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Mar 7th, 2008 at 01:35:12 - Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GC) |
GAMEPLAY
During the second session of play, I started to focus on the more subtle aspects of the game. Drifting is one of the actions a player can take to get around the course quicker. When you are going around a turn, you can hit a button to skid which makes it so the turn is completed faster. Once getting a basic mastery of drifting, I began to figure out how to get it perfect. If you start drifting at just the right time and at the right angle, you can make perfect turns and get a good lead. Of course, this also comes with getting to know the courses.
Getting to know the courses is very important in Double Dash. If you can anticipate where to turn and what to avoid before you reach it, you can set yourself up to deal with the problems in the best way possible. Getting to know the courses takes some playing but I found that it doesn't take long to learn enough for it to help considerably. It is frustrating when you get a little ahead and then take a turn the wrong way and fall off the course. As soon as you can get the main turns down, the better off you are.
DESIGN
Double Dash is part of a large series of Mario games so the characters aren't very original, but that is to be expected. As far as innovative games go, Double Dash isn't the best. Also the ability to throw items and slow players and even a lot of the items were used in previous games. It's the smaller things that make it different.
I found that I was almost always kept on my feet. Double Dash doesn't let you snooze off. The game is fast paced enough that if you stop paying attention for a second you are guaranteed to fly into something bad. I find this to be a good characteristic because it keeps the player very interested. You are constantly avoiding obstacles and aiming your vehicle so you can't afford to think about anything else.
Overall the game is quite goofy. The entire mood of the game is kind of like a cartoon land. Everything is very colorful and the characters and there vehicles all seem to appear pretty comical. Of course this follows the theme of all the Mario games that came before it. Double Dash wouldn't be the same if it was set in a dark, ominous city.
As you go on through the game it gets more difficult, as most games do. The levels have more and more enemies, and the tracks have less guard rails. On the later courses, it becomes very easy to fall off the edge of the track into lava or space and get significantly delayed. Also, as you continue to play, your opponents get better, just as you do. Because of this, you have to start to think on different levels that were not needed at the beginning of the game. For example, one of the items is a banana peel that can be left on the track to knock someone behind you. Once your opponents start to get skilled, they leave them right on the edge of jumps so if you hit it, you fall off the track. To avoid it, you have to already be thinking about it before you reach the jump so you can aim appropriately.
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Mar 7th, 2008 at 01:11:24 - Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GC) |
SUMMARY
Mario Kart Double Dash is a very simple yet fun game. You can race or battle friends on a wide variety of courses and choose from many classic Mario characters to race with. Another feature which makes the game more entertaining is the ability of the players to pick up and use items to slow down enemies. Both the race and battle versions have multiple settings so you can play however you please. All in all it is a very fun game, the graphics and control are not the best, but the most important part of a game is how fun it is, and they got that part well.
GAMEPLAY
During the first session of play, I confirmed my idea that one of the best parts of Mario Kart Double Dash is how highly interactive it gets when there are four friends playing. It can get crazy when four competitive people are racing around outrageous courses. I believe this high interactivity is present because the creators of Double Dash did a good job making it so that skill level translates to the game very well. How good you are at the game determines how you do, not a lot of luck. Because of this, players seem to care more about the outcome and therefore put more into winning. This is when the best interactivity is found.
Almost all of the challenge is provided by real opponents, not the console, making for a lot of conflict (in a good way). There are some obstacles and enemies on the courses, but they aren't the main source of challenge. There are some levels where you can easily fall off, and most levels have some sort of creature moving about, cluttering up the course, but thats about it.
The battle mode is great for one on one. The battle modes include throwing bombs at your enemy, pop all of their balloons and a version of tag called shine thief. All of these battles are played on a course that you do not follow around like a track, but instead it is a level, in which you can move about independently. There is no finish line so the object of the game is totally different. However, it still manages to provide a lot of conflict.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Mar 7th, 2008 at 01:17:13.
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Jan 23rd, 2008 at 17:18:14 - Wii Play (Wii) |
SUMMARY
Wii Play is a simple yet fun set of easy games that can be played in single or multiplayer. You use a controller with a sensor in it to control the player in the game and play against AI or your friends. Some of the games also use a separate part of the controller that you can plug in. This gives you more control options.
GAMEPLAY
In my first session playing I noticed I was frustrated a lot of the time. It is actually very difficult to control the sensor controller because the response is so delicate and I found a lot of the time I was accidentally pointing off the screen and moving way to much. In fishing I found it difficult to keep the fishing hook in one place and I scared off most of the fish by splashing around too much. After some practice I gained more control. However, I found it was frustrating to learn to use the controller.
I noticed that there is no story or complex environment like many other games provide. Wii Play is vastly different from that. The aim is in no way realism. In any game with a crowd, the people are heads on stumps that bob up and down. The point of the game is clearly to have fun and not to try to imitate real life. I found that this type of goal is ideal for a video game because the whole point of playing is to enjoy your self. Realism isn't always the most enjoyable thing and Wii realized that.
I found that Wii Play provided a great environment for competition. When playing the shooting game, whoever lost was usually set on having a rematch or making it into a tournament. In this fashion, it is easy for a few people to get lost in the game, playing tournaments of laster hockey or shooting range. I believe they achieved this by providing simple tasks for each player to accomplish. In this sense the competition is so simple and plain that it comes with a certain satisfaction that detailed realism fails to deliver.
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Jan 23rd, 2008 at 17:07:05 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (PS2) |
GAMEPLAY
After playing for the second portion of time I started to regain my old muscle memory and skills. This allowed me to accomplish more difficult goals and get farther in the game. The environments are set up such that almost anything in the world is skateable. You can jump off of or grind on almost anything whether its a garbage can, bus stop, moving car or rail road track. With this amount of freedom I was able to create combinations landing me hundreds of thousands of points in one combination.
After some time my interest in the game did begin to fade a little bit. The only problem I have with THPS4 is that you have to achieve very similar goals on each level. Every time you get to a new level you still have to get the letters S-K-A-T-E in one combination and you still have to try to beat a high score. Sometimes they get creative with the goals such as interacting with non-player characters and completing environment specific tasks, but most of the time its the same old challenges.
DESIGN
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 is a decently designed game. It is fairly aesthetically pleasing and has a great amount of freedom although it can become a bit repetitive. The designers did a good job of incorporating the levels into the challenges some of the time. For example, in Alcatraz you get to ride down a steep and curvy road in a shopping cart. This is a fun and different break from the usual tasks.
This game has a feature where you can create your own skate park and then play in it. This is a lot of fun because you can create a place with ideal set ups for tricking. You can make perfect lines for combinations and then go skate them yourself. There is a huge selection of pieces to choose from and an easy to use interface which saves building the park from being an overly tedious process.
The two player mode that is offered is very entertaining. There is a selection of games to choose from, ranging from horse, to high scores, to graffiti. This also makes it more fun if there is more than one person around. I noticed that once I became familiar with the design of a level, I could move about in it more freely and create more innovative tricking combinations. There was a lot of potential for great combinations and thought put into the environment that is given to skate in.
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jrunnoe has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 6 days |
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