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Feb 26th, 2008 at 16:30:16 - James Bond Goldeneye 007 (N64) |
Gameplay: During this 45 minute session, my buddies and I indulged ourself in deathmatch. When Goldeneye came out, this was the most entertaining thing to do after school. With four players to a N64, the screen would break into four different partitions, with each player allowed a view as if he had his own little screen. This sometimes made things hectic in the middle of a firefight, but what it definitely does is make for intense, often hilarious gaming sessions. With all four players battling each other in the room, the opportunity for trashtalk is one that many cannot resist.
Weapons in the game are pretty cool, I will admit. You can wield various rifles, and all recoil and bullets spread semi-realistically. Pretty awesome if you ask me. There is a laser gun, but other then that everything is pretty 1995 weapons status. The AR-15 really blows people up: a bullet hose in M16 form. Everyone in our deathmatch games figured that out pretty quick.
Design: I have already touched on the new gaming elements that Goldeneye brought to the table when it came out that are now pretty standard, but I can't emphasis how much the idea of a contextual place for the headshot that differs the damage dealt impacts first person shooters. In todays games, if you can't headshot you are at a disadvantage against other players, because they will headshot you! It created a higher learning curve for first person shooters, as now a player needs to practice a bit before he become good.
This new introduction also created a new reward system for gamers: be good at killing other gamers. With the headshot, a player could prove his dominance. With split-screen multiplayer, he could prove it to his friends. Multiplayer was a mode usually reserved for longer scope games, not FPS's, but deathmatch for the N64 game a new way to do it which is usually much more fun. THere's something special about fragging a buddy and hearing his complain right next to you that Goldeneye really touched on, and thats thanks to the revolutionary design.
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Feb 26th, 2008 at 16:13:24 - James Bond Goldeneye 007 (N64) |
Summary: Goldeneye is a one of the bets games on N64, and for good reason. You're James Bond! As James Bond, you run around saving the world, following the storyline of the James Bond moves of the same name, GoldenEye. The evil Russians can be combated with various assault rifles, fully scopable sniper rifles, pistols, SMG's, you name it. You must complete mission objectives to eventually save the world from a laser beam from space.
Gameplay: Goldeneye is an old favorite of mine, and bring about nostalgic memories from playing this way back in elementary and middle school. For the longest time, Goldeneye was THE premier game on console, and for good reason. Many new idea's and developments came from this game, including sniper rifles that scope in, steady frame rates in large group combat encounters, objective, rather then kill based missions, and best of all, headshots. If you haven't sat at the first level with the secret Moonraker beam rifles, and shot the guards running at you through the door for three hours just to see how many helmets you could shoot of their heads and subsequently leave on the ground (the bodies disappeared, the helmets didn't) then you really haven't experienced this game.
As a single player game, it is extremely fun. The levels are lengthly and well balanced, and the story follows a movie, with most of the important points left in. Bond truly does fly around and exercise his license to kill when a skilled gamer has his controls. The AI is decent, but I think I'm a little jaded with the new super AI's we fight against in todays game, but the sheer amount of enemies to be killed makes it worth it.
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Feb 11th, 2008 at 18:23:36 - Sins of a Solar Empire (PC) |
Gameplay 2: After a nice break, I returned to galactic domination. By this point in the game, I have been able to nicely upgrade my fleet. I have moved up the very advanced tech-tree, which has me constantly looking at it to best decide how to upgrade my guys. The space battles have been fun, the ones that I have seen, and I have the graphics turned all the way up with little preceptable lag, which makes the experience all the more fun. One thing I have noticed in this game is the AI is not stupid. If it's outnumbered, expect it to leave a few ships to cover its rear while the rest of the fleet warps away. Even more scary, expect a failed offensive into enemy space to bring a counter-offensive with reserve forces. Yes, the computer keeps reserves, which is slightly more organized then I am right now. I had my huge fleet attack one of his home planets, and after a huge, glorious looking battle, most of my fleet was spacedust. I retreated what I could, and turtled up my forces waiting for reinforcements. At this point in the game, I hadn't been exposed to the counter-attack method. It was a great kick t the head when the game told me :"Enemy warp-space laugh detected. Fleet inbound." My jaw dropped when I saw the same fleet I had just been going toe to toe with, some of the ships still heavily damaged with repair ships in tow, now laughing missles waves and laser attacks against me. I knew I was doomed at that point, which left me with a great feeling. I was worried the game was too easy, considering I have had XP with this type of game, but nope. I just started my next game!
Design: This game is a revolutionary game. It is the first of its kind to mix 4x/RTS, and it does it so well. I am constantly drawn into the game deep research system, along with its addicting planet development system. The ships are all modeled nicely, cold be better, but I expect they will, as Stardock is a quality publisher that supports its games. I love how I can just zoom in and out effortlessly, and it makes it super easy to control my empire with this feature. Also, the left side of the screen is taken up by a drop down list containing my entire list of planets, plus any orbiting ships around them. This makes the game fun, and once you summit the steep learning curve, it allows you to have an enjoyably strategic experiences without having to worry about all the hyper clicking and hot-keying of you empire. The game, through its design, makes the player remember to build ships and work on your planets while your off fighting aliens, and makes it a fun expereice that I am throughly addicted too.
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Feb 10th, 2008 at 21:31:02 - Sins of a Solar Empire (PC) |
Summary: In Sins of a Solar Empire, the player takes control over the building of a Galactic Empire. Players build ships, colonize planets, and fight enemy fleets while researching a la 4x style/Civilization style, i.e. a tech tree that allows new units to be researched, along with upgrades for the weapons and armor of your existing units. The player can zoom all the way in to look at in depth view of the battles, which are rendered with good detail. You can see individual turrets shooting and fighter aircraft making strafing runs on much larger target. Even scale is done nicely, as when you continue to zoom out (eventually to encompass all of the planets you own) you units will switch to icon form to make viewing and selecting stuff much easier.
Gameplay: I have been waiting a really long time for a game like this. I love commanding fleets of huge battleships down to cruisers and destroyers battling it out in space. The game is a RTS/4X game. 4x means eXpand, eXplore, eXplot and ex terminate. Leading your chosen people through the tech tree, across solar systems, and into battle is a really cool feeling. I like being able to zoom all the way in to look at the cool little battles going on, but even better is the freedom that the UI offers. I can quickly move to different views, and finding ships is easy too with a in game ship search function. The management of the planets is easy too: if you toggle this option, the game will auto place space structures including orbital factories and defense platforms, keeping your job simple. The only reason I stopped playing was when the game crashed, which is annoying, but a testament to how addictive it is. Try it.
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Lamada has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 8 days |
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