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Feb 9th, 2008 at 01:47:28 - Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations (DS) |
(Gameplay Session 2)
[GAMEPLAY]
The more I play this game, the more I love each of the stories behind the cases. I'm finding that a big part of the game is your attachment to the characters and each of the stories. Since the gameplay is fairly limited to simply pointing the stylus around the screen to collect evidence, the game must keep the player hooked in different ways. By having the quirky storylines and hilarious characters, the game keeps you interested in playing to find out more about the story.
The game uses many narrative clues throughout each of the cases to guide your progress along. Again, the game is extremely well-written, and as such, the game gives subtle enough narrative clues to keep you headed in the right direction, but not specific-enough that it gives too much away. I found myself getting stuck a few times, but was eventually able to overcome it given these clues, feeling overall that the game was progressing smoothly.
[DESIGN]
The Phoenix Wright series uses a very simple point-and-click exploration system. For each case, there are several 2D anime-style drawn rooms or areas you can explore. Using the stylus, you can click and search around each of the areas you explore for different clues and evidence to add to your "Court Record" (the record for each case that contains all the evidence you collect). Some might argue that this gameplay style is too simplistic or can become slightly formulaic (click, search around, find evidence, repeat, etc.). However, keeping this aspect of the gameplay to such a simple point allows for the player to stay focused on what's important for the game: finding evidence to use in court in order to progress through the narrative aspects of the game.
The other main gameplay aspect of this game is the "court" session. After you've found all the evidence needed, you move onto defending your client in a courtroom. The antagonist of the game typically is a recurring prosecutor, who also plays a large role in the progression of the narrative story. While you present evidence to the judge in the attempt of proving the innocence of your client for each case, the prosecutor constantly counters your evidence with an array of his own. This constant challenge makes for a brain-racking thinking puzzle throughout the court battle as you try to find contradictions in testimonies and presented evidence.
Overall, Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations is a great expansion of the PW series. The stories are fresh, and new characters introduced in each case add to the quirky-ness of the game. Although the game does not exhibit very much emergent gameplay, the depth of the stories for each case seem to make up for this fact.
From a player perspective, I look forward to playing the rest of this game and seeing how the story unfolds.
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Feb 9th, 2008 at 01:10:01 - Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations (DS) |
Jacob Pernell
CMPS20 - Whitehead
2/8/08
-| PHOENIX WRIGHT: TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS |-
(Gameplay Session 1)
[SUMMARY]
Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations is the third game in the Phoenix Wright manga-style mystery/puzzle game series. Assuming the role of a lawyer, "Phoenix Wright", you must defend your clients and prove their innocence by using the DS touch screen to collect evidence at different crime scenes and in turn, use these pieces of evidence in a court of law.
[GAMEPLAY]
Having played the first two Phoenix Wright games in the series, I began playing this game not entirely sure what to expect. In the previous games, I went through many different murder cases that were well-written and had exceptionally clever endings. Thus, I was slightly unsure as to whether or not the game developers could pull this off again.
My fears were quickly allayed however. I was plopped right in to the familiar setting of the courtroom, so I felt comfortable knowing the gameplay would be the same. What took me by surprise however was that I didn't start the game as Phoenix; instead, the game takes place 5 years prior to the setting of the first game, and you play as Phoenix's old mentor, Mia Fey. What's fun about this is that you are introduced to Mia very briefly at the beginning of the first game, but have little interaction thereafter. So, playing the first case in this third Phoenix Wright game allows me to connect to this slightly unfamiliar character more.
Even though most of the cases in the Phoenix Wright series have to do with murder mysteries, the development team does a really good job by writing unique stories behind each case. By doing this, the gameplay doesn't get old, because you're constantly exploring and learning about each new plot as the game unfolds. The fun and unique part about the first case in this game where you play as Mia is that the case revolves around a college-aged Phoenix Wright being framed for murder. Since I am familiar with the Phoenix Wright character from the first two games, seeing him in this scenario was both amusing but also made me more attached to Phoenix's character.
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Jan 26th, 2008 at 00:59:20 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) |
(Gameplay Session 2)
[GAMEPLAY]
That's it--I'm addicted. It was extremely difficult to put the controller down, and the theme song of the game is stuck in my head (naaaa na na na na na na na, na na na na na-na-naaaaa...). Watching the game unfold and seeing your katamari progressively get bigger (and thus, able to roll up larger, more obscure objects) quickly became something that kept my hands wrapped around my controller and eyes fixed on the screen. I think at one point, someone came into my room while I was playing and said 'hello', and I merely gave them a light grunt in return and as recognition of their existence (okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but you get the idea of how much I've come to love this game).
