Ballpoint Universe: Infinite Game Design Review

Ballpoint Universe: Infinite is a very enjoyable shoot-em-up game that is set in a world where everything is a ink doodle. Because of the first few minutes, at first I thought it was a platformer but it's really a shooter with platform exploration.

Here are some areas that I thought could use some improvements

Controls- If you're on the PC, you will find that platforming with mouse is terrible. You're constantly moving in one direction and have to do fairly precise jumps. Switch to keyboard or gamepad if you have it. On the other hand the mouse is better for controlling the ship and feels very intuitive.

Item prices- Items are a bit too pricey that I didn't unlock most of them although to be fair, the game is easy enough to complete with the first few items you unlock. I suppose this encourages replayability but even at the end I had only unlocked 25% of the items in the shop.

Difficulty- This game on the whole is fairly easy as a shooter goes. Personally I'm terrible at SHUMPS so I found this game just about right on the difficulty but if you're a hard-core shooter fan you'll probably find this way to easy.

Conclusion
I enjoyed this game for what it is, an enjoyable "lite" shooter with a unique artstyle. I recommend you check it out. You might just be surprised.

Wario Land 4: Game Design Review

Released on the GBA, Wario Land 4 is an action platformer like the previous games and was the first proper GBA Wario game. In my Wario 3 review, I criticised a number of aspects of the game, mostly to do with the large confusing levels. Wario 4 Fixes many of the the problems I had mentioned of the Wario Land 3 game and is much closer to Wario Land 2 in terms of game design.

There are some very minor game design issues from my perspective:
Short game- Wario Land 2 had a huge number of short levels and alternative levels you can unlock depending on certain actions. Wario Land 4 on the other hand has very distinct levels but is extremey linear with only around 20 levels.


Lack of opportunities to use special abilities- For some reason, there are greatly reduced number of opportunities to use the special abilities/forms that Wario can transform into compared to other games. It's a bit of a shame really as that was often the most fun and unique parts of solving puzzles in previous Wario games.

Mini-games- Mini-games are okay but nothing to write home compared. You should probably just play Wario Ware instead.

Limited Lives- Wario now has hearts again and will have to replay the entire level if you lose them all. I think lives seem a bit like a step back from the precedent set by the previous games. The game was all about being invincible and being slowed down rather being forced to redo the entire game.

Conclusion
Wario Land 4 is a very fun game even today and a classic by my standards. It doesn't quite reach the standard that Wario Land 2 set but the fun levels, kooky graphics and solid gameplay makes it worth playing despite its age.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine: Game Design Review

Created by Relic that made the Dawn of War strategy games, Warhammer Space Marine is an action-shooter set in the Warhammer 40K universe where you play as Captain Titus of the Ultramarines. Here's my thoughts after playing it.

What I liked:
Set pieces and large battlefields- Some of the most fun moments in the game are when you fight alongside Imperial guard and fellow space marines some pretty cool looking set pieces and battlefields against hordes of Orks and Chaos space marine

Lots of shooting and strong action!- The action and shooting feels very solid and quite smooth. Especially when combined with the Xbox 360 controller where you can feel the vibrations.


What I didn't like:
Lots of empty corridors and walking around in large passages- Lots of games have quiet moments between action sequences to help break up the pace. It's good that Relic recognises the need for well timed breaks in-between large scale battles but the amount of walking around in sewers or passages is very noticeable particularly as Titus is deliberately slowed to a walk and the only thing you do in those scenes is listen to your marines and support characters talk.

What's even worse is that numerous checkpoints are placed before the dialogue meaning if you die you'll have to listen to them over and over again. It's just a waste of time unfortunately having to walk all the way back to the next combat area. It's twenty second of just walking around really.

Lack of health kits/stations- I appreciate the lack of regeneration but at the same time I do think that once a battle is over in an area you should be restored to full health or when you reach checkpoint. You are given full health when you die and respawn at a checkpoint so why not?

Enemy variation- Considering the large and varied lore, it's surprising that we only see Orks and later on Chaos space marines. There are about 7 or 8 kinds of units in total which is very disappointing.

Needs more jet pack action- The jetpack action sections were probably the best and reminded me strongly of Dark Void which I loved! In fact I'm convinced that if the entire game had been design around jetpack action as an assault marine it would be much more successful and exciting!

Lacks gameplay variety- There's a distinct lack of gameplay variety in the sense that it is a straight forward linear action shooter amidst static arenas. Melee is very simplistic compared to games like Devil May Cry and new elements such as new melee weapons, new enemies are introduced occasional game but somehow the repetitiveness just wears thin after a while. It feels like it needs to be more ambitious.

The best parts of the game as mentioned at the start is when you're fighting with the Imperial guard in large spaces with friendlies and enemies fighting. There should be more vast open spaces, more crazy fights and more races! Why aren't there large dreadnoughts and tanks fighting alongside you amidst scorching battlefields? Haven't we already seen enough of urban environments, sewers and underground factories in other games?

Squad AI- Throughout the game, you'll be accompanied by several squad members. Unfortunately, they are controlled by generic AI which you can't control. I thought it was a great shame that you can't give them weapons or issue them commands to help them cover you. A real missed opportunity here to introduce some interesting decisions.

Conclusion
As a whole I did enjoy quite a number of parts of Warhammer Space Marine. But the repetitiveness of enemies and gameplay soon drags everything down. Overall, it's a solid game that's worth a rental but not much else. It really doesn't take enough advantage of the source material to craft a unique experience and ends up feeling very generic.

Anomaly: Warzone Earth Game Design Review

Anomaly: Warzone Earth is a reverse tower defense game by 11-bit studios. Instead of building towers to fend off attackers, you control a commander with a convoy and have to attack towers to travel to the end of the map. Gameplay revolves around buying units or upgrades for your convoy, deploying your commander's special abilities and telling your convoy where to go using the strategic map.

Your commander's special abilities are absolutely crucial for ensuring the survival of the convoy. The commander is an actual unit on the map that will be attacked so you have to be careful when deploying special abilities. The game ends up feeling  more like an action game than a strategy game at times and can get quite busy when you're in the midst of action.


What I liked:
Solid graphics, sound and animation- The presentation is very well done and solid for an indie.

Usability- The gameplay is fairly easy to grasp and well explained considering its unusual concept. You use a map to tell your convoy which turn to take at each intersection and you also get a number on how long it will take to reach each point and the total time to the goal. The strengths and abilities and cost of each unit are well represented and overall easy to understand.


What I didn't like:

Needs more unit variety and strategies- The commander also has limited number of abilities and there are only a handful of units and a handful of slots in the convoy. The combination of fewer units means that the basic strategies are quickly learnt and it became a bit too repetitive.


