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.
Friday, 6 April 2012
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Zombie Driver: Game Design Review
The idea of zombie driver is to create a top down driving game where you mow or shoot down zombies. From a graphics and sound perspective, the heart of Zombie Driver is in the right place. Unfortunately the gameplay looks good on paper but seriously needs some serious tweaking and modifications to be any fun.
Here are the problems with it:
Camera needs to be smarter - There's nothing wrong wtih having a top down view similar to a lot of top down arena shooters. However the camera is a bit too tight especially for such a high speed game. Similar to the first Grand Theft Auto games, everytime you turn, the camera immediately swings to follow you. This might have worked if this was a slower game which doesn't require too much turning but the nature of a car game like this requires you to turn fairly rapidly and often. Unfortunately this just creates motion sickness.
It's especially hard to see where you're going because of your speed. The camera stays exactly the same regardless of the speed you're travelling at. This combined with the lack of map means it's hard to know what's coming up and I often ended up crashing into places because of that.
The camera should be ideally positioned similar to the later 3D Grand Thef Autos. Slightly behind the car. Alternatively, the camera needs to be zoomed out much more to give you a better view of the what's going on especially at high speeds!
You can only have one weapon at a time - Most games like this will usually give you a speed boost ability combined with a variety of weapons like Bandits: Phoenix Rising. Because this game is designed around running over zombies, the developers decided to give you only one weapon slot and have your speed boost ability as a possible weapon. This means if you want a machine gun, you'll have to sacrifice the speed boost. I not convinced that this was a good idea. It is very clear from the artwork graphics and overall tone the game is about running over zombies not shooting them but I still think it would have been better if you had more choice in the matter!
Lack of a map or compass of some sort - The biggest flaw in this game is the lack of a map in a fairly large world. For a game which is all about travelling a city it's surprising that this was left out especially since it's the same city.
Needs more destructible terrain - You can run over small fences and bushese you can't really mow down concrete or certain barriers. I was sort of hoping to be able to crash through houses and cause more mayhem.
Upgrades need to be more fun - As far as I can see you can upgrade your weapons and your car but aren't really any special powers or anything. You just do more damage or you drive faster etc. Nothing really special. I was hoping you would get special abilities like in an RPG and be able to craft and modify your weapons.
I didn't try racing mode of the game because I just didn't feel like it was worth it. I did however try the survival mode where you race around a small arena trying to survive zombie attacks. It's actually okay as an arena survival game
I appreciate this is an indie game but the lack of variety and polish in the core concept really drag the game down and really there's no reason to get this over other action games. While technical competent and a promising start, the game never really delivers on its promises of over-the-top zombie mowing fun! For me, I think the creators were too limited in their scope focusing solely on mowing down zombies rather than trying to create choice in gameplay. If only they had fixed these problems, created more variety and made more of the environment destructible I think we would have had a sweet action gem. As it stands, you're better off just buying another game.
Here are the problems with it:
Camera needs to be smarter - There's nothing wrong wtih having a top down view similar to a lot of top down arena shooters. However the camera is a bit too tight especially for such a high speed game. Similar to the first Grand Theft Auto games, everytime you turn, the camera immediately swings to follow you. This might have worked if this was a slower game which doesn't require too much turning but the nature of a car game like this requires you to turn fairly rapidly and often. Unfortunately this just creates motion sickness.
It's especially hard to see where you're going because of your speed. The camera stays exactly the same regardless of the speed you're travelling at. This combined with the lack of map means it's hard to know what's coming up and I often ended up crashing into places because of that.
The camera should be ideally positioned similar to the later 3D Grand Thef Autos. Slightly behind the car. Alternatively, the camera needs to be zoomed out much more to give you a better view of the what's going on especially at high speeds!
You can only have one weapon at a time - Most games like this will usually give you a speed boost ability combined with a variety of weapons like Bandits: Phoenix Rising. Because this game is designed around running over zombies, the developers decided to give you only one weapon slot and have your speed boost ability as a possible weapon. This means if you want a machine gun, you'll have to sacrifice the speed boost. I not convinced that this was a good idea. It is very clear from the artwork graphics and overall tone the game is about running over zombies not shooting them but I still think it would have been better if you had more choice in the matter!
Lack of a map or compass of some sort - The biggest flaw in this game is the lack of a map in a fairly large world. For a game which is all about travelling a city it's surprising that this was left out especially since it's the same city.