The music is one element of the game that definitely has spawned a fan base. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the title theme song has a tune that is almost instantly recognizable by anyone else that's played the game. One of my other friends came in the room, realized I was playing Katamari, and promptly started humming the theme song.
Throughout the game, I constantly felt like I was progressing through the levels and accomplishing things. Occasionally, I wouldn't meet my goal of having the katamari a certain size (the King of All Cosmos tells you how big he wants the katamari to be by xx:xx amount of time), but I would replay the level and complete the goal the second time around. The level select screen is represented by different points floating above locations on Earth, so seeing more and more completed points show up made me feel proud that I was successfully progressing through the game.
[DESIGN]
The most blatant innovative gameplay aspect of this game is the idea of collecting things by essentially rolling them up. In other games, you collect objects typically by walking over them; however, in Katamari Damacy, the idea of collection is a main aspect of this game. Using only the two analog joysticks on the controller to move your katamari around, you must roam around the levels and collect various random objects to increase the size of your katamari.
There are limitations on your Katamari at various points however. For example, if you are only 50cm big, you won't be able to roll up a pet cat, but will be able to pick up something like a paperclip or thumbtack. By accruing lots of smaller objects, you are able to "expand" your Katamari, eventually being able to pick up larger objects or characters so you can meet your goal.
The levels reflect the initial size of your katamari. For example, the first few levels of the game are based in one or two rooms inside a house, and thus your katamari is small. As you progress through the game, you are placed in much larger levels, such as an entire city; as such, your katamari starts at a much larger size. Seeing your katamari grow bigger as you move through the levels and similarly seeing the levels you play in get bigger really supports the feeling of progressing through the game.
Not all levels are just "roll up as much stuff as you can in x amount of time to make a big star". Some levels are "roll up as much of one kind of thing in order to make a cool constellation". Certain levels have specific goals in which you have to focus on making your katamari big at the same time that you collect as many of one kind of thing as you can. For example, one level requires you to collect as many crabs as you can in order to create the constellation for Cancer. These constellation levels interspersed within the regular gameplay allow for the player to not feel like they're just doing a repetitive task over and over.
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Jan 26th, 2008 at 00:21:48 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) |
Jacob Pernell
CMPS20 - Whitehead
1/25/08
-| KATAMARI DAMACY |-
(Gameplay Session 1)
[SUMMARY]
Katamari Damacy is a action/puzzle game in which you assume the role of the son of the King of All Cosmos, otherwise known as the "Prince". The King accidentally knocked all the stars out of the sky, so he sends you on a mission. You must collect (or roll-up) objects on Earth using a sticky balled, called a katamari. The objects you collect get turned into stars, so the more your katamari rolls up each level, the bigger and better your star will be!
[GAMEPLAY]
The first aspect of Katamari that caught my attention was the abstract, almost garish art style. The title cinematic scene features lots of brightly colored animals, rainbows, and the King of All Cosmos character flying around; it is quite random indeed. Once I started playing, I noticed how simplistic the art in the game actually is. All the objects and characters in-game are very blocky and polygonal, almost to N64 graphics quality (no offense to the N64, of course). However, I wasn't bothered by the art style, and as I got into the game more, quickly came to accept it as something that is natural to the style and feeling of the game.
The story I found was fairly simple, but has enough basis to keep you progressing through the game. The intro game cinematic shows a giant man wearing a cape, spandex-like blue clothes, and a horizontally cylindrical head flying around space. This man is the King of All Cosmos, and while flying around he accidentally knocks out all the stars in the sky. Since he is the King of All Cosmos and can do whatever he wants, he decides to send you, the Prince, down to Earth on a mission. Your mission is to roll a sticky ball (called a katamari) around different places on Earth to pick up different objects, which in turn can be turned into new stars and constellations. The more you roll up given the time limit set per level, the bigger/better your star is, and the more impressed the King is (although, since he's the King, it's very hard to truly impress him).
While playing through each of the levels, I sometimes got caught up in the gameplay and forgot that my goal for the level is to make my katamari big enough to become a star. I found myself being sucked into the quirky-ness of each level, and just enjoyed rolling up the every-day objects found in the level. However, when the time limit ran out and I had reached my katamari's size goal for that level, it was satisfying seeing the King take my katamari and turn it into a star in the sky; this completion of one level made me want to keep playing and complete the remaining levels.
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