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Feb 9th, 2008 at 01:57:47 - BioShock (360) |
Game Session 2
As you get further in to the game the Little Sisters and the Big Daddies being to be a major factor in the game. In every level there are a certain number of the pairs wandering around and when you encounter them they will not attack you or hurt you unless you attack them first. Little Sisters carry a substance called Adam that is used as a kind of currency to purchase the genetic modifications that stand in for leveling up you character. New Plasmids and Tonics (upgrades that you don't actively use but that raise your stats) are vital if you want to be strong enough to face the enemies that get progressively harder as the game advances. Whenever I heard a Big Daddy stomping around or a Little Sister talking to her Big Daddy I would immediately dispatch all splicers in the area and hack every nearby turret so that I could battle the Big Daddy with everything leaning in my favor. Big Daddies are difficult to beat but you get a real sense of accomplishment when you finally succeed in bringing him down. Then you're faced with the next big problem, the dilemma of saving the Little Sister or killing her. Saving her yields less Adam but the payout in the end is much greater and you get to feel like a good person and get the special ending for your good moral behavior. If you kill the Little Sister you get instant gratification, a lot more Adam at the moment though probably less overall, and you get the greedy evil ending which I also rather enjoyed.
Design:
The 'moral' dilemma with the Little Sisters is by far the most innovative aspect of this game. The consequences of the actions you take while you play effect the outcome and the style of your game which makes the act of playing the game more fun and interesting. The nostalgic music and ambiance mixed with the horror story and the "science" and all of it taking place underneath the sea creates a mood I've never experienced anywhere else and that is probably my favorite in any game I've played.
The controls were very easy to use and did not hinder my enjoyment of the game one bit. The good control scheme made exploration and fighting smooth and fun. All of the menu screens, maps, and gauges were easy to understand and I felt like I really had a hold on how to play the game very quickly. The combination of plasmids, guns, new kinds of ammunition and manipulation of the environment allow for new styles of fighting that keep the game fun after hours of playing.
Each new area of the game is very individual with its own mood and atmosphere, but each level is without a doubt a logical environment in Rapture so it feels like you really get to explore the city and see every part of it. The moral question of the Little Sisters and the varying ideologies and ethics of the people you interact with really bring a more complex narrative to this game that the player is able to take part in. This made the game more than just mowing down enemies with cool guns, it made the game fresh and unique despite it being a first person shooter.
Another element of the game is the ability to hack security cameras and turrets so that they will attack your enemies. This game gives you a lot of options to develop your own style of play without making the player feel overwhelmed by options.
By using the radio and the audio diaries to move the narrative instead of cut scenes the player is allowed to continue playing while the plot is being revealed. This led to a very smooth progression in the game as I was always able to keep moving and never had to stop and watch multiple or long cut scenes. Over all the mechanics, level design and creative aspects of this game are so amazing I really can't think of anything to improve on. I really love this game and promise that it is worth the money to get it.
This entry has been edited 2 times. It was last edited on Feb 9th, 2008 at 02:26:54.
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Feb 9th, 2008 at 01:57:27 - BioShock (360) |
Game Log Entry 1
Summary:
Bioshock is a first person shooter with a bit of a twist as you control not only guns, but can also 'genetically modify' your character allowing him to shoot lightning, fire or use telekinises to hurl objects. Bioshock starts out with the main character surviving a plane crash in 1960 somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Surprisingly (or not hint hint) there is a strange tower which turns out to be a gateway to the underwater city called Rapture. You find out that the city is now run down and populated by insane and mutated people called Splicers, mysterious little girls called Little Sisters and their guardians Big Daddies. You're character must escape from Rapture fighting through splicers and making decisions about how to deal with the Little Sisters.
Gameplay:
My immediate reaction to this game was one of complete excitement. I absolutely LOVE the combination of old 40's music and advertisements mixed in with the horror of the mutant splicers and the scientific creations of Little Sisters and Big Daddies. The combination of wholesomeness and disturbing genetic modifications creates an atmosphere that is intense, scary and nostalgic all at the same time. I like how the game begins in the ruins of Rapture and you have to listen to audio diaries left by Rapture's inhabitants during its collapse to discover what really happened. As far as a cast of characters, there is pretty much only the main character who in his only line of dialogue says something like he "always knew he'd be someone special." He has tatoos of chain links on his wrists and has random flashes of a picture of his family pop in to his mind. These let you know that there is something mysterious going on and made my interest in the history of Rapture even more intense. The narrative is delivered through radio messages with your 'friend' Atlas and your 'enemy' Andrew Ryan. THe exact relationships between the people you meet in Rapture are also very mysterious and reveal themselves throughout the gameplay at pivital moments. Lots of hints and allusions keep the player intersted and focused on exploring and finding out more.
