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Feb 8th, 2008 at 23:40:32 - skate. (360) |
Entry #2
Gameplay:
In the first log I complained about some camera issues in the game, while the issues certainly haven't gone away, I did notice that when your characters get going very fast (going down a steep hill for example)your character goes semi-transparent so you can see what's directly in front of you. This was especially useful given that one of the challenges involves bombing down a steep hill and going through a fairly small area in order to hit a jump, without the transparency this challenge would be nearly unplayable as it is it's pretty fun. After I beat a few of the early challenges the city really opened up, I look forward to fully exploring all the sights that the city has to offer.
Design:
So far the level designs have been pretty good. All the areas I've visited nicely compromise between looking realistic while still providing lots of interesting objects for the player to skate in. I'm not totally sold on the control scheme, though. While I stand by my enthusiasm in the first entry, I'm finding very hard to perform some of the more difficult tricks with any regularity. This isn't a big deal in itself since the most difficult tricks are called the most difficult tricks for a reason, but it seems weird that if I make a mistake when trying to perform a specific trick that instead of crashing I simply perform a different trick. Speaking of crashing, I was impressed by the ragdoll in skate., rather than simply going completely limp upon crashing the movement of the players avatar actually looks fairly realistic. This can make some of the more bone crunching crashes downright painful to watch.
Much of the games gameplay comes from shooting videos. The player about 30 seconds to perform specific goals in order to complete the challenge. The interesting thing is that the player can start the video pretty much where ever they want. This adds a much deeper level of challenge to completing the video challenges since the matter of finding the right area becomes as equally or perhaps even more important than just being able to perform tricks. This adds a very nice non-linear exploratory element to the game.
One last thing, all the recycling bins in this game look like the helmet of the character from Timeshift. I found this really distracting for some reason.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Feb 8th, 2008 at 23:48:11.
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Feb 8th, 2008 at 23:08:23 - skate. (360) |
Log #1
Summary:
skate. follows the player as they try to become a world class skateboarder in the fictional city of San Vanelona. The player participates in various skateboarding related challenges such as performing high scoring trick runs, performing tricks for a photographer, and high speed downhill races races. The game is a much more realistic take on skateboarding than the Tony Hawk series, that said the game is far from an attempt at a hardcore skateboarding simulator.
Gameplay:
The game begins with a live action cutscene, I can't remember the last time I saw one of these outside of the Command and Conquer franchise. I like this game quite a bit. The camera angle is pretty low and close to the player which is nice an cinematic but it can be a little frustrating when I'm in a busy area since I can't really see a whole lot of what's directly to the right and left of me. The control scheme is pretty cool, rather than just pressing buttons to perform the various tricks, I need to perform movements with the control stick. While the movements hardly relate to the tricks performed it definitely gives a stronger sense of immersion than just pressing buttons. I participated in a head to head competition with some local skaters. The competition was interesting since all the skaters are simultaneously competing in a fairly small area, so I needed to really pay attention to who was around me at a given time. This simultaneously made the completion more interesting and complex in terms of strategy, but it also means that a great trick can be ruined by running into another skater which can be frustrating. This specific competition wasn't very hard so this wasn't a huge deal, but as the game gets harder I can imagine it could be very, very frustrating.
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Jan 25th, 2008 at 21:50:42 - Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) |
Entry #2
Gameplay:
While Super Mario Galaxy is a very good game, it is certainly not without its flaws. Many of these issues are of little consequence earlier on in the game, but as the game progresses and the difficulty increases what was once a trivial annoyance becomes a significant source of frustration. Later levels sometimes feature strict time limits for completion of the level which force players to quickly and effectively navigate the level in order to complete it within the time allotted. Time limits by themselves are certainly not an issue, but having to quickly navigate a level force some of the game’s camera issues into the forefront. Generally the default placement of the camera is pretty good and the player doesn’t really need to worry about it, but when the player does need to move the camera around quickly many problems arise. The game will sometimes not let the player rotate the camera around for what seems like no reason whatsoever, this can be infuriating when the player needs to see what’s going on in from of them in order to plan ahead. Admittedly there are only a few sections of the game where this camera issue arises, but when it does it can be very frustrating.
Design:
Despite some of the camera issues mentioned above, I found SMG to be a very enjoyable game for most of the time I spent playing it. The only real problems in terms of camera and player controls don’t really become major issues unless the player is a completeist and is attempting to collect all the stars in the game.
I think that SMG is a master course in creating a game that can appeal to players of all ages. There is no content that could really be considered inappropriate for younger players (such as sex, violence, drugs, etc.) but older players will find that the game isn’t ‘dumbed down’ and is more than able to provide a significant challenge for even series veterans.
The use of small discrete worlds means the there really isn’t any room for the player to get lost and so the player always knows where to go and what to do (unless it’s explicitly designed as a puzzle). The minor downside is that the player isn’t really able to explore the area at their own leisure and is acutely aware of how linear the game is.
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Jan 25th, 2008 at 21:20:35 - Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) |
Entry #1
Summary:
In Super Mario Galaxy players take the role of the classic Nintendo hero Mario trying to save Princess Peach, who has once again been kidnapped by Bowser. The action takes place on a series of small interconnected worlds. Mario jumps around these various worlds solving puzzles and defeating enemies.
Gameplay:
I found this game to be quite enjoyable. As someone who enjoyed Super Mario 64 I found that SMG retained many of the enjoyable parts of SM64 while providing enough new content so that it didn’t simply feel like a rehash. The worlds that Mario explores are very distinct from each other and each has a unique art style and a different set of challenges for the player. Since very few portions of the game take place in indoor environments, the player doesn’t really need to worry about the sorts of camera issues that traditionally plague third-person action games. The Wii motion controls are used sparingly so they don’t feel overly gimmicky and tacked on.
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davidTaylor has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 6 days |
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