dp-challenge

Stop SOPA

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:07:50 +0100

If you're on this website, nothing else needs to be said. You're tech savvy and Internet-aware enough to know what's going on. If you don't, here's the short version: Internet censorship is bad!

Splinter Cell

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 01:08:21 +0100

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Game Info

Publisher: Activision
Developer: Neversoft Entertainment
Platform: PS2
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Release Date: April 8, 2003

Intro:
It’s not what the intro does; it’s how it does it. Splinter Cell tells the story of two agents sent in behind enemy lines and captured. You are then introduced to Sam, who will be sent in to rescue them.

For a PS2 game, the pine cone and tree graphics blew me away. But here’s why Splinter Cell does the intro better than most: It introduces a stealth action style of play as good as any spy movie. You are going to get the opportunity to play with a more realistic spy experience. Depicted scenes include sliding down tunnels; using gear such as night vision goggles and small, flexible cameras; shooting while hanging, and rappelling down the sides of buildings. By the time the intro is finished, you’re just sitting there thinking ‘I can’t wait to play.’ That’s what an intro is supposed to do.

Getting Going:
Choose your difficulty and check your options, which will acquaint you with the controls. Then, you’ll move on to training camp. This might seem a bit scary at first. Training camps are usually not something you can skip and, in some war games, will pigeon hole you based on skills. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but, if you don’t play well there, it sets the mood for the whole game. That shouldn’t really be the case here. You must be able to accomplish the skills to move beyond training camp and, if you put the game down for any length of time (days, not hours) you might forget some of what you’ve learned but, overall, Splinter Cell’s training camp is fairly easy and gets you up and playing rather quickly.

Fun:
It’s always difficult to identify fun on its own, without comparison to other games in a genre. Splinter Cell’s alerts are much less jarring than the sudden noise and exclamation point experienced in the Metal Gear Solid franchise. Drops are more natural and gameplay just feels more intuitive. This all adds up to a fun stealth action experience.

Visuals:
As already stated, items in the outdoor environment are phenomenally rendered. Much of your action takes place indoors, however. Here, most items are where you might expect to find them; a first aid kit on the floor amidst a well-searched house or on the desk in a police station, for instance. These items look like they should, as well, instead of being rectangular boxes or a shiny pixel on the screen. The night vision works well and gets much too bright to use in lighted areas. People are shiny and look like they are made of painted clay, but for 2003, this is still outstanding artwork. The map, however, is difficult to use. It’s in a menu, not on your HUD. While it shows you the overall layout of the land, it doesn’t say where you are. It’s green-gray and dark brown without any hint of landmarks other than street and building names. If you are lost enough to need the map, it’s fairly useless. Also, load screens are tediously long.

Sound:
The sound effects include the crumple of paper when you step on it, typing sounds on a keyboard, grunts from Sam as he hauls things or maneuvers, and the rustling of leaves as you brush past plants. While the voice acting is superb; ducking is not done very well. It is difficult to hear the voice speaking to you from the com in your ear over the bass of the background music. The soundtrack does do a great job of setting the mood and the pace of the game, however, and this is essential to good sound design.

Intelligence:
Beyond the introduction, the AI is the place where Splinter Cell truly shines. NPC’s definitely notice you. They run, hide, and lay in wait. If they leave an area in fear, they may come back. If a police officer is alerted to your presence, he may seem to go away, but he doesn’t reset. Instead, he waits for you. If you injure an enemy without killing them, they may, for instance lay down on a couch in agony, but they will still shoot you if you come across them. Health is not restored over time or at save points; you must come across first aid kits to replenish it. There are varying ways to accomplish any goal, offering you a lot of choices and freedom. Splinter Cell is a stealth game; if you shoot your way through it, you’re going to have trouble finding ammo.

Immersion:
There is a lot of thinking to be done with Splinter Cell, but also a good chance that you will have to repeat things a few times, especially if you start a difficult mission low on health. For this reason alone, Splinter Cell often fails to be fully immersive. If the game gave you one shot at it, or more information, you might feel more immersed. However, Splinter Cell tends to be a very balanced game. While you might find yourself repeating situations, you’ll learn from your mistakes and less challenge would dramatically decrease the fun of the game.

