Saturday 9 February, 2008

Gamelog Session #2

GAMEPLAY

I had been a little familiar with Super Mario Brothers for Super Nintendo so by the second game session I had gotten a little bored. Though it had been a while since I had played this game but it just seemed like it had gotten a bit more difficult! I could still imagine someone very young play this game but it seemed to be more complicated than the original had been.

I was entertained by all the new features such as being able to pick up items such as mushrooms and Power Stars. Each world also contains its own fortress where Mario meets the Koopaling airship. My favorite feature, however, is the houses that in each level where Mario can enter and receive a new item from one out of three boxes.

DESIGN

The levels of the game had become more complex but the controls remained simple and therefore easy to learn. Because the levels had become more complicated, they were more interesting. The different worlds was the best element of this game. I also thought that it was convenient that they had created a map of all the different worlds to conquer.

The tone of the game was extremely playful mostly because of its background music and sounds. I liked the fact that at the end of each level the player would receive a new item. Super Mario Brothers 3 was definitely more complicated than the simple game I grew up with which probably affects the age range of players of this game. However it does not go too far in restricting its players. Another good feature of the game was the lack of violence in comparison to games created today.

Decent gamelog. Your gameplay sections are a bit short - more description of the gameplay mechanics, level design, etc. would help flesh them out. Your design section is a bit shallow. We're really looking for some analysis of the "why" behind design decisions there.

- Ian Rickard (Your TA/Grader this week)