Venus Plays Video Games

Impermanence

2009-12-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

It’s no secret that the video game industry is competitive and sometimes unforgiving. Producing games, like films, is a bit like gambling, with some great games yielding mediocre sales while some terrible games rake in the cash. Several of the larger game publishers balance more conservative bets, such as sequels and expansions, against risky games with new IP or radical innovations.

The video game industry is a business, and it is not immune to the harsh realities of the corporate world. Layoffs are commonplace; studios collapse every season. It should come as no surprise, then, that one of the studios I worked for was recently shut down.

I worked for this particular studio for a few months as an intern, and it was one of the first times that I truly felt at home in the industry. I was surrounded by many of smart, talented people who were passionate about their work. The studio also treated their employees well by offering competitive wages and plenty of work-sponsored activities. I remember when I came into the lobby one day and found front table covered in cups of Baskin-Robbins ice cream, free for the taking. There was also the time when we got to see a highly anticipated movie in a nearby theater, sponsored by the studio.

It was hard to hear about that studio closing, mainly because of all the friends that I had made during my time there. I felt for them, as the job market is tough right now, and it’s particularly difficult to get a job during the holiday season. Yet it seems that many former employees are attempting to look on the bright side and move onto bigger and better opportunities.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about hearing of the studio closure was how it hit so close to home. I had an opportunity to work at that studio but I passed it up. I now work for a studio that is still hiring, and I feel very grateful that I ended up working there. I still feel a bit shaken, however, as the closure reminded me of the impermanence of my own job. While I enjoy what I do and truly invest myself in my work, I must remember that, in an industry like video games, the only constant is change. After all, technology and consumer demands keep changing, and we must keep up in order to survive.

Well-Earned Rewards

2009-09-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

There are very few games that I finish, and even fewer become my favorites. Final Fantasy IX earned its place on my list of all-time favorites this past weekend, which is a remarkable feat considering that it was released nine years ago.

FFIX was not one of my favorites when it was released. While I enjoyed the game at the time, I wanted it to be more like Final Fantay VIII, my favorite at the time. As a middle-schooler, I didn't mind the angsty protagonist in FFVIII and found the spunky lead in FFIX to be less appealing. I wanted FFIX to be more serious. I was also relatively green as a player; FFVIII was my first RPG. I didn't understand why FFIX's mechanics were far superior.

FFIX was designed to be forgiving and very rewarding for those who invest a little time. While playing through the third and fourth discs, I found a lot of fun sidequests. Some of my favorite sidequests were those that used chocobos. Special chocobo-specific areas, such as Chocobo's Forest and Chocobo's Lagoon, include a mini-game where you can dig for treasure. While many items are health or status ailment potions, the best items by far are the chocographs. Chocographs are essentially clues to find hidden treasures. Some treasure chests give your chocobo the ability to traverse mountains, oceans, and even the skies. Others contain very valuable items, armor, weapons, and cards. Treasure is hidden throughout the world map, and the hunt feels like a real adventure.

I also really enjoyed the optional moogle sidequests. The moogles are adorable creatures who play a big role in FFIX. They allow you to save in the game, but they also provide valuable comic relief, especially in dark areas. Moogles are constantly writing letters to each other and they ask you to deliver them. The letters may not tell you anything essential to the story, but they are great for flavor. Moogles are always so happy to hear from each other and they have a positive outlook even when cities are crumbling around them. The idea of delivering letters for moogles may seem ridiculous, but you are actually providing a valuable service since the moogle mail service, Mognet, has been out of commission. There is an optional sidequest at the end of the game to get Mognet running again. It is very rewarding to fix this service, as it frees you from mailman duties and helps all the moogles you met throughout your journey.

There are several other clever design choices that help players get the most out of the game. Fairies are special encounters scattered throughout the world that can help you learn abilities much faster. There are also special enemies called Grand Dragons that provide a massive amount of experience, helping characters level up. Quina's ability, Level 5 Death, can kill them in one hit. These are great enemies for leveling, as Freya's Dragon's Crest ability does damage equal to the square of the number of dragons killed. Thus, 100 dragons killed gives her a guaranteed 9999 (max damage) attack for minimal MP. While this type of strategy may seem like exploitation, such clever design choices are likely very carefully made to help players level up for the end of the game.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I used a strategy guide and additional online guides to get the most out of FFIX. Some of the features are so well-hidden that you practically have to buy the guide if you want to be a completionist and not waste half of the game running into walls, looking for items. The strategy guide is also very helpful when it comes to bosses, as you can equip to guard against status effects such as heat that could otherwise create a very frustrating battle. I understand that some feel that strategy guides are cheating, but I find that I enjoy elaborate RPGs such as FFIX much more when I don't have to worry about missing something. Unfortunately, the official guide for FFIX was designed to promote the use of the website PlayOnline, which is now a FFXI site. This means that certain details are left out of the guide, which is part of the reason why I constantly looked up answers in FAQs and Walkthroughs. I happened to miss a particular item that was only available for a brief period of time because it wasn't listed in the guide, and I was very disappointed. Initially, I thought the game wouldn't limit the availability of an item, but it appears that there are a few optional items that are the exception.

By the time I reached Memoria (the final area), I was at the top of my game. I didn't want the story to end, but I had played through all the side content and enjoyed every minute of it. I'll admit that there were some frustrating moments during my many attempts to beat Ozma or the stubborn Yan, but the victories were very sweet. I became addicted to auto-regen and rarely had to heal my party. I had three characters that could consistently do maximum damage attacks and my inventory was overflowing with potions and other valuable resources.

After playing consistently every night, I was sad to see FFIX end. The game had a very satisfying ending. I became attached to my characters - the story fleshed them out and made them feel real. It's going to be difficult to find an RPG to follow FFIX now that I've seen how good they can be.

Awesome Comes in All Sizes

2009-09-12T16:21:00.000-07:00

I enjoy checking out demos for new games, even if I'm pretty sure that I won't buy the game. I find that you can always learn something from playing a new game, and you can often learn the most from terrible games. However, I can count on one hand the number of demos that actually made me want to buy a game. Fortunately, I had that exciting experience this weekend. I raced to the computer and bought Mini Ninjas shortly after finishing the demo.

I had heard about Mini Ninjas several months ago and I was charmed by the cute teaser trailer. Yet I remained skeptical, as the cutest games often are often rushed out the door with the assumption that kids won't know the difference between a good game and one that needed more time. Mini Ninjas is being marketed as a family game, but seems strong enough to please more discerning gamers.

Mini Ninjas reminds me of a cross between two of my favorite games, Spyro the Dragon and Okami. It has the same strength and charm as Spyro, from the well-designed 3D levels to the
enemies who require more skill than strength to defeat. It is also like Okami, as it appears to have roots in Zelda-style adventures and it is very centered in nature. In addition, the aesthetic is clearly Japanese, which once again appeals greatly to my love of Japanese art and culture.

Combat feels light and fun. There are many tactics you can use to defeat the enemies, which allows for customization in what would otherwise be a fairly simple game. It's a nice change to see a game with solid combat that doesn't shed a drop of blood. Enemies simply turn into animals (as the animals were enchanted), leaving a frolicking bunch of critters at the end of each fight. If you find an animal that you particularly like, the main ninja, Hiro, can temporarily possess the animal. I couldn't get over the novelty of being able to see an adorable animal (such as a kitty), running up to them, and then POOF! I was suddenly controlling a kitty. While many of the most adorable critters are relatively ineffective in combat, some of the larger animals can be used offensively. Fortunately, the developers accounted for those moments when your prancing kitty gets unexpectedly attacked - the ninja will return to fight seamlessly.

