Well, here we go again. I think I figured out why these 8 games are at the end of the list and so egregiously out of alphabetical order. Whereas the other games on the list were all ".exe" files (whether real or not real), Abyss and Aurora were both ".msi" files. Well jinkies, guys, I think we solved the mystery.
Remembering some older posts of mine, I realized that I seem to have a strange attraction to "ball games." From Aescher to Leshy, whenever the protagonist is a spherical object traversing a world of geometric peril, I seem to be sold. That said, it may come as no surprise that Abyss gets my recommendation.
I can, however, say that Abyss is my favorite of the "ball games" that I've played, so I'm not just enamored with it for its nature. The game sold me with it's amazing controls. The common problem with "ball games," which I definitely mentioned in one of my reviews...maybe Leshy's (yay professionalism), is that the momentum always seems out to get you. In Abyss, while the physics may be a bit wonky at times, they are perfectly tuned to give the player maximum control over their character.
Abyss is careful not to overstay its welcome. It only has 3 levels, each of which introduce and explore a new mechanic. In the first level, you're just learning how to play. In the second, a spring power is introduced. In the third, an ice power. If you need more elaboration to understand the game...well, good. Go play it yourself and find out. That way I have to write less and Abyss gets closer to the attention it deserves. Win-win. My point is that the game is perfectly paced.
Basically Everything in this game is expertly done. The levels are designed to be manageable but challenging and always fun (with the exception of the very last section, which involves a lot of waiting...and I don't like waiting). The iteration time between failure and retrial is wicked fast, and the game just feels great to play.
So, yeah, that's all I can really say about Abyss. It's good enough to get my seal of approval. Go play it. Now, let's dive into Aurora.
This is a very interesting game that's very hard for me to describe. The super abridged version is that you can control 2 or 3 cannons, which you use to shoot moving targets on the screen. You can also shoot randomly spawning powerups for bonus points, upgraded weapons, etc.
The aesthetic can only be described as trippy. The bright yet calm red and blue meld together in a way that draws you into the experience, and the immersive music seals the deal. Add onto that the very active gameplay and you've got yourself one heck of a sense of flow.
The targets move along fixed rails, so the real challenge in the game is lining up your line of fire with the rail that your target is travelling along in order to maximize your chance at hitting it. Either that or you can just get really good at timing your shots and just try to fire one round after another without worrying about lining up your shots optimally. Both strategies have their advantages and disadvantages.
The biggest downside to this game is that, after playing through it, I still have no idea how half of it works. My opinion on game design like this wavers a tad (I have lauded games like Dark Souls for allowing the player to complete the game without experiencing a good portion of it), but I feel like when you are able to utterly destroy the AI opponent without even knowing what one of your 3 primary buttons does, or why you keep stealing a hundred points from your opponent, then maybe the game has flawed conveyance. I guess I can't fault the game too much for that last thing because it's literally the first thing mentioned in the tutorial, which I was too stubborn to look at before I played. This entire paragraph is a very minor gripe, to be honest.
The bottom line is that Aurora is immersive and intense. I only wish that the game explained itself a bit better and that the AI was a bit more of a challenge, but the experience was still very fun. Now, do I give this game my seal of approval too? Am I just getting way too generous? See, I'm not sure. Abyss got the seal of approval, yet I didn't have as much fun with that game as I did with Aurora. On the other hand, Abyss didn't have as many flaws, so from a technical perspective, it's the better game. I guess up until now, my seal of approval has been mostly reserved for games whose flaws, if they even existed, were negligible, and why would I change the formula halfway through my last month of writing? Sorry, Aurora. You still get a hearty recommendation from me, but Abyss is the only one walking home with the seal today.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay psychedelic.
Links
Ab-Yes: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18581
Awrawrooo: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26727
Friday, December 13, 2013
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Zombie Hut and Zombie Pancake Attack
Well, look what we have here. What better way to end the alphabet than with two zombie shooters? Well, I can think of a few...don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that the DigiPen gods have taken pity on my poor, tired soul with two entertaining yet insubstantial romps through pewpew town, it's just that having my review of two separate games inevitably take less than a page doesn't do much for my self esteem. Oh well, we play the cards we're dealt.
