A.R.E.S: Extinction Agenda is an platformer very much in the style of megaman. You control A.R.E.S. a robot and go around defeating robotic enemies on a space station gaining weapons as you defeat enemies and finish levels. First, let me say that it's a good fun game. However, there are I think several problems which I think the game designers need to think about.
Crafting system needs tweaking - I recall there were four items basic materials you needed to colect to craft items or upgrades. Items or upgrades require all four materials. unfortunately the enemy drop rate for this is very low as are the 'material drops' you find scattered throughout the levels. In fact the game advices you to replay past levels to collect more to make the game easier. I don't like this form of gameplay because it breaks the flow of the game actually goes against the design of platformers. Unlike games like action RPGs like Castlevania or Metroid, the
game has very few branching paths and secrets so there isn't a 'psychological reward' for returning. I think four materials is too many for a fairly straight forward game lke this. A single currency to collect would be sufficient and rather than relying solely on random drops, the currency should be earned through exploration or achievements.
Grenade & Zypher Cannon Balance - All the main weapons are fairly balanced requiring you to switch between them in order eliminate various enemy types. Grenades and EMP Weapons however are another story. The grenades function not only as powerful damage dealers but also give you the ability to boost in a different direction. They require several seconds to charging-up before use and cost materials to craft. All too often I found myself unable to charge-up the grenade before being hit by an enemy causing me to fire the grenade in the wrong direction. The boost ability of grenades unlocked later in the game allow the player to reach previously unreachable areas. This is suppose to encourage players to experiment more with the grenades yet because of the scarcity of materials I was hesitant to employ the grenades, saving my materials to craft medikits instead. Once you finish the game, you're given access to unlimited grenades making using them actually more fun and more in tune with the game. Overall the scarcity of materials combined with long delay before their deployment felt to me to be at odds with the purpose of the grenades.
As for Zypher cannon, this basically functions as a room clearing bomb destroying all enemies. The cannon was okay, but it seemed a bit redundant, I don't think I ever used it in the levels and only against the bosses. I feel the the cannon could have been more integral to the game play like all the main weapons or dashing ability was. Perhaps as a way to interrupt bosses in their special attacks or something as in one of the boss battles? I think the grenades and the cannon could have been combined instead rather than having a separate cannon button for clearing the room of enemies.
Locked rooms - Occasionally, the game will lock you in a room and force you defeat all the enemies in the room before rewarding you with materials. It's okay but these rooms are very small and all you really end up doing is sitting in one corner of the room blasting away. This happens at least once or twice every level and get more annoying than fun by the end of the game.
Short game and replayability could be improved - Game is pricey considering how short it is and the replayability. There are extra data and power cubes to collect but I feel the game could have used some extra challenge modes or side quests to really help. As mentioned above, I think these quests or challenges could be linked to upgrades and items rather than the random materials section.
Overall it's a fun game worth maybe about $5 to $8 US dollars as priced. The soundtrack fits the tone of the game really well and is now available to purchase which I have. I think if they fix the problems I mentioned I sure Episode 2 and hopefully Episode 3 will be even better. I'm looking forward to Episode 2 which unfortunately seems to be taking a very long time to finish!
Friday, 6 January 2012
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Black and White 2: Game Design Review
Black and White 2 was designed by Lion Head Studios. A team made up of many members of the old Bullfrog studio who created classic games such as Dungeon Keeper and Populous. I was excited to finally play this game as it had gotten some really good reviews and the idea of having an AI creature to assist seemed very exciting. However, I was very disappointed by this game overall. Compared to Dungeon Keeper, Majesty and the Settlers I found many areas lacking in gameplay. The key issue is probably the simplistic nature of both military and city building and the lack of any real variety in attacks or spells.
Usability and Interface
Let's start with the interface and usability which I thought was one of the highlights of the game despite some missteps.
Controlling consists of mostly using the mouse and if you like also the keyboard. The entire game can in fact be controlled using the mouse and the on screen menu system and is quite intuitive for most part.
What I liked:
'Dragging' a building creates a building blueprint of the exact same building to construct - This is a great feature. I do feel it could have been enhanced if you can create multiple houses at once instead of just one at a time.
Construction Menu automatically sorts the most needed building - This is great because you know exactly what you need to build next.
Free zooming - Rather than lock you down to a specific zoom levels, you can pretty much zoom anywhere you like. Double right clicking zooms you straight to the action at a good zoom level.
What I didn't like about the controls:
Cancelling an action requires you to shake the mouse violently left and right - Sometimes its a bit hard to get the shaking motion to register, commonly happens with roads in my cases.
Right clicking to grab the ground in order to scroll the screen - It's okay but feels a bit limiting at times. Most other RTS have you automatically scroll once you reach the edge of the screen. You can't continue scrolling either once you've grabbed the ground, you have to right click again, grab another piece of ground and move.
Lack of set zoom levels - A minor complaint as the default 'double right click' mentioned above pretty much gets you where you need to be and at the right level.
Hand gestures to use spells doesn't work properly - Unfortunately the detection of your gestures isn't very good. I really couldn't get most of the spells to register and had to use the spell menu most of the time.
Unobtrusive menus make things occasionally difficult to navigate - Because the menus have small tabs, scrolling through the horizontal menus can be a pain at times. This isn't too much of a big deal when constructing but it did make finding spells a bit difficult at times when I was trying to fend off the hoards of enemies trying to beat down my
Poor throwing physics - You can also fling spells and drop rocks on enemies to stop them. Unfortunately flinging things isn't very accurate. As a result, some of the throwing mini-games and defending your settlement personally is more annoying than fun. Too often I would accidentally fling my spells or rocks into my own walls.