Mini Ninjas is filled with other delightfully charming details that make it irresistible for me. You can free animals trapped in cages along the path, which gives you experience points. This reminded me of feeding animals along the path in Okami, which also gave you experience points. Also, when you enter water, you can ride in a large hat (like a boat). You can steer through rapids or, as I saw in a video, ride down snowy passes. You can even fish from the boat, which gives you health-restoring sushi. Even the animations and movements are adorable without hindering the mechanics. The ninja can deftly jump up a narrow space between two rocks, a feature that feels far more natural than any wall jumps I attempted in Mirror's Edge.

I have been looking for a game like Mini Ninjas for a long time. The most recent 3D platformer/adventure game that truly satisfied me was Okami, and I played that years ago. Despite the short length of the demo, I bought the game, optimistic that it will just keep getting better. I hope that Mini Ninjas will prove to be the adventure game experience that I have been craving. In the meantime, it's great to be excited about a new game again.

Light-Hearted Fantasy

2009-08-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

Final Fantasy VIII (FFVIII) was the first RPG that I finished, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. After finishing FFVIII, I played several other RPGs, such as The Legend of Dragoon, Chrono Cross, and Final Fantasy IX (FFIX). When I first played FFIX, I was disappointed that it wasn't more like FFVIII. I wanted the characters to look more realistic and the world to be less quirky. I still enjoyed the game; I just wanted it to be more of a sequel.

One of my best friends absolutely loves FFIX. After hearing him praise it over and over again, I decided to give it another try. It was possible that I had been blinded by my love for FFVIII and didn't judge FFIX fairly.

FFIX is full of charm. There is plenty of humor, from the silly lines to the unique characters. There is a sense of playfulness in the art style. The main character has an as-yet-unexplained monkey tail, and the characters have tastefully exaggerated proportions. The art portrays a lovely fantasy world with towering castles, quaint towns, and a variety of painstakingly-detailed natural areas. The environments are full of rounded edges and each area feels very distinctive. As characters run through the 2D levels, there is a sense of scale, and the people seem to fit right in among the colorful backgrounds. The world may be a strange place filled with hippo people, humans, and a variety of other creatures, but the art really sells it. Even the game design supports the style, filling the world with children running through town squares and little vignettes that flesh out my companions.

The game design is very forgiving and fun. The gameplay constantly supports the story, allowing the player fun opportunities from the beginning, such as finding a lost cat, sneaking over rooftops to watch a play, and digging for treasure. I get a real sense of adventure from exploring the areas, and I am constantly rewarded with hidden items and opportunities. The opening sequence was very exciting and organic, combining still-impressive FMVs with in-game cutscenes and gameplay. The combat is a traditional turn-based system common to Final Fantasy games of the time. Characters have special abilities to use during combat, such as magic, summons and powerful attacks. All these special attacks, as well as passive skills, are called "Abilities" and can be learned from armor and equipable items. This is by far one of the game's greatest strengths, as it is a very simple system that is easy to customize. Players can choose which abilities to equip and learn based on their priorities and play style. For example, players can learn "Level Up" and "Ability Up", which help characters level up faster and learn abilities faster. While these abilities are relatively expensive to equip, they can greatly reduce the time spent grinding. Players can also choose to counterattack, guard against almost any status effect, or automatically cast a potion when damaged. These abilities make the game much more fun, as they allow the player to work around issues that could otherwise become frustrating.

Aside from the ability system, the game is very forgiving. If a player misses a hidden item in a certain area, it is never lost forever. Players can often purchase that item in the next town or village; finding it in a level simply allows a player to have it earlier. Also, there are many features scattered throughout the world to help players, including chocobos (for faster travel without random battles) and fairies (who can help players learn abilities much faster).

FFIX feels like a very authentic Final Fantasy experience. The developers clearly focused on the story and authenticity of the world. There was a sense of strong leadership as well; the game has a unified vision despite its length and many unique areas. The Final Fantasy series seemed to go downhill after FFIX, with FFX being little more than a display of 3D tech with bland characters and limited originality. Although I didn't play FFXI, I found that FFXII was very unforgiving and I quit partway through. FFIX represents a peak in Japanese RPGs for the PlayStation, and its character, charm, and friendly mechanics are very rewarding for those who are willing to invest a little time. I hope that modern developers will be able to apply similar mechanics to new games. After all, graphics and fancy new features don't make a great game; it's the imagination that counts.

Polished Pirates

2009-08-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

I seem to have missed the boat for Sid Meier's Pirates! My peers at USC would sigh longingly when it was mentioned in class. Many of my friends were obsessed with the game when it was released. Although I'm usually not a fan of strategy games, I decided that Pirates deserved a fair shot. After all, it was somewhat of an RPG, adventure game, and a strategy game all at once.

Perhaps the most striking feature about Pirates is the level of polish. Few games can afford to take the time or simply are not planned diligently enough to implement such well-constructed systems. These systems create a variety of options, including ship gameplay, a sword fighting mini-game, a dancing mini-game, a sneaking into town mini-game, a land combat RTS game, an interface for talking to people at taverns, and more. The sheer number of gameplay options is a wonderful way to give players a lot of freedom in the world. Allies and enemies can be made through every action, and players can seek out gameplay modes best suited to their skills.

Despite some adventure and RPG mechanics (such as achieving ranks and searching for treasure), Pirates is a strategy game at its heart. The alliance system is a central part of the strategy, as it allows players to ally with the Spanish, the French, the British, or the Dutch. There are many advantages and disadvantages to such alliances, and they can often fluctuate. There are also other forces at work, such as native tribes, pirates and missionaries. Talking to these groups can help you sway a town in a desired direction, whether toward prosperity or poverty. There is also a lot of strategy involved in the fighting mechanics based on the weapons you use, and whether or not you fight in your ship or with a sword.

I'm not sure if I skipped the tutorial inadvertently, but, regardless, Pirates seems to have a steep learning curve. Granted, the first hour or so I had a Pirates fanatic looking over my shoulder, giving me hints and explaining the intricacies of his favorite strategies. It seems that the game encourages the player to learn more through experience than through discreet instructions, which can be an advantage (if you know what you're doing). I was easily overwhelmed in the beginning by the many different types of gameplay, as I had stumbled into seven or eight (such as sea combat, dancing, and treasure hunting) before I even understood what, exactly, was the goal of the game.

I was greatly impressed by the time the developers took to create a very polished experience with so many intricate systems and such varied modes of gameplay. However, the appeal of Pirates seems to come from a passion for such systems and an interest in the politics of the imaginary world. I never had much of an interest in war, conquering towns, or politics. I respect the game and I understand why so many players have enjoyed it. However, I don't think I'll return to Pirates anytime soon. It just doesn't pull me in like traditional RPGs or adventure games.

Caught in My Own Trap

2009-07-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

I was initially optimistic about the advantages of playing as a hunter in Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO), but I soon began to realize that the very aspects that had been so tempting as a solo player were beginning to hurt my gameplay experience. I was too proud and impatient to consider joining others, and I soon ran out of quest content for my level. I kept dying more and more often, and it seemed that joining up with others was becoming inevitable.

While MMOs are often meant to be social experiences, my favorite MMOs are those that provide plenty of solo content for when your favorite buddies aren't around. The developers of LotRO took this into account, and each level seems to have a fair number of solo quests. However, the solo content is more limited at the higher levels (around level 35 and higher). When I played with friends, this balance felt great. Most quests could easily be completed with two players, and we could afford to wait on or skip the quests that required a larger party. As a hunter, I ran into problems, as I was constantly completing quests above my level in an attempt to avoid the fellowship quests. This system worked well for awhile, until I entered higher-level areas like the Misty Mountains and Angmar. I soon found myself running out of solo quests, leaving me frustrated. My attempts to complete lower-level fellowship quests often failed, due to the swarms of enemies in many of those quests. Hunters are ill-equipped to handle large crowds, as they are best at ranged attacks, they wear light or medium armor, and they have few AOE attacks.

