Yes.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a complicated game. You can brutally kill innocent people, and rob honest travelers, and commit various other terrible crimes. However, you can also explore breathtaking terrain, help your friends survive, and assist townspeople on quests. You can play the hero or the villain - or some combination of both. These nuances and complexities are what makes Red Dead an amazing game. I can understand criticisms of excessive violence and I think that it's important to ensure that no game is too graphic. At times, Red Dead can be very violent - which I don't like - but most of the time, it's alright. What about the gameplay itself? It's great: the controls are novel yet intuitive, the environment design is amazing, and so much more. I love the sound design and visual design as well. They fit into the game world well and don't take away from the game. The attention to detail is very good as well. I appreciate the advanced 3D models and the well done textures that I have learned to pay attention to through working on the team game project on Unreality. Speaking of Unreality, there are some lessons we can learn from Red Dead. In the game scene itself, we can make a very atmospheric environment from taking inspiration from it. We can also make sure there is convexity in the story, allowing players to choose which paths to take. There is some uncertainty in Unreality's progression and linearization (i.e. how much affordance to show the character's path). Hopefully, we can learn from games such as Red Dead to improve Unreality. Summary
0 Comments
This fall, a new EA Star Wars video game was released. I enjoyed Star Wars Battlefront and its sequel, so I was excited for the new game. Star Wars Squadrons, the October 2020 game, is actually really good. However, this game review will be solely focused on the story mode, as I haven't played enough online multiplayer to have a good perspective on it.
Let's start with what makes the game unique. EA, the production company of Squadrons, is infamous for insane microtransactions and purchasing of in-game content. However, Squadrons doesn't have a big part of the game behind a paywall. It's not too expensive of a game either. Another interesting and special part of the game is the ability to play as two factions: the Empire and the New Republic. Lastly, the story has compelling twists. Some people might even argue that the story's plot is better than the Rise of Skywalker. But what about the gameplay? It's fantastic. There are absolutely stunning graphics, customizable ships, bite-sized missions, and a comfortable and not disorienting space flying experience. The levels are all unique and the creators weren't afraid to venture out of established Star Wars territory and tell a new story. Squadrons doesn't just have beautiful graphics and mechanics, though. The game has big levels with an open-world feel even though it's actually fairly linear and not truly a free will type game. Also, there is VR compatibility. Sometimes the game becomes pretty hard, but you can adjust the difficulty setting in-game, which is really nice. Overall, Squadrons is a beautiful game with great features and mechanics that make it one of the best releases of 2020. I've spent hours on this masterfully made game, and I'm excited for the future of Star Wars video games. Summary
Lately, Call of Duty has been on the news with a release of the trailer of Call of Duty: The Cold War. However, I'm going to focus solely on COD: WW2. As exciting as the new game looks, nobody's played it yet. This summer, PS Plus had Call of Duty: World War 2 for free.
The campaign mode. It has 12 compelling missions. You play as an American soldier from Texas, and endure well-known battles. I liked the story, as it wasn't just shooting people, but getting to know every character. The levels were well designed and the game was virtually glitchless. The campaign's only drawback is that there are certain places in a couple levels where you die over and over again. The campaign as whole is very well put together. The first mode I played in COD WW2 was the offline play mode. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of weapons, modes, and maps. The graphics are beautiful and the bugs are few. The offline multiplayer split-screen mode is great. Online multiplayer has a larger collection of maps (it includes some DLC maps) and modes. I wish that the online-exclusive modes were available offline, but that's the only major con. The only other option in COD WW2 is Nazi Zombies. I didn't like it. Maybe this is because I get jump scared easily, but it just wasn't for me. I was disappointed with the weapons available at the start and the lack of maps. In overall game design, the main flaw is the color scheme. All of the maps have a vintage-esque feel with a little too much saturation for my liking. However, there is a large amount of online players and the game is pretty addictive. It's very customizable and not pay to win. Here it is: Call of Duty WWII is a great game. Summary
Final Grade: 4/5 stars The Star Wars movie franchise is perhaps the most widespread and well-known film collection of all time. In sixth grade, I received Star Wars Battlefront, a Star Wars game, for Christmas and it was a great game. When the sequel (I'll let you guess the name!) came out, I was excited and again got a Star Wars game as a Christmas gift. Star Wars Battlefront 2 is available on console and PC, but I only play on Play Station 4. The game is infamous for its pay-to-win strategy early on, but EA stopped forcing players to pay for content, and the game is massively larger than its predecessor.