Soldier banner system - To control soldiers you pick up their platoons banners and place it at a different location. To combine platoons or link platoons you hold one banner over another. Overall, it's not a bad system but at times it seems a simple right click or left click would have been easier than holding down the left mouse button.
Lack of radar and mini-map - There isn't any fog of war but You have to rely on your zooming abilities to keep track of the enemy. Sometimes I was too busy building and expanding my settlements to take notice of the large army approaching my walls.
Hard to transfer citizens between settlements - After capturing a settlement you can freely transfer citizens between them by picking them up and dropping them but it's actually quite difficult to do so in a balanced way. You pretty much just grab what you see and hope you've done the right thing. You might have accidentally grabbed too many old people or men or something like and there isn't really a way to say, 'split the population equally between settlements' or 'transfer everyone to the main city'.
Nearly all the aspects I didn't like were mostly related to making the player feel more like a floating god hand and create a sense of immersion and feel to the game. Unfortunately I feel if that they had stuck to the more tried and true traditions as laid down by other RTS games they would have the made the game easier.
Game design
Here's my list of things they did wrong:
Islands are too big - From a level design perspective, the game lands can become a bit too big. You often have to wait quite a while before your soldiers get to their target.
Ore is extremely limited - Ore is essential for your economy and developing advanced buildings. Unfortunately there's always very limited ore making the game more frustrating than necessary. Too many times I was waiting for ore to come through from migrations. As a result Some sevels take a lot of time and the tension becomes very repetitive.
City limits- These are a bit too strict especially when combined with ore limitations. The city limits determine not only where you can build and how much space you can build with, it also determines where you can cast spells. The limits created by the game are very limited. Too often I would find myself unable to build more houses or bigger buildings. While you can of course start bullzoing older houses and replacing them with better versions, there is a problem of whether or not you have enough ore to do so.
Lack of unique spells - Basic Spells include Fire, water, healing, shield (unleashes a wind attack). The wonders grant a couple more but realistically all abilities are generally more powerful flashier versions of the basic spells.
Only 3 military units - Soldiers, archers and catapults. No real tactical diversity. There isn't even a healing unit!
Lack of unique citizens and interactions between people and you - Aside from assigning roles for them and attacking them, there really isn't that much you can do between the people and you. They pretty much all act the same. In games such as Caesar, Zeus or Pharoah there are different kinds of units you can create and different social classes of citizens.
Good and evil buildings and actions don't really make a difference in actual gameplay so much - Instead of good things like villas you build houses and skyscrappers instead which is 'evil'. Similarly, most good and evil actions don't really matter much and doesn't really change gameplay that much aside from how things look. Yes there are some evil actions that will give you short term benefits over long term benefits such as sacrificing your citizens at an altar to gain mana quickly but there just aren't many choices like that.
Repetitive - I pretty much built the same city over and over again using the same structures to win the game. I pretty used the Siren wonder to create impressive cities to capture all the other settlements.
Creature development is limited - The creature pretty much has the same abilities and spells as yourself. While the idea of a Creature isn't bad but I would like to be able to customise my creature a bit more or see the creature develop different abilities that are unique from you.
Lack of terrain abilities - For a god game with a physics engine, there aren't really any real fun terrain deforming spells or abilities to shape the land better. The spells which can change terrain such as volcanoes or earthquakes take forever to use as they are powerful wonders. If you look at games like Populous, Sim City or Dungeon Keeper terrain controlling, shaping and changing terrain was one way to ensure better cities and defenses.
Lack of any game play modes - The lack of skirmish mode or anything but the campaign hinders the game replayability.
Conclusion
Overall, although I did enjoy Black and White 2 at times, but the drawn out nature of the levels, the relatively simplistic gameplay made me want to go back to Majesty, Dungeon Keeper, Settlers or Caeser instead. Smaller levels, more variety in building options would have gone a long way in making a fun game.
Usability and Interface
Let's start with the interface and usability which I thought was one of the highlights of the game despite some missteps.
Controlling consists of mostly using the mouse and if you like also the keyboard. The entire game can in fact be controlled using the mouse and the on screen menu system and is quite intuitive for most part.
What I liked:
'Dragging' a building creates a building blueprint of the exact same building to construct - This is a great feature. I do feel it could have been enhanced if you can create multiple houses at once instead of just one at a time.
Construction Menu automatically sorts the most needed building - This is great because you know exactly what you need to build next.
Free zooming - Rather than lock you down to a specific zoom levels, you can pretty much zoom anywhere you like. Double right clicking zooms you straight to the action at a good zoom level.
What I didn't like about the controls:
Cancelling an action requires you to shake the mouse violently left and right - Sometimes its a bit hard to get the shaking motion to register, commonly happens with roads in my cases.
Right clicking to grab the ground in order to scroll the screen - It's okay but feels a bit limiting at times. Most other RTS have you automatically scroll once you reach the edge of the screen. You can't continue scrolling either once you've grabbed the ground, you have to right click again, grab another piece of ground and move.
Lack of set zoom levels - A minor complaint as the default 'double right click' mentioned above pretty much gets you where you need to be and at the right level.
Hand gestures to use spells doesn't work properly - Unfortunately the detection of your gestures isn't very good. I really couldn't get most of the spells to register and had to use the spell menu most of the time.
Unobtrusive menus make things occasionally difficult to navigate - Because the menus have small tabs, scrolling through the horizontal menus can be a pain at times. This isn't too much of a big deal when constructing but it did make finding spells a bit difficult at times when I was trying to fend off the hoards of enemies trying to beat down my
Poor throwing physics - You can also fling spells and drop rocks on enemies to stop them. Unfortunately flinging things isn't very accurate. As a result, some of the throwing mini-games and defending your settlement personally is more annoying than fun. Too often I would accidentally fling my spells or rocks into my own walls.
