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Mar 6th, 2008 at 13:07:53 - Silent Hill: Origins (PSP) |
Gameplay
So far the game has been pretty interesting. I mean, who knew that the pockets of a trucker's outfit could hold multiple firearms, meat hooks, portable TVs, typewriters, wrenches, hammers, drip stands, meat cleavers, katanas, crates, tablelamps, energy drinks, health drinks, first aid kits, and other various weapons, consumables, and key items. It seems like there's an infinite amount of inventory space and it seems kind of ridiculous what your character can have on his person. Aside from that, I have found that for at least the early parts of the game, it is pretty easy to get around using only your fists as weapons. I even managed to beat the first boss with just fists though i did get hit a few times. The firearms seems pretty easy to shoot since holding the R shoulder button automatically targets an enemy for you and the melee weapons work pretty much the same way, though some get thrown an break while others have mini health bars and break when damaged too much.
The game has very few human characters. At this point in the game, there are only four characters other than the main character and they seem to go off and disappear soon after you talk to them with the exception of the creepy little girl that you see quite often comparatively. That said, the characters of this game seem to be varied to say the least, consisting of the trucker main character, the cult leader and her severely burned daughter, a nurse, and a doctor/cult member. As far as i can tell, all of them look like they're hiding something and will probably end up trying to kill me though the little girl seems to just be messing with everyone.
Design
The levels of the game are varied to an extent, with a few examples being the hospital, the sanitarium, a theater, and a motel, though they all have an Otherworld version. As can be inferred about my previous statements about the Otherworld, it is esentially the normal world painted in blood and gore. As frightening as it could be (and is) after a time, the sense dull and it the mind becomes accustomed to it. It loses the effect of being frightening since all of the Otherworld versions of Silent Hill's locations is similar to each other and lack a sense of originality between them all. It would be understandable if each one had something to give each location a unique fearfullness but I feel that this is lacking from said locations.
The reward structure is pretty interesting, mainly because if you beat the game, you esentially unlock God Mode by gaining the ability to equip a pair of gloves that one-shot most enemies and can finish off bosses after a few hits. The main reward structure that was apparently a basic fundament of the Silent Hill series was to have alternate endings and the same goes for this game. Unfortunately the game forces one ending on you while the others can only be obtained after beating the game once. This seems to weaken the effect alternate endings would normally have and makes them seem rather trivial in comparison with other rewards. The only rewards that seem to have some sort of value are the awrads given to the character after performing certain feats such as killing a majority of the enemies with bare fists or collecting over three hundred of the items in the game. These effectively reward the player's performance and at the same time give the game much more replay value than simply the possibility of a second ending scene.
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Mar 6th, 2008 at 11:46:30 - Silent Hill: Origins (PSP) |
Summary
Silent Hill: Origins is a third person survival horror game in which you must unravel the secrets of the mysterious Silent Hill while trying to survive within its various realms. A variety of weapons can be used, ranging from a target pistol to a portable television, in order help you survive while solving the games many puzzles.
Gameplay
During my first playthrough I felt a mixture of excitment and anxiety, mainly because I had never played a Silent Hill game before this and was looking forward to it and also party because I feel that I scare easier than most people. Anyways, I'm one who prefers to watch movies in a room devoid of light so as to enhance the viewing and seeing as Silent Hill is known to play out as a movie would, I began playing in the dark. The music and the sound effects really created a great deal of tension and are largely responsible for the successful implementation of the games atmoshperic horror. Another major contribution to the anxiety I felt and the horror of the game is the game's use of frightening and disturbing visuals, most of which come from the Otherworld, a gruesome alternate realm (that can be accessed through contact with mirrors) where everything is covered in blood and gore and deformed and malevolent creatures dwell. My first encounter with an enemy did not occur for at least a half an hour but it probably frightened me more than any of the other encounters. The music combined with the Otherworld's gruesome detail increased the feeling of fear to a higher level than should have been felt due to the fact that it was only a single enemy and the weakest of them at that.
I really like the games story so far. It's most likely because they took a simple story and expressed it in a complex way. This expression of the story allows for more freedom in creating the atmospheric conditions necessary for the game and allows the player to piece together the story for themselves, taking pieces of information from documents found by the characterby chance along with events and cutscenes that are a part of the game's linear progression. It creates a more realistic view of the horror.
