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Mar 6th, 2008 at 01:38:26 - Mario Kart (Wii) |
SUMMARY
Mario Kart features everyone's favorite Mario characters from back in the day racing around mystical lands on go-karts. The interesting twist here is that all the characters are able to throw objects from their karts at the other racers to impede their progress. The characters race and race and race across 16 levels, 4 at a time, and after every 4 level conquest, the victor is given a neat trophy.
GAMEPLAY
Going into the game, I figured it would be a rather cheesy game, which I judged by the characters I saw, the levels (Moo Moo Farm, Rainbow Road, etc), and the awfully bubbly graphics running rampant through the game. This was before I played. As cheesy as it all is, the actual gameplay is seriously intense, especially in any multiplayer mode, of which there are 3: Grand Prix, Vs, and Battle. The room turned blue as my bros and I exchanged some of the gnarliest insults the world has ever heard, because things got so heated up. Neck and neck 300 yards from the finish line, so close to it, and all of a sudden, you slip on a banana peel and lose it all. Yes, you did hear right, banana peel. Characters can throw/use various objects such as banana peels, turtle shells of various colors and functions, boxes that grant said objects that are actually explosives, use stars to make themselves super fast and invincible, mushrooms to boost their speed, all kinds of good stuff. It's a very innovative feature for a game of its time, and it certainly kept things interesting, as did the ability to drift the kart around corners and the onomatopoeias that arose after a large jump, like say the one in the Royal Raceway across a lake, was cleared. And the graphics aren't so bad for a game made in 1997.
As expected from most racing games, there isn't really much of a story here. All the characters from the older NES Mario games just instinctively knew to gather at one particular spot and race their color co-ordinated go karts, which is okay, because the game itself is rather enjoyable. The races, as noted are very intense at times, and it's all good fun, but I could understand how this game could become dull. This may just be my apathy for racing games in general, but even though it's way cool to play, driving through the same 16 tracks over and over again can only be so fun. On a more positive note, the battle mode of multiplayer took me by surprise. Each character gets three balloons tied to the back of their karts, and four characters are dropped off in one of four locations, and you pick up objects and attempt to hit the other player with them, which of course makes one of the balloons break off, and the last one with a balloon attached to their vehicle wins. A neat enough little mini game to bust out at parties and have a laugh over. But even that could get old soon enough. I'd wager $5 that by the end of the next hour, I'll be bored with it, fun as it currently is.
Then, roughly 50 minutes later...
GAMEPLAY
Yeah, so, didn't even make the full hour. The game gets old a little bit. I've already been to all of the worlds, I have been through multiplayer a few times, I've won some, I've lost some, and I'm kind of done with the game for a bit. This isn't to say that I don't like the game, I haven't sworn it off for life, it's just so very limited. There isn't much to explore in the game, there isn't anything to unlock that I can see from here, one just plays the same things over and over. Why couldn't team Nintendo have done something, anything, to make this go just a little bit farther?
Boredom and disillusionment aside, it is a fun little racing game, which one would imagine would make a very good game to have on at a little party. There are still some solid neck and neck moments in the game, and multiplayer is of course awesome, so there's at least some replay value in it. Racing hectically through Yoshi Valley on narrow roads with huge cliff sides on either side is still a rather daunting feat, and the air still turns blue every time my lead is spoiled by a blue shell. All in all, the gameplay lacks depth.
DESIGN
There are good points to the design, and there are bad points. On the good camp, there is the very cool ability to shoot shells or bananas or use stars in the game to drastically affect the development of any race. This also has an effect on social interaction in gameplay, as an entire group can decide to just shoot shells at one guy the whole time and better their odds. Also innovative was changing level difficulty based on engine size. Easy meant that all characters drove with a 50cc engine, and hard meant that everyone drove a 150cc engine. And who could forget the battle mode, which keeps entire rooms of frat boys entertained for hours at a time. The levels are all a little bit different, each with their various pitfalls, themes, and shortcuts to keep players guessing. Finally, the bright, rounded feel of the graphics appeals to all ages, a great move for marketing.
On the other hand, there is no real reward system. Once a Grand Prix race is won, you get your trophy, and that's all. No story progression or characters to unlock. Just a trophy. Also lacking is a sense of challenge. There's some in-level conflict between racers, but unless an actual person challenges me to a race, there seems to be no desire to pick up a controller and drive in circles with the computer. But that's all. Still fun to pick up now and again for social reasons, but that's all.
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Feb 20th, 2008 at 02:33:20 - Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) |
SUMMARY
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time features a young elven forest type by the name of Link as a protagonist, who, as far as I currently know in my game progression, is trying to save a local wise man tree, the Great Deku Tree, from certain death by roaming through his interior and killing baddies with a magical sword that Link finds in a secret part of his small elven village.