Soldier banner system - To control soldiers you pick up their platoons banners and place it at a different location. To combine platoons or link platoons you hold one banner over another. Overall, it's not a bad system but at times it seems a simple right click or left click would have been easier than holding down the left mouse button.
Lack of radar and mini-map - There isn't any fog of war but You have to rely on your zooming abilities to keep track of the enemy. Sometimes I was too busy building and expanding my settlements to take notice of the large army approaching my walls.
Hard to transfer citizens between settlements - After capturing a settlement you can freely transfer citizens between them by picking them up and dropping them but it's actually quite difficult to do so in a balanced way. You pretty much just grab what you see and hope you've done the right thing. You might have accidentally grabbed too many old people or men or something like and there isn't really a way to say, 'split the population equally between settlements' or 'transfer everyone to the main city'.
Nearly all the aspects I didn't like were mostly related to making the player feel more like a floating god hand and create a sense of immersion and feel to the game. Unfortunately I feel if that they had stuck to the more tried and true traditions as laid down by other RTS games they would have the made the game easier.
Game design
Here's my list of things they did wrong:
Islands are too big - From a level design perspective, the game lands can become a bit too big. You often have to wait quite a while before your soldiers get to their target.
Ore is extremely limited - Ore is essential for your economy and developing advanced buildings. Unfortunately there's always very limited ore making the game more frustrating than necessary. Too many times I was waiting for ore to come through from migrations. As a result Some sevels take a lot of time and the tension becomes very repetitive.
City limits- These are a bit too strict especially when combined with ore limitations. The city limits determine not only where you can build and how much space you can build with, it also determines where you can cast spells. The limits created by the game are very limited. Too often I would find myself unable to build more houses or bigger buildings. While you can of course start bullzoing older houses and replacing them with better versions, there is a problem of whether or not you have enough ore to do so.
Lack of unique spells - Basic Spells include Fire, water, healing, shield (unleashes a wind attack). The wonders grant a couple more but realistically all abilities are generally more powerful flashier versions of the basic spells.
Only 3 military units - Soldiers, archers and catapults. No real tactical diversity. There isn't even a healing unit!
Lack of unique citizens and interactions between people and you - Aside from assigning roles for them and attacking them, there really isn't that much you can do between the people and you. They pretty much all act the same. In games such as Caesar, Zeus or Pharoah there are different kinds of units you can create and different social classes of citizens.
Good and evil buildings and actions don't really make a difference in actual gameplay so much - Instead of good things like villas you build houses and skyscrappers instead which is 'evil'. Similarly, most good and evil actions don't really matter much and doesn't really change gameplay that much aside from how things look. Yes there are some evil actions that will give you short term benefits over long term benefits such as sacrificing your citizens at an altar to gain mana quickly but there just aren't many choices like that.
Repetitive - I pretty much built the same city over and over again using the same structures to win the game. I pretty used the Siren wonder to create impressive cities to capture all the other settlements.
Creature development is limited - The creature pretty much has the same abilities and spells as yourself. While the idea of a Creature isn't bad but I would like to be able to customise my creature a bit more or see the creature develop different abilities that are unique from you.
Lack of terrain abilities - For a god game with a physics engine, there aren't really any real fun terrain deforming spells or abilities to shape the land better. The spells which can change terrain such as volcanoes or earthquakes take forever to use as they are powerful wonders. If you look at games like Populous, Sim City or Dungeon Keeper terrain controlling, shaping and changing terrain was one way to ensure better cities and defenses.
Lack of any game play modes - The lack of skirmish mode or anything but the campaign hinders the game replayability.
Conclusion
Overall, although I did enjoy Black and White 2 at times, but the drawn out nature of the levels, the relatively simplistic gameplay made me want to go back to Majesty, Dungeon Keeper, Settlers or Caeser instead. Smaller levels, more variety in building options would have gone a long way in making a fun game.
Sunday, 27 November 2011
The Path: Game Design Review
The Path is a horror which I recently mentioned in my recent games are art guest post which I found I hadn't yet reviewed!
So here's my impression of The Path. I'm a bit divided over whether to recommend the game. let me explain why.
Design wise the first problem with the game is that it doesn't tell you how to accomplish the 'goal'. Now I had read about the game before hand in the reviews and knew that I had to leave the Path to truly experience the game. The first time I chose a character, I spent about 40 minutes trying to figure out what to do. I knew I had to wander off the path but I didn't realise what to do to trigger the 'bad' endings.
Finally I figured out that to do this you have to go to a location and NOT move for several seconds to interact with your character's personal 'wolf'. Of course, this required lots of unlearning as most games will have an 'action' button to allow you to interact with objects in the environment but the game never explicitly tells you to NOT move. I wasted nearly an hour on this. Once I figured that out, progress was fairly quick.
Every girls losing' story goes like this:
1) You wander off the path
2) You can visit or discover various significant important places (this is optional)
3) You have to meet your personal wolf
4) You awaken just in front of grandma's house tired and go through grandma's house, what you see depends on how many optional places you discovered.
5) The girl meets defeat.
The entire game is metaphorical and atmospheric and well crafted in that respect. However, aside from the annoying 'not moving' learning issue which I think really needs to be explained better, the game part of this game is a bit too easy and not very exciting at all. It feels more like a collection of short horror mini-episodes combined with a bit of item hunting then a proper game. Rather than exploring possibilities, there is really only one 'Path' in the game.
From a gaming critic's point of view the atmosphere is top notch,the sound and graphics convey exactly the way it should be on the other hand I feel that the artistic nature almost feels like a step back in many ways. No real dialogue, implied characterisation, spooky effects and a distinct lack of interaction.
