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Mar 6th, 2008 at 03:00:54 - Garry's Mod (PC) |
Gameplay Continued:
For my second round of Gameplay, I decided to join a server with a new player-mod for Garry's Mod called Zombie Survival. This meant that the entire game was changed around to look like a zombie survival game where one person was a zombie, and the rest of the players on the server were humans with guns. The zombie had the advantage of being able to see at night, where humans only had flashlights. If you were killed by a zombie, you became one and were free to wreak havoc on the rest of the humans. After playing on both sides it turned out to be one of the most entertaining video-gaming session I've had since the discovery of Counter-Strike.
It was really fun for a variety of reasons. For one, it was entertaining to play a different game-mode using the same exact game, basically re-skinned to be another game entirely, but still retaining some of the qualities of the original.
Garry's Mod in general is just so much fun because of the freedom it gives the players. The physics sandbox is interesting just to imagine all the programming and work that went into showing a simple box (that I flung) flying through the air. The challenge of also trying to construct something using this game with its defined rules is also very appealing, and once built, the sheer childish joy in your heart is well worth the work.
Design:
As it turns out, Garry's Mod was created with a directory structure which makes it easy for players to make add-ons for the game, as there are many other insanely fun game modes to play in Garry's Mod such as SpaceBuild, and Roleplay.
Essentially by playing Garry's Mod you essentially have many different, yet linked games at your disposal. This very much open-source approach at this game is a big plus for it, as with many fun things to try in Garry's Mod, it's playability and value go up.
The tool system, although complex, is comprehensive and enables the player to perform a wide variety of functions on a large database of objects. Once the player has "gotten the hang" of the tool system, Garry's Mod turns into an adult version of the Lego Box, except better.
The use of simplicity in creating the game actually makes it far more interesting than many other games out there, because it (as it states in the advertisement of it) really is a sandbox that enables players to create their own games, yet gives them defined rules to play within, all while making it look sexy with Half-Life 2 graphics.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Mar 6th, 2008 at 03:01:12.
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Mar 6th, 2008 at 02:39:44 - Garry's Mod (PC) |
Summary:
Garry's Mod is a unique (as far as I know) third-party first-person mod for Half-Life 2. It is a physics sandbox game, where there are no pre-defined goals, instead players go onto online servers and may use a variety of tools and objects to build, destroy, or just play.
Gameplay:
Starting up this game I was excited beyond belief with high aspirations of building rockets and houses, and then having the joy of obliterating them with some other concoction. Unfortunately, when I started the game, I found that using the tools was a complex undertaking, with so many options I spent the first 20 minutes trying to affix a wheel to a bathtub. Needless to say it felt like it had a fairly difficult learning curve at first.
I was in a server with 3 other people, and what they were building did give me hope. One HAD built a rocket, a very very large one using giant gas tanks and bits of doors and things. I also had great fun in using the moving tool (which enables you to move objects, pretty self-explanatory) against the other players, grabbing them then swinging them around the flat level, much to their dismay. However, they then got me back by shooting me down with a couple shotguns.
This entry has been edited 2 times. It was last edited on Mar 6th, 2008 at 02:41:51.
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Feb 21st, 2008 at 05:10:03 - Super Smash Brothers (N64) |
Gameplay:
The second time around I really came around to seeing how the game could be so addictive, and could spawn so many subsequent versions of the game. It was just so much fun and lighthearted, one could play it for hours against their friends. It is not as heavy or stressful as darker themed games. It is the perfect video game to crack open a soda and make some popcorn with your buddies. We played on one particularly hilarious level themed for Yoshi, with prettily colored clouds and happy music in the background. When playing as characters such as Pikachu and Samus, trying to blow each other up set in this backdrop, one can't help but smile or be cheered up.
Another thing is that te humans without the Y-chromosomes, being ladies, even dig the game. They were having just as much fun as us guys, and were clamoring for the remotes. Unlike shmups or other more "manly" games, Super Smash is all about just having fun. The characters could also be described as "cute," which probably also helps.
Design:
The game design is original, simple, elegant, yet effective. What more could one ask for. This game has proven itself to be a timeless classic. Because the game is easy to pick up for newcomers/observers, it attracts them easily. It is not (usually) a game that people obsess over to achieve their maximum skill potential. There is a single player mode which did look fun, but from what I've been told it is beaten fairly quickly and quickly wears out. It seems to be a game which mostly enhances social interaction and can act as an icebreaker at a party, or just something fun to do among friends. Most players can relate to at least one of the characters, as all the characters have been iconic figures for video games. This makes it fun to be able to control Mario for example, in a completely new way with completely different mechanics than in the actual Mario game.
Each level has it's own theme and it's own unique feel. As such the game does not get old too quickly, but I wouldn't say it's a game which I would play every day, just one which I'd pull out if my friends were over and we had nothing to do. This game isn't too pretentious. There are no real stories behind any of the characters, except for what people know from the characters in their real respective games, and there's no real reason that they're all fighting, except that they're possibly actually puppets being controlled by some glove thing? Anyways, the point is, it's not too deep of a game, but still is very satisfying and entertaining.
This entry has been edited 2 times. It was last edited on Feb 21st, 2008 at 05:22:14.
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Feb 21st, 2008 at 04:55:36 - Super Smash Brothers (N64) |
Summary:
Super Smash Brothers was a huge hit when first released for the N64, and was critically acclaimed by video gamers everywhere as somewhat revolutionary. Players play as popular video game characters in third-person deathmatch/team or no team free-for-all brawls set in themed levels, each correlating to one of the characters (Kirby, Mario, Pikachu, etc...)
Gameplay:
I decided to start out using Pikachu, seeing as I was a big Pokemon fan in my younger days. The level we played on turned out to be on a spaceship from the video game StarFox, also which I was a fan of, which was very cool. When the match first started up, I was struck by the sheer pace of the game. The controls were fairly unwieldy at first, and everyone else seemed to be zooming about, whether throwing flaming flowers at me, chasing me with a huge @$$ hammer which would kill me in one hit, or my friend (who was playing as Kirby) trying to turn into a rock and falling on me. The level was also very small, and there is nowhere to hide as all four players were displayed on the screen at all times (which makes sense because all four players need to be able to see their characters).
Despite my shortcomings, however, I did manage to master fairly quickly the [down stick - press b] move where I would erupt in electricity, and a lightning bolt would hurl down from the heavens, zapping anyone nearby. This was immensely enjoyable for me as now every time my friend Kirby tried to hover above me to fall on me as a rock, I could electrocute him (which subsequently just pissed him off). The nice thing about the game is that it was fairly easy to grasp quickly, so I could join the fight and have fun attempting to decimate the other players. Once I got the controls down, attacking and dodging became so much easier, and more fun - unlike a game like Tekken, where complicated formulas have to be memorized to perform moves, Super Smash does not have complicated maneuvers, only a couple simple control combinations which are the same for all characters.
This entry has been edited 2 times. It was last edited on Feb 21st, 2008 at 05:24:13.
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