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Thursday 6 March, 2008
GAMEPLAY
Before playing the game, I looked at a few reviews to see if it was something I would like. One thing every review I read said was that the combat was sub-par. However, I disagree with the reviews completely. The combat was really fun and entertaining. It wasn't really deep, but it definately does some things right. You do combos by pushing square and x, and then finish off enemies by snapping their heads off with triangle. If an enemy tries to do a special, you can counter it with triangle to do a really stylistic move on the enemy to counter it. I could see it getting tiresome over time, but in the two hours I played it was really fun. One thing they could have done to improve upon it, however, is change up the types of counters you can do and have multiple combos, not just random button mashing.
The graphics for the game really amaze me. The visuals in the game are on par with your average Playstation 2 game which I find amazing.
I found myself really drawn to the story and I was really hooked on finding out what would happen next. Dead Head Fred is the first video game to be recognized by the WGA (Writers Guild of America) which is the reason I chose to play it. This game could have easily gotten away with a sub par plot since its style is so over the top, but they really didn't slack off when it came to the story.
DESIGN
I really like the idea of changing heads to get different abilities. This could have turned out really terrible if executed poorly, but they really made it work. Each head has strengths and weaknesses which keeps you switching between them constantly. When you take on a new head, your character changes his stance and even walks differently.
This game creates conflict through waves of enemies, puzzles, and trying to figure out where to go. The game is linear for the most part, but there are times in which there are multiple paths and you have to correctly choose which way to go.
The game has a really dark tone. The color palette perfectly blends bright colors found in cartoons with a more dark palette more common with action and horror games. I think more games should try and blend these two tones together because I think they blend together perfectly.
One major problem I've had with other PSP games is that they are extremely unforgiving when it comes to save points and continue points, like in Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters. Ratchet and Clank was a fun game, but the respawn points were so few and far between that it made the game completely unenjoyable at times and I'd have to replay areas over and over to get back to a challenging part, just to die again. Dead Head Fred, on the other hand, really handles save points and respawn points right. Everytime you enter a room, a respawn point is created and you can save your progress in whatever room you wish. It made the game far more enjoyable and a whole lot less tedious. I think frequent respawn points, especially in portable games in which you might only play for a couple minutes at a time, are an essential element in game design. They are overlooked far too often.
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