As a gamer, rather than revelling the interactive nature of the game medium it seems to try and live up to the expectations of the 'art world' rather than trying to aspire and utilise the best tools of the medium (interactivity). I think games like Gabriel Knight, American Mcgee's Alice, Grim Fandango, Indigo Prophecy, the Thief series and the Resident Evil service do the genre a better service in this respect.
For me The Path although good in some respects feels like a warning sign to game developers: "Don't try to live up to art for the sake of art". Otherwise, what you get is a game with good animation, good atmosphere but limited shallow gameplay. Weighing your other available games, the normal price of The Path of $10 seems quite expensive for a game you could finish in less than 3 hours compared to other horror games like Amensia: The Dark Descent.
I have also played the other two games by the creators; The Graveyard and Fatale and they pretty much suffer from the same problem as this game. I'll probably go into detail into them in follow up post.
So here's my impression of The Path. I'm a bit divided over whether to recommend the game. let me explain why.
Design wise the first problem with the game is that it doesn't tell you how to accomplish the 'goal'. Now I had read about the game before hand in the reviews and knew that I had to leave the Path to truly experience the game. The first time I chose a character, I spent about 40 minutes trying to figure out what to do. I knew I had to wander off the path but I didn't realise what to do to trigger the 'bad' endings.
Finally I figured out that to do this you have to go to a location and NOT move for several seconds to interact with your character's personal 'wolf'. Of course, this required lots of unlearning as most games will have an 'action' button to allow you to interact with objects in the environment but the game never explicitly tells you to NOT move. I wasted nearly an hour on this. Once I figured that out, progress was fairly quick.
Every girls losing' story goes like this:
1) You wander off the path
2) You can visit or discover various significant important places (this is optional)
3) You have to meet your personal wolf
4) You awaken just in front of grandma's house tired and go through grandma's house, what you see depends on how many optional places you discovered.
5) The girl meets defeat.
The entire game is metaphorical and atmospheric and well crafted in that respect. However, aside from the annoying 'not moving' learning issue which I think really needs to be explained better, the game part of this game is a bit too easy and not very exciting at all. It feels more like a collection of short horror mini-episodes combined with a bit of item hunting then a proper game. Rather than exploring possibilities, there is really only one 'Path' in the game.
From a gaming critic's point of view the atmosphere is top notch,the sound and graphics convey exactly the way it should be on the other hand I feel that the artistic nature almost feels like a step back in many ways. No real dialogue, implied characterisation, spooky effects and a distinct lack of interaction.
As a gamer, rather than revelling the interactive nature of the game medium it seems to try and live up to the expectations of the 'art world' rather than trying to aspire and utilise the best tools of the medium (interactivity). I think games like Gabriel Knight, American Mcgee's Alice, Grim Fandango, Indigo Prophecy, the Thief series and the Resident Evil service do the genre a better service in this respect.
For me The Path although good in some respects feels like a warning sign to game developers: "Don't try to live up to art for the sake of art". Otherwise, what you get is a game with good animation, good atmosphere but limited shallow gameplay. Weighing your other available games, the normal price of The Path of $10 seems quite expensive for a game you could finish in less than 3 hours compared to other horror games like Amensia: The Dark Descent.
I have also played the other two games by the creators; The Graveyard and Fatale and they pretty much suffer from the same problem as this game. I'll probably go into detail into them in follow up post.
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time: Game Design Review
I bought this game because of the rave reviews (some reviewers giving them as high as 80%). On paper the game sounds great but my reality when playing this game was very different. For me the emphasis on the 'physics' of the game ends up just very very very clumsy. I got up to the ice cave level which is half way through the game and I said 'stop, I'm not having fun at all'. Three months later, I tried to play this again and still wasn't having fun and so I reluctantly deleted it.
Let me expand the problem:
The goal of the game is to get your time travelling chair to the end of the level.
You can't stick the chair in your backpack so you you have to create a 'car'. You do this by combining two wheels and the time travelling chair. So far so good. But then you realise the car physics is 'realistic' and the power of the wheels + chair isn't very good at all. This makes climbing even moderate slopes a real challenge.
You can also freely attach and angle any of your items to any other part of another item, so if you think sticking the tyres on the nose of the chair or the back of the chair will improve the way its driven, you can do so. In practice, if position the tyres wrongly you'll find yourself driving on one wheel which creates an extreme imbalance and will cause the entire car to flip eventually or if you just miss attaching the tyre to just a right place you'll end up accidentally attaching the tire to the top of the chair which makes it usless.
Later on you'll have an umbrella, propellars and spring. The propellars allow you to fly, the spring allows you to jump and the umbrella to glide. But once again, you can attach and angle these items pretty much anywhere which in my opinion exacerbates the above problem as you fiddle around with your car. For example you should attach the spring to the bottom of the car or tyre but attach it to the wrong place on the car and you'll sit the spring between the tyre and the ground meaning your car won't drive anywhere as the tyre is no longer in contact with the ground.
Overall almost 80% of my game time was done trying to figure how to flip and then reorganise my car to get through simple slopes and jumps. Not in the fun way but more in the sense of "dammit my car fell apart again and now I have reorganise it".
You have to be careful when repositioning one part, particularly the wheels because meddle too much and the whole damn thing falls apart because the effects of gravity aren't paused when you're building your car!
Very frustrating.
In a normal game, a character that can jump would have easily cleared these areas in under a minute. But because of this emphasis on car building I have to clumsily fumble my way around trying to build something that will clear the platforms trying to fight the inertia of the various parts as they try to fall apart before I make simple modifications.
I can't stress enough how completely unfun the game is despite what other reviews say.
