what's with all these game titles that are acronyms that also start with P? Ah whatever, this time, it's a "Propelling Unit System for Humans." Mmmmmmkkkaaaaayyyyyyy
so this game is a puzzle platformer in which you have to place charges at certain points in the map, which you then detonate with proper timing to propell you to your desired destination. Imagine if there was a mod for Team Fortress 2 where you have to get yourself to certain areas of the map as the Demoman by placing sticky charges all over the place. Now imagine that from a 2D platformer perspective.
Everything is done relatively well with the exception of one thing. Let me get the praise out of the way first so I can get a'nitpickin.
The game feels great to play. Your character has a cool motion blur when being propelled, everything feels very fluid, and the charges are powerful enough to make you feel like the son of Thor. On top of that, the sound direction is flawless, the music putting you in just the right mood to figure out some puzzles, and the visual style is...well, it's nothing outstanding, but it gets the job done and gets it done well.
alright, now for that one fatal flaw. The loading times. Ooohhhh, the loooooooaaaaddddiinnnggg tiiimmeessss. A game like this involves a lot of trial and error. A game like that can NOT afford to have unnecessarily long iteration time. It turns the entire experience from rewarding to frustrating with unbelievable efficiency. Thank DigiGod there's a level select with all levels available from the start, or I might not have gotten through this one.
All that aside, though, the rest of the game really is very well crafted. There are multiple levels of "win" you can achieve, and once you get the best ending, they let you toy around with the physics in an empty room for a while, which is a good way to unwind after all those genital-crushingly difficult levels.
I don't play the majority of these games to completion, mostly in the interest of time, but this one was able to get me through the entire experience, which in and of itself is a mark of its quality. If only the iteration time was a bit less infuriating, this game might have taken its place among my favorites.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay...keep staying...it's going to be a while.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25988
Sunday, June 30, 2013
P.H.L.O.P
It's worth pointing out that this game's title stands for "Physics Has Limitless Observable Possibilities," which is ironic for 2 reasons.
First is just the simply fallacious nature of the title. I don't know much about physics, but I do know that there is in fact a finite set of observable phenomena and anyone who says differently is just a Michio Kaku wannabe who tries to sound smart with fancy semantics.
But before we get too off-track, on to point two: this game's physics engine (which is what the entire game is based on) is broken. At any given moment, the marble that you're trying to guide to a goal can drop straight through the tracks you've set up with no warning. So I guess in the contrived world of P.H.L.O.P, physics has a still limited, but vastly less so, set of observable possibilities.
But if the game were playable, how would it hold up? Not badly, I suppose. It's a puzzle game where there is more than one right answer to any given problem, which is always a plus in my book. With the exception of the partially intangible blocks, everything behaves like you'd expect it would, so I guess this game is pretty well put together otherwise.
and...that's it. It was a clever concept with good overall design that just needed a little more polishing and playtesting before it was ready to be called a "good game."
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay limitless
Links
Unfortunately Named Flop (see what I did there?): https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=410
First is just the simply fallacious nature of the title. I don't know much about physics, but I do know that there is in fact a finite set of observable phenomena and anyone who says differently is just a Michio Kaku wannabe who tries to sound smart with fancy semantics.
But before we get too off-track, on to point two: this game's physics engine (which is what the entire game is based on) is broken. At any given moment, the marble that you're trying to guide to a goal can drop straight through the tracks you've set up with no warning. So I guess in the contrived world of P.H.L.O.P, physics has a still limited, but vastly less so, set of observable possibilities.
But if the game were playable, how would it hold up? Not badly, I suppose. It's a puzzle game where there is more than one right answer to any given problem, which is always a plus in my book. With the exception of the partially intangible blocks, everything behaves like you'd expect it would, so I guess this game is pretty well put together otherwise.
and...that's it. It was a clever concept with good overall design that just needed a little more polishing and playtesting before it was ready to be called a "good game."
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay limitless
Links
Unfortunately Named Flop (see what I did there?): https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=410
Friday, June 28, 2013
Origami and Overload
I only got around to playing these games at 9:30PM due to work and personal obligations; plus, neither of these games is terribly substantive, so today seems like a good day for speed-blogging
Origami is up first:
I'm getting rather sick of all these platformers, I've got to say. I've got nothing against them when they try something new, but the noble platformer seems to be the go-to genre for anyone who just learned how to put sprites in their game and wants to try their hand at making something that kind of resembles physics.
That said, Origami does try something new; it just works like absolute rubbish. The gimmick (notice: not "unique gameplay mechanic," "gimmick.") this time around is that you can conquer air, land and sea by morphing into either a boat, person or crane with the "A," "S," and "D" buttons, respectively. This seems like a good idea in theory, but the controls are just unresponsive. I press a button and nothing happens.
See, that's what I would be saying if I didn't go back and replay the game to make sure I wasn't missing something. turns out, I was. The game just blocked those functions for the first level because the level was designed around traveling in human form. That way, the game could introduce you to the other forms in later levels. Then...may I ask...Why in the name of holy hell would the tutorial tell me about those functions if the game didn't want me to use them? It's completely self-contradictory design. Not the kind of quality I would expect from a game design student.
And oh god, I haven't even talked about the sound direction yet. It's a reasonably cool 3-second loop that sounds very "origami," but it repeats over...and over...and over...and over until all you want is to get it out of your brain!
Even past that, there are some technical issues with the game. It's easy to get stuck on walls, the hitboxes are a bit too large, and the good old "leap of faith" makes about 50 too many appearances. All in all, it's just not a very well designed game. It just feels like they made a platformer, added in a gimmick, gave it a decent visual style and called it a day. Video games are way more complex than that, and it breaks my shriveled little heart to see the supposed future of game designers not treating them as such.
Alright, let's move on to Overload.
I'm a bit more impressed with this one, though there's really not that much to talk about. Ever played Zuma? Well then, you've played Overload. The only difference between the two games is that Overload is in a 3D, first-person perspective, which I think is a nice touch. Since you're aiming along the z-axis, it's a lot harder to judge the distance between your projectile and its target. Some may consider this annoying, but I consider it an extra dose of icing on this already unfairly addictive cake.
aaand, that's where the review ends. Good thing I bundled these two reviews, or the one for Overload might seem really pathetic. It ain't my fault, though. As I said, there's nothing else to talk about.
So yeah, that's all I got for now. Until next time, stay inventive
Links
Original Me: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24632
Creativity Underload: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=503
Origami is up first:
I'm getting rather sick of all these platformers, I've got to say. I've got nothing against them when they try something new, but the noble platformer seems to be the go-to genre for anyone who just learned how to put sprites in their game and wants to try their hand at making something that kind of resembles physics.
That said, Origami does try something new; it just works like absolute rubbish. The gimmick (notice: not "unique gameplay mechanic," "gimmick.") this time around is that you can conquer air, land and sea by morphing into either a boat, person or crane with the "A," "S," and "D" buttons, respectively. This seems like a good idea in theory, but the controls are just unresponsive. I press a button and nothing happens.
See, that's what I would be saying if I didn't go back and replay the game to make sure I wasn't missing something. turns out, I was. The game just blocked those functions for the first level because the level was designed around traveling in human form. That way, the game could introduce you to the other forms in later levels. Then...may I ask...Why in the name of holy hell would the tutorial tell me about those functions if the game didn't want me to use them? It's completely self-contradictory design. Not the kind of quality I would expect from a game design student.
And oh god, I haven't even talked about the sound direction yet. It's a reasonably cool 3-second loop that sounds very "origami," but it repeats over...and over...and over...and over until all you want is to get it out of your brain!
Even past that, there are some technical issues with the game. It's easy to get stuck on walls, the hitboxes are a bit too large, and the good old "leap of faith" makes about 50 too many appearances. All in all, it's just not a very well designed game. It just feels like they made a platformer, added in a gimmick, gave it a decent visual style and called it a day. Video games are way more complex than that, and it breaks my shriveled little heart to see the supposed future of game designers not treating them as such.
Alright, let's move on to Overload.
I'm a bit more impressed with this one, though there's really not that much to talk about. Ever played Zuma? Well then, you've played Overload. The only difference between the two games is that Overload is in a 3D, first-person perspective, which I think is a nice touch. Since you're aiming along the z-axis, it's a lot harder to judge the distance between your projectile and its target. Some may consider this annoying, but I consider it an extra dose of icing on this already unfairly addictive cake.
aaand, that's where the review ends. Good thing I bundled these two reviews, or the one for Overload might seem really pathetic. It ain't my fault, though. As I said, there's nothing else to talk about.
