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Feb 8th, 2008 at 14:38:44 - Super Mario 64 (N64) |
GAMEPLAY
The story driving this game is typical Mario Bros. Basically Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach and its up to our hero Mario to save her. This is basically what every Mario Game has been; Saving Princess Peach. Although this game does make it interesting in having to collect stars in order to access different levels in search of the Princess.
But here's a summary of some of the things I've enjoyed:
The easy control Scheme. As I said in the last log, this control scheme is great. Its pretty reminiscint of Super Mario Bros on the NES where only A and B were used. I also believe that using the analog stick is the only way to play a 3D game like Super Mario 64, using the D-pad would be pretty ridiculous. How would I spin Bowser by the tail so nicely without the little stick? So the Control Scheme is wonderful.
The different Caps. There's a Flying Cap, a invisibility/zero mass cap, and a metal cap. The flying cap makes it so you can fly. This is reminiscint of the leaf in Super Mario Bros 3, or the feather in Super Mario World. The invisibility/Zero Mass cap is a new feature, at least I dont remember seeing anything similar to it. You basically are invisible and can go through certain objects with this cap, be it walls, obstacles, or some enemies. With the Metal Cap, you become a metallic Mario with a high density. Metal Mario sinks when in water, doesn't get burned, doesn't get hurt, and doesn't need to breathe. This is important in certain areas, such as the gas maze (where breathing the gas depletes life) in one of the levels.
Some of the things I haven't enjoyed so much:
The Camera. As I stated earlier, and what still remains true, the camera angles suck sometimes. I'm told by the camera crew ingame that I have full control of the camera. If they are truly going to give me control of the camera, give me full 360 degree control. If I can't make the camera face how I want, then give me zero control. Otherwise all that arises is frustration. And that's happened a few times.
The caps have have a limited time period. I was kinda dissapointed by this. But it does make sense. This is the first game to introduce a life system. Where before Mario could be hit depending on what item he had. If he had just a mushroom, he could get hit twice before dying. If he had fire or flying powers, he could get hit a max 3 times. This was of course assuming no items were used before. But now they are temporary. Although this adds a new element where a certain objective must be completed before the times up. But I still like being able to fly as I please.
DESIGN
First and foremost, this is a very well made game. The levels are all varied, and are interesting to play. There are levels in an ice world, water world, lava world, desert world, and combinations of these. There's also a level where you fight ghosts. The earlier levels had levels dedicated to certain elements, but as the game progresses these different levels are combined in certain ways. It could very well be that the first levels served as tutorials, or that as in any good game, they increased difficulty by combining different elements, or rules. Almost like in a game of emergence.
The challenges have been good ones thus far. Each level, or course, is broken up into 6 challenges, seven if you count having to find 100 coins. There's races, having to find red coins, fighting sub-bosses, and other challenges according to the course. My favorite kind so far have been the ones where I get to punch stuff. Be it enemies, or objects.
Aside from Camera angles, there isn't anything I would change about this game. Perhaps making it easier to get extra lives. Since chasing the 1-up mushrooms is a bit difficult. That and make it a two-player game. Sort of similar to Super Mario Bros 3, and Super Mario World. It would be kinda difficult though. Otherwise, I feel this game was solidly made.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Feb 8th, 2008 at 14:48:03.
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Feb 8th, 2008 at 11:49:33 - Super Mario 64 (N64) |
SUMMARY
In Super Mario 64, a 3D platformer, the player controls Mario, an italian plumber who must once again save Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser (aka King Koopa) who has stolen all of the castles stars locking in all of its inhabitants. Mario must go into the castles different paintings, which have been transformed into portals to different worlds created by Bowser, and recover stars. Mario must recover enough stars to unlock different rooms, and ultimately enough to unlock Bowser's Room and save the princess.
