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Feb 8th, 2008 at 23:34:41 - NBA Live 2008 (PS2) |
GAMEPLAY
Aside from the quick play option, there are a few other modes that add to the basic gameplay of NBA Live 2008. The Season mode allows the player to play out the entire schedule of an NBA team. Making trades, signing free agents and changing around starting line-ups are all interesting features outside of the actual game action that add to the basic play. Building on the season mode is the Dynasty mode in which the player is given full and complete control of an NBA franchise for up to twenty seasons! This mode is extremely complex with an amazing list of responsibilities normally designated to the General Manager of the team.
Additionally, the NBA All-Star Weekend mode of the game offers all the excitement of an NBA All-Star game and related activities. This means East vs. West in a showdown of the game’s best players AND the opportunity to participate in the Three-Point Shootout Contest and the Rising Stars Slam Dunk Contest. The slam dunk contest is operational with one or two human players with more varying high-flying dunks than the player can even figure out. This game is both engaging and exciting. It is fun for players that simply enjoy the simulation of a great American sport and those who take advantage of the numerous and complex options this game has to offer.
GAME DESIGN
The simulation of passing years is a very innovative quality of the game. While participating in dynasty mode, the CPU is able to predict accurately the likely outcome of the career of every player. The innovation that I was most impressed by and most appreciated was the ability to practice play while the game loads the game world/arena, eliminating the painstaking ritual of sitting and waiting for the game to load prior to play.
There are many elements of the game which make it attractive and keep the player stimulated. One of the most drawing characteristics that really adds to the emotional feel of the competition is the noise in the background. The bass filled beats that play in the background are altered to sound like they are being played in a large stadium and the roar and chanting of the crowd (or lack thereof) really convey the emotion one gets from really watching a real basketball game. This game is ultimately the closest commercial simulation of the real physics, reflexes, and attitudes of an actual basketball game/environment.
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Feb 8th, 2008 at 23:33:59 - NBA Live 2008 (PS2) |
SUMMARY
NBA Live 2008 is the latest edition of a long line of annually updated baskeball simulation games licensed by the National Basketball Association. This license allows the game to feature the logos, names and lookalikes of all players and teams associated with the NBA. The game is produced by EA Sports Inc. which has dominated the traditional sports videogame industry. (EA Sports also produces the Madden line of football games licensed by the National Football League and the FIFA line of soccer games licensed by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association.) In NBA Live 2008 there are a few different game modes which supplement the main idea of the game which revolves around an NBA basketball game between two teams.
GAMEPLAY
The EA Sports games all offer an extremely authentic feeling of being able to take control of a real basketball game. The game is much more interesting if you follow professional basketball; however, my friend who participated in the multiplayer option of the game with me was unable to recognize any of the players and very few of the teams and he still enjoyed playing the game. In the quick play option, teams are chose, lineups are cued and jerseys selected. After that the player may select the level of play which greatly affects the difficulty of playing both offense and defense. This is a beneficial option to have so that every level of player skill can be accommodated.
This game is very fun because you can control to the tempo of the game and if you are aware of basketball strategy you can fully exercise just about every aspect of running up and down the court that you would in a real basketball game. You can throw alley-oops to keep the defense guarding the low-post players, opening up the outside three-point line where one of the long-range shooters can take advantage of a clear shot at the basket. This is just one of the many strategies that a knowledgeable player can use and it actually becomes clear once the player reaches the highest level of play that in order to score consistently and play good defense, knowledge of the actual flow of a basketball is not only helpful, but necessary.
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Jan 26th, 2008 at 01:22:26 - Super Mario Bros. All-Stars: Super Mario Bros. 2 (SNES) |
GAMEPLAY
The game areas change and we are exposed to grass, desert and ice environments. The game features a really intriguing variation of gratification devices. Coins can be collected for Bonus Chances to spin a slot machine for extra lives. Occasionally a locked door requires a hidden key, and potions "plucked" out of the ground offer magic doors to mirrored alternate dimension mini-levels to retrieve extra hit points.
The ability to find secret warp baskets is a fun pursue able sub-agenda that allows the player to skip ahead worlds by using magic doors from magic potions and the ambiguity of the number of possible warp-aheads make the player more curious to figure out how much farther there is until the end. Also in this game the players are forced to infer and utilize their environment for transportation such as riding on top of flying eggs and birds.
DESIGN
Super Mario Bros. 2 is the last edition not to feature a subsequent playable game map featuring selectable levels. In this game the levels come up one at a time, three levels to a world. The absence of a map creates ambiguity about how many levels there really are because if the game is generous enough to allow the player to warp ahead four or five worlds, than how many must there really be? This is a good and bad thing because once you warp ahead there is no going back and it feels almost like cheating not to be able to cmplete all the levels.
The methods of attack which allow the character to ride on top of the enemy without immediately killing him is a fun variation from the rest of the series. Plucking them up and throwing opponents are fun but while playing I did miss the fire power that allows the player to shoot fireballs in the rest of the series. All in all, each difference in this game adds to the fun of it. In my opinion, this variation is not only a valuable part of the Mario Bros. collection, it is also one of the most fun.
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Jan 26th, 2008 at 00:32:06 - Super Mario Bros. All-Stars: Super Mario Bros. 2 (SNES) |
SUMMARY
The game I chose to play was Super Mario Bros. 2 via the Super Mario Bros. All-Stars collection. The collection made for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System includes all the versions of the series released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (Super Mario Bros 1-3 and Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels) and Super Mario World, which was released for Super Nintendo. Super Mario Bros. 2 is considered the most different out of all the game's editions, largely because it was adapted from another Japanese game which featured different main characters. The main method of attack comes from plucking objects and throwing them at opponents and the primary goal is to advance one of the four main characters, Mario, Luigi, Toad or Peach, through various 2D worlds that are broken down into levels involving jumping, climbing, dodging and flying.
Gameplay
The cartoonish characters of the Mario series are at their wackiest in this recreation of an already existing Japanese game. The originality and unfamiliarity of the new enemy characters make the game a special novelty. The goofy looking enemy characters make the game somewhat comical. The game innovates a technique of "plucking" objects either out of the ground, or from directly underneath the character. In this version, the bad guys aare not defeated by a "bop" on the head, they are actually rideable, cariable, and throwable which make them fun to interact with.
The levels vary enough so that the scenery does not get boring. A dinosaur shooting eggs out of his mouth appears to be the boss at the end of each level. The boss characters get progressively more challenging, as do the interesting mazes that the levels have to offer. Digging, climbing and jumping techniques are varied well enough so that they are all masterable and still fun. There is a definite flow to the game and once you are aware of a certain obstacle it becomes very easy to survive it if it is encountered again.
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jeliasko has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 6 days |
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