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Jan 17th, 2007 at 02:15:40 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) |
I managed to complete the rest of the game in my second playing session, which happened to last only a couple of hours. Relative to many other games I’ve played, this was tragically short and easy. I believe I’ve failed to complete a level only once throughout the entire game, which I easily cleared in the second attempt. I also exceeded the size requirement in the final level more than twice, with a 750+ meter katamari, as opposed to a requirement of 300 meters. I did have a blast playing through the game though. The prospect of rolling up progressively larger objects was an exciting one; since you started off collecting tiny items like mosquitoes and thumbtacks, to eventually culminate at landmasses and gods. There was a great sense of empowerment at that stage, I truly felt like the prince of the universe.
Overall, the game oozed innovation in many aspects and truly deserves a spot in the “classics” list. The control scheme was an interesting and original one, since it focused on the use of the two analog sticks and little else. Most other PS2 games only utilize the left stick or directional pad for movement. The storyline and game play were equally as innovative, presenting creative and original ideas that I’ve never before seen in other games. I browsed through the Katamari Damacy section on GameFaqs.com to see what I’ve missed, which happened to be quite a few things. I’ve collected nowhere near 100% of the items in the game and I’ve missed the eternal levels completely. I’m not so sure if I’ll be playing through completed stages again to complete the collection though. As much as this game is innovative and fun at first, repetitious level design and game play diminish the replay value. This does not tarnish the game’s significance, however. Anyone who considers themselves an avid gamer should play this at least once, for the unique experience.
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Jan 17th, 2007 at 01:09:33 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) |
“Katamari, do your best!” encourages the magnificent King of All Cosmos. You are the Prince of All Cosmos, the diminutive 5 centimeter-tall son of the King of All Cosmos, and it is your responsibility to clean up the mess your father has caused. All of the stars in the sky have been destroyed by the king in an inebriated fury and the only way to replace them is by rolling up random objects on Earth with a katamari ball.
The character and plot design in this game are vibrant and creative, though one would have to wonder if hallucinogenic abuse was a factor in the creation process. Regardless, this game is suitable for people of all ages; its colorful, toy-like stylizations and innocent qualities make it accessible for children, while elements of darker humor can attract an older audience at the same time. By darker humor, for example, I mean the idea of rolling up living animals and people into a ball and propelling them into the sky to replace fallen stars, all the while hearing their anguished cries and screams. One cannot help but to laugh and feel a slight tinge of guilt during rolling sprees.
I’ve played the first six stages and several human versus human games so far. Already, I can see instances of repetition, in terms of game play and level-design, though I’m not sure how this will affect my interest in the long run. The game transports the character to various locales around the world, but these places, despite being different countries, share the same level layout. I cannot deny the amount of fun I’m having while rolling things up though, so this doesn’t detract too much from the whole experience yet. I have also played several multiplayer games against a roommate, but that is significantly less entertaining than the single player mode. All multiplayer maps, as far as I know, are limited to a bowl-shaped room filled with random objects arranged in geometric patterns for both players to collect. There is also a limited combat system where you can ram the other player, knocking several objects off their katamari ball, and grabbing onto them, which effectively halts their collecting spree and forces them to try to escape. This doesn’t add much depth to the system or make it fun, however.
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Jan 12th, 2007 at 13:37:15 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (PS2) |
I started playing against the computer in arcade mode with characters I was familiar with, namely the Shotokan trio – Akuma, Ryu, and Ken, the former with which I am most capable. I slugged it through to the end, oftentimes button-mashing in attempts to pull off the special and super moves, occasionally parrying by mistake. The fights were pretty ugly, with my clumsy handling and low marks on the A-F ranking system. I was lucky if I managed to pull a C. Though the first bonus stage was reminiscent of the car-smashing exercise of Street Fighter 2 fame, I had no absolutely no idea on how to even begin attempting the second stage. One of the playable characters controlled by the computer, Sean, would shoot basketballs at you while a simple set of instructions told you to parry them. I kept asking myself, “How am I supposed to parry?” while the basketballs made way with my face and I futilely tried to punch them away.
I eventually made it to the final battle against the red and blue antagonist, Gill, who happened to be an excruciatingly tough opponent. He has a particularly nasty habit of hitting the player really hard with fire and ice-based attacks and resurrecting to full health if he dies with a full super bar intact. This combined with the fact that I was a newbie made this an activity almost comparable to shoving bamboo slits under my fingernails. I didn’t keep count on the number of attempts my victory took, but I can assure you there was plenty of screaming and anguish.
After a good while, I played a series of human vs. human games against Paul (palani on GameLog), one of my roommates. This is where the real learning and appreciation sequence began. We sampled all of the characters the game had to offer us and figured out the intricate parrying and EX move system. At one point, we had spent at least a solid ten minutes chucking different projectiles at each other and parrying them. We had begun to break the surface of parrying, and we knew that it would take an exceptional amount of time and skill in order to eventually parry the rapid and oftentimes more random melee attacks. I had also deviated from exclusive use of the Shotokan trio at this point; finding utility in Elena, the Capoeira fighter whose attacks solely consist of kicks.
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Jan 12th, 2007 at 05:41:31 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (PS2) |
Street Fighter III is the long-awaited, true sequel to the legendary Street Fighter II series. Street Fighter III: Third Strike, in particular, is the third and latest installment of the SFIII series and the game that’s currently taking up the most of my time. Fan favorites Ryu, Ken, Akuma, and Chun Li are the only returning characters from previous games, while a bevy of colorful and exotic new characters fill the ranks. There are more frames of animation than ever before, resulting in the most fluid movement to date. This is a breath of fresh air that has been due for a long time, especially because of Capcom’s notorious reputation of recycling character sprites (Morrigan of Darkstalkers in Capcom vs. SNK and Marvel vs. Capcom, for example).
The gameplay, in the macro sense, remains fundamentally unchanged. The objective is still to defeat the computer or human opponent in a virtual, 2-D environment with fighting techniques executed with joystick/directional pad-button combinations similar to those used in previous games. However, many technical revamps and innovations have been made to suit this sequel. Parrying, perhaps the most significant addition, is a hybridization of defense and offense. This is executed by pressing forward right when the opponent’s attack makes contact with you, which negates all damage taken and eliminates block stun, allowing you to instantly counterattack your opponent after a successful parry. I feel this is an excellent balance of risk against reward, as failure results in the player taking the full blunt of the opponent’s attack.
Super moves have also received a revamp; each character being limited to one chosen before the match. Each super move has their own varying bar length and varying numbers of stock, which adds a greater element of strategic choice. These bars can also be used to execute EX moves, which are simply powered up versions of special moves. Like super moves, EX moves have varying bar depletion rates, which further pushes the strategic element. Players have to make choices between their wide range of abilities and when to use them, making this game a rich and complex 2-D fighter, relative to past incarnations such as Street Fighter 2. When I had first picked up this game, I was ignorant to the aforementioned technical additions and I limited myself to special and super moves. Only when I probed deeper and figured them out, did I truly develop a true admiration for the game, which I will discuss in a future post.
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JK51981 has been with GameLog for 17 years, 10 months, and 12 days |
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