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Feb 8th, 2008 at 00:06:25 - The Sims (PC) |
GAMEPLAY
I played the game for three hours straight. This is one of the most addicting games I’ve ever played. This time, however, I created only one adult in the household with no children like last time. I must say, the overall gameplay still did not improve that much. I realize that having a kid in the house is very important, because there are times when you can’t call your friend over to chat with you. As a result, you have to socialize with your child in order to maintain your mood up high.
I also decided to train my Sims to learn how to cook by reading cook books. This, in return, helps her gain cooking experience points which decreases the chance of starting a fire. As for the job, she was hired as a dishwasher, hoping to be a chef in the future. I had everything pretty much in control by now. Though at times the game might get a bit tedious and dull, there are unexpected surprises around the corner. A raccoon or a burglar would invade your house, so there are always something new and fresh to the game.
This game continues to take my breath away. It’s just so entertaining in every single aspect.
DESIGN
The endless possibility in The Sims is what makes the game so unique and fun to play. The players have the freedom to decide whether to quit their Sims’s job and focus back on their basic human needs. It doesn’t matter if the Sims has a job or not, there is still so much to do. Of course, you will need to use some cheat-codes in order to receive an income. Besides that, players can start from low and work their way up high. This is satisfying in all ways when your Sims has a successful career and a decent social life by the end.
The fact that this game parallels to our normal everyday lives is already an attractive component to this game. Players can closely relate themselves to the game. Also, they can perhaps create their version of a perfect life using these Sims characters. Moreover, the ability to make new family friends and reach various levels for your job is very much similar to our daily lives. Every aspects of the game are “real,” which allows the players to have an even closer connection and attachment to the outcome of the game.
The graphics of the game is not that bad either. There are many close details to various objects when zoomed in. For example, when your Sims is preparing food, you can see the different food that they are cooking such as pastas, steaks, and salads. The continuous motion of the characters is also another plus to the game. Your Sims actually sits down on the toilet in one motion, instead of going from standing to sitting in a second. Last but not least, the sound is also very realistic, like turning on the faucet and cooking dinner on the stove.
The Sims will always be one of the best games ever released on PCs and I’m sure everyone will agree with me.
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Feb 7th, 2008 at 20:44:03 - The Sims (PC) |
SUMMARY
Maxis released The Sims back in 2000 followed by The Sims 2 and many other expansion packs. This virtual-life simulation game allows the players to take control of a family in many different aspects, including their basic human needs and the design of their home. Not only those, your Sim character will need to get a job and socialize with friends and neighbors. In general, there isn’t any main goal but to keep your Sim character happy and healthy.
GAMEPLAY
I haven’t played this game in a long time and decide to pick it up once again. I created a new family with a female adult and a boy child named Sarah and Steven Tepperoni. First thing I’ve noticed is the wide variety of clothes that you can choose for your characters. Furthermore, I had the ability to determine my Sims personality based on their horoscope. Then I was brought to the main neighborhood screen where I could choose to build my own home and move in to a pre-built house.
There isn’t really much to do in the original version since a lot of the other features of the game come with the expansion packs. But this will do for now. In any other case, I decided to build my own house and when I saw the option of a second story, I immediately jumped to the idea. As I was finishing some final touches on furnishing the home and getting ready to officially start the game, the screen paused and all the data was lost. I had to restart the game and built my characters again, and afterwards, I realized what caused that problem to occur. It was the second floor that I had built earlier, and after I deleted it, the game ran much faster and smoother. So as far as I’m concern, future players should be warned about the negative aspects that the second floor can bring to the overall gameplay (unless the players are using a computer with large memory).
Anyways, one thing that I really enjoyed when I was choosing what furniture to put in the house is that each of them has its own contribution to the characters’ mood. The lower the price is, the smaller impact it has and so forth. Every aspect of the game was controlled by the player, thus, the player has a lot of freedom to determine what their character can become. Firstly, there are many career paths for your characters. Will they be a successful lawyer or doctor? Or just a dishwasher at a local deli? Your Sim’s destiny is in your hands. As the character gets rich and increases their number of friends, I was able to expand the size of their house and buy newer furniture.
Another thing that I have to point out is how irritating the little child can get. In general, they can’t really do anything besides going to school (which they automatically go when the school bus arrives), sleeping, and eating. Have I mention that they cannot cook for themselves? Therefore, they head on to the fridge every hour to get a five dollars worth of chips and wait for the adult to cook. However, the adult is often at work or asleep. So the child is starving to death while the adult is well, earning money to support the child. If I play the game next time, I think I’ll just create a new family with one adult and see where that goes. Other than that, the game is not bad at all.