So yeah, that's all I got for now. Until next time, stay inventive
Links
Original Me: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24632
Creativity Underload: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=503
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Orblitz
So this game is literally unplayable without a mouse, and while this has been a perfectly good excuse for me to not review a game in the past, I figured since my last post was a not real exe, I owed it to you guys to find an old junker mouse and play. Appreciate me!
Ehh, even after that, this game is supposed to be played multiplayer....we've been through this song and dance before...
well anyway, this is a game that I can appreciate only from the perspective of a video game aficionado. Kind of in the same way food critics are required to speak well of certain types of full bodied yet utterly repulsive cheese, I feel obligated to give this game a nod because it's "really good if you're into that."
This game works rather similarly to a 3D Luminaria. Instead of guiding beams of light to certain goals via angled blocks, you're guiding quantized spheres. Insert physics joke here.
So why is this game so "good?" well I think it's because they had a lot of opportunities to screw up, but didn't take them. For example, most games that want you to rotate the world instead of the camera to adjust your viewpoint allow you to do so by holding RMB and moving the mouse around. This one, however, simply lets you use WASD, which is much easier to control.
The design is also laudable. There's not much to talk about here, but the 3D is pulled off nicely. Some may complain that the overgrown grass may get in the way of the spheres, but that annoyance is your own fault because of the ease with which you can fix your view.
In general, the game really makes you feel as if you have full control over whatever goes on. Any misstep is your fault and your fault alone. Of course, I'm saying this as a guy who played the game as if it were singleplayer, which essentially reduced the game to a couple of really easy puzzles, so maybe my opinion isn't really indicative of the final product.
Well whatever. I reviewed a game that ought not to be reviewed. My challenges for the day have been overcome. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay bouncy.
Links
to blitz or not to blitz: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=493
Ehh, even after that, this game is supposed to be played multiplayer....we've been through this song and dance before...
well anyway, this is a game that I can appreciate only from the perspective of a video game aficionado. Kind of in the same way food critics are required to speak well of certain types of full bodied yet utterly repulsive cheese, I feel obligated to give this game a nod because it's "really good if you're into that."
This game works rather similarly to a 3D Luminaria. Instead of guiding beams of light to certain goals via angled blocks, you're guiding quantized spheres. Insert physics joke here.
So why is this game so "good?" well I think it's because they had a lot of opportunities to screw up, but didn't take them. For example, most games that want you to rotate the world instead of the camera to adjust your viewpoint allow you to do so by holding RMB and moving the mouse around. This one, however, simply lets you use WASD, which is much easier to control.
The design is also laudable. There's not much to talk about here, but the 3D is pulled off nicely. Some may complain that the overgrown grass may get in the way of the spheres, but that annoyance is your own fault because of the ease with which you can fix your view.
In general, the game really makes you feel as if you have full control over whatever goes on. Any misstep is your fault and your fault alone. Of course, I'm saying this as a guy who played the game as if it were singleplayer, which essentially reduced the game to a couple of really easy puzzles, so maybe my opinion isn't really indicative of the final product.
Well whatever. I reviewed a game that ought not to be reviewed. My challenges for the day have been overcome. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay bouncy.
Links
to blitz or not to blitz: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=493
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Operation Stop Core
Well, this was different...
I actually didn't get the chance to finish this game. I played it for over an hour (in that time I could've played 2 or 3 of the average DigiPen game) and I think I've concluded that it is, in fact, a quirky adventure game that feels a lot like Resident Evil without the zombies.
I found myself really impressed by how clever the game managed to be at times, and how clever I felt for figuring certain things out. As a game, Operation Stop Core succeeds in delivering a fun experience that will keep players coming back. It's silliness compensates for its lack of technical prowess in my opinion, but some people might not be able to put up with the graphics.
My favorite part of this game is how it doesn't take itself too seriously. As far as I can tell, some actions and items are utterly useless. My favorite example of this is being able to murder your partner and then resurrect him as if nothing happened.
There are very few mechanical problems with the game, but there's one in particular that bugs me. Cycling through your items is a pain and a half. Not only do they move unbearably slowly, but your inventory always starts in the same place. For example, if you need to use 2 keys, one after another, even though they are right next to each other in the inventory, you'll have to cycle through the whole thing again just to get to them.
So we know this game is good, but what makes it DigiPen good? What about it advances our understanding of the video gaming medium? Well, nothing. And you know what? I'm just fine with that. At the end of the day, I had fun. A lot of fun. I can't give it my seal of approval, since I haven't finished it, but check this game out if you like to think. You won't be disappointed.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay investigative.
Links
irrelevant name: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=502
I actually didn't get the chance to finish this game. I played it for over an hour (in that time I could've played 2 or 3 of the average DigiPen game) and I think I've concluded that it is, in fact, a quirky adventure game that feels a lot like Resident Evil without the zombies.
I found myself really impressed by how clever the game managed to be at times, and how clever I felt for figuring certain things out. As a game, Operation Stop Core succeeds in delivering a fun experience that will keep players coming back. It's silliness compensates for its lack of technical prowess in my opinion, but some people might not be able to put up with the graphics.
My favorite part of this game is how it doesn't take itself too seriously. As far as I can tell, some actions and items are utterly useless. My favorite example of this is being able to murder your partner and then resurrect him as if nothing happened.
There are very few mechanical problems with the game, but there's one in particular that bugs me. Cycling through your items is a pain and a half. Not only do they move unbearably slowly, but your inventory always starts in the same place. For example, if you need to use 2 keys, one after another, even though they are right next to each other in the inventory, you'll have to cycle through the whole thing again just to get to them.
So we know this game is good, but what makes it DigiPen good? What about it advances our understanding of the video gaming medium? Well, nothing. And you know what? I'm just fine with that. At the end of the day, I had fun. A lot of fun. I can't give it my seal of approval, since I haven't finished it, but check this game out if you like to think. You won't be disappointed.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay investigative.
Links
irrelevant name: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=502
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Operation: Chicken
I really don't have much to say about this one. It's just another 2.5D platformer, really.
The game starts with a coloring-book style series of drawings featuring a cat stealing eggs from some very Angry Birds (hmm...did I mean to italicize that?). After that, you've got to navigate through a platform-riddled world, moving down every last chicken in your path.
Visual style is nice. There are (barely) enough polygons to keep graphics-centric players reasonably quiet, but I have to say that there are way, way too many shadows. It's almost as if the designers didn't want to show off their work, so they just hid it behind a thick wall of shadow.
The game handles decently, but I got to say, it's unbelievably floaty (hmm...a platformer starring an orange cat with annoyingly floaty controls...that sounds familiar)...
The game starts with a coloring-book style series of drawings featuring a cat stealing eggs from some very Angry Birds (hmm...did I mean to italicize that?). After that, you've got to navigate through a platform-riddled world, moving down every last chicken in your path.
Visual style is nice. There are (barely) enough polygons to keep graphics-centric players reasonably quiet, but I have to say that there are way, way too many shadows. It's almost as if the designers didn't want to show off their work, so they just hid it behind a thick wall of shadow.
The game handles decently, but I got to say, it's unbelievably floaty (hmm...a platformer starring an orange cat with annoyingly floaty controls...that sounds familiar)...
Dun Dun Dunnnnnn
Seriously, though, this game's only saving grace is its Contra-esque focus on killing everything in your path. Like in Contra (and, ironically Bubsy), you die in one hit. This worked reasonably well in Contra and, you know what? It actually works decently here, too. The only problem is that enemies and their projectiles are impossible to see all the time. For instance, I once jumped off a platform and right into a sea of enemies that turned the entire floor into a dead zone. Because of things like that, this game is no stranger to the cheap death. That's what really held it back in my opinion.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay bubsalicious
Links
Monday, June 24, 2013
Onoma
The first thing I want to talk about with this one is the options screen. It's quite an interesting design choice that there are no options in the options screen...hmm...got a good feeling about this one.
So the main thing with this game is that I absolutely hated it in the beginning, but then it grew on me. I would notice a certain design choice and say "why would anyone do that? that's asinine," but then I would realize what it accomplished and I'd let out a big "ooooh now I get it."
For example, let's talk visual style. Everything is made up of neon shapes like you'd find in Asteroids, which is a tad on the unoriginal side. Both you and certain enemies emit these ridiculously long particle trails that look terrible at first, but then you see a little bit of an enemy's trail at the edge of a screen and go "oh now I know where to go. That was clever."
