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Jan 29th, 2007 at 23:52:47 - Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) |
I have completed another hour of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and have advanced a little bit more through the game. I am still by no means far but have run from rival gang gunfire, gotten a haircut, eaten pizza, and put my colors over the rivals' with spraypaint. When I was ordered to follow my brother on a bike to get away from enemy gunfire I realized the extent of the world your playing in, or San Andreas. It was pretty amazing when I paused the game to find taht I had only discovered about a tenth of what I could find. This makes the design of the game remarkable as it provides some incentive to work through the game and move to the neighboring cities.
The next thing I did in the game was get a haircut. This was revealing of the superior design on two different levels. First, it is evident that the designers were mindful of the background culture in this game. You walk into the barbershop and are required to choose from a variety of haircuts, something that has been a staple in many cultures for a long time. The incorporation of culture also makes the game more real to many people. And reality makes any game more entertaining for nearly any player. The other thing that makes the game more real is the eating aspect. One of the missions early on is to get some pizza from a local restaurant. And then it reveals that you are required to feed your character as you progress through the game. If you eat too little, you have no energy, and if you eat too much, you get fat, weak, and slow. This makes the game more difficult, but more realistic, and therefore engaging.
The last task, or mission, that I was required to complete was to cover up the rival gang's graffiti with my own gang's colors. This was yet another way to break the law and gain street rep, which is a plus for the game and kudos to the game designers. I have now realized that the idea of the game is to create as many possible ways to break the law, oust the rival gang, or get more respect and after graffitiing I realized that this game is chalk full of oppurtunities do compelete these types of tasks. In my opinion, the design is great, but the idea is an infidelity.
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Jan 29th, 2007 at 23:22:37 - Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) |
So I just finished playing an hour of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for Playstation 2 and realized what all the buzz was about a few years back. It is an incredibly unique game in that it represents the first RPG, or the first influential one, that takes place on the streets. What makes it so influential is the violence, profanity, and graphic content. It is completely clear to me why a young child would play this game and be instantly inspired to go rob the local liquor store. And this why it remains to be one of the most contraversial games of all time.
As for my experience of play, it was pretty gripping. The first thing you see is a cut scene introducing your character, who appears to be "innocent" as he is abused by a couple of racist cops (hence a child's distaste for cops at a very very young age). This immediately sets the tone for the storyline, which is the priority of this RPG. It is clear from the very beginning of this game that your character starts off at the bottom of the food chain and the idea is to work your way up the ladder until you have a considerable amount of pull in the crime world. Then you are set on your own, or the free aspect of the game, which many people choose to just wander and kill and rob civilians. The first mission is to steal a bike and ride to your mom's house. It is made clear that your mom was killed by an undisclosed thug and your job is to take revenge on whoever is at fault. This is the second objective in the game and the ultimate goal.
However, what really struck me in the wrong way was the language in the game. The next cut scene was an introduction to your brother and his friend and the language that they throw into even that one cut scene is outrageous. Children are most easily influnced by profanity and a player of this game doesn't need to get very far into the game to be exposed to some pretty intense languauge. I normally would say this detracts from the game's design, but I suppose that is the point of these games.
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Jan 18th, 2007 at 13:29:01 - The Legend of Zelda (NES) |
I'm now done with my second session of playing the Legend of Zelda for NES. The second session revealed to me the gravity of the complexity of this game. Although the graphics and idea of this game are simple, because it is for the innovator of platforms, the gameplay is quite complex and extravagent. There were a couple of things that made this clear to me. First, the scale of the map. From the start of the game you can go in any direction and I'm sure keep going (I have no idea because I'm terrible at the game). Also, the map at the top left hand side of the screen seems to be pretty extensive, considering your marker doesn't move very much when jump from room to room.
Second, is the fact that there are dark entries into firelit rooms periodically throughout the first level. The first couple of these rooms that you can enter didn't really materialize for me. The first one had two fires but no one and nothing else. The next one I entered had a man sitting in between two fires. This was curious, as he had to have some sort of meaning that I hadn't discovered yet, but I'm not sure what that is. The the third one I entered turned out be a shop, and the foundation of the increasingly complicated gameplay. The shop is where you can take your character to the next level, no PUN intended, by decking him out with a shield, a key, or a candle: all things that are necessary, or helpful, to advancing your character through the game.
Finally, I made it to the fourth level, the farthest point that I got to, and discovered the next complexity fo the game. The dark rooms and artwork to display the proper level of lighting is impressive. Although you can't see the possible walkways, you can see, at the very least, the yellow eyes of you enemies, your character, and the vague sillouette of the doorways. This provides for a new challenge and something to be dealt with. Also, the enemies in the darkrooms that produce to new enemies when killled are a great touch. It is something that I can't recall being done by any other game up to that point.
What I didn't like about Zelda is that sometimes when trying to stab an enemy you get turned the wrong direction on the grid and the enemy, because it can move diagonally, hurts you.
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Jan 18th, 2007 at 13:03:38 - The Legend of Zelda (NES) |
So for the first time in my life, I played the world renowned Legend of Zelda for NES. As soon as I turned on the system, the story line of Zelda came up. I didn't even realize that there was one, but now I see that that is what's so appealing about the game to most gamers. I started a new game and began to learn to the controls. Because it's on NES they came to me very quickly (this is the genius of the NES system; ANYONE can play the games for it). Also, the famous Zelda music started in the background, which has become a staple in the gaming world as an outstanding RPG soundtrack. It has the perfect balance of intensity that it doesn't overexaggerate the situation you're in, but doesn portray the feeling of being on an adventure, or an epic.
When I started to move around and jump from scene to scene, I quickly realized that enemies pop up after a half second delay. This provides a surprise element, absent from most games, that keeps you on your toes everytime you go into a new room. Granted, they pop up in the same places everytime you enter the same room as far as I can tell. The other thing I noticed was that the enemies are very consistently brightly, or noticeably, colored. For example, in the first level, the first enemies you encounter are a reasonably bright red. This is good for a couple of reasons. For one, it establishes a you-against-them relationship because you are more the color of the background and surroundings. Second, they stand out among all the green on the screen and because of this you notice them. I think it's possible that the game designers intended them to stand out to let the gamer know the significance of confronting them. Every attained item, not to mention you're overall success in the game, pretty much hinges on fighting enemies, because if you kill them they occasionally spit up money, health, or keys (all necessities for completing the game successfully).
So I keep wandering around, attacking various enemies, and realize that your sword acts as a projectile or can be used for hand to hand combat. However, I couldn't figure out after how long, or why, the projectability of your weapon runs out. It seemed like for, say, the first fifteen to twenty enemies I could "throw" my sword at enemies, while still retaining the ability to use it by hand. But after that I was unable to use that feature. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if the makers of the game meant to give the player some sort of a headstart, or advantage, at the very beginning of the game. I don't know, but things were a lot easier with rather than without using the sword as a projectile.
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HHoran has been with GameLog for 17 years, 10 months, and 10 days |
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