Rewards and Punishments:
Every computer that you can access grants you a data stick with more information about the story. Drops include first aid kits and, rarely, ammo. If you die, you will be returned to the last save point or checkpoint to try again.

Cameras:
This is another area in which Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell really does excel. You have full control of the camera and are able to look up, down and all around. There is never a feeling that the camera is too loose or too tight, won’t look where I should be able to look, or is stuck at a bad angle.

Controls:
Sam Fisher can do an awful lot of things. He can, of course, crouch, jump, sneak, walk quickly, and climb. He can also climb pipes, slide down ropes, do wall jumps, peek around corners, and do splits on the wall. This leaves you with a lot of control options, but a lot of controls to remember. Shooting with R2 and R1 feels a little counter-intuitive. I had to keep reminding myself to use the correct finger on R2, which aims, so that I’d be able to shoot because enemies have happy trigger fingers! You may not get a second chance, especially if you are low on health. Like many games, it is easy to learn, but difficult to master. In a fighting game, where this might be something you can learn as you go, that is a good axiom. Here, you’ll definitely want to have some mastery early on.

Ideas and Memory:
Splinter Cell kind of caught me unaware. I’m a huge MGS fan and, while there are several Splinter Cell games in this franchise, this is the only one to make my list. By contrast, almost all of the MGS franchise received high enough critical reviews to make the list. At #83 on the list, it also falls below all but one of the MGS games.

Although they are both stealth action franchises, there really is no comparison. Splinter Cell manages to tell its story without lengthy CG’s that break up the game action and without jarring alerts. Death scenes aren’t the overly dramatic, and somewhat amusing, yelling sequences found in MGS. Instead, I found a more realistic rescue mission-style game that fit the intro and my expectations of a stealth game. I will continue to be a fan of MGS, simply because it is some of the most outstanding story-telling in any franchise. For pure stealth action fun, however, I’d choose Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.

A DP Challenge Compendium

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:37:39 +0100

Playing and being well-informed about a variety of video games is somewhat like being well-read in literary circles. Anyone can design a game; really understanding great design is not something you can learn in school. It's learned in the trenches; playing, working at it, and sharing knowledge with other developers.

A DP Challenge Compendium takes a hard look at established video games and breaks them down for their design elements. This book is now available for sale on Kindle.

Crowdfunding Go!

Tue, 31 May 2011 20:47:57 +0100

Dante's Inferno

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:37:18 +0100

Dante’s Inferno

Game Info

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Visceral Games
Platform: PS3
Genre(s): Action
Players: 1 Player
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)
Release Date: February 09, 2010

Intro:
The beginning of the game tells the backstory. Some of it is told in narrative writing, some in a freakishly disturbing cut scene, and some in an odd sort of comic style that seems out of place with the amazing graphics in the game.

Getting Going:
The comic gives way to action and we find Dante in the center of a battle, apparently with the prisoners of the Crusade spoken of in the written narrative. You’ll find yourself fighting, or at least being attacked, before the tutorial pops up that tells you how to fight. God of War fans are going to find this game very easy to pick up and play. Everything about gameplay is immediately suggestive of the God of War franchise. Waves of enemies pour in from all sides as Dante swings wildly at them, taking them out in chain kills. Yes, even the chain counter is present.

Fun:
This game didn’t actually rate well on Metacritic (so with critics), most likely because it plays like a God of War ripoff. However, if it borrows heavily from GoW, it’s from the later games--the graphics are stunning, the gameplay is smooth and the puzzles are more easily solved. While definitely not immersive, the game draws you through so effortlessly that it’s hard to put down. I was disturbed, deeply disturbed, but I was having fun.

Visuals:
The graphics are incredibly detailed and everything is perfectly themed. The visuals in Dante’s Inferno are deeply disturbing and are meant to be so. There is a reason this game has a Mature rating on it. When I traveled through gluttony, I was afraid I was going to have to climb the writhing intestines that lined the walls. Climbing the walls of the damned and the ropes of souls was terrible enough. There is a very definite shudder factor here.