The Gameplay is very smooth and easy to control. One trigger fires guns while the other fires the genetic modifications called Plasmids. There is very little jumping but a lot of crouching and slaming things with your wrench to knock obstacles out of the way. I really enjoyed exploring the world and finding more audio diaries so that I could learn more about Rapture. I had a hard time stopping and played for about three hours in my first sitting because I was having so much fun playing it.
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Feb 9th, 2008 at 01:33:51 - BioShock (360) |
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Feb 9th, 2008 at 01:58:16.
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Jan 25th, 2008 at 23:14:35 - Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) |
Entry 2:
Gameplay:
For my second gameplay session I defeated three more colossi. I really enjoyed the variation of the colossi. So far there have been some on two legs, some on four legs and one that flies. Figuring out how to beat each colossus is pretty fun, but the learning curve is a little steep. You really have to be observant to beat this game. I spent ten minutes on the fourth colossus just running around aimlessly until I finally figured out that if you hid in the small underground caverns in the area long enough the colossus will lean over to peek inside and you can pop out the other side and climb up its back. So far each colossus has been a challenge, but not so difficult that I got too frustrated to keep playing.
One frustration of mine is the mysterious plot. At first I really liked the withholding of background information, but I still haven’t learned anything about the Wanderer’s motivations or relationship with the dead girl. Where did he get that magic sword? After each battle he gets stabbed by the creepy black tentacles and somehow ends up back at the fortress surrounded by shadowy black figures who can only be the spirits of the colossi as there is one more after every battle. The black figures just stand there and stare at him while he is unconscious but the game refuses to reveal any more of the plot. This is both frustrating and compelling. This game seems unique in the way it progresses. Despite the lack of cinematics I noticed that my character is beginning to deteriorate. His hair has gotten darker, bruises have appeared on his body and his skin has become more and more dull. It seems like as he kills colossi he has been hurting himself somehow. The creepy tone is enhanced by this new development and I think this is a really cool way to let you see that something is happening; but letting you notice on your own without just being told. This game is all about observation.
Design:
The level design of this game is amazing. The world is gigantic and extremely detailed with various terrains from forests, lakes, caves and deserts. There are also many ruins strewn about the landscape and you frequently end up facing a colossus there at some point. I did a bit of galloping around the countryside just for the sake of looking at the seamless world that the designers created. Another aspect of the landscape that I enjoy is that specific kinds of trees have yellow fruits that you can shoot down with arrows and eat to increase your life bar. Having a larger life bar isn’t too important in this game but it helps out when you fall off of a really tall colossus or get stomped on a few times while trying to figure out what to do. There are two gauges in this game, already mentioned was the health gauge but the second and I feel more important is the stamina gauge. You don’t take too much damage while fighting but the stamina gauge is crucial because it determines how long you can cling to the side of a colossus before falling and needing to climb all the way to the weak point again, which can take several minutes in some cases. The size of the stamina gauge also determines the strength of your sword attacks when stabbing the weak points. You can increase the size of your stamina gauge by shooting special lizards with white tails that crawl on the save points that you find around the world. You can kill the lizard and eat it or just shoot off the tail which leaves it alive to generate a new tail that you can come back for later. Though the white tailed lizards are somewhat of a secret as nothing mentions them in the game, as usual you just have to notice on your own or go online, it is essential that you increase your stamina as the game progresses or you won’t be able to cling to the later colossi long enough to kill them.
The lizards and the stamina gauge bring up some of the issues that I had with the design of the game. The lizards are pretty small, especially compared to the colossi. The controls for the bow and arrows are very difficult to use with any accuracy which becomes painfully obvious when you’re trying to shoot the tiny lizards as they scuttle around the save point. The controls in this game are generally pretty loose and inaccurate. Steering the horse isn’t so bad in open spaces but if there is any kind of objects like trees or walls navigation becomes really tedious. I spent a good amount of time with my horse rearing because I kept accidentally steering it into walls.
The other issue I had was with climbing on the colossi. If you are climbing on a colossus trying to kill it, it will try to shake you off, understandably. This aspect can get very frustrating when you are trying to build up a good charge for your stab or even try to navigate on the body. If the colossus shakes too violently your character will stop climbing and cling on for dear life. I like that this feature gives the game a more realistic feel and also adds to the desperate tone I get from the landscape and the Wanderers continued physical deterioration. But after five attempts to stab the weak spot before I run out of stamina, fall off and spend another five minutes trying to get back to the weak spot I want to bash my head in with the controller. Also the physics for the jumping don’t always seem accurate so that when you think you will make a certain jump the Wanderer goes off in a random direction and misses and you must start all over again. These control issues are very frustrating because they make the game hard to beat not because of a good challenge but because of bad and annoying physics. Despite these frustrations I still enjoy the puzzles of each battle and look forward to exploring the world to find the next colossus and figuring out how to beat it, even if I sometimes have to put the controller down for a minute so I don’t throw it through the TV screen.
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Flamojo14 has been with GameLog for 16 years, 7 months, and 24 days |
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