Zombie Hut is the one that I really don't have much to say about. It's a standard top-down zombie shooter wherein you have to deliver 30 (I think) pizzas before they get cold, all the while dodging and shooting impatient zombies who want their hapless delivery boy in 30 minutes or less. Apart from your gun, you are armed only with medkits, grenades, and energy drinks which make you go faster, all of which are scattered about the level.
While the grenade is kind of fun to use, it's not nearly as effective as your gun, which tears through zombies like the guillotine of Hephaestus through butter. The medkits are standard, though you'll never need to use them if you just make an effort to pass by the hospital when your health gets low. The only truly useful item is the energy drink, without which you might as well just sprinkle pepperoni on yourself and lie in wait of your inevitable demise. With the energy drink in hand, though, the game becomes almost insultingly easy. The only real threat is if you play like a fool and run yourself into a dead end, but even if that happens, you will probably have such a stockpile of grenades, bullets, and medkits that any number of zombies will crumble before your might like ants in a typhoon.
Ok, so maybe I had more to say about that game than I thought...regardless, whatever feelings my intro "paragraph" conveyed are probably similar to the ones you'll feel after playing Zombie Hut. Not wholly satisfied, but still entertained.
Now then, let's get to Zombie Pancake Attack. If this game had a marketing department, every member in it would deserve to be hunted down and sentenced to a hundred years of exile. The game advertises itself as a "tower defense" game, and the little thumbnail thing makes it look like it was thrown together in an hour by a dude who has an elementary knowledge of C++ and MSPaint.
Despite the horrible job this game did at selling itself to me, I was actually very entertained by Zombie Pancake Attack. Calling this game "tower defense" is like calling The Godfather an "Italian family drama." Yeah, I guess that's technically accurate, but it's a severe undersell. The only tower you're defending is yourself (and I guess the occasional townsperson), but you don't defend them by erecting automated turrets that fire at nauseatingly infrequent fixed intervals, you just shoot things!
You have two guns, a syrup gun and a plate gun. You first have to douse your pancake adversaries in syrup, and then you can shoot a plate at them to teleport them into oblivion. This is probably where the game derives its "strategy" name, but really all it boils down to is holding both the right and left mouse buttons and pointing at whatever you want to go away.
The game has three regular levels and two boss levels. The differences in kinda among the three levels keep the game as engaging as shooting pancakes can be. Yeah, the visual style is a little bland, but I find it at least charming, and it never took me out of the experience. The sound direction is spot on, and the gameplay is solid. My only real critique is that the game was as thought-provoking as it was challenging. That is to say, not at all. The only time I felt challenged was during the final boss, and that's just because I forgot I could move with A and D and was tanking unnecessary damage for the first half of the fight.
And that's it. Just like that, I can say I've powered through the DigiPen Game Gallery A-Z. Of course, you all know that my work is far from over. For some reason, there are still a few games out of alphabetical order after this, and then I want to go back and retry all the games that were added over the course of this year. It's going to be a fun couple of weeks, ain't it...
That's all I got for today. Until next time, stay delicious
Links
Zombietime USA: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26148
Buttermilk Doomsday: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18534
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Zero Frontier and Zombie Farm
Zero Frontier is exactly what I like to see in a game. It's an original concept with a suitable narrative and competent game mechanics. Oops, I totally just wrote the last sentence of the review first, didn't I? Well, now that you know my opinion on Zero Frontier, let me substantiate it a bit.
The premise is that you are a lone astronaut who has come across an abandoned space station and must explore it (in a top-down omnidirectional fashion) in order to find an energy core that you can use to power your ship and bring yourself to safety. Now, as you all know, in space, no one can hear you walk...that's because there's no gravity, so you can't walk. Instead, you have to propel yourself using a self-refilling fire extinguisher type thing with RMB.
This mechanic was a bit annoying for me because I've been using my trackpad ever since my mouse ran out of battery and I was too lazy to run to the store to buy some AAAs. It's usually not too much of a problem, but playing games that heavily involve both the right and left mouse buttons is a tad annoying, especially when RMB is the predominant button. Can't really blame anyone but myself for this, though...just thought it deserved to be mentioned.
The gameplay gets an A+ from me. Yeah, momentum mechanics tend to be a bit infuriating to work with, but this game pulls it off as well as I think is possible. What really sells it is that the levels are designed in a way that's conducive to rocketing yourself across the room uncontrollably every now and again, but that will punish you for not thinking out your next move.