A couple of years ago, I was a huge player of Star Wars Battlefront 2, but I eventually lost interest through other games. With my happy abandonment of Fortnite early last spring, I searched for other games to waste large amounts of time playing. I returned to Minecraft after years away, while Star Wars Battlefront 2 filled my console game gap. Filled with dozens of unique, realistic planets to explore, a compelling story mode, fun and interesting combat, opportunities to play as countless different characters, and monthly updates, the game is amazing. Most online shooter games are in two categories: the Battle Royale, Fortnite-esque type and the quick to play, Call of Duty-like games. Star Wars Battlefront 2 straddles the line between the quick respawn Call of Duty-like games and the story-driven combat of Destiny. Star Wars Battlefront 2 has fast respawns which prevent raging over deaths, and a team wins instead of one player. The combat is based on lots of different modes, ranging from the first team to 100 kills to the first team to blow up the other side's capital ship. One thing Star Wars Battlefront 2 does that Star Wars Battlefront did not is play across eras. In the original, it was just Rebels versus Empire, but the sequel adds four more armies and new heroes and reinforcements. New characters came with new planets, and the regular updates make the game worth its price. Final Rating: 9/10 Summary
Recently, Marvel released a Play Station 4 game based on the popular super hero Spider-Man. The game is extremely popular and received lots of positive feedback. On Christmas morning last week, I opened my presents as usual and happily received a copy of Marvel's Spiderman for the PS4. My dad began playing it the next day and I caught my first glimpses of the successful game. The initial thing I noticed was the realistic graphics. Spiderman looks almost like real life, with buildings jutting out of New York very accurately. Faces are surprisingly well made also. Many games are infamous for unrealistic faces, including virtually every sports video game. The second observation I made was the smooth transition between gameplay and cutscenes. Spiderman's creators used a technique not all games do, but which all games should do. However, graphics aren't the only unique thing about Spiderman. There's also political commentary. The first boss that you fight in the game is Fisk, who lives in Fisk Tower, which resembles Trump Tower a little too much.
The gameplay itself is fine. The combat is straightforward albeit sometimes frustrating when you mess up. The major drawbacks of gameplay are repetitive fights and camera glitches. I've never rage quitted or gotten very angry at the game as I did with Fortnite when I played it. At forty dollars, Spiderman isn't cheap. However, I think it's worth the money. I'm not even close to beating the game and I'm already satisfied. It's a well designed game that I enjoy playing and would recommend it to others. My final word is a 9/10. Summary
Minecraft is a popular adventure and sandbox game created by the Swedish company Mojang. In September 2014, Mojang was bought by Microsoft for 2.5 billion dollars, but Minecraft has kept churning out annual updates and fun new features. From third to sixth grade, I was in love with Minecraft. However, I took a break from it during seventh to ninth grade, investing lots of time in the game Fortnite which I now despise. Lately, I've gotten back into the game and I haven't regretted a single minute. In Minecraft, there are two modes: creative and survival. In creative mode, you have unlimited resources and can build cities, farms, zoos, theme parks, and so much more. In survival mode, you attempt to survive in a wonderful world of animals and monsters. Through creating potions, traveling to another dimension, and mining diamonds, you can defeat the Ender Dragon to win the game. However, you can continue playing survival Minecraft after you've won. You can find wings and fly around, build a village, and more. I usually play creative mode, but I've beaten the dragon boss once or twice in survival. I prefer creative because instead of having to spend precious time mining cobblestone or cutting down trees, you can fly around and construct cool buildings quicker. Redstone, an ore in Minecraft called red stone that is sort of similar to electricity, is another cool feature. With redstone, people have made all sorts of things including working planes, automatic monster killers, and vending machines. However, the best redstone creations I've managed to make have been automatic doors and automatic farms. In the next few months and years, I hope to learn more about Minecraft and become a better player, builder, and redstone engineer. Final Rating: 5/5 Summary
Crowd City is an addictive mobile game developed by the company Voodoo where you collect people to form a crowd and be the biggest crowd in a city. You start out with only a few people, but you can absorb ordinary people around the city and earth eat or be eaten by a CPU's crowd. During the process of eating a player, you gain their crowd members and get larger. When you earn a kill, you get ten extra people, incentivizing aggressive playing style. You can earn skins for your crowd members by completing achievements. The skins themselves range from penguins to football players to zombies. My high score in the game is currently at 1045, with 1371 as arguably the world record score. I came into the game thinking it would be full of in-game purchases and impossible to win without spending money, but I was wrong. You can but skins instead of getting challenges and you have to watch ads every now and then, but it's not too bad. You can turn on airplane mode and eliminate ads all together. There is little to no stress involved in the game, which makes it more enjoyable. I was expecting Crowd City to be kind of boring as well, but it's not. You can have hours of genuine fun. However, sometimes you run into a bigger crowd and you die. This is angering, but at least it's not a gamebreaking glitch like there are in other games. I've only encountered one minor bug in a few weeks of playing so I can easily assure anyone that this game is stable. In conclusion, Crowd City is a fun game that isn't a scam or a stress creator, unlike many games.