Here's what I think the game makers need to do to fix this game:
a) Increase the 'power' of the wheels. The inability to drive up gentle slopes is terrible!
b) Drop the 'free-form building' and make it a snap-together-to-build game. The body and wheels of the car should be automatically positioned for you. You'll never going to find a use for putting the body underneath the car wheels so why not have it automatically positioned there. Furthermore, reduce the points where you can attach the propellers and umbrella and springs. This will reduce the construction frustration I felt as I continually watched my car fall to pieces every single time because of this adherence to 'realistic' physics where the tyres and chair threatened to collapse all the time!
c) Build the levels around the snap-to-build method as above to ensure gameplay is challenging but completable rather than the 'hit-and-miss' it is currently.
d) Allow the main character to jump.
e) Change the core goal of the mission to something else. The core goal in every mission is to deliver the time machine chair to the end of the level. Due to the above mentioned problems, I just wasn't having fun. I wonder if there could be different missions like 'fix the machine', 'defeat all the robots' or 'defend the house' instead.
f) Make better use of the rewind time mechanic - The time mechanic is pretty much just a straight forward gameplay mechanism which replaces saving and loading during a level. In essence you rewind to any point in the recent past and continue from there. It works but I wonder if there is a better way to use this similar to "Braid".
g) Allow us to build more items - Why not allow us to create some different machines rather than just a car? Maybe a catapult? Maybe a microwave ray gun? Maybe some sort of robotic decoy on wheels?
I try very hard to reveal the positive aspects of each game and provide reasons why they were good examples of game design but despite the funny characters and good cartoonish graphics this simply doesn't have any good game design points. I feel really let down because this could have been "The incredible machine" on wheels with some interesting time travel but instead turns out to be a train wreck of micro-problems.
I really hate to rag on about this especially for a New Zealand game company (since I'm a NZ citizen) but seriously don't buy this game unless you've tried the demo and are absolutely sure you're happy with the short comings.
I do welcome the designers to contact me since they are in NZ. Preferably via Linkedin or Twitter.
Let me expand the problem:
The goal of the game is to get your time travelling chair to the end of the level.
You can't stick the chair in your backpack so you you have to create a 'car'. You do this by combining two wheels and the time travelling chair. So far so good. But then you realise the car physics is 'realistic' and the power of the wheels + chair isn't very good at all. This makes climbing even moderate slopes a real challenge.
You can also freely attach and angle any of your items to any other part of another item, so if you think sticking the tyres on the nose of the chair or the back of the chair will improve the way its driven, you can do so. In practice, if position the tyres wrongly you'll find yourself driving on one wheel which creates an extreme imbalance and will cause the entire car to flip eventually or if you just miss attaching the tyre to just a right place you'll end up accidentally attaching the tire to the top of the chair which makes it usless.
Later on you'll have an umbrella, propellars and spring. The propellars allow you to fly, the spring allows you to jump and the umbrella to glide. But once again, you can attach and angle these items pretty much anywhere which in my opinion exacerbates the above problem as you fiddle around with your car. For example you should attach the spring to the bottom of the car or tyre but attach it to the wrong place on the car and you'll sit the spring between the tyre and the ground meaning your car won't drive anywhere as the tyre is no longer in contact with the ground.
Overall almost 80% of my game time was done trying to figure how to flip and then reorganise my car to get through simple slopes and jumps. Not in the fun way but more in the sense of "dammit my car fell apart again and now I have reorganise it".
You have to be careful when repositioning one part, particularly the wheels because meddle too much and the whole damn thing falls apart because the effects of gravity aren't paused when you're building your car!
Very frustrating.
In a normal game, a character that can jump would have easily cleared these areas in under a minute. But because of this emphasis on car building I have to clumsily fumble my way around trying to build something that will clear the platforms trying to fight the inertia of the various parts as they try to fall apart before I make simple modifications.
I can't stress enough how completely unfun the game is despite what other reviews say.
Here's what I think the game makers need to do to fix this game:
a) Increase the 'power' of the wheels. The inability to drive up gentle slopes is terrible!
b) Drop the 'free-form building' and make it a snap-together-to-build game. The body and wheels of the car should be automatically positioned for you. You'll never going to find a use for putting the body underneath the car wheels so why not have it automatically positioned there. Furthermore, reduce the points where you can attach the propellers and umbrella and springs. This will reduce the construction frustration I felt as I continually watched my car fall to pieces every single time because of this adherence to 'realistic' physics where the tyres and chair threatened to collapse all the time!
c) Build the levels around the snap-to-build method as above to ensure gameplay is challenging but completable rather than the 'hit-and-miss' it is currently.
d) Allow the main character to jump.
e) Change the core goal of the mission to something else. The core goal in every mission is to deliver the time machine chair to the end of the level. Due to the above mentioned problems, I just wasn't having fun. I wonder if there could be different missions like 'fix the machine', 'defeat all the robots' or 'defend the house' instead.
f) Make better use of the rewind time mechanic - The time mechanic is pretty much just a straight forward gameplay mechanism which replaces saving and loading during a level. In essence you rewind to any point in the recent past and continue from there. It works but I wonder if there is a better way to use this similar to "Braid".
g) Allow us to build more items - Why not allow us to create some different machines rather than just a car? Maybe a catapult? Maybe a microwave ray gun? Maybe some sort of robotic decoy on wheels?
I try very hard to reveal the positive aspects of each game and provide reasons why they were good examples of game design but despite the funny characters and good cartoonish graphics this simply doesn't have any good game design points. I feel really let down because this could have been "The incredible machine" on wheels with some interesting time travel but instead turns out to be a train wreck of micro-problems.