The mechanics are like that, too. I was just about ready to denounce this game because you move so unbelievably slowly; but then you get into a dogfight with a purple triangle and find yourself scrambling to out-maneuver it.
There's also this really cool mechanic where you are surrounded by an aura, and if an enemy gets inside that aura, your score multiplier goes up. That way, you as the player have to choose between staying away from dangerous enemies and going near them to get more points.
All in all, it seems like the developers knew what they were doing with this one. It's the kind of design a critic loves because everything seems to have a purpose...mostly. There are some things that I just don't understand about this game. For example, the music is really dark and scary but the sprites are all colorful. What kind of mood were they trying to set here? Because the "fight for your life/inevitable demise" mood the music seems to be going for just doesn't work. Also, you can't shoot through enemies, but other enemies can. I learned that lesson after one really enraging game over.
All in all, this game was kinda fun, but nothing to brag about. You can definitely appreciate the design and you can certainly learn from Onoma, but if you're just looking to have a good time, your time is probably better spent elsewhere. Good job altogether, though.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay thoughtful
Links
Oh no, ma: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24647
So the main thing with this game is that I absolutely hated it in the beginning, but then it grew on me. I would notice a certain design choice and say "why would anyone do that? that's asinine," but then I would realize what it accomplished and I'd let out a big "ooooh now I get it."
For example, let's talk visual style. Everything is made up of neon shapes like you'd find in Asteroids, which is a tad on the unoriginal side. Both you and certain enemies emit these ridiculously long particle trails that look terrible at first, but then you see a little bit of an enemy's trail at the edge of a screen and go "oh now I know where to go. That was clever."
The mechanics are like that, too. I was just about ready to denounce this game because you move so unbelievably slowly; but then you get into a dogfight with a purple triangle and find yourself scrambling to out-maneuver it.
There's also this really cool mechanic where you are surrounded by an aura, and if an enemy gets inside that aura, your score multiplier goes up. That way, you as the player have to choose between staying away from dangerous enemies and going near them to get more points.
All in all, it seems like the developers knew what they were doing with this one. It's the kind of design a critic loves because everything seems to have a purpose...mostly. There are some things that I just don't understand about this game. For example, the music is really dark and scary but the sprites are all colorful. What kind of mood were they trying to set here? Because the "fight for your life/inevitable demise" mood the music seems to be going for just doesn't work. Also, you can't shoot through enemies, but other enemies can. I learned that lesson after one really enraging game over.
All in all, this game was kinda fun, but nothing to brag about. You can definitely appreciate the design and you can certainly learn from Onoma, but if you're just looking to have a good time, your time is probably better spent elsewhere. Good job altogether, though.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay thoughtful
Links
Oh no, ma: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24647
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Oniro
Hey guys, sorry to be so lax about the blog lately, but I've had my hands full with a really big family event. Anyway, I'm here now and I'm going to try my best to give this game the review it deserves.
Oniro is, far and away, the most emotionally moving game I've played so far. Not a single word of dialogue is uttered in the entirety of the experience; the game relied solely on gameplay mechanics to tell its story. "Mechanics as metaphor" is the big word of the day. I'm not going to say any more than that for fear of spoiling the experience, but I'll just say that this game is a perfect lesson on how to use the game itself to convey not only instructions, but an immersive and fleshed out narrative.
If there's any game that deserves the title "Poetic Experience," it's this one. Normally, that title is associated with overly artistic pretension, but I really don't get that vibe from Oniro. The levels show quite a bit of variety and the central mechanics are very easy to learn.
Actually, let me talk about the central mechanics for a second. I honestly couldn't describe them to you. Objects that are close together can have their sizes manipulated, but, in line with the laws of alchemy, one block must decrease in size proportionally to another block's increase in size. Again, it's tough to explain, but I've honestly never seen a mechanic that both teaches itself to the player flawlessly and reinforces the narrative.
All right, I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, so I'm just going to let you chew on what I've said so far. I do have some problems with the game. It's one of those "beat it in one go" games, which isn't horrible considering how short and sweet the experience is, but come on, guys. It's not that hard to program in a save feature. Also, it's way too easy to put yourself in checkmate; whether that means falling down a hole or pushing a block a little too far, you're going to be pressing the "redo" button a whole lot. It's not a bad method of punishment, but it wears on the nerves after a while.
Speaking of wearing on the nerves, there is a 5-year old gnawing at my ankles at the moment, so I'm going to leave you for now. This game definitely earns my seal of approval. It definitely takes its place among my favorites. If you like a well-told and clever story, you'll like Oniro.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay subtextual
Links
Oh, Nero: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26730
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Oneiro and Oneironauts
Well Oneiro is broken, and Onieronauts is unsubstantial, so this isn't going to be the blockbuster blog post at least one of you might have been hoping for.
Onieronauts uses that pixel art style that I've expressed dislike for in the past, but there is one minor detail that makes it worth it in my opinion. The feathers that come out of the pillow when you hit stuff with it are realistic looking. This creates a really appealing juxtaposition between old and new, and it's so subtle. Some may think I'm overreacting, but it's the little things that keep me going.
Anyway, Onieronauts is a beat-em-up kind of like Dungeon Fighters Online except not online and not a Dungeon Fighter. You walk up to dream monsters and mash "Z" until they are no more. I do like how well the mechanics hold up. I've never once expected to hit an enemy and then not been able to (a phenomenon all too common in DFO).
On the other hand, there are a few lessons Onieronauts could learn from DFO. In the latter, not only is there a multitude of attacks to keep gameplay engaging, but there are upgrades to incentivize the player. Neither of those things appear in Onieronauts with no alternative. Thus, the gameplay gets very stale very fast.
And that's pretty much all there is to say today. Until next time, stay fun
Links
Now you Neiro: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1650
Now you Not: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25877
Onieronauts uses that pixel art style that I've expressed dislike for in the past, but there is one minor detail that makes it worth it in my opinion. The feathers that come out of the pillow when you hit stuff with it are realistic looking. This creates a really appealing juxtaposition between old and new, and it's so subtle. Some may think I'm overreacting, but it's the little things that keep me going.
Anyway, Onieronauts is a beat-em-up kind of like Dungeon Fighters Online except not online and not a Dungeon Fighter. You walk up to dream monsters and mash "Z" until they are no more. I do like how well the mechanics hold up. I've never once expected to hit an enemy and then not been able to (a phenomenon all too common in DFO).
On the other hand, there are a few lessons Onieronauts could learn from DFO. In the latter, not only is there a multitude of attacks to keep gameplay engaging, but there are upgrades to incentivize the player. Neither of those things appear in Onieronauts with no alternative. Thus, the gameplay gets very stale very fast.
And that's pretty much all there is to say today. Until next time, stay fun
Links
Now you Neiro: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1650
Now you Not: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25877
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
OMG! Real Zombies!
This is another one of those games that needed a lot of tweaking, but had a decent premise. Actually, I'm starting to sound like a broken record at this point, so I'm not going to waste your time. I'm just going to tell you what's unique to this game.
First, the camera is out of control. Seriously, you can't move your aiming reticle at all without the camera having a conniption fit. Needs work.
Second, give me checkpoints. Oh please give me checkpoints. This game can get really unforgiving when the zombies accumulate, so expecting me to be able to clear the whole thing without assistance is just cruel.
Also, why do my bullets drop off so much. Is this a gun or a slingshot?
Yeah, there are some goop parts of the game too. I like how you need to mash "A" and "D" to break free of zombies but the game never feels the need to tell you that, it just trusts your gamer intuition. I think the levels are designed pretty well and the jetpack mechanic is a barrel of fun.
Overall...eh, s'good. Sorry for being boring today, but I can only work with what I have. Plus I'm just not feeling creative today. Oh well. Until next time, stay alive.
Links
LOLZOMBS: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=472
First, the camera is out of control. Seriously, you can't move your aiming reticle at all without the camera having a conniption fit. Needs work.
Second, give me checkpoints. Oh please give me checkpoints. This game can get really unforgiving when the zombies accumulate, so expecting me to be able to clear the whole thing without assistance is just cruel.
Also, why do my bullets drop off so much. Is this a gun or a slingshot?
Yeah, there are some goop parts of the game too. I like how you need to mash "A" and "D" to break free of zombies but the game never feels the need to tell you that, it just trusts your gamer intuition. I think the levels are designed pretty well and the jetpack mechanic is a barrel of fun.
