Autumn gaming
So as autumn hits us full-speed, I decided to stay a
little in-doors by having my wisdom teeth removed, thus rendering me incapable
of moving and eating. The upside, it seemed in the beginning, was that during
the following days of feasting on pain killers and sleeping on 3M
coldhot
packs I would get plenty of time to catch up on recent titles that begged to be
played.
Boy was I wrong. So we started off playing Battalion Wars:
A great art direction, similar to those found in Advance Wars and the Metal slug series, beautiful environments and responsive characters. But visuals are not everything, you say. Indeed, I reply, as I show off how easy the whole running/jumping/target locking and unit swapping is controlled. Everything seems to work, we enjoy ourselves immensely and would eventually head off into the setting sun, were it not for the nagging sensation of never quite knowing what is actually happening...
I am quite sure that, no matter what game we talk about, the single thing that makes people want to stay an play is the principle of action-reaction: Jump and slash: enemy split in halve. Break, steer & gas: Car performs drift. Hold & release: charged attack creates insane explosion. Flank evil pseudo-arabian fundamentalist from two sides of the building: you MG guy takes 'em out without a scratch.
In Battalion Wars however, I get the feeling that everything is going according to plan as long as I am controlling stuff. The moment you turn your back on the infantry, they seem to fall into this mixed mode of suicidal indifference. Same goes for any other unit. Which is probably a conscious design element (and theoretically a good one) where it not for the fact that shit happens simultaneously, but you can only control one entity at the same time. Still, a great game. check it our if you like war games that don't look & feel like real war.
So after this brief but stressful intermezzo, we welcome the arrival of a game that has been greatly anticipated by the game developing community, and probably completely ignored by the buying crowd: Shadow of the Colossus. The sequel to the critically acclaimed (read: commercially unsuccessful) Ico is set in a very similar style of presentation. Very sparse music, gorgeous lighting and mood, spot-on animations and impeccable technical off-stream solutions. It is also accompanied by insane amounts of moving from point A to B and searching. There is literally nothing more to do than either enjoy the landscape or fall asleep.
Until you come across the Colossi. Those huge beasts, that make up halve the experience are everything you always wanted in a fantastic action game: towering, intimidating beasts, they need to be taken down step-by-step, usually requiring you to get on top of them while they move. The platforming on a moving level can not be described in words, it is something everybody should experience themselves. It mainly works, too.
What does not work, however, is the lack of guidance and patterns to be recognized and employed in resolving the challenges. Players will most likely spend the second half of the search for the colossi circling them in a stupefied way, waiting for seldom in game-hints to appear. It is nearly impossible to guess the tasks needed to bring the colossi down.
Moreover, the game failing to provide you with simple motoric help, that isn't part of solving le grand puzzle in the first place will instill a primordial anger in even the most laid-back gamers, wanting to throw the controller against the wall .
So we relax from being lulled into this weird mix of boredom-rage, and head back to our old trusty gaming companion, the PC. That's right folks, the renaisscance is at hand! Maybe. Two nice examples that PC gaming is still not dead are F.E.A.R. (an old-school but well executed FPS) and Ragdoll Kung Fu :this game is strange. First of all, it can't really be compared to any other game I know. You control a ragdoll, using your mouse to drag it's limbs (and head) across the screen. If you move your cursor in circles, you build up chi which is the driving force behind all your moves, be it mile-high jumps or Bruce Lee - inspired chopping attacks. Given that it can be bough online for a mere 15$, I'd urge everybody with a suitable machine (it doesn't come on Macs) to check it out. Beware: great concept, bad for left-handed players with right-handed mouse. Which concludes the experience for me.
So what, apart from finding seemingly great experiences that turn frustrating soon, is there left to play? Luckily there are glimpses of hope, even though the come from the past. More on those in the next entry.
Boy was I wrong. So we started off playing Battalion Wars:
A great art direction, similar to those found in Advance Wars and the Metal slug series, beautiful environments and responsive characters. But visuals are not everything, you say. Indeed, I reply, as I show off how easy the whole running/jumping/target locking and unit swapping is controlled. Everything seems to work, we enjoy ourselves immensely and would eventually head off into the setting sun, were it not for the nagging sensation of never quite knowing what is actually happening...
I am quite sure that, no matter what game we talk about, the single thing that makes people want to stay an play is the principle of action-reaction: Jump and slash: enemy split in halve. Break, steer & gas: Car performs drift. Hold & release: charged attack creates insane explosion. Flank evil pseudo-arabian fundamentalist from two sides of the building: you MG guy takes 'em out without a scratch.
In Battalion Wars however, I get the feeling that everything is going according to plan as long as I am controlling stuff. The moment you turn your back on the infantry, they seem to fall into this mixed mode of suicidal indifference. Same goes for any other unit. Which is probably a conscious design element (and theoretically a good one) where it not for the fact that shit happens simultaneously, but you can only control one entity at the same time. Still, a great game. check it our if you like war games that don't look & feel like real war.
So after this brief but stressful intermezzo, we welcome the arrival of a game that has been greatly anticipated by the game developing community, and probably completely ignored by the buying crowd: Shadow of the Colossus. The sequel to the critically acclaimed (read: commercially unsuccessful) Ico is set in a very similar style of presentation. Very sparse music, gorgeous lighting and mood, spot-on animations and impeccable technical off-stream solutions. It is also accompanied by insane amounts of moving from point A to B and searching. There is literally nothing more to do than either enjoy the landscape or fall asleep.
Until you come across the Colossi. Those huge beasts, that make up halve the experience are everything you always wanted in a fantastic action game: towering, intimidating beasts, they need to be taken down step-by-step, usually requiring you to get on top of them while they move. The platforming on a moving level can not be described in words, it is something everybody should experience themselves. It mainly works, too.
What does not work, however, is the lack of guidance and patterns to be recognized and employed in resolving the challenges. Players will most likely spend the second half of the search for the colossi circling them in a stupefied way, waiting for seldom in game-hints to appear. It is nearly impossible to guess the tasks needed to bring the colossi down.
Moreover, the game failing to provide you with simple motoric help, that isn't part of solving le grand puzzle in the first place will instill a primordial anger in even the most laid-back gamers, wanting to throw the controller against the wall .
So we relax from being lulled into this weird mix of boredom-rage, and head back to our old trusty gaming companion, the PC. That's right folks, the renaisscance is at hand! Maybe. Two nice examples that PC gaming is still not dead are F.E.A.R. (an old-school but well executed FPS) and Ragdoll Kung Fu :this game is strange. First of all, it can't really be compared to any other game I know. You control a ragdoll, using your mouse to drag it's limbs (and head) across the screen. If you move your cursor in circles, you build up chi which is the driving force behind all your moves, be it mile-high jumps or Bruce Lee - inspired chopping attacks. Given that it can be bough online for a mere 15$, I'd urge everybody with a suitable machine (it doesn't come on Macs) to check it out. Beware: great concept, bad for left-handed players with right-handed mouse. Which concludes the experience for me.
So what, apart from finding seemingly great experiences that turn frustrating soon, is there left to play? Luckily there are glimpses of hope, even though the come from the past. More on those in the next entry.
Posted: Fri - November 4, 2005 at 10:52 AM |
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Published On: Nov 23, 2005 08:49 PM
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Published On: Nov 23, 2005 08:49 PM