Commander unit is limited- The deliberate introduction of an in-game commander that has health and can be attacked is clear game design move to improve the action in games like this. Your commander will often weave in and out of fire deploying support abilities while your units take out the towers.

I feel the commander is a bit under utilised because he can't attack directly and can only deploy a very limited number of support abilities. He's no different from your standard tower defence special abilities that a player can normally deploy except he's vulnerable. In other words, he doesn't add enough to the game play. The android version of the game does away with him completely and I don't think anything was loss in the process.

More interesting levels- In a game like this, the levels themselves start to get repetitive because of the nature of the game. There's only so many ways of street combinations and towers before it gets a bit stale. There are some minor missions and challenges but levels themselves are mostly static aside from the towers. I wonder if there's a way to make the levels more dynamic by introducing even more environmental effects, friendly units, optional timed objectives, multiple paths etc

Doesn't feel enough like a true tower defense- In a tower defense game, you'll often have lots of enemy units being thrown at lots of towers. Being a much more intimate game with very few units makes it feel a bit sluggish compared to games like Defense Grid: The Awakening. What I really want to see is a game where you have tens of units streaming past towers and you have to decide which group of units to assist.

Special effects in the upgrade menu- There's a strange 'pan and tilt effect' in the upgrade menu to make it feel more like a futuristic floating 3D menu. It's small but I thought it was a silly as it adds nothing to the game and ends up being distracting rather than cool.

Conclusion
Warzone Anomaly is an indie game by a small indie studio and it is important to acknowledge it for what it is. It is a solid well put together package but it feels like it needs more of something. I didn't have a great time with Warzone Anomaly after a while as I've never really enjoyed playing Tower defense games but if you like Tower defenses you'll probably enjoy this. If don't already enjoy the genre then you might want to check out the demo first.

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway: Game Design Review

The third in the series, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway follows Matt Baker and his squad of men as they take part in Operation Market Garden. Like in previous games, it's a tactical squad-based FPS where you control Baker and yell out orders to your various squads.

As far as I could tell, there were only several real differences compared to its predecessors aside from better graphics. Note that this only applies to the single player, not sure how the multiplayer is any different.


Destructible cover- You can now blow up and destroy scenery with your bazooka squad or grenades. This is extremely fun actually and adds a bit of tactical variety. You can now force enemy squads into destructible cover and then blow up the cover!

Cover based shooting and healing- Like modern shooters you can now take cover behind chest-high walls and you heal slowly if you wait a little.

Grenading close targets- In previous game, sometimes the game would end up in a stalemate with your troops and enemy squads being several metres apart firing at each other behind cover. Now, if you're close enough you can order them to grenade the location instead which is much more fun and safer for your guys ending stalemates much more easily.

Otherwise the game and the tactics involved are the same. You still have to fix/suppress them with fire and then flank them.

Game Design issues
The main criticisms of this game are the same as in my review of the previous game in the series.

Lack of order queuing- In the game you can order people to provide cover fire and attack enemy squads  but you can't actually queue orders. I believe this was done quite deliberately to to make the game much more immediate and accessible for console players and also force you into action.

Missing tank control- In the previous games, you could order a tank around which acted as a powerful weapon and also as mobile cover. In this game, the tank has been removed from the main game. Instead you occasionally get to control a tank in an action sequence. The tank sections are okay but frankly ordering a tank around the battlefield is much more fun.


Squad situational awareness against explosives and threats- While squad members will take cover appropriately, they aren't particularly good at avoiding getting blown up by tank shells or explosives just like in previous games. They pretty stay exactly where they are and die regardless or how horrible the situation is going. You have to pretty much tell me where exactly where you want them to go.


Indoor gameplay- During the single player campaign, Baker will sometimes be separated from the squad indoors and have to shoot his way out. Unfortunately this is where the problems of the cover-based system are exposed. Because of the narrow corridors, all too often Barker's head often obscures your view and enemies also tend to run into you more often giving you little chance to react. There isn't a close range attack so it can frustrating at times when you die because you're reloading while the enemy is less than a metre way.

Linearity- This is a very linear journey from set piece to set piece and very short. There are no optional areas or missions which is a bit of a shame really. I think a couple branching areas would have livened things up a bit and added a bit of replayability.


A lot of my criticisms focused around the problems inherent creating a game like this. Who do you please? The action-orientated gamers or the more hardcore simulation gamers? This is not a simulation game, this a squad-based action shooter primarily for the consoles and it's hard to criticise the game on it's simple command system and controls because that's exactly what it set out to do. It's still an engaging if linear game and good for a couple of hours.


Overall
I enjoyed this entry into the series, and its a good solid action game. It doesn't stray far from the mould of the original games so if you enjoyed those you'll enjoy this but if you're looking for something different, it's best to look else where!

Vectorman: Game Design Review

Released on the Sega Megadrive, Vectorman was re-released as part of Sega's release of Retro games a couple of years ago. Despite people saying it's one of the better games on the Sega Megadrive, I really can't get into the game.

Vector was partly created to showcase the 3D capabilities of the Sega Megadrive and has very interesting early 90's visual style which is certainly very unique even if it hasn't aged as well as other 2D games. It's not quite Shinobi or Golden Axe on the Megadrive in terms of 2D Artwork but I think it measures up well in an artistic manner.

Most enemies and objects in the game are animated quite well in the game which is important in games like this. The actual controls of Vectorman are fairly robust. He only has one attack but he's fast, responds fairly well and has a double jump.

Problems
Despite all it's pluses, the design breaks down in the level design and gameplay department. Why? 

Speed- Simply put, everything is just too fast. Bullets are too big and enemies move too fast. When combined with the extremely fluid motion highly responsive speedy movements of Vectorman it ends up being very difficult. I was constantly running into enemies that were just off-screen or being blasted by the fast bullets.

Levels are a bit too big- The levels are fairly large and at times it can lead to accidentally missing platforms several levels. It's a minor quibble but tighter level design really would have benefited the game. When combined with the speed as mentioned above, I find it hard to recommend the game.

Conclusion
I liked the idea of Vectorman but the tight gameplay from other games like Golden Axe I, Golden Axe II and Shinobi III is simply missing and the high frustration factor completely diminishes any hope of me recommending the game. This is one game which has all the technical elements of a good game but where careful editing and thoughtful level design would have made all the difference.

Rising Zan: The Samurai Gunman

Rising Zan: The Samurai Gunman is a PS1 action game based on the idea of a cowboy fighting ninjas in the wild west in a B-grade action movie type setting. From a graphics standpoint, the game is to be congratulated for its fun wacky cartoon nature. Like any good action hero, Zan can attack with his sword, his gun and even power up to a super mode where his sword lengthens and he can fire his gun extremely rapidly. His enemies are likewise quite creative and just down right weird and the game is filled with Japanese humour.

