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Mar 6th, 2008 at 15:40:17 - Rock Band (360) |
Gameplay:
Session 2
This time around, I was on vocals instead of drums, which made the gameplay a lot more enjoyable because it was easier and it was something I was a little more familiar with. It was still a little difficult to make out the prompts for what my tone and pitch should be, but when we stuck to songs that I already knew by heart I was pretty successful in my gaming endeavors.
Another thing that was more fun about being the vocalist was that I had more freedom of movement in the actual space where we were playing, so I could get really into it and rock out some more. All in all, Rock Band is an alright game for me, but definitely not something that I'm super stoked on doing. At least not when I'm sober...My friends had a blast, though, because it is by definition a social game, so it was pretty easy just to dismiss trying to get the music right and just be dance-y and stupid with my friends while pretending we were rock stars.
Design:
Though I'm not personally a huge fan of actually playing Rock Band, I think that the design of the game is awesome. First, you have the avatars which are incredibly expressive and realistic in their movements and behaviors. Like with the Wii, I think that one of the huge bonuses of Rock Band is actually being able to envision yourself as a physical component of the game world, especially since you're mimicking the movements of the avatar in the real world game space you occupy.
Another really cool aspect of the game are the little mock instruments - the drums and the guitars and the microphone. Using these as your controllers instead of hand held devices really adds to the sense of game engagement that the avatars also contribute to. It's interesting and fun to feel like you actually are inside of the game, and forget the real world surroundings you occupy when you're focussing on your instrument and trying to become skilled at it.
The game gives the player a lot of freedom and control of the way the game unfolds, which I also like. First is the ability to download new songs, so you're not restricted at all in terms of what you will be playing. Additionally, your skill at your instrument determines the way the music actually sounds, so (like a real band) you're actually hearing how you as the player contribute to or detract from the success of the band, which is pretty innovative in my mind. All in all, the innovative and unique design elements of Rock Band essentially MAKE the game, though for me personally they don't actually compensate for the fact that I'm a sucky musician and therefore a bad player of this game.
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Mar 5th, 2008 at 20:52:53 - Rock Band (360) |
Summary:
In rockband, the player uses peripherals modeled to resemble actual musical instruments to attempt to play along with an avatar rock band that they see on screen. Certain parts of the instruments are color coded, and as the player plays certain colorblocks will scroll along on the screen -- it is up to the player to hit the right color at the right time to make the right sound that the song they're playing requires.
Gameplay:
I was playing drums during this game, so I had a bass pedal as well as the little flat drum panels in front of me to attempt to play along. This was the first time I've ever played this game, and I'm a super uncoordinated person, so it was frustratingly difficult for me to get the hang of it and the rhythm. I kept on hitting the panels a second or two too late, and repeatedly needed to be "saved" by other players. I was pretty self-conscious about all of this, too, so that made the gameplay not so fun for me. I maybe would have had more fun if I was on a different instrument, but this time around I was just too self-conscious and bad at the game to enjoy it.
One thing that did make the game a little bit more enjoyable was interacting with the characters on screen. I got kind of a kick out of watching my avatar playing drums, even though he sucked at it. Also, my friends told me that the drums are usually the hardest to play anyway, so this made me feel a little bit better. One thing, though, that really annoyed me was that I had a hard time actually hitting the drum pads!! I kept on missing and hitting the side of it. Also, I had a hard time keeping in track which panels were which colors, so even if I could've hit blue (for example) in time, how the hell am I supposed to remember which one's blue!!! All in all, it was a learning experience and hopefully when I play tonight it will go better.
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Feb 20th, 2008 at 21:51:00 - Wii Play (Wii) |
Session 2
Gameplay:
This time around, my neighbor and I chose to play table tennis and the tank game. In table tennis, the gameplay is essentially the same as air hockey - you pretend that the wii remote is the paddle and move it back and forth to hit the ball, or press A when it's your turn to serve. The tank game is a little bit more complicated to play - we ended up taking out the stick controller, which has a little joy stick on it that you use to move your tank around the screen, while you use the wii remote to aim on your target (the enemy tank), and the trigger to shoot. The goal is to shoot the tank before it kills you or your partner.