The regular levels are reasonably fun. enemies, obstacles, and pickups are all placed in such a way that promotes a natural progression of thought->action->failure->rethought->reward. This is not a game that you'll be able to breeze through in your first try. It's going to take you a couple attempts. I know some people don't like this kind of gameplay, so caveat emptor (er...download-or). I, however, find this to be among the most engaging structures for play a game can employ. That's part of the reason I've got 125 hours (and counting) clocked in Dark Souls.
What really made me love this game, though, were the boss rooms. The bosses themselves are standard large circular enemies that shoot projectiles in all 8 (or maybe like 12? I didn't count) directions, but the rooms are beautifully designed from start to finish. The second you step foot...er...float...into one, you're greeted by a stockpile of ammo and health and a change in the normal, semi-calming music to a more lively track that gets you ready for an intense fight that the game is sure to deliver.
I actually didn't get to finish this game because the second boss room was a bit too sadistic for me to complete in time to not fail my Calculus test tomorrow, but for all the failed attempts at completing it, I never once lost the motivation to continue...perhaps everyday school and work environments can learn a thing or two from games like this. Ah, but now I'm overstepping my bounds and dipping into Extra Credits' territory, so I'll move onto game #2.
It's rare that I stop playing a game before it has, in any meaningful sense, begun. As you all know by now, though, I am of the unbending opinion that a game should not be given any breaks just because it's being played for the purpose of a review. If a professional reviewer found the beginning of a game so appalling that he or she had no motivation to continue, I would graciously accept the poor review with the caveat "I didn't play the whole thing." Heck, that policy would probably saved me a few hundred dollars over the years in bad purchases. That's exactly what happened with Zombie Farm.
What hurts the most is that I'm pretty sure Zombie Farm had the potential to be decent. The 3D art, while nothing by today's standards, had that Crazy Cross kind of appeal and definitely handles colors responsibly. Once I learned what to do, I'm sure the game would have flowed perfectly and kept me entertained for as long as I requested of it...but getting to that stage would be so infuriating and tedious that frankly, it's just not worth your time.
The game starts with a bat, who was one voice-over away from being Navi 2.0, swirling gleefully around your head and telling you in the form of a dialogue box the basic background and controls of the game...and when I say "basic," I use that word loosely. Even if I were okay with the idea of text-box based exposition (which I'm very much not), I would still say that this much superfluous text is nothing short of erroneous. Thinking your game's narrative is so brilliant that it deserves more than half a minute of the player's time to be spent reading instead of playing is even more pretentious than the wording in my last sentence.
After that, I walked around the overworld with little to no idea where the hell I was going until I came upon the character I was supposed to talk to. Oh, goody! More dialogue. I was told to pay a visit to the local shop, which I could distinguish between the other identical buildings that had no function in the game whatsoever because the shop would be highlighted when I walked near it. So then I spent a little time awkwardly dragging myself across any house-like building I could find until the game popped me back into the starting room and gave me a big ol' "Thanks for trying." After this, I was mildly (read, "wildly") agitated, but not enough so to prevent me from trying to amend my perfectly justified mistakes. So I pressed the action button to restart, and was greeted by my good friend Batthew (not joking. That's the name they went with) explaining the game to me all over again. First with a sigh and then with a partially yelled "nope!" I exited the game, never to be booted up again.
Maybe, just maybe, if the game had employed design choices that made actually playing the game the least bit rewarding, I would be able to forgive the terrible conveyance. But there are no background sounds, the gameplay is unengaging as all hell at startup, and what am I putting myself through all of this for anyways? A glorified RTS? That's what it seems like...No thanks.
That's all I got for today. Until next time, stay zombified.
Links
Whoosh Kapow Fun: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26035
None of the above: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=508
The premise is that you are a lone astronaut who has come across an abandoned space station and must explore it (in a top-down omnidirectional fashion) in order to find an energy core that you can use to power your ship and bring yourself to safety. Now, as you all know, in space, no one can hear you walk...that's because there's no gravity, so you can't walk. Instead, you have to propel yourself using a self-refilling fire extinguisher type thing with RMB.
