Tuesday 15 January, 2008

GAMEPLAY
I found that the more progress one makes in the game the more exciting it becomes. There still isn't much development of characters; Link is just Link. But that's one thing I like about this game: there is very little I need to know as a player before I can go out slashing monsters. Actually, this kind of becomes tedious--while perhaps good for their time, the monsters score pretty low in the originality department. Blobs are fun to shoot for only so long.
In terms of social interactions, there were lots of directions from my onlooker friends--which door to go into, who to talk to, etc. Also, there is down time that allows for uninterrupted social interactions between watchers and players; it doesn't take that much focus to run around from place to place on the world map.

DESIGN
Sidescrolling is the design feature that gets immediate attention from the player, especially one familiar with the original Zelda. It feels like, I don't know...NOT Zelda. But I can make no criticism on that subject other than the fact that it takes away from the recognizability of the game. Another general criticism: I'm a little disappointed with the battle mode now--after playing for a while I can still only shoot magic and attack with a sword, which feels limited.
In Zelda II there are no cutscenes. No background or story history is explained during gameplay. Townsfolk will tell you hints, but nothing that reveals the backstory. This was probaby never a problem--even when the game first came out, players were most likely already familiar with The Legend of Zelda and knew what to do. Today, it is even less of a problem; the basic premise has been recreated so much that I'd argue no explanation is necessary. In fact, I kind of like this about the game because it lets you go right into the action. Another plus is the music. The Zelda theme takes every fan back to their early days.

A good initial entry. In future entries try to ask yourself why these games are making you do the actions or feeling the way it is and ask if it makes the game better or worse from a design perspective. Try to stay away from a play by play entry of what it was like to play the game.

The chances are we have played the games you choose, especially very popular games, and you should spend that space writing more on design opposed to wha tthe game is about.