 |
|
Feb 9th, 2008 at 02:35:21 - skate. (360) |
GAMEPLAY
After a trick competition in which I dominated after a random flick of the thumb into balancing down a sloping stair rail, I was given access to more clothes for my character (which didn’t make as big as a difference as I thought) and a sponsorship. This sponsorship directed me to learn the disappointing vert-skating features included the game. The gravity was flawed on vert skating, and the overall presentation of how to gain speed and grab moves (used with the trigger and, yes, tweaking of the analog stick)was horribly explained and hard to do once. This led me to believe skate. was more directed for street skating and linking lines together, instead of what you’d be able to do in the air with two analog sticks.
I guess the game made up for it’s flawed vert system with difficult tilt of the analog stick to perform a manual, to be able to link up longer combos. But despite including almost every mainstream skating maneuver, the game lacks through exploration. There would be times when I would find myself caught at an obstacle because I’d have to ollie up every step and sidewalk curb that could easily be avoided with walking. This was how the game quickly became frustrating, along with nothing new introduced to the game, after you learn all the basic tricks and traveled through each area of the city (Suburbs, Downtown, etc.). The game felt boring after the repetitive competitions and challenges, and honestly, most of the challenges were pretty hard and were only completed through a lucky turn of events.
But skate. shines through online capabilities, with the option to record live clips of yourself and post them online (similar to Halo 3) and the ability to host skating sessions with a group of online friends (which, might I add, wasn’t as entertaining as the old online Tony Hawk sessions). At the end of the day, where skate. succeeds in gameplay invasion, lacks in replay value for those who’ve learned to love the gimmicks originally drawn out by Tony Hawk. Guess I’m biased…
DESIGN
skate. is beautiful to look at when pushing your board down a traffic-ridden street during sunset. Great level design, not a detail missed when capturing the city feel translated into a video game. Though, the right-analog stick might seem like great idea to include for a skating title, I’ve been over how the right analog stick controls the entire rhythm of play and how it’s seen as one of the main selling point of a game.
But the level design for gameplay is basically the same throughout the game (grind on a bench, jump a set of stairs, grind on the sidewalk, watch out for cars; basically found in every area of the game). And the game gets harder by basically increasing the difficulty and score achieved y repeating these same combos.
The game doesn’t create much conflict or any entertaining aspects through the story, since it’s very easy to lose interest after gaining a third or fourth sponsor (right around the time the game gets harder as well), despite its unattractive ‘get skating exposure in your hometown by any means possible on your board’ demeanor. The game is very easy to see as frustrating, and its simple to see why the casual gamer won’t give much replay value to this after breezing through the challenges and trick competitions with various thumb flicks.
read comments (1)  - add a comment  - read this GameLog  |
|
Feb 9th, 2008 at 01:54:17 - skate. (360) |
SUMMARY
skate. uses its distinct character creation to make the player feel like a prodigy skater in a ‘lifelike’, city environment with realistic physics. The player travels throughout the city while gaining more money, collecting sponsors and defeating various challenges.
GAMEPLAY
I’ve grown up on Tony Hawk myself, so hearing all this fuss about how skate. “stumps” it made me quite intrigued. While Tony Hawk thrives on gimmicky challenges and easy-to-link combinations, skate. responds with sharper gameplay and authentic board and skating physics. The most realistic approach to skating that I’ve ever seen at least.
After the long, crafty intro for your character (how your avatar gets into an accident via car collision, and you’re resurrected as some skating lord) and the fairly in-depth character creation, you’re released into a carefully crafted, free, lifelike city. You control the skater behind an angle shown through your cameraman’s lens, as you drift down the road avoiding injury-causing cars and people that were only created as obstacles. The first goal was to be able to complete the basics: ollie, grinding, and flip tricks. These were done by precise flicking of the right analog stick mirroring how they would be done on an actual board.
