Sunday 20 January, 2008

Gamelog #1
Entry 1
Summary:
To me, Tekken represents the ever-evolving industry of single and two-player fighting games. It was developed by Namco, and released in the US in February 2005 after first being released in arcade format. When played on Playstation 2, the d-pad is the primary motion control thus leaving out the joysticks (L3, R3), but in terms of countering moves, and attacking at a fluid tempo I found this to be a useful feature. Another very attractive aspect to this game is the amount of available characters, and within that, the realm of move banks for each.

Gameplay:
There were many facets to this game that seemed to make it especially more enjoyable than the previous versions, but also more attractive than many other fighter games. Although it didn’t necessarily include counter-attacks, the variety of characters and their immediate connection to the progressive storyline of the game holds the player’s interest. As far as the rules are concerned, they are based primarily on the number of lives each player is originally given. From this preset, one can choose to either fight a shorter match with each player given only three lives, or a longer game where the winner only succeeds after five winning rounds. The only exception to this rule is the outcome of a draw, where both of the player’s live meter’s run out at the same time. That would mean that there are really only three possible outcomes throughout the game (winning, loosing, and draws).
Because certain moves, like the invisible jump kick by Raven are more or less elegant and aesthetically pleasing, it entices people to feel more upset when attacked by them, but more fervent when using them. The individual player effort is mostly in the blocking patterns, and the timing that most fighting games require, but until those skills are developed, the gratification from a winning outcome is unknown, and simple longed for. Once satisfaction is obtained through a good match where exceptional moves are demonstrated, and one becomes the clear winner, the incentive from then on is to feel that same winning emotion. For me, once I won a single game with Marshall Law, I knew that his array of moves, and overall accessibility as a character made him my favorite character. Overall Tekken is a very enjoyable game that keeps you interested, and striving to complete showy moves while defending enough to maintain health throughout the match.

This is a great start! I do not see your second entry for the gamelog anywhere though. The second entry should give a further discussion of gameplay (after you've played the game for another 45 minutes), and then discuss design of the game.

Also, in the future, please put a single blank line between paragraphs. It makes it considerably easier for us to read your gamelogs.

-Gillian Smith (TA)