Design:
I'm going to write this entry on all the games I played during the two sessions, since they were all relatively short in their gameplay sessions and share a lot of the same design elements. My favorites in the wii play series were definitely the balloon shooting game, air hockey and table tennis, for different reasons.
I really liked table tennis for the way that it makes use of the space on the screen. Your mii is being watched as he plays by all the other miis in the game - I even recognized a few of my friends' avatars in there, which was cool because you feel the sociability of the game even despite (or in addition to) the person you're playing with. I also think that the design of the wii remote is especially innovative, not just for these games but in general, because it's so easy to use and so adaptable - you can hold it like a paddle, aim it like a gun, tilt it as though you're bearing down on the throttle of a motorcycle, and so forth.
Another game that I especially thought was well designed was air hockey, if anything just for the adaptable control (you can tilt your paddle) and the sheer fact that you can score on yourself, which made the game more fun to play socially since it gave everyone the chance to make fun of me, which I always like.
The game that I thought was least innovative in this group was the balloon shooting game, since it's basically a rip off of tetris and doesn't take as much advantage of the cool wii remote as it could. This is made up for, though, by the cool level design and story of the game. I really like the way that it incorporates your characters into the game - on the third level, you can earn extra points by shooting the target that has your opponent's face on it, yet lose points if you shoot one with your own face on it. In the final round, also, the goal is to shoot alien ufos before they abduct your wii characters, which is pretty funny but also kind of disturbing when you hear the wiis screaming after being abducted.
In all, there's not really much room for a lot of narrative in wii play because it's essentially just arcade type games adapted to the wii console. The wii remote, though, and the game's integration of the player via her mii are what sets it apart from other games. I love, love, love the wii because it is so easy to use and the remote can be adapted to suit just about any game, even sport type games (table tennis, air hockey, bowling) because the way the player uses the remote mimics exactly how one would play the game in real life, which I think is awesome.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Feb 20th, 2008 at 21:52:06.
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Feb 20th, 2008 at 21:30:01 - Wii Play (Wii) |
Summary:
Wii play is essentially a series of a few different games that the player can choose to play, I played it with another person. You can either play air hockey, using the wii remote as your paddle; table tennis, also using the wii remote as a paddle; the tank game (whose goal is to destroy a tank before it destroys you by shooting it), and a few other games. The goal of the game will differ depending on which game you choose, but for the most part the objective is to gain points by beating your opponent at your game.
Gameplay:
At first, as I always am, I was a little intimidated by this game because I am a novice at all things video game and technology oriented. With coaching from my neighbor/opponent, though, I became a little more comfortable with these games.
First of all, let me just say - I love the wii!! I know I've said it before, but the control makes it so easy for anyone just to pick it up and play the games with no experience needed. We started by playing air hockey, which is essentially the same as in real life, you just move your arm back and forth and pretend that the wii control is your paddle, and you try to hit the puck into your opponent's goal. Needless to say, I scored on myself like three times during this game because I suck, but it was still a lot of fun.
After this, we played a game that's essentially the modern version of duckhunter (from atari), except that you start out shooting balloons and graduate to targets, cans, ducks and eventually aliens that pick up your mii characters. I was a lot better at this game, since there's no real way you can harm yourself or score against yourself, and actually ended up beating my neighbor at this round (it might have something to do with the fact that she was simultaneously drinking wine and playing, but I'll take points where I can).
My neighbor and I played both of these games successively until we reached the forty five minute mark, and decided to leave a couple of the other games to play on the next game play session, which occured earlier this evening. Needless to say, the first time around I had a ton of fun and wasn't really focusing at all on winning or scoring, just on learning how to use the control and actually achieve the desired effect.
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ketritt has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 9 days |
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