Perhaps it was my own stubborn desire to avoid grouping that led to my downfall as a solo hunter. I was so determined not to be tied down to a group that I tried to find other ways to become a better hunter. A good friend helped me reorder my abilities to develop a battle strategy. A large part of my strategy included taking the time to set traps before I attacked, which may seem simple to some, but it was not for me. I was too spoiled by the hunter's powerful ranged attacks; I became impatient. I was convinced that I could do more damage by running into fights and dying half of the time. My friend was patient enough to show me how traps could actually save me time, and I began the slow process of unlearning my impulsive attack habit.

Sadly, an improved strategy could not help me. At the suggestion of that same friend (who had a hunter as an alt), I began to attack more enemies as I traveled so I would level up more efficiently. This helped, but my search for quests caused me to fast travel from location to location, missing out on enemies between the areas. I became restless, feeling like the enemies weren't providing enough experience for the time I spent killing them. I wanted more quests, but I had burned through the content earlier.

Solo questing in LotRO was no longer fun. I lost interest in my hunter, and realized that I would learn more and find a more satisfying experience playing in a group as my main, a lore-master. After all, I didn't want to become like the hunter in our fellowship, who had very little understanding of his role in a group. After so many hours of solo questing, he failed to understand his role in the group. While our tank worked tirelessly to pull aggro in one particular boss fight, this hunter carelessly used a powerful skill that immediately pulled aggro and got him killed in a matter of seconds. That was clearly the type of hunter that I was becoming, and his mistake made me realize that I didn't want to devote my time to solo play.

I haven't played as my hunter for some time, instead indulging in some fantastic single-player games. It's nice to explore other types of games again. My obsession with LotRO is far from over, but I think my experiences will be contained to group questing. I had been lured by the temptations of a hunter to take shortcuts - ensared in the hunter's trap. I am glad that I have friends to help me see how I lost my interest in solo questing as a hunter – not because of the faults of the game, but because of my own impatience.

Digging for Treasure

2009-07-09T18:09:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, my family had a Mac. Games for the Mac were hard to find, so I played very few computer games as a child. The few I did play, such as Super Munchers and The Dig, are a treasured part of my past. I was excited to hear about the recent re-release of The Dig on Steam. For just five dollars, I could revisit a classic from my childhood and see how much my perspective has changed.

Fourteen years after its release, I was surprised how much I still enjoyed The Dig, and not just for the nostalgia. I sat down at my computer was so engrossed in the game that I didn't get up until I'd finished five hours later. The game took me on an adventure to an unknown world and encouraged me to explore every aspect of this new land. However, I required some aid to fully enjoy the game.

The most distinct memory I had from the first time I played The Dig was when I got stuck. At that time, I couldn't just look for help online. I actually had to go to the bookstore, locate a strategy guide, and page through it to find my answer. After two trips to the bookstore, I finally bought the guide, which started a new habit for me (which served me well once I graduated to 80-hour RPGs). I was wondering if, after many years of gaming, I would be a better puzzle-solver than I was back then. Unfortunately, I soon found that the puzzles were rather tedious and seemed to encourage just clicking on everything, constantly retracing your steps, and generally wasting a lot of time being confused. I looked up a walkthrough online and breezed through the game, much happier now that I could concentrate on the story instead of some near-impossible puzzles.

The puzzles in The Dig were often clever and interesting, with just a few that seemed designed to sell a strategy guide. Unfortunately, due to the linear nature of the game, some of the most frustrating puzzles would gate my progress in the game. For example, once the opening sequence was over, I wandered around the new planet, trying to access new areas. There was one particular puzzle where I needed to reattach a lens to restore power to the facility, and my only tools were a couple of panels. One of the panels had about six or seven buttons on it, which would light up a screen as they were pressed. I quickly filled the screen with lights, which involved pressing the buttons about 50 times. Nothing happened. I soon grew frustrated and looked up the answer. It turned out that the button was a control panel for a robot, and only about five or six buttons needed to be pressed in a sequence to get this robot to reattach the lens. I have no idea how anyone would figure this out on their own, as I saw no clues around. This puzzle was incredibly difficult compared to some others, which involved rearranging animal bones (in the shape of a fossil seen earlier), or inputting a sequence of four distinct buttons seen on an in-game item.

Despite the difficulty of the puzzles, I really enjoyed the game (once I had the aid of a strategy guide for the puzzles). The music and voice-overs were excellent, and the characters were interesting. While there was no real villain in the game, there was still a strong conflict between the crew and others that grew organically from choices the player has to make. There was no combat, and I don't think the player can actually die in the game. Also, the art style was semi-realistic and often quite beautiful. Compared to modern games, I seemed to spend a lot of time just walking through levels, but I enjoyed the journey since the levels were often lovely landscapes. The world was designed as spokes around a hub, and each spoke had a light bridge that could be easily activated. These light bridges provided a method for fast travel between spokes without going through the central hub - a clever method to save players from too much backtracking.

Looking at this game from a more modern perspective, there are definitely some aspects that I would like to see in current games. The point-and-click interface could work well in portable games, especially those for the DS. I really enjoyed the conversation menu, as it was made up of small icons corresponding to topics of conversation. This may not work well in complex RPGs, but it was great in a shorter adventure game. I loved the overarching mystery and the story in general, as it presented the player with some interesting moral issues that are often not addressed in modern adventures. I also loved how many puzzles had hints for the player to see early on and return to when needed.

I understand that my fond childhood memories of The Dig may have influenced my view of it today, but I still think there is a lot to love in the game. While some puzzles may have been far too frustrating (especially for modern players), the game is generally well-designed and seems to have been a very polished experience for the time. I hope that the Steam re-release will get more people to play the game and appreciate its strengths.

Hunting Solo

2009-06-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

One of the best solo classes by far in LotRO is the hunter. While I've played the lore-master and the captain, the hunter's powerful ranged attacks and cleverly-designed skills clearly make up for the lack of a pet. As a hunter, I have been able to take down elites alone and complete quests two to three levels above me.

Playing as a hunter is definitely fun. It is great to be able to take down an enemy in just a few shots and to constantly challenge myself by defeating enemies of higher levels. Hunters in LotRO don't have to buy arrows, unlike hunters in WoW. This makes it very easy to quest far from town, as ranged attacks are always available. Ranged attacks work even when close to the enemy, so I'm never limited to the weaker melee attacks. Hunters also get a 15% run speed bonus early on, making resource mining much easier.

One of the best features for a hunter is the ability to instantly travel to key locations. While other classes often have to spend 40-100 silver to get from location to location, hunters slowly earn the ability to travel instantly to almost any central hub for about 2-6 silver in traveling rations. My hunter is ill-equipped to handle large crowds, which are a central component of many group quests. Fortunately, I can use the fast travel abilities to jump between areas to find quests that I can complete alone.

The only disadvantages to being a hunter that I have found so far are that I miss having a pet and that I get over-confident. After getting used to having a summoned pet with my primary character (lore-master), I miss the security I felt when I had a companion with me. It's nice to be able to use various pets to tank or deflect a few blows, especially when playing solo. Although my hunter deals greater damage on her own, this can be misleading and often leads me to seek out enemies that are too powerful for me. I find that I die more often than I did with the other classes, but I hope that this will improve as I find better strategies.

The hunter seems to be a solid solo class, and players seem to favor hunters. When I tried to join a random group to complete a fellowship quest, there would always be at least two hunters in the party, if not more. It's easy to see why, given their travel abilities and high damage capabilities. Hunters seem to have a lot of advantages over other classes, but they do have their limitations.