Sound:
The sounds are often haunting. The basics are all there: lightning crackles like lightning should, fire roars from volcanic vents, the damned moan and cry out. Dynamic layering makes sure that you always hear the dialogue when it comes time. Your ghostly guide speaks in an almost hollow, distant tone, while Dante has the deep voice of commanding confidence. The music and background noises are haunting and chilling, filling out the disturbing feel of the game and sending shivers up your spine.

Intelligence:
Dante’s Inferno is a game of puzzles. Largely linear in play, the NPC’s are, of course, aware of your presence. Cameras and shiny objects draw your attention to items that will need to be destroyed and to important artifacts. At times you will have to experiment a bit, at the cost of HP, to figure out a puzzle, but the game, for the most part, plays well against you.

Immersion:
Dante’s Inferno could be immersive just based on creep factor alone; well, that and the way the game draws you through the levels. It has excellent pacing. However, Quick Time Events remind you constantly that you’re playing a game. Likewise, save statues force you to choose to save your game, again reminding you that it is, in fact, only a game.

Rewards and Punishments:
Dante’s Inferno gives players the opportunity to play as Holy or Unholy. Different skills are obtained for each. Skills are bought with souls so, through kills. Finding relics grants new skills. Most of these are either Holy or only Unholy. As you play in one way or the other, your skills level up and more become available, if you have the souls to buy them. There is a sort of scale in which some of the skills link and become stronger. Players of Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XII will be familiar with this system, although this one is much more simplistic than it is in those games. Judas coins can be collected to upgrade relics. Some puzzles will require some experimentation to solve at the cost of HP. This could potentially come back to bite you. If you die before completing the puzzle, you are returned to the beginning of the puzzle with the same amount of HP you had starting it. If your HP is low, you’re almost better off re-loading from the last save point and running through the puzzle you’ve now figured out. Usually the save point isn’t that far back.

Cameras:
There were times I wished I had more control over the camera and was able to look around. There is very little to no control of the camera. The camera will quickly focus on a spot to alert you to important elements of play, but the angles can be a little annoying at other times as you easily miss hidden areas.

Controls:
The controls are easy to learn and relatively easy to master. Main attacks are on the square and triangle buttons. X allows you to jump. The circle is the key to almost all of your other skills. Holding L1 and the circle allows you to use even more skills while L2 plus the right buttons give you access to your magic spells. R1 is perhaps the most used button in the game; it allows you to hold, interact with objects and NPC’s, and swing on ropes.

Ideas:
Instead of blatantly ripping off the mechanics of God of War, I would like to have seen Visceral Games use their creativity. Instead of breaking reward fountains, the pick-ups for HP, MP, relics, and Judas coins should have been as well-themed as the rest of the game. Saves should be automatic. Dante’s Inferno had the potential to be a horrifyingly creepy game that would cause nightmares. As it is, it’s still horrifying and creepy, but it falls short of the kind of immersion that would cause nightmares. That’s disappointing.

Memory:
I wasn’t supposed to “review” Dante’s Inferno. It didn’t make my DP Challenge list and came in with the relatively low Metacritic score of 75. I played it because I wanted to. I played because I couldn’t wait to play. I was not disappointed in the game. It’s fun, it’s chilling, and it makes me shudder. It’s not something I necessarily want to play in the presence of others, but it is a game I highly recommend. And, if you love the God of War franchise, Dante’s Inferno is almost a must-have.

#84 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 23:42:08 +0100

#84 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004

Game Info

Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: EA Sports
Platform: PS2
Genre(s): Golf
Players: 1-4 Players
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Release Date: September 22, 2003

Intro:
A random golfer introduces the game as an EA Sports game with their familiar motto: “EA Sports: It’s in the game.” In one scene, it’s a famous golfer on a green. In another, it’s a golfer in motion capture gear. The load screens gradually give way to DMX’s “Y’all Gonna Make Me Lose My Mind” playing while golfers do celebratory moves and dance moves on the green. It’s an upbeat song that gets you going and, if you are also familiar with the golfers rendered, it might excite you with the possibility of playing those golfers, but as an introduction that simply makes you want to play, it misses the mark.