This mechanic was a bit annoying for me because I've been using my trackpad ever since my mouse ran out of battery and I was too lazy to run to the store to buy some AAAs. It's usually not too much of a problem, but playing games that heavily involve both the right and left mouse buttons is a tad annoying, especially when RMB is the predominant button. Can't really blame anyone but myself for this, though...just thought it deserved to be mentioned.
The gameplay gets an A+ from me. Yeah, momentum mechanics tend to be a bit infuriating to work with, but this game pulls it off as well as I think is possible. What really sells it is that the levels are designed in a way that's conducive to rocketing yourself across the room uncontrollably every now and again, but that will punish you for not thinking out your next move.
The regular levels are reasonably fun. enemies, obstacles, and pickups are all placed in such a way that promotes a natural progression of thought->action->failure->rethought->reward. This is not a game that you'll be able to breeze through in your first try. It's going to take you a couple attempts. I know some people don't like this kind of gameplay, so caveat emptor (er...download-or). I, however, find this to be among the most engaging structures for play a game can employ. That's part of the reason I've got 125 hours (and counting) clocked in Dark Souls.
What really made me love this game, though, were the boss rooms. The bosses themselves are standard large circular enemies that shoot projectiles in all 8 (or maybe like 12? I didn't count) directions, but the rooms are beautifully designed from start to finish. The second you step foot...er...float...into one, you're greeted by a stockpile of ammo and health and a change in the normal, semi-calming music to a more lively track that gets you ready for an intense fight that the game is sure to deliver.
I actually didn't get to finish this game because the second boss room was a bit too sadistic for me to complete in time to not fail my Calculus test tomorrow, but for all the failed attempts at completing it, I never once lost the motivation to continue...perhaps everyday school and work environments can learn a thing or two from games like this. Ah, but now I'm overstepping my bounds and dipping into Extra Credits' territory, so I'll move onto game #2.
It's rare that I stop playing a game before it has, in any meaningful sense, begun. As you all know by now, though, I am of the unbending opinion that a game should not be given any breaks just because it's being played for the purpose of a review. If a professional reviewer found the beginning of a game so appalling that he or she had no motivation to continue, I would graciously accept the poor review with the caveat "I didn't play the whole thing." Heck, that policy would probably saved me a few hundred dollars over the years in bad purchases. That's exactly what happened with Zombie Farm.
What hurts the most is that I'm pretty sure Zombie Farm had the potential to be decent. The 3D art, while nothing by today's standards, had that Crazy Cross kind of appeal and definitely handles colors responsibly. Once I learned what to do, I'm sure the game would have flowed perfectly and kept me entertained for as long as I requested of it...but getting to that stage would be so infuriating and tedious that frankly, it's just not worth your time.
The game starts with a bat, who was one voice-over away from being Navi 2.0, swirling gleefully around your head and telling you in the form of a dialogue box the basic background and controls of the game...and when I say "basic," I use that word loosely. Even if I were okay with the idea of text-box based exposition (which I'm very much not), I would still say that this much superfluous text is nothing short of erroneous. Thinking your game's narrative is so brilliant that it deserves more than half a minute of the player's time to be spent reading instead of playing is even more pretentious than the wording in my last sentence.
After that, I walked around the overworld with little to no idea where the hell I was going until I came upon the character I was supposed to talk to. Oh, goody! More dialogue. I was told to pay a visit to the local shop, which I could distinguish between the other identical buildings that had no function in the game whatsoever because the shop would be highlighted when I walked near it. So then I spent a little time awkwardly dragging myself across any house-like building I could find until the game popped me back into the starting room and gave me a big ol' "Thanks for trying." After this, I was mildly (read, "wildly") agitated, but not enough so to prevent me from trying to amend my perfectly justified mistakes. So I pressed the action button to restart, and was greeted by my good friend Batthew (not joking. That's the name they went with) explaining the game to me all over again. First with a sigh and then with a partially yelled "nope!" I exited the game, never to be booted up again.
Maybe, just maybe, if the game had employed design choices that made actually playing the game the least bit rewarding, I would be able to forgive the terrible conveyance. But there are no background sounds, the gameplay is unengaging as all hell at startup, and what am I putting myself through all of this for anyways? A glorified RTS? That's what it seems like...No thanks.
That's all I got for today. Until next time, stay zombified.
