I read David Jaffe's comments about difficulty in games : http://criminalcrackdown.blogspot.com/2007/11/aaaaaaaaannnnnnnndddddd-scene.html
and how he hates it when designers make a game difficult.
He says he doesnt want to be challenged when he plays games, he hates difficulty curves in games and how games should be all easy to go through and fun...
I'm really with him on this point, cuz I'm usually playing on Easy mode at some games if they're too difficult since I'm playing a game to have fun and forget about my bad days (or whatever) not be frustrated at the tv. I'm playing hardcore games when I need to, but ...
It's just weird hearing it from mr. Jaffe though ... who produced God Of War ... who had the most difficult and frustrating level in a game ever!!! I just hated that walking on the edge thing and going up that chopping moving column, anyways ...
Some games make it hard just to make it hard because some designers thought it had to be hard to be fun ... thats why we have difficulty settings for those "hardcore" gamers who want it hard in life and enjoy a big challenge (i.e. COD 4 on veteran setting).
Like I said before in my posts about this issue ... I want to have fun and I dont have enough time to play over and over the same areas because its just too hard !!!
So you are right mr. jaffe! (but you dont have to use those CAPS) ;)
mardi 27 novembre 2007
All those games ...
So many games came out lately ... Call of Duty 4, Assassins Creed, Mass Effect, Rock Band and Mario Galaxy (which I didnt have time to play yet)... luckily I had 4 days to play them during Thanksgiving (U.S.) YES!
And these are like some of the best games that came out this year...
------------
Rock Band
------------
Rock Band comes from the guys (Harmonix) who did the first 2 Guitar Heros... but with drums and a microphone included (anyways you guys know this right ...)
This game is soooo good and I only played the guitar solo campaign so far.
Why is it sooo goood (even if I played the guitar only) ?
It feels just right (and a lot better than Guitar Hero 3... A LOT).
I'm playing at medium and I dont fail the songs and I enjoy them a lot.
I like the new presentation, I like the new way the power ups are shown(bar that fills up and you can use the whammy bar to get more bonuses, I like the second set of buttons on the guitar that you can press during solos and u dont have to strum during them, I love the new guitar (even though mine is broken ...have to return it ).
The drum part is really hard...even easy mode is hard.
The songs they have on there are really good (compared to GH3) even though they have 13 songs from unknown bands that kinda suck anyways ... you can download more songs :)
-------------------
Call of Duty 4
-------------------
This game has (one of) the best endings in video games ever ... I loved that last section which is soooo different than the rest of the game. And at that moment (youll know) ... it happened :)
(I heard there was an hidden level after the credits ... what?!?)
The game looks so good ... all those details the team had the time to put in ... wow !
There are a lot of good scripted scenes, the dialogues make the game, the story is actually good.
The weapons are good to play with and they feel right, I like to play the night scenes with the goggles, I like the missions with some urgency timer type of thing and I loved the ending.
I felt that there were a lot of spawning dudes if you would just sit there and try to kill them all, but would stop if you'd move forward faster instead.
I like the fact that its short.
The multiplayer rocks, I love it even if I'm not that good, but I like to upgrade and get more perks and weapons!
---------------
Mass Effect
---------------
I really enjoy the story in this one.
I love the dialogue trees and I like to be a Renegade :)
The indoor environments look good, I wish we could visit more planets even though there are a lot of galaxies around, the buggy is well okay... I dont really enjoy "exploring" the planets cuz you're really only going to 3 points on each planet ... right ?! oh well that gets old fast.
I like the fact that I can do a lot of sub missions or the story path and still act the way I want, but that gets me in trouble sometimes.
Being a combat dude only in the game, I feel I'm missing some electronic capacity to open safe or get information from computers even though my "helpers" have those skills, but I cant send them to do it ... kinda sucks!
The combat is okay for me cuz I'm a combat character, but I hear its horrible for other types of people ... ouch ! The combat still feels bad for me even though I have all of the weapons.
I'm still going to play further but I enjoyed the story so far and piss off other soldiers :)
------------------
Assassin's Creed (might contain spoilers)
------------------
I hear a lot of people hate this game, but I sure am not one of those guys ... I just love this game.
I love the story and I want to know more and whats going to happen next. I know I'm being used ... everybody is kinda telling me that I am, but ... I just want to go in the future world also and see what I can do there!