Unfortunately it suffers from some problems which really drag the game down:

Stiff controls- For a sword and gun action game, the controls seem fairly stiff. Zan's attack just feels a bit sluggish compared to what is sometimes required and his blade seems just a bit shorter than what you need. Zan also has a deflect ability where he can deflect or reflect bullets but due to the complicated buttons required to press it almost becomes impossible to perform when you're fighting.

Shooting is also a bit too slow for some reason. Unless you've picked up special bullets, it's hard to recommend shooting compared to just slicing enemies apart. The camera and targeting is somewhat sluggish as well, adding to the problems.

Difficulty curve is high- Like all early era Playstation games the game is hard. Although there are no instant deaths, the numerous enemies do tend to wear you down after a while. This combined with Zan's sluggish movements and camera make it more frustrating than fun.

All button events- There are button events where you mash all buttons as many times as possible before the timer runs out or you'll lose some health. Unfortunately these are a bit too difficult and require too many presses resulting in lost health pretty quickly.

I would also like to mention that at the end of the game, you can unlock the ability to actually replay the game as Sapphire, one of the female main characters with enemies responding with different dialogue. She feels faster and her blade seems longer making me wonder if the game would have been better starring her instead.

Conclusion
Overall, I really enjoyed the creative levels and atmosphere of Samurai Zan but the imprecise nature of the controls and difficult curve makes it hard to recommend to most gamers that are now used to games like the Devil May Cry series. Recommended if you have some patience, like a bit of nostalgia or have an emulator's saved states to assist.

Bully: Scholarship edition: Game Design Review

Developed by Rockstar Games, Bully was an open world sandbox game similar to the Grand Theft Auto series. Like GTA, it was released to some controversy about bullying and corrupting the youth. The scholarship edition is the expanded PC version with some additional content. Here are my thoughts on it after finishing it recently.

Good points
Fun with lots of mini-games- Despite it's age Bully is still a fun good game that's varied with lots of things to do.

Varied level design- Each of the areas is quite unique each with its own graphics and shortcuts. It feels very different running through school and town.

There are a few minor problems.
Game design issues
Slingshot is underutilised- I'm not sure what the heck the slingshot is for really aside from a couple of missions and generally just stunning enemies before you get up close and personal. It can't be confiscated which is a good thing so I'm guessing its a fall back weapon. Outside of missions and the occasion fight, the only use I had for it was climbing up to a tall building and then randomly shooting people just to see the panic.


Lack of customisation and static unchanging world- One of the main problems is the lack of changes in the game. The world remains pretty much the same and nothing you do will change it. It's always 'The Town' rather than 'YOUR Town'.  I think that's  real shame considering how other sandbox games allow you to customise so much more.

Lack of faction and social interaction- The social interaction is quite basic as are the factions in the game. Their relationship to you is governed by the storyline rather than by your actions in particular. It's a bit of a shame really but part of me understands that Bully isn't a sandbox management game but rather a collection of mini-games in a sandbox world.

Can't change the seasons- It was kind of cool seeing various outfits and seasons as the game proceeds but I couldn't find an option to change the seasons which is a bit of a shame if you're like me and concentrated mostly on finishing the main game quests first.

Needs more special festivals- There was a Halloween and Christmas but that's it.

Needs more end game content- While the actual story missions are great fun I feel the number of mini-games you can unlock steadily diminishes at about 70% of the way through the game leaving you to pretty much without anything to do at the end except more collecting and more upgrades rather than unlocking new activities.


Conclusion:
As mentioned above, Bully is best described as a bunch of mini-games in fairly static sandbox environment. It's all about unlocking new areas and upgrading your character. The main story is ultimately fun and I quite enjoyed the game overall. It's still worth playing even now despite the criticisms I have.

Fear 3: Game Design

The third in the trilogy, Fear 3 takes place several months after Fear 1 and 2 where the entire city New Port is now under psychic attack and Alma is pregnant. Pointman and Fettel have to return back to the city to face their mother and determine the future of their family.

Good points
Settings were well optimised- Most importantly for an action FPS, I have a slightly older computer but my computer settings were detected perfectly and there was no slow down despite the action packed smoke-filled scenes.

Paxton Fettel gameplay- Playing as Paxton Fettel the original Fear's man villain is also quite interesting and fun. As Paxton, you have the ability to grab enemies and objects into the air making them easier to shoot, attack enemies with long range psychic blasts and most importantly posses enemies. Possessing enemies allows you to control any enemy soldier for a limited time and allowing to wreck quite a bit of havoc. You can increase the time by killing enemeis and collecting their souls. It really changes the dynamic of gameplay because rather than hiding behind crates and cover like Pointman you'll generally be in the midsts of the enemies shooting enemies right after you possess them.

Game design problems
Lack of innovation and weapons- Pointman behaves almost identically to the first game and all the weapons you can use are weapons you've used before in previous Fear games. If anything I think the number of weapons might actually be less. As for Paxton Fettel, Paxton is fun to play with but the lack of new abilities or moves means you're doing the same things over and over again  after 15 minutes.

Lack of environmental attacks- Aside from exploding barrels, some destructible cover and lots of smoke, everything is pretty static. You can't for example, push boxes around or use the environment to your advantage. I was hoping for a bit more innovation.

Missed opportunity for a proper two character game- Like most other reviewers, it's frustrating playing through the single player campaign when the game is cleary designed for two players. The story and movie cutscenes always have Pointman and Paxton but in the singleplayer campaign you don't even have an AI partner of any sorts to order around making it feel disjointed. One way around this is to allow you to shift between Paxton and Pointman's abilities and bodies or why not just allow you to use Paxton's abilities as Pointman anyway? Overall its just such a missed opportunity.

Lack of skill developments- While I appreciate that RPG mechanics in FPS may not work in some games I think having an RPG like skill tree might actually have worked for this game. You have Paxton Fettel who acts like a mage and Pointman who is more of a warrior type and you have a story about psychic abilities. Furthermore, as you play and gain experience in the game you unlock higher health, minor upgrades to your hand-to-hand combat attacks and minor upgrades to your special abilities. Surely being able to unlocking completely different new abilities would be the next logical evolution of the game? For example Pointman might become becomes better at throwing grenades and be able to create fake clones?


Conclusion
Overall I found the game mechanically sound with good action. I played the single player campaign and a bit of the multiplayer with bots. It's a fun horror-themed shooter, think of it as a graphical and level upgrade to FEAR 1. It's not a bad game it just doesn't do enough for it me to consider it particularly great. The main problem lies with innovation. There were so many opportunities for it to innovate which were missed in favour of creating an action packed but otherwise standard game. Even the innovative co-op idea seems half-baked. I only paid about US$3 for this game and it is fun for what its worth but its such a wasted missed opportunity!

Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason: Game design review

Cryostasis is an first person horror game taking place in 1981 which tells the story of a young meteorologist who is suppose to rendezvous with a nuclear icebreaker ship but discovers the ship has been frozen in ice and the crew turned into strange ice monsters. He must enter the ship find out what has gone wrong and save the crew.

Good points:
Good atmosphere and suitable graphics- The particles, ice graphics, snow effects and sound are realistic enough to make you feel cold and creates a unique chilling atmosphere.

Interesting heat health mechanic- Heat is your health which is reduced when you receive wounds or stay in the cold too long. Your maximum health is also determined by your current environment's heat. So you can't dawdle in the cold forever and you're pretty much constantly losing heat. Psychologically this creates a good way of making player push forward. I also like the fact that once you've managed to heat a room up, it stays heated and you can stay in it without worrying about your health levels creating 'safe zones'.


Mental Echoes and ghosts- Occasionally you come across dead corpses (humans and animals) which you can possess and relive the last few moments of their life. It's a very interesting method of exploring the past. I quite enjoyed the way it worked. Not only that, but once you save them you change the future unlocking a new door or a new area.

Game Issues:
Story never properly explained- I still don't understand the reason for all the ice zombies or weird supernatural happenings. There's also distinct lack of motivation on the main character. He was suppose to meet the nuclear icebreaker but instead he discovers the ship has been frozen for many years and with weird undead zombies. Why does he persist in exploring the ship instead of staying in a 'safe' area until the blizzard clears? Also, how the heck did you gain super powers like the mental echo which allows you to change time itself?

Guns and shooting needs balance- I have to say that most guns are quite difficult to use due to your hands shaking and the overall recoil makes them quite useless. It does add to the scary atmosphere but since I almost never used them it feels a bit silly.

The most powerful weapon is the icicle cannon which can be picked up fairly early on. It's faster, more accurate and more powerful than most guns and has minimal recoil. Ammo is also quite plentiful in the form of icicles. You only need to switch to a rifle when the enemy is far away and can't be hit. Due to the design of the levels however, you'll rarely need to do so.

Average level design- The game is too linear for its on good. There are no alternative routes or side quests of any sorts. Thankfully the mental echo system, the interesting atmosphere and the fact that you're always pushing forward into other parts of the ship counterbalances most of this.

Lack of interactive elements and unique environment not used to its full potential- Considering how much emphasis there is on water physics and the freezing cold there's a distinct lack in the ability to do anything in the environment. Linearity is sometimes okay if the set pieces are at least interesting but most of the corridors and areas are too narrow, too linear and  set pieces too small. You can't for example, freeze water or use electricity to shock enemies or even kick enemies. You can only punch enemies and use your guns. This is probably most obvious right at the beginning when there are axes hanging from the walls but you can't even pick them up and you can only pick up the axe they actually give you in the game later!

I can accept linearity for sake of story but the lack of interactivity considering how much effort went into making the ice physics so realistic it comes across as just disappointing.


Overall 

I found Cryostasis an interesting game but maybe a bit too 'safe' in the gameplay environment and puzzles. I'm not certain fans of action games would enjoy it, however I will say that fans of adventure games and horror fans will like it especially with a good graphics cards.

My opinion on what actually happened in the story - Spoiler alert!
As far as I can tell, the story is a supernatural story where something was actually in the ice causing the undead zombies.

In the present day, you are gonig to meet up with the ship. Of coure when you reach there something is very wrong. The ship has been frozen for many years and you encounter weird undead zombies. You also have the ability to use the mental echoes which allow you relive the last few moments of a crew member and change time to save them.

Clearly there is something wrong and you go through the ship trying to solve the mystery. As you alter time and exeperience the events of the final days of the ship you discover the ship seems to have encountered 'something' in the ice.

Eventually you reach a point where you change time and save the ship for it terrible fate by altering a key decision in its past. When you do, reality returns back to the way it was and should be in the first place and you meet up with the crew as you should have done.

For me, it is clear that you are suppose to succeed in the story and save the ship because the timeline/reality from the first scenes indicate you are going to meet the ship. No one sends out a metereologist to meet a ship in the middle of nowhere that has been stranded for 20 years! It is therefore a closed temporal paradox, by encountering the ship and using your mental echo ability, you change time you and save the ship in the past and therefore ensure there is a ship to meet in the current time.

Personally this seems to be the logical deduction. The most mysterious question is therefore who are you? Are you really just a meteorologist or perhaps someone with the powers to change time and is sent undercover to fix a problem in the time line? You seem to have a fairly good grasp of guns, you seem to be able to travel back in time to possess people, don't seem at all phased by nuclear radiation (in fact it powers you up!), have some sort of special healing ability which makes you able to heal extremely rapidly when exposed to warmth and you have some sort of weird relationship with chronos the god of time.

Jackie Chan Stuntmaster: Game Design Review

Released for the Playstation 1, Jackie Chan Stuntmaster is an action fighting platformer similar to games like Final Fight. In the game, you control Jackie naturally who has to rescue his grandfather and deliver some package.

The game starts off okay and you have quite a number of interesting moves which were motion captured from Jackie Chan and other stuntman. Overally, despite the low graphics, it feels very authentic and true to a Jackie Chan movie. You can even use walls, brooms and other objects in the environment to attack enemies.

However, as you play through the game, there are many frustrating things about the game which ultimately make this a below average game.

Game Issues: 
More attacks- Jackie has plenty of attacks but after a while you realise that most of the attacks are pretty much the same and you don't really need to use most of them to defeat the enemies. The basic punches and throws are all you need. This is a real shame because I think there are plenty of additional attacks or fighting styles they could have thrown in such as the 'drunken master' fighting style in the bonus secret level.

More destructible environments- The best parts of the game are usually when you get the use the environment against the enemies such as flipping chairs and tables just like in a Jackie Chan movie. Unfortunately you pretty much see all of them in the first three or four level which is a real shame. There are very few games which allow you to use a broom, giant fish or foot stool to fight off several enemies at once so even more variety would have made the game much better!

Even more variety in gameplay and movie sequences- There are some fun gameplay varietions in this game mimicking a Jackie Chan movie such as running away from a truck or fighting on trains, these were some of the most fun and memorable sequences. We just need more of in the game while at the same time reducing the difficult of the existing sequences especially the train sequence!

Better level design with less jumping- Jackie Chan doesn't handle like a platforming character and has a really low jump. A lot of his jumps require a high degree of precision and split second timing. This results in many unfortunate deaths and like in many old games losing all your lives means restarting the entire level again. This gets especially aggravating in the final two areas of the game. So much so that I can't really recommend people play this as a result.

Conclusion
Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, it promised to be a fun action Jackie Chan game but in the end, the horrible jumping sequences ruin the fun. Overall I have to recommend against playing this game. It's simply too frustrating for anyone but the most dedicated action gamers. Go watch the Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon series instead.