GAMEPLAY
What really hit home with this game was the story and the way it was presented. I haven't played any of the Zelda series prior to this, but I really felt a connection with Link. His little crush on Saria and his scuffles with that neighborhood tough were subtly done, but they gave me a feel as to what his lifestyle was like, especially with the opening scene in which Navi, Link's fairy companion, flies into his house and tells us through a conversation with some type of higher being that it was time to awaken this prophet of sorts, a boy with no fairy, and accompany him on his journey to his hero-esque destiny. That sort of dialogue and character caught my attention a wee bit, as it made it sound like a grand adventure, and the vivid colors and at the time revolutionary graphics make the game flow like a 3D platformer RPG should. As the story progresses, we go from the village to saving the Deku Tree, a local wise man in tree form, and it is at this point that the puzzles that the series is supposedly reputable for kick in. In order to save the Deku Tree, Link must kill a beast that is currently inhabiting it's insides, but to get to that beast, he must find keys and use his slingshot to open the right doors to get to the beast.
The other great aspect to the game is the puzzle solving that is inherent in all the levels. As much as it makes me feel like Homer Simpson to say this, it's been keeping me busy for a while. First I had to go find a small series of keys in rooms that had a little trick to them, then I had to figure out how to get a slingshot, then I had to defeat a mini boss to get to the main boss, and I'm still working on that. But this game is such an uplifting game for me personally. It's nice to come home from work and see what Saria has to say or to get a little farther in the Deku Tree. I always feel a little better playing it, thanks to such smooth narrative.
1 Hour Later
GAMEPLAY
This game is so tight. Definitely one of my favorite games of all time. I love the story, I love the progression, I love the controller configuration, I love the currency. Seriously, they're multicolor diamonds. I got as far as getting into the Gorgon's Palace, due largely to the fact that I explored the terrain extensively. I visited the Gerudo Valley and swam in the lake and ran through a village and a ranch and helped a rancher wake up by hatching a chicken and saw the princess. I love being a part of this mini world. It's a great escape.
The minigames in the palace walls are even sick. I love everything about this game.
This time around, there were some bystanders watching as I played as Link, and the game received positive response from the people that weren't even playing it. As we took turns running around at night, we flipped out when skeletons popped out of Hyrule field, we all made horrible comments about each other's mothers while we played the various mini games, we were all in it. The game is complex enough that there are fun little things to find in the oddest locations. For example, it was all by chance that we found that Link will swan dive off the Gerudo bridge. And it was by a greater bit of coincidence that we found that he floats to a secret boulder on a ledge by the bridge if one were to jump off the bridge holding a chicken. Little secrets like that are everywhere to match the ridiculously good story and the impossibly creative depth that the game contains. I think I might just be Link for Halloween to celebrate how grand this all really is.
DESIGN
Never before and possibly never again will I find a game with the brilliant design that went into The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I still have yet to encounter a dull moment, as the story is incredibly compelling, while at the same time, if anyone should get bored with the storyline, there is enough to do as far as little side quests go to keep anyone entertained. The artistic styling alone could keep a body busy for a spell. The architecture of the different areas of the world and the levels differ greatly, and each of them has their own unique attributes and originality. The fashions the characters sport are strange, original, and interesting. So much detail went into this, and it shows best in the art that expresses so much emotion and thought in so many small ways. The boss levels are dark and foggy and a wee bit freaky deeky, while the meadows are open and inviting, while shops are warm, yet slightly uncomfortable, while Zelda's courtyard is serene and calming and bright. The game communicates a wide spectrum of moods and feelings though its art, which only helps to further the brilliant story.
In case you weren't sold already, this game has a new innovation that I haven't even shared yet. The game makes use of a magical instrument called the ocarina that allows Link to do things like communicate with Saria when he leaves to save the world from a sketchy man from his dream in the opening sequence or to present his ties with the royal family. No other games that I know of besides the Guitar Hero series have used music as a central piece of the story. In all, this is quite possibly the best game I've ever played. Final Fantasy is the only other game to have a story as original and grand, but it lacks the gameplay that Zelda does. I love this game. There is no one single thing I would change about it. I will play this game over and over until the day I day. Yee.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Feb 20th, 2008 at 23:28:26.
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Feb 8th, 2008 at 23:20:25 - Metal Gear Sold 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2) |
SUMMARY
Metal Gear Solid 2: Son's of Liberty's first hour takes place on an oil tanker off of New York. The player plays as Solid Snake, who is apparently a protagonist from previous installments, as he attempts to infiltrate this ship to take photographs of a new piece of Metal Gear, a sort of war machine, called RAY and expose it. So the object is to sneak around the ship amongst a good number of military personal in order to get the photographs and escape.
GAMEPLAY
This is definitely on my top 5 games list now. It plays so smoothly, the controls are so responsive (gently hold the 0 button to shoot out a laser sight, push harder to shoot), the enemies seem to have some amount of AI, the characters are really interesting and conflicted, and the story seems to be such a cool vigilante-esque type of dark hero story in a Batman sort of way that I personally find rather intriguing. And it doesn't seem to matter what my mood has been all day, every time I push play, the game wipes me clean and gets me in such a good mood. Possibly the greatest point to the game is the unique first person/third person shooter feel to it. It requires much more stealth than any other sort of action or shooting game I've ever played. Walking to fast or loud will alert a soldier, who in turn calls his cronies, and that complicates the game a wee bit. Most of the ones I'm used to require little more than walking into crowded rooms with some absurdly large gun and mowing them all down, so the change of pace certainly is nice.
