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Mar 5th, 2008 at 07:21:42 - Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (DS) |
Gameplay 2
Since the first game is a straight trial episode, all of the evidence was introduced during the trial without an investigation period. Don't even begin to ask me about the way the justice system works in this game, where there is no discovery period for new evidence, nor is there a jury of peers. The trial is not even structured in the conventional method of segmenting the trial into portions allotted to the defense and the prosecution. It is best to leave that to creative license.
The music is not as catchy as I thought it would be, but you get what you get. I maintain that the first game's music was still the best of the series, but that may be a biased statement. This game's music is less dynamic than those of the previous titles, but luckily the game recycles some older tracks for nostalgic purposes.
The investigation portion of the second episode has been a bit frustrating so far. The type of progression I have been doing lately is that of item collection. I need to instinctively go back to Phoenix Wright for more clues on how to conduct the investigation, even though I know what I have to do. He just keeps giving me options that weren't previously available, even though I knew exactly where I needed to go to progress the story. The names of these new character have transcended wackiness, while some are just downright lazy. There is a specific character I have targeted for this criticism: a man named Mr. Eldoon. If I told you to flip his name backwards, would you know what his profession was? Odds are you said "noodle-maker", so you would obviously be correct. Something like that just makes you feel that the designers were trying to be witty, but failed miserably.
I was mildly disturbed by the inclusion of the fact that there was a thief in the game stealing women's panties, as well as the nonchalant attitude of the female victims' in their openness about the crime. Have you no shame, women? Feeble attempts to censor adult themes fall of deaf ears for simple reasons. They attempt to avoid the fact that Phoenix Wright is an alcoholic by stating that a bottle of wine is a bottle of grape juice, but do not seem to care about the fact that every case is a murder mystery, there is a guy stealing a 15 year old girl's panties, and that a disheveled man who looks like a crack addict is recognized as a doctor and has an unhealthy obsession with attractive young females. Quite an imbalance in adult themes I would say. They should have just let something as simple as alcohol slide if they planned to include all those other vices.
The series seems to have some tendency of using twin siblings or extended relatives as characters. This is another example of laziness when it comes to new character design. Instead of drawing a new character for Klavier Gavin, a new prosecutor, they just redressed his brother Kristoph Gavin in a leather jacket a made him into a rock star bike rider. It just feels a bit lazy to skimp on something so fundamentally obvious.
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Mar 5th, 2008 at 07:03:19 - Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (DS) |
Summary
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is a point and click game from the Phoenix Wright series, made exclusively for the Nintendo DS. The player takes the role of Apollo Justice, a rookie defense attorney tasked with defending several unlucky clients in a court of law. Taking testimonies and finding fallacies in witness statements are Apollo's main tools in determining who the real criminals are, in order to free his clients' from prosecution.
Design
Apollo Justice follows the exact same menu system and gameplay as the other games in the Phoenix Wright series. The top screen shows all of the cinematics and story, while the bottom touch screen is utilized as a tool to scroll through text shown on the top screen. The bottom screen also has buttons that allow you to present evidence, examine items, press for more details, and choose between decisions.
The game is separated into two different kinds of gameplay. The first kind deals with investigation of crime scenes and digging for clues; the player controls Apollo through a first person point of view, talking to people by asking them questions. The player also uses the stylus to point at the bottom screen to look for possible pieces of evidence. These pieces of evidence are used in the trial as proof against a contradictory statement made by supposed witnesses to the crimes.
The second portion of the game is the style most associated with the series. Here, Apollo Justice is pitted against several different prosecuting attorneys, each attempting to indict Apollo's clients for murder, under the supposed conclusion drawn from their own police investigations. They use every bit of evidence and attempt to discredit Apollo's evidence in order to trap the player in logical arguments. Only by listening to witness testimonies and finding contradictions in their statements can Apollo find out the truth of the crime. You can either present evidence to object to a statement or you can press the witness to expand on a detail. There is a very linear progression in the way you can expose the witnesses' lies, so you must choose the correct sequence of statements and present evidence at the right time to proceed to the next portion of the story. The HUD is very simple to understand and all the options are laid out to the player in a straightforward manner. The first trial is made to act as a tutorial for first time players, so you play as you go, which is a very successful way of teaching.
One large addition to the Apollo Justice entry in the series is the utilization of 3-D graphics. In the previous titles, the use of 3-D graphics and interactive tools was extremely limited. It was almost non-existant in the previous games, due to the fact that they were essentially direct ports from the Gameboy Advance to the DS. Now the player can do activities such as getting fingerprints from a murder weapon or examine items with 360 degrees of view.