Links
Whoosh Kapow Fun: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26035
None of the above: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=508
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
YSoul and Zartan
YSoul started up with a menu screen featuring an adrenaline-pumping techno beat accompanied by the sight of the camera zooming down a road at high speeds. I thought I was in for a pulse-pounding adventure that would put my reflexes to the test and challenge my might as a gamer...
This game looks nice and it has some good ideas, but ultimately, it's a "hold 'd' to win" game. My guess is that the developers wanted to make a Sonic Colors-esque spectacle (hence the powerup that perfectly mimics a powerup from that game, even down to the color), but ran out of time or motivation or whatever and just decided "does it work? then submit it." Final verdict: not much to see here.
Zartan is another take on the ol' Bionic Commando swinging mechanic. It even uses a frog tongue as a grappling hook, like in Froggle. Like my playthrough of Froggle, my experience with Zartan had a bit of a rocky start. First off, the game seemed to have a terrible problem with visual conveyance. Things that looked like walls were actually in the background, etc. This problem remedies itself before long, though.
Admittedly, I don't really remember many of the other 2D swinging games on this list, but I think I can confidently say that Zartan is not the best...not by a long shot. In It Belongs in an Ancient Ruin, for example, I never felt cheated out of my progress because the mechanics were all very intuitive and did exactly what you told them to do. Zartan, on the other hand, is no stranger to the cheap death. The hitboxes on things that instakill you are too big, the camera moves a bit too fast, making it more difficult to set up your next grapple, and the whole game, while having its very fun moments, constantly verges on being frustrating. Another thing I liked about IBiaAR is that no design choices seemed pointless, but in Zartan, there seems to be no purpose in collecting the fruit strewn about the level, which is one of the most major objectives the game gives you.
If you like the idea of 2D swinging games, you'll like Zartan, and while the raw quality of the game is not as good as I'd have liked, there's certainly enough to keep you occupied...if not entertained...for a while. Of course, there is no save feature, so whether this is a blessing or a curse is up to you to decide.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay sticky
Links
Y not: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18529
Lickiana Jones: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25888
PS- we've finally made it to the last letter of the alphabet...how exciting
This game looks nice and it has some good ideas, but ultimately, it's a "hold 'd' to win" game. My guess is that the developers wanted to make a Sonic Colors-esque spectacle (hence the powerup that perfectly mimics a powerup from that game, even down to the color), but ran out of time or motivation or whatever and just decided "does it work? then submit it." Final verdict: not much to see here.
Zartan is another take on the ol' Bionic Commando swinging mechanic. It even uses a frog tongue as a grappling hook, like in Froggle. Like my playthrough of Froggle, my experience with Zartan had a bit of a rocky start. First off, the game seemed to have a terrible problem with visual conveyance. Things that looked like walls were actually in the background, etc. This problem remedies itself before long, though.
Admittedly, I don't really remember many of the other 2D swinging games on this list, but I think I can confidently say that Zartan is not the best...not by a long shot. In It Belongs in an Ancient Ruin, for example, I never felt cheated out of my progress because the mechanics were all very intuitive and did exactly what you told them to do. Zartan, on the other hand, is no stranger to the cheap death. The hitboxes on things that instakill you are too big, the camera moves a bit too fast, making it more difficult to set up your next grapple, and the whole game, while having its very fun moments, constantly verges on being frustrating. Another thing I liked about IBiaAR is that no design choices seemed pointless, but in Zartan, there seems to be no purpose in collecting the fruit strewn about the level, which is one of the most major objectives the game gives you.
If you like the idea of 2D swinging games, you'll like Zartan, and while the raw quality of the game is not as good as I'd have liked, there's certainly enough to keep you occupied...if not entertained...for a while. Of course, there is no save feature, so whether this is a blessing or a curse is up to you to decide.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay sticky
Links
Y not: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18529
Lickiana Jones: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25888
PS- we've finally made it to the last letter of the alphabet...how exciting
Monday, December 9, 2013
YAPA-G and YFront
Kids, this is why you don't procrastinate until the last minute to do things. I'm so tired today. Under normal circumstances, I would either review only one game or just take the day off, but unfortunately those luxuries have been long since used up.