Overall...eh, s'good. Sorry for being boring today, but I can only work with what I have. Plus I'm just not feeling creative today. Oh well. Until next time, stay alive.
Links
LOLZOMBS: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=472
Monday, June 17, 2013
Oasis Ostinato, Oculus and Oggo Poggo
This was an interesting day for DigiPen blogging. I played one game that I was genuinely intrigued by, one game that was broken, and one game that I wish was broken.
Oasis Ostinato is the broken one and that's all I'll say on the matter.
Oculus is my favorite kind of game to stumble across. Aesthetically, this game is ugly. Maybe that's what they were going for, but even on a technical level, this game is just unimpressive in every way except what matters. In terms of mechanics, this game is intuitive, innovative, imaginative and immersive. Those four "I" words make up one hell of an experience.
You play as a mummy whose goal in life is to collect all the Anubis statues (or what I assume to be Anubis statues. They just look like dog heads). Unlike most platformers of this nature, the levels are not conveniently designed to make a perfect albeit difficult route to your objective. Instead, you need to manipulate the levels to your advantage using a bunch of magical lenses that can magnify or remove walls depending on how cleverly you place them.
These kinds of puzzles are, in my opinion, the best. They really do make you think like you're thinking outside the box and proving your intelligence. The one and only solution is not apparent, if it even exists. On top of that, I just love the uniqueness of the mechanic. It's creative and original and it's exactly the reason I play these games in the first place. This one gets my seal of approval.
And now let's get to Oggo Poggo....uughh.....
somehow I knew this was a senior game just by playing it. It has the same problem as A Series of Tubes. It's just barely functional and, more unforgivably, mindless. It's as if they just threw it together over a weekend without even thinking "would this mechanic make the game good?"
I'm not even going to delve deeply into why such mechanics and design choices are so asinine. I'm just going to list some of them.
-one hit deaths
-lack of save feature or checkpoints
-infinite consecutive jumps that allow you to rocket into the sky at will
-hitboxes the size of elephant hotels
-unrefined textures
need I go on? Stay away from this game. Sorry to be harsh, but sometimes things are just bad and people just fail.
Links
Oasis Ostinat-nope: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=573
Roculus your Soculus: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25113
Bing Bang Boing: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=16267
Oasis Ostinato is the broken one and that's all I'll say on the matter.
Oculus is my favorite kind of game to stumble across. Aesthetically, this game is ugly. Maybe that's what they were going for, but even on a technical level, this game is just unimpressive in every way except what matters. In terms of mechanics, this game is intuitive, innovative, imaginative and immersive. Those four "I" words make up one hell of an experience.
You play as a mummy whose goal in life is to collect all the Anubis statues (or what I assume to be Anubis statues. They just look like dog heads). Unlike most platformers of this nature, the levels are not conveniently designed to make a perfect albeit difficult route to your objective. Instead, you need to manipulate the levels to your advantage using a bunch of magical lenses that can magnify or remove walls depending on how cleverly you place them.
These kinds of puzzles are, in my opinion, the best. They really do make you think like you're thinking outside the box and proving your intelligence. The one and only solution is not apparent, if it even exists. On top of that, I just love the uniqueness of the mechanic. It's creative and original and it's exactly the reason I play these games in the first place. This one gets my seal of approval.
And now let's get to Oggo Poggo....uughh.....
somehow I knew this was a senior game just by playing it. It has the same problem as A Series of Tubes. It's just barely functional and, more unforgivably, mindless. It's as if they just threw it together over a weekend without even thinking "would this mechanic make the game good?"
I'm not even going to delve deeply into why such mechanics and design choices are so asinine. I'm just going to list some of them.
-one hit deaths
-lack of save feature or checkpoints
-infinite consecutive jumps that allow you to rocket into the sky at will
-hitboxes the size of elephant hotels
-unrefined textures
need I go on? Stay away from this game. Sorry to be harsh, but sometimes things are just bad and people just fail.
Links
Oasis Ostinat-nope: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=573
Roculus your Soculus: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25113
Bing Bang Boing: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=16267
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Nurgles
this is another one of those games I feel could have been decent, but was rushed out before it was truly finished.
I think the most outstanding feature about this one is that it has a "win game" button. All you have to do is press "k" and you can consider your level beaten...interesting.
If you choose not to go the route of instant gratification, you'll have a game with pretty much the same mechanics as Dig Dug but with an emphasis on finding the goal and traversing levels. There are also these little raccoon-like creatures that follow you arround, supposedly helping you throughout the level, but really the only threats keeping you from each level's endpoint are most efficiently evaded by simply moving around them. The nurgles that follow you around pretty much only do just that. Supposedly they should be able to help you kill baddies and collect fruit, but they're impossible to control, making it not worth it to even acknowledge their existence. Besides, the sprint button makes you go so mindbendingly fast that completing the level legitimately is almost as easy as just pressing "k."
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay exploitative.
Links
NRG-Ls https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18535
oh yeah by the way my friend Jeremi and I have a Let's Play channel now. Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/user/LeBasementBros/videos
I think the most outstanding feature about this one is that it has a "win game" button. All you have to do is press "k" and you can consider your level beaten...interesting.
If you choose not to go the route of instant gratification, you'll have a game with pretty much the same mechanics as Dig Dug but with an emphasis on finding the goal and traversing levels. There are also these little raccoon-like creatures that follow you arround, supposedly helping you throughout the level, but really the only threats keeping you from each level's endpoint are most efficiently evaded by simply moving around them. The nurgles that follow you around pretty much only do just that. Supposedly they should be able to help you kill baddies and collect fruit, but they're impossible to control, making it not worth it to even acknowledge their existence. Besides, the sprint button makes you go so mindbendingly fast that completing the level legitimately is almost as easy as just pressing "k."
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay exploitative.
Links
NRG-Ls https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18535
oh yeah by the way my friend Jeremi and I have a Let's Play channel now. Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/user/LeBasementBros/videos
Friday, June 14, 2013
NRG
I'm starting to notice a lot of similarities between DigiPen platformers, almost like they're running down a checklist of features that they need to have, including but not limited to 3 rewards per level.
But oh, where are my manners? I'm 3 lines into the review and I haven't picked apart the title yet. Obviously, the cleverness they were going for here is that if you say the names of all the letters individually, it sounds like "energy," but I think everyone's first instinct is to say "nerg," which sounds like something Buzz Lightyear would yell while falling down a death pit.
Anyhow, the game. I'm really running out of things to say about these platformers, because they really are starting to all look the same. Sure they have completely different visual designs, but when you put on your reviewer goggles that strip down every game to its basic mechanics, things can start to get really dull really fast.
NRG has its fair share of things that I like. It's polished as hell and centers itself around a mechanic that remains unique while not overstaying its welcome. However, I think those things were slightly overshadowed by the little things that annoyed me.
First off, I'm going to establish a new rule: you're not allowed to make the sides of spike traps as deadly as the tops of them. If you absolutely must program a hitbox into the entire spike, change it to a flame trap or something, because otherwise I find myself wondering how poorly built my robot has to be to die from walking into a metal bar.
Also, the level design doesn't really reflect that the devs know their mechanics too well. More than once, I found myself jumping straight into a spinning death wheel because my jump arc was way steeper than I thought it would be. From the perspective of any normal game, I did everything right, but I still lost. John Nash would be very upset.
Maybe if I'd encountered this game a bit earlier, its positive aspects would have stood out a bit more. As it is, though, this one's getting stored in my "fuhgeddaboudit" drawer, right next to my parents' anniversary and the entirety of Precalculus.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay polar.
Links
DUH: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25442
But oh, where are my manners? I'm 3 lines into the review and I haven't picked apart the title yet. Obviously, the cleverness they were going for here is that if you say the names of all the letters individually, it sounds like "energy," but I think everyone's first instinct is to say "nerg," which sounds like something Buzz Lightyear would yell while falling down a death pit.
Anyhow, the game. I'm really running out of things to say about these platformers, because they really are starting to all look the same. Sure they have completely different visual designs, but when you put on your reviewer goggles that strip down every game to its basic mechanics, things can start to get really dull really fast.
NRG has its fair share of things that I like. It's polished as hell and centers itself around a mechanic that remains unique while not overstaying its welcome. However, I think those things were slightly overshadowed by the little things that annoyed me.
First off, I'm going to establish a new rule: you're not allowed to make the sides of spike traps as deadly as the tops of them. If you absolutely must program a hitbox into the entire spike, change it to a flame trap or something, because otherwise I find myself wondering how poorly built my robot has to be to die from walking into a metal bar.