Getting Going:
The load screen offers several options:

Play Now
EA Sports Game Face

Set up your game profile

Play Online
My Tour

See your gameplay stats

Options
EA Sports Extras

Game Credits
A Tribute to #1

Just shows Tiger Woods swinging repeatedly

The 18th At Bay Hill

This is an interview with Tiger Woods in which he discusses making that shot, what was on his mind, and hitting a spectator.

Madden NFL 2004
NBA Live 2004
NCAA Football 2004
NHL 2004

None of the items on the load screen bear an explanation, so you must look into each to explore the options available to you in beginning gameplay. If you take too long in deciding what you want to do first, the game automatically goes into demo mode. This is easy enough to escape with the start button and is, at least, remotely interesting to watch. Game Face takes you into the character creation screen and lets you set up your profile. It first asks you a series of personal questions: birthday, sex, etc. The answers to these questions automatically generate a golfer. From there, you can customize or choose random customization. Then, set your attributes and enter the Pro Shop. Play begins with $25,000 in hand, but be warned, even the sunglasses cost $10,000.

Once you start playing for the first time, you will be taken through a tutorial. The tutorial is mandatory and automatic. It cannot be bypassed. If you’re unable to do a shot, you’re unable to move forward and the instructions toward the end aren’t as clear as they could be. For instance, for putting, the HUD gives you a message that indicates your caddy’s recommendation. But, it doesn’t really say what that means, which is a problem if you’re unfamiliar with golf. The HUD also shows you which buttons to push, but fails to indicate how this impacts the game. As players, we tend to do well with exploration, but in a tutorial, you shouldn't have to explore to figure out what it’s trying to teach you.

Fun:
The game is easy to get up and going, the player character is fully customize-able, the soundtrack has a beat and you can dance to it, and the quips from the announcers are humorous. It’s hard not to have fun playing this game, even if you play it badly...which I did!

Visuals:
The environments are visually appealing, from the lines on the greens to the leaves on the trees. As was usual with PS2 games, the player characters are a bit shiny and doll-like in appearance. The days are sunny and the courses are well laid out so that Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 actually appeals to me on a sunny spring day just on aesthetic feel alone.

Sound:
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 has a rocking soundtrack which plays while you are in the Pro Shop, during load screens and when the game is on pause. Much of the music is by Just Blaze, but the soundtrack also includes Rooney’s “Blueside” and an apparently rare recording of Stagga Lee’s “Game Over”. At least, I can’t find that song anywhere.

Voice announcing is extremely humorous and makes the game worth playing for that alone. Statements such as ‘This one calls for a wedge. It also calls for someone who knows how to use it.’ , ‘Get out the scuba gear again’ (while the ball is still in the air), and ‘Listen for the little splash at the end of this shot.’ pepper the gameplay and make the game much more friendly to non-golfers than the extremely technical speech that began my entrance to the first course. None of it was overly repetitive and the only thing that stood out as seemingly odd was the accent on one of the announcers.

Intelligence:
The announcers definitely notice your gameplay, whether it’s good or bad. Being bad is almost more fun from the point of view of what they’ll say next. When you play well, the announcing is fairly positive, but straight-laced and boring. There is wind, you can toggle rain, the crowd cheers and boos. Playing by the controls suggested on-screen will quickly lead to epic failure, so you learn pretty quickly to play with your options and figure out the best way to approach a hole for yourself.

Immersion:
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 is not in the least bit immersive. Your score and the score needed for medals pops up at the end of every hole and you must press a button to continue. You can take as long as you want on every shot, playing with the different options for clubs and type of shot without anyone even commenting or the game timing out in any way.

Rewards and Punishments:
Each course has a score needed for a bronze, silver or gold medal. The reward for a good play is a positive, albeit boring comment. “Punishment” for a bad play is a humorous, if sometimes rude, comment. If you don’t earn a medal, the course will need to be replayed. When you win, you earn more money to spend in the Pro Shop.

Cameras:
There is a flyover of the hole before you play each hole. In addition, you can choose to look at the flyover whenever you change clubs or the type of shot you plan to take to see what effect your choice has on the way the ball will go. There is a reverse camera shot from the cup for all putting plays.

Controls:
The controls are very easy to learn, but difficult to master. If you try to follow the on-screen suggested club and shot, you will quickly see the error of your ways. Then, you learn to play with the flyover and various shots until you hit on the ones that fit your play expertise and work best for each hole.

