HEAVY RAIN

And another game bites the dust. This time Heavy Rain. The gameplay is kind of unique, since it’s totally based on the story. In order to progress along the plot, you need to perform constant and mostly repetitive Quick Time Events, and that’s pretty much all you can do aside from some exploration.

On the minus side, the character storylines are constantly cheating the player, since they perform certain actions that are inconsistent with their final true nature. Also, the developers made an effort to make them all look suspicious (the story is essentially a whodunit) and eventually many aspects of their actions remain unsolved.

Apart from this, I’m missing the player’s actions to be more relevant. Changing diapers is not particularly epic. Also, Jayden’s investigation gameplay seems completely out of key for its Science-Fiction look, the loading screens appear to be bugged when combined with the Trophees, and the letter font of the game is far too small.

On the plus side, I like when game developers take a chance on something new and risky, and Heavy Rain is a not-that-common experience. It’s heavily based on the story, which means the interaction is limited, but I’m ok with that as long as the plot is not shitty. And it is not. Ok, it’s not as original or engaging as an average movie can be, but for a videogame is rare to see. The difficulty level is well adjusted, and the quality of the characters and animations is remarkable.

So I’d say if you’re interested on videogame storytelling, Heavy Rain is a must-see. If not, then you should probably look for something else.

KILLZONE 2

Yesterday night I completed Killzone 2 (PS3). My overall feeling about the game is very good. They’ve removed the character selection option from the original Killzone, and they’ve focused on making the level design more exciting. I suspect why: The creation of levels with compelling challenges for the different characters is something they didn’t excel in the first game. They decided to remove that feature, and enhance the levels instead.

For the most part I think they’ve achieved that goal. Killzone 2 levels and enemies are interesting and for the most part you enjoy the title a lot. My only concern is about the game mechanics. To tell the truth, there is NOTHING in the game I haven’t seen in other games. However, they’ve all been implemented nicely, they’re enjoyable and you master them easily. They’re not surprising, but they work. Also, the story is poor, but talking about videogames you get sadly used to that.

The game keeps a 91 in metacritics, but I’d say it’s overated. The user score of 83 seems more accurate to me. Since I bought a second hand copy of the game, I’m more than satisfied with it.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT - CATACLYSM

I got a beta for the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, and I’ve been messing around with it in the last days, particularly leveling a goblin and a worgen.

Their starting zones are the finest in the game. They both fulfill their goals (being the horde’s ‘funny race’ for the goblins, being the ‘bad guys’ for the alliance), they’re epic and compelling (particularly the worgen) and there are multiple scenarios and challenges (heavily using the phasing tool).

I haven’t played the lvl 80-85 bracket much, but I have mixed feelings about it. Seems like the major changes for this expansion (new races and their starting zones, complete revamp of the low-level zones) can only be enjoyed while leveling characters. I already have a complete set of high level characters.

Well yes, there will be new instances and raid zones, but I’m starting to feel tired of all that. It’s like Groundhog day. I’m not sure if I’ll buy the expansion. We’ll see.

CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR

And another game completed. This time Call of Duty World at War. If I remember correctly I bought it just because I was ‘hyped’ by the tv commercials, and now I regret of that decission.

Ok, it’s not a bad game at all. It’s more than decent. But you can’t compare it with CoD Modern Warfare (released 1 year before). The level design is just ok and relies far too often in adding more and more enemies mindlessly. The graphics are ok, with the exception of the faces who look all made out of plastic. Also the mechanics are fine, but some of the optional ones are far too frustrating (melee combat, mainly).

However, the main flaw of the game is the lack of innovation. It feels like Treyarch has followed the classic CoD pattern: No storyline, different locations with no relation whatsoever, reduced number of combat mechanics and that’s all. Not even some exciting new locations or combat situations. Although it was sold as ‘the war in the Pacific’ only half of the game takes place in that scenario.

Generally satisfying, I had several hard times while playing it because of the poor level design or the lack of information. I wouldn’t recommend to buy it, unless you’re a hardcore CoD gamer.

NEW VISUAL DESIGN

Just dropping some lines to highlight the new visual design. I felt the old one was too boring. Hope you like it!

GAME SETTINGS

For some reason, one of the features I like the most in games is an original setting. I know I’m not the only one, most teams make an effort in the concept phase of their projects to create new settings to excite the player’s interest to explore it. That’s the reason why I like games such as Bioshock (Rapture) or GTA Vice City (Miami in the 80s). Since I’m kind of the ‘Explorer’ type of player (see the Bartle test), I feel compelled to visit those new and exciting places and see what they’re hiding. That’s possibly also the reason why I like MMOs.

In fact, that tendency of mine also affects my designs. Some of the game proposals I’ve made are based on the idea of exploring a unique setting that I find fascinating. I remember I created a concept design about a free roaming game based on the ancient Rome, where the player could wander around the coliseum, the emperor’s palace, and feel the beat of that bloody and exciting age.

It was rejected because it was too complex to be done, and the producer already had an idea of the game he wanted to do, and destroyed any other potential competitor around, but still I feel it was a good setting to play into.

INDIANA JONES AND THE STAFF OF KINGS

Mission accomplished! Another game completed, but I’ve got mixed feelings about this one. My gut feeling is that it could have been impressive, but several minor flaws turn it into just a nice game.

These are the things I liked:

The level length: Each level comprises 5-10 min of gameplay. This is perfect for portable devices. In fact I copied this structure for my novel.
Level achievements: Each level contains 5 mini-achievements, so players are encouraged to re-play them.
Appropriate mix of gameplay elements: The game is mainly based on platform challenges, vehicle chases, brawling and ‘light’ puzzles. Much like any Indiana Jones movie.
Scenario variety: There are 6 different graphic themes, with lots of iterations. The production values of the concept phase were really high.
Unique mechanics: Some levels are based on unique mechanics, such as the catapult or the pendulum.


Things I didn’t like:

Story: It lacks of wow elements. Everything you hear and see is old stuff taken from the movies. Seems to me that stories which require characters to come and go often fit oddly in videogames, since you tend to forget them.
Scenarios: The Indiana Jones movies are somehow based on visiting exotic locations. The game features locations inspired or already seen in the movies.
More brawling options: Since much of the gameplay is based on brawling, some more variations in that mechanic could have been nice.
Failed characters: The girl has little function more than to please female players, Indy cares little about the integrity of the old stuff he finds in the game, Nazis have few weapons at their disposal and insist on fighting Indiana Jones with their fists…
Improvable graphics: Not the best PsP game graphics I’ve seen, strange if you consider this was supposed to be a great production.
Got stuck some times: And not necessarily on puzzles.


Anyway, this is one of those games that teach you a lot. Developers made a good work, but if you pay attention to those small design flaws you can learn a lot.