so yeah, it's allergy season again. I apologize for being a bit foggy-headed, but I...uh...what was I saying? Wait, where am I?
alright so GridWarrior is a really good game that gets screwed up by one design flaw. This kind of game is my least favorite to review because I really only have one thing to talk about. Anything else would be summary rather than analysis; if my English teacher caught me doing something like that, he'd break out the paddle again.
So what is this flaw you may ask? Well, first, let me talk a little bit about how the game frames itself...I mean analyze! I'm going to analyze how the game frames itself! See, different enemies use different kinds of weapons. You can get those weapons by whittling down their health and then using your grappling hook on them. This process is dangerous, as it leaves you open to attack and diverts your attention from the million other enemies on the screen. Thus, it makes for a really engaging player choice: "do I soak up the damage to get a new weapon or do I hold off?" That is, it would, if it weren't for this game's fatal flaw:
The sword is tremendously OP. There is not a single enemy in this game that can't be beaten by simply mashing right-click at them. The most efficient method of dispatching enemies is unlocked from the word go, turning what could have been a really fun game boring and repetitive.
Everything else in this game is great. Visuals, controls, everything. That one design flaw completely undermined an otherwise thoughtful game. Just goes to show how meticulous a dev team has to be. I mean, I was playing this game for like an hour before I noticed how powerful the sword was. Before that, I was having a blast.
Oh well. If you can convince yourself not to abuse the sword, I suppose GridWarrior can still be a fun experience. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay unbalanced.
Links
right click your way to victory: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26007
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
Gridiron Tactics
Usually when I give a really short review of a game, it's because I genuinely didn't finds it interesting and didn't spend much time with it. This is not the case with Gridiron Tactics, which actually held my interest for quite some time...30 minutes to be exact. It's appealing in all aspects: visually, mechanically, and otherwise. The fact is that I'm very tired and sick, so I just don't feel up to analyzing the game like I normally do.
I will say this, though. There is one thing about Gridiron Tactics that turned it into "just another game on the list." I'm going to go ahead and spit some more game knowledge that I got from Extra Credits and use the term "first order optimal (or FOO) strategies." In a nutshell, FOO strategies are tactics that require little skill but offer great reward. They can be very useful when they let a new player feel comfortable stepping up to the challenge of a game (see also: the noob tube or hundred-hand slap...yeah, I know, the Extra Credits guys already talked about this...I'm so original), but in Gridiron Tactics, using one simple strategy will hand you a victory every time. I'm not going to say what that strategy is in case anyone out there wants to try this game and figure it out for themselves, but I will say that the strategy gives the game a very unappealing difficulty curve that looks something like this:
______________
|
|
|
|_________________
^ ^ ^
start strategy is learned end
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay tactical
Links
One and Only Gridiron Tactic: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=428
A more informative and entertaining thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6op8eV5OBwE
I will say this, though. There is one thing about Gridiron Tactics that turned it into "just another game on the list." I'm going to go ahead and spit some more game knowledge that I got from Extra Credits and use the term "first order optimal (or FOO) strategies." In a nutshell, FOO strategies are tactics that require little skill but offer great reward. They can be very useful when they let a new player feel comfortable stepping up to the challenge of a game (see also: the noob tube or hundred-hand slap...yeah, I know, the Extra Credits guys already talked about this...I'm so original), but in Gridiron Tactics, using one simple strategy will hand you a victory every time. I'm not going to say what that strategy is in case anyone out there wants to try this game and figure it out for themselves, but I will say that the strategy gives the game a very unappealing difficulty curve that looks something like this:
______________
|
|
|
|_________________
^ ^ ^
start strategy is learned end
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay tactical
Links
One and Only Gridiron Tactic: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=428
A more informative and entertaining thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6op8eV5OBwE
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Grid
The first thing that impressed me about Grid was that the character on the title screen reacts to your input. This is actually a really smart way to deliver tutorials, or at least parts of them. After all, the first thing the player wants to do when he or she starts up the game is select "play," so when pressing an arrow key causes some kind of action to occur on-screen, the player is going to want to toy around for a bit. From there, the player can teach himself or herself the basic mechanics of the game before the game even begins. I like this game already! Let's see how long that lasts...