I really hate to rag on about this especially for a New Zealand game company (since I'm a NZ citizen) but seriously don't buy this game unless you've tried the demo and are absolutely sure you're happy with the short comings.
I do welcome the designers to contact me since they are in NZ. Preferably via Linkedin or Twitter.
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Freedom Force Vs The Third Reich: Game Design Review
Released about 3 years after the original Freedom Force, Freedom Force vs The Third Reich is a direct sequel to Freedom force.
Freedom Force 3rd Reich is basically Freedom Force except with a new storyline. Which I think is a real shame. I loved the original Freedom Force and I definitely love this one. But rather expanding on the gameplay, the creators have only created new missions and a couple of new characters. The entire game feels too much like an extended storyline and a couple of new characters thrown in rather than any substantial improvements or mechanics.
From a gameplay mechanics and usability perspective, the Freedom Force series nails everything about a superhero game should nail:
What features could they have included in Freedom Force and the 3rd Reich?
It's now available in a collection with the original Freedom Force so do buy it in a collection and play them back to back. If you love squad-based tactical games and superheroes, buy the Freedom Force Collection which contains both games. Now available on various platforms. It won't disappoint.
Freedom Force 3rd Reich is basically Freedom Force except with a new storyline. Which I think is a real shame. I loved the original Freedom Force and I definitely love this one. But rather expanding on the gameplay, the creators have only created new missions and a couple of new characters. The entire game feels too much like an extended storyline and a couple of new characters thrown in rather than any substantial improvements or mechanics.
From a gameplay mechanics and usability perspective, the Freedom Force series nails everything about a superhero game should nail:
- You have a team of 4 super heroes with various powers and abilities with all sorts of super hero abilities.
- All stats and bonuses and attacks are labelled very clearly breaking down you exactly all the information you need about each attack for example, that the attack is ranged attack, takes 2 seconds to complete and does energy damage in addition to normal damage for example and will deal 7 damage to the opponent.
- When you hold down right over an enemy or terrain you are given a list of possible actions your currently selected Hero can perform
- A very fun physics engine - You can pick up lamp posts and cars and debris and hurl them at enemies and damage buildings. Some attacks even allow you to hurl enemies upwards or away with great force which is great for deal additional damage when they land.
- Levelling up is similarly quite easy and straightforward, you level up the previous skill up to level 3, and then you can purchase. Although the upgrade path is linear and you can't alter the superheroes, you can create your character using existing characters models or your own character modesl with all the powers available to you to give to the characeter. This custom character can be quite expensive or cheap depending on many powers or weaknesses you give him or her.
- There are battle rooms and challenges.
What features could they have included in Freedom Force and the 3rd Reich?
- A world map maybe with optional quests or storyline to unlock and optional missions depending on your choices in the campaign.
- Increasing squad size from 4 to 6 maybe?
- Group move where everyone moves togehter as a group and the same speed hasn't been implemented. Faster characters will travel towards enemies and get that before slower characters.
- Synergy and bonuses - For example Man O' War and Sea Urchin are a team, so why not have some sort of synergy bonus when you use them in the same mission?
- Simultaneous attacks - Combo attacks like the ones seen in Chrono Trigger where both characters combine their powers would be cool.
- More time puzzles or missions? One of my most favourite missions in the game was a time puzzle where your actions in the present would affect the past. Considering the screwing up of time/space/reality was a big part of this game, they could have made even more missions like this. Maybe even have it so that you can play both teams at the same time! For example Chrono Trigger on the Super Nintendo gave you several time periods to travel in freely and your actions in the past could actually change the future!
- More character options to customise the appearance of your custom characters? You can use existing models but some sort of better customisation utility would have been nice.
- New Game+ Start the game again except with the stats of your Heroes already at the same level as they were in your old game.
- Needs more new enemies - There aren't that many new ones.
- More vehicles - You do get to control the tank for a while. Would be nice to control some sort of Freedom mobile or something or be able to hijack more stuff.
It's now available in a collection with the original Freedom Force so do buy it in a collection and play them back to back. If you love squad-based tactical games and superheroes, buy the Freedom Force Collection which contains both games. Now available on various platforms. It won't disappoint.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Why Games are Art
My good friend Shaun (a physicist) started a new blog (mostly about science) and invited me to do a guest blog on why games are art. Check out my post on why Games are Art.
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain Vs Legacy of Kain Defiance
After a long while, I've finally been able to get Blood Omen PC version working on my computer and have just finished Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (the first game) after playing through Soul Reaver, Soul Reaver 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance (the fifth and last game). The only game I haven't played is Blood Omen 2 which seems quite hard to obtain on the PC. I thought I would just run through my thoughts on the design of the games.
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
My overall impression of Blood Omen has been a positive one despite its age. It's a Zelda-like open world action game in many respects and it deserves its status as one of the best action RPGs. It has a dark unique atomosphere, good storyline, great voice acting and memorable characters. It's level design is quite logical in most cases and some of the puzzles are quite clever as well. Many dungeons have a clear picture at their entrance indicating what power you'll get and most of the dungeon save the last ones are of good playable length (no more 15 minutes between save points). It strikes a good balance between exploration and reward of your next power or ability. There are also a number of secrets and specials you can unlock during the course of the game. I love all the various spells, items and gory ways you can kill opponents and the ability to morph into gaseous form and werewolf form.
There are a couple of issues with the game which I think could have been done better
1) Faster attacks - For some strange reason, enemies just slightly attack faster than you and I have to do that whole run away, wait for enemy to attack, return and attack. This is very frustrating in my opinion as I always feel that you should be moving forward to attack not retreating with your back turned to the enemey. There were some occasions where I ended up being cornered and got killed because I couldn't strike fast enough. He's suppose to be a superhuman vampire yet can't quite swing faster than some of the enemies.