Ideas:
I’d like to see the grid be more accessible for putting shots. I also thought that, like other sports games, I’d like to have the option of playing a famous golfer--not necessarily Tiger Woods, but some of the other notables would be fine. While I obviously enjoyed being berated by the announcers, some tips might have been nice at times. Some of the tips were lies, after all. For instance, the announcer would say ‘a sand wedge would be good here,’ but investigation indicated that a sand wedge would put the ball in the drink. One more thing--in one of the beginning scenes, Tiger Woods can be seen picking up grass and dropping it to check the wind. That would be a sweet animation to include and would also add to gameplay.

Memory:
I sucked gloriously at this game, at first, and I had a blast doing it! When I wanted to be better, it was easy enough to figure out what I had to do and start implementing that. I’m still not great at playing, but the game never once frustrated or annoyed me. It never stopped being fun to play.

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:05:15 +0100

#69 Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

Game Info

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Developer: Insomniac Games

Platform: PS2

Genre(s): Platformer

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: November 11, 2003

Intro:
Ratchet & Clank give an interview about their adventures as champions of the Universe, which is seen by someone in need of assistance. In no time, they are whisked away on another adventure. The intro draws the player briefly into the backstory of our two heroes without being drawn out. In fact, it’s slightly comedic, which sets the tone for the rest of the game.

Getting Going:
There are simple tutorials sprinkled throughout gameplay that helps the player learn the game. However, if you’re not familiar with a Ratchet & Clank game, the first tutorial comes a little late in figuring out what all of the buttons do. This is common in PS2 games, however. Recent games recognize the player’s eagerness to play instead of reading, whereas PS2 developers expected players to read the manual.

Fun:
It’s more difficult to judge the “fun” of an older game in a series once you’ve played the newer games. It’s impossible not to compare the improvements over the old play. In this case, the improvements in control and resources are significant.

Visuals:
Compared to newer games in the franchise, Going Commando is a much darker game. The lighting effects aren’t there. The HUD has a sort of futuristic neon lighting effect which goes well with the theme of the game. The environments do appear futuristic and “space-y.” Enemies are different in different environments. The weapons have wonderful visual effects which make them fun to use. Ratchet gets some nice armor, as well.

Sound:
The sounds are not as noticeable in this Ratchet & Clank as they are perhaps in other games in the franchise. This is actually good in some ways. The background music sets an upbeat tone without being obtrusive. The voice acting is superb. Dialogue is fun and engaging. The enemies don’t make the noises they do in other games, but there are overhead “advertising” audios. Some of that gets repetitive, and therefore annoying. In addition, there is, on one level, a character crying out repeatedly for help. When you get to him, he disappears and for the rest of the level, you don’t see him, only hear his cries for help, ad nauseum.

Intelligence:
The enemies notice you as soon as you get within target range. Each has their own attacks and the path is rather linear, making by-passing them difficult, if not impossible. There are also small puzzles and things that require timing, all of which means that, yes, the game does play well against you.

Immersion:
Going Commando changes constantly. There are new environments and new enemies. The story changes. The player has to pay attention to the game, but it’s not particularly immersive.

Rewards and Punishments:
Players break crates for nuts and bolts, the currency of the game. There are also weapon ammo drops. Other things can be broken in the environment, but players have to happen upon that. It’s not highlighted in any way and the drops are minimal. Players can fall off a cliff or bridge and die. Death returns players to the last save point.

Cameras:
Players can look around with the right stick and zoom in to aim and shoot. The camera doesn’t necessarily swing as needed, however. At one point, to solve a puzzle of timing, Ratchet needs to get on one platform, shoot a switch with the Dynamo and then turn to shoot the other switch and jump on a newly formed platform. The camera doesn’t adjust that easily, however. Also, the environment can be a bit busy, visually, masking the next thing the player has to do in similar puzzles.

Controls:
The shooting mechanism is a bit tricky at times. Ratchet must be facing the enemy properly to get the target, but turns unexpectedly at times and won’t be pointing in the proper direction. In it’s time, this may have been completely unnoticeable, but compared to other games in the franchise, this feels odd. Obviously, it has been fixed in later entries to the franchise. That said, most of the controls are smooth and easy to learn and use.

