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Feb 8th, 2008 at 18:44:07 - Crysis (PC) |
GAMELOG ENTRY 2
GAMEPLAY:
After the first opening cutscenes and first few levels, I can thoroghly say that I'm addicted to Crytek's first person shooter. This FPS stands out from every other FPS by offering the futuristic "Nano-Suit" which is theoretically designed for the Special Ops soldiers of the year 2020. This brought an interesting and fun dynamic to an otherwise exciting and beautiful shooter. The Nano-Suits abilitiys play into every aspect of your gameplay. The super-strength, super-speed, increased armor, and cloaking options on your nano-suit dictate how you attack the North Korean encampments/soldiers and (SPOILER) eventually how you attack the alien race that invades the island. In addition this FPS allows for instant, on the fly, customization of the weapons that your soldier is currently wielding.
You are allowed to carry an assortment of rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers and items such as C-4 and almost every one of the guns in the game is fully customizable from the in game menu. Take for example a simple M-16 assault rifle. It could be plain with iron sights, or you can add things such as flashlights, dart-shooter, reflex sights, zoom scopes, and even laser sights. All of these additions to every gun provides for a diverse armory at your disposal. The gameplay itself is very NON-linear. Once you drop down onto the island, yes you are given an objective, however the way you approach and complete your objective is completely up to you. This open gameplay and fully customized options will leave the gamer only wanting more. This is why this game has great replay value. Every level can be played multiple times with varying ways of how to get past or kill enemies and eventually complete your objective.
DESIGN:
First off, this game has some of the best artistic rendering I've ever seen. From the tropical island where the soldiers first start off, to the inards of the alien ship with zero gravity, this game has a distinct look about it that hardly can be compared to any other first person shooter. The game creates conflict between the NV soldiers overtaking the island and the US forces trying to claim back its archaeological dig site. However, deeper into the game, the human enemies find a common foe with the Alien Race and its emerging danger that is present over the island. The cutscenes were fluid and visually stunning. I was able to control my player at times during some cutscenes but for the most part they are pretty rigid with direction. The cutscenes though, tend to progress the game pretty well by telling the basic storyline and thus giving the player a pretty exciting and intruiging storyline. The only downside to the cutscenes and storyline was the final sequence which reminded me vaguely of Halo 2. It was completely left off hanging in which all I could say was "I WANT MORE!" The game ends so abruptly that the player feels they at least need a sequel for the entire story to play out.
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Feb 8th, 2008 at 18:22:58 - Crysis (PC) |
GAMELOG ENTRY 1
SUMMARY:
Crysis is a First Person Shooter revolving around the Alien Invasion theme. You play as a United States Spec. Ops. Soldier code named Nomad and are briefed about how an archaeological dig site in a remote pacific island has been overrun with North Vietnamese Soldiers. Besides the insane graphics that Crysis puts out, it is a fantastic shooter with impressive and smart AI, a relatively good, although short, storyline and a lot of replay value, Crytek has a huge winner on its hands.
GAMEPLAY:
My first impression of crysis was utter shock. I read the system requirements and it absolutely blew my mind. Just by looking at the specs required for the game I knew that so many people wouldn't be able to play Crysis at the potential that Crytek intended it to be played. I luckily have a pretty hefty system and was able to play the game with all graphical options set to "HIGH" and antialiasing set to "2x". Although I was able to play the game and enjoy the stunning graphics of crysis, so many other computer gamers are either going to have to play this game on very low settings or be forced to upgrade their existing hardware, if they want to play the game it was truly meant to be played.
However, beyond the almost unbelievable system requirements, Crysis' visuals were stunning. The first scene showed the elite spec. ops group dropping into the tropical island and everything from the airplane flying through the clouds to the soldiers that were in the drop bay with me, felt photo-realistic. The facial expressions distinctly stood out as graphics that would rival Half-Life 2. Also I noticed that the games sound was above par. The airplane flying over the island produced a very low bass that shook my dorm floor and the voice acting of my fellow soldiers were something that Crytek did not skimp out on.