Also, the level design doesn't really reflect that the devs know their mechanics too well. More than once, I found myself jumping straight into a spinning death wheel because my jump arc was way steeper than I thought it would be. From the perspective of any normal game, I did everything right, but I still lost. John Nash would be very upset.
Maybe if I'd encountered this game a bit earlier, its positive aspects would have stood out a bit more. As it is, though, this one's getting stored in my "fuhgeddaboudit" drawer, right next to my parents' anniversary and the entirety of Precalculus.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay polar.
Links
DUH: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25442
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Nous
...what...what the hell even was this?
No, you know what? I don't feel bad about leaving this one hanging. I promised to do GAME reviews. This is not a game...this is a mindrape.
Don't get me wrong, it's good...really good...but I just don't know what I can say about it. It just destroyed my mind.
I guess I can give a few examples of times when my mind was thoroughly ruined. I think my favorite was when the game brought up a picture of my friend Luis's dog, which is weird because I didn't think I had any pictures of her on my computer.
creeepppyyyy..........
I would give this game my seal of approval, but I'm not exactly sure what I approve of. So you know what? I'm making a completely new award just for this game: The Dean Rodman Certificate of Psychological Debauchery. Sure
Links
This: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24646
No, you know what? I don't feel bad about leaving this one hanging. I promised to do GAME reviews. This is not a game...this is a mindrape.
Don't get me wrong, it's good...really good...but I just don't know what I can say about it. It just destroyed my mind.
I guess I can give a few examples of times when my mind was thoroughly ruined. I think my favorite was when the game brought up a picture of my friend Luis's dog, which is weird because I didn't think I had any pictures of her on my computer.
creeepppyyyy..........
I would give this game my seal of approval, but I'm not exactly sure what I approve of. So you know what? I'm making a completely new award just for this game: The Dean Rodman Certificate of Psychological Debauchery. Sure
Links
This: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24646
Nitronic Rush
aaaaawwwwwwwwwwwww yeeeahhhhhhh
Here it is, the game that started it all. The one that inspired me to piss off my guidance counselor by devoting half an hour of my day on playing games instead of my schoolwork. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Nitronic Rush.
This game is amazing. I don't even feel like I need to review it. Just play it for yourself and see why it's awesome. I remember that fateful day when my buddy Luis strolled into the cafeteria, plopped down at our usual table, whipped out his laptop and booted up this game. "I think you'd like this," he said.
And like it I did. It grabbed my attention with its beautiful aesthetic and kept it with its innovative design. Upon returning home that day, I hopped straight onto the google machine and downloaded it for myself.
Five days later, I had completed all the levels. I remember thinking to myself, "If this is what DigiPen has to offer, I can't in good conscience stop here. I've got to check out more." And lo, fivehundredgames.blogspot.com was born.
I've been delighted and disappointed by my experiences since then, but Nitronic Rush will always live on in my heart as one of the few games that's ever truly inspired me. But what is it exactly that makes the game so good?
Well, I would say that it's just impossible not to be in the mood for it. There are plenty of easy levels if you want to just immerse yourself in the mechanics, but there are also a bunch of levels that truly deserve the title "hardcore." There's an arena mode where you can rack up points by doing tricks, and the whole thing is just a neon-bright barrel of fun from beginning to end.
The central theme of this game seems to be "why the hell not?"
"Should we attach wings to this car and make it a plane?"
"why the hell not?"
etc. etc. etc.
The difficulty is just right, there are plenty of checkpoints to keep you from getting frustrated, and the mechanics...oh, the mechanics! They are all centered around giving you that rush of adrenaline that reminds you why you play racing games in the first place.
Now, the game does have its flaws. Some of the challenge levels are a bit frustrating, lacking checkpoints and all, and certain mechanics are really annoying to master, like the wall-riding. But wherein lies true beauty but in imperfections? That's what this game is, really. True beauty.
I admit I might be getting a bit too sentimental over this game. After all, there have been other games on this list that have impressed me just as much as this one has. Regardless, this game is an instant classic and you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not clicking the link below.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay inspirational.
Links
Flytronic Mush: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25266
Here it is, the game that started it all. The one that inspired me to piss off my guidance counselor by devoting half an hour of my day on playing games instead of my schoolwork. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Nitronic Rush.
This game is amazing. I don't even feel like I need to review it. Just play it for yourself and see why it's awesome. I remember that fateful day when my buddy Luis strolled into the cafeteria, plopped down at our usual table, whipped out his laptop and booted up this game. "I think you'd like this," he said.
And like it I did. It grabbed my attention with its beautiful aesthetic and kept it with its innovative design. Upon returning home that day, I hopped straight onto the google machine and downloaded it for myself.
Five days later, I had completed all the levels. I remember thinking to myself, "If this is what DigiPen has to offer, I can't in good conscience stop here. I've got to check out more." And lo, fivehundredgames.blogspot.com was born.
I've been delighted and disappointed by my experiences since then, but Nitronic Rush will always live on in my heart as one of the few games that's ever truly inspired me. But what is it exactly that makes the game so good?
Well, I would say that it's just impossible not to be in the mood for it. There are plenty of easy levels if you want to just immerse yourself in the mechanics, but there are also a bunch of levels that truly deserve the title "hardcore." There's an arena mode where you can rack up points by doing tricks, and the whole thing is just a neon-bright barrel of fun from beginning to end.
The central theme of this game seems to be "why the hell not?"
"Should we attach wings to this car and make it a plane?"
"why the hell not?"
etc. etc. etc.
The difficulty is just right, there are plenty of checkpoints to keep you from getting frustrated, and the mechanics...oh, the mechanics! They are all centered around giving you that rush of adrenaline that reminds you why you play racing games in the first place.
Now, the game does have its flaws. Some of the challenge levels are a bit frustrating, lacking checkpoints and all, and certain mechanics are really annoying to master, like the wall-riding. But wherein lies true beauty but in imperfections? That's what this game is, really. True beauty.
I admit I might be getting a bit too sentimental over this game. After all, there have been other games on this list that have impressed me just as much as this one has. Regardless, this game is an instant classic and you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not clicking the link below.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay inspirational.
Links
Flytronic Mush: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25266
NiteLite
This game's description boasts that the game "utilizes Microsoft Kinect," so right off the bat, I suspected that this game would be as broken as a cell phone in a dishwasher. Lo and behold, I was right. I don't have a Kinect, so this game equates, for me, to a menu screen with the words "hold up your hands to begin." Like an idiot, I actually stood there waving my hands in front of my webcam for a few moments before realizing that the program never even asked my permission to use the webcam. Moreover, the "on" light that goes on whenever the webcam is in use was off. So yeah, today we learned that Dean's brain is about as competent as a hamster in zero-G.
Links
Ninja vs. Ninja
Yeah, this one was interesting. It did a lot of things way wrong and a lot of things way right. Let's get started.
First, I have to talk about the sound direction. There is no sound whatsoever in the menu screen, so I thought this was gonna be another one of those no-sound games (side note: Blogger recognizes "gonna" as a word, but not "gameplay"). I was slightly delighted to hear music start playing once I started the game, but the song that plays is so bad, so ear-twistingly awful, that I had to mute my computer. Proper sound direction does not a good game make, but bad sound direction can really sour the experience.
Alright, now that we've covered that, let me bring up a word that hasn't been used here for a while: conveyance. For the most part, this game does a pretty good job of explaining itself, but I do have a minor complaint about the fireball. It's by far the coolest attack in the game, so naturally you'd want to use it, but the game doesn't adequately tell you how. I had to access the "how to play" screen (which, as far as I'm concerned, means the game's conveyance is inadequate) to find out that you fire them with "F." Okay, you got me. "F" for "fireball," I should have seen that, but come on. On the hierarchy of buttons that perform actions in a shooter game, "f" is pretty low on the list. It should have been RMB, which just makes your character punch, an utterly useless attack (if it's even an attack; I never attempted to use it on an enemy) because you have an unlimited supply of shuriken to throw. Even if you wanted to keep it as "F," you gotta give me some kind of clue; but a little "F" on the fireball icon or something, jeez.
Next up, visual design. I could talk about how the characters look like pre-packaged models from Blender or how the level is literally composed only of rectangles, but I was never a graphics-oriented gamer. My main concern is something that can't be answered by citing the number of polygons in a given model. I just want to know whether it looks good. In the case of this game...eh, I wasn't bothered by it but I can certainly see why other people might be. There's certainly nothing to praise.
