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Feb 20th, 2008 at 23:18:55 - Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) |
SUMMARY:
In Shadow of the Colossus, you are a man who takes his fallen lover to an alter to bring her back from the dead. A god confronts you and tells you that the only way to bring her back is by slaying Collossi - huge living statue creatures that roam the world. You then take your sword, bow, and climbing physique to slay these creatures.
GAMEPLAY:
I really didn't know what I was expecting when I started playing Shadow. The first thing that annoyed me right off the bat was that I didn't get to actually "play" the first 10 minutes or so because of a really really long cutscene that tries to explain the story, which doesn't really help much. But afterwards, I was out fighting the camera and horse controls and slaying huge monsters at the same time.
I didn't think it was really that exciting. All you do is kill huge statue things. There's nothing in the middle that you confront on the way to the monster, so there's not much excitement there. I was really having a hard time with the camera controls and riding the horse. The controls just didn't feel right to me.
I didn't have any real connections as to why I had to complete these ridiculous tasks. Yes, the character wants his lover to live again, but there's no backstory to either of the characters of how they know each other. I felt that it would have been a waste of time killing all these monsters to just let one person live. I'm sure there might be more to the story further on, but after killing four of the monsters, there hasn't been any revealings yet.
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Feb 9th, 2008 at 02:38:52 - Starcraft (PC) |
GAMEPLAY:
Well, after playing it for a second time, it became clear to me how to finish levels. Get as much minerals and gas as you can QUICKLY and build lots and lots of soldiers before the enemy gets you first. This usually isn't quite a shock to me when I play an RTS game, but it just surprised me at how fast the enemy was at getting ready and then deploying their attacks while I'm struggling to get things built and talents researched.
Though the game can be difficult at times, there were still some challenges that had you feel great after completing them. Though I've only been able to play as the Terrans so far, I'm looking forward to completing the storyline of them so that I can play as the Zerg or the Protoss.
DESIGN:
There were lots of things Blizzard Entertainment did well with Starcraft. They put in a sort of rock-paper-scissors engine with each soldier or vehicle and had them really well for some things, but then just terrible at others, for example, the space marines. They're pretty much the only thing you really need to use, but you have to use them while they're in a large group, because if they're by themselves, they have no chance against anyone.
The maps aren't as big as the current RTS games, but they're big enough to do what you need. There were only a few complaints I had, such as not ever having more than 1 person either help construct a building or harvest gas. I don't know if they're going to change that for the second Starcraft, but it definitely got really annoying when you wanted to construct something fast, like in Age of Empires.
Another complaint I had was only being able to have around 8-10 people in your group that you could move around as one unit. If I want to select a large group to attack a space colony, I want it to be as one large unit, not 3 or 4 waves of troops moving to a location that is either: a) already destroyed and beaten. or b) already killed your first two waves before they could make it to the desired point.
Starcraft was a fantastic game, in my opinion. A little easter egg they had was having the troops say random and hilarious things if you keep clicking on them if they're already selected. Starcraft was one of those games, I'm sure, that inspired future RTS games with how they handled and enjoyable they needed them to be.
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Feb 5th, 2008 at 19:27:57 - Starcraft (PC) |
SUMMARY:
Starcraft is a real-time space strategy game, where you can play as three races. The Terrans (Humans), the Zerg (Alien), or the Protoss (Alien), who each have specific abilities and goals. The goal of the game is to complete missions, either by destroying the other player, acquiring enough resources, or by retrieving special objects, such as data pads.
GAMEPLAY:
I love strategy games, and Starcraft was one of the few that I never really got to play until now. It's your basic RTS game: gain resources (in this it's minerals and gas), build armies of different varieties, dominate the other player before he/she dominates your etc.
What I thought was neat about the game was that you are able to play as 3 different races, which meant 3 different storylines that you could follow if you paid attention to the story and not blow right through. Even though the game would be considered "old" or "classic" because of the 1990's visuals and limited openness, it's still a blast to play.
The first few missions are your basic tutorial missions. Showing you what's what and who's who and what they all mean to the game. But after going through those first missions, the gameplay picks up. The mission I just finished after 3 tries had you survive for 30 minutes with limited resources available. I figured since the game was fairly old the AI wouldn't be great...wrong! It's still beatable, but you have to think up some strategy to ration what goes into what. After playing it for a first time, I'm ready to pick it back up.
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Jan 25th, 2008 at 19:25:38 - Gradius (NES) |
GAMEPLAY:
The second time playing through Gradius was almost the same as the first, just probably more infuriating because I still couldn't get farther than my previous stopping point.
Nothing new happened with my second experience. It still was the 2D side-scrolling space shooter I'd played before.
DESIGN:
Gradius was very well developed, back on the NES's timeline. Very entertaining but challenging game. You can do multiplayer and have a friend join along, which probably would be the best solution if you're trying to get through the entire game, which from what I've read, is only about 7 levels.
The music is like any other 8-bit video game music. Sort of catchy, but nothing too fancy. Definitely not as catchy as the original Mario Bros. theme. The one thing that i was really surprised at was the whole upgrading your weapons when you want, rather than instantly getting them when you collect them. It was a very good idea, and it improves your ability to "think on your feet," meaning when it's an appropriate time to launch the power-ups.
Overall, Gradius wasn't anything too special, but it definitely is a great game if you need to lose some time quickly.
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Butano has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 24 days |
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