I really like the way they set up the cities, how you can climb all buildings and that looks soooo good ... the animations are incredible.
I dont like how people always suspect you when you're on the ground and you have to blend in and walk slowly, but then you can just climb up and be "free".
I like the ways I can kill somebody with my little hidden blade ... that feels soooo good when it works... I feel great after ;)
I like the spying elements you have to achieve before doing an assassination (except pickpocketing which is not fun) and the informer "sub missions" are a good change also from normal spying, but I like listening to what characters say.
I like to defend citizen and I love their rewards... it's soooo great to blend in using the scholars and they drive your character around without any inputs.
But the combat is not so great ... how they are all waiting in a queue to hit you, but the killing is still better than I expected, cuz when I was watching other people combat ... I though it was the worse ever ... I guess they were bad playing it ;)
*********
update
*********
i completed the game...the end is quite a big letdown ... why can't you finish your game better we listened to so many cinematics during the game and at the end ... nothing!?!? geez
The last couple of Assassinations and the way to the last level was so bad...why cant I hit the guy while he's on the ground while everywhere else in the game I could do it ?
So many soldiers to kill for the last battles it was no fun and on the way to the last level...so many guys spawning out of nowhere and right in my face, kinda clumsy.
like i said before i still loved the missions before the assassinations, i dont mind it that much that its all of the same even though more variety would have been welcomed.
---------------
And these are like some of the best games that came out this year...
------------
Rock Band
------------
Rock Band comes from the guys (Harmonix) who did the first 2 Guitar Heros... but with drums and a microphone included (anyways you guys know this right ...)
This game is soooo good and I only played the guitar solo campaign so far.
Why is it sooo goood (even if I played the guitar only) ?
It feels just right (and a lot better than Guitar Hero 3... A LOT).
I'm playing at medium and I dont fail the songs and I enjoy them a lot.
I like the new presentation, I like the new way the power ups are shown(bar that fills up and you can use the whammy bar to get more bonuses, I like the second set of buttons on the guitar that you can press during solos and u dont have to strum during them, I love the new guitar (even though mine is broken ...have to return it ).
The drum part is really hard...even easy mode is hard.
The songs they have on there are really good (compared to GH3) even though they have 13 songs from unknown bands that kinda suck anyways ... you can download more songs :)
-------------------
Call of Duty 4
-------------------
This game has (one of) the best endings in video games ever ... I loved that last section which is soooo different than the rest of the game. And at that moment (youll know) ... it happened :)
(I heard there was an hidden level after the credits ... what?!?)
The game looks so good ... all those details the team had the time to put in ... wow !
There are a lot of good scripted scenes, the dialogues make the game, the story is actually good.
The weapons are good to play with and they feel right, I like to play the night scenes with the goggles, I like the missions with some urgency timer type of thing and I loved the ending.
I felt that there were a lot of spawning dudes if you would just sit there and try to kill them all, but would stop if you'd move forward faster instead.
I like the fact that its short.
The multiplayer rocks, I love it even if I'm not that good, but I like to upgrade and get more perks and weapons!
---------------
Mass Effect
---------------
I really enjoy the story in this one.
I love the dialogue trees and I like to be a Renegade :)
The indoor environments look good, I wish we could visit more planets even though there are a lot of galaxies around, the buggy is well okay... I dont really enjoy "exploring" the planets cuz you're really only going to 3 points on each planet ... right ?! oh well that gets old fast.
I like the fact that I can do a lot of sub missions or the story path and still act the way I want, but that gets me in trouble sometimes.
Being a combat dude only in the game, I feel I'm missing some electronic capacity to open safe or get information from computers even though my "helpers" have those skills, but I cant send them to do it ... kinda sucks!
The combat is okay for me cuz I'm a combat character, but I hear its horrible for other types of people ... ouch ! The combat still feels bad for me even though I have all of the weapons.
I'm still going to play further but I enjoyed the story so far and piss off other soldiers :)
------------------
Assassin's Creed (might contain spoilers)
------------------
I hear a lot of people hate this game, but I sure am not one of those guys ... I just love this game.
I love the story and I want to know more and whats going to happen next. I know I'm being used ... everybody is kinda telling me that I am, but ... I just want to go in the future world also and see what I can do there!