Dark Star One

More well known for their Patrician and Sacred Series, Ascaron's Dark Star One is their attempt to create a Space RPG.  It's a typical Elite clone, you can go around being a trader, a mercenary, smuggler or pirate. Systems are connected by hypergates which you exit from. It has interesting ideas but ultimately fails at being a good fun sandbox. As the only space sandbox game I played was Freelancer I'm going to make a number of comparisons. Many of the criticisms I have of the game is due to the lack of variety and sense of progression.

Let's go over the single point of innovation in the game:
An evolving ship like an RPG character - The idea of an evolving ship where rather than seling and buying a better ship you evolve your ship by finding special biomaterial and then actually choosing your upgrades like an RPG. It's cooler idea than the usual cash upgrades and you get higher armour, cargo space and other perks depending on how you grow your character.

You even get special powers you can employ such as EMP blasts or slowing down time again much like an RPG character.

Technically competent - Relatively solid combat controls and fairly easy to use interface. Those familiar with shooters will easily get the hang of it.

What went wrong with the game?
World starts off locked and you have to very slowly unlock it- These are the guys which created Sacred and boasted about having 70% of the world already unlocked when you start, so it's very surprisingly to see this game extremely restricted in this respect. You have to slowly play through the story missions to unlock more and more powerful hyperdrives which will eventually allow you to very slowly unlock the very large map.

Repetitive and limiting universe which lack variety- Overall the world is static and repetitive just like Freelancer was. Whereas Freelancer at least had a large connected world with a variety of factions, Darkstar One's factions remain largely in the background. This is made worse that every sector is too similar. There will always a trade station with some minor locations. For example a pirate base in the asteroid fields to the left and maybe a mining station on the right.

In games like Freelancer, various regions have different planets and sectors such as a mining sector, or a military sector heavily guarded by ships. You don't have really have that variety in this game aside from more or less police and bandits in a sector. Every single sector seems cookie-cutter with its placement.

Static interactions- Unlike the X-series you can't really affect the politics of the world to any real extent, you can't buy a fleet of ships or base or create a home base of any sorts. Every system you visit has a planet and a trade station. As far as I know, you can't even dock with research stations or have any meaningful interaction with anything but the trade stations where you offload goods.

Lack of weapons and equipment - There just isn't much equipment period. After about 3 hours of gameplay I unlocked three different areas, about 35% of the galaxy and I had only unlocked two kinds of laser cannons, three kinds of missiles and 2 kinds of turrets. The laser cannons and the turrets don't behave in any noticeably different way so they just shoot faster, or deal more damage.

In space shooters, part of the fun is experimenting and trying new weapons and combinations of equipment but there just isn't that many. Freelancer was better was in the variety area. There were different ships with different handling and weapons which felt different despite the maximum speed of every ship being the same.

Repetitive missions and quests - There are about ten or so types of quests that you find in other RPGs such as escort quests and bounty hunting quests. There are some interesting ones such as taking photos or spying but once you've done them you're pretty much stuck doing the same kinds of missions which usually involve blowing up several enemies when something goes wrong.

Conclusion
Overall, I am very surprised in the way that they've gone about creating a space sandbox game considering they also made Sacred and the Patrician/Port Royale series. It lacks variety, tactical depth, interesting regions or any real choices. I say spend your money to better something else like Sacred or Sid Meier's Pirate, Bully or Grand Theft Auto. At least you'll have a fairly large world to explore straight out of the box that has different areas and lots of different kinds of mini-games!

Dark Void Zero: Game Design Review + Dark Void Series Review

Following from myprevious post about Dark Void, Dark Void zero was designed as 'lost' 8-bit game from the NES era and a promotional game for the Dark Void 3D action game.. I have to say Dark Void Zero despite being short is really fun and worth your time if you like hard 2D platformers. Having a controller is highly recommended.


From a design perspective I can only find a few complaints:
1) Repetitive level boss- Every time you finish the level you end up fighting the same boss except the boss shoots out more projectiles or has more enemies guarding it

2) Too short- There are only 3 levels in the game meaning it's over way too quickly.

3) Lack of saves- The large leves mean that the levels can take you to half an hour to finish so the lack of saves is really annoying.


I know this was made more as promotional game rather than a full game but I think Dark Void Zero should get a sequel. Maybe a 'lost' Super Nintendo 16-bit era type sequel to be called 'Super Dark Void'. Rumour has it that Dark Void Zero sold well enough to warrant one so hopefully we'll hear proper confirmation of this.


Dark Void - Final Conclusion
As mentioned in my first reivew, for me, the Dark Void series reminds me of a popcorn 1980s action film. It didn't make a huge hit when first released but has gained a small but loyal following in the subsequent years. I think what the series needs better direction, marketing and a fun shot in the arm! It tries to be serious while trying copy those pulp fiction series when it should have gone all the way and just had fun! I enjoyed it and I really hope I can create more fans of this underdog. Recommended at least as a rental.

Dark Void: Game Design Review

The humourous review over at Zero Punctuation actually praised it despite other sites giving mediocre review. I decideded to try it for myself wondering what sort of experience I would get. Perhaps its because I haven't played any recent AAA games like Assasin's Creed or Crysis 2 but I actually quite liked the game.

Like the B-grade movies that it copies, Dark Void starts off as a very standard 3rd person action cover based shooting adventure game. But then once you're comfortable with the shooting and meelee, it quickly adds the jetpack allowing you to jump to different levels and then once you're comfortable with that it gives you the prototype jetpack allowing you to start flying around its environments attacking spaceships through
tunnels.

A lot of the positives and negative were actually quite well-covered in the Zero Punctuation review so I'm really expanding upon the basics


What I liked about the game:
Jetpack action! - I can understand where the critics are coming from. As a shooter, it isn't very good, but if you're playing this and judging as a Gears of War cover based shooter than you're playing this wrong! The key point of the game is that this is an arcade action game with jetpacks. The whole focus of the game is to shoot a couple of robots, fly in with your jump jet, punch out one or two stragglers and then boost off to a safe haven and rinse and repeat. And the action is fastpaced as a result. And because of the jetpack, unlike other cover based shooters, you're never really stuck behind cover. It's Gears of War combined with Tribes, Crimson Skies and Megaman.

Mission variety - The levels and missions are suitably different and varied enough. In particular once you get the prototype jetpack that allows you to switch between ground based shooting and flying, the battles get way more intense. You'll have to fly into enemy buildings, deactivate them and then fly out while they explode, or fight off landing troops before taking to the sky to blow up transports and then landing back to mop up remaining troops

I thought the Vertical cover concept was quite clever as its used to break up the other normal gameplay  sections. Basically vertical cover has you shooting down or upwards with a cover based shooting mechanic. However because its vertical, you fall or boost immediately to the next piece of cover. In essence it's like cover based shooting but extremely condensed so you're either in a 'safe platform' or close enough to melee the enemy.