Ideas:
Usually, I do get ideas from playing games, even older franchise games. There is something I can see the designer was going for or something I wished they would have gone for. That is not the case with Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando.

Memory:
Mainly, I would reiterate that one shouldn’t play earlier games in a franchise once they’ve gotten used to the improved versions. Otherwise, though, I find the Ratchet & Clank series timeless. The characters are well-formed and interesting. It has a simple humor that makes you giggle when playing.

Viewtiful Joe

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:39:30 +0100

#76 Viewtiful Joe

Game Info

Publisher: Capcom

Developer: Clover Studio

Platform: PS2

Genre(s): Action

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: August 24, 2004

Intro:
Joe takes his girlfriend to the movies to see a classic superhero movie, his favorite. When his hero is defeated, the villain snatches his girl, bringing her into the movie. His hero, grabs him from the seats and takes him into the movie, as well, granting him the super powers to save his girl and the day.

Getting Going:
Viewtiful Joe starts with an in-game tutorial and will add tutorials as the player progresses and learns new skills. Once the intro is complete, in other words, players are playing immediately.

Fun:
Viewtiful Joe is an old cartoon-like side-scrolling arcade game. It has great arcade game action.

Visuals:
Clover Studio makes use of a very comic book style of art here, but blends it with more realistically textured backgrounds. It’s kind of an odd combination that creates a feel as if Joe is pasted into the story, instead of being a part of it. The fight animations are smooth and fun, however.

Sound:
The repetitive barks get really annoying in a very short time. This is a game that tempted me to turn off the sound and listen to music while playing. There isn’t anything about the sound that requires the player to hear the game in order to play anyway.

Intelligence:
The enemies have power-ups and special moves of their own. They come from nowhere and come after Joe relentlessly. There are reward “V’s” in all sorts of places for the player to search for and find. There are also ledges and chandeliers that Joe can jump on to reach items. Joe has special skills that allow him to slow down the enemy and land punches and kicks. The only complaint is that Joe will sometimes have to survive a new type of enemy before he receives a clue about a new skill that can be used to defeat that particular enemy.

Immersion:
As a side-scrolling, arcade-style, game, Viewtiful Joe isn’t particularly immersive. But, it doesn’t seem meant to be.

Rewards/Punishments:
If Joe loses all of his health, a director says “Cut, Cut, Cut” and Joe is moved back to the beginning of the level. Hamburgers provide health, “V’s” provide points. Players are scored on their performance and receive grades such as A(wesome) and C(rappy). New levels open up as players progress.

Cameras:
The camera has a fixed third-person, straight forward, view. Players are not in control of the camera.

Controls:
Joe punches, kicks, jumps, and evades up or down. The controls are simple and easy to learn. Special moves, such as slow-motion, add new buttons, such as L1.

Ideas:
What strikes me the most about playing Viewtiful Joe is that nothing is really explained. We are told that Joe is a big fan of Captain Blue, but not much else. Hamburgers as health make sense for a teen action hero, but what’s with the “V’s”? Who are these enemies? What is the world about? None of the theme makes any sense and it doesn’t get explained. Joe receives a coin for a slot machine, but it’s unclear what he is trying to get to line up. Again, nothing is explained.

Memory:
Viewtiful Joe is a fun little arcade game. I understand that it actually offers hours of gameplay, making it very worth the money to buy it. If you’re not an arcade fan, though, it doesn’t offer much more.

Twisted Metal: Black

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:02:48 +0100

#58 Twisted Metal: Black

Game Info

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: Incognito, Inc.

Platform: PS2

Genre(s): Car Combat

Players: 1-4 Players

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: June 18, 2001

Intro:
There really isn’t much of an intro to the game. The beginning strains of Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones plays as cars careen and crash at the end of a street, which takes us directly to the load screen.

Getting Going:
Players are given a choice of advancing through arenas in Story Mode, choosing a car and arena in which to challenge AI opponents in Challenge Mode, or fighting an endless series of opponents using a single car in Endurance Mode. Once the mode is chosen, a car is chosen. Each car has varying stats and an associated driver. The story, for Story Mode, resides with the driver of a particular car. The car also seems to determine the starting arena.

