaking of creating this game. However, with the greatness of the massive cities, there is a weakness with this map style. In GTA III it felt like I learned to know where I was without looking at the minimap. But in San Andreas (granted I've only been playing for so long)it seems like it would be impossible to recognize how to take individual turns. Mastery of this game seems unachievable, which discourages me from even trying.
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Jan 30th, 2007 at 23:12:32 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (XBX) |
I do not really like this game at all. I have played all the other Grand Theft Auto games, and GTA III is my favorite. This game does not particularly interest me because of the setting. I am far more interested in the Mafia or even Cuban/drug lord plots than with the Black Gangster plot scene.
In all the GTA games there are collectibles, and in this game there are 100 places that you must "tag" or spray paint your gang symbol. The missions are simple and basic. If you had played the previous GTA games, there is nothing really special about them. You have your simple "get away" missions, your "rob this" missions, your "go pick up this person and take them here" missions. None of them (granted I have not played through the entire game) are very special in anyway.
I feel that the past two GTA games (GTA III and GTA Vice City) were much more fun and inovative. GTA III really created the series in a 3D world. And Vice City added some amazing things like bikes, planes, and helecopters. The mission types still felt very familiar from the switch from GTA III to Vice City, but there was enough new that it was very fun to play.
I felt like San Andreas added customization and a massive world to play in, but did not really innovate anything extremely new into the game.
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Jan 18th, 2007 at 23:15:55 - The Legend of Zelda (NES) |
Wow. Now that was a frustrating hour. I spent almost the entire time trying to get through Dungeon 3. There were these enemies that would only take damage from either side or from behind, I must have spent near 20 minutes trying to kill them all. I realized what was making it so difficult was that I didn't have the sword power-up and you almost were required to have full life so that you could 'throw' your swords. After leaving the dungeon, finding the sword power-up, and reaching a Great Fairy that refills your life, I was able to breeze through the remainder of Dungeon 3.
In Dungeon 4, I was doing fine until one of the enemies that look like a pile of intestines ate my great shield. After which, I got royally screwed up by multiple enemies at once. I made it to the boss, but with only two hearts left, died in a matter of seconds. I decided I had played for long enough to be able to rant about it.
I think it is really poor design of a game that you have to either know exactly what to do all of the time. Otherwise, you'll wander around aimlessly, dying multiple times. I find it odd that I say this about Zelda, because this is a game that I have enjoyed for a long time. Maybe this game is so popular because it gives you great satisfaction to know what bush to burn, what stone to move, where the sword power-up is. But for me, having not played it in a good number of years, I faintly remember the secrets to beating the game. While I was still having a fun time playing the game, I felt I died to often to wish to continue. I may pick up the controller later in the week, but only if I desire a real challenge.
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Jan 18th, 2007 at 17:15:05 - The Legend of Zelda (NES) |
Alright, so I've been playing this game for a very long time, but this is probably the first time I picked it up in about five years. I remember that my brother had a strategy guide for the game, I almost think this game would be impossible without one. Today, when I started the game, I decided to go straight for Dungeon 1. I completed that with no problems at all. I then decided to go straight to Dungeon 2... But I couldn't find it. I knew that it was somewhere in the lower right portion of the over world, but I couldn't find it. After I had died about four times looking for the stupid entrance, I decided admit defeat and look online for a walkthrough.
The walkthrough showed me where all the easy to get secret items were and the direct location of Dungeon 2. Once I got to the second dungeon, it only took five or ten minutes to get through the entirety of the level. By this time, It had been an hour since I started playing, and decided to tackle the rest during my next session.
I find it interesting that this is a game that almost requires you to either get help from someone who has already played it or use a walkthrough. Nobody in their right mind would randomly think "I'm going to go one screen down and one screen to the left from the first dungeon, then burn down the fourth bush with the blue candle to see if it reveals a secret entrance." While the actual dungeons are fairly straightforward, the overworld is near impossible to navigate on your own and the secerets should never actually be found unless someone told you exactly where it is. What is amazing is that this game did very well and some still consider it the best game of all time, even though it is so amazingly difficult to navigate. I would say that this is somewhat of a lost genre because very few games really allow you to move anywhere you wish and give no hints as to where to go next.
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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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