GAMEPLAY
I started playing Super Mario 64 and it was like getting back on a bike. The control scheme is really easy, and kinda reminds of the old days of small sets of buttons to remember. A is to jump, B is to punch/kick, and Z is used to crouch. The C-controls are all used to control Laikitu who is news reporter covering your mission to save Princess Peach. Those are the basic controls, and there are a few advanced moves that is basically a combination of these buttons. The advanced moves are actually needed to beat certain levels. But the advanced moves are also fairly easy. Hold Z, then press A to long jump. Jump three times to super jump. There's a side jump. A back flip. A butt stomp. And the wall jump, which is basically jumping into a wall and pushing off to jump higher.
I do remember as a kid feeling frustrated because some of these moves, especially the wall jump and long jump, were hard for me to master. But as I was playing it again, it felt really easy to access higher areas in any level with ease. Maybe it was all those hours of frustration that made it so easy now.
Although I did like the control scheme, the camera angles could use a bit of fine tuning. I would prefer it to stay fixed behind my Mario's back for the most part. There are times that I like to take advantage of being able to peek around corners using the different camera angles. But other wise I would have preferred if the camera angle stayed fixed. The reason they have it floating around, well at least my best guess why, is that since Mario's journey is being recorded, the news crew wants to make it as cinematic and dramatic as possible, and having a fixed camera limits the dramaticness.
So far though the game has been entertaining to play. Although this game seems really easy. That might have a lot to do with the countless hours I spent in my youth playing this game. So far all the stars in the beginning levels have been easy to collect. I'll write more as I play more. This is all for now.
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Jan 15th, 2008 at 00:21:28 - Super Metroid (SNES) |
GAMEPLAY:
This game has done a really good job of keeping me addicted in the 2+ hours I've played it. I have really enjoyed the rewards that this game never ceases to reap. I have literally dedicated my time to fully exploring each sector searching for anything that looks out of the ordinary, this could be a differently colored block, a crack on the floor, or two areas on a screen blocked off by a center wall. There have been times that I didn't have the right suit upgrade to get through, so I took note and returned to find my upgrade later when I had the right upgrade for it. Most of these upgrades have been for the missile carrying capacity, and an occasional life capacity enhancer. I don't believe this is a necessary in any way shape or form to finish the game, but it has made battling bosses and room monsters much, much easier. Maybe too easy, since my first real boss battle only took one try to beat.
The one thing that I have disliked about this game is the story. There doesn't seem to be one aside from the first 10 minutes of gameplay. Since then I have not run across any references to the main story. Had I not sat through that introduction the first day, I could very easily think this is a treasure hunt. Where searching for upgrades is the reason Samus went to planet Zebes.
So far this game has been really fun to play. I have yet to become fully stuck in any area. There have been times that I entered an area, and a door closes behind me, and I realize I must just continue forward and search for an exit elsewhere. This has been especially satisfying because I literally stopped playing Kingdom Hearts because I got stuck in one area for two days straight and decided to stop playing it all together. So I am especially pleased with this game for that factor where getting lost is not really an issue, an exit is usually a bomb ball, missile, or jump away. The player just has to learn to look for areas where to bomb stuff.
DESIGN:
I especially enjoyed the design of the levels. There is always a way out of anywhere as long as you look for it. This could be a very deep expedition into an area, or just searching for something out of the ordinary to blast. I also like that enemies keep re-appearing after exiting and re-entering a room, so if the player is low on health, he or she could very easily enter and exit a room to kill enemies and collect health regenerators. It does add some difficulty if the current weapon that Samus has doesn't do much for a certain enemy. So avoiding rooms has also become my practice until I can find weapon upgrades, or if I really need to enter it.
As I have mentioned, I really love the rewards system. I love searching high and low for weapon upgrades, life upgrades, any upgrade. It makes feel a sense of satisfaction when my hard work spelunking through innards of Planet Zebes leads me to a higher missile carrying capacity or a new suit upgrade. In fact, this aspect of the game has replaced my initial desire to play it which was to see what a metroid was. This reward system also helps to deal with the harder enemies as the game has progressed which makes me feel not so overwhelmed in certain chambers.