Cute Little Zombies

2009-06-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

PopCap's games have always shown a lot of charm, and Plants vs. Zombies is no exception. From clever names to a cartoon art style, the game exudes a level of polish not seen in many casual competitors. The sounds are also quite amusing, though they run the danger of annoying those who aren't watching.

The gameplay starts out at a fantastically easy learning curve. PopCap truly understands the wisdom behind the "easy to learn, difficult to master" casual game philosophy. Plants vs. Zombies starts out in a very simple manner, with few resources and a small playing field. As the player builds confidence, the game expands at a very comfortable rate, allowing the player to experiment and form new strategies without being punished. While this difficulty level may initially seem too easy for experienced strategy gamers, I found it to be perfect for a more casual strategy experience. I beat every level on the first try, from levels one to ten, but there were still plenty of challenging moments to keep my on my toes.

Although the demo is relatively short, the game promises many possibilities and an increase in difficulty. In adventure mode, there is a basic mechanic with several amusing variations. While the main game has players dealing with placing plants and resource management, simpler variations allow players to use their resource knowledge in new ways. For example, one variation no longer gives players freedom to choose what plants to place; the player must choose to place (or not to place) items available for a limited time on a scrolling conveyer belt. This variation in gameplay can be learned in a minimal amount of time but keeps players from getting bored.

Plants vs. Zombies seems to be a clever, well-structured casual strategy game. I found it to be well-worth the time I spent playing it. However, I'm not sure that I want to buy it. I typically get tired of strategy games, and I think I'll stick with the other games I already own. However, I do recommend downloading the demo. After all, this is about as cute as zombies get.

Pint-Sized Heroes

2009-05-22T18:03:00.000-07:00

I wasn't wild about the idea of playing Final Fantasy games on the DS. I had tried out Final Fantasy III DS a few months ago and quit after finding it incredibly difficult. I prefer to have my DS experiences tailored to the size of the console and its portable nature.

I recently found myself restless on an airplane. A friend had lent me Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, so I decided to check it out. I was soon so engrossed in the game that I refused to properly shut it down for landing, and instead just shut my DS. I picked it up a short while later and eagerly finished my level.

Ring of Fates took me completely by surprise. It was remarkably similar to one of my favorite DS games, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The are several Zelda-inspired puzzles, and much of the gameplay takes place in dungeons. The combat is mostly real-time hack-and-slash with a bit of spell casting, which reminded me of Kingdom Hearts. There was a real sense of adventure and exploration, as I was playing as a small boy out to save the world.

While I have had my fair share of complaints about child characters in video games, Ring of Fates fortunately avoids many of those pitfalls. The child protagonists are cute without being annoying, and I actaully began to like them. There is a natural chemistry between the boy and his twin sister that rides the line between rivalry and friendship.

The art style is well-suited to the DS. Like Final Fantasy III, there are some lovely FMV videos, but most of the game is in a lower resolution 3D style. The avatars are cute in their small scale, and the artists managed to put in large amount detail on many of thier outfits. The medieval setting seemed well-suited to the story and the characters.

Gameplay was enjoyable overall, but I did find a couple of weaknesses. Although the levels were scaled well and had a good sense of pacing, the game is in an isometric perspective. This can get confusing, as the D-pad controls your movement (which doesn't always match up with the perspective) and the maps are also in a square overhead view. It took me a little while to get used to the navigation in the game.

I've really enjoyed playing Ring of Fates. I'd like to see more of it, and I hope that it can be as much fun as Phantom Hourglass. It has certainly shown promise so far, largely due to the fact that the developers understood the scale and potential of the DS.

Rough Velvet

2009-05-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

Despite my dislike of stealth games, I was looking forward to Velvet Assassin. I'm rather fond of strong female leads, whether they are in comic books, movies, or games. Velvet Assassin appeared to have the type of protagonist I wanted to play. Unfortunately, the game I was hoping to like wasn't forgiving enough for a newbie like me.

I understand that cover is a very important part of stealth games. I was doing my best to utilize the cover system, but Velvet Assassin didn't make it clear enough for me. I could tell that I was in cover when I was hidden in shadows, but other objects made it less clear. For example, some bushes were cover and some were not, despite their identical appearances. This led me to be spotted by an enemy while I was crouched in some bushes, falsely believing that I was safe.

I felt very limited in the game in general. There were mechanics that seemed to serve no purpose and mechanics that were missing. I could drag bodies around, but there was little point. My movement speed was greatly reduced while dragging a body, and where was I supposed to hide it? The bushes were clearly not a good place, as the cover was inconsistent. Adding to my frustration was the lack of melee mechanics. While I am no stealth expert, it was my understanding that stealth games should at least have a punch of some sort. My character was left with no way to defend herself once my bullets were quickly expended, making her seem pitifully weak.

I ended up dying three times in the tutorial, and I couldn't get past the second group of enemies. The tutorial did little to motivate me to play through the rest of the game. There was a lot of terrain but not much actual gameplay. The art style looked flat, the game had an overly serious tone, and there was a very poor introduction to stealth. The tutorial narration and tips would disappear instantly when I pressed the action button; I accidentally skipped through what little information I was given.

Velvet Assassin provided me with an incredibly frustrating twenty-minute experience. Perhaps my inexperience with the genre or my high expectations colored my view. Regardless, I didn't feel anything like the powerful female I had wished to be; I felt like a pathetic, frail woman who had no business being a spy.

Heroes of Lore: LotRO Levels 1 -10

2009-04-14T15:10:00.001-07:00

It's no secret that I have a strong preference for Lord of the Rings: Online (LotRO) over World of Warcraft (WoW). I recently began playing as a new character to directly compare the opening 10 levels to those in WoW. I quickly realized that, despite the many similarities, LotRO has a much more epic and engaging opening.

LotRO begins with an instance specific to the race of your character. The elf instance starts in the crumbling remains of a small elven village. The instance was catered to be exciting and make my player feel epic. I had to defend the town from goblins sprinkled across my path. Soon a troll stomped in front of me, and I watched from behind the safety of a gate as Elrond defeated the foul creature. I knew that I was in way over my head, but I was never faced with anything I couldn't handle as a level one character. Although I was unable to group from the very beginning (which some argue is an advantage in WoW), the brief instance immersed me in the setting of the game and the conflicts that I would continue to face each time I logged in. My character was already an integral part of the struggle, having hid precious relics, and facing a terrible foe named Skorgrim just minutes from the start. It was an exciting experience, and a great way to start the game.

LotRO contains many other elements that help to create a very polished gameplay experience. The quest flow is fantastic. The quests are centered around the conflicts between races and regions. The quest dialogue is more detailed than that in WoW, so the lore is there for those who care. I constantly felt like a hero, whether saving a lynx cub or gathering allies to defeat an evil wraith. The areas are also catered to gameplay. While an area may appear to be a wooded field from a distance, the trees are placed in clusters to allow for proper combat and gameplay space. Also, areas are often full of quests. When I left a town, I could frequently complete five quests before I returned.

LotRO is certianly more exciting in the beginning than WoW. I found that starting in an instance was a fantastic way to immerse me in the lore of the game. Although I have skimmed my fair share of LotRO quests, I am always glad that the lore is there behind every quest I complete. LotRO's world feels more real to me, and it is a place where I feel respected as a player.

Hollow Rewards: WoW Levels 1-10

2009-04-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

One of the most challenging issues to deal with in our society today is a lack of productivity. People can spend eight hours at work and come home, feeling as if they got nothing done all day. Yet games such as World of Warcraft (WoW) provide a very rewarding structure. In just half an hour in WoW, a player can kill 20 vermin and complete a quest or two. In a night, a player can gain an entire level, especially at lower levels. WoW is excellent at providing rewards, but is it fun?

