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KinokonoYama's Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
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| [February 20, 2008 05:47:23 AM]
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GRAND THEFT AUTO: SAN ANDREAS GAME LOG ENTRY #2
GAMEPLAY:
During my second play session, I noticed that there were very few flaws that I could find in such a large, emergent game. One thing I found somewhat annoying was the AI of the other drivers on the road. Many times was I chasing after someone for an important mission, only to be hindered by crashing into some poorly placed car. While I realize that this might be an element of challenge in the game, I still found it aggravating when I would be flung from my motorcycle and fail the mission because I lost the person I had been chasing.
On a brighter note, a very nice touch to the game was the ability to listen to radio. Not only was the music from that time period (The Early 90’s), but it also made missions as well as driving long distances from place to place much easier and realistic. The implementation of a pseudo-talk radio was also very funny to listen to and helped greatly to ease the tension after the failure of a mission. The voice acting was also very convincing, the fact that they hired professional actors to work on the cast was also an interesting bit of trivia. I found that Samuel Jackson’s portrayal of Officer Tenpenny was so in depth that I found myself talking back to the game in response to some of Officer Tenpenny’s orders.
All the Grand Theft Auto games have been the subjects of a lot of criticism and scrutiny. Their violent content and course language have gained them M-ratings and shunning from the parents of gamers. Truth be told: Grand Theft Auto San Andreas never makes the player commit violent acts on innocent people. I have played through the game and there was no instance where I was forced to harm a completely innocent person. While the game did let you run over innocent people in the street, it never made you run people over. However, despite the fact that the people you are made to kill are gang members or drug dealers, they are still people and I found the fact Rockstar did not put a disclaimer that violence is always wrong.
DESIGN:
The design of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was truly something that could have only been attained after years of experience of making games. I found the game’s ability to keep me occupied was something to truly marvel at. When I would want to do something other than the story (or was stuck on a mission) there were plenty of other things I could do instead of progressing with the story. The graphics used were also very detailed and the designs of some of the cars and bikes were very original and pleasing.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was clearly designed for extreme and casual gamers in mind. With the built-in codes that allows less patient players some “help” with difficult game obstacles. The addition of side-missions and the ability to purchase various pieces of real estate, residential and business was a great element in the game’s reality factor. The ability to pick and choose what houses and businesses to spend your “hard-earned” money on really made you fell like a full-blown gangster. Overall, I found Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to be a really well-rounded game with very few flaws or bugs that I could find. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as had many elements that appealed to gamers from nearly every category, whether it was driving, shooting or dating Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has it all.
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| [February 20, 2008 04:26:21 AM]
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GRAND THEFT AUTO GAMELOG ENTRY #1
SUMMARY:
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas begins with the main character, CJ, returning home after many years to attend his mother’s funeral. CJ reunites with all his childhood friends and family-members and sees that things are not as he left them. CJ notices that his neighborhood is full of drug-dealers and that the gang-unit of the police, lead by a corrupt cop named Officer Tenpenny, turn a blind eye to all the gang violence in the area. The beginning of the game involves doing some missions to help clean up the surrounding neighborhoods and restore the respect of the gang that he used to run with, The Grove Street Families. The game continues on with CJ finding out that he is being betrayed by once close friends and takes action to stop them. CJ’s journey takes him through a huge map of a pseudo-California landscape where CJ meets a colorful cast of characters that in the end help him take back the city of Los Santos for the Grove Street Families and take revenge on his back-stabbing friends.
GAMEPLAY:
The gameplay in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is identical to is PS2 predecessors with the new swimming feature lacked by Rockstar’s previous titles. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas introduces the characters so wonderfully so that you feel sympathetic to their cause and develop an emotional connection with the characters. Not only does the swimming feature add more realism to the game, but now your main character has variable statistics that can make the game easier or more difficult depending on their level. CJ’s skill in driving cars, riding bikes and riding motorcycles will rise the more you use the certain vehicles. Adding to the driving skill feature was the ability to modify your character’s stats. By increasing your character’s strength, you could do more damage in fist fights, by making your character really fat, you could decrease your running speed. Not only did these changes have gameplay effects, but you could also see the changes in CJ’s appearance.
I found the somewhat non-linear mission-based gameplay to be very efficient in telling the story. It gave the game a very real, emerssive feeling to it. I could do some missions for this person, and then some for another, then go back to the first guy and finish his missions. The only time when you were limited to one series of missions were in the parts of the game where it was crucial to the progression of the storyline that you complete the missions. There were also side-missions where you could play as an ambulance driver, fireman or vigilante cop that when completed would give your character bonuses, such as extra health or immunity to damage from fire.
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KinokonoYama's Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Wednesday 20 February, 2008
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