As much as I love the gameplay, and as good a mood as it gets me in, the confusing story line is a huge turn off. All the characters are really dark and strange, and I really want to know a bit about them, but I can't do that without having played previous editions or making a Wikipedia search. The same goes for the storyline, but I have only a vague idea of what Metal Gear is and what Solid Snake actually does, or why he does it. The game should come with some sort of a guide that catches all those unfamiliar with the series up to date, but it doesn't, and it makes me sad all day. Aside from the confusing plot, the only other thing that threw me off a little bit was that there is no multiplayer, and watching it is only so fun for so long. I prefer playing socially, and that just didn't work with the game. Overall though, I really like this game.
One hour of playing later...
GAMEPLAY
One hour later, the game is still really fun to play. It gets me in a nice, euphoric, escapist mood, and the shooter setup is still really stealthy and cool. This time around, though, I have progressed to a new level and the next character that comes with it. This time, I am Raiden, I work with an organization called FOXHOUND, and I am rescuing the president from a terrorist organization, who is currently holding the president on an ocean clean up facility (I think). The game plays really easily and requires minimal thought, which can be nice, as it flows very directly and succinctly. I could play this game as long as the story keeps progressing, as it is very fun.
Alas, though, the story and characters put me off, only because I do not and cannot know anything about them. Raiden's girlfriend is somehow involved in the mission, they keep calling Raiden snake, and I'm not entirely sure what is going on at all times. I mean I know what to do, I just don't know how I got there or why it's all happening, if that makes sense. If that wasn't the case, I think this might be the ultimate game for me personally, as everything else from the graphics to the control set-up is spot on. Definitely some of the best gameplay I've ever experienced.
DESIGN
Whoever designed this game has really good ideas as far as games go. Players are kept occupied with different types of tasks that range from stealthy snooping to bomb location and diffusion to shoot outs and all back again. It all goes down in innovative, complex levels that don't occur in too many other games, which is nice, as the levels also help to set a really dark mood through the use of shadow and darker earth-toned hues to match the dark story line and secretive, edgy characters. The game keeps the player in constant conflict with all the tasks and the confusing story and the hints of serious confusion within Raiden, as bits of this nefarious scheme and his relationship with his girlfriend are all unraveled and complicated though a series of events. And all of this is guided by the semi-occasional cut scene, that unfortunately usually leaves me more confused than confident with what I was doing.
Like I keep saying, all I would change about MGS2 is the unnecessarily tied up story and the lack of any socially redeeming qualities to the game. It would be so unbelievably cool to have a little one on one fight to the death between you and your buddy as Raiden and Solid Snake on a grungy oil tanker filled with hostile Marines. It would be even cooler to know what I was doing, but thems the breaks. I can only assume that the story will keep getting really quirky until at some point it all becomes clear through some crazy event and then all will be spanky. The fast pace and mini puzzle things are really fun, and completing them is very rewarding. All in all, there are many more hours of playability in this awesome game, and I hope to enjoy that at some point soon. Go buy this game.
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Jan 18th, 2008 at 12:48:52 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (PS2) |
SUMMARY
THPS4 is a skating game that stretches across several new and increasingly difficult levels filled with tricky objectives and hosted by a crew of friendly looking skater punks. The main objective is to collect all possible collectible objects, such as levels, skaters, and gear by completing more objectives in the levels, or by collecting money found strewn about the levels. The game's multi player mode is renowned for it's level of fun at parties or small get togethers.
GAMEPLAY
After busting out another hour, my mind hasn't changed much. I still think the characters are dull and need their own story lines to follow in the game, I still think that it's exactly like the other games, just with better graphics and flow, and I still think it's totally boss. The one thing that has changed is that I can see how this game can get old fast. As ridiculously cool as it is, there are just so many limits. Not only are the objectives in each level repetitive, save a few random ones that really incorporate some crazy new approach, like trying to hold on to the back of some felon's car as he speeds away from a crime scene, but what happens after I drop a few hours into the game and beat it? Similarly, the games in multi player get old. I can only whoop on my crew for so long before it just gets too easy. That kind of threw me off.
Aside from that though, after a few hours, the novelty has yet to wear off. I've gotten as far as the shipyard level since I started on Thursday afternoon, and I'm still really into it. Multi player is still fun, if a worthy opponent steps up (ha), and I'm curious to see what the next levels are like, especially the carnival. It's also a change of pace to play with a few cheats on, like moon gravity, just to get a different feel from the levels. I would imagine that a person could invest a pretty large amount of time into this game without it getting boring at any point. This game is well worth the $20 any local Target would charge, and if you haven't played it yet, you should.
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ajgrau has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 3 days |
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