As unimpressive as the stage might look, I certainly think it was designed well. certain walls are just tall enough that you can't clear them with one jump, which is a good way to indicate to the player "hey, you should totally try double-jumping to get on top of this wall and get the drop on the enemy." See that? That's how you convey things!
Overall, this came was nothing amazing, but I had fun with it. If you can put up with minimalist visual design and piss-poor sound direction, then I recommend playing around with this one for a bit.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay deadly
Links
Ninjas kill each other: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=421
First, I have to talk about the sound direction. There is no sound whatsoever in the menu screen, so I thought this was gonna be another one of those no-sound games (side note: Blogger recognizes "gonna" as a word, but not "gameplay"). I was slightly delighted to hear music start playing once I started the game, but the song that plays is so bad, so ear-twistingly awful, that I had to mute my computer. Proper sound direction does not a good game make, but bad sound direction can really sour the experience.
Alright, now that we've covered that, let me bring up a word that hasn't been used here for a while: conveyance. For the most part, this game does a pretty good job of explaining itself, but I do have a minor complaint about the fireball. It's by far the coolest attack in the game, so naturally you'd want to use it, but the game doesn't adequately tell you how. I had to access the "how to play" screen (which, as far as I'm concerned, means the game's conveyance is inadequate) to find out that you fire them with "F." Okay, you got me. "F" for "fireball," I should have seen that, but come on. On the hierarchy of buttons that perform actions in a shooter game, "f" is pretty low on the list. It should have been RMB, which just makes your character punch, an utterly useless attack (if it's even an attack; I never attempted to use it on an enemy) because you have an unlimited supply of shuriken to throw. Even if you wanted to keep it as "F," you gotta give me some kind of clue; but a little "F" on the fireball icon or something, jeez.
Next up, visual design. I could talk about how the characters look like pre-packaged models from Blender or how the level is literally composed only of rectangles, but I was never a graphics-oriented gamer. My main concern is something that can't be answered by citing the number of polygons in a given model. I just want to know whether it looks good. In the case of this game...eh, I wasn't bothered by it but I can certainly see why other people might be. There's certainly nothing to praise.
As unimpressive as the stage might look, I certainly think it was designed well. certain walls are just tall enough that you can't clear them with one jump, which is a good way to indicate to the player "hey, you should totally try double-jumping to get on top of this wall and get the drop on the enemy." See that? That's how you convey things!
Overall, this came was nothing amazing, but I had fun with it. If you can put up with minimalist visual design and piss-poor sound direction, then I recommend playing around with this one for a bit.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay deadly
Links
Ninjas kill each other: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=421
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Nightmare
After that last Nightmare of a game....hehe...I did a pun...My expectations were set pretty dang low for this one. Much to my delight, Nightmare surprised me.
This game really does everything right, which sucks because now I can't think of anything else to say about it. I guess I can make every high school English teacher cry and summarize the game instead...
Well, truth be told, there's not even that much to summarize. You control 2 characters at a time with WASD and the mouse, respectively. The fairy, whom you control with the mouse, dispatches baddies to protect the little girl whom you control with WASD. You have to get the little girl from point A to point B without her getting hunted down by creepy creatures of the night. Hey, I think I just figured out how to make escort missions bearable...give us control over the person we're supposed to be escorting.
The enemies are nice and varied, ranging from tiny little guys who can be taken out with one quick slice while holding down LMB to creepy Jack-in-the-box type things that have to be dangled with RMB until they disappear.
I think there are 2 areas in which this game truly excels: variety and artistic design.
Let's get the easy one out of the way first. The artistic design is beautiful. I'm not an artist, so I don't really know how to explain it, but everything is eerie without getting overbearing and it all just looks damn good.
Now let's talk variety. It's the spice of life, after all. Every one of the 6 levels in Nightmare is different in its own special way. This keeps the game engaging from beginning to end and really demonstrates how masterfully the devs can craft a game. Whether you're frantically running away from some unseen instakill beast or sleuthily hunting down keys with which to open doors, this game makes sure you know what you're doing and that you feel good doing it.
This one's definitely worth your while and certainly earns my seal of approval. Good job, guys.
Links
Sweet Dream: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26615
This game really does everything right, which sucks because now I can't think of anything else to say about it. I guess I can make every high school English teacher cry and summarize the game instead...
Well, truth be told, there's not even that much to summarize. You control 2 characters at a time with WASD and the mouse, respectively. The fairy, whom you control with the mouse, dispatches baddies to protect the little girl whom you control with WASD. You have to get the little girl from point A to point B without her getting hunted down by creepy creatures of the night. Hey, I think I just figured out how to make escort missions bearable...give us control over the person we're supposed to be escorting.
The enemies are nice and varied, ranging from tiny little guys who can be taken out with one quick slice while holding down LMB to creepy Jack-in-the-box type things that have to be dangled with RMB until they disappear.
I think there are 2 areas in which this game truly excels: variety and artistic design.
Let's get the easy one out of the way first. The artistic design is beautiful. I'm not an artist, so I don't really know how to explain it, but everything is eerie without getting overbearing and it all just looks damn good.
Now let's talk variety. It's the spice of life, after all. Every one of the 6 levels in Nightmare is different in its own special way. This keeps the game engaging from beginning to end and really demonstrates how masterfully the devs can craft a game. Whether you're frantically running away from some unseen instakill beast or sleuthily hunting down keys with which to open doors, this game makes sure you know what you're doing and that you feel good doing it.
This one's definitely worth your while and certainly earns my seal of approval. Good job, guys.
Links
Sweet Dream: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26615
Nightfall
uuuughhhh this was a frustrating one...
This game looked kinda promising at first. The visual style is one that yells words like "hardcore" and "metal" without sounding pretentious like so many games do, the title is just kind of universally awesome no matter how ashamed you are that you like it, and it just presented itself really well...until I started playing it.
Overall, this just doesn't feel like a game made by game design students. I always get frustrated when I explain the DigiPen game gallery to people and they say "oh, like Newgrounds or Addictinggames, right?" Because this list should be, and I think is for the most part, fundamentally different. People on Newgrounds throw together a cool little project they made in flash in their spare time based only on the knowledge they gained from playing similar titles. DigiPen students, I hope, are taught what elements in those titles makes the games good, and then how to integrate those factors into their own project. Nightfall feels like a Newgrounds game. Here's why...
First problem: the menu screen. I would think that somewhere in the lesson on how to design a menu screen, the phrase "the menu is really just the first tutorial" would have come up, because it's true. If your menu requires you to use the arrow keys to move the cursor around, the game is telling you that the arrow keys will be an integral function of the game. Nightfall's menu uses only the mouse, but the mouse is completely useless in the actual game. This is a minor complaint, but it reflects the thoughtlessness of the game's design as a whole, and trust me, it gets way more prevalent as you play.
As usual, I decided to forego the tutorial in favor of jumping right into the action, or at least trying to. I swear, the loading time on this game is like something out of Sonic '06. Anyway, when I finally got playing, I used my platformer intuition to run to the left and press space to jump over a crack in the ground. Oops, I fell through the crack. Yep, this is another one of those "up-arrow is the only jump function" deals. That must mean the spacebar does something else important, right? Oh wait, no, it's utterly useless.
The attacks are preposterously unbalanced. you use "A" for a smash, "S" for a slash and "D" for an anti-air flurry, but there is literally no reason to ever use the latter two. Smash may as well be the only attack. It wrecks anything near you, including stone walls that can only be destroyed with smash, so the game is basically telling you through its design that one attack is intrinsically better than the others. There's no penalty for spamming smash either.
It was only through alt+tabbing out of this game's window to chat with my girlfriend that I discovered that you can use super moves. I was typing something when all of a sudden my character let out a really cool, stylized spirit demon type thing that wrecked everything in sight. I then had to retype that sentence to myself so I could figure out which button made the magic happen, and I discovered it was "C." No, yeah, that's fine, I don't know of any other prominent buttons that weren't in use that you could've used instead, oh except maybe the SPACEBAR OR LEFT CLICK.
Oh and you know what the best part is? You want to know what really made me want to ragequit when I was only about 20 seconds into this mess? It's the classic James Rolfe lament...one life, no continues, no save feature. Beat the game in one go or you're done for. I appreciate that this game is going for the "hardcore" appeal, so such a mechanic might actually make sense, but that doesn't stop the fact that I can't see half of the game because an enemy keeps glitching me out of existence.
This game is finnicky, poorly designed and overall dysfunctional. Play it only if you want something to rage about.
