 |
|
Feb 15th, 2008 at 16:35:48 - Ratchet and Clank (PS2) |
GAMEPLAY
The second time around, Ratchet and Clank was more fun than the first time. I think this was mostly due to the weapon upgrades. The weapons each have their own strategic purpose. As the character progresses through the game, they receive more opportunities to use new weapons, and with that comes the opportunity to use more interesting strategies. One example of this is the Taunter weapon, which can be used to lure opponents toward your character when they are in a position where they have the advantage.
The best part of the storyline so far has been the hover-board race. It was a lot of fun in terms of the plot because it connected several characters and planets together. The actual race was one of the best parts of the game as well. It involved doing tricks and hitting arrow points on the ground for power-up boosts while dodging boxes and explosives. You have get 1st place against 4 other racers in order to get the trophy you need to give to the agent in exchange for goggles.
At one point before the race my character spoke with a Captain on the metropolis planet who was advertising the race. He turned out to be a robot, which made me laugh because it was so absurd. The robotic protagonist’s sidekick, Clank, had to point out the spring that was in the place of the Captain’s legs to Ratchet, who was shocked by it.
DESIGN
The balance of enemies is very well laid out. It seems to provide just the right amount of challenge in terms of patience and focus. The enemies get harder as your weapons get more effective, and you need to keep up with the increasing complexity of the gameplay. There is a wheel screen activated by the triangle button, which allows you to toggle between a set number of weapons and devices. Later in the game this toggling of weapons and devices becomes a large focus of the game.
The one boss that I have played against so far was really fun. His attacks were rhythmic and varied in such a way that you had to jump over walls of flames and dodge laser beams at the same time. There was really only one weapon that could be used against this boss effectively, which made getting the ammunition very important.
Another thing that I liked about this game was that you only had to pay attention to about four things at once: the enemy fire coming at you, the direction whatever your mission objective is, your ammunition, and collecting bolts. This created a feeling similar to that of older two dimensional platform games—very user-friendly while being engaging at the same time.
add a comment  - read this GameLog  |
|
Feb 8th, 2008 at 03:14:55 - Ratchet and Clank (PS2) |
SUMMARY
In Ratchet and Clank, a fox-like animal named Ratchet wears a robot named Clank like a backpack while exploring different planets. There are a lot of weapon and item upgrades, different kinds of enemies, and bosses. The primary goal of the game is to get info-bots in order to progress to new planets.
GAMEPLAY
Because the game has a cartoonish and lighthearted feel, I stayed in a happy emotional state for the whole time I was playing it. The environments are all bright, almost pastel, and rounded to the point that they are something like a relaxing dreamworld. Even the sludge planets are rendered in a friendly style.
The characters in the game are all very cartoonish. Both in-game and during cut-scenes, the characters all move in an extreme and dramatic way. The interactions between the two main characters, Ratchet and Clank, are endearing when they become comfortable with one another as the game progresses. Furthermore, every character in every cut scene has a lot of personality in the way that they move their faces and bodies.
The game was really interesting to play because, for one thing, there are bolts and nuts that you collect as currency scattered throughout the game, and they make a really satisfying noise when you pick them up. Another thing that’s interesting are the powerups. You can get a helicopter upgrade that allows you to glide and jump higher that you can at the beginning of the game. Just as that starts to get boring, you find a grind boots upgrade that allows you to ride on rails. It really keeps you on your toes!
read comments (1)  - add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
Jan 26th, 2008 at 02:16:25 - Super Smash Brothers (N64) |
SUMMARY
Super Smash Brothers is a Nintendo 64 four-player fighting game with the unique feature that in order to beat an opponents, you have to knock them off the side of the map to the edge of the screen. In order to do this, you have to weaken their resistance to power attacks using damage attacks, which are not mutually exclusive. Also, there are dodge and shield commands.
GAMEPLAY
This is a game that reliably got me and my friends very excited while playing on the multiplayer mode. It was very fun and interesting. There were a lot of elements that made this the case--the music, sound effects, items, attack artwork, maps, and dodging/shielding commands. Together, all of these elements result in a fast-paced dance that involved a surprising amount of technical skill to master.