Seeing as Silent Hill is only a one player game, there aren't any interactions with other players within the game itself. On the other hand, I found that with friends watching it feels more and more like a horror movie, everyone getting scared or jumping at different points in the game. It makes for a fun experience and while it may not be as frightening as when playing alone, it'll be worth it to see your friends react to the game.
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Feb 21st, 2008 at 07:00:05 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) |
Gameplay
Okay, the game is still esentially the same as it was before. There has been no change to the story and the drunkard king is still making you clean up his mess. You still control a katamari and your still rebuilding stars. Now that that's out of the way, I found out that the prince has cousins scattered throughout the levels and finding and picking them up unlocks them for multiplayer usage. It adds some level of humor in the multiplayer mode when you have different odd things pushing sticky balls around, one of which looked like a ball himself (herself?). Anyway, they don't have much too offer to the gameplay or experience of the multiplayer unless you have cousins like me who supply the audio commentary.
My continuation of single player mode led to many more surprises and amusements. Now many people wouldnt be at this point yet but I kinda sped through some things. On the last level, the objective is to build the moon. You would think the stars would have to be pretty large and that the katamari replacing them would need to be large too. Well compared to the moon, those specks of dust don't even come close. I dont remember if there was a time limit or not but it got to the point where I was uprooting forests just by pressing up on the d-pad once and at some point you find Godzilla fighting a robot. Eventually the islands became part of my moon and even the god of thunder. By the time I felt ready to put the game down I had grown large enough to pick up the clouds and possibly a few tornadoes or hurricanes. It's difficult to express how this experience felt but it was like drinking multiple bottles of Jones' Soda while watching UHF through a kaleidoscope.
Design
If I were to list one innovative element of the game it would probably have to be the use of the katamari. Afterall this is the first game in which we see an entire game based on rolling around a growing ball. To elaborate more on the game's design, it feels old but in a good way. It reminds me of games like Sonic the Hedgehog or Pacman where the entire game is based off of a singular simple objective (in Sonic, run to the end of the level; in pac man eat all the dots) without losing its replay value.
On the other hand, the games use of cutscenes seemed to be tacked on after the levels simply because people are used to them. I mean, after a star was completed a.k.a. a level was beaten, there was a funny little cutscene that served no purpose other than to amuse the audience and to give some sort of semblance of a complex story. In actuality, they have nothing to do with the games main plot and serve only to fill in the apparent void where modern gamers would view a cutscene that's purpose was to hold the gamer's attention and keep them from becoming bored with the gameplay. In the case of Katamari Damacy, it was an unnecissary addition to a great game.
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Feb 21st, 2008 at 06:48:59 - Katamari Damacy (PS2) |
Summary
In Katamari Damaci you control the prince of the universe who must roll things up with a ball shaped katamari and create stars from the resulting mass of objects to rebuild the universe.
Gameplay
When I first picked up the game I imagined myself getting bored within the first few minutes of gameplay, but once I actually started playing it, you couldn't get my attention for even five seconds. It's highly addictive due mostly because of its absurdity. I mean first imagine an ant pushing around a ball of dirt. Now imagine anything smaller than the ball getting stuck to it. Now imagine that five minutes later, your still the size of an ant but your pushing around a ball made up of buildings and cars. Aside from this, the most amusing experience I had was when my katamari was large enough to pick up people. It was hilarious to watch those block shaped people screaming and trying to waddle away as soon as someone near them got picked up.
Now the story of the game is almost as absurd as it is short. The "King of All Cosmos" as he's called in the game destroys the stars when he's out drinking and then makes his son go out and rebuild the universe with stuff on Earth (Gee! Thanks Dad!). That's it. Nothing else. There is a side-story but it doesn't make much sense. My guess is that the creators of this game set out to create a game similar to many of the classics where they focused on the gameplay itself and just threw the story parts in there as an afterthought.
Also the game did have a multiplayer mode. I'm not completely sure how to win yet (didn't pay too much attention to the rules) but I'm pretty sure its a race to make your katamari larger than the other player's. What made the multiplayer part fun was theability to ram your oponent to shrink his or her katamari by knocking off objects they accumulated. You can then take the objects for yourself and continue growing your katamari until either your opponent fights back or time runs out. Oh yeah, it's timed too.
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sorarojas has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 7 days |
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