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Mar 4th, 2008 at 13:29:00 - Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (PS2) |
Gameplay
I have to say that despite all the drawbacks of this game, it still is a fun game, although maybe not quite as fun as the first three. I really enjoy solving puzzles and beating time trials, and all the things that Spyro games challenge you to do. I really just like completing these games 100% and Spyro games usually make it a little bit challenging at times, but it us definitely possible to beat everything. I didn’t get that far in this game, but I was engaged enough in the “I have to beat EVERYTHING” mentality that I got pretty far, which I think, in itself is a pretty good game design technique to show the player the percentage they have completed.
It did seem to me though, in this game that there were glitches that made this impossible to do everything. It could be because I hadn’t played very close attention to the narrative, but it seemed like there was a part where I was told that I could go fight Ripto, that where they told me to go didn’t do anything once I got there. I actually tried to restart the game and read it over again, and it might just me being lame but it really seemed like it was impossible to do, and that was really frustrating for me. It also seemed like there wasn’t much flow in this game, the whole “you can fight Ripto now” seemed to me like it came out of nowhere, like the game depended a lot more on you to work out the story on your own, which definitely bugged me. Even though I have a tendency to skip over the narration, it is still nice to have cut screens and everything, because it does give you a sense of flow, so all and all this game was pretty much a disappointment to me.
Design
The level designs on these games I think are always fantastic, very sweet and fun, and give you a lot of different creatures to fight, or to help. They also use the same “friends” as they do in all the Spyros. This game uses a good example of reward elements also, you collect lots of gems in each level as your short-term reward, and every once in a while you collect your major goals, the dragonflies themselves. The game also gives you incentives to collect all the gems, because you must use the gems every once in a while to give to the bear “Mr. Moneybags” and he will let you into new areas. This game also makes it relatively easy to stay alive, when you get hurt, Sparx turns a different color, and if you get hit enough, you will eventually lose a life, however there are little animals all over the levels that are harmless, but when you hit them they turn into butterflies for Sparx to eat and he regains his higher metered color.
I find the race against the clock challenges the most difficult, although it usually involves blowing fire on a bunch of objects, and so once you’ve done it a couple of times and find out where the items are, it is usually pretty easy to beat them. I have always sort of assumed that Spyro was aimed towards kids because the challenges aren’t usually as tough as similar platforms, like Crash Bandicoot (at least the original one), and in general they keep it very rated G in the game design, no blood, no real violence, or sexuality whatsoever. There really isn’t that much conflict in this game, you do blow fire or whatever at people to get gems, but it felt less conflict oriented then the other ones.
It really is the variation in level design that keeps this game fun, I thought a really cute element was in a snowy level, Spyro uses his ice breath to turn some of his little friends (don’t worry, the ice melts after a few seconds) into icicles so that he can progress through the level. It’s touches like these that make the game a lot of fun to play. That being said, the creativeness of this game was really hampered by all the annoying glitches and loading times of this game, it really did seem a bit ridiculous at times, and no matter how much I enjoyed the art design of this game, I hated the technical elements of this game.
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Mar 4th, 2008 at 13:07:30 - Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (PS2) |
Game Log# 1 Spyro Enter the Dragonfly
Summary
This Spyro is the 4th in the series of Spyro games, and the first for the Playstation 2. Spyro and his dragon friends are celebrating the rite of passage for young dragons to obtain there very own dragonfly (although this isn‘t the case in the first 3 Spyros because none of the other dragons besides Spyro has one), like Spyro’s dragonfly “Sparx” who essentially serves as a life meter. However, Spyro’s old nemesis Ripto shows up and attempts to kidnap all of the dragonflies, however is plan backfires, spewing the dragonflies in all sorts of different areas, leaving it up to Spyro to find them all and return them to their dragons.
Gameplay
I really love the Spyro series, I think the art is great and is very much how I would like to design my game for this class. To be honest however, I didn’t really pay that much attention to the narrative of this game because it really isn’t at all necessary or beneficial to the game play. You can figure out all the things you need to do without actually listening to the story, or any of the little intros from Spyro’s buddies. This game, like the others, is very puzzle oriented, but a new element of this game, which if I recall correctly, is his ability to breath elements other than fire, without the use of some sort of powerup.
This game is full of different challenges for you to beat, and you are constantly being rewarded by picking up gems, and getting new breath weapons and so forth. The biggest problem I have with this game is purely technical, because I love the game design, and it really engages me into the game. The loading time on this game is horrible. I actually bought this game a long time ago, and was extremely turned off by this, the loading time between levels is literally a few minutes long. The camera on this game is also a big turn off, it makes the jumping and running hard, and in general just hurts your eyes to look at. The flow of this game is definitely hurt by this obstacle, despite all the visual wonderfulness of this game, It’s really hard to want to keep playing because the controls and wait time are ridiculous.
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Feb 17th, 2008 at 17:42:28 - Wii Play (Wii) |
GAMEPLAY
My second time through was mre enjoyable because I had gotten alot more control over the control, however I still felt like the games I enjoyed the first time, were pretty much the only games I liked the second time as well. At the same time, I really got a chance to see how repetitive, and limited this game was the second time. I really think I would feel differently if I had been playing with someone else, but I don't have anybody other than my 3 year old nephew, and he likes playing dance dance revolution more!
