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
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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
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