Fun:
Everything about this game from the visuals, to the sounds, and the gameplay itself, made me tense and nauseous. I found I had the same reaction watching gameplay video. That doesn’t mean it’s done poorly. On the contrary, this game will affect players, which means it has done it’s job well.

Visuals:
Twisted Metal: Black is an intense car combat game. The concept of the “game” within the game, is that the “players” are all in-mates at an asylum for the criminally insane. Calypso, a serial killer, promises that the winner of the “game” will get a very personal prize for their success. Each “player” has a story and thus, the prize is coveted, but different, for each. With such a dark backstory, Twisted Metal: Black can’t help but be dark. The battles take place in the dark of night and the environment looks worn, beat, and foreboding. It’s not hard to see, however. A mini-map in the upper left shows the location of other cars. A HUD gives players the name of the vehicle closest to them and shows that vehicle’s HP. The HUD in the lower right shows players their own information. HUDs are faded, but informative, so that they fit in with the rest of the gameplay visuals, giving information while remaining unobtrusive.

Sound:
There is a cacophony of sound in Twisted Metal: Black. It’s deafening, it’s disturbing, and it definitely creates mood. There are explosions, the sounds of vehicles and a driving rush of marching music.

Intelligence:
Twisted Metal: Black is based around a car combat “game” played by various “players” with their own, individual, motivations to play. The AI definitely recognizes the player. There’s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Everyone wants to win and they’re all after you. Each vehicle has special moves. Even in AI, the other vehicles will go into their specials and attack you. Gameplay, however, is not intuitive and the game lacks an in-game tutorial. New players will need to read the manual before play.

Immersion:
I had a physical reaction to playing which is something I can’t actually say about many games. Therefore, I believe this title falls into the category of immersive games. The play is continual and fast-paced, which also serves to keep a player’s head in the game.

Rewards/Punishments:
There are drops all over the playing field which add health, various types of fire-power, and upgrades. There is a repair station on every field, as well, although it is designed for limited uses. Players have three lives, after which, upon “death”, their PC runs from the vehicle screaming as the vehicle explodes into flame. There are also unlocks for new vehicles as play progresses. In Story Mode, the story unfolds as players battle through the “game.”

Cameras:
I did see a “cheat” for changing the camera angles, but players otherwise have little control of the camera. It follows the car from angled, top-down, third-person view.

Controls:
Twisted Metal: Black plays with a sort of RC car feel. The controls for the vehicles are on the joysticks while shooting is in L2 and R2. There are also some special combo moves listed in the manual that allow players to perform other feats at will.

Ideas:
Twisted Metal: Black actually made me look at the controller in a way I hadn’t before. You always think of the controller as an extension of the game; a method for interacting with the media. Incognito made it a familiar, real-world, item. Even though the game doesn’t play as if you’re controlling an RC at all, the feel of using the controller in this way is unique.

Memory:
Twisted Metal: Black made me feel tense and sick. That’s not an experience I necessarily want to have when playing a game, but it IS an experience and it’s an experience directly related to playing this particular game. Personally, I’m all about creating experiences for players, so Twisted Metal has profoundly changed the way I look at immersion and experience.

Heavy Rain

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 23:08:33 +0100

Heavy Rain

Game Info

Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Quantic Dream
Platform: PS3
Genre(s): Adventure
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)
Release Date: February 23, 2010

Intro:
The camera pans across a man lying face down on the edge of a bed in nothing but boxer shorts. Sun streams through the window. As the camera moves in closer, the player takes control.

Getting Going:
The player is prompted to get Ethan up. From there, various controls will be explained as Ethan moves about the room and, eventually, around the house and yard. This gets the player used to the controls and how they will play the game. Heavy Rain is meant to be played over and over. It didn’t seem as if this initial tutorial was skip-enabled, however.

Fun:
Heavy Rain is really a new genre of game, although it is labeled as an adventure. As a psychological thriller meant to emotionally affect the player, it succeeds. As a game, however, it hardly causes mirth, amusement, or playfulness. Whether or not a player finds it “fun” depends on the player’s view of the words “fun” and “game”.

