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Saturday 26 January, 2008
Gamelog # 2 – part 2 (Super Mario 64)
Gameplay:
I’ve played Super Mario 64 two times now and I find that the more I play it the more I want to play it. At first I just figured I would play a few levels and then return the game to the library because I really don’t have enough time to play it, but I just can’t bring myself to return it. There is just something about the gameplay that makes Mario games so addictive and I don’t really know why, but I can hold testament to it. I would speculate that it definitely has something to do with collecting stars and achieving goal that are not too far out of reach. It seems similar to the satisfying feeling one gets when crossing something out on a to-do list. Of course there is also the atmosphere and the gameplay that are very important. Anyway, I’ll try to talk more about that later.
This time around I entered a couple more worlds and played the first level for a second time. I was surprised at how much harder the second world was because I thought that I had gotten a handle of the controls. Something about the new enemies and obstacles made Mario want to run off the side of the cliff about ten times. I also enjoyed how each world had a distinct feel to it. I liked the ice world just because for some reason I like the idea of snowy places and because I was fun to slide down the hill (at least it was fun when I intended to slide down the hills).
Playing through the fist world a couple more times I realized that the world changed a little bit and I realized that some task were much more difficult then others. It’s was interesting to see how many different task there were to do in the world and things that seemed to have no purpose in the first run through were suddenly keys to unlocking stars. I thought that this added a lot to the replay value of the game and I could see myself trying to get all the stars on each stage.
As far as general gameplay goes I did have some more experiences. For one thing it seemed like the enemies became more of a challenge. Another cool thing was that I learned that I could dive and snatch up small enemies, it didn’t mean much but it was fun. Also I found that if I paused the game I could get a good zoomed out view of the surrounding area.
I did have some not so exciting experiences the second time around. For example, I constantly found myself accidentally sliding and not being able to get out of it and my joystick had sensitivity issued because it is old and worn down. Also I still found the bosses and most of to be fairly easy to beat
Design:
Most gamers would agree that Super Mario 64 has excellent game design but it is hard to pin point exactly what makes it so good. I would argue that the key elements to the games success are its atmosphere and its gameplay.
One of the game strongest attributes is its ability to set up and maintain a powerful atmosphere or tone which ensnares the player. One of the ways the game does this is with its graphical and audio style. For example the game immediately starts off with a positive tone by showering you with color and familiar upbeat music. In addition, through having slightly less detailed and unrealistic art the game gives off the feeling of a surrealism and fantasy. Believe me when Mario is drawn in full detail it is really creepy and so by not including creepy details the game designers are able to make Mario’s world feel light hearted and charming. The style of the artwork generally stays the same throughout the levels, but through exaggerated colors and shapes each level is able to pull of its own unique atmosphere. For example, the ice world is showered in blue and has very steep inclines and sudden drops which can’t help but give you the feeling of being high on top a mountain; even though a real mountain would look nothing like that.
The music is just as important if not more important than the graphics. The music can make you feel happy go lucky like it usually does, but it can also give you a feeling of urgency and importance, like it often does in boss fights. The sound effects are also very good as conveying atmosphere and emotion, whether it is the diabolical sound of Bowser laughing, the simple sound of you sliding down a slope, or the pleasant sounds related to getting a star, all the sounds put you deeper into the world.
Other key parts of the atmosphere are the story and the characters. The story is one part of the atmosphere that his mixed results. On the one hand its simplicity allows for it to be understood and followed by a large audience. On the other hand you could argue that the story is to simple and subsequently not very engaging. I feel that one way the game could improve on this would be to put some more story based cut scene into the game and to at least make the text bubbles more readable by using a bolder font and a solid background, if not spicing up the contents of the text. Of course just because the story is not very engaging it does not mean that the characters are not, in fact the characters are very engaging. The characters are able to show a great range of emotion through facial expression, body language, and sound effects. All of these aspects add up to create very realistic characters which have personalities other their own. Ultimately this game makes great use of graphical, audio, and character design to create an engaging atmosphere.
But of course if atmosphere was all Super Mario 64 had it would just be a movie. What make Super Mario 64 a game is its superb gameplay. One of the best aspects of Mario’s gameplay is that it has very simple control mechanics in that it only uses a few buttons, but when you combine the buttons you are able to create many different outcomes. The simplicity makes the game accessible to people who are not very apt at gameplay and the possibility for complexity gives experienced players more to learn from the game and more options for play style. Another factor that leads to a wide audience is that many of the obstacles require both mental and gameplay skills to overcome.
Along with the gameplay comes the gameworld design. The gameworld often feels free and wide open because of the 3D graphics and the seemingly extra areas of land, but when you examine the game closely you realize that there is really one route to progress through the game. However more freedom can be seen within the path in that the player can get past obstacles in more than one way. This gameworld approach has multiple benefits because it gives the player a feeling of freedom and choice, but the game designer still maintains most of the control on the overall gameplay experience.
In particular the levels of the game maintain the same core gameworld foundations and gameplay, but somehow every level seems fresh and varied. Part of this is due to the different atmospheres of the levels, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that in every level there are new obstacles and enemies introduced that challenge the player and require them to learn more about the game. The levels also do a good job of pacing the difficulty, each level seems to get harder at a steady rate and there are no huge jumps in difficulty. The only problem I did have with difficulty was that the bosses seemed a little too easy, and therefore more of an afterthought than an actual challenge. Another good aspect of the level design is that each level has multiple goals that have to be accomplished this is definitely a good economic use of the levels and adds to the replay value of the game. Also when you see how many different things there are to accomplish in a world it makes the world seem very large.
The game also has an excellent reward system which makes you feel good when you succeed and reinforces you with consistent victory animation and sound. The reward system also keeps you hooked because you want to keep getting stars and unlocking new stages. Also you get smaller rewards such as coins for smaller task such as defeating an enemy which makes it seem like almost nothing you do in the game is unproductive.
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