 |
|
Feb 8th, 2008 at 14:21:31 - Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (PC) |
Gamelog #2
GAMEPLAY
The campaign in general was very smooth. The story was also up to par generally. The major thing that I have against the story was that I couldn’t help but notice the numerous parallels to Starcraft. For example there was that mission in which Arthas had to survive for 30 minutes before help could arrive- extremely similar to the Starcraft mission in which the humans had to survive for 30 minutes before being saved. However Blizzard did add a few twists to the various missions, such as adding in optional quests like having to save Timmy and destroy a grain caravan.
Gameplay wise I would have to say that it was near perfect. Each of the four races has a distinct feel to them, which enables the player to adopt very different strategies. For example the Undead can field massive armies of skeletons which can then be used as shields to take damage from melee units, while the Orcs have to rely on a smaller (but stronger) army. Then there are also different hero units for each race which further impacts the player’s strategy.
DESIGN
The most interesting part of this game is the inclusion of hero units. Since each hero has its own special powers the hero that the player chooses will directly impact the strategy later on. For example if a player knew that his/her opponent would be undead, then the logical choice would be to choose a paladin as the hero. In addition, the hero units also give the game a bit of a feeling like an RPG game instead of a traditional strategy game.
However the greatest weakness of the game was the in-game cutscenes. It’s actually not just the cutscenes, but the entire tone of the game. The art style is obviously cartoonish- units are drawn in cartoon style with bright colors. Although some players might find this funny, I would much rather prefer a more realistic tone to the game. For example I would have preferred something more akin to Starcraft or Command and Conquer. Add in the fact that the cinematic scenes are done in a realistic style, it results in that the player is hungry for the cinematics which they barely pay any attention to the in game cut scenes.
read comments (1)  - add a comment  - read this GameLog  |
|
Feb 8th, 2008 at 02:38:20 - Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (PC) |
SUMMARY:
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is a real time strategy game set in the fantasy world of Azeroth in which the primary goal of the player is to lead his/her units to complete each mission in order to further the storyline.
GAMEPLAY:
Warcraft III for me was a great experience overall despite it’s lack of cutting graphics and cartoon like tone.
First off, the game is narrative intensive- the gameplay/visual/audio are all very good, but in my opinion the main driving factor for this game is the intricate storyline behind it. Blizzard lays out a heavy background for this game (like it does for all of it’s games), which is evident in the manual that comes along with the game. The history of Azeroth is provided in detail and directly relates to the in game story.
Then there’s the campaign layout- the player has to start on the human campaign as the story advances chronologically. Thus the player has to beat the human level, undead, orc, and finally the night elf level in order to finish the entire story. I think that this was a wise decision because it allows the player to become familiar with a particular race which prevents confusion among players. It also forces the player to at least try playing each race a bit.
The one thing that I didn’t like about WC3 was the fact that the mission objectives were presented in in-game cutscenes. Basically Blizzard did away with the “mission briefing” of Starcraft and turned it into in game cutscenes. The major problem that I have with this is the fact that to me the cutscenes look awful, especially when compared to the cinematics. I would much rather have preferred for the “mission briefings” to be presented in cinematic-form despite the fact that it may interrupt gameplay. To me, part of the fun in playing games made by Blizzard is watching the cinematic which are always top-notch.
add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
Jan 26th, 2008 at 03:30:30 - Soul Calibur III (PS2) |
Gamelog #2
Gameplay:
In general I liked the single player mode (Tales of Souls) better than the strategy mode (Chronicles of the Sword). I know the game makers are trying to make the game more interesting by adding in additional elements from strategy games in. However since I’m more into rpgs, this didn’t really appeal to me that much.
On a side note I noticed that the single player mode grew much harder later on. Overall the AIs seemed more competent than those from the second series. The ramped up AI resulted in that I couldn’t just simply button mash my way through the game (as I have so often done) but that I had to instead figure out combos and use them in concert with my blocking ability. Combat just seemed more tit-for-tat instead of Soul Calibur II’s massive single combo punch.
Design:
Well first of off I would like to comment on the single player mode of “The Tales of Souls.” After playing through the storylines of several characters, I left with the impression that the makers of this game put a lot of effort into the storytelling in an effort to increase replay value. The player may choose a character from among all those offered, and most of all each character has a unique storyline. Additionally, during the game the player is often forced to make choices that will affect the continuation of the story. The characters also all have their own special fighting style as well as special moves. All of this results in that the player is forced to play again and again to squeeze out all the potential storyline of the different characters.
Then there’s the other elements including the “Chronicles of the Sword,” as well as Soul Arena and World Competition. To me the Chronicles were just an attempt to draw in elements of strategy games into an rpg like world. It’s just wasn’t really into it compared to the rest of the game. I do like strategy-rpg hybrid games, and one that I really liked was Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders. Although KUF:TC had mediocre graphics, it did succeed in combining strategy with rpg- and that’s what I think the makers of Soul Calibur III were aiming for.
In addition the game makers added a neat little twist to the in-game videos that players are forced to watch. Many players simply skip the videos in order to get to the fight faster. However the game makers made it so that an in game video has a direct impact on your character. For example someone might throw a blade at you, and then you have to press a certain button during the video to dodge it. If you don’t then you start out the next fight with damaged health. This didn’t affect me much since I was already interested in the storyline, but this will make other gamers pay more attention to the in game vids.
read comments (1) - add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
Jan 26th, 2008 at 02:50:25 - Soul Calibur III (PS2) |
Summary:
Soul Calibur III follows in the footsteps of it's predecessors as a fighting-rpg game mainly based around a storyline that once again involves the two swords, Soul Calibur and Soul Edge. The player picks a character and then follows along the character’s storyline defeating various enemies.
Gameplay:
Having played Soul Calibur II a lot, I was looking immensely forward to the third installment in the series. The game did not disappoint me. Well first of all I was just excited at playing the game since I was looking forward to a continuation of the storyline as well as seeing old characters again. I went ahead and picked a character and immediately started playing through the storyline. The new characters were a nice touch as well as the better animation effects during a fight.
It was after a while that I noticed that there were in fact other ways to play this game. I was playing in the story mode of only a few characters when I could have been trying something else. One of the different ways to play Soul Calibur III was to play in the “Chronicles of the Sword" mode which seemed to me an attempt by the game makers to fuse elements of rpg and strategy games into a traditional fighting game.
add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
|
 |
| Denn's GameLogs |
|
Denn has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 10 days |
view feed xml
|
| Entries written to date: 13 |
|