In the early levels, playing as a draenei paladin, I found WoW to be both fun and rewarding. In just four hours, I reached level 10. The game is cleverly tailored to beginning players; the opening area is easy and harmful creatures are clearly marked. Enemies are often not hostile until attacked.

Blizzard added a lot of very thoughtful design concepts to the opening quest flow as well, making questing quite painless. Players are given just a few quests to manage at first - no more than five or six. Breadcrumb quests are given to lead the player to the next area, and there are often additional quest-givers along the way, providing both a visual cue for the player and reinforcement that he is on the right path. Quests given out the same time are often grouped in the same area, reducing frustration for a player, as he can often get rewarded for killing the enemies on the way to a quest item. The actual numbers of items to be collected are also kept to a minimum, often between 1 and 8, reducing tedium. Another nice feature was a remote quest giver, such as a scout in an enemy area, that could give the player credit or move him forward in a nearby quest without the need for the player to return to town.

The quest flow in Ammen Vale and Azuremyst Isle was enjoyable, but still not quite satisfying enough for me. There were only a couple memorable quests out of the many that I completed. I was very impressed by the Prophecy of Akida quest chain, in which I could turn into a panther and travel through the world as if I were in a spiritual realm. The game took on a sepia tone, and the screen swirled into a haze. It was a fantastic experience, but, unfortunately, such quests are the exception. Most of the quest writing is somewhat bland and uninteresting; while WoW does have a fairly consistent writing tone, it seems to be written for those that only wish to skim the text. For this reason, I felt that, although I was generously rewarded for completing quests, the rewards themselves were hollow. The people who gave me the quests were not characters, just resources. The work I did seemed to have little impact on the world around me.

Although playing through WoW at a normal pace was more satisfying than playing with triple experience, I found that it is still not the MMO for me. The unmemorable quests encourage the player to push through the levels without much thought. It seems to promote instant gratification with minimal effort or investment in the world. I prefer a world that encourages me to be invested in the story and to reward me only when I deserve it.

Triple the Fun?

2009-03-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

Blizzard has a recruitment promotion for World of Warcraft (WoW) that gives the recruiter and a new member triple experience while questing together. I'm interested in working in MMO development, so I thought this might be a good way to get to the endgame in WoW. While it seemed like a good idea at first, I soon found that this type of unbalanced leveling led to a host of problems.

I began as a blood elf hunter and my friend chose a blood elf warlock. The first few levels felt easy, which is typical and helps to get players hooked. There were some nice areas, such as Farstrider Square, that had a lot of quests and were well-designed.

The problems started occurring after the first few levels. I actually got to a point where I had absolutely no quests, perhaps because I had missed a breadcrumb quest or leveled too quickly for the area. There were too few quests to start, and then there were too many. My friend and I began abandoning more fun but time-consuming quests for the kill quests, as they would provide more experience points for our time. The quest flow was completely thrown off by the triple experience. We were abandoning quests that would unlock other quests, and leveling became a dull grind.

There were other problems caused by the unusually fast leveling. We had too little money, as items we would normally gather and sell in the completion of quests were no longer acquired. This led us to be too poor to buy some skills unlocked as we leveled beyond our financial means.

I may have enjoyed WoW more at a normal pace, but the triple experience seems to turn leveling into a grind. I would hope that a lot of the fun in an MMO could come from the journey, not the destination (or endgame). If I'm going to spending hundreds of hours in that virtual world, I want to enjoy as much of it as I can.

When DLC Goes Wrong

2009-03-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

I was thrilled and devastated to finish Prince of Persia today. The game that had been my welcome obsession and favorite form of relaxation had ended. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, I won't share the ending, but I was more than a little disturbed by what I saw before the final credits rolled.

Fortunately, there was an epilogue released recently, which I hastily downloaded. I paced back and forth, wondering what would happen. How would they resolve the story?

I started up the DLC, and found it to feel entirely different. There was a dark tone, and Elika and the Prince had been reduced to bickering children. The DLC takes place inside a deep, cavernous palace, eliminating the lovely vistas and scenic views I so loved. The incentive to explore is all but eliminated, and the healings are gone. The lovely rewards of this level are gone and all that's left are the dank, diseased areas.

I would feel better about being stuck in diseased areas if they didn't become so dramatically difficult. The game was clearly trying to stand up to reviewers that criticized the game for being too easy. Instead of a relaxed, balanced level, the game resorted to annoying arcade mechanics to make it more "difficult". For example, when there was once one patrolling enemy blocking my path, there were now two or three, each on their own timer. While the Prince could often narrowly miss each enemy with one fluid, carefully-timed run, he now was stuck waiting for three balls of goo to line up just so. It completely ruined the momentum and spirit of the game.

Another frustrating element added to create a greater "challenge" was giving the player no clue as to where to go. At one point, I had to slide down a wall, dodging almost 12 diseased balls of goo. When I finally made a successful trip to the bottom, I had no idea where to go and fell to my death. Finally, I figured out that I had to jump offscreen to an area that I had no clue existed. This creates a lot of unnecessary frustration for the player. Developers should recognize that those who buy and play the DLC are those that finish the game; those who complain wouldn't bother. The DLC should be modeled to match the game, not to punish those who enjoyed it.

My final frustration with the DLC was the boss battles. I encountered one boss in the course of my time playing the DLC, and I chose to quit the DLC forever in the middle of the boss fight. The boss was invulnerable until knocked off the edge (a process I understood, as I often defeated a boss that way in the original game). It took about five minutes for me to knock the boss off the edge. Then I had to attack the boss in his alternate form. I began an attack, but, given the acrobatic nature of combat, attacks take some time. I got one hit in on the boss before he became invulnerable again (about 15 seconds after becoming vulnerable). I tried again, with the same result. I was so frustrated and felt completely defeated. I was not going to spend an hour fighting a boss, most of which would be spent trying to coax an invulnerable monster off a ledge. That was when I quit.

I absolutely loved Prince of Persia. Despite its shocking ending, I enjoyed everything in the original game. It was a wonderful experience for the many reasons that I mentioned in my previous post. I was so disappointed with the DLC; they removed almost everything that I loved about the original game. I would not recommend the DLC to anyone who enjoyed the original.

The Return of Co-op

2009-02-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

I admire Valve and the work they do, but most of their games have been far too scary (Half-Life series) or require too much skill (Team Fortress 2) for me to enjoy. For this reason, I was hesitant to try Left 4 Dead (L4D), but I finally did upon the insistence of a few good friends.

I played L4D on two separate occasions: once as survivors against an AI enemy, and later against a rival team of players, switching off between the survivors and the zombies. Although I enjoyed both experiences, I enjoyed being a survivor against the AI best because the game was more predictable, and no one had to be a loser. Regardless of the mode, I really commend Valve for a return to a more close-knit co-op game, which provides a fantastic opportunity for teamwork and tactical thinking.

While I still enjoyed playing L4D when I was fighting other players, it wasn't as fun for me. The other team seemed to understand how to use the zombies much better, and the fact that they had human reasoning behind their strategies became annoying. The other team would know the perfect spot to stand to drag me down, throw up on me, or otherwise hinder me. When I was a zombie, the other team continued to win, and I was dead in just one or two hits. I would wait forever to respawn, then wait in what I thought was a good spot, only to be foiled by those more experienced. L4D, like many online games, has a steep learning curve for novices.

Despite solid mechanics, friends are what kept me going in L4D. I'm not a big fan of shooters, and L4D is a shooter at heart. I lack the skill of many experienced FPS players and online veterans. However, the encouraging words and amusing comments of my friends via voice chat kept me going. I really enjoy the camaraderie of co-op games, whether it's online or in-person.