Beginning is well-paced - As mentioned in the introduction the game opens up new abilities and weapons just as you get comfortable with the old ones.

Ending wasn't what I expected - Most B action movies end in a happy ending, hero gets the girl etc. Fortunately this had a pretty dark ending which I felt was much better.

Epicness - When the game opens up and give you the prototype jet pack then the real epicness of the game becomes aparent as you fend off ground troops in one movement before taking to the skies and attacking the transports that are bringing them in. There are several situations where the situation will 'get out of hand' so to speak and those are the most fun. When a ground battle turns into an air battle before returning back to a ground battle again to mop up the survivors; that's when the game's at its most intense.

Music - The music is suitably epic and inspiring and never over powering but always suiting the atmosphere of the game.

Problems
Game is very short- I found it a bit too short and the plot points just come and go very easily. There definitely needs some holes filled in.

Needs more artistic direction- Like King Kong the game there aren't enough variations in the locations or art direction to make it feel different enough. Further the dull palette doesn't really help it either.

More integration between flying and ground- It's difficult to strafe or attack ground enemies from the air and I think there needs to be more ability to actually affect ground units while flying. A simple scenario could be for example, being able to take out some ground turrets or tanks from the air to make it safe for your troops to assault your position.

Really needs a sequel - The game ends aroudn the time of the start of World War II. Seriously, this is begging for a sequel.

Journal collections is pointless -There are journals which provide you with more backstory written by various characters but I found the journal collection completely pointless. It just seemed very out of place suddenly having all this text that you can read in the options menu. In keeping with the B-grade action, I think they should have used 1930's pulp fiction comics to fill the backstory and unlock in game abilities or at least new costumes.

Conclusion
Overall a fun action game. It's definitely worth a rental and feels like a game that should be better loved and noticed by the crowds, much like many film cult classics.

Rayman 3: Game Design Review

Sequel to the award winning Rayman 2, Rayman 3 is a 3D action platformer just like Rayman 2. Of note, the game was produced by a different team. Michel Ancel, creator of Rayman was only involved in advisory role. The game is very fun and a worthy successor to Rayman, however there are a couple of issues I have with the game.

Combat still a bit lack luster - Probably the most glaring weakness is that nearly all of the combat is exactly the same. In the game you need to side step and launch your charged up fists at the enemy. It's pretty basic and frankly just tiring on my index fingers holding down the shoulder buttons.

Doesn't innovate - Compared to Rayman 2, the game isn't innovative enough, there are some minor innovations but it's pretty much Rayman 2 with some additional powerups and mini-games.

Controller doesn't work on PC - The game was designed for the console gameplay so its frustrating that I couldn't properly use my controller.

Can't return back to replay stages until you finish the game - In Rayman 2 you had a world map which allowed you to return back to play previous stages. There is no such thing in Rayman 3 until you finish the game at least once and it's just a menu where you scroll between names of the levels.

Conclusion
In conclusion, it's no Beyond Good and Evil but it doesn't necsssarily need to be. Fun, relatively varied, well put together and enjoyable 3D platformer. It's basically more of Rayman 2's gameplay but in larger environments and better graphics. I look forward to the HD version coming out shortly. I do hope they will throw in a couple of new levels at the very least.

Lair of the Evil Doer: Game Design Review

Lair of the Evil Doer is an indie top down dungeon shooter with some light randomised RPG elements developed by Going Loud Studios. Overall I found it a surprisingly fun albeit short game.

Of note are the melee attacks that have 'force' allowing you to smack enemies away with your melee attacks or push them away with your shotgun attacks; something more games need.

 What I didn't like:
Lacks weapon slots - Guns and melee weapons generally feel right. However, you can only have one melee weapon, one sidearm (handgun with unlimited ammo) and one weapon (more powerful weapon but uses up ammo). There are plenty of weapons but what's the use of being able to carry only two? Weapons like shotgun or rocket launcher are situational and there's no reason to carry it when the machine guns or rifles are overall more suited for whatever the game can throw against you. Really, it just needs 1 or 2 more weapon slots just to fix this! This is compounded by the fact that as the statistics for weapons are randomised you can get a really powerful rifle or machine gun making other weapons even less useful.

Poor enemy pathfinding - Enemy often get caught in the corners and it becomes almost silly picking them off as they try to slowly crawl past the corner.

Could use a bit more variety- Yes you can build your character by choosing which stat to upgrade but what about some different classes or abilities? Again, increasing the weapon slots would have helped alot.


Also there need to be different kinds of traps and enemies as the current ones just aren't enough.

Lack of game mode - After finishing the main game you unlock an endless mode where you can keep playing. I think the game needs more game modes and the ability to start endless mode straight away. Maybe a survival mode.

Conclusion
Overall a fun visceral game but needs to have more features and variety. I give it a 5/10. Technically competent, enjoyable but there are better freeware games out there.  I got this as part of the Indie Royale bundle and was probably worth what I paid for it.

Madballs in Babo: Invasion - Game Design Review

Madballs in Babo: Invasion is the sequel to the freeware game Babo Violent 2  using the 1980's Madballs toy as it's theme. The corney ball designs actually works quite well in my opinion and I can't think of a better way to use them. I quite enjoyed the freeware Babo Violent 2 back when it came out years ago so I was excited when I got this game thanks to the Groupees bundle.

Initial Impressions - As a Babo multiplayer game, the game mechanics seem to work fairly well. There are different classes and lots of interesting weapons each with a dual secondary fire. Basically it takes Babo to a fairly solid next level. Doesn't innovate too much but seems well put together.

So while technically and graphically competent, cracks start to appear when I sat down to try out the game's single player campaign since I couldn't find anyone online.

Boring Singleplayer - As a single player game, Babo madballs is very repetitive and average. The campaign starts off okay but needs more variety in the maps and gameplay. You don't have any allies in the game so everyone in the game is gunning for you, the enemies aren't very intelligent and the single player arenas aren't that interesting. As a result the game really runs out of steam about half way through. Base building is neglected in the single player as well except for the very last level which I personally thought was a shame because it seemed just as interesting.

Weapons and abilities start off locked in single player - I get the strong impression that the game is designed ideally for you to switch between both single player and multiplayer to slowly unlock all the skins and characters.

One of the worst things and disheartening things that a player see in a game is when you move to pick up a weapon on the ground in a level only to see a big lock on the sign and the requirement to play more to unlock this weapon. The standard practice in shooters is to give you new weapons, upgrades and abilities as you complete areas and proceed to the next level. It's part of the reward of finishing that section of the game. So why did the designers deliberately place weapons on the ground but lock them up so you have to play at least two more levels to unlock all the weapons on the first level?

