Monday 14 January, 2008

Final Gameplay Thoughts:

In the final 45 minutes of play I noticed the storyline speed up. I found myself at the final boss much faster than I am used to with games. In one aspect this was a big disappointment because of how enjoyable the game was for me. However, I believe this was actually a very nice decision on the developers part. By having the last part of the game speed up in pace it increased the sense of urgency and actually got me stressed out a bit.

An important part for me in my experience playing a game is how fun the final boss is to fight and the difficulty of the boss. The final boss in Infection was definitely a fun final boss. Skeith ( The boss ) constantly made it a struggle to keep your characters at top strength. Occasionally if you are unlucky enough Skeith will data drain on of your characters which gives them like every status effect known in the game. I found that frustrating but a good frustrating. I believe final bosses should be frustrating otherwise where is the challenge?

DESIGN:

innovation
-

I found a few things innovative about this game, including the fact the game is a game within a game. You act a character who is playing a game. Through this they were able to create a simulated MMORPG which I found very interesting to play. The idea of a virus infecting the game inside the game and its effect on the "real life" individuals who played that game also was quite innovative. The virus is a thought provoking ideal. I kept asking myself, What if this actually happened?

level design
-
The level design of the game was unfortunately repetitive unless there was a special event going on in the game. Unlike most of the MMORPGs i have played the simulated MMORPG in .hack//infection was extremely extremely simple in the level design department. Most of the areas you fight in are similar to others in the game. The only difference is the occasional color change and the randomization of where monsters appear and the layout of the dungeons. It didn't really greatly decrease the enjoyment of the game but I would've preferred it to have been more of a variety.

cutscene use
-

The cutscenes were used perfectly in this game. It was mainly the use of the cutscenes and the shift in pace that made the storyline of the game enticing. The developers were able to accurately emulate the sense of duality that exists in conversations in MMORPGs. People could be talking about their real lives or their life in the game and the cutscenes in infection really captured that feel. The use of a storyline that both covered the in game MMORPG world and the in game real world also made me think about the correlations in our world. It made me think about how much MMOs can actually effect someone's real life if you can't distinguish that clearly between reality and virtuality.

Overall
-

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed .Hack//Infection and can't help but begin to start the next in the series.

I got really addicted to this game when I played it, and I agree with you about how the story was really interesting. You probably know this, but there is an anime about this world as well.

Good analysis, this is what we're looking for in these entries, so keep up the great work!

-Anne (TA)