Visuals:
Like other games, and some movies, before it, Heavy Rain relies heavily on using the visuals to create mood. Obviously, as the title suggests, the mood is as dreary as the story line because it rains for days on end. In this case, when the mood is supposed to be light, the scenes are bright, sunny, and colorful. Ethan is clean-shaven and well-dressed. The moment that life changes, the sky goes as dark as the mood. This is very reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, albeit in reverse. The visuals themselves are fair, at best. The characters often look shiny and doll-like. Patterns of movement and facial expression are only there half of the time. Quantic Dream took a great amount of care in creating the visuals and realistic animations to go into the game. Unfortunately, with a game of this magnitude, it can be difficult to stay on the leading edge of the development curve. While they were striving to make a new genre in gameplay, Uncharted 2: Drake’s Fortune rode out ahead in graphics and realistic facial expression.

Sound:
For some reason, the sound of rain dripping on the surface in the beginning load screens is grating. Each player character has their own soundtrack. The voice acting is, at times, flat. For instance, when Ethan has lost one of his sons, his calls for the child are flat and unrealistic. They will rise a bit in desperation, but not as quickly as the constant button prompt to call him might indicate. Other sounds are unrealistic enough to call attention to themselves which further throws off the flow of the game.

Intelligence:
There are a lot of decisions in Heavy Rain and many of them must be made quickly. Most decisions affect the game in some way and, since the game saves automatically, cannot be taken back. In order to change the outcome of a decision, the game must be played over again.

Immersion:
According to developer diaries, Quantic Dream’s goal was to create a new, interactive, play experience. They do succeed in creating an experience like no other and in touching the player. However, this is where the effort ends and falls short. The story is inconsistent and will continually take the player out of the experience by causing them to question events that make no sense. Quick Time Events and thoughts that must be chosen remind the player continually that they are playing a game. Finally, none of the player characters have a solid personality that the player can connect to or identify. It is possible to play everyone as the nice guy, until it’s no longer possible to be nice. The one character who has the most well-rounded identity, Ethan, is at once sympathetic and pathetic and you can’t really make him do what you would do given his situation. This is a big part of the media surrounding the game--”How far will you go to save someone you love?” That is a question that the player never really gets the opportunity to answer.

Rewards and Punishments:
Many of the game-changing decisions that the player makes are accompanied by a trophy. The thing is, there is usually a trophy no matter what decision you make. Completionists will have to play multiple times to unlock all of the trophies. There are small rewards in the game in the unfolding of the story. In other words, while Quantic Dream mentions that there are no wrong answers, there do seem to be right ones. If the player decides to do certain things or do things a certain way, branches of the story will unlock that make more sense in the end. If those decisions are not made correctly, parts of the story never make sense. There are no real punishments. Heavy Rain is a mystery, at least the first time through. Failure to complete tasks or to survive a fight simply means the loss of information. Failure to find information, however, does not prevent the player from moving inevitably into the next task in the line.

Cameras:
The camera is invisible in the game, which is just what one would expect. There is never a time when you feel you can’t look where you need to or that you lack peripheral vision. In fact, Heavy Rain is told from a third person perspective, granting the player a wide angle of vision.

Controls:
Heavy Rain is Move-enabled. The motion controller method is much more intuitive than the Sixaxis controller is. It’s difficult to allow players a range of control in various situations and Quantic Dream used Quick Time Events to do this. Unfortunately, this becomes a question of timing and skill rather than an effective immersive device. Players are also able to press and hold a button to hear their character’s thoughts. It is unnecessary to learn the controls; constant onscreen prompts make them impossible to forget.

Ideas:
Heavy Rain lacks a consistent storyline and, in fact, a believable one. It leaves far too many questions unanswered. These are questions raised by the game itself. Shaun is an unsympathetic character, which is actually very hard to create in a child. These inconsistencies, coupled with an odd play mechanic, repeatedly rip the player out of the flow state. To keep the player immersed we, as an industry, must create consistent stories and evolve the play state to match.

Memory:
I played Heavy Rain because it represents the direction I’d like to see games go. I think Quantic Dream fell really short of that vision, but I see where they were trying to go and I really applaud the effort. Despite my criticisms of the game, I actually really enjoyed the experience and highly recommend this game.