Playing the game after this tutorial and two other challenges (provided by actual well-known skaters), cruising and experiencing the environment alone was fun enough. Great free-roaming and a very realistic feel behind the controller contributed to my overall appreciation of the game. But doing the same tricks and trying to find specific challenges under an unreliable map was growing old after the first hour, but I would hope more would open up with my second hour of play.
add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
Jan 26th, 2008 at 02:21:33 - Wii Play (Wii) |
GAMEPLAY
When the second round of Wii Play came about, I was ready to mimic the excitement I achieved the first time. But somewhere in-between Fishing and Pose Mii, I realized this game is not something you’d have fun with everyday. In fact, the people who I played with both agreed they wouldn’t ‘ever play again’. This should give you an idea of how dry and repetitive Wii Play can become in under a day. Sure the new games I played in the second half were fun for what they were, but the overall package still feels like a Wiimote tutorial.
Wii Play is a good way to pass the time when a few friends are visiting, and those are its only real true merits. I enjoy how often the Miis are incorporated in this game, but that’s as expected in the personal Wii-game series. In terms of replay value, I definitely wouldn’t recommend Wii Play considering your peak interest with each of the game is reached in a day. And even the Wiimote wasn’t as responsive for the majority of the game, as I can recall the true difficulty was gaining control of the Wiimote’s cursor.
DESIGN
The most innovative piece of this game are the versatile elements of the Wiimote. The game was a clever transition of classic gaming (including Duck Hunt elements, Pong elements, and Billards), and made it very enjoyable with the constant addition of Miis. Nintendo did the usual appealing job with the playful level designs and interactivity, but even that couldn’t remove the dry feel after playing a certain game more than three times. Wii Play relies on the multiplayer aspect to maintain a certain level of interest as this game can be mastered in a short amount of time.
I cannot blame Nintendo for a lacking game because I didn’t anticipate what would be included in a package simply entitled Wii Play. If I were to change anything, it would probably be a quick addition of more games and more responsive controls. Until then, Wii Play will slowly becoming nothing more than a watered down version of its Sports counterpart. While the games do not spark much emotion out of the players (unlike Wii Sports), Wii Play keeps a surprising competitive nature when played. But I honestly will not be bothered with it anytime soon, as the game doesn’t feel very rewarding.
read comments (1) - add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
Jan 25th, 2008 at 22:43:32 - Wii Play (Wii) |
SUMMARY
Wii Play is a game created directly from Nintendo and is the second released apart of the Wii Series (which include Wii Sports, Wii Music, etc.). Wii Play consists of straight forward mini-games that can be accessed with two players, or in order to achieve a high score with single player. You play the assortment of games (including Billards, Shooting Range, Pose Mii, etc.) with prompt use of the Wiimote controller, all under the role of your custom Mii-avatar.
GAMEPLAY
I didn’t expect much out of Wii Play, I mean, the title itself already mirrored how excited I was. To my surprise, I cycled through briefing screens that did not resemble those of Wii Sports, yet, little would I know my attention span would soon resemble how I felt towards most Wii-inspired mini-games; thus my best efforts were needed in attempt to reach the minimal forty-five minutes required when asked to log a game. But who could remain pessimistic when you’re given the option to play under the role of your decorated “Mii”?
I leaped in preparing for the first game (which was called ‘Tanks’: me and my opponent would control a small tank around obstacles to fire at the stationed ‘enemy tank’ before the other.) ‘Tanks’ was fairly simple and easy enough for the casual gamer to experience (as were most of the other games). As easy as the games were, the competitive nature between two players was still in high effect considering the trash-talking during these playful games remained quite strong.
The rest of the games in the first half of play remained elementary (which included ‘Cow Race’, an obstacle course with ‘token’ collecting for points, a genuine fishing game that required a quick flick of the wrist, an easily Wii-translated version of 9 Ball, and an excruciating version of air-hockey), but I would be a liar if I said I didn’t enjoy playing these games when they were still fresh.
add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
|
 |
| hi im blazerd's GameLogs |
|
hi im blazerd has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 8 days |
view feed xml
|
| Entries written to date: 10 |
|