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Jan 26th, 2008 at 00:15:43 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) |
GAMEPLAY
After playing for another two hours, I realized how a game that is so simple can be so intriguing and challenging at the same time. I started with a small katamari that can barely pick up any objects, to a huge ball that can even knock a person off their ground. I replayed the third and fourth level hoping to get a better score. In the end, I found out that the best strategy into getting the highest score possible is to just head on to areas where it would have more objects than others. Simply go straight and you are pretty much set to go. Not only I found a better approach to the game, I also discovered some “secret” rooms that I did not see. In fact, the “secret” rooms greatly increased my score because of the amounts of objects that were easy to pick up and allow you to grow at a much faster rate.
On an interesting note, I never paid attention to the growth of my katamari until now. The camera zooms out as I get bigger, in order for me to pick up bigger objects. At the beginning of the game, everything around you looks unreachable and giant; but then after awhile, if you go back to the same spot, everything shrinks! This motivated me to continue to play the game, and also serves as a constant reward.
I started playing the 2 players mode with my friend also, which we both race against time to build the biggest katamari. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it as much as the regular mode. The screen splits in two and it was extremely difficult to see where you were going. Furthermore, the competition takes place in the same arena for every round. There were no variety in the versus mode and I would much rather stick to my single player mode, where I could freely explore the environment. I will definitely keep Katamari Damacy in my PS2 system for another month or so (at least). I still need to beat this game!
DESIGN
The developers of Katamari Damacy are definitely geniuses. This game is so out of the ordinary, but it has the components of every successful game. They are able to create something so simple, but yet entertaining at the same time. There are unquestionably many signs of strong level design in this game. It is very easy for the player to maneuver the controls and meander their way through the level without any difficult obstacles. Once the player is familiar with the two analog sticks, there isn’t much to worry about.
The main thing that I noticed is the endless possibilities of achieving the goals. The designers of the game allow the players to decide where they want to roll their katamari. However, despite the easy controls, there is actually a lot of strategy involved in order to pass the various levels. Players need to decide what to roll up on their katamari and where these desired objects are located in order to pass the level within the time limit. Therefore, the simplicity of the game is not really that simple anymore, because there is a level of critical thinking and strategizing in the game.
The other essential components that made the game so fun to play are its sound and graphics. Every time you roll an item up, it actually makes a sound of the item. For example, when you pick up a telephone, you will hear a ring. Each of the sound effects parallels the game so it does not feel out of place; plus, it even enhances the game play as a whole. Furthermore, after playing the game, I am very interested in purchasing the soundtrack. The music varies from Japanese rap to soothing jazz, which again, relax the players and let them play with ease. Last but not least, the graphics of the game is in fact very simple. This might sound a bit boring, but this is what makes the game so interesting. The objects that you need to roll up are not necessarily the best looking designs out there. However, with too many details on the objects, it misses the point of the game. The designers of Katamari Damacy truly accomplished a game that is playable by all ages because of its incredible design and gameplay.
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Jan 25th, 2008 at 02:08:29 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) |
SUMMARY
The story begins with the little mishap caused by King of All Cosmos. One night, he accidentally destroyed and made all the stars in the sky disappear. In order to make things right again, he sends the Prince, or you, to help him gather all the stars back from Earth with your katamari. The object of the game is to make your katamari grow as big as it possibly can by making the objects stick to it. Eventually, the bigger the katamari, the bigger objects you can pick up; such as, people, cars, or even cows!
GAMEPLAY
This was my first time playing Katamari Damacy, and I must say, I really enjoyed the overall gameplay. First of all, this game is so unique and different from any other games that I’ve played before. Furthermore, I’ve actually never heard of this game. In fact, I was introduced to Katamari Damacy by my friend not long ago. When I finally got my hands on this game, I was pretty much very excited to roll a giant ball around. As dull as that may sound, it surely kept me entertained for nearly two hours. I was immediately greeted with flying pandas and singing ducks; at the second, I knew this game is definitely out of the ordinary. Since I wasn’t familiar with the controls, I decided to head on to the tutorial section. Surprisingly, the tutorial was very straight- forward and directions were clear. I mean, what else can go wrong with using just two analogue sticks? I was ready to play the real levels in no time.
The first level wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Basically, you start off with a small katamari, or ball, and you start rolling in every direction in order to pick up objects on the ground. The more objects you pick up, the bigger your katamari gets. The goal of the first level wasn’t difficult to achieve and I moved on to the rest of the levels like breeze. For example, most of the levels give you a certain amount of time to get your katamari to a specific size. Some even restrict you to only pick up certain items on the ground. This may sound a bit challenging at first, but you can definitely achieve it with a little practice.
Throughout the levels, the King of All Cosmos informed me of my progress in a humorous witty way. After each level, he would say the most random thing that anyone could’ve imagined. Yet, this was enough to catch my attention. Furthermore, the game not only has a whimsical nature, it also presents a colorful world filled with rainbows and bright, vivid colors. Even if I was irritated with the game for some time, the background music was so upbeat and happy that kept me from turning off the system. Overall, the game is extremely attractive in its own distinctive ways. I can’t wait to play again!
This entry has been edited 2 times. It was last edited on Jan 25th, 2008 at 16:14:17.
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