Gameplay 1
One thing I've noticed immediately with this addition to the series is that YOU ARE NOT PHOENIX WRIGHT. I was shocked to learn this at first, but it turns out that he is your first client and that you interact with him for the duration of the game, so all is not lost. It turns out that Apollo acts and talks almost identically to Phoenix as it is, so he is essentially Phoenix Wright with a different avatar. This makes playing the game more comfortable, as you see a familiar face here and there.
I have always been a fan of this series because of the genuine twists and turns the stories offer the audience. This particular game has already intrigued me with the introduction of Phoenix Wright as a supporting character, rather than the protagonist. Even more strange are the seemingly mysterious happenings since the last game; there are allegations that he is a murderer, he has apparently been disbarred from being a lawyer, and that he has a daughter. However, from his exceedingly cool demeanor, you can be certain that he is not the killer and that something fishy is afoot.
Navigating the HUD is just as easy as the other games, considering that it has not changed at all since the first game. This seems a bit stale at times, but I guess its hard to improve upon perfection! The art style has not changed at all, besides the updated images of the courtroom, as well as the redesigned characters. The game is supposed to take place 15 years or so after the events of the last game, making it reasonable for characters to age. Using the stylus more often is a great idea for a DS game, as the last two Ace Attorney games had barely any stylus-related activities.
The story is just as shocking as those of the previous titles, never failing to keep me on the edge of my seat. Some of the seemingly "obvious" logic tends to be incredibly nitpicky, as the game requires you to specify which portion of witness testimonies require presented evidence. Even if you know a certain piece of evidence will solve said problems, the game maintains that you need to present at the right time or else the game will not progress. Frustrating to say the least.
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Feb 20th, 2008 at 06:42:27 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) |
Gameplay 2
There are many levels to play through, including constellation levels where you only collect certain animals in the level to create the star pattern, such as bears for Ursa Major or crabs for Cancer. After unlocking unlimited mode, I have become a god. A freaking god. I just absorbed a RAINBOW. It is possible that I have been laughing non-stop for an hour. This game is like some kind of infection or neurological parasite that constantly stimulates my serotonin producers. I feel as if the only negative criticism I have for this game is the relatively short length of the game. I hope they make many many more of these games. Many.
The negligible side story regarding the Kubrik-looking Japanese family can be totally disregarded, as they only exist in short movies placed in between levels. However, the aloof and awkward humor exhibited by the characters are so timed so well that I could not help but laugh just as hard as I would while playing the game. They really do grow on you, even though it is a short-lived relationship.
Sometimes the movement scheme can be a little frustrating when the katamari gets stuck in an archway or just some obstacle, requiring a mandatory expelling of most of the clump. This forces you to scramble to recollect the lost pieces, negatively affecting your ability to finish on time. However, I suppose it is a perfectly logical effect of mistakenly analyzing your ability to move in between tight spaces.
One incredibly noteworthy aspect of this game is the soundtrack. It is rare that you encounter such an appropriate listing of songs tailor-made for a game as wacky as this. It sets the mood and actually adds to the experience, creating a symbiotic relationship between the game and the soundtrack. The two are inseparable, becoming a single entity in which neither can exist without the other. Yu Miyake is a fantastic composer. Genius.
In a final analysis, I recommend this game to anyone who wants to have silly and mindless fun. It exudes creativity and breathes life into anyone it touches. I feel as if the game has helped me to recapture some of the mystique of being a child again.
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Feb 20th, 2008 at 06:32:40 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) |
Summary
Katamari Damacy is an unconventional and innovative third person puzzle/action game for the Playstation 2, where the player takes the role of the 5 in Prince of the Cosmos and embarks on missions given to you by the almight King of the Cosmos. Your goal is to roll a “katamari” across a sandbox type level and pick up items to increase the size of the garbage ball until it reaches a desired goal size, measured in metric length of diameter. These garbage balls will eventually be transformed into new stars to fill the sky with, as the former stars were destroyed by the King in a drunken accident. By rolling the ball while it is larger than the desired object by a certain factor, it is possible to pick it up; if rolled over an object larger than that factor, the katamari will crash into it and cause pieces of the garbage clump to fall out. Each level is timed and requires the player to reach the desired size before time runs out.