While I did enjoy playing L4D with my friends, I'm not sure how often I'll seek it out. A dark city overrun with creepy zombies and scary noises is not exactly a world that I would want to escape to at night for entertainment. Perhaps that is why I seem to find myself allying with friends in Lord of the Rings: Online more often. Regardless, I glad to see that Valve is bringing back this type of small-group co-op and encouraging teamwork in games again.

Prince Charming

2009-01-17T07:19:00.000-08:00

When I first saw my friend playing Prince of Persia, I thought it was a beautiful game. Screenshots couldn't capture the beauty of the game - it looked like a painting in motion. There were beautiful vistas, fluid animations, and an overall fantastic flow. My friend claimed that it was fun to play, but I had no idea just how fun it was until I got to play it myself.

After so many frustrating game experiences, Prince of Persia is a welcome change. The game is an absolute pleasure to play. Much like one of my other favorite games, Okami, the game involves traversing through diseased areas and healing them. As a player, my job is to beautify the area, bringing light to it and driving out the evil. I could heal an area in about half an hour, creating a very satisfying experience, much like a good TV show. Each level had a beginning, middle, and end.

The best part about Prince of Persia is that I enjoy each part of every level. While traveling through a diseased area, I have to solve small puzzles and do some amazing acrobatics. Unlike Mirror's Edge, I am completely relaxed about doing ridiculously acrobatic moves. The Prince is drawn to nearby holds almost with a magnetic pull. Then, if he dies, his companion will rescue him and place him nearby. I absolutely love this feature - it greatly reduces the stress and cuts down on time spent fuming over loading screens. The player is punished enough for missing a jump with their frustration; the Prince's companion simply brings levity to annoying but inevitable situation with clever comments.

After traveling through a deserted area, there is usually a boss fight. There are a few main bosses, each providing a different challenge. The combat moves are beautifully acrobatic and fluid. Fights are an elegant dance. Although I have had a few frustrating moments, mainly due to movement limitations during fights, I have been impressed overall with the fluidity and grace of the fights.

Once a boss has been defeated, the area can be healed by the Prince's companion, Elika. After the healing, the area becomes beautiful, and the level then becomes a playground with collectable light seeds scattered about. The levels are cleverly designed to be fun not only with the enemies as obstacles brought on by disease; they are also great fun to traverse once cleared. The Prince can travel with a speed and fluidity reminiscent of flying. This is a wonderful experience that I had not had in a game before, with the exception of a few moments in Mirror's Edge.

Another clever element of this game is the dialogue. The game took a risky move with the narrative, breaking the story up into mostly on-demand story chunks unlocked by sub-areas. I really enjoyed it, as some nights I wanted to chat with Elika and other nights I didn't. I love the relationship between the Prince and Elika, and the comraderie that comes from being in such a situation. The Prince is arrogant but undeniably amusing, and Elika is intelligent with a wicked sense of humor.

I'm really looking forward to playing more Prince of Persia. It has become a wonderfully relaxing way for me to enjoy my evenings. It is an unusual game that took a lot of risks that I really appreciate and it is a fantastically immersive experience.

Foul Fable

2009-01-02T16:23:00.000-08:00

For months, it seemed like all I heard about was Fable. As an RPG fan, I considered it my duty to at least try Fable II when it was released, as I had never played the original. I rented it with a friend, trying to keep an open mind.

The game began with a sweeping, lovely cinematic typical of many RPGs. The narrator had a lovely voice, and I happily got lost in it for a few minutes, until it ended rather abruptly, after following the path of some bird poop. I was willing to let that slide, and decided to focus on the gameplay. The character I played was a young girl with an older sister to introduce me to the world. My sister had the annoying habit of constantly calling me "Little Sparrow". I tried to ignore her, hoping that she would soon leave me alone.

As the game continued, I grew more and more frustrated with it. The dialogue was often laughable and sounded ridiculous for a fantasy setting. In a time of games such as Lord of the Rings: Online and TV shows such as Legend of the Seeker, the dialogue in Fable II had no excuse. In addition to the poor quality of the writing (at least in the opening area), the conversations were slow, taking forever to start and forcing me to wait an eternity to get a response. The voice-overs were slow, and it was difficult to tell from the audio cues if a conversation was starting or if something was simply an NPC bark. Poor conversation mechanics such as these are unacceptable in a game like an RPG that depends heavily on dialogue.

However, we persisted with the game, hoping that it would get better past the tutorial. Unfortunately, the game continued to aggravate me, with tedious mechanics such as holding down a button to collect experience from defeated enemies. Then the game only had one save slot, which seemed ridiculous. If I made a choice that did irreparable damage, it would become very difficult to get back, especially with just one save. Then the quest path was outlined in a conspicuous glowing highlight, which distracted greatly from the world around me. Although I can suspend disbelief by allowing game interfaces, this type of glowing path seems more distracting than if the developers had used an actual interface.

Still unwilling to give up hope, I wondered if there was something else that would make this game redeemable for me. There was, in fact, an interesting element similar to emotes in MMOs. Fable II has a social menu that allows the player to do certain actions, trying to gain or lose favor and other social elements from bystanders. There seemed little point to it, other than trying to amuse yourself with farts or get some helpless NPC woman to marry you. I was opposed to the idea of this - Fable isn't WoW or The Sims - and the whole concept of treating NPCs as expendable resources who are so easily influenced. This seemed to detract from the authenticity and took me out of the game.

I'm not sure what there is to love about Fable II; I found a lot that drove me away. While I respect what the developers were trying to do, they seem to be creating games for a very different type of RPG player.

Two-Faced Mirror

2008-12-20T18:19:00.000-08:00

I really wanted Mirror's Edge to be my next favorite game. It started out so well. The only issue was that it was a little too challenging for my taste. But no game is perfect, right?

I found out at the end of chapter four that Mirror's Edge was just too difficult for me. The end no longer justified the means - I was attempting jumps over twenty times and turning off the game out of frustration. And I wasn't even to the fifth chapter. I read through the rest of the chapter on a walkthrough and found that I would not only have to jump onto a moving train - I'd have to dodge cement columns and jump onto other moving trains. The thrill of a challenge was gone. I lost hope.

I talked with my friends, wondering if I was just an inferior gamer and if I was really missing something. One of my friends finished the game, carefully explaining that there was little reward in the story or the gameplay. Enemies became nearly impossible to avoid, and the unpolished combat system became crippling. The game was tedious and expected the near impossible, requiring more luck than skill.

I was hesitant to give up on Mirror's Edge, but, after hearing my friend's bleak report regarding the rest of the game, I lost all motivation to continue. Mirror's Edge had so much potential with the sleek aesthetic, fantastic parkour mechanics, and solid opening level design. It's unfortunate that the attempt to make it more difficult seems unbalanced, perhaps by developers and testers too familiar with their game to see the unrealistic expectations on the player. If the entire game had been scaled to match the levels from the beginning chapters, it may have been a fun experience. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to give up on Mirror's Edge, as it is simply too difficult.

Hotel Dialogue

2008-12-08T18:26:00.000-08:00

I was really excited to check out Hotel Dusk. After watching a friend play it, I was intrigued by the art style. The box described the game as an "interactive mystery novel" and, unfortunately, they take the "novel" part quite seriously.

As an avid RPG fan, I'm no stranger to large blocks of text and dialogue. In fact, narrative is one of my favorite parts of RPGs. However, narrative at the expense of gameplay throws a game far out of balance. Hotel Dusk does just that. The game is weighed down by long conversations that offer only a few choices with seemingly little influence on the world. Most of the gameplay involved clicking through rooms, tedious searching of rooms, and looking for the person that would start my next lengthy dialogue.

