Saturday 26 January, 2008

[ entry #2 ]

GAMEPLAY
In my second game session, I invited a friend to play. I wasn’t really sure what the second player would be able to do. To my surprise he was able to make me jump, which was exploited for a short moment, as I fell to my death. He was also able to stun enemies, making it easier for me to defeat them, as well as collecting star bits and launching them at enemies. It allowed me to focus on getting through the level without worrying about collecting helpful but unnecessary items.

I found that I played much faster with help from a friend and I think it would be nice to trade off playing if one player gets tired of it. We had bystanders watching us play and they gave suggestions on what to do when it seemed that we were stuck. If I didn’t have homework to do that day I probably would have played non-stop because of the addictive gameplay.

DESIGN
Super Mario Galaxy definitely improves upon past Mario games with updated graphics that make the world seem more alive. The objects in the game world have sharper textures and a shiny glow at the edges. Although the player experiences a more vivid world, the core gameplay is pretty much unchanged with the new control scheme. A push of a button combined with a shake of the wiimote causes Mario to jump and spin, allowing him to reach higher places. The spin attack is also an easy way to defeat most weak enemies, but others require ground-pounding.

When walking around a spherical land mass, the camera caused some frustration. One moment I’m walking straight and after the camera turns I’m walking another way, possibly into an enemy or hazardous area. While it may seem annoying, I believe that it is just a small challenge that can be overcome with time. The level design is very innovative in the way that Mario can move around a land mass, always attracted to the gravitational center. Sometimes the player is able to jump away from the land and float in space. There is a limit to how far he can go, and it is never too far away from a source of gravity to move toward.

I wish the game had a more extensive component that dealt with the two-player mode. I think it would have made the game more fun to play, and give versatility to the game as well.

This is a good analysis of the game, but I'm still wishing you'd do a bit more analysis in your design section. The design section is sort of the meat of the assignment. :) Perhaps you could suggest some improvements for the things you don't like and go into more depth about the things you do like and why they make the game better.

-Anne (TA)