I really like the way they set up the cities, how you can climb all buildings and that looks soooo good ... the animations are incredible.
I dont like how people always suspect you when you're on the ground and you have to blend in and walk slowly, but then you can just climb up and be "free".
I like the ways I can kill somebody with my little hidden blade ... that feels soooo good when it works... I feel great after ;)
I like the spying elements you have to achieve before doing an assassination (except pickpocketing which is not fun) and the informer "sub missions" are a good change also from normal spying, but I like listening to what characters say.
I like to defend citizen and I love their rewards... it's soooo great to blend in using the scholars and they drive your character around without any inputs.
But the combat is not so great ... how they are all waiting in a queue to hit you, but the killing is still better than I expected, cuz when I was watching other people combat ... I though it was the worse ever ... I guess they were bad playing it ;)
*********
update
*********
i completed the game...the end is quite a big letdown ... why can't you finish your game better we listened to so many cinematics during the game and at the end ... nothing!?!? geez
The last couple of Assassinations and the way to the last level was so bad...why cant I hit the guy while he's on the ground while everywhere else in the game I could do it ?
So many soldiers to kill for the last battles it was no fun and on the way to the last level...so many guys spawning out of nowhere and right in my face, kinda clumsy.
like i said before i still loved the missions before the assassinations, i dont mind it that much that its all of the same even though more variety would have been welcomed.
---------------
vendredi 26 octobre 2007
Part of EA Games now
I was part of Ubisoft when EA threatened to buy Ubisoft. They ended up buying only a portion of Ubi's actions. People were scared of all the repercussions that this buyout would entail.
People were afraid of EA's reputation for putting out sequels after sequels, long crunch weeks and bad working conditions. People didn't want to lose their "freedom" to create new and exciting games.
Now I'm part of EA Games after they bought us (Pandemic).
People had the same kind of fear and questions about EA's ways to do business. We met with EA's president and EA Games' director who answered all our questions as best as they could. It helped us understand what they wanted to do with us and how we would be an integral part inside EA.
Over the last year, EA has changed a lot, I believe. EA is making new IP an integral part of their projects throughout all of their developpers. Yes we will still have the nth iteration of Need for Speed and sports game, but people want them anyways. They have resolved issues with crunches or are trying to (EA spouse), they are doing new games (Army of Two, Boogie, ...) and they delay games that need it instead of pushing out unfinished games.
I'm hopeful that EA will bring something good for Pandemic (worldwide publisher, experience, ...), but we will see the repercussions in the next year.
Until then check out previews of Saboteur ;)
People were afraid of EA's reputation for putting out sequels after sequels, long crunch weeks and bad working conditions. People didn't want to lose their "freedom" to create new and exciting games.
Now I'm part of EA Games after they bought us (Pandemic).
People had the same kind of fear and questions about EA's ways to do business. We met with EA's president and EA Games' director who answered all our questions as best as they could. It helped us understand what they wanted to do with us and how we would be an integral part inside EA.
Over the last year, EA has changed a lot, I believe. EA is making new IP an integral part of their projects throughout all of their developpers. Yes we will still have the nth iteration of Need for Speed and sports game, but people want them anyways. They have resolved issues with crunches or are trying to (EA spouse), they are doing new games (Army of Two, Boogie, ...) and they delay games that need it instead of pushing out unfinished games.
I'm hopeful that EA will bring something good for Pandemic (worldwide publisher, experience, ...), but we will see the repercussions in the next year.
Until then check out previews of Saboteur ;)
vendredi 28 septembre 2007
Braid : using time in new ways
I discovered the game Braid yesterday while I was reading some other blogs.
I really liked Jonathan Blow's lecture at the FreePlay conference.
The main topics were "how (to do a great game) ? " and "why?". He talked about prototyping gameplay before implementing anything else (ok most designers do that now ...but some studios just wont allow any time for that).
Before taking the decision to pursue the game development further you should always make sure the prototype was really awesome by itself and that there isnt any other idea that you could think of that would make a better game.
At this point you should finish the game you started not matter what (most games in developement dont even come out).
Anyway the point of this post was about Braid so lets talk about it.
That game, http://braid-game.com/news/, looks awesome when he demoed it on screen.