Gameplay 1
Wow. I have to start off this review with a simple utterance. What the hell am I playing? What did I just pick up? Was Namco smoking LSD when they came up for the concept for this game? Well, whatever the hell they were thinking, I am glad they followed through with it. Never have I encountered such a game as non-sensicle as this, filled with a seemingly never-ending number of things to astound me and make me burst out in impromptu laugh-choking. Besides the surprising elements of crazy art and direction, the game is unbelievably fun. The addiction factor of this game is inconceivably high, never dropping the proverbial ball or giving the player a reason to put down the controller. It reminds me of the old days of Pokemon, where I kept going from town to town to look for rare and undiscovered Pokemon to add to my collection. I get that same kind of nostalgic feeling when I try to roll over as many things as possible just to see how they would react when they are added to the katamari.
This game is fantastic in the way that there is such a fluid mechanic for progression and difficulty. The learning curve is so small that I believe anyone could enjoy this game after about 3 minutes of play. The fact that you can see everything in the level as you are rolling along gives you this feeling of indelible power, an almost megalomaniacal desire to conquer the level. Basically, everything you see can become part of your katamari; it is only a matter of time before you can accomplish this. Nothing is denied to you. There are no keys or special weapons you need to collect as a condition to absorb that Godzilla or Ultraman fighting in Tokyo bay. It is similar to many Zelda games in the way that Zelda games have very open worlds, allowing you to see various locations you could possibly go to if you had a certain item. With Katamari Damacy, these locations are larger objects, and the key items are just a series of smaller items needed to add onto the clump. This is such a refreshing feeling, much like being a kid again and not having any limits to what you want to accomplish. There is a trial and error process you develop when trying to roll over objects you think are small enough to roll over. Sometimes it will be too large and bust up your ball, forcing you to pick up the pieces and reclaim your glory.
Back to the trenches with me. Hold my calls. I’ll be busy with this for longer than I would care to divulge.
Design
While the game seems to exist solely as an adventure game, the entire concept of rolling and collecting towards a goal under a timed condition adds an unmistakable puzzle element that encompasses it under said genre. The player must logically ascertain what is the most efficient way to collect the largest items in as short of a time as possible, by the systematic collection of smaller items and the natural progression into larger items. The player must also navigate around the level and get a feel for his surroundings in order to quickly move to places with larger items.
This game is extremely stylized, being the second most important element of the game, with the gameplay being primary draw of the package. The art direction is wild and fun, setting it apart from most games today that settle for simulation and imitating real life scenarios. Katamari Damacy looks past all that and gives you an off-the-wall kind of entertainment that only an insane or heavily drugged person could imagine. Character models and their movements resemble Lego toys, while buildings and other settings are detailed just enough for them to catch your eye right before you roll it into your collection. Colors are vibrant and reactions of the things you roll over are hilarious. Imagine a tall man with Vanilla Ice hair walking down the street, only to be swallowed into a gigantic rolling ball of garbage. His legs are flailing helplessly as only the lower half of his body is visible from the ball, with his screams being muffled by those of his pet cat and the loud mooing of a cow that was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
There is a very scant HUD, composed of only 4 icons located in the corners of the screen. One is the countdown timer, informing the player of how much time is left before the level ends. An icon of the direction the ball is rolling relative to the position of the Prince helps the player to orient themselves in case they are stuck in a precarious situation. Another icon has a visual representation of the size of the katamari relative to the size needed to complete the level; this is shown with a pulsating rainbow shaped globe encompassed by a larger circumference. The last icon is an indicator that immediately shows a rotating model of each item you roll over as you do it. This function adds so much to the gameplay because it lets you identify the things you do not see yourself roll over, eliciting a “WTF” response every time you realize you ran over something as extreme as a hot air balloon or as diminutive as a trout.
The control scheme could not be any simpler, due to the use of the analog sticks on the PS2 controller. Moving in a straight line is accomplished by pushing both sticks forward, while strafing is done by pushing both sticks left or right. Turning requires one stick to be pushed forward while one is pushed backward. A charge move that gives the katamari a burst of short speed is done by quickly pushing respective sticks backward and forward in alternating intervals. Clicking down on the sticks allows the player to bounce the ball slightly, pushing the ball over curbs or stairs. This control style makes it easy for anyone to just pick up the controller and start playing immediately, without forcing the player to have to go through tedious and complicated tutorials on how to play the game.
The game’s main menu takes place on what is called “The Home Planet”, where game modes and options can be selected. The planet is a small rotating globe on which the Prince can quickly traverse atop of, able to move in all directions to get to locations placed at various points on the globe. You can view gifts that you pick up on different levels, which are basically costume pieces the Prince can wear while playing. Another option is to view the constellations and stars that you have already created, located all around the sky above the Home Planet in 360 degrees of view. There is also a multiplayer mushroom where two players can challenge each other in a quick game of rolling in a smaller room.
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