Needs more destructible terrain - You can run over small fences and bushese you can't really mow down concrete or certain barriers. I was sort of hoping to be able to crash through houses and cause more mayhem.
Upgrades need to be more fun - As far as I can see you can upgrade your weapons and your car but aren't really any special powers or anything. You just do more damage or you drive faster etc. Nothing really special. I was hoping you would get special abilities like in an RPG and be able to craft and modify your weapons.
I didn't try racing mode of the game because I just didn't feel like it was worth it. I did however try the survival mode where you race around a small arena trying to survive zombie attacks. It's actually okay as an arena survival game
I appreciate this is an indie game but the lack of variety and polish in the core concept really drag the game down and really there's no reason to get this over other action games. While technical competent and a promising start, the game never really delivers on its promises of over-the-top zombie mowing fun! For me, I think the creators were too limited in their scope focusing solely on mowing down zombies rather than trying to create choice in gameplay. If only they had fixed these problems, created more variety and made more of the environment destructible I think we would have had a sweet action gem. As it stands, you're better off just buying another game.
Parasite Eve: Game Design Review
Parasite Eve is a sequel to a Japanese horror science fiction novel by Squaresoft. The game is made using 2D backgrounds with 3D figures similar to the Resident Evil series and like the Resident Evil series has a strong survival horror atmosphere. The similarities continue especially since the main enemy is also some sort biological horror. I went in expecting a game similar to Grandia or Final fantasy but was surprised to find it extremely linear and lacking many RPG features. For example, you don't purchase new weapons, instead you get given them or find them at various points in the game and then you use the upgrade system to improve their stats.
What I liked:
Weapon/Item Upgrading system- The Weapon and equipment upgrading system is fun, it's an upgrading system that allows you to boost your weapon or armour at the cost of destroying your old weapon. You can choose to add on an effect of the old weapon (like poison) or the bonus stats of the weapon (such as the attack bonus). This means that you can end up with
Parsite Eve's Real time Combat system - From a game design perspective it does some interesting things but at the same time could use a bit of tweaking. The major problem (and innovation) with the game is probably the real time combat system. During combat you control Aya and have to avoid enemy attacks while waiting for your action meter to fill before acting. Once filled you can attack, use items or parasite abilities. It's not a bad system once you get use to it however there are a few problems with it which I describe
What I didn't like:
Weapon usage - There's a risk and reward element when it comes to certain weapons as each of them have a specific range and firing speed. Some of the more powerful but slower weapons take time to fire meaning fast moving enemies will often move out of range and receive minimum damage. This means of course switching weapons from short range to longe range weapons. What I don't like is the fact that switching weapons requires an entire turn. In the end I found the rifle was the best and safest option out of all of the weapons since it has the longest range. I think it would have been better if you could switch weapons automatically rather than having to waste an entire turn.
Damage spread - One of the weird things about this game is that the damage you deal enemies decreases if you increase the rate of fire of a weapon. This makes the total damage the same but the number of shots more. This is balanced by the fact that while being hit, the enemies are stunned so although you do less damage, you buy yourself more time. Personally I think they should have done what most other games do and just have the damage multiply with the number of attacks as the game is all about upgrading and allowing you to create powerful weapons after all!
Camera Angle - This is not usually a problem but there were occasionally minor areas where the camera angle wasn't quite. This was less of a problem than expected because the areas where you enter combat area are fixed so the developers took care to make sure the angle was good.
Slow movement - Dodging can be difficult but not impossible at times and its unfortunately inevitable that you take damage because of Aya's slow combat speed. It is I guess an RPG game rather than action game but still it would be good if there was a dodge button or something which allows you to simply move faster!
One character only - Having only one character makes it hard to retaliate if you get in a bad position. Too often I would get comboed to death in a corner by one or more enemies. To counter this, they probably should have increased the ability of your weapons to stun enemies. There is actually a stun system of sorts in place where enemies when hit pause in their attacks so if you have a fast gun like a pistol or machine gun you can actual interrupt slow enemies enough times to prevent them from attacking until your action guage has recharged.
Ammunition - There is an ammo system where every time you fire you use up ammo but you find enough ammo around that it's pretty much redundant.
Exploration Mode - Walking outside of combat is too slow. Unfortunately Aya walks at exactly the same pace as what she is when in combat. This is Way too slow when compared to how large some of the areas are.
Very linear combat and storyline - Like many other JRPGs, the combat is very linear and enemies will appear exactly in the same places. Similarly there is no real choice in the game. I think for a game which comes on 2 CD's there could be at least more bonus quests or other things to do to improve the variety. I think there was one bonus quest. That's about it. You do however get a New Game+ where you can keep your best existing weapon and armour I believe.