Grid is my favorite kind of game to review. Playing it was a genuinely enjoyable experience, but there are still quite a few points of constructive criticism I have, so let's get started:
At parts, makes you play at its pace. I've spoken briefly about this before, and although it isn't a huge deal in this game, it's just very frustrating when the flow of a game is interrupted because you have to wait for a platform to move to just the right place. In fact, I would say that immersion is the concept this game grasps the least. That much is evident from the death sequences. First off, when you die, you stay dead for just long enough for it to get annoying. Second, it's way too easy to die. I attribute this mainly to the isometric viewpoint, which messes with my perception of where certain platforms reside. An isometric viewpoint isn't an inherently bad trait; Bastion is evidence enough of that. I think the reason it doesn't work too well in this game is that every block really only has one texture, so it's very difficult to determine where one begins and another one ends. The same thing can be applied to your hitbox. It's somewhat difficult to tell if moving a bit to the right will put you in a blue block's line of fire or not.
Of course, this isn't helped by the control issues. I think the main issue I have with the controls is that there's no way to change direction without moving. This would have been very helpful in those certain instances where moving one simple pixel in the wrong direction would leave me tumbling to my death.
The only other issue I had was that some sound effects are just too loud. It can be very obnoxious when you're having a grand old time platforming your way to glory when suddenly your ears blow out because you forgot to mute your computer before launching a red block into a blue block.
Other than all that, though, this game's intuitive mechanics, fluid and fun feel, and semi-appealing graphical style make it an enjoyable new toy.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay cubical.
Links
A Little Cube Finds His Way Home: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26006
Grid is my favorite kind of game to review. Playing it was a genuinely enjoyable experience, but there are still quite a few points of constructive criticism I have, so let's get started:
At parts, makes you play at its pace. I've spoken briefly about this before, and although it isn't a huge deal in this game, it's just very frustrating when the flow of a game is interrupted because you have to wait for a platform to move to just the right place. In fact, I would say that immersion is the concept this game grasps the least. That much is evident from the death sequences. First off, when you die, you stay dead for just long enough for it to get annoying. Second, it's way too easy to die. I attribute this mainly to the isometric viewpoint, which messes with my perception of where certain platforms reside. An isometric viewpoint isn't an inherently bad trait; Bastion is evidence enough of that. I think the reason it doesn't work too well in this game is that every block really only has one texture, so it's very difficult to determine where one begins and another one ends. The same thing can be applied to your hitbox. It's somewhat difficult to tell if moving a bit to the right will put you in a blue block's line of fire or not.
Of course, this isn't helped by the control issues. I think the main issue I have with the controls is that there's no way to change direction without moving. This would have been very helpful in those certain instances where moving one simple pixel in the wrong direction would leave me tumbling to my death.
The only other issue I had was that some sound effects are just too loud. It can be very obnoxious when you're having a grand old time platforming your way to glory when suddenly your ears blow out because you forgot to mute your computer before launching a red block into a blue block.
Other than all that, though, this game's intuitive mechanics, fluid and fun feel, and semi-appealing graphical style make it an enjoyable new toy.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay cubical.
Links
A Little Cube Finds His Way Home: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26006
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Greed
This is one of those online multiplayer type games. Not surprisingly, there didn't happen to be anyone online when I tried to play, so I wound up trekking through an unimaginative map collecting coins with controls that make the game feel like Bubsy 3D on speed.
next!
Links
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Gravity's Rhythm
Time for another unimpressive blog post for an unimpressive game. I'm going to start out with the bigest problem I had with the game: I was able to beat it without even looking at the screen. All you have to do is hold space and continually move right to win. This does not make for a very exciting shoot 'em up.
Alright, guess I may as well comment on the other aspects of the game. The control is a little stiff, not that it matters since all you'll be doing is going right, but still. The visual design is, eh...it's not unappealing, but it's sloppy. There should be an immediate visual difference between "running into this amalgam of pixels is good" and "running into this amalgam of pixels is bad." There is no such thing in Gravity's Rhythm.
So, let's do a quick tally before we adjourn, shall we?
-sticky game feel
-sloppy visual design
-poor level design/difficulty curve
so what else is there? It's not a horrible game, but it's just uninteresting enough for me to heartily recommend staying away.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay challenging
Links
This game has neither gravity nor rhythm: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24642
Alright, guess I may as well comment on the other aspects of the game. The control is a little stiff, not that it matters since all you'll be doing is going right, but still. The visual design is, eh...it's not unappealing, but it's sloppy. There should be an immediate visual difference between "running into this amalgam of pixels is good" and "running into this amalgam of pixels is bad." There is no such thing in Gravity's Rhythm.