On the rare occassion when I got to solve a puzzle, I often had trouble recognizing the situation. I often had to look online for help, as I was completely stuck. How was I to know that a utility closet which was locked the last four times I checked suddenly opened? And how was I supposed to know that there was a tool in that closet that I could use to cut off a length of a coat hanger firmly rooted to my closet? And then I was magically supposed to assume that I could use this to unlock a briefcase. The puzzles are mostly like the one I described - intensely elaborate and complicated. The people around were clueless to my problems and failed to offer any hints. Puzzle solving became a tedious endeavor in which I had to search through every room in the hotel again, engage each person in repetitive dialogues, and wonder why the logical answers never seem to be the right ones.

I really wanted to like this game, as it had a gorgeous art style and an interesting premise. However, this game is much more a novel than a game, and a boring novel at that. If solving mysteries in real life is this tedious, then perhaps it's good I'm not a detective.

Undeniably Sharp Edge

2008-11-14T22:42:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday night, I was too restless to sleep. I usually take some time to relax after my late class, and I found the perfect way to unwind. I cracked open my brand-new copy of Mirror's Edge and played until two in the morning.

It's been a long time since I've loved a game enough from the start to play for hours. I had a feeling that I would like it from the demo, but I didn't know that it would be this much fun.

Perhaps the best part of Mirror's Edge is the sensation of flying. Sometimes this comes from familiarity with a level; after failing a certain part several times I would find the swiftest path. However, good level design can create the feeling of flying without practice runs. For example, when running through a particularly intuitive portion of a level, I found myself suddenly faced with just one option for escape: jumping down the steep side of a building. To my surprise, I slid smoothly down and then used my momentum to complete a particularly long jump. It was a great feeling, and the fantastic sensation of flying felt completely natural in that environment.

Aside from flying, I found many other areas to commend in Mirror's Edge. The first couple of levels that I played through were quite intuitive. When running through small spaces at high speeds, this is a particular accomplishment. I was impressed with the level design, since players need to run through the level as fast as possible, and ordinary platformer and adventure game rules do not apply. I was also glad that the enemies were not an issue, at least at this stage in the game, since I could avoid combat. The combat system seems less refined than other mechanics, and it's nice to have a more peaceful option.

My greatest challenge when playing action-adventure games like Mirror's Edge is jumping. I don't know what it is about me, but I seem to be lacking a key skill in the spatial-relations department. For a game that I enjoyed so much, it may seem surprising that I swore like a sailor half the time I played. I have an odd habit where I almost never curse, except when playing games. Perhaps that was the release I needed to cure my restlessness.

My love-hate relationship with Mirror's Edge became more of a love when I discovered how forgiving the game was regarding death and respawns. Most of the particularly difficult jumps only had to be completed once, which made them much more accessible for people like me. The game had a plethora of triggered spawn points that minimized the time it took for me to reach the points where I got stuck, which also reduced my frustration. No matter how hard a part may have seemed, at least I knew that I only had to complete it once.

I'm excited to play more of Mirror's Edge. The sleek aesthetic, modern music, and HD graphics round it out to create a very enjoyable experience. I hope that it continues to be this fun. If so, Mirror's Edge could easily become my next favorite game.

War of the Hotties

2008-10-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

When a classmate showed up at a study session proudly clutching the strategy guide to Warhammer Online: Age of Reconing (WAR), I rolled my eyes. For the past week, he had talked of nothing except WAR. Clearly, his obsession had only gotten worse. I initially dismissed him as a lone fanboy, but then I saw how more and more of my friends were joining this WAR. It was time for me to log on and check it out.

I was initially hesitant to play WAR given my aversion to PvP experiences. Yet I wanted to give it a fair shot, and at least take the time to explore the opening PvE gameplay.

At first, I was impressed with WAR. A fantastic opening cinematic sequence clearly established the characters of the world, from the goofy goblin squig herder to the seductive and deadly dark elf sorceress. There were massive enemies, brutal attacks and flashy effects, all of which helped create a welcome sense of chaos.

Then I was asked to create a character. After consulting some friends, I decided to play as a dark elf sorceress. While I normally like to create a little blonde girl that's a glamorized version of myself, I decided instead to make a fierce Megan Fox lookalike.

Once I got to the gameplay, I became disoriented. The UI was unnecessarily cluttered and confusing; for a game that plays a lot like World of Warcraft (WoW), the UI was rather unintuitive. I wouldn't have minded getting used to a new system, but I felt that a lot of UI decisions didn't make sense to me. For example, the colors for quest givers didn't clearly indicate to me which I had visited and which were strangers. While I did appreciate the indications of quest locations on my map, I found that a lot of the UI changes made from other MMOs (such as Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) or WoW) were essentially less user-friendly. If I were new to MMOs, my eyes surely would've glazed over.

However, the opening quests in WAR were decent. While the quests themselves weren't written with at the same level as MMOs like LotRO, the actual quests were interesting and went beyond the simple "Kill 5 Generic Enemies" quests. I don't expect WAR to be as detailed as LotRO since WAR is a PvP-focused MMO. Yet the PvE quests still had fun details like firing a special weapon at enemies and unleashing creatures resembling dinosaurs.

I must commend WAR for some great scripting, which helped to create a fantastic atmosphere. It was very rewarding to watch the dinosaur creatures I unleashed run to the nearest enemy and attack. I also liked how the elves I needed to defeat were already engaged in battle, and my allies would aid me when nearby. Then there was the quest that gave me a fantastic bird's-eye view of the war around me.

While I enjoyed playing as a lovely avatar, I have to admit that WAR seems to be more clearly geared toward a male audience than other MMOs. My Megan Fox lookalike started out in what amounted to a bra and skirt. I kept trying to buy clothes, but I couldn't at my low level. So when I finally got a new gown, I was excited to try it on. But then I saw that my new outfit was composed of even less fabric than my default bra and skirt. I wouldn't object if I could choose between the shamelessly exhibitionistic lingerie and the skintight leather catsuits, but there were no catsuits to be found. I also wouldn't have minded if there were more shirtless males running around, but, at least in my starting area, all the men seemed to be fully-clothed. Yet all the women I encountered seemed to be wearing things like Nehmora the Hag, dressed in essentially a bikini and thigh-high boots.

I must admit that WAR does seem to do well sticking to their theme. WAR stays consistent with many details. For example, as a dark elf sorceress, I could choose abilities that followed the paths of agony, calamity, or destruction. When I was continually asked to "kill the poet high elves," I began to feel slightly guilty for being so evil. Despite my feelings, I was glad to see how deeply the developers had explored the dark atmosphere.

As a single-player PvE experience, WAR didn't pull me in like LotRO. While I appreciated the quests and themes, I don't feel that WAR's PvE has the same level of polish as some other MMOs on the market. However, WAR was not made to excel as a PvE game. I tried to explore more of the PvP aspect, but I gave up after queueing for a PvP quest for half an hour. I think I will reserve judgment until I've played more of the PvP. Unfortunately, I fear that I may not be the right person to appreciate WAR, given my preference for the "care bear" experiences.

Puzzles of the Caribbean

2008-10-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

I'm more of a hardcore gamer than a casual gamer by nature, but I do enjoy indulging in the pleasures of casual games from time to time. I often find casual games to be a nice break from the intense commitments I make to my usual 50-hour RPGs. Like a summer fling, good casual gaming experiences can inspire a sense of fun and freedom that only comes from a short-term, minimal commitment.