Overall
Overall I found Parasite Eve to be a good experience because I'm more of an adventure gamer than an RPG gamer but your mileage will vary. As an adventure gamer, I found Parasite Eve was very interesting and had some very smart characterisation. The game moves along at a snappy pace and has fairly small dungeons so I never really felt like it was padded out. As an RPG gamer, I was left wanting. You couldn't really customise in any real fashion which is a real shame and there wasn't really much tactics that I could really employ because of the relatively limited skill set you obtain and having only one character in my party.
I haven't played much of Vagrant Story which is the much more action combat orientated RPG from Squaresoft but from what I recall it addresses many of my complaints and provides a much more action packed complicated system. Although if I recall correct, it may have been a bit too complicated.
What I liked:
Weapon/Item Upgrading system- The Weapon and equipment upgrading system is fun, it's an upgrading system that allows you to boost your weapon or armour at the cost of destroying your old weapon. You can choose to add on an effect of the old weapon (like poison) or the bonus stats of the weapon (such as the attack bonus). This means that you can end up with
Parsite Eve's Real time Combat system - From a game design perspective it does some interesting things but at the same time could use a bit of tweaking. The major problem (and innovation) with the game is probably the real time combat system. During combat you control Aya and have to avoid enemy attacks while waiting for your action meter to fill before acting. Once filled you can attack, use items or parasite abilities. It's not a bad system once you get use to it however there are a few problems with it which I describe
What I didn't like:
Weapon usage - There's a risk and reward element when it comes to certain weapons as each of them have a specific range and firing speed. Some of the more powerful but slower weapons take time to fire meaning fast moving enemies will often move out of range and receive minimum damage. This means of course switching weapons from short range to longe range weapons. What I don't like is the fact that switching weapons requires an entire turn. In the end I found the rifle was the best and safest option out of all of the weapons since it has the longest range. I think it would have been better if you could switch weapons automatically rather than having to waste an entire turn.
Damage spread - One of the weird things about this game is that the damage you deal enemies decreases if you increase the rate of fire of a weapon. This makes the total damage the same but the number of shots more. This is balanced by the fact that while being hit, the enemies are stunned so although you do less damage, you buy yourself more time. Personally I think they should have done what most other games do and just have the damage multiply with the number of attacks as the game is all about upgrading and allowing you to create powerful weapons after all!
Camera Angle - This is not usually a problem but there were occasionally minor areas where the camera angle wasn't quite. This was less of a problem than expected because the areas where you enter combat area are fixed so the developers took care to make sure the angle was good.
Slow movement - Dodging can be difficult but not impossible at times and its unfortunately inevitable that you take damage because of Aya's slow combat speed. It is I guess an RPG game rather than action game but still it would be good if there was a dodge button or something which allows you to simply move faster!
One character only - Having only one character makes it hard to retaliate if you get in a bad position. Too often I would get comboed to death in a corner by one or more enemies. To counter this, they probably should have increased the ability of your weapons to stun enemies. There is actually a stun system of sorts in place where enemies when hit pause in their attacks so if you have a fast gun like a pistol or machine gun you can actual interrupt slow enemies enough times to prevent them from attacking until your action guage has recharged.
Ammunition - There is an ammo system where every time you fire you use up ammo but you find enough ammo around that it's pretty much redundant.
Exploration Mode - Walking outside of combat is too slow. Unfortunately Aya walks at exactly the same pace as what she is when in combat. This is Way too slow when compared to how large some of the areas are.
Very linear combat and storyline - Like many other JRPGs, the combat is very linear and enemies will appear exactly in the same places. Similarly there is no real choice in the game. I think for a game which comes on 2 CD's there could be at least more bonus quests or other things to do to improve the variety. I think there was one bonus quest. That's about it. You do however get a New Game+ where you can keep your best existing weapon and armour I believe.
Overall
Overall I found Parasite Eve to be a good experience because I'm more of an adventure gamer than an RPG gamer but your mileage will vary. As an adventure gamer, I found Parasite Eve was very interesting and had some very smart characterisation. The game moves along at a snappy pace and has fairly small dungeons so I never really felt like it was padded out. As an RPG gamer, I was left wanting. You couldn't really customise in any real fashion which is a real shame and there wasn't really much tactics that I could really employ because of the relatively limited skill set you obtain and having only one character in my party.
