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Feb 9th, 2008 at 04:54:35 - Day of Defeat: Source (PC) |
Gameplay (cont.):
One great aspect about the game is the very critical component of communication. Since the maps are relatively small, with the tide of battle constantly shifting, communication is essential. Many players use headsets and use effective military phrases such as, "flank left," "cover fire," "grenade!" etc, adding to the immersive experience. Players also engage in sportsmanlike banter using the chat function.
Another great aspect is the experience outside of the game itself. Day of Defeat has a rabid fan-base and is played competitively in online gaming leagues such as CAL (Cyberathlete-Amatuer-League) and OGL (Online-Gaming-League). There are many dedicated Ventrilo servers and a huge network of mIRC chat rooms where players can "chill-out" in between games and talk with recently made e-friends (haha...), or where they can find scrimmages (games set up like they are in league matches) to join, and eventually dedicated teams.
Design:
Day of Defeat is different from other WW2 games such as Battlefield and Call of Duty primarily because of its small maps. Though this seems like not such a big deal, it completely changes around the combat dynamics as well as the social dynamics. Because the maps are small, a team of people who have never met or played with each other before can more easily strategize against the other. The key to victory is micro strategizing, like how a SWAT team strategizes to take a house, as opposed to how an Army brigade strategizes to take an island. This brings the combat (and the action) much closer, giving players a large kick of adrenaline.
The levels themselves are also designed well so that they are "balanced." This means that it is not drastically easier for one side to win on a map than another, based on their spawnpoints. There are also many clever sniper and machine gunner spots on the maps, which can be hilariously fun for whoever is in one of those spots, and maddeningly frustrating for those being attacked by them. Each level also comes with its own theme, and each level has completely unique structure each with their own "choke-points" and prime areas where combat may take place.
The fact that how well you do is completely based off of skill also propels players to practice and keep playing to be as good as they can since they cannot often blame being shot down on bad luck. Usually when you are killed in Day of Defeat, it is because it was someone better than you. The movement/aiming system/weapons in Day of Defeat are easy to grasp, but set up to make it clear who is really the best. One can easily tell by spectating another player first-person how good he or she is. This game encapsulates that old paradox: easy to learn (at first), but (very) difficult to master. The more trained your wrist, and the cooler nerve you have, the better you are. This will also earn the respect of everyone else in the game. After I pulled off a particularly long headshot I earned many "ns" comments from the other players, "ns" meaning "nice shot." In short, this is one great game, so pick it up and play!
[An exmaple of an Allies player model]
This entry has been edited 3 times. It was last edited on Feb 9th, 2008 at 05:06:42.
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Feb 9th, 2008 at 04:16:03 - Day of Defeat: Source (PC) |
DAY OF DEFEAT: SOURCE
    
Summary:
Day of Defeat: Source is an update to the critically acclaimed game Day of Defeat, both of which are currently being released off of the Steam game management program (steampowered.com). Day of Defeat: Source is an online multiplayer first-person-shooter (FPS) mod using the renowned Half-Life 2 engine to create intense WW2 style combat. The object of the game is to capture all of the flags ("control points") around each map.
Gameplay:
To me, the gameplay of this game is unbeatable. I must admit that I am a huge sucker for intense WW2 style games, and this game definitely delivers. Upon entering my first game I was immediately blown away by a sound barrage of grenade blasts and machine gun fire coming from every which direction. This immediately got my blood pumping as I joined the Allies team with hopes of blowing away some fascist Nazis. There are several classes available, including Rifleman, Machine Gunner, Assault, Sniper, Rocket, and Support, with different weapons according to whether you choose the Allies or the Axis team. I chose to be a Machine Gunner first.
This proved to be infinitely entertaining as I set my bipod on a stack of sandbags and began laying down a wall of suppressive fire down into a courtyard as my team advanced on the hardest flag to capture--the one right in the middle of both team's spawn points.
The effort to capture that flag proved to be huge on both sides as neither could gain a strong foothold over the middle-ground. After each death I had to wait around 10 seconds to re-spawn which gave me just enough time to reformulate my strategy for a more effective attack next time.