There is something I don't care much for in this game. More specifically the story line as I have mentioned before. I would have preferred a story where the Metroid Larva has been discovered to be somehow crucial to the survival of the universe. So when it is stolen by the Evil-Purple dragon, Samus gives chase only to be shot down in Planet Zebes where she crash lands, and everything but her basic suit is scattered around Planet Zebes upon impact. She must at once locate all her missing suit pieces in order to recover the Metroid Larva and save the universe. This would also give way for an introductory level where Samus must use all her weapons to get through the Space Colony. Although this introductory level would remove all sense of surprise I have encountered at locating certain weapons. Although this would also eliminate the initial frustration I felt when playing this game, which was the controls.
This entry has been edited 5 times. It was last edited on Jan 15th, 2008 at 00:58:55.
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Jan 14th, 2008 at 01:48:08 - Super Metroid (SNES) |
SUMMARY:
In Super Metroid (a side scrolling platformer), the player controls Samus Aran, a bounty hunter that (from what I gathered from the intro) needs to recover a baby metroid (some type of alien life form) stolen by an evil-looking purple dragon. The game takes place on Planet Zebes, and the player must build Samus' suit up from upgrades scattered (by whom?) around the aforementioned planet. The main object of the game is to search Planet Zebes for the stolen metroid larva, but in order to do so the player must find the suit upgrades required to reach areas not accessible otherwise.
GAMEPLAY:
When you start a new game you're given some back story by Samus herself. This was very helpful for me since I have never played the precursors of Super Metroid, and made me feel like I wasn't going to miss out on something because of it. In a sense it helped throw me into the world of Metroid.
You begin the game on a space colony where a distress signal was sent by scientists studying a Metroid larva. This was sent shortly after what I can only assume was the end of Metroid 2. Eerie music plays in the background as you explore the ship, leading to a sense of caution. Going through the ship you discover an evil-looking purple dragon waiting to battle, and it escapes with the Metroid!!! It is now your job to recover the Metroid. And Planet Zebes is the first stop.
I got through playing Super Metroid for an hour, and it was a bit frustrating initially. There's no tutorial that shows you how to control Samus, or anything that provides insight on the controller layout (well aside from the options to change the layout), so I found myself having to experiment a bit at first. Maybe its just me, but I would have preferred if it had an introductory level introducing the control scheme similar to the one in Half-Life. The reason that there is no tutorial could be because this game has a simple control scheme -- shoot is X, run is B, and jump is A -- but I would have preferred to have known at the onset what button corresponded to whatever action. I don't know what Y does and I blame it on the lack of a crash-course. I did find myself pressing B when I wanted to jump, which led me to lose more health that I should have initially, I started to think that this wasn't a very intuitive button placement for jump, but then I remembered that holding B to dash makes long jumps easier (ala Super Mario Bros for NES) than holding A to dash then awkwardly pressing B, but seeing as how I didn't discover that I could dash until much later, it felt odd at first.
I did like having to look for the suit upgrades and learning where and how to use them. I always felt really good when I went out of my way to explore a room, and be rewarded with a map layout of the area. I also felt really rewarded when I discovered that different weapons unlock different areas according to the door color. In fact I felt that this game kept reaping rewards. If the player doesnt have 99 health, or the max number of missiles, then any enemy kill gives you any items that would replenish low stocks. So if you are player that likes to be rewarded, this game is definitely for you.
I found it pretty cool to know I was playing as a female. I didnt know this until I died, the suit broke apart, and out popped a girl in a black two-piece bikini. It was pretty funny when I saw this, and whoever thought of this was a genius. I can imagine the sense of shock, when this twist was presented in the Original Metroid. I can imagine this being somewhat similar to finding out Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father. Sadly though this game is a solitary confinement. Just you and the game, no room for outsiders. But then again this is also genius, since its just Samus and no one else that can recover the Metroid larva, and this feeling is felt by the player and his solitude.
This entry has been edited 3 times. It was last edited on Jan 15th, 2008 at 00:58:30.
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