Some might argue that's for the speed run portion of the game and isn't necessary for the campaign portion of the game. It tells me as a player that you designed the level with those weapons in mind but then decided to lock them up for some unknown reason because it would have some how affected the level gameplay balance. I strongly feel that it creates the impression of an artificial barrier rather than a goal to reach.

Also why can't you have all the abilities of a character or weapon unlocked once you unlock the weapon/character? Instead you have to slowly fight your way through before the game with it before it finally agrees that you've killed enough enemies to warrant the new abilities.

There is plenty of downloadable content DLC for you to purchase such as extra skins but there is also an unlock everything DLC purchase. This last option particularly annoys me because it feels as if I haven't purchase a full game but a game which the developers are trying to scam more money out of me. It's a bit like making a game deliberately difficult and forcing the player to pay for the cheatcodes.

No players online and lack of skirmish - Couldn't find any servers to join and you can't fill a multiplayer map with bots. This is a real shame because mentioned above the core game seems quite solid. I'm thinking it it might be worth releasing for free instead and just sell skin packs.

Overall it is a solid multiplayer game albeit one in which you have to grind to unlock your single player. Because of the lack of multiplayer servers online although it is a technically solid game I have to recommend giving this a miss as you can probably spend money on other game with more players and have just as much fun!

Serious Sam Double D: Game Design Review

First of all I found Serious Sam Double D a very fun game. There are plenty of secrets to discover, the gun stacking ability is pretty fun, the enemies bizarre and bosses are huge. I think it does relatively well to capture the crazy essence that is a Serious Sam game.

From a design perspective, there are some minor issues that could use a bit of tweaking. A lot of the issues centre around the game physics and certain design decisions. All of these are minor and don't really get in the way of a cheap, fun 2D shooter.

Controls and Jumping - Controlling and jumping isn't bad in the game, but it lacks a weight to it compared to other platformers like say Megaman or Contra. Some reviewers complained about this problem saying it completely ruined the game. I think there is some issue to it but not to the extent of spoiling the game for me. The jumping pad does ad an extra dimension to dodging but I wondering if putting in a double jump or super jump might have been a slightly easier option?

Gunstacking - Gunstacking and swapping gunstacks is fairly intuitive however I found the gunstacking a bit underutilised. Yes you can stack lots of guns with each other but all too often I found myself pretty much gunstacking all the shotguns or all the tommy guns or all the rocket launchers. Only very occasionally would I use the chainsaw or greande launchers or flamethrowers.

Enemies tend to be quite powerful so you pretty much need all the firepower you can stack. I guess what I'm trying to say is that although gunstacking is fun, the significance of gunstacking choices diminishes at times so I'm left having to use the obvious choices like 4 shotguns rather than mixing and matching.

Also, when you gun stack you can only gun stack weapons that you've found in one gun stack. For example, imagine if you've found 2 shotguns and 2 tommy guns each gun can only be in gunstack 1 or 2 or 3. You can't have your shotgun in both gunstack 1 or 2 at the same time so when you swap, the same shotgun appears in stack 2. The system just doesn't allow that. In gameplay terms, I found this broke the flow of the game. In the early parts of the game when I had fewer weapons, rather than swapping between stack 1 and stack 2 and stack 3 with the keyboard, I ended up continually entering to the gunstack screen and reconfiguring my existing stack to manage the small number of weapons I had.

From a game design perspective I wonder if reducing the number of guns to a more manageable 4 but increasing the damage might be a better idea. Also having some sort of combos system or bonus system where using certain configurations might trigger bonuses (i.e. 2 lasers = more damage) might be helpful. Some might argue that having 2 shotguns and 2 laserguns firing at once is your combo system and they might be right on further reflection.

Dodging enemy bullets can be difficult - Because of the 2D side scrolling nature, it can be difficult to dodge some enemy bullets. Yes, you are relatively manoeuvrable in the air thanks to the floaty controls but the bullets are too closely spread in many cases. It's not a deal breaker but I think spacing the bullets and increasing the zoom out might have been better.

Artwork and animation- This is personal opinion but I think the artwork and animation should take a different path. I appreciate Serious Sam is not really a serious game but I find the 'paper doll' feel of the graphics and the lack of good animations an area which could be improved on.

Zooming and character size - When you look at games like Metal Slug or Contra or SHUMPs like R-type, the characters or ships tend to be super deformed or smaller than usual taking up relatively small amount of screen space. The camera in this game will often zoom in and out to show how large the enemies.

From a game design perspective I wonder if it might be better to stick to just one perspective and design the game around that single perspective. This might sound restrictive and a minor detail but I think it might have forced the designer to carefully consider certain aspects of the gameplay such as the size of the bullets, the space required to succesfully dodge incoming enemy fire and the floaty controls as well as creating more integrated experience. On several occasions they zoom just wasn't quite right.

No cannon - One of the signature weapons of Serious Sam, the cannon is missing from the game! A serious Sam game without the cannon? It's like accidentally leaving out the shotgun! I'm sure it wouldn't be too overpowered...

Overall a game that does convey the Serious Sam mayhem most successfully. It isn't quite Contra or Metal Slug level of polish however which is a real shame but the game is fairly easy to like and is very enjoyable.

Hard Reset: Game Design Review

Created by former developers at People May Fly that created the very fun Painkiller, Hard Reset is a no nonsense old-school action shooter. So how does it stack up to other action games? Unfortunately, not very well. There are lots of things that get in the way of shooting things a lot of things, really fast and really quickly.

Menu is pointlessly animated- The menu has way too many moving parts that delay the time scrolling between menus. The developers seemed to have recognised this and even added a menu speed up button just so the menu animations move faster.

Weapons are unlocked rather than picked up- From the get go, I ran into trouble. When starting the game. In most actions shooters, you pick up weapons when the developers plan for you to pick them. This is usually when the developers will introduce a new enemy. In Hard Reset, you a single gun with two weapons systems and various attachments which function as different weapons. You have the N.R.G System which is blue in colour and grants you weapons which deal lower damage but have special abilities such as slowing enemies down and stunning them. You have C.L.N system which is red in colour and grant you weapons which are more direct, deal more damage and often contain more explosives.

Unfortunately the design of the dual Weapon upgrade system works against the nature of the game because you have to invest a certain number of points in upgrading your existing weapons before the next level of weapons are unlocked. For example, you have to upgrade your starting gun first before the shot gun becomes available. Because I spread my upgrade points across both weapon systems I ended up facing some harder enemies without any of the more powerful weapons such as the rocket launcher, grenade launcher or mortar making things much harder than I anticipated in the beginning when points are sparse.

Weapons are enhancements of existing weapons which makes them hard to differentiate- Because all your weapons are modifications of your one single gun, it's hard to know if you're holding a grenade launcher, rocket launcher or shotgun at a glance. This is very important in a firefight for obvious reasons!