Links
Night Balls: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24361
This game looked kinda promising at first. The visual style is one that yells words like "hardcore" and "metal" without sounding pretentious like so many games do, the title is just kind of universally awesome no matter how ashamed you are that you like it, and it just presented itself really well...until I started playing it.
Overall, this just doesn't feel like a game made by game design students. I always get frustrated when I explain the DigiPen game gallery to people and they say "oh, like Newgrounds or Addictinggames, right?" Because this list should be, and I think is for the most part, fundamentally different. People on Newgrounds throw together a cool little project they made in flash in their spare time based only on the knowledge they gained from playing similar titles. DigiPen students, I hope, are taught what elements in those titles makes the games good, and then how to integrate those factors into their own project. Nightfall feels like a Newgrounds game. Here's why...
First problem: the menu screen. I would think that somewhere in the lesson on how to design a menu screen, the phrase "the menu is really just the first tutorial" would have come up, because it's true. If your menu requires you to use the arrow keys to move the cursor around, the game is telling you that the arrow keys will be an integral function of the game. Nightfall's menu uses only the mouse, but the mouse is completely useless in the actual game. This is a minor complaint, but it reflects the thoughtlessness of the game's design as a whole, and trust me, it gets way more prevalent as you play.
As usual, I decided to forego the tutorial in favor of jumping right into the action, or at least trying to. I swear, the loading time on this game is like something out of Sonic '06. Anyway, when I finally got playing, I used my platformer intuition to run to the left and press space to jump over a crack in the ground. Oops, I fell through the crack. Yep, this is another one of those "up-arrow is the only jump function" deals. That must mean the spacebar does something else important, right? Oh wait, no, it's utterly useless.
The attacks are preposterously unbalanced. you use "A" for a smash, "S" for a slash and "D" for an anti-air flurry, but there is literally no reason to ever use the latter two. Smash may as well be the only attack. It wrecks anything near you, including stone walls that can only be destroyed with smash, so the game is basically telling you through its design that one attack is intrinsically better than the others. There's no penalty for spamming smash either.
It was only through alt+tabbing out of this game's window to chat with my girlfriend that I discovered that you can use super moves. I was typing something when all of a sudden my character let out a really cool, stylized spirit demon type thing that wrecked everything in sight. I then had to retype that sentence to myself so I could figure out which button made the magic happen, and I discovered it was "C." No, yeah, that's fine, I don't know of any other prominent buttons that weren't in use that you could've used instead, oh except maybe the SPACEBAR OR LEFT CLICK.
Oh and you know what the best part is? You want to know what really made me want to ragequit when I was only about 20 seconds into this mess? It's the classic James Rolfe lament...one life, no continues, no save feature. Beat the game in one go or you're done for. I appreciate that this game is going for the "hardcore" appeal, so such a mechanic might actually make sense, but that doesn't stop the fact that I can't see half of the game because an enemy keeps glitching me out of existence.
This game is finnicky, poorly designed and overall dysfunctional. Play it only if you want something to rage about.
Links
Night Balls: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24361
Monday, June 10, 2013
bleh
nothing today. I promise I'll do at least 2 tomorrow, but I'm just not in the mood tonight. Sorry.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Night Light Heights
Night Light Heights is definitely a candidate for shortest game on this list with a grand total of one level about 2 minutes long. That's not a bad thing, mind, it means it doesn't overstay its welcome, but its hard to make a genuinely interesting game mechanic last for only 2 minutes.
In this game, that's because there is no interesting game mechanic. It's Simon Says. You change your avatar's color with WASD; when you're about to hit a red bumper, switch to red. When you're about to hit a blue bumper, switch to blue. That's it.
This is just an uninteresting game with enough bright lights and pretty sounds to hold your attention for the game's incredibly short duration. I guess you have no reason not to check it out, but there's definitely no pressure.
Until next time, stay mimetic
Links
bleh: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25887
In this game, that's because there is no interesting game mechanic. It's Simon Says. You change your avatar's color with WASD; when you're about to hit a red bumper, switch to red. When you're about to hit a blue bumper, switch to blue. That's it.
This is just an uninteresting game with enough bright lights and pretty sounds to hold your attention for the game's incredibly short duration. I guess you have no reason not to check it out, but there's definitely no pressure.
Until next time, stay mimetic
Links
bleh: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25887
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Nexus
Nexus is very similar in playstyle to Genjox, an IGF finalist game I reviewed a while ago. On the one hand, it's kind of depressing to see a true to life example of how little has actually changed in the 12 years between the two games' releases, but on the other hand, if i hadn't known Genjox existed, I would probably look quite favorably upon Nexus.
So, in case you don't know what I'm talking about, Nexus is a top-down tank shooter. It's much simpler than Genjox, as there are only 3 different types of tank to choose from, all with their own weapons. I have to say, while both approaches can be really fun if done well, I like the way Nexus went about things a bit better. Tinkering around with stats until you find something that suits you can be very rewarding, Fight Zone, proves that, but there's something to be said about the streamlined approach Nexus takes that maintains the flow of the game and makes things very simple for the player for fear of sensory overload.
Each of the 3 classes, long range, mid range and short range, are all well balanced and each tank has a fighting change going toe-to-toe with another tank. All too many games with the "3 class" framework play around too much with strengths and weaknesses in order to balance the gameplay, but that just ends up turning the game into glorified Rock, Paper, Scissors. Nexus doesn't do that. The gameplay is constantly entertaining, whether you're a short-range tank going up against a mid-range one or whatever.
My major complaint with the game is that the movement speed is too damn slow. The short range tanks have a dash ability that allows you to get right up in your enemy's face, but to me, the "dash" button is really a "momentarily go the speed you should be going all along" button. The rest of the game seems to be designed around delivering a fast, unhindered gameplay experience, so why would you make the tanks move so damn slowly? If this were a complex game that made me consider a lot of factors before charging into battle, a slow movement speed might be advantageous, but this is a shooter, not an RTS.
All-in-all, I had fun with Nexus and I bet you would too. Check it out if you're bored and just want to make things go boom Unreal Tournament style.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay streamlined.
Links
Next Bus: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26684
So, in case you don't know what I'm talking about, Nexus is a top-down tank shooter. It's much simpler than Genjox, as there are only 3 different types of tank to choose from, all with their own weapons. I have to say, while both approaches can be really fun if done well, I like the way Nexus went about things a bit better. Tinkering around with stats until you find something that suits you can be very rewarding, Fight Zone, proves that, but there's something to be said about the streamlined approach Nexus takes that maintains the flow of the game and makes things very simple for the player for fear of sensory overload.
Each of the 3 classes, long range, mid range and short range, are all well balanced and each tank has a fighting change going toe-to-toe with another tank. All too many games with the "3 class" framework play around too much with strengths and weaknesses in order to balance the gameplay, but that just ends up turning the game into glorified Rock, Paper, Scissors. Nexus doesn't do that. The gameplay is constantly entertaining, whether you're a short-range tank going up against a mid-range one or whatever.
My major complaint with the game is that the movement speed is too damn slow. The short range tanks have a dash ability that allows you to get right up in your enemy's face, but to me, the "dash" button is really a "momentarily go the speed you should be going all along" button. The rest of the game seems to be designed around delivering a fast, unhindered gameplay experience, so why would you make the tanks move so damn slowly? If this were a complex game that made me consider a lot of factors before charging into battle, a slow movement speed might be advantageous, but this is a shooter, not an RTS.
All-in-all, I had fun with Nexus and I bet you would too. Check it out if you're bored and just want to make things go boom Unreal Tournament style.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay streamlined.
Links
Next Bus: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26684
Friday, June 7, 2013
Neoterminus
jeez, this one takes broken to a whole new level. Upon launching, this game put a big white block on my screen, effectively blocking my access to any other program. I had to restart my damn machine. For all intents and purposes, this is a virus.
I'm still going to include the link for the braver among you, but damn...
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1478
I'm still going to include the link for the braver among you, but damn...
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1478
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Lux & Mad Tea Party
Lux can be described as a combination of Luminaria and Lumin Lacuna. It uses the same beam/mirror mechanics as Luminaria, but is controlled in a 3D, third-person environment like Lumin Lacuna. Not counting the short tutorial, this game only has 2 levels, meaning I don't have much to say about it. The engine is a bit glitchy, as I got caught on a few cliff sides, but that usually helped me, preventing me from falling into an abyss, so maybe it was intentional. It's just a very simple game with nothing special to offer, sorry to say. It might be worth checking out for the 3D art, but even that's not too impressive.