Summary
Bibliography Jacob. “Crowd City (Voodoo) World Record High Score! Highest Score Ever!” Otlmg, 22 Feb. 2019, otlmg.com/crowd-city-voodoo-world-record-high-score-highest-score-ever/. When I was eight years old, my favorite game was Hay Day. It's a free farming game where you level up by collecting animal products, harvesting crops, keeping up your personal farm, fishing area, town, mine and steamboat. I was allowed to play 15 minutes every day on the family iPad, but as time progressed I lost much of my interest in the game. Recently, I remembered the days of fun I had playing Hay Day and downloaded it on my phone. I discovered that it was addictive, like most video games, and was basically a scam. The game has two in-game currencies: diamonds and coins. Coins are easy to get but you need lots of them to buy anything. A market system in Hay Day lets you sell and buy goods sold by other players, costing coins. Diamonds come into play when you want to speed up production of goods or crops and get special services for your farm. You can purchase loads of diamonds with real life money. Lots of little kids who love Hay Day don't understand the importance of money and the necessity of patience. The only reason that eight year old me didn't blow hundreds of my parents' money on Hay Day is that I was supervised. I think Supercell, Hay Day's developer, should consider putting restrictions on in-game real money purchases. But, we all know they won't because they're only in it for the money. However, they aren't the only company doing this: countless other developers make gargantuan profits off scamming little kids. Hay Day is just another interesting, addictive, kids game that makes money from exploitation. Maybe it's time the American people step up and say something. Summary
Oracle, Game. “Hay Day Guide: The Levelling System.” Game Skinny, GameSkinny, 5 Mar. 2014, www.gameskinny.com/zs7xi/hay-day-guide-the-levelling-system Drive Camel In Dubai is one of the worst games I've ever played. It is only available on the app store for iOS devices, and the sole good thing about the game is that it's free. The basis of the game is to drive around on a camel and collect bushes. Five minutes are allowed each round to collect as many bushes as possible. My high score is 14, and I can barely last more than two minutes while keep my delicate sanity. The game was made with Unity, and the graphics are absolutely terrible. The camel driving takes place on a monochrome desert environment, containing hills and mountains, as well as the occasional bush. It's a real letdown, especially because the name of the game is Drive Camel In Dubai. I was expecting a realistic camel simulator in Dubai where you can walk around and bump into people, or, in other words, a perfect game for long road trips without using up a boatload of wireless data. On the title screen of the game is a selection menu where you can choose a camel to ride on, and you can unlock special camels by watching advertisements to get coins. You can also gain coins by spending real money, but I doubt that any person with a functioning brain would decide to do this. I can't believe anyone playing Drive Camel In Dubai seriously, as it is a really bad game. It's extremely boring and pointless, leaving the user with a sensation of wasting five minutes they could've spent playing a better game. This is your last warning: Do not download Drive Camel In Dubai on your iPhone or iPad if you want to remain sane.
Summary
Bungie is a highly respected game company that made Halo, Marathon, and Destiny, among other games. Destiny is an extremely popular game that was critiqued for a weak and unclear storyline, though the gameplay was praised by many people. The awaited sequel was recently released, and I think it is better than the original. There is a storyline that's easier to pick up on than the first one, and it makes a degree of sense. However, the ending cut scene of the game left me very confused and I had to consult Google for the explanation. Other than that, the story is compelling and makes sense. The ending also leaves a cliff hanger, perhaps setting the stage for a third Destiny game. The game itself is in first person shooter style, but I prefer third person as your surroundings are easier to notice. People can play online with others and complete cooperative challenges and events to earn rewards, adding to the appeal of the game. The teamwork is part of what makes Destiny 2 so addictive. One more fun part of the game is that all of the environments and planets available in the game are open world, meaning you can wander around the map. All of the different planets also spices up the gameplay. Another very useful attribute of it is that missions show recommended power of a player so nobody gets stuck on a challenge too difficult for their character. The beautiful environment enhances the game even more for me. Overall, I really enjoyed playing Destiny 2. Even though it had its drawbacks, it is a very good game and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a more narrative-based game than the original Destiny.
Bibliography “Destiny 2 Is Gorgeous, so Where's the Photo Mode Bungie?” USgamer.net, 29 Sept. 2017, www.usgamer.net/articles/29-09-2017-destiny-2-photo-mode |
AuthorHI! I'm a 12th grader and on this page, I will blog about me and what I'm going through, both in Game Design class and in life. There are a mix of required blog posts and personal reflections, which you can sort, among other things, below the disclaimer and archives. DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools. Archives
May 2022
Categories
All
|