Playing as a Sniper was also fun as I had to completely change tactics from spraying the entire field with fire, to being as stealthy as possible, picking my shots from a distance.
This entry has been edited 8 times. It was last edited on Feb 9th, 2008 at 14:48:51.
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Jan 26th, 2008 at 20:17:40 - Goldeneye 007 (N64) |
GAMEPLAY:
After writing my first review on Goldeneye, we started it back up again, and it proved to be just as fun as before. For this bout we broke out a bag of Tostitos chips and some soda pop while playing. The map we played on appeared to be inside of a pyramid and was a little larger and darker with many rooms. However, everyone was able to orient themselves quickly. The pace of the game was fast, and definitely kept our attention.
The gameplay itself is not complicated. 1) Spawn, 2) find better weapons in the map, 3) kill whoever you see, and 4) reload--repeat steps 3-4 until killed, then go back to step 1). Though the maps were nothing special, and the graphics sub-par to today's standards, the game was just as fun as any multiplayer FPS game I've played recently, especially on one hit kill mode, where things got very intense.
DESIGN:
The multiplayer is where the game truly shined for me. The split screen deathmatch style gameply was intensive, but not all consuming. The levels are designed cleverly in that they are interesting with multiple floors and angles to get on opponents, and are small enough so that there is constant action, without frezied chaos. With some console FPS games there isn't this space and time and the games end up being too intense to allow players to be social and have actual FUN. This way the game did not becoming mentally tiring too quickly, allowing for games to go on and on. Goldeneye strikes that perfect balance between the stress of trying to virtually obliterate your friend and the fun of being social while playing.
In Goldeneye there are not many uncontrollable variables in Goldeneye with simple maps and predictable weapons. One nice feature is the slight auto-aim of the weapons, along with an option to aim manually. This is a good feature which makes killing more fun because aiming manually each time would definitely prove to be irritating with the Goldeneye aiming system. As it turns out, though the auto-aim helps, the outcome more often than not is the ability of the player. Thus, players feel a large amount of pride and desire to prove their "mettle" against the others, and so beating or losing against other players either causes a great amount of satisfaction, or a desire to face them again in hopes of attaining it. The beauty of the game really lies in the social interactions of the players while playing Goldeneye, and this game does a truly wonderful job of facilitating that.
(I apologize for the lateness, my entries kept getting deleted by the website whenever I tried to add them in using internet explorer and wouldn't let me add anything at all :[... until I figured out to use Firefox instead)
This entry has been edited 6 times. It was last edited on Jan 26th, 2008 at 20:38:36.
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Jan 26th, 2008 at 20:02:37 - Goldeneye 007 (N64) |
SUMMARY:
Goldeneye, 007, released in 1997 and developed by Rare for the N64 (also the creators of the hit game Perfect Dark), is considered one of the most important games in forwarding the development of first person shooters. It has both a single player and a insanely addicting multiplayer mode, and to this day still remains a great, entertaining game.
GAMEPLAY:
Although, at the time, the single player mode was very entertaining and seemed state of the art, games nowadays have much more in-depth and immersive environments for the player to play in. Having been accustomed to first person shooters with far better graphics and more immersive storylines (COD 4 for example), I found myself quickly bored. Though the storyline is compelling, what I had heard about most was the multiplayer.
So, my friends and I booted up the multiplayer mode. This is where things got ridiculously fun. It was a four person split screen deathmatch between my buddies and me. We first all got to pick out what our character would look like in the game. I picked out “Elvis,” a short alien looking character. Each of us started out with a pistol on a relatively small, sparse map with two floors and around 10 rooms. Those of us who had seen the game before scrambled to find the better weapons lying around the map, and we began looking for each other. Each time someone made a kill he would cry out with some sort of victorious yell–which would be met with a disgruntled mutter. The maps were spaced out enough that the game was not all out chaos, yet the games remained very intense. As it turned out, my choice to pick the short alien was a good one, as it was quite difficult to kill me as I was such a small target! This brought out quite a few angry R-rated comments which in turn simply produced a gloating smile on my face.
This entry has been edited 3 times. It was last edited on Jan 26th, 2008 at 20:21:03.
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