The characters were great because they are mostly taken from old Nintendo games, so they were familiar. Additionally, the characters fell into different tiers of potential effectiveness (and there are handicaps available), so competing players could balance out their skills by choosing appropriate settings.
The first person story mode of this game was fun because all of the levels were very different from one another. Some had one slow powerful character to defeat, some had targets to break, some had lots of small characters, and some had a few standard characters. It was very varied.
The social aspects of this game should not be underestimated. In all honesty, I found this to be one of the most socially conducive games around. Again, there are a lot of reasons why this is the case, but I think the most prominent one is simply the feature of having to knock your opponent off of the map to the edge of the screen—for some reason, this feature has a really interesting effect on the format of the battles.
DESIGN
The levels all contributed to the gameplay differently. The most straightforward levels were those which were larger and more flat. These allowed for more complicated fights in terms of technical moves. However, the smaller levels created a greater conflict by making the battle more imminent. In this sense a large part of the battle is made to take place in simply observing the map.
The tone of the gameworld is largely cartoonish and happy, although some levels are kind of dark. This changes with the items that are equipped and the characters that are being played. Overall, it stays true to the time-tested Nintendo theme of accessibility.
The game exhibits a great amount of emergent complexity in the battle system. The largest contributors to this are the shield/dodge functions and the double jump. Because of these moves, there are a large number of attack and defense combinations that can be used. There are specific movements which counter others, and there are specific combinations of movements that work synergistically.
read comments (1) - add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
Jan 26th, 2008 at 01:31:33 - Final Fantasy X (PS2) |
Entry #2
GAMEPLAY
My second hour of gameplay was much more fun than the first. It was essentially the same kind of pattern of talking to bystanders, fighting fiends, and watching cutscenes, but the game became much more developed. New characters joined the party bringing new magic spells, physical techniques, and personality. I got a nice feeling of community when the party began to get larger. It was really interesting to see all the different character personalities interacting both during battles and in the other modes of gameplay. Also, some of the bystanders and sales people became recurring characters, and it was nice to get to talk to them in different areas of the game about the gameworld’s current events.
I stayed pretty happy and entertained while I was playing this time around. I think it must have been largely due to the beautiful landscapes and soothing music. As soon as I started feeling like one section of map was starting to get boring, it would always end or change. Also, the story’s narrative progression kept me absorbed in the plotline.
DESIGN
The Blitzball tournament added an especially unique gameplay element. This was an underwater team sports game that the main character and one other character and his team play together. This is a good feature of the game because it provides a kind of minigame that can be revisited and expanded upon at every save point.
A great design element of this game is the fact that it has an epic battle about once an hour in which an especially powerful fiend must be fought. These are probably the most fun parts of the game because they allow and encourage the player to make use of all of the different battle commands and develop more complex strategies than regular fiends require. This keeps the game interesting by keeping the player motivated to keep their stats up in order to defeat these larger opponents.
The game creates conflict on many levels, the first and most obvious being the conflict of the main character Tidus wanting to get home to his original dimension. Aside from that there are lots of small plot conflicts like Kimari’s quarrel with the other two characters of his species, Wakka’s challenged views about Yevon, the religion, and the conflict between Yuna and the other summoner she meets along the road.
The game makes good use of space in the gameworld by making the view locked on one angle so that you are always seeing the best view. Also, backgrounds are never reused and always very artistic. The paths, which are more 3D than the other sections of the game, have moving elements on them like plants as well.
The game does have emergent complexity in the battle system, but it develops slowly from a unique upgrade game feature called the sphere grid, which allows you to use spheres gained from battle to give your characters new stats and abilities. Complicated tactics can come out of high-stat battles. These tactics are the emergent aspects of the gameplay.
read comments (1) - add a comment - read this GameLog |
|
|
 |
| roboticalien's GameLogs |
|
roboticalien has been with GameLog for 17 years, 2 months, and 22 days |
view feed xml
|
| Entries written to date: 9 |
|