So, let's do a quick tally before we adjourn, shall we?
-sticky game feel
-sloppy visual design
-poor level design/difficulty curve
so what else is there? It's not a horrible game, but it's just uninteresting enough for me to heartily recommend staying away.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay challenging
Links
This game has neither gravity nor rhythm: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24642
Monday, April 22, 2013
Gravitation
Deadlines really suck, don't they? All you want to do is bring your creative experience to life at your own pace, but having a deadline means you either need to sacrifice some of your own ingenuity or just deliver an unfinished product.
Gravitation chose the latter, and what we're left with is a demonstration for a brilliant engine for a really unique and intuitive game with no soundtrack, unrefined visuals and unreasonable health system.
There you go, that's the review. Screw all those literary snobs who say you should keep details from your audience just to make them read more of your stuff.
Of course, if you want to hear more of my ramblings, you're more than welcome to read on.
Let me get the praise out of the way first. This game understands the true purpose of combat in a game. The only games where combat should be the central focus are fighting games and beat-em-ups. Otherwise, combat is there as a way to piece the whole experience together. It's a favorite in games because there is a clear objective and means to overcome that objective. That makes it a great way to string together your game mechanics but awful as a story device (which is the main reason I and so many others dislike the recent Call of Duty games). Without the combat, Gravitation would simply have no challenge. Thus, it serves its purpose.
That covers one of the mouse buttons; how about the other? The titular gravitation mechanic is fun and intuitive. There's something really empowering about being able to bend the laws of physics to your will. There would be, at least, if the health system didn't reduce you to the human equivalent on a marshmallow on a pair of toothpicks.
And thus we move into the criticism. You take way too much falling damage in this game. As far as I could tell, there's no way to regain health either. If there was some other objective than "run around, shoot sea urchins and have fun," this mechanic might work as a way of forcing the character to strategize on how to navigate each room taking as little damage as possible. A little tweaking would have gone a long way here.
And of course, that just leaves the big one. The sound direction is nonexistent. This game is completely silent. If ever you want to see just how important a good soundtrack is in a game, look no further than Gravitation, because the mechanics hold up very well but the silence makes it a thoroughly boring and almost a little nerve-racking experience.
Great start, but needs a lot of work before it can get my seal of approval. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay...uh...gravitational? (this is hard, leave me alone)
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=397
Gravitation chose the latter, and what we're left with is a demonstration for a brilliant engine for a really unique and intuitive game with no soundtrack, unrefined visuals and unreasonable health system.
There you go, that's the review. Screw all those literary snobs who say you should keep details from your audience just to make them read more of your stuff.
Of course, if you want to hear more of my ramblings, you're more than welcome to read on.
Let me get the praise out of the way first. This game understands the true purpose of combat in a game. The only games where combat should be the central focus are fighting games and beat-em-ups. Otherwise, combat is there as a way to piece the whole experience together. It's a favorite in games because there is a clear objective and means to overcome that objective. That makes it a great way to string together your game mechanics but awful as a story device (which is the main reason I and so many others dislike the recent Call of Duty games). Without the combat, Gravitation would simply have no challenge. Thus, it serves its purpose.
That covers one of the mouse buttons; how about the other? The titular gravitation mechanic is fun and intuitive. There's something really empowering about being able to bend the laws of physics to your will. There would be, at least, if the health system didn't reduce you to the human equivalent on a marshmallow on a pair of toothpicks.
And thus we move into the criticism. You take way too much falling damage in this game. As far as I could tell, there's no way to regain health either. If there was some other objective than "run around, shoot sea urchins and have fun," this mechanic might work as a way of forcing the character to strategize on how to navigate each room taking as little damage as possible. A little tweaking would have gone a long way here.
And of course, that just leaves the big one. The sound direction is nonexistent. This game is completely silent. If ever you want to see just how important a good soundtrack is in a game, look no further than Gravitation, because the mechanics hold up very well but the silence makes it a thoroughly boring and almost a little nerve-racking experience.
Great start, but needs a lot of work before it can get my seal of approval. That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay...uh...gravitational? (this is hard, leave me alone)
Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=397
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