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Feb 9th, 2008 at 00:21:13 - No More Heroes (Wii) |
GAMELOG #2
GAMEPLAY:
On the overworld map, you get from place to place on your motorbike. During this time, the only entertaining thing I've found to do is mow over as many pedestrians and streetlamps as I can between points a and b. The real downside, however, is the contact between other objects. If you hit a wall or something solid, you fall off your bike and take about 5 seconds to stand back up again. There is no reason to put this long of a wait, or any wait at all, if the only consequence is increasing the length of monotony.
The lawn mowing reference I made happened to be the second of the odd side jobs. If it weren't for my roommate and a friend of mine being in the room and laughing about it with me, I don't think I would have appreciated the event as much as I did. It was silly and relatively short, and scored me a few bucks.
There are also other side jobs that DO involve combat. It started with targeting some big business guy with no real story meaning, and killing a bunch of no-names, both for money. After, I notice the jobs involve stylistic challenges as well. One of them is to kill as many guys as I can in 'x' amount of time using only wrestling moves. These have a cash reward as well, but things like time limits and combat challenges make them more interesting.
As you rank up, more places become available in the city, including a weapon shop, a gym, and a clothing store for a little customization. Some look useless, some look necessary. Though one thing is pretty constant: everything is expensive.
DESIGN:
The art style of this game is pretty amazing. They took full advantage of the fact the Wii doesn't have good graphics quality and had fun. It's almost entirely cell shaded, with a really gritty feel to it. The menus, GUI, icons, and all that other stuff is in a very 8-bit looking style. The sounds for acquiring items, ranking up, etc go with this theme, playing midi-like sounds reminiscent of Mario Bros or Metroid.
The gore and violence is very over-the-top, to where it's almost silly. This trait seems to make the game though. Bodies split in half and heads fly off as blood sprays everywhere and it just makes each death feel so much more visceral. Without it, the game would seem quite dull. Word is the Japanese and European versions censor most of it out, but I just can't see this game being complete without it.
The missions are given to you one at a time from two buildings in town. When you accept one, a marker for its location shows up on your minimap. The division of missions was done well, and the completion of each one is fun (those including combat at least). While I say the division is good, I mean the literal separation. They did well in creating lots of small, fun events. The division in distance on the map is not so great. I have a similar complaint in my Shadow of the Colossus review, so I guess I'm just becoming less patient with games. At least give me something to do while I wait.
Once again, I'll talk about save points. If you are between missions, you can't simply save on the overworld map. You must go all the way back to your room. They could at least let you save and send you back to your room when you turn the game back on. And if you fail during most missions, you not only have to start over, but you have to accept the job and drive back to the location a second time. There's really no reason not to just start you back at the beginning of the mission, or just outside the building. They are all instanced, so I would imagine it's easier to keep it loaded and respawn the enemies than to kick you halfway across the city.
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Feb 8th, 2008 at 22:09:14 - No More Heroes (Wii) |
GAMELOG #1
SUMMARY:
No More Heroes is a third person action game, in which you play an assassin with a very lightsaber-esque sword called a Beam Katana. The goal is to earn money with side jobs so that you can enter in fights against higher ranking assassins and work your way up to the #1.
GAMEPLAY:
The combat is the dominant element of the game, fighting either hordes of henchmen or a single strong target. The hordes create an amusing slaughter scene, though they aren't very challenging. The single targets are usually other assassins above you, acting as boss fights and proving hard to kill, though it seems the player is hard to kill as well. The style of fighting is based mostly on the sword, with some wrestling moves thrown in.
The sword is rather hack and slash, with lots of lock-on and smash the A button, but if you knock the enemy in a particular way, or get them to almost-dead health, then an arrow pops on screen, and if you swing the wiimote in the direction it's facing, you do a particularly bloody finishing move with the sword. The sword can also charge to unleash a strong attack either striking a single enemy, or swiping across and hitting many. The catch with using the sword, and the consequence for the charge attacks, is that your sword has a charge. With each swing the charge goes down, and charge attacks take extra. You recharge it by shaking the wiimote, but this is risky because you can be hit while charging, quickly turning a slaughter into running for a safe place.
The wrestling style moves start with striking a guarding enemy in the correct place to stun them. While stunned, you can either slash at them with the sword for a bit, or grab them. If you grab, you can slam them into the ground, just like in a wrestling match, and it looks like you unlock better ones as the game progresses. The command to grab an enemy is simply the B button, but the act of throwing them is motion based like the finishing moves. However, instead of swinging just the wiimote, you also have to swing the nunchuk in it's specified direction simultaneously. Also, there are multiple steps (for example, you would have to swing them each twice in unison).
