RAMBO THE VIDEOGAME

I haven't posted much lately since I'm back to WoW and that consumes most of my time. Haven't played many games other than killing gnomes and such. Lok'tar Ogar!

That was partially the reason why I gave it a try to Rambo the videogame. It was supposed to be a short experience but I couldn't imagine it'd be so painful. Seriously, the game sucks in almost every possible aspect

Let's back track: Despite the horrible reviews (it currently holds a shameful 34 in metacritics, 1.9 for users!) I'm essentially a kid from the eighties and well, Rambo was part of that. I wouldn't say it was a hero for me, but getting older makes me somehow nostalgic

But I wasn't ready for this: The gameplay mechanics are poorly implemented to the point that it's extremely frustrating. The aiming is uncontrollable (particularly if you use a pad), the level design is extremely predictible, the weapons are limited and not enjoyable, the number of systems is not necessarily low but each of them are sub-par. The difficulty is boolean, either it's too hard or piece of cake. The story doesn't tell you a thing you don't know, the scenarios are the same from the movies... and above all it's a shooter on rails, which doesn't give you much choices. Some times you get to perform a QTE or a turret fight, but that's all

Seriously, don't buy it. I finished it just because I like to put an end to everything I start, but this is easily the worst game I've played in 20 years. The length was the only aspect that didn't disappoint. I finished the game in a little more than 4 hours. A time that I will never get back.

Iteration or laziness?

Here is an interesting Gamasutra article, in which they partially talk about an issue I've noticed on certain designers: How they mask their lack of vision or simply laziness with the Iteration motto

Click here or copypaste the following URL: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JosephKim/20150224/237157/Mobile_Game_Design_Iteration_vs_Planning_MVP__Dangerous.php

Enjoy!

FRAMED (iOS)

I had heard of Framed some time ago as an innovative storytelling proposal, and it was in my to-do list. After started playing "Papers, Please" I thought I was behind on this genre in particular and I purchased Device 6 (still pending) and the aforementioned

Framed is a great game. The gameplay proposal is simple: There is a story going on, told through animated comic frames. If you let it progress without action from your side, the characters will fail. You need to re-arrange the frames in the proper order (only one on each case) to progress

The concept is well adapted to tactile devices (you just swipe in most of the cases) but doesn’t look impossible to port to other platforms. The design is simple (KISS principle) and elegant. The play sessions are short (each page takes 3-4 minutes) and engaging, you easily fall onto that Civilization attitude “just one more”

Visually speaking is also impressive. It has a neo-noir style and the animations are very good and varied. On the negative side it’s kinda short (specially if you paid 5 bucks as I did), you cannot replay specific pages afaik and I personally couldn’t fully understand the story – keep in mind it’s like a silent movie: No dialogues or texts whatsoever, only characters doing things -

In any case, it’s a game that tries to do something new and succeeds. No wonder it was the game of the year for Hideo Koyima. I highly recommend it!

THE GYMKHANA EXPERIENCE

Almost a tradition, in the annual family gathering I set up a gymkhana for the young ones. In the past I went for “move pingpong balls from A to B using spoons” and such

This year I decided to change the concept a little bit, using World of Warcraft as a reference. I created 21 quests, and organized the kids into teams competing for being the first one to complete 7

These were the rules:

• 3 teams of 3-4 members on each. The 3 elder kids would pick their components by turns
• Each team randomly chooses 3 from the 21 envelopes containing the quest briefings
• Quests will commonly involve locating little pieces of paper hidden on certain house areas. The briefing will specify how many, generally with humorous texts
• There were some other challenges such as find out who was the oldest of the family elders, find out the name of the movie whose soundtrack is playing, etc
• I commonly hid 1 more objective paper than the mission required. In other words, if the objective was to find 4 papers in the house showers, I would place 5 of them to ensure they could not get stuck
• It’s up to the teams if they want to work on the missions simultaneously or focus on them one by one
• Every 10 min of playtime they could change 1 mission for another from the pool, in case they got stuck
• The game will end in an hour no matter what

From a design point of view, the victors were the only team that worked in 2 missions in parallel. The girls seemed to be more efficient and less complainy than boys but they all requested help at some point. It took approximately 7 hours from me to create the gymkhana, from brainstorming to write the texts on little pieces of paper, and then hide them all around my parent’s house

Overall I think the kids had a great time. The parents told me they expect the event with a lot of anticipation and talk about it for days. Still, it took too much time from me and not sure if I’ll be willing to do it next year

Ah, and a minor disappointment: One of the missions involved to get a score of 100 on a classic Nintendo game watch console, Donkey Kong. Two different teams tried and failed, finding it frustrating. Times sure have changed...

PIXEL ART

I wanted to give it a try to pixel art, and find out for myself how difficult it is. Hence, I present you the big-boned Superman:

It takes some time, and it's not easy (at least for a non-artist). But doesn't look impossible to achieve decent results in a limited time. Any input is welcome!

GONE HOME

Ah, god bless Steam. Where else could I find a 20 euro game for only 5?

Anyway, after some big publisher products, I felt like I could use some indie material. Gone Home is one of those critics darlings that have popped out in the last years, and apparently it had strong storytelling. Why not?

So, I just finished and the overall feeling is mostly positive. You can go through the whole game in less than 3 hours. It's very short (maybe too much?) and mainly based on exploration. You impersonate the older sister of a family who returns from a year travelling through Europe, but the house is empty. All gameplay goes around you opening drawers, checking notes and letters and playing tapes so you can connect the dots of the inner family stories.

There are no enemies, no shotting, no magic, no nothing. Just move around and learn about what happened to your family on that year. There are 4 plots that you can unveil, 2 of them not particularly interesting but the main one is touching. 3-4 puzzles for opening combinations (one I had to check for the solution online)... and that's pretty much it.

Now: Do I recommend it? It depends. If you are in the mood for some indie novelty, definitively. It offers a new approach of how to tell a story, and it kinda succeeds. Don't expect much more, though. Also for 20 bucks you can probably get more gameplay from other indie games, so I'd suggest to wait until it's for sale.

But I don't want to sound diminishing: I deeply appreciate the effort and applaud the final result. We need people trying new things, and Gone Home shows us a possible way.

HITMAN GO

Hitman Go is a very interesting study case. As a game is enjoyable and visually unique, and as a part of the Hitman franchise is daring enough to take the gameplay into a brand new territory.

As Jack the Ripper said, let's go piece by piece: Although the spirit of the game remains faithful to the Hitman series (you impersonate Agent 47 and your goal is to infiltrate and murder your target) the gameplay is turn-based. You can only move through a grid and it doesn't have many knots, which you share with a number of guards. Every time you move, the enemies move as well. You need to find the route across them and sometimes use some objects to alter their patrols.

So, although technically speaking you have a stealth goal, it's closer to a board game than the console ones. It's a bold move into a totally different area, and you need to applaud Square Enix for giving green light to this approach. And for the most part, it totally works!

The developers have done a good work in every sense: Each level takes 2-3 min, which fits with the average playtime on mobile platforms. There is a new enemy or ability unlocked every 3-4 levels, renewing the interest, and there are some optional challenges that can assure replayability. On top of that, it's fairly easy and I needed no internet walkthrough to finish it.

On the minus side the game lacks story and it's not easy to feel totally hooked. And it's not particularly long, either.

It currently has an 81 on metacritics (7.0 for users) and feels right. I was entertained for 3-4 good hours, and impressed for the bravery of betting on a totally new gameplay & platform. Well done!