I guess I'm lucky that neither of these games really gave me anything too interesting to talk about. YAPA-G literally stands for "Yet Another Post Apocalyptic Game." I'm not making that up. They might as well have just named it "nothing interesting here."
And there may have very well been something quite interesting here, but I wasn't able to understand it. I basically just left-and-right clicked around the screen for a while until the game told me I won. I'm all for a game easing the player into the experience, but I feel like I shouldn't be able to beat the game if I literally know nothing about the mechanics or how the game works. All I could gather is that it's a bit like Risk but it's over in like 5 turns.
For all it's worth, the music is nice...that's all I can really appreciate about this one to be honest.
Next up we have Starfox...I mean StarTeddy...I mean YFront, which can best be described as "what might have happened if Starfox were made for a DOS computer that just so happened to integrate seamless voice acting. This is a terrible idea, by the way, because playing with the z-axis was a daring stunt even when the Super FX chip was around. Seriously, the resemblances to our beloved bush-dwelling starfighter are uncanny. Not that there's anything wrong with a little homage, but usually when you call back to something, you try to improve upon it. Otherwise, it usually gets referred to as "ripping off"
and what exactly did YFront improve about Starfox? Absolutely nothing. In fact, it seems to have taken a step back. There's a terrible problem with depth. Your enemies are always way closer (and by extension deadlier) than they seem. The game is very disorienting in that way and I applaud anyone who can play this game with any semblance of skill, because I'll bet before long you're going to resort to mashing buttons and hoping you don't die, because keeping up with the game's perception problems is far too frustrating.
That's all I got for today. Until next time, stay in motion
Links
this again: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26698
*doppler sound*: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24156
I guess I'm lucky that neither of these games really gave me anything too interesting to talk about. YAPA-G literally stands for "Yet Another Post Apocalyptic Game." I'm not making that up. They might as well have just named it "nothing interesting here."
And there may have very well been something quite interesting here, but I wasn't able to understand it. I basically just left-and-right clicked around the screen for a while until the game told me I won. I'm all for a game easing the player into the experience, but I feel like I shouldn't be able to beat the game if I literally know nothing about the mechanics or how the game works. All I could gather is that it's a bit like Risk but it's over in like 5 turns.
For all it's worth, the music is nice...that's all I can really appreciate about this one to be honest.
Next up we have Starfox...I mean StarTeddy...I mean YFront, which can best be described as "what might have happened if Starfox were made for a DOS computer that just so happened to integrate seamless voice acting. This is a terrible idea, by the way, because playing with the z-axis was a daring stunt even when the Super FX chip was around. Seriously, the resemblances to our beloved bush-dwelling starfighter are uncanny. Not that there's anything wrong with a little homage, but usually when you call back to something, you try to improve upon it. Otherwise, it usually gets referred to as "ripping off"
and what exactly did YFront improve about Starfox? Absolutely nothing. In fact, it seems to have taken a step back. There's a terrible problem with depth. Your enemies are always way closer (and by extension deadlier) than they seem. The game is very disorienting in that way and I applaud anyone who can play this game with any semblance of skill, because I'll bet before long you're going to resort to mashing buttons and hoping you don't die, because keeping up with the game's perception problems is far too frustrating.
That's all I got for today. Until next time, stay in motion
Links
this again: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26698
*doppler sound*: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24156
Sunday, December 8, 2013
XM-13 Deadly Assault and Xtreme Arena (kinda)
XM-13 Deadly Assault is one of those games that reminds me that I'm reviewing school projects. It wasn't made to push any boundaries or test an idea or to present a new way of designing games, it was just made for the sake of being made. While it would be fallacious to say "not that there's anything wrong with that," it would also be a bit unrealistic of me to say every game should set out with some passionate agenda, and the inspiration behind the game doesn't intrinsically make the end product any better or worse. With that said, let's take a look.
XM-13 is your standard "splosions go everywhere bang bang boom" type of game. You control a giant mech, so the game naturally feels sluggish. I don't see why so many games feel the need to limit your sprint and jump functions. I mean the jump would make sense if this game had any real platforming, but for the most part it's just shooting everything in sight.