2) Slightly faster movement - I think this might be something to do with the fact that the game requires slowdown utility but Kain walks a bit too slowly and could have used a bit of speedup.
3) Bat shrines which act as teleportation points are often off the main travelling 'track' and its easy to miss them sometimes.
4) Some of the required abilities require you to search - I don't mind searching for optional abilities but the caves or dungeons with the required abilities should be forced to obtain them. There were one or two instances in the game where I was stuck not realising I had missed crucial powers until I read a walkthrough and realised there was a dungeon I had to backtrack to.
5) Some enemies are too powerful - Some of the enemies had way too much health and it was just easier to avoid them altogether diminishing the point of an action combat game.
6) Faster mana regeneration - Mana regeneration too slow in the game and needs to be faster.
7) Moon caves are silly idea - There are secret caves in the game which open only when the moon is full (ie. every 30 days of in game time). I finished the game in about 35 days so this is very bad design choice as it basically means you have to wait around for secrets to happen.
8) Power effects are the same - Some of the powers are the same as earlier except they do more damage or have a longer duration and cost more mana. It would probably have been better if they had simply completely replaced the old power with the new power instead and kept the mana usage the same. It would reduce the difficulty level but as mentioned the game is hard as it is already.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Played this several years back so my memory isn't too great on this but I do remember that it was really fun because it had a variety of environments and really awesome boss characters with top notch coice acting. The storyline is very dark and is about how you are seeking revenge against your brothers and Kain I also liked the fact it was impossible to die and you merely return back to the spectral realm and when you get killed there you simply return back to the lake of the dead where you first started.
The game also does something very smart with gliding, when you reach a platform, Raziel will automatically drop on to the platform rather than continuing to glide. This is so much better than other games where you might accidentally overglide or overjump a platform.
Things that could have been improved
1) Ducking/crouching is useless in the game
2) Repetitive nature of some the puzzles
3) Story doesn't actually end
4) A bit too open ended in some respects and hard to find some of the powerups
5) Teleportation runes can get confusing
6) Some puzzles required spectral shifting which warps the environment but it wasn't always clear as to when exactly this should happen
7) Combat is okay but could be better, hard to attack multiple enemies and its easier sometimes just to run.
8) Hard to throw enemies into spike
9) Due to the apocalyptic themes, its a bit too grey and brown sometimes. Could have used a bit of cheerful colour now and again.
Soul Reaver 2
I played this about 7 months ago. Continuing the storyline of Soul Reaver, this game had improved graphics and had you playing in a time when Nosgoth was still green and fresh. Areas are much larger and puzzles more varied.
As before, there are several things which bring the game down:
Fighting is better but enemies can still sometimes overwhelm you.
Lack of cool bosses - Soul Reaver had very cool bosses and there are none in this game.
Spells and glyphs have disappeared replaced with Reaver abilities
Storyline is harder to follow as it involves time travel through different time periods.
Overall a worthy entry as Raziel continues to fight destiny and uncover more secrets. The game's improved in many areas and the story has become more complex. The main issue is probably the lack of cool bosses and the combat system could still use more work. It was getting there however.
Legacy of Kain: Defiance
After playing through Soul Reaver one and Soul Reaver. It seems as if they took the good points of what made Blood Omen and Soul Reaver 1 & 2 great and made them mediocre. The only great thing left is the voice acting which is top notch once again. The combat system has been updated and much more responsive but feels they should have done more.
Here are the things which I've found problematic
1) Combat requires more attacks. The basics are all good and there are some special attacks but it needs more variety. It might be unfair to compare to Devil May Cry but I think combat is a bit half heartened, Kain and Raziel behave almost exactly the same in combat. There are subtle differences but not enough.
2) Missing cool special abilities - Once again spell casting abilites for both Kain and Raziel have been removed and replaced with reaver powers again but these can only be activated when the reavers are charged through battle. I don't seem why they couldn't have had a separate mana bar which allows you could unleash other powers. Also the spell casting abilites looks boring. Usually just involving Kain or Raziel swinging the reaver around their heads with colour waves or attacking the ground. Telekinesis is fun but again could have been so much more particularly as Raziel's full telekinesis powers don't quite kick in until later on.
3) No cool boss fights - There are a few but many of the boss fights are very repetitive and there are maybe two or three 'different' boss fights.
4) Repetitive level design and enemies - The game makes you go through the same shrines as both Kain and Raziel which are exactly the same layout. Blood Omen and Soul Reaver had cool boss fights while Soul Reaver 2 had large unique environments. So why couldn't Defiance have both? You fight the exact same bosses everytime you visit a shrine as Raziel.Frankly that's just lazy design.
Overall, the quality of the game seems to have stagnated in Legacy of Kain: Defiance merely wanting to be average. All the required cutscenes and revelations are there including the showdown between Kain and Raziel but feels like an incomplete a game. If anything I think Blood Omen was better than Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Kain could transform into a werewolf cast various spells, eviscerate people and even control their bodies!
If you're a fan of the series then you should get this because its still okay. But if you're not already a fan, nothing in here will convince you its a good game.
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
My overall impression of Blood Omen has been a positive one despite its age. It's a Zelda-like open world action game in many respects and it deserves its status as one of the best action RPGs. It has a dark unique atomosphere, good storyline, great voice acting and memorable characters. It's level design is quite logical in most cases and some of the puzzles are quite clever as well. Many dungeons have a clear picture at their entrance indicating what power you'll get and most of the dungeon save the last ones are of good playable length (no more 15 minutes between save points). It strikes a good balance between exploration and reward of your next power or ability. There are also a number of secrets and specials you can unlock during the course of the game. I love all the various spells, items and gory ways you can kill opponents and the ability to morph into gaseous form and werewolf form.