Then of course there's Mad Tea Party, a game which held my attention for maybe 5 seconds before I ragequit. The framerate is laughable. I only got to what I'm guessing is about 10fps, and my computer has no problem with typical mainstream games. On top of that, the platforms sometimes just choose not to exist. I jumped a grand total of 3 times while playing this game, and twice I fell through the floor. Back to the drawing board, guys.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay efficient.
Links
Lux, I am your Father: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18579
Maddening F-bomb Party: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26618
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Lunaris
Lunaris is a pleasant game to say the least...most of the time.
First, let's talk aesthetics. The character and environment designs are nice and calming with their warm blue and green tones. The grass conforms to your character's shape as you trod upon it and it all just looks pretty with the exception of one thing. There's this annoying film-grain filter kind of like the one in Mass Effect except infinitely more annoying and non-removable.
I will say that this is one of the few games on the list that was actually able to make me laugh out loud. When you run into spikes, your character just kind of explodes with nothing more than a squishing sound and the camera hangs on your lifeless pile of goop just long enough for the effect to be hilarious. It also provides juuuuuust the right amount of punishment for dying.
But we all know that it's all about the gameplay at heart, right? Well let me say that at its core, there is nothing wrong with this game's feel. Every mechanic is tight and intuitive and the sense of flow is very noticeable.
The real problem I have with this game is that it gets too repetitive. The levels are very numerous and very, very samey. This wouldn't be a problem if I could access some sort of level select, but what do you know? We're back to the very first thing I ever complained about since January 1st of this year. There's no damn level select, and there's no...damn...SAVE FEATURE! A game with levels this repetitive has no right to demand that I beat it all in one go.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay patient
Links
Loons are us: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24665
First, let's talk aesthetics. The character and environment designs are nice and calming with their warm blue and green tones. The grass conforms to your character's shape as you trod upon it and it all just looks pretty with the exception of one thing. There's this annoying film-grain filter kind of like the one in Mass Effect except infinitely more annoying and non-removable.
I will say that this is one of the few games on the list that was actually able to make me laugh out loud. When you run into spikes, your character just kind of explodes with nothing more than a squishing sound and the camera hangs on your lifeless pile of goop just long enough for the effect to be hilarious. It also provides juuuuuust the right amount of punishment for dying.
But we all know that it's all about the gameplay at heart, right? Well let me say that at its core, there is nothing wrong with this game's feel. Every mechanic is tight and intuitive and the sense of flow is very noticeable.
The real problem I have with this game is that it gets too repetitive. The levels are very numerous and very, very samey. This wouldn't be a problem if I could access some sort of level select, but what do you know? We're back to the very first thing I ever complained about since January 1st of this year. There's no damn level select, and there's no...damn...SAVE FEATURE! A game with levels this repetitive has no right to demand that I beat it all in one go.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay patient
Links
Loons are us: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24665
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Luminosity
Well, would you look who it is? Why it's good ol' Andrew Nack, the solo game designer who brought us Ethereal, Fate, and Gloom. But what's this? This time, he's not alone. Let's see what happens when a hitherto stag game designer teams up with a few other bright young minds...
Well first off, this game is presented very nicely. It uses the same colors as all those neon-light style games that I was complaining about a little while ago, but doesn't feel the need to make them garish. You can tell this was handled by an artist and not just a guy who saw which colors looked nicest when put together.
The thing that really characterizes this game for me is that it feels awesome to win but absolutely woeful to lose. The playstyle is similar to the hacking minigame in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Click here, then there, then watch and hope the screen fills up with blue faster than it does red. It doesn't make you feel in control, so losing is incredibly frustrating. Plus, the frantic pace of the game means there is little to no room for experimentation, so playing seems less like outwitting the computer and more like searching for the one right answer that was thought up for you to use beforehand.
All-in-all, it's pretty but not terribly engaging. It's worth checking out if you're bored, but there's nothing in particular that I'm dying for you all to see.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay shiny
Links
Not the website for old people with bad neurons: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25896
Well first off, this game is presented very nicely. It uses the same colors as all those neon-light style games that I was complaining about a little while ago, but doesn't feel the need to make them garish. You can tell this was handled by an artist and not just a guy who saw which colors looked nicest when put together.
The thing that really characterizes this game for me is that it feels awesome to win but absolutely woeful to lose. The playstyle is similar to the hacking minigame in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Click here, then there, then watch and hope the screen fills up with blue faster than it does red. It doesn't make you feel in control, so losing is incredibly frustrating. Plus, the frantic pace of the game means there is little to no room for experimentation, so playing seems less like outwitting the computer and more like searching for the one right answer that was thought up for you to use beforehand.
All-in-all, it's pretty but not terribly engaging. It's worth checking out if you're bored, but there's nothing in particular that I'm dying for you all to see.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay shiny
Links
Not the website for old people with bad neurons: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25896
Monday, June 3, 2013
Luminaria
Guess what, guys? It's finals week! yaaaaaay! You know what that means: crappy reviews! YAAAAAY!
and what's everyone's favorite kind of crappy review? Broken games! YAAAAY
I got Luminaria to take me to the first level, but nothing happens after I solve the puzzle...so yeah...until next time.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25879
and what's everyone's favorite kind of crappy review? Broken games! YAAAAY
I got Luminaria to take me to the first level, but nothing happens after I solve the puzzle...so yeah...until next time.
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25879
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Lumin Lacuna
Alrighty then, let's get this show on the road:
Lumin Lacuna is a game that is simply not finished. It's one of those games that makes me wish the students had gotten an extension or something, because it shows a lot of potential. Let's delve a bit deeper:
The visual style is very appealing, though I am starting to regret ever saying that I like the neon look, because it seems that many devs are relying on that to make their game look nice. The character and level design in Lumin Lacuna would be great either way, but still...
The first and most pronounced thing that tipped me off to this game's being unfinished is that there is no sound. It's not rocket science, guys, a game needs sound just like a book needs punctuation or a film needs editing. There is a button on the options screen which looks like it was meant to toggle music or sound on and off, so this certainly wasn't something that was meant to happen.
Other than that, there's really only one problem with Lumin Lacuna. Its magic system is way too easy to break. You can mix and match two types of spells at any point, which is a great concept, but it won't take too much experimentation to find out that "homing bomb" can ruin entire roomfuls of even the toughest enemies by just spamming it. I suppose you could say that you don't have to use that particular combination and that there are plenty of others to play with, but I'm going to use the same argument here as I do when I spoke against creative mode in Minecraft. Just knowing that an infinitely more efficient option exists is enough to ruin the more difficult experience. Building that giant stone castle by hand becomes much less rewarding when you see your friend's mountain-sized diamond palace populated by hundreds of wolves and ocelots. In Lumin Lacuna, clearing out a room with "field laser" or something like that is more frustrating than rewarding when you look at how much health and time you lost just because you didn't want to use "homing bomb."
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay optimal
Links
Lacuna Latata: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18587
Lumin Lacuna is a game that is simply not finished. It's one of those games that makes me wish the students had gotten an extension or something, because it shows a lot of potential. Let's delve a bit deeper:
The visual style is very appealing, though I am starting to regret ever saying that I like the neon look, because it seems that many devs are relying on that to make their game look nice. The character and level design in Lumin Lacuna would be great either way, but still...
The first and most pronounced thing that tipped me off to this game's being unfinished is that there is no sound. It's not rocket science, guys, a game needs sound just like a book needs punctuation or a film needs editing. There is a button on the options screen which looks like it was meant to toggle music or sound on and off, so this certainly wasn't something that was meant to happen.
Other than that, there's really only one problem with Lumin Lacuna. Its magic system is way too easy to break. You can mix and match two types of spells at any point, which is a great concept, but it won't take too much experimentation to find out that "homing bomb" can ruin entire roomfuls of even the toughest enemies by just spamming it. I suppose you could say that you don't have to use that particular combination and that there are plenty of others to play with, but I'm going to use the same argument here as I do when I spoke against creative mode in Minecraft. Just knowing that an infinitely more efficient option exists is enough to ruin the more difficult experience. Building that giant stone castle by hand becomes much less rewarding when you see your friend's mountain-sized diamond palace populated by hundreds of wolves and ocelots. In Lumin Lacuna, clearing out a room with "field laser" or something like that is more frustrating than rewarding when you look at how much health and time you lost just because you didn't want to use "homing bomb."
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay optimal
Links
Lacuna Latata: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18587
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