I haven't played much of Vagrant Story which is the much more action combat orientated RPG from Squaresoft but from what I recall it addresses many of my complaints and provides a much more action packed complicated system. Although if I recall correct, it may have been a bit too complicated.
Thursday, 23 February 2012
Klonoa Empire of Dreams: Game Design Review
Klonoa Empire of Dreams is Gameboy Advance game and one of the spin-off sequels featuring Klonoa. I played and finished the original Klonoa: Door to Phantomile on the original Playstation. Overall my impressions of PS One game was a game of bright coloruful 2D and 3D graphics and simplistic but challenging gameplay. It wasn't the best action game out there but it was harmless and charming enough with its combination of 2D gameplay with 3D graphics.
Klonoa as a character in bothe the playstation and GBA game has a fairly simple abilities. He has a wind ring which allows you to snag enemies, boxes or cling onto special rings. Once snagged, enemies can either be throw or be used to double jump. When jumping, Klonoa can also float for a second or two in mid-air allowing you to extend your jump a little bit. As expected Most of klonoa's gameplay both in the Playstation and the GBA is centred around puzzle solving.
Unfortunately unlike some other action games, the simplistic gameplay combined with very sedate levels make the Gameboy Advance game very boring. The puzzles that you need to solve are over quickly over and puzzle elements such as exploding enemies aren't introduced quickly enough. The game is simply drawn out way longer than it should be and just lacks variety. The only really challenge for me were the boss fights which isn't anything you haven't seen before in other action games. The saving grace of the Playstation One game was the 3D graphics and 2.5 levels, the Gameboy Advance version has none of that.
As a puzzle game the puzzles lack variety. As an action game, the game lacks action. The resultant action-puzzle game is therefore mediocre. It's a technically competent but unassuming package so I'm curious as to how it got an average of 80% in reviews. I wouldn't waste your time on this as there are other more fun or interesting games out there on the Gameboy Advance to play.
Klonoa as a character in bothe the playstation and GBA game has a fairly simple abilities. He has a wind ring which allows you to snag enemies, boxes or cling onto special rings. Once snagged, enemies can either be throw or be used to double jump. When jumping, Klonoa can also float for a second or two in mid-air allowing you to extend your jump a little bit. As expected Most of klonoa's gameplay both in the Playstation and the GBA is centred around puzzle solving.
Unfortunately unlike some other action games, the simplistic gameplay combined with very sedate levels make the Gameboy Advance game very boring. The puzzles that you need to solve are over quickly over and puzzle elements such as exploding enemies aren't introduced quickly enough. The game is simply drawn out way longer than it should be and just lacks variety. The only really challenge for me were the boss fights which isn't anything you haven't seen before in other action games. The saving grace of the Playstation One game was the 3D graphics and 2.5 levels, the Gameboy Advance version has none of that.
As a puzzle game the puzzles lack variety. As an action game, the game lacks action. The resultant action-puzzle game is therefore mediocre. It's a technically competent but unassuming package so I'm curious as to how it got an average of 80% in reviews. I wouldn't waste your time on this as there are other more fun or interesting games out there on the Gameboy Advance to play.
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Jolly Rover - Game Review
Good game and nearly all of my comments are exactly the problems raised in this article by the Adventure Gamer's review so this is more of a short game review than a game design review.
There really only two issues I have with the game that I would like to add:
Artwork palette is dull - It needs brighter colours or a more unique artstyle and direction. Any screenshot of the game just lacks punch which is unfortunately.
Spot highlighting system doesn't quite work sometimes - Highlighting hotspots is a good idea unfortunatly some of the larger items have one or more part to them so you might click on one part of it without realising you can actually click on another part of it. There aren't that many items which have this problem but it is worth mentioning because there are some items you need to interact with to advance the game.
Overall I enjoyed the game despite its short length. It's well put together and fun.
There really only two issues I have with the game that I would like to add:
Artwork palette is dull - It needs brighter colours or a more unique artstyle and direction. Any screenshot of the game just lacks punch which is unfortunately.
Spot highlighting system doesn't quite work sometimes - Highlighting hotspots is a good idea unfortunatly some of the larger items have one or more part to them so you might click on one part of it without realising you can actually click on another part of it. There aren't that many items which have this problem but it is worth mentioning because there are some items you need to interact with to advance the game.
Overall I enjoyed the game despite its short length. It's well put together and fun.
Friday, 6 January 2012
A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda Game Design Review
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!
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!
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.
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