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Allison's Mario Party (N64)
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| [January 20, 2008 07:48:56 PM]
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Entry #2
Gameplay:
I enjoyed my second round of Mario Party much more than my first. The company was just as great (mostly the same people), but I did not feel as lost in the games. Instead of going down to the Mini-game Stadium, we went to DK’s Jungle Adventure. This board made much more sense to me because we were not going around the same path over and over again. There were intersections where we had to choose which direction we wanted to go, hazards in the form of Browser and rolling boulders, and a clear goal of collecting stars and coins to earn the golden bananas. Even though several of the mini-games were the same as before, I had less trouble with them this time. There was less confusion because I had seen them before and I had a better idea of what was supposed to happen.
In this round, there were only three of us playing so the computer played the fourth role. We still felt like the computer had an unfair advantage even when we made the computer play on a more difficult level, so as a group we decided to gang up on the computer. We always rooted against the computer almost as though a common enemy created a stronger bond between us. Whenever ghosts gave us the option we stole coins and even stars from the computer. We were all very happy when the computer did not finish in first place.
Design:
I found I had problems with the view in many of the mini-games. In the racing game, Slot Car Derby, the view was back far enough so the whole track could be seen, but I found that the avatars were too small because of this and I could not always keep track of which one was mine. The view of the diving game, Treasure Divers, also caused problems because the screen would zoom in only to encompass the avatars. This made it so when a player was diving you were unable to see the location of the treasure chests. It is difficult for players to figure out which way to go because of this. Only when they reached the edge of the screen did the view zoom out to encompass more area. There must be a medium between these two extremes, and I hope I will be able to find it for my game.
With time, two other features of the game began to wear on my friends and me simply because they were always the same. At first, the music is okay, upbeat and almost unnoticed. After a while, however, it becomes annoying hearing the same thing repeatedly, especially when we would take a break and there is no variation. It did not occur to us at the time to put the TV on mute, but it would be nice if there were a wider variation so we would not want to mute it. The animation of moving Toad, on both DK’s Jungle Adventure and Yoshi’s Tropical Island, was the same every time he moved. Both my roommate and I got tired of watching it. It does not take that long to run through it, but it would be nice if there were a way to cut around it. When the game is first starting, there is dialogue between all the characters. If you have heard it before, it is possible to skip by pressing “Start.” It would be nice if there were a feature similar to this for the repeat animations.
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| [January 19, 2008 11:29:26 PM]
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Gamelog #2
Entry #1
Summary:
Mario Party is a board game style video game designed for one to four players. Contrary to many board games, the goal is not to be the first person around the board, but to collect as many stars and coins while traveling the board. Coins are earned by landing on certain spaces (blue) or winning mini-games. They may also be lost by landing on red spaces or loosing mini-games. Stars may be bought for twenty coins or stolen from other players. The player with the most stars at the end wins. Ties are broken by the number of coins players have.
Gameplay:
My first expedition through Mario Party was down into the Mini-Game Stadium. I had never played before, but my friends assured me there was nothing to it. I enjoyed games such as Shy Guy Says and Bombs Away, but did not care for Platform Peril and Bash ‘n’ Crash. In Bash ‘n’ Crash, I had trouble moving my character around and felt like I was just moving in circles. In Platform Peril, I fell early and wanted another try, but this game does not allow that. I suspect I just need more practice with both of these. I felt that with Shy Guy Says and Bombs Away less experience is necessary with video games to be successful, and so they are friendlier for beginners. A fair number of games in the stadium had a dominant streak of luck however. At one point in our journey around the board, I was in the lead, but I felt it was undeserved. I had not really done anything; it was pure chance. I suppose this is not a bad feature for a game. This way almost everyone has a chance to be in the lead at some point; however, I felt that it would have been more satisfying if I had actually earned the lead.
The game itself I could just as easily leave than play. There are other games I have found much more engrossing, however I thoroughly enjoyed the social network that formed while playing this game. I get along with my apartment mates and talk to them frequently, but we rarely do anything together. I invited them to play with me and everyone had a wonderful time. There was comforting of those who lost mini-games and reassurance to those who become frustrated by the sheer random chance of the game. We had to take turns playing because there were not enough controllers for everyone, yet even the spectators were very involved. Everyone hurried back after our food break and there were a few intense discussions over the outcome of a few games. Although I am hoping for a more enjoyable experience with the actual game in my next session, I could not hope for better company.
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Allison's Mario Party (N64)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Friday 18 January, 2008
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