I recently tried out the casual game Ikibago: The Caribbean Jewel. Ikibago is not your run-of-the-mill casual game. It takes the usual match three mechanics to another level, much like Puzzle Quest. The game is loosely centered around a the story of a lost jewel. However, the only way to get the jewel is to journey across the high seas and puzzle your way through each level.

The basic mechanics of Ikibago are familiar. The core match three principle is expanded through several variations, such as keys, locks, empty spaces, pattern-making, multiple combos, a moving board, and the unusually flexible piece-switching options. Instead of games like Bejeweled, where only corresponding pieces can be switched, Ikibago allows any piece on the board to switch places with the others. This creates a fun dynamic which allows for a wider variety of play styles. I found that my love of organizing and sorting motivated me to arrange rows of one color each. However, there were many other ways to create combos and get just as many (or more) points.

The overall style of Ikibago was well-suited to the game. The pirates looked cartoonish but not childish, and the bright colors created an upbeat mood. The music was fun and definitely set a nice pirate mood. I enjoyed the aesthetic experience and the cute cutscenes.

Ikibago displays one of the most important traits of good casual games: it is easy to learn, but difficult to master. While I found myself breezing through the opening puzzles, I soon faced a welcome challenge. Ikibago is a polished game experience, with fresh variations on a simple mechanic. I had fun solving the puzzles and I'm looking forward to playing more soon.

Beautiful Braid

2008-10-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

While I was working on The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, one of our advisers was a man named Jonathan Blow. He was working on a game called Braid, an independently-created 2D platformer that dealt with similar themes of bending the laws of time. Our lead designer raved about Jonathan Blow's genius and could not wait to play Braid. So when the demo was finally released on Xbox Live, I wanted to give it a try.

Just minutes into Braid, I could see why the critics were charmed. There was beautiful music, a refreshing art style, and incredibly clever puzzles. The opening story was broken into portions that could easily be skipped, if desired. The tutorial was integrated tastefully into the very art of the backgrounds. The how-to tutorial images were simple enough to be understood visually; no words were necessary. The level of polish was clearly obsessive, and the final result was impressive.

I'm not quite sure on where I stand on the whole "games as art" argument, but I'm certain that many of the pieces of Braid are very artistic. David Hellman's art is stunning and quite dynamic; it really pushes the 2D limits and creates a beautifully-animated world. The art fits the story rather well; it's a storybook-inspired style with quaint details like a dinosaur and tiny cannons that fire everything from clouds to enemies. Equally stunning is the musical score. It is lovely and suits the scale of the game. Each level seems to have its own special theme that is thoughtful and filled with emotion. My only complaint regarding the music is that some themes seemed to get slightly annoying when I rewound small portions multiple times in a row (for gameplay reasons). However, this is likely due to my personal lack of skill rather than an error on the part of the composer.

The puzzles themselves were incredibly clever. Unfortunately, sometimes they seemed too clever for me. Even some of the early puzzles baffled me. I'm not sure why, since I love puzzle games. Unfortunately, I felt that some of the puzzles required more chance than skill. Perhaps I was making the puzzles harder than necessary. However, it seemed like some puzzles got very difficult very quickly, and required tediously precise jumps. There also seemed to be some puzzles that necessitated a return later in the game, which is an interesting idea. Regardless, I would've made the earlier levels easier to lure players in and help them develop a confidence through familiarity with the mechanics and conventions of the world of Braid.

However, despite my frustrations with the puzzle difficulty level, I still found some aspects to appreciate. I thought it was brilliant that there is no restart from death in the game; the game can simply be rewound to the precise point a player needs to continue successfully. It was neat to see how certain keys could transcend the laws of time; they magically remained in my character's hand, even through rewinds. The level of thinking required to create these puzzles is certainly admirable.

I'm glad that I played a bit of Braid. I understand why so many critics love it and why it will likely remain inaccessible to a large portion of the gaming population. Like high art, a game like Braid seems to suit a particular audience. I admire Jonathan Blow's efforts, but his game is a bit too difficult for me.

Dark Demo

2008-10-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

"Dark," "gory" and "brutal" aren't the typical words that attract me to a game. I'd heard that The Darkness was all of those wonderful adjectives and more, which initially drove me away. Then a friend lent me the graphic novel that became the basis for the game, and I soon found a reason to explore the depths of The Darkness.

The demo for The Darkness is incredibly well-rounded and complete, giving an excellent view of the game in chapters one, three, and seven. The stats have been adjusted specifically for the demo, allowing a smooth experience despite the gaps. Each level had a very different feel. The game has a strong sense of narrative despite the limited dialogue; most of the story was told through the protagonist's actions.

I wasn't terribly impressed with the first level. It felt more like an amusement park ride than a game. My options were very limited; I only could rotate the camera. When I finally got a gun, I couldn't wait to fire it, but I had to sit and wait while my character loaded the gun at the pace of a sloth. Supposedly I wasn't allowed to fire until the guy in front of me was brutally killed, and I could take his place in the front seat. I finally did get to shoot a bit, but then the demo portion of chapter one ended. While being in a car chase is exciting, I would've enjoyed it more if I were able to take part in the gunfight earlier. Part of my annoyance with control of only the camera came from the fact that the animations were stiff and the character models were just so-so. After reading a comic with the fantastic art style of Top Cow, I had hoped for characters that looked more sophisticated. Instead, these mobsters appeared to be precariously perched on the edge of the uncanny valley.

Chapter three was frustrating in the beginning, and I died a few times trying to get out of the cemetery. It seemed as if the voices of the mobsters weren't coming from any particular direction, so I couldn't tell where my enemies were until I was shot by them. I had some trouble getting used to the shooting mechanics and trying to identify men in black suits against a very dark background. While I could crouch behind cover, it appeared as if I couldn't shoot while hidden and thus I had to expose myself to harm. After a few tries, however, I managed to run into a tunnel and take the men down one by one by shooting at them through a small window. Following that small victory, I gained the darkness power and the game became much, much easier.

As soon as I got the darkness, I began to enjoy the game. I could wear the demons like a suit of armor. I could summon a minion berserker and command him to kill those ahead of me. All I had to do was shoot out streetlights; the darkness only thrives in the absence of light. Perhaps one of the coolest abilities was the "creeping" darkness. One of the demons would creep away like a snake, suddenly making unreachable areas accessible. I used this mode to crawl through a vent, take out a fan, then slither through the opening to brutally murder a man for a key. If there's one thing the darkness ability does well, it's giving the player the power of a real badass.

By the time I played the demo portion of chapter seven, I was much more familiar with the game, my powers, and the controls. Fortunately, the designers had the foresight to balance chapter seven by adding the extra abilities that would be available at that point in the game. These included a new darkness ability (that allowed an darkness "arm" to lift and smash things) as well as two new types of minions (the gunner and kamikaze darklings). Although I would sometimes panic about a lack of ammo, the help from my summoned darklings soon proved to be more than a match for the various henchmen.

My main complaint regarding chapter seven would have to be the level design. There was a gate I wasn't sure how to pass in the beginning, yet there were many locked doors scattered around. Once inside the warehouse area, the actual layout was rather mazelike, and I found myself constantly retracing my steps, accidentally exiting, and getting rather confused in general. My objective was behind a door that I got open somehow, but only after much button-mashing and frustration. I'm still not sure how I finally got through that door.

Overall, I was quite impressed with the faithfulness of the adaptation of The Darkness graphic novel to the gameplay experience. The game chose a strong storyline to follow and did a fantastic job of allowing the player to explore the depths of the protagonist's very dark powers. The brutality of the game didn't bother me, but that was likely due to my exposure to such images in the comics already as well as my high tolerance for blood and guts. I'm not sure if those unfamiliar with the series would enjoy The Darkness as much as I did, but it's certainly worth playing the demo — if you're not afraid of the dark.