In between assassination fights, you have to drive from place to place on the overworld map to get to your objectives. This is an unnecessarily large and open world with nothing to do in between, so this part is pretty boring.
Also, there are small jobs that you need to do for money, but involve no fighting whatsoever. The first of these was to collect coconuts for some guy on the beach, and I've seen screenshots of the main character mowing a lawn. I think this was a pretty bad mechanic to add, but if you can be humored by this and think the funny-to-work ratio is worth it then more power to ya.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Feb 8th, 2008 at 22:37:41.
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Jan 27th, 2008 at 23:07:15 - Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) |
So I beat it...
The challenge level certainly increases with each colossus to the point where (assuming you haven't played it before) the last two colossi can take about an hour to defeat. I definitely appreciate this. Normally, I would say that no single fight should take an hour, but since individual fights are the primary gameplay, and limited to a total of 16, I am fine with this. Granted, a lot of this time is borderline (or full-on) frustration trying to figure out how to get to the colossus's vitals, but the feeling when you succeed is amplified by the time spent in this way. It's the emotional cost & reward system, and I think they pulled it off well. Well enough for me to voluntarily finish the game over the weekend, at least.
And that intoxicated horse? I grew attached to it... I really did. It's a savage, and after all the time I spent cursing at it, it still cooperated and pulled some badass stunts that helped me reach my goals.
The last few fights (final two especially) were a little tedious, but all of them remained enjoyable. I'm impressed with the platforming elements they managed to put on moving creatures and make it work so fluidly.
No spoilers here, but I also wanted to say that I thought the ending was a little predictable, but good nonetheless. My roommate watched it and thought it was bad, but I haven't witnessed him consent to the quality of any endings, so I'm not really going to let it bug me.
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Jan 25th, 2008 at 22:20:12 - Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) |
GAMELOG #2
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay seems to be the same throughout. Ride to the location of the next colossus, defeat the colossus, rinse repeat. Mostly I just want to update my critique from the last log. [I also wanted to say that I found that you can skip the large intro cinematic, and all small cutscenes during the game, but I find the short ones give a helpful description of the colossi's locations.]
I've gotten a little better with the horse. Occasionally it will still sprint in the opposite direction when I tell it to slow down, or avoid running when I really want it to, but that happens at a fraction of the frequency it used to. That said, I believe its more of me learning to deal with their fault, more than a lack of one. I'm still displeased with its control.
I also found a way to switch the camera in the options, but by the time I did I was finding myself using the other controls because I'd gotten used to them. They stayed.
As for the repetition, when it comes to fighting the colossi, I really don't mind. I thoroughly enjoy those sequences. Riding to each colossus on the other hand, gets boring. I'll talk a little more on these subjects in the Design section.
Weapons. When the game begins, it lets you scroll through Sword, Bow, and Unarmed. This stays the same through the rest of the game. The sword is your primary weapon, used to stab the colossi in their weak points. It is also used to reflect daylight to point at the location of the next colossus, and to reveal the weak points on them (it's some sort of ancient magic sword). The bow basically has one function: get the colossus's attention. It deals next to no damage, and there is no use for weapons as any sort of puzzle. Unarmed is about as useless out of combat as in it. There is no reason to be unarmed, ever.
DESIGN
Massiveness is a huge factor in this game. It is the root of the game's highlights, but in other areas it can be improved upon. The game takes place in an expansive, natural themed world. The scenery is all vegetation and cliff-sides, with stone temples and pillars, while the colossi look as though they are furry creatures with stone elements in their exoskeleton.
Riding to each colossus gets old because of how long it takes. Granted, the vast plane upon which you ride really makes you feel small, and makes your journey feel great. But a virtual world does not have to be proportional. I think it may have been worth the aesthetic sacrifice to cut down the distance needed to travel.
Killing each colossus, however, has remained enjoyable. I have killed six out of the sixteen, and I savor each encounter. Each one brings something new. A new way to grapple to its weak points, a new way to use the environment to your advantage, a new risk being posed as you climb across its shoulders, and so on. Gripping in game by gripping the trigger on the controller feels like you're actually clinging for your life. Paired with finite strength, you know you have to let go at some point, so there is loads of suspense as you are forced to risk yourself.
Out of the six I've fought thus far, the fourth and the sixth have required the player to utilize the environment. The fourth stomps the ground as you swoop through a tunnel to its lowered back. The sixth leans down to look for you as you hide under a ledge and you leap onto it's upper half, taking it by surprise. I thought these elements were clever, but underused and a little basic. Given that I'm still roughly in the first third of the game, that's acceptable, but I'd like to see more later. I also expected to use the environment in battles where I didn't have to, which caused problems. With some minor level changes, those problems would not have occurred.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Jan 25th, 2008 at 22:22:24.
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Jaadus has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 9 days |
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