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Jan 25th, 2008 at 19:40:17 - Wii Sports (Wii) |
GAMEPLAY:
After playing a little longer on the Wii with my friends it was apparent to me that some of the sports are a lot easier/fun to play than others. Tennis was particularly fun for me and my friends as we were all standing up in our room feverishly swinging our arms with a little twist to hit the ball. I liked the serving as well, it was just like I was serving a real tennis ball! These positives also come with some drawbacks because I felt limited to the amount of control I had over my player and the tennis game. Yes, I was able to control how hard I swung and the timing over when to swing but other than that, I had no control on moving my player at all. I felt disabled when I would swing just at the right time but my player would be clammoring across the court just to hit the ball out of bounds. This small detail frustrated me but I still had an amazing time playing tennis.
Boxing however was a joke. I was so excited to get into the Wii-Boxing ring with my roommate and have a duel that would prove who was the boxing Champion of the room. But when we started playing we found that the Wiimote (and nunchuck attatchment) weren't nearly sensitive enough to our actions to display the punches and uppercuts that my roommate and I were hoping to put against the other. I again found myself limited and barely able to knock out my opponent because my arms were obviously doing a punching motion however my Mii character onscreen didn't move. It was frustrating. But the other games were extremely enjoyable to play. I particularly liked golf and bowling. Although golf had a little bit steeper of a learning curve, It was enjoyable to go through 18 holes with my roommate.
I had a pleasant time with the Wii and Wii sports. Ultimately the game was very fun to play and provided hours worth of fun multiplayer sport games. I was dissappointed with the graphics of the game but I think Nintendo wanted to purposefully use this game as a showcase for the Wiimote and its motion sensitive controls rather than focus on graphics.
DESIGN:
Wii sports has one of the most innovative gameplay features of any game Ive played. This game truly is interactive with the gamer and thats what made up for its subpar graphics and depth. This game's design appeals to a broad array of people who are gamers and non gamers alike. It brings a sense of social interaction to the game as well. Something I haven't seen since maybe Mario Party or Super Smash Bros. on the N64. The reward structure was at the same level with any other sports game. YOU WIN. Nothing special there.
I would definitely change the user control over their players in Tennis especially. If there was someway to control your player with the D-pad as well as timing the perfect hit, there would be an entire new element to gameplay for gamers who maybe want a little bit more of a challenge. However, the game's tone is quite happy for the most part with cheerful music in playing quietly in the background and the the character animation isn't threating at all. However it makes the game more cartoon-ish which, although isn't PS3 graphics, still is pleasing to the eye for the users.
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Jan 25th, 2008 at 19:17:47 - Wii Sports (Wii) |
Summary:
Wii Sports is a fun filled family game that uses the motion sensitive wii-motes to interact with the Wii in order to play 5 sport games: Tennis, bowling, boxing, baseball and golf.
Gameplay:
The pick-up-and-play dynamic of Wii sports appeals to kids and grandparents alike.I found i was able to pick up the Wiimote and was easily able to control the menu options just by pointing at the TV. I liked the sensitivity of the wiimote and is much better than comparable motion sensitive controls like the Sony Sixaxis. Although I was disappointed with the overall graphics of Wii sports, I was generally impressed with the create-your-own character ability. All of my friends including myself were able to make new characters with pretty much any physical feature we wanted.
I liked this option as it gave me a little bit of personal feeling to the game. I was able to play with MY character that I designed and was hoping he would become the next tiger woods, barry bonds Andy Roddick all-in-one. After trying out all 5 of the sport games I came to the conclusion that I liked Tennis, bowling, golf, baseball and tennis (Ranging from best to worst). Another aspect of the Wii Sports games is that the game is very active and forces the participants to move and stand up for the entire game. Along with that is the fact that this game is a SOCIAL game. I played by myself and got bored within half an hour. However, with my friends the game, and the sports, became much more competitive and fun to me as I played tennis and bowled with them.
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keep24 has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 22 days |
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