There are a couple of issues with the game which I think could have been done better
1) Faster attacks - For some strange reason, enemies just slightly attack faster than you and I have to do that whole run away, wait for enemy to attack, return and attack. This is very frustrating in my opinion as I always feel that you should be moving forward to attack not retreating with your back turned to the enemey. There were some occasions where I ended up being cornered and got killed because I couldn't strike fast enough. He's suppose to be a superhuman vampire yet can't quite swing faster than some of the enemies.
2) Slightly faster movement - I think this might be something to do with the fact that the game requires slowdown utility but Kain walks a bit too slowly and could have used a bit of speedup.
3) Bat shrines which act as teleportation points are often off the main travelling 'track' and its easy to miss them sometimes.
4) Some of the required abilities require you to search - I don't mind searching for optional abilities but the caves or dungeons with the required abilities should be forced to obtain them. There were one or two instances in the game where I was stuck not realising I had missed crucial powers until I read a walkthrough and realised there was a dungeon I had to backtrack to.
5) Some enemies are too powerful - Some of the enemies had way too much health and it was just easier to avoid them altogether diminishing the point of an action combat game.
6) Faster mana regeneration - Mana regeneration too slow in the game and needs to be faster.
7) Moon caves are silly idea - There are secret caves in the game which open only when the moon is full (ie. every 30 days of in game time). I finished the game in about 35 days so this is very bad design choice as it basically means you have to wait around for secrets to happen.
8) Power effects are the same - Some of the powers are the same as earlier except they do more damage or have a longer duration and cost more mana. It would probably have been better if they had simply completely replaced the old power with the new power instead and kept the mana usage the same. It would reduce the difficulty level but as mentioned the game is hard as it is already.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Played this several years back so my memory isn't too great on this but I do remember that it was really fun because it had a variety of environments and really awesome boss characters with top notch coice acting. The storyline is very dark and is about how you are seeking revenge against your brothers and Kain I also liked the fact it was impossible to die and you merely return back to the spectral realm and when you get killed there you simply return back to the lake of the dead where you first started.
The game also does something very smart with gliding, when you reach a platform, Raziel will automatically drop on to the platform rather than continuing to glide. This is so much better than other games where you might accidentally overglide or overjump a platform.
Things that could have been improved
1) Ducking/crouching is useless in the game
2) Repetitive nature of some the puzzles
3) Story doesn't actually end
4) A bit too open ended in some respects and hard to find some of the powerups
5) Teleportation runes can get confusing
6) Some puzzles required spectral shifting which warps the environment but it wasn't always clear as to when exactly this should happen
7) Combat is okay but could be better, hard to attack multiple enemies and its easier sometimes just to run.
8) Hard to throw enemies into spike
9) Due to the apocalyptic themes, its a bit too grey and brown sometimes. Could have used a bit of cheerful colour now and again.
Soul Reaver 2
I played this about 7 months ago. Continuing the storyline of Soul Reaver, this game had improved graphics and had you playing in a time when Nosgoth was still green and fresh. Areas are much larger and puzzles more varied.
As before, there are several things which bring the game down:
Fighting is better but enemies can still sometimes overwhelm you.
Lack of cool bosses - Soul Reaver had very cool bosses and there are none in this game.
Spells and glyphs have disappeared replaced with Reaver abilities
Storyline is harder to follow as it involves time travel through different time periods.
Overall a worthy entry as Raziel continues to fight destiny and uncover more secrets. The game's improved in many areas and the story has become more complex. The main issue is probably the lack of cool bosses and the combat system could still use more work. It was getting there however.
Legacy of Kain: Defiance
After playing through Soul Reaver one and Soul Reaver. It seems as if they took the good points of what made Blood Omen and Soul Reaver 1 & 2 great and made them mediocre. The only great thing left is the voice acting which is top notch once again. The combat system has been updated and much more responsive but feels they should have done more.
Here are the things which I've found problematic
1) Combat requires more attacks. The basics are all good and there are some special attacks but it needs more variety. It might be unfair to compare to Devil May Cry but I think combat is a bit half heartened, Kain and Raziel behave almost exactly the same in combat. There are subtle differences but not enough.
2) Missing cool special abilities - Once again spell casting abilites for both Kain and Raziel have been removed and replaced with reaver powers again but these can only be activated when the reavers are charged through battle. I don't seem why they couldn't have had a separate mana bar which allows you could unleash other powers. Also the spell casting abilites looks boring. Usually just involving Kain or Raziel swinging the reaver around their heads with colour waves or attacking the ground. Telekinesis is fun but again could have been so much more particularly as Raziel's full telekinesis powers don't quite kick in until later on.
3) No cool boss fights - There are a few but many of the boss fights are very repetitive and there are maybe two or three 'different' boss fights.
4) Repetitive level design and enemies - The game makes you go through the same shrines as both Kain and Raziel which are exactly the same layout. Blood Omen and Soul Reaver had cool boss fights while Soul Reaver 2 had large unique environments. So why couldn't Defiance have both? You fight the exact same bosses everytime you visit a shrine as Raziel.Frankly that's just lazy design.
Overall, the quality of the game seems to have stagnated in Legacy of Kain: Defiance merely wanting to be average. All the required cutscenes and revelations are there including the showdown between Kain and Raziel but feels like an incomplete a game. If anything I think Blood Omen was better than Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Kain could transform into a werewolf cast various spells, eviscerate people and even control their bodies!
If you're a fan of the series then you should get this because its still okay. But if you're not already a fan, nothing in here will convince you its a good game.
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