This game tried to go for the Attack of the 50ft Robot appeal (whoa, blast from the past. I'm gonna get emotional) that hits that primitive part of your brain that just wants to destroy. What 50ft Robot understood, though, is that the player needs to feel fully in control of the destruction they cause. That game didn't feel the need to jam the screen with particle effects: it just gave you things to crush and let you crush them. Most importantly, 50ft Robot controlled smooth as butter.
XM-13 on the other hand, chugs like a steam train in a beer drinking contest. It's pretty bad when a game boldly declares "tactical nuke inbound" and my first reaction is not "oh, this is gonna be sweet" but rather "ooh, the framerate's not gonna like that." I've said before that my laptop is a pretty disappointing piece of machinery (even though it's an ostensibly top-of-the line Alienware, so idk what that's about), but come on. I was just running Saints Row IV seamlessly and I can't handle a game that might have looked impressive in 2005? Look, I'm not suggesting that a DigiPen game should resemble the newest games with cutting-edge graphics nor am I suggesting that DigiPen studenst should be as good at optimization as people who do that for a living. All I'm saying is that if you're going to push the envelope and go for graphical quality, you'd better be able to make it run, because a game with poor graphics at 60 frames per second looks and feels a hell of a lot better than even the most visually stunning games at 2 frames per second.
And Xtreme Arena was a not real exe, so that's all I got for now. Until next time, stay deadly.
Links
W-DED Sirius XM: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26688
doesn't exist: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=604
XM-13 is your standard "splosions go everywhere bang bang boom" type of game. You control a giant mech, so the game naturally feels sluggish. I don't see why so many games feel the need to limit your sprint and jump functions. I mean the jump would make sense if this game had any real platforming, but for the most part it's just shooting everything in sight.
This game tried to go for the Attack of the 50ft Robot appeal (whoa, blast from the past. I'm gonna get emotional) that hits that primitive part of your brain that just wants to destroy. What 50ft Robot understood, though, is that the player needs to feel fully in control of the destruction they cause. That game didn't feel the need to jam the screen with particle effects: it just gave you things to crush and let you crush them. Most importantly, 50ft Robot controlled smooth as butter.
XM-13 on the other hand, chugs like a steam train in a beer drinking contest. It's pretty bad when a game boldly declares "tactical nuke inbound" and my first reaction is not "oh, this is gonna be sweet" but rather "ooh, the framerate's not gonna like that." I've said before that my laptop is a pretty disappointing piece of machinery (even though it's an ostensibly top-of-the line Alienware, so idk what that's about), but come on. I was just running Saints Row IV seamlessly and I can't handle a game that might have looked impressive in 2005? Look, I'm not suggesting that a DigiPen game should resemble the newest games with cutting-edge graphics nor am I suggesting that DigiPen studenst should be as good at optimization as people who do that for a living. All I'm saying is that if you're going to push the envelope and go for graphical quality, you'd better be able to make it run, because a game with poor graphics at 60 frames per second looks and feels a hell of a lot better than even the most visually stunning games at 2 frames per second.
And Xtreme Arena was a not real exe, so that's all I got for now. Until next time, stay deadly.
Links
W-DED Sirius XM: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26688
doesn't exist: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=604
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Wub Wub Racer Magic and Wyrm (kinda)
Wub Wub Racer Magic is beautiful in its simplicity. You know that weird Japanese game show? No, not that one, the other one. The Human Tetris thing? Well, it's basically that, but with spaceships. You fly a ship down a narrow corridor filled with walls comprised of 9 blocks, one of which is always missing. You have to fly through the hole lest you be blown to smithereens.
The only real noteworthy thing is that this is one of maybe 5 games on this list to actually have made me laugh out loud. There's something absolutely hilarious about the way your ship just sorta disintegrates when it hits a wall. This game is the definition of a time-waster. It's the kind of game you play while listening to a podcast or something.
And I couldn't get Wyrm to work, so...yeah. I guess this is where the review ends.
Links
Dubstep Noises: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26685
Wyrmenheimer: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=554
The only real noteworthy thing is that this is one of maybe 5 games on this list to actually have made me laugh out loud. There's something absolutely hilarious about the way your ship just sorta disintegrates when it hits a wall. This game is the definition of a time-waster. It's the kind of game you play while listening to a podcast or something.
And I couldn't get Wyrm to work, so...yeah. I guess this is where the review ends.
Links
Dubstep Noises: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26685
Wyrmenheimer: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=554
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