Crowd control upgrades need to be available earlier on- A lot of the crowd control weapon upgrades should be available earlier on. I found my mid game much easier once I obtained several weapon upgrades.

Lots of environmental explosions but sometimes these just get in the way- Part of the game is to try and use the highly explosive objects in the environment to stop horders of enemies. It's fun to see a trap go off right but as there isn't any way to kick or reposition exploding terrain effectively I often ended up any managing to take out one or two enemies at best. Also because there are so many explosive objects in the areas in numerous occasions, I ended up accidentally retreating too close to an explosive object while under fire and dying.

Hard to see enemies- Because of the metallic nature of the environments, enemies are often hard to see and spot on occasions.

Enemies are too hard vs weapon reload times- After a while I had to switch to easy because normal was just too difficult. Even the easiest enemies need at least two shotgun shots to be destroyed on normal!

Dashing is limited and bar is too tiny- You have the ability to dash for a limited time and you can't fire while doing so. Unfortunately dashing is the only way to side step one of the larger enemies. As you can imagine I often died by being rammed death because I ran out of dashing power. Also the dashing energy bar is such a small part of your HUD that its hard to know when you're about to run out without taking your eyes off the action.

Dual weapon system is rarely used- Swapping is so slow that I honestly had no use for the dual weapon system. Instead I sank all my points in the N.R.G system and found that having unlocked the more powerful weapons and abilities, I was in a much better position to deal with the enemies as it's much faster to swap weapons within the same weapon system than it is to switch to the other system.

Conclusion
Overall, its a graphical competent game marred by high difficulty level, poor interface and unintuitive weapon and upgrade system that seems to penalise cross weapon experimentation. I was playing Lair of the Evildoer at the same  and that felt that game had better flow and control than this game despite Lair's lack of variety. I can't really recommend it unless you can get it for dirt cheap like I did with the Indie Royale package. You may as well just play Painkiller or Serious Sam HD, far better games.

Indigo Prophecy: Game Design Review

Indigo Prophecy is an action adventure game created by a French studio Quantic Dream that also made the well-received Omikron: The Nomad Soul. Indigo Prophecy tells the story of Lucas Kane who becomes possessed and murders a man. The game switches mostly between him and the detective's pursuing him. It is simply put a riveting and a must play game.

In retrospect and from a strictly interface and game design perspective, the interactivity is actually as minimalistic as any other adventure game, perhaps even more so than normal. Generally the interactivity is aroud Resident Evil level. In Indigo Prophecy, you can interact with only handful of objects and the game practically locks you in an area consisting of one or two rooms. Aside from one or two sequences, you really only need to combine object A with object B in most cases and this is very straight forward. It's pretty clear what you need to do most of them. Yet I (and many others) found it very enjoyable more so than many other games. The only difference from other action games is that being that the actions the player performs on the controller or keyboard are more related to what they see on screen. i.e pushing a door open requires to player to push the the joystick forward as if they were pushing the door open.

Reading the walkthrough after finishing the game, the game is extremely linear and while you can affect minor portions of the story, there are less than a handful of optional scenes you can unlock.

Upon reflection I wondered why exactly I and other reviewers enjoyed the game so much. How can a game which is so linear get such a high metacritic score? There are several very polished aspects of the game which I can identify.

Attention to detail - The rooms you walk around in aren't just boring corridors or generic rooms. The rooms give you clues and hints as to the lives of the people living in them. In other words atmosphere.

Easy to use interface - The interface is extremely easy to use and only requires several buttons. It almost never gets in the way of what you're trying to do.

Strong Storyline and good editing - Every single character you encounter and can talk with reveals something interesting about the game world or plays an important part in the story. Just as importantly the game is well-written and maintains good pacing.

Lack of interaction - As a player I was never really stuck in a location for long. In most cases the lack of things to do meant the action I did try would reveal to me more about the world or advance the story in some way. Most actions were significant in the sense that I was always uncovering information or advancing the plot. Lack of pixel hunting was a big thing for me.

Problems
There are however a number of glaring problems with the game.

Action sequences and mini-games - The main weakness of the game in my opinon were the quick time action sequences using the PAR system. Basically, during certain action sequences or mini-games you push the twin joysticks on your controller up down left or right as directed by the game. The actual onscreen action was really cool especially later on in the game with the matrix style action sequences but I felt it really disconnected me from the game. Here are a couple of examples: There is a morgue sequence in the game where Carla observes the coroner examine the body, you have to press the sequences in order for Carla to understand what the coroner is saying. Completely immersion breaking in this case, what does pressing the up down left right have to do with understanding the coroner's medical terms? Maybe a better way would have been a dialogue where you question the coroner based on wounds you find on the body or something like that or where you have to manipulate tools and the corpse to get the answer.

Another example are the vision sequences where you see through the eyes of one of the other characters in the game. As before you have to follow the onscreen instructions which have absolutely no bearing on the dialogue heavy vision sequences. It would have been better instead to actually take control of the other character or have some sort of puzzle sequence where you have to figure the order of the dialogue or piece together the evidence in a logical fashion.

So what would be a good action sequence in contrast? Well one game sequence that I thought was done really well in the game was a scene in which the female detective enters the police department archives but suffers from claustrophobia and you slowly and carefully have to go through the archives and solve a puzzle by moving some shelves. The game switches to first person perspective You can hear her breath as she gets more tense and while walking have to carefully reduce her fear through button presses. I have to say it was an extremely effective sequence despite the fact that nothing really happened. It really conveyed the sense of helplessness in a very effective way. This was repeated in an asylum later in the game which really upped the ante and was just as terrifying. More so because you were trapped with insane patients.


Lack of interaction - Despite saying lack of interaction helped the game I also believe lack of interaction is also one of the the game's minor but glaring weakness. This isn't so much a problem during timed scenes or action sequences such as the opening scene where you have to race around doing things but during the normal exploration sequences, I don't understand why there couldn't be more interaction, more chatting and more things to do in these slow paced areas. I would have to liked to be more of a detective and investigate but the exploration bits really start to decrease the further you go into the game which is a shame really.

Linearity - I really enjoyed the story but I was expecting major multiple plots depending on who you sided with. As it turns out there really aren't multiple plots to the game. Just one over arching plot with very minor details changed as a result of your actions. I think its better to have a well-polished well written character drivenlinear adventure game like this rather than a adventure with plenty of plotlines but lack of focus. Still I hope that future games by Quantic will capitalise upon this basic formula and create games which do have major diverging plots in the gameplay and therefore more replayability. Unfortunately the most recent game by Quantic, Heavy Rain, as I understand still suffers from this problem.

Overall I enjoyed it and any story driven action gamer or adventure gamer will enjoy this.