It uses Time as its main gameplay feature set in different kind of worlds (a la Mario Bros.) where Time and objects act differently than before.
So unlike POP:Sands of Time you can rewind time or fastforward it for any amount of time. if you have played for an hour...you can rewind time until minute zero and everything will be placed as it all started.
So you cant die in this game, but the point of the game is more about how to find a way to finish the level using Time as the main element of play. So you have to manipulate Time to get through the different puzzles depending of the world in which you are.
I really liked the ideas used in the game and i'll play that when its out in Q1 2008 on XBL.
check it out!
I really liked Jonathan Blow's lecture at the FreePlay conference.
The main topics were "how (to do a great game) ? " and "why?". He talked about prototyping gameplay before implementing anything else (ok most designers do that now ...but some studios just wont allow any time for that).
Before taking the decision to pursue the game development further you should always make sure the prototype was really awesome by itself and that there isnt any other idea that you could think of that would make a better game.
At this point you should finish the game you started not matter what (most games in developement dont even come out).
Anyway the point of this post was about Braid so lets talk about it.
That game, http://braid-game.com/news/, looks awesome when he demoed it on screen.
It uses Time as its main gameplay feature set in different kind of worlds (a la Mario Bros.) where Time and objects act differently than before.
So unlike POP:Sands of Time you can rewind time or fastforward it for any amount of time. if you have played for an hour...you can rewind time until minute zero and everything will be placed as it all started.
So you cant die in this game, but the point of the game is more about how to find a way to finish the level using Time as the main element of play. So you have to manipulate Time to get through the different puzzles depending of the world in which you are.
I really liked the ideas used in the game and i'll play that when its out in Q1 2008 on XBL.
check it out!
vendredi 24 août 2007
BIOSHOCK!!!!!
this game is simply awesome!
I cant stop playing it...at night until the wee hours and in the morning before going to work.
This is the first game in a very long time makes me want to play it that bad and curse when i have to stop and go to sleep.
The atmosphere is so dark, immersive and keeps you into the game. I jumped a couple of times out of my sofa due to some events in the game.
the story is really interesting and you just want to hear the next radio transmission or audio recorder that you find in Rapture.
there are so many rooms to explore which makes the experience seem less linear since you can explore if you want and get rewards for it.
there are so many choices in the game to be made : do I save the little sisters, which powers to equip and which upgrade should I use, how do I kill this next guy, etc...
GAME OF THE YEAR I say!!!!
there are some minor annoyances like the hacking of the safes (which are so ridiculously hard sometimes) and the fact that you never die but respawn around the location you die and come back with enemies as you left them; makes the use of first aid kit useless in some fights (against the Big Daddy).
anyways I just love that game!
update----------------------------------------------------
"SPOILER here"
I played the game twice to see how different the game is when you kill all little sisters or save them all...
well it sucks pretty bad... I mean the only difference is the ending cinematic and 2 lines of dialogue from the little sisters in their hideout!
For a game that says it's about player choices well the game doesnt provide those other outcome... if I kill all the sisters why am I still not buddy with Ryan or Fontaine !?!
So my second walkthrough has been a disapointment...unfortunately :(
kinda cool that if you dont kill the artist dude you'll see him later in the game ... kinda cool ;)
really liked the theater area for all the little moments we dont usually get in games or in shooters!
----------------------------------------------
I cant stop playing it...at night until the wee hours and in the morning before going to work.
This is the first game in a very long time makes me want to play it that bad and curse when i have to stop and go to sleep.
The atmosphere is so dark, immersive and keeps you into the game. I jumped a couple of times out of my sofa due to some events in the game.
the story is really interesting and you just want to hear the next radio transmission or audio recorder that you find in Rapture.
there are so many rooms to explore which makes the experience seem less linear since you can explore if you want and get rewards for it.
there are so many choices in the game to be made : do I save the little sisters, which powers to equip and which upgrade should I use, how do I kill this next guy, etc...
GAME OF THE YEAR I say!!!!
there are some minor annoyances like the hacking of the safes (which are so ridiculously hard sometimes) and the fact that you never die but respawn around the location you die and come back with enemies as you left them; makes the use of first aid kit useless in some fights (against the Big Daddy).
anyways I just love that game!
update----------------------------------------------------
"SPOILER here"
I played the game twice to see how different the game is when you kill all little sisters or save them all...
well it sucks pretty bad... I mean the only difference is the ending cinematic and 2 lines of dialogue from the little sisters in their hideout!
