Game design 101 time, kids. Question: What's the fastest way to completely break down a game experience...Billy?
"Remove control from the player?"
Very good, Billy! Come up and get your cookie. Everyone else, sit your buts down, play Rust and tell me how long it takes for you to become so bored that you decide the best course of action is to kamikaze into one of the raiding enemies.
So here's how this game works: you circle around the small map and pick up scrap metal. You then throw that scrap metal at turrets and towers to upgrade their health and ammunition so that they can survive the onslaught of alien invaders.
The biggest problem with this is that you have no power other than to throw metal at things, so the game very quickly devolves from feeling like you're actually defending stuff to feeling like exactly what it is: quite literally running around in circles, mindlessly and routinely picking up metal and putting it in a place. I've had a more engaging experience putting furniture into a moving van.
Really, do you need anything more than that? The game could pull everything else off flawlessly and it would still be a less than enjoyable experience. People will tell me I just don't like tower defense games and that my opinion is biased, but I had a great time with other tower defense games on this list. Remember Base Invaders? That was fun. You know why? It actually let you do stuff!
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay defensive
Links
Crust: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25891
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Runeshift
Hey, remember slide puzzles? Those infuriating little toys you would get at street fairs with 8 pictures that form a big picture? Hands up, everyone in the room whose experience with those toys didn't end when you threw them into a tree and watched them shatter into a million pieces. What's that? Nobody? That's because they're pretty much the most obnoxious things ever conceived. Toys like these have their place in gaming history, but it perplexes me how someone aiming to make a "relaxing and positive experience" would choose this as their central mechanic.
I will say this, though: this is probably the best one can make a game about slide puzzles. It is very clear where each block is supposed to go, the difficulty curve is fair and challenging, and the visuals are pretty enough. The only criticism I have in the aesthetic department is that the sound track is a tad annoying. You can, of course, turn off the sound and just run your favorite song in the background, but you can't turn off the music without turning off the sound effects as well, which ruins the atmosphere of the game somewhat.
The only other criticism I have is one that I make all the time, but it's especially apparent in a game like this. Why, why, WHY is there no save feature? I'm just gonna go ahead and say it, this game actually made slide puzzles relaxing and positive. I enjoyed playing around with it, but a game like this is best suited as a stress reliever, and being required to start from the beginning every time you fire it up is not a good quality for a stress reliever to have. At least throw in a level select or something, jeez.
All-in-all. Eh. 'Sgood. If you're having a bad day, give it a shot, but it's only good for one 5-minute relaxation session. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay slidin'
Links
Slippidy do-da: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18574
I will say this, though: this is probably the best one can make a game about slide puzzles. It is very clear where each block is supposed to go, the difficulty curve is fair and challenging, and the visuals are pretty enough. The only criticism I have in the aesthetic department is that the sound track is a tad annoying. You can, of course, turn off the sound and just run your favorite song in the background, but you can't turn off the music without turning off the sound effects as well, which ruins the atmosphere of the game somewhat.
The only other criticism I have is one that I make all the time, but it's especially apparent in a game like this. Why, why, WHY is there no save feature? I'm just gonna go ahead and say it, this game actually made slide puzzles relaxing and positive. I enjoyed playing around with it, but a game like this is best suited as a stress reliever, and being required to start from the beginning every time you fire it up is not a good quality for a stress reliever to have. At least throw in a level select or something, jeez.
All-in-all. Eh. 'Sgood. If you're having a bad day, give it a shot, but it's only good for one 5-minute relaxation session. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay slidin'
Links
Slippidy do-da: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18574
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