HEAVIER RAIN

I've just sent a game proposal to a Gamasutra contest that I found interesting (Clicky clicky). You're required to create a new game using the same engine and gameplay used in Heavy Rain. I think it's important to test your skills regularly, so I sent a proposal you can see here (Clicky clicky). There is no reward as far as I know. It's just something that keeps your mind busy.

HARDCORE vs CASUAL

Another interesting article, this one about differences between Hardcore and Casual gamers. A topic I can't find much info when I look around: Clicky clicky.

FINAL BOSSES

Here's a very interesting article about how to design bosses: Clicky clicky, extracted from Gamasutra.

STAR WARS FORCE UNLEASHED

I declare myself a defender of the ‘so-so’ games. Journalists have the tendency to highlight only the most relevant games of the year, and totally forget about all those games which (despite being acceptably entertaining) are not above 90 in Metacritics.

Star Wars Force unleashed (Wii) is one of those games. It has no critical flaws of any kind but instead a long list of minor defects that, if solved, would have turned it into the game of the year. But since that didn’t happened, I had a decent playtime and it became the first Wii game I ever finish.

Things I liked:

- The basic force powers work nicely, and you really feel the developers’ original intention of making you feel the force like you’d never done before
- The optional exploration challenges worked fine
- For most parts of the game I really felt like a semi-god
- The length of the game is perfect, at least for me (8-9 hours)


Things I disliked:

- Level design mainly based on endless ‘pulls’
- The plot has been poorly developed
- Too many force powers (but this is probably just me, since I’m not a fan of brawling games)
- Whenever you fought ranged enemies, things got too tough
- Frequent camera issues
- The difficulty curve was often badly adjusted

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.