For a game that says it's about player choices well the game doesnt provide those other outcome... if I kill all the sisters why am I still not buddy with Ryan or Fontaine !?!
So my second walkthrough has been a disapointment...unfortunately :(
kinda cool that if you dont kill the artist dude you'll see him later in the game ... kinda cool ;)
really liked the theater area for all the little moments we dont usually get in games or in shooters!
----------------------------------------------
mercredi 15 août 2007
Bioshock is coming
Yeah ... Bioshock is coming in less than a week!!!
After playing the demo ... i want it soooo badly!!!
it looks awesome :)
lundi 30 juillet 2007
Dead Rising
Played Dead Rising this week-end finally... i bought it one month ago at EB Games.
I like it...i enjoy killing zombies with different types of weapons, i dont really like to take pictures but it helps for upgrades so i'll do it anyways, i like the skills you get and the stats upgrade is great and I like the fact that you can save and replay the game but keeping your stats makes it less painful to start from scratch.
the bosses are really hard to deal with since sometimes you have no weapons, they're too hard sometimes ... i beat the clown because I had the two japanese with me shooting at him while I was going for the close attacks. anyways it was too hard otherwise...
the fact that my game that EB Games sold me was all scratched so some areas are not accessible for me since the game crashes...damn company cant sell games that work!!
so i couldn't experience the story so much since i needed to get somewhere i cant access...
hopefully i'll be able to play sooner or later
i'm not gonna buy any EB Games games anymore
update ---------------------------------------------------------------
So I finally got another copy and finished the game.
Liked the fact that there were multiple endings depending of how you played the game.
Really didn't like the military portion of the game cuz they kept respawning in the mall after I beat them which was already difficult and long...
Hated the fact that I had to wait 12 hours before the helicopter came in at the end of the game and the thing I hated the most ... the fact that I had to capture 10 Queens to get the medicine ... damn this took me soooooo long and it's really not fun at all to go back and try to kill so many zombies just to get 1 Queen so imagine 10! damn ... Konami could have ended my experience of the game in a more fun way.
Also, the fact that I had to restart my xbox everytime the military captured me otherwise I would be brought back in the world with no weapons etc ( like GTA ) ... who really wants to continue these games without the great weapons you collected before?!
anyways ... i played the game from start to finish once (with many restarts ) and I wont touch it ever again... I had some fun with my SMG and bosses but couldnt really save people and do the real missions at the same time
I like it...i enjoy killing zombies with different types of weapons, i dont really like to take pictures but it helps for upgrades so i'll do it anyways, i like the skills you get and the stats upgrade is great and I like the fact that you can save and replay the game but keeping your stats makes it less painful to start from scratch.
the bosses are really hard to deal with since sometimes you have no weapons, they're too hard sometimes ... i beat the clown because I had the two japanese with me shooting at him while I was going for the close attacks. anyways it was too hard otherwise...
the fact that my game that EB Games sold me was all scratched so some areas are not accessible for me since the game crashes...damn company cant sell games that work!!
so i couldn't experience the story so much since i needed to get somewhere i cant access...
hopefully i'll be able to play sooner or later
i'm not gonna buy any EB Games games anymore
update ---------------------------------------------------------------
So I finally got another copy and finished the game.
Liked the fact that there were multiple endings depending of how you played the game.
Really didn't like the military portion of the game cuz they kept respawning in the mall after I beat them which was already difficult and long...
Hated the fact that I had to wait 12 hours before the helicopter came in at the end of the game and the thing I hated the most ... the fact that I had to capture 10 Queens to get the medicine ... damn this took me soooooo long and it's really not fun at all to go back and try to kill so many zombies just to get 1 Queen so imagine 10! damn ... Konami could have ended my experience of the game in a more fun way.
Also, the fact that I had to restart my xbox everytime the military captured me otherwise I would be brought back in the world with no weapons etc ( like GTA ) ... who really wants to continue these games without the great weapons you collected before?!
anyways ... i played the game from start to finish once (with many restarts ) and I wont touch it ever again... I had some fun with my SMG and bosses but couldnt really save people and do the real missions at the same time
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