Definitely my favorite was charge, it was easy to control, and very innovative in regards to the way you control the cow. I thought this was one of the only games that would be just as fun with someone else as it is alone, and really one of the only games I felt like I wanted to keep playing. However, these games are so limited because there aren't very many stages and they are exactly the same everytime you play them. I didn't get a perfect score on this game, but I think it wouldn't be very hard at all to get a perfect score, because they rewarded me with a old medal only after playing the game 3 times.
Again, games like fishing and shooting range are just so limited that I don't feel like this is a game you could play alone for more than an hour two and not be completely bored with it in no time, I felt pretty bored with this game by the end of my second hour, even with the games I thought were really fun the first time around.
DESIGN
This game does work with the mechanics with the Wii well, and I think it works in some innovative ways, although I haven't played many other Wii games to compare it to. However, I feel like the novelty of this game gets worn out pretty quickly, as opposed to Wii sports, because it seems like a much more controlled environment. With games like Wii bowling, it is structured, and repetitive, but it still feels different every time you play it, whereas with the shooting range, it's exactly the same everytime, and I didn't really feel like I was getting any rewards for continuing to play it.
The design of the games had a definite impact on me, my least favorite was the tank game, as I mentioned because the art is boring, on top of being very limited in levels. The space is so limited, and there is nothing visually appealing, if I saw this game on a shelve alone, even if it had more levels, I would not have any incentive to buy it because I base so much of my enjoyment of a game on visual appeal. The charge game has a much more visually appealing level, but as far as I've seen, there is only one level, and once again, it seems like it's really easy to beat it.
This game is definitely, one that would be aided by social interaction with other people, which is basically what it was designed for, they even urge you in game after you've recieved a certain score to challenge someone else to a game. The challenge on this game seems pretty weak, and so the incentive to keep playing for me is not very high. However, if you are playing with friends (especially drinking), I feel like that opens a whole new level and aspect of entertainment and challenge. I really left this game wanting more from each of the games then I was given, it was fun initially, but I don't feel like the novelty of the game lasts just because it is too simple, and some of the controller mechanics just don't seem to work quite right. If I were to change one thing, I would just add more levels to each game, because the games with discrete levels were the mosty appealing, but they are just too short and easy.
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Feb 16th, 2008 at 22:30:58 - Wii Play (Wii) |
SUMMARY
This game, taking off where Wii Sports left off, again allows your Wii versionized self (i.e. Mii) to play a variety of new games, including real world classics like table tennis, pool, and even air hockey. This game also offers shooting range practice, fishing, finding mii (where you must find certain mii characters from a selection), pose mii (where you must maneuver your mii into a position through movement of the wii controller), charge! (where you ride a bull and move your controller in order to hit targets), and tanks! (where you control a tank and are required to destroy other tanks in your area.
GAMEPLAY
I was really excited to play this game, my sister just bought it for her Wii, and I had played Wii sports on her console and loved playing it. I tried to get to each and every game in my first hour, so I will go through my experiences with each game consecutively.
Lazer Hockey: This was the first game I played and it made me sort of angry. The control seemed super sensitive to the actions I was making, which didn't really seem to occur in any of the games in Wii sports, so I was caught off guard, and didn't play this one for very long, part of the appeal for wii sports was that it was really easy, but fun, especially with others, unfortunately I played by myself for the first hour, and suffered for it.
Billiards: Again, the controls on this one were a little bit strange to get used to, and it seemed to make a game that is relatively simple in real life, alot harder in game. I felt like getting the movements down were hard, and that it didn't register well on screen. The remote is also nothing like a pool stick, so it felt very strange, and not very enjoyable.
Finding mii: The first game I enjoyed, very simple concept, however I kept clicking the wrong things, and that messed up my score. At any rate, I got a little bit of satisfaction out of this one because i got a decent score, oh the glory!
Shooting Range: Again, very simple and to the point. It's just like duck hunt, but without that annoying dog!! As with Wii sports, the controls were really simple, all you had to do was point and shoot, but also be mindful not to shoot at certain objects. It progresses through levels, each a little bit harder. I thought this one was okay, maybe it's my gun control loving mentality that kept me from really getting into this one.
Charge: Really enjoyed this game, the art is so cute, I felt like a real cowgirl (or at least my Mii did). Played this one a couple of times, this one was addicting.
Pose Mii: This one was kind of fun, kinda felt like it would be more fun drunk, of course what Wii game isn't?
Table tennis: Yet another one I was discouraged with because of the motion detection, definitely led me to believe that all of the based on real life games aren't nearly as fun as the gameworld games, but I love wii bowling and tennis, so I'm going to say that I might just need to get used to the controls.
Fishing: I didn't really read the instructions going into this one so I didn't even know what I was doing, but it wasn't working...
Tanks: Snore. Stuck in a little boring room with little boring objects shooting little boring bullets at eachother. Not fun at all. Also, you have to use 2 remotes for this one, and I wasn't good at it, so I wasn't interested in this one at all.
All in all, I figure alot of this first hour was probably like my first hour playing wii sports, and I just don't remember. It was all about getting used to the controller, and how it reacts with the screen. I felt like alot of these games would be alot more fun with other people, but others I felt like weren't fun either way, and that perhaps the novelty of wii sports is wearing thin in this game.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Feb 16th